His hands, these were his hands, not some digital rip off of the human anatomy. He ran hesitant fingers over his face, the mirror in his hand increasingly shaking as the situation dawned on him. Suddenly, the shaking stopped, and he got up and left, leaving behind some of the many shards of glass strewn across the plaza floor.
---
"I'm in a game, doesn't matter that it can kill me, it's still a game, and as such, I can still use the same systems to my advantage", Grant muttered to himself as he walked out towards the fields, checking through his menu.
"Yep, as suspected, everything is still like an MMORPG except that you can actually die, my skills and stats are still here. Eh... time is of the essence, what to do, what to do?"
Grant closed his menu and looked around to see only a few people engaging the local fauna. "These people probably know their way around an MMO, perhaps a few of them simply have a hero complex or are simply idiots. No matter, for now they are just competition, yes, early game is all about increasing your own level and power, so that come the time when guilds start dominating, you could either join one or lead one. Or of course, you could go solo, but in a death game numbers are probably likely advantageous. So, got to focus on myself for now..."
Pulling out his beginner rapier, Grant lunged out at a unsuspecting lone boar, connecting on it's flank and dealing decent damage. "I reckon that I should get a bit stronger, just maybe a level or two, before moving out to better hunting grounds. Due to the massive amounts of players in the starting city, it would be much more advantageous as these fields will eventually be overrun. Only reason to level up here is to guarentee safety while traveling."
Grant lunged out once more at the now charging boar, piercing its neck, causing it to burst into almost digital shards that disappeared as quickly as they came into existence. A screen notified him of his victory and his meager earnings, some exp and loot, which he selected to collect all, instantaneously entering his inventory. "Only a couple more till the next level up, let's go!"
Looking for his next target, his eyes caught hold of a red haired guy facing off against a small group of boars. "Idiot, taking four on by yourself can be risky on a low level even if your opponents were relatively weak. Too many people die in non-death MMOs early on due to the over expectations of their abilities" Grant muttered, "Welp, might as well go and help him, no harm in creating connections early on."
Rushing towards the now hostile boars facing away from him, he ran his sword across the flank of his closest target, causing the boar to shriek and change its orientation. "Sorry about stealing your prey, just couldn't help but think you might have bitten off a bit more than you should do alone early on." Grant said while he made a small jab on the adjacent boar's hind leg.
"No need to be a hero, that's for sure."
