original

The Bone Mage of Valkareth

นักเขียน: Yite

บท 1: Bone Mage?

Matthew Hansen woke up in the morning, thinking today was going to be exactly like every other day, he put his two minute cup noodles in the microwave, had a quick shower and shave, got dressed in his finest clothes, the ones that only had some barely noticeable stains on them, ate the noodles, grabbed his suitcase and went out for his next job appointment, this time at a gas station as a clerk, he looked at his watch to see what time it was, 7:40 AM... the appointment was at 8:00 AM, and the gas station was 30 minutes away by foot, at that point, Matthew knew he was going to be late!

He ran through the city as fast as he could, hoping desperately to get to the gas station on time, he pushed past people, jumped over bushes and desperately tried to not get chased by dogs.

He checked his phone, it was 7:50 AM! He desperately needed this job to pay for his rent, so he couldn't dilly-dally any longer, Matthew ran at a full sprint, straight into an old man, who in turn fell to the ground.

"Oh! I'm incredibly sorry sir, do you need help?" Matthew asked, feeling incredibly apologetic to this old man who he just knocked over, also he didn't want to get hit with a lawsuit.

"Just help me up brat!" The old man said spitefully, as Matthew helped him to his feet, the old man looked into his eyes and fear was then evident on his face.

"I-I uh... sorry for getting in your way sir!" The old man said, before he ran away, dropping something out of his pocket.

The thing he dropped looked like a pure silver cube, about the size of an average man's palm, Matthew picked it up and put it in his pocket.

He didn't blame the old man for running away, he was used to it, ever since he was a young boy. Everyone saw him as a dangerous delinquent, mostly due to his always scowling face and his weird birthmark that looked like a neck sleeve tattoo, along with the piercings he got when he was younger and scars across his face, he would be the first to admit that he looked pretty intimidating, which was why he wasn't hired at most jobs he applied at. The bright red dyed hair didn't really help, but Matthew always thought it looked fashionable, so he kept on dying it.

Matthew then looked at his phone again, 7:54 AM. He had to pick up the pace as much as he could!

It took Matthew 10 minutes to get to the gas station, thankfully the employer was alright with some slight tardiness on the first day, what he wasn't alright with though, was Matthew's appearance. "How can we hire someone as intimidating as you? Get out, you're not getting the job, punk. Next!" the employer said, as he shooed Matthew away to make way for the next potential employee.

'Bastard! You better hope you don't meet me later on in our lives, or I'll make the seven hells look like heaven!' Matthew thought angrily, as he walked back to his apartment, hoping the landlord would be a bit understanding and give him another week to pay his rent... even though he already gave him three weeks.

Matthew entered his apartment. the walls had yellowed from the previous tenants being avid smokers, mold in one corner of the room and the floorboards creaked with every step, the smell of pot emanating from the neighbour's room, they were good people, just potheads, but this was the best you'd get for $50 weekly in this city.

Matthew threw his suitcase to the ground angrily, as something fell out of his pocket. The weird silver cube.

'What is this thing?' He thought, as he googled "Silver Cube" what came up was a thing called... Valkareth? A fully immersive platform with only one game, called Valkareth, just like the platform it's on, there were a lot of positive reviews and a tutorial on how to use it.

Matthew skimmed through the tutorial, just wanting to know how to start it, all he had to say was "Open the gates of Valkareth!" with this cube in his hand, pointed away from him.

So, Matthew did just that, he pointed the cube away from himself and said in a quiet voice "Open the gates of Valkareth" and just like that, a small portal appeared in front of him, it looked like it led to a small dungeon. And Matthew, not really thinking about anything, simply walked in, thinking it was part of the tutorial.

He looked around the small dungeon to see some tools, mainly a sword and shield, a staff, a bow and a small human-like skull. Matthew being curious, picked up the skull to examine it, when a voice resounded in his head.

"Ding! Player Matthew Hansen has chosen the random class, Bone Mage" a disembodied voice said.

