The last three days flash through my mind. First, I’m being shot through the heart. I can feel the surge of heat as the bullet burns through my chest. Next, I’m fighting the slime. The acid burns away my skin, leaving blisters in its wake. Finally, I’m fighting the wolf. Its teeth were ripping into my shoulder, then tearing up my leg. I awake in a cold sweat grasping for my dagger. It is nowhere near me. In a hurry, I try to get up my right arm gives out from under me. I wince in pain as my right shoulder throbs. I look over at the wound and notice that it’s bandaged up. 

Why was my wound bandaged up?

How did my wound get bandaged up? 

I look under the bandage and see the injuries from where the wolf had bitten me. They were already little more than scars now. 

This is not the clearing in The Forest of Beginnings. 

Where the heck am I? 

Wow, that felt familiar. I was sure I had died, though. I even saw an Angel, which I thought was a cool new mechanic that they dropped with this horrible update.

When did they add scars to the game? 

This update keeps getting weirder as each day goes on.

I lay there waiting for the pain in my shoulder to pass and looked around the room. I noticed my clothes, little more than rags, were nowhere in sight. I lifted the covers that lay across my body before putting them down.

Okay, someone had undressed me, and I now have no clothes.

Finally managing to sit up, still feeling twinges of pain in my shoulder, I scoot back to use the wall behind me for support. I take a look around, trying to take in my new surroundings. I spot my dagger on a table near the entrance to the room. There is a window on the far wall, and I look out, noticing that I’m in that village I spotted before the wolf got me.

Maybe I should have picked a combat class if I’m going to be fighting this much.

I check my map to see just where in Erosia I am.

“Current location ‘Oakford.’ ”

“ ‘Oakford’ is a small village on the eastern edge of The Forest of Beginnings.”

Well, that’s good news, at least. I still have no idea how I ended up here after dying to that wolf. As I turn my body to try and stand up, the door to the room opens, allowing in a beautiful redheaded woman. I stare at her for a moment as my brain tries to work.

She is wearing a plain white and brown dress that he was used to seeing NPCs wearing in EO. In her arms was a basket full of strips of clean linen cloth and various-sized vials holding unknown contents. Her hair was neatly braided and draped over her shoulder, held together by a tied strip of what seemed like leather. It was hard to tell from this distance.

“You’re the angel,” I say out loud in disbelief. 

The redheaded woman looks at me with a confused expression plastered across her face before letting out a soft laugh. She set the basket down on a nightstand beside the table and pulled up a chair that was nearby before taking a seat.

“An angel, that’s a good one. No, sorry, I’m not an angel but a simple ranger names Chloe. I found ya in the forest there. You got beat up pretty good by that wolf. I patched ya up the best I could. I expected ya to be down for longer, though. Ya seem to heal pretty fast there.”

I remembered then that right before I had passed out, not died., I now realized the wolf had grown some weird quills. I groaned inwardly, just now realizing those were arrows she had shot at the wolf trying to help me. Then as I was about to speak, another thought wormed into my mind. 

She had undressed me.

My face flushed red with a blush as this thought burrowed into my brain. Wait, why am I embarrassed that an NPC saw me naked? Player characters don’t even have genitalia to prevent people from being total creeps. 

But when I looked under the covers, I definitely saw something. Okay, what is happening with this update? Did the devs finally give in and add all that weird stuff people have been begging for for years? The new NPC AI was a nice touch, though. They never seemed this lifelike. 

Finally getting myself together, I clear my throat and try to give her a smile.

“Thanks for saving me back there, Chloe. My names Matthew; I would have been a goner if it wasn’t for you.”

“No problem,” she replied, a smile across her own face. 

“I do what I can to help those in need, and boy were ya in need.”

I winced at her words. She wasn’t wrong; I was on the losing side of that fight. I had fought as hard as possible, but it wasn’t a combat class. Maybe if I had a hammer, things might have been different. Then it hit me. Why hadn’t I pommel-bashed the wolf like I had the slime? I’m still not used to fighting with a blade, and I keep getting caught up trying to fight like a warrior rather than a blacksmith. 

She coughed uncomfortably at my sudden silence.

“Let me check your wounds and put on fresh bandages,” she said as she reached for the bandage on my shoulder.

When she removed the bandage, a soft gasp escaped her lips, and a confused expression grew on her face.

“Ya, wounds are all but healed already. It hasn’t even been a full day!” 

Now I was the confused one. I should have healed much faster than this normally and without any scars before this update. Without hesitation, she ripped off the covers, exposing my nakedness. My hands flew to cover myself. She ripped off the bandage on my leg and gasped at my nearly fully healed leg. 

