The only good thing that had happened to Vox since he arrived in this strange place was the World Data. It was the first free thing he'd managed to "purchase" from a store.
He stepped out of the rusty shop, holding the old paper in one hand and his rusty pickaxe in the other.
"Finally, at least I got the item," he said, settling down to open the paper. But the moment he touched it, the map disintegrated in his hands.
It took about 0.001 seconds for Vox to start a valid crashout, but before he could, the same blue translucent screen appeared in front of his eyes....
The World Map icon was officially unlocked.
"I honestly would have joined those NPCs to just sit and lament, if I saw there was another grind after I took the World Data," he muttered to himself.
His eyes read the heading and he repeated it aloud: "The World Of Cypheria."
He cleared his throat. "So, I'm in a game called Cypheria? Interesting..."
Clicking on it, he saw five distinct portions. One was clear, showing an icon of a mountain. Underneath, Vox read: Mt. Evernight.
The other four were locked without icons, but from the second to the fifth, each had a small label:
* Spirit Valley
* Snowy Plains
* Wasteland Isle
* Dark Lands
"Interesting. From what I saw on that Dashboard, I'm definitely here at Mt. Evernight." He tapped the icon, and a small title box appeared, disappearing almost instantly as it read:
*'Mt. Evernight, Home of the Dwarfs'*
"That explains the major characters I've come in contact with in the last few minutes....What about this one..." He tapped on Spirit Valley, only to receive a buzz, followed by:
[TO UNLOCK THIS WORLD, PLAYER MUST CLEAR CURRENT WORLD]
"Well, I'm not even shocked. I just have to accept that's the closest I'll be seeing of it for now," he said with a knowing nod.
He started to stand up when suddenly he heard a 'swish' in the air, followed by the screeching sound of a creature.
Just as he turned to look at what it might be, the creature struck his arm, not from biting or stinging, it literally just touched him, and that's when He felt it.
A pain similar to getting an open sore scraped across a rough surface, the sensation resonated through his entire body.
"Arghhhh!" He rolled on the ground, clutching his arm until the sharpest part of the pain died down.
"What the heck was that?" He raised his head and saw his health bar displayed:
[HP: 25/30]
Vox's eyes went wide. "Something actually attacked me..."
He scanned the environment... left, right, down... before he slowly looked up. A bat was there, flapping its wings violently as it zigzagged through the air, too erratic to track., its red eyes locked onto him.
"A bat?!" he yelled. "A bat dealt me 5 damage?!"
The bat flapped its wings rapidly before diving at Vox again. He wasn't ready to take another hit.
It targeted at him, but Vox rolled away just as the bat crashed into the ground.
The bat wasn't giving up, and neither was Vox. He kicked the creature toward the opposite direction. "Such a great effort just to torture me with pain, what kind of mentally ill creature are you?"
As he kicked it, he noticed a small bar over its head:
Level 1: Nightbat.
"That's a Level One Nightbat?! What would a higher level be like , if this one is so aggressive?" Vox yelled, reaching for his pickaxe.
The bat turned around, rushing to deliver more damage, and Vox muttered a prayer and threw the pickaxe. By luck—an extremely 0.000% chance of a headshot on a flying mammal—the metal landed right on the bat's head.
The bat popped out of existence, leaving behind the pickaxe and a completely traumatized Vox whose breathing sounded more like a 'hee-hee-hoooo'.
He fell to his knees. Then he noticed something left behind: a red glowing orb the size of a grape.
"What's that?... A bomb?," Curious and careful, he used the tip of the pickaxe to nudge it, then tapped the edge. A pop-up tab appeared:
('Health Orb' - Restores a portion of HP)
"A Health Orb?..." He picked it up, and placed it in his mouth. The effect kicked in immediately, feeling exactly like drinking cold water when you're dangerously dehydrated.
[HP: 30/30]
His eyes went wide. 'Does defeating enemies drop Health Orbs often?' he wondered.
But wondering wouldn't discover more about this world, and it certainly wouldn't solve the mystery of how he had entered Cypheria in the first place.
He stretched out his hand and gripped his tool. "Well, better head to the mining area. Clear my debt, then explore this world. I just hope it won't get any harder, from here on.... Just a bat and some Dwarfs... What's the worst that could ever happen.. I am sure it will be smooth sailing from now on."
FEW HOURS LATER...
"YAKAWASHA!!" A horde of corrupted gnomes holding small axes, yelled out as they chased Vox and the Dwarf miners all through the Mining Cave.
"Oh come on! Now I understand why people don't say that phrase! Yeah... I'm not saying that again," Vox cried out.