4. Ghastly Blue

On my way out of the village, I felt my stomach rumble. It has been a hot moment since I ate anything.

Because I had no cash to spend on food, I resorted to dumpster diving in a tucked-away house's trash. There was nothing valuable, besides a short iron dagger. My first weapon. I put it in my pocket and continued my journey.

On the way there, two things happened. First, I found an apple tree with a few still intact fruits. I was never one for apples, but with nothing better to eat, I munched down a few.

Secondly, the journal finally got used to its new host. The first two pages have been filled, one displaying my stats, while the other my current objective.

[ Name: Axel ]

[ Health: 10 ]

[ Stamina: 5 ]

[ Magic: 0 ]

[ Current objective: Locate Heidl's whereabouts. ]

[ Optional: Bring Frudel 15 dandelions. ]

I was a bit shocked to see the journal thought my name was actually Axel. Still, I found it to be a cool name, so I had no objections to my sudden name change.

Axel. Sounds strong. Not fitting for a guy like me, but whatever.

Another thing to note was the lack of any in-depth stats. I had my maximum health, stamina, and mana displayed, but that was nothing compared to the kinds of mods I used to run with this game. There is way more to calculate than just those three, like a person's strength or magical affinity.

Still, this was all I had for now.

Or so I thought.

Turning the page, I realized there was another thing displayed on the other side.

In Ancient Blades, you became stronger by doing quests and achieving Titles. Titles were akin to passive buffs, only permanent. These ranged from a slight increase in healing when eating food, to dealing much more damage to certain types of enemies.

Titles were hard to get but very rewarding. Even though I knew lots of them and what they did, this one featured on the other side of my journal was unlike anything I have ever seen before.

[ Pillars of Creation ]

[ ??? ]

The Title featured no description. By the name of it, I... I was seriously puzzled. Maybe this was a secret Title I never got to unlock while playing the game? Most likely not, as vanilla titles all had a description.

In fact, I don't think I have ever seen even a modder leave a description like that.

Whatever it was, it was not helping me much.

I walk down the road surrounded by that beautiful forest and stumbled upon a small clearing. Flowers of various colours left a nectary scent in the air. Bumblebees danced between them, buzzing in a beautiful choir. Trees surrounded it from all sides, and from the other, a cave entrance.

I looked down at my compass. The quest marker pointed me toward its entrance.

I gulped. Knowing the world of Ancient Blades, my biggest worry was not being stuck in a narrow cave. In fact, the caves were relatively wide and easily navigated in this world.

The thing is, this was a cave. In the world of a fantasy video game. Put the two together and what do you get? A dungeon.

"Either I go in, rescue that girl, and get my money, or I will starve to death."

In the face of fear, hunger proved to be a more effective motivator.

I entered the cave. The darkness surrounded me like a dark-blue mist. There was only a dim light, created by crystals poking out the wall. They coated the cave in a ghastly hue, reminiscent of a full moon.

Something moist echoed in the distance. Like water, slowly dripping from a tap. The only way was forward, towards the sounds.

There was old mining equipment scattered around. Pickaxes, helmets. I took one from both, covered my head with the helmet, and wore the pickaxe awkwardly, like a weapon.

I observed the equipment one more time. Then it hit me.

"If these items are still fresh, that means the miners lost them not too long ago. Which means, that if there is a threat, it's still close by."

I looked for hints about the theorized enemy. There were no scratch marks on the dropped clothes. No trace of magic either. It was almost like the miners left these for no reason at all.

Growling grew from my left. A humanoid shape emerged from the shadows and lunged at me. My instincts kicked in, and without a thought, I pierced the shadow's skull with my pickaxe, sending it flying toward the nearby wall. Thump! It fell and has not stood up.

I towered over the corpse, breathing rapidly. Holy shit! I just killed someone!

My stomach turned. I felt like throwing up. The only reason I kept it in was that the smell of vomit might attract monsters. So, I fought the urge and squealed.

The shadow lay a few feet away. My sense of guilt grew more and more as I approached it.

My eyes focused. Before me was a dry, rotting corpse. Its eyes were missing, and the teeth fell out. There were multiple scratch marks alongside its body, possibly from the sharp, glowing crystals.

This was a zombie. Seemingly a weak one.

I shook my head and sighed. Nice, for a moment I thought I killed someone. Thankfully, the day my hands catch blood is still far from now. Hopefully, never.

I continued down the cave.