“What are you doing?” I shouted at her as I reached for the covers with one hand, the other still doing its best to keep my modesty.

A puzzled look came across her face. Then I could see the wheels turning in her mind as she looked up from my leg and saw me covering myself with the blanket now. I didn’t know human faces could turn that red before. You learn something new every day. She attempts to speak, but all that comes out are a few incomprehensible studders before she closes her mouth again. 

“My clothes?” I ask pleadingly. 

She looks me in the eyes, doing her best to calm herself, and says, “I had to toss them. They were little more than shredded rags by the time I made it to ya.” 

I gasp out a sigh. I had known this was most likely the case, but now I’m naked in a stranger's house with little in the way of coins. She must have picked up on my dilemma.

“I can get ya some new clothes, they won’t be much, but they’ll be something to cover ya self with”

“That would be wonderful,” I reply 

She gets up and starts to walk to the door. Before she leaves, she looks back at me with a fresh blush and shakes her head, whispering something under her breath, too quiet for me to hear. I fully cover myself with the blanket, not wanting someone to peer through that window and see me in my current state. 

While waiting for Chloe to return, I pull up my HUD and notice several prompts. I clear the one for low health without checking it. The next prompt was for defeating the wolf. I checked that to see how much EXP it netted me.

 “You have killed ‘Ravenous Young Wolf.’

“You have gained 10 EXP.”

“EXP needed until next level up 162.”

“Nice!” I exclaim out loud.

  I’m working my way toward my next level faster than I expected. However, I have to wonder how much EXP that wolf would have been if I was one of the combat classes. I just need to start working on getting some crafting done. There should be a smithy here that I can work at to gain some quick EXP. When I was about to pull up my next prompt, Chloe entered the room and gave me a questioning look before shaking her head.

“Here are some clothes for ya,” she said before placing the clothes on the chair beside the bed before she started to leave the room.

“Wait, what about that window?” I asked in a tone of obvious discomfort. 

She looked back at me for a moment before realization hit her. She moved to the window and pulled the shutters closed, and quickly left the room.

What she had brought me for clothes was simple but still much nicer than the starter clothes. The outfit consisted of a basic linen tunic with a red hem. The pants were nicer than I was expecting. They were basic linen pants but had the knees and crotch reinforced with some leather. That would offer a small boost to my defense. Next, there was a sword belt. She had thought to get me a way to hold my dagger. Finally, there was a nice pair of leather boots. I wonder if they’ll fit. I examined each piece before I put them on.

“Finely crafted ‘Basic Linen Tunic’”

“This ‘Basic Linen Tunic’ was finely crafted by a skilled tailor.”

“This item gains a bonus to maximum durability for being finely crafted.”

“Defense 2.”

“Durability 50 out of a maximum of 50.”

Wow, that’s pretty nice for Oakford. If that’s how good the shirt is, I’m very curious about the rest of the outfit. I pull on the pants. Next, I’ll have to get underwear eventually.

“Finely crafted “Reinforced Linen Pants.”

“These ‘Reinforced Linen Pants’ were finely crafted by a skilled tailor and then upgraded by a novice leatherworker.”

“This item gains a bonus to maximum durability for being finely crafted.”

“This item gains a bonus to defense for being reinforced.”

“Defense 5.”

“Durability 50 out of a maximum of 50.”

I hope I can meet this tailor that is putting out so many finely crafted clothes. They are soft to the touch and very comfortable to wear. I hope these boots fit me. I don’t want to walk around barefooted. I examine the boots as I pull them on.

“Basic ‘Leather Work Boots.’ ”

“These ‘Leather Work Boots’ were carefully crafted by a novice leatherworker.”

“Defense 10.”

“Durability 30 out of a maximum of 30.”

Those boots aren’t bad by any means. The leatherworker who crafted them might have some potential if they can make something this nice while still a novice. Finally, it’s time to put on the sword belt. I stand and stumble, just barely catching myself before I fall. My leg seems to be not fully healed quite yet. I limp my way across the room and retrieve my dagger in its sheathe. I pull my dagger out to check how damaged it got in the fight with the wolf.

“Item: ‘Dull Iron Dagger.’ ”

“This ‘Dull Iron Dagger’ was upgraded by Matthew Marcos from ‘Rough Iron Dagger’ ”

“Damage 2-5”

“Durability is currently 5 out of a maximum of 20.”

Wow, it took four points of durability damage during that fight. If I don’t get this touched up soon, I will be without a means to defend myself. I put the dagger back in the all-too-large sheath. I should also get a sheath that it fits in better. I slip the sheath onto the sword belt as I examine it. 