"Wha- where are you!? Who are you!?" Matthew asked, shocked and reached for the sword and shield, only to see that it wasn't there, neither were the bow and staff. They simply vanished the only thing that didn't was the skull, that was still in Matthews' hand, then Matthew noticed, he wasn't in the dungeon anymore. He was in a cave!

'What the hell... okay calm down... I have to review what happened... I went through that portal into a dungeon, picked up this weird skull, that message said something about Bone Mage being a random class... and now I'm in this cave, did I get a hidden class and now have to earn it? But how? Do I have to find a way out of the cave?' Matthew thought, as he looked around the cave, hoping there was an obvious way out. He didn't find an obvious way out, but he did find a tunnel to... somewhere.

'Okay, if I stay here... I'm going to starve to death eventually, but if I go through the tunnel, there might be some untold danger... fuck it!' Matthew thought, as he cautiously walked through the tunnel of the cave.

He walked for what felt like hours, until he finally saw a light!

'Finally... the outside world...' Matthew thought, as he collapsed to the floor, passing out.

A couple of hours later, Matthew woke up with a killer migraine, his eyes were sore too, since he had become adjusted to the dark, his eyes were slightly vulnerable to the light.

But, he was happy. He was finally out of that cave, and he could finally breathe fresh air for the first time in hours.

"Ah... I missed you, sky!" Matthew shouted happily, as he walked out of the cave.

The first thing he saw was... simply put, beautiful.

The trees, they glistened in the sunlight alongside the grass, the sunset looked beautiful and there was a plentiful amount of other little touches that Matthew either didn't notice or couldn't explain.

"Ding! User has completed the Bone Mage endurance test! Now User must complete the strength test by killing ten wild wolves" The disembodied voice said in his head.

"What does a Bone Mage even do?" As Matthew asked, a small screen appeared before his eyes.

Name: Matthew Hansen

Class: Bone Mage

Level: 0 (0/100)

STR: 11

END: 14

INT: 10

WIS: 10

CHA: 2

AGI: 10

PER: 10

LUC: 10

Active Skills: Unarmed Combat (3), Bone Manipulation (1), Skeleton Summon (1), Bone Shard (1)

Passive Skills: Intimidation (7), Cooking (4), Bone Regeneration (1)

Titles: None

"What the!? Why is my Intimidation so high?" Matthew asked himself.

"Ding! Because the User intimidates everyone he comes across" The disembodied voice answered unhelpfully.

"Shut up... actually, what do Bone Shard and Bone Manipulation do?" Mathew asked the disembodied voice.

"Ding! Bone Shard fires a sharp shard of bone at an enemy dealing penetrating damage, and Bone Manipulation allows the User to manipulate bones for either battle or surgery" The disembodied voice answered.

"Alright... good" Matthew said, as he looked around for a wild wolf, and after finding one he shouted "Bone Shard!" while pointing directly at the wild wolfs head.

A small sharp bone came out of Matthew's finger and shot itself at the wild wolf, killing itself instantly, and he got a message saying he gained 50 exp.

"Ow! What the hell was that!?" Matthew asked, as he yelled in pain.

"Ding! User shot a Bone Shard of his finger at the wild wolf" The disembodied voice answered.

"The hell!? Now I'm going to be permanently disfigured!" Matthew shouted angrily.

"Ding! User shouldn't worry since user has the Bone Regeneration skill, user can regenerate his bones, given time" The disembodied voice said.

"Oh, well that's all fine and dandy, but isn't this supposed to be a game? Why did it hurt so much!?" Matthew asked.

"Ding! Did host not comprehend what Fully Immersive means?" The disembodied voice asked sarcastically.

"I- You! Shut up!" Matthew shouted angrily, as he stomped off to find more wild wolves.

After a couple of hours, Matthew finally finished the Strength test using his Skeleton Summon skill, which summoned a weak skeleton to act as bait for the wild wolves and he gained a couple of levels because of it.

"Okay! Now, can I leave and go on my actual adventure?" Matthew asked, annoyed.

"Ding! Yes" The disembodied voice answered.

"Great!" He said as he walked to the closest village.

He was going to rule this world, one way or another.