“Expertly crafted ‘Duelists Sword Belt.’ ”

“This item has been expertly crafted by Liones Tanner.”

“This item gains a bonus to durability for being expertly crafted.”

“Dexterity +3.”

“Defense 10.”

“Durability 100 out of a maximum of 100.”

Did she give this to me by mistake? This item is much nicer than the others, and it even comes with a stat boost, a plus three at that! I put the belt around my waist before I move to the door and open it. I look around the room and notice that there is only one other door that seems to lead outside. Did she give up her own room to let me recover? I gaze across the room. It seems nice enough, with a small kitchen off to one side and a dining or sitting area off to the other. Chloe was sitting at the table looking outside with a look of contemplation. I wonder what she was thinking about. I step toward her and clear my throat, not wanting to surprise her. She moves her gaze from the window to me and smiles softly.

“Seems the clothes fit ya well enough then,” Chloe says

I give her a nod and take a seat opposite her. Her accent sounds somewhat familiar now that I’m listening and not flustered. I don’t remember there being accents before. I can’t place the accent yet, but I know I’ve heard it before. I put that out of my mind for now and answer her.

“Yeah, they fit perfectly, thank you. This belt is way too nice for you just to give it away. Are you sure I can have it?”

“It’s fine. Ya can keep it. I won’t be needing it anymore,” she said somberly. 

I didn’t want to push her right now after she had already helped me out so much. I simply nodded at her with a slight smile. 

“I’ll do my best to treat it well. Again, thank you for everything you’ve done for me. Is there anything I can do to repay you?”

She looked down for a second, obviously thinking about something, then shook her head and gave me a wry smile. 

“There’s not much I need help with. Like I told ya before, I saw someone in help, so I helped. I just hope ya would do the same if ya saw someone out there in a similar situation,” said Chloe

“Well, I’ll pay you back somehow once I get myself back up on my feet,” I said more confidently than I felt.

“Well, ya can stay here until ya get better, though that doesn’t seem like it will take much longer now. If ya want, I can set ya up with something to do to earn some coin. Somebody always needs help with something.”

I give her a bright smile and shake my head.

“That’s alright. I have enough coin to last myself a few days if I remember the prices around here, right.”

“Coins? Ya didn’t even have anything on ya other than that weird dull dagger when I found ya.”

“Yeah, I have ten copper coins. Is the inn still three copper coins a night for room and board?”

She gave me a curious once over as if I had said something truly outrageous.

“It is, and ya sure you got the ten coins?”

I nod at her and give her a reassuring smile before standing up.

“Yeah, I got them. Thanks again, truly, but I should be heading to the blacksmiths now to see if there’s any work.”

“Oh, ya a blacksmith then? I can show ya the way if ya would like.”

I shake my head at her.

“No need, I know where it is.”

She looked at me in a sort of confused amazement.

“Ya sure ya know the way? Ya didn’t hit ya head when ya were fighting with that mangy wolf, did ya?”

I give her the most reassuring smile I could. I honestly didn’t know if I hit my head or not when the wolf bit my leg and I fell. It didn’t really matter, though. Well, It shouldn’t matter. Surely the devs wouldn’t add traumatic brain injuries in with the weird update they did. Would they?

“I didn’t hit my head, and yes, I know my way around Oakford pretty well, don’t worry.”

I strode out the door, well more of a half limp really, leaving a well and truly befuddled-looking woman behind me. I couldn’t keep answering questions all day. I had to get to the blacksmith and the Inn before it got too late. It was light out, but I checked the time anyways. 

“It is now 11:26 a.m.”

Good, It’s not too late in the day, though the smith might be having lunch right now. I made my way through these all too familiar streets. I had spent a fair amount of time in Oakford while playing EO before. There are usually plenty of players hunting slimes and wolves in the forest or the surrounding plains.

I make my way down the narrow cobblestone streets and look in a few shop windows. They seem to have all the same basic equipment that I remember from before. There’s a bowers shop for those who prefer to use a bow and arrow. I never managed to get good enough with them to hurt anything effectively. I also passed a bakery, and my stomach reminded me of just how hungry I was. When was the last time I ate? Oh yeah, I haven’t eaten at all yet since I’ve been in the game. This new survival mode was going to be annoying. When I played before, I only ever ate for enjoyment. The devs did a good job of making the food taste amazing. 

I stand there in front of the bakery, debating whether or not I should spend some of my coin to get some fresh bread. I decide against it since I should get a free meal with my room at the inn. I can hold out for a little longer before I succumb to my hunger. I pull myself away from the bakery and wipe the small line of drool that had begun to creep its way down my cheek. I do make a mental note to come back here after I have secured a way of funding myself. 

I continue to walk down the familiar streets, and a smile creeps onto my face. It’s been a tough few days, but I finally made it to Oakford. I pass by the inn. Outside is a massive oak stump, the inn's namesake. I peer inside the Oak Stump and see that it is packed full of people eating their lunch. Now does not seem like a great time to check-in. 

I make my way from the inn and walk down the path that leads to the blacksmith’s forge. I walk passed an armorer’s shop and notice the fine metal armor on display through the shop window, but I keep walking. When I first started playing EO, I tried to get work at many of these metal shops but got refused each time. They didn’t want a beginner smith. They wanted at least a journeyman. By the time I was a journeyman, I was already making more coin than they paid, so it never seemed worthwhile to me. 

The only place that would take me when I was first starting out was the shop I was heading to. It was simply called Roan’s Smithy. It was run by a grumpy old elf named Roan. I had tried to get him to tell me why an Elf ran a smithy but learned early on that it was a sore subject, so I had dropped it. While Roan was grumpy and expected you to do everything right the first time, he was a great teacher. I saw other players try to get Roan to teach them, but they always got sent away after a single day, usually within the first hour. 

I never really understood why, personally. The first test he gave you was an easy one, and I was looking forward to doing it again. I rounded the corner now on the road that would lead me directly to Roan’s Smithy. I walked up the road expecting to hear the sound of a hammer hitting metal. I couldn’t hear anything yet. 

That’s weird. I wonder why Roan isn’t working right now. Maybe he’s having his lunch? 

As I got closer, I could hear why Roan wasn’t working. There was some sort of commotion outside of his shop. There was someone yelling at the Elf. This wasn’t all that uncommon, given Roan’s gruff nature. It usually was due to Roan turning down a commission or giving an outrageous bid when someone insisted. 

Roan wasn’t fond of making weapons for reasons he never decided to tell me. Some people would try to get him to make them on occasion after seeing the craftsmanship of the tools he produced. This led him to be particularly unpopular with players. They would scoff at a blacksmith who refused to make weapons. On one occasion, when a player insisted that Roan make him a weapon, Roan told him that all he had to do was make Roan the king, and he would happily craft him a weapon. The best part was that it even showed up as a quest prompt! 

The player posted about it online, and I got a good laugh. The quest reward was a simple dagger. The item it showed was actually just one of the kitchen knives he made, but it had a hand guard added on. The penalty for failing or refusing the quest was ten gold coins and to never shop at his smithy again. To me, the best part of it all, though, was the time limit. Roan had given this poor player three days to make him king. Only three days to make an elf on the outskirts of civilization, the king of one of the most prominent kingdoms on the continent. 

When I asked Roan about it, he actually smiled, well, it was more of a smirk, but it was more than his usual scowl. He said that either way, he ended up better than he was before. On the one hand, if the player succeeded, he would be king. On the other hand, if the player failed, then he gained ten gold. In Oakford, you could almost live like a king for ten gold. The nicest room in the whole village only cost one silver. You could buy a house for about five gold. 

I never did learn what he did with that ten gold he got when the player eventually gave up on the quest after two days. 

As I close in on the shop, I can see that Roan is standing there listening to a burly man yelling at him. I’m close enough now that I can hear what the argument is about, and I was right. The man seems to have wanted Roan to make him an axe, and Roan had initially accepted the commission. He made axes to chop firewood or for loggers all the time. When the man came to pick up his axe, he seemed to have gotten angry that it wasn’t a battleaxe. From what I can make out from the yelling is that Roan offered to give the man his coin back that he had given for the deposit on the axe. That seems to have angered the burly man further. He didn’t want the coin. He wanted an axe. I am finally close enough that I can hear Roan speak.

“As I said, Mr. Haroldson, if you would like a war-axe, there is a perfectly fine weaponsmith up the road, I will refund your deposit, and we can conclude our business,” said Roan in that gentle yet firm tone I remember him using on unruly customers. 

The burly man, Mr. Haroldson, grabs the bag of coins Roan had offered and starts stomping off in a huff. He turns back and glares at Roan before shouting, “I’ll remember this, you scrawny Elf!” 

When Mr.Haroldson was clear, I made my way up to Roan with a smile on my face. It was nice to see my old mentor was the same as always. When I stepped up to the smithy, Roan looked at me, and I could see his demeanor shift from placating an unruly customer to one ready to make a sale. 

“Good day, young man. Would you be in the market for a fine wood-splitting axe?” 

I let out a hearty laugh which startled the elf slightly.

“No, I’m here looking for work. Would you happen to have any available?”