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// 2 - Rules of the World 
// Story: Button Mash's Adventure 
// by David Silver 
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There was a problem! It wasn't, like, a deadly one but he'd collected tons of newbie equipment from chasing slimes down relentlessly. He couldn't wear 4 straw hats nor wield 5 wooden swords.

But which was better than the other, and which did he try to sell off later? Or were they all the same as each other? Just glancing at them didn't reveal the hints. Holding or wearing them didn't feel any different. In the game, he remembered them just having stats you could see when you went to the equipment screen.

Which was a thing he didn't have. He just put a hat on his head or grabbed a sword in his mouth. There had to be another way. Button squinted at the collection of hats he held atop his two hooves. Wait. He squinted harder, bringing another reality into focus. Over each hat was an array of numbers and statistics. "Score!" He'd found the equipment screen! He began sorting through the hats, picking the one with the best numbers to adorn his head. "I'm not giving you up." He tucked the propeller beanie away, promising to put it back on when the adventure was over.

Which was when he had a thought. He pulled the beanie back out and squinted at it. Low stats, that made sense, but it had a little funny symbol. It gave a status of some kind. What status? He focused in on that symbol and it became clear. Hover. "Ha!" He hugged the beanie close. "If I'd just held onto you, I would have hit the ground all nice and safe." He tucked the beanie away in his pocket along with the rest of the lesser hats. "Now for weapons."

He squinted at the knife. No special stats, just numbers. "And the bats." He set out the wooden swords in a line and began examaning each in turn. Squinting, he could make out which were better and how. "You." He plucked up the best of the wooden swords. "You cause poison. How?" Whatever, RPGs did not always have to make sense. He tucked the rest away. His pockets shouldn't have held so much stuff, but easily dismissed as more RPG logic.

"A fine day of grinding." He got a trotting jog back into town. "I left a pauper, and return a rich pony." Actually, what was the going rate on coins? They may not translate the same as the game. Still, he was pretty sure he had a good haul.

"Hi! Welcome back." Little Feather came galloping up with a big smile. "I'm glad you're alright. Oh." He looked over Button Mash curiously. "And you found things." Little Feather reached up, brushing a hoof on the new straw hat. "Wow! You really are an adventurer."

They weren't so tough! Um. "Wait, does nopony fight those slimes?"

"Only the guards." Little pointed to a perfectly average earth pony in chainmail. "They take care of monsters that get too close to the town. Only adventurers go out and bring the fight to them." He bounced around Button Mash. "Like you!"

"I have this under control!" Button slapped his chest. "Oh, since you're here, maybe you can help. First, here." He drew out the butcher knife and offered it back towards Little. "This helped a lot, but you can have it back."

"I am going to need to clean this." Still, Little did take it back, tucking it away just as Button was in the habit of doing. "Are you going?"

"I must." Button Mash took on a stoic stance of heroism, or so he hoped. "The world won't save itself!"

"How heroic!" Little Feather, at least, was convinced. "Good luck. If you need a place to rest, just let me know."

"Wait, the second thing." Button produced a large bag that jingled with coins. "How much is this worth?"

Little Feather trained his small ears on the jingling package. "Um... Let me see." He brushed one of his hooves on the bag until it was put down and he could nose inside. "Mostly gold pieces. Um, sir, it can get a little complicated..."

"Complicated?" Button set a hoof atop his bag. "They have a value, don't they?"

"Sure they do, sir." Little bobbed his head quickly. "But that changes depending on where you are. Here, in this sleepy village, they're worth the most. In the middle of a big city, less."

"Are ya talkin' about inflation?" The dwarf pony from the day before stepped in just behind Little Feather. "A powerful sorcery, aye. The closer you are to the heart of civilization, the more powerful it gets."

Button clopped a hoof to his face. Hence the inns and things getting more expensive as you went through the game. He was no expert on the idea of inflation, but the basic idea worked out. "So, here, how much is this?"

"A good deal!" Little swatted at the bag. "Don't spend it all here, sir, or you'll invite that magic to our town."

That was all too much economics for Button Mash to grasp. "Sure." Not like the starter town had loads for him to stock up on. "I will have to, um, head closer to that magic, soon, like maybe now..." He rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. "Thanks again!"

But not before enjoying a comfy stay at the inn, with food and drinks and wenches! He was flanked by two mares, a pegasus elf and a standard model unicorn that were... cuddling him. He did not quite get what the appeal was. He'd read that was the thing that adventurers did after a hard day's work and wanted to try it himself, only to find the whole thing confusing in its lack of appeal. He couldn't know he was too young to 'get' that, but they hung off every word he said, and he appreciated that, so he spent the time describing his super amazing battles and swinging his poisonous wood sword about and they were quite willing to be an eager audience and to feed him whenever he was taking a break.

The bed he rated as alright, but Little Feather's house was comfier. Figures a halfling pony would have that down.

Rested with all his hit points restored, Button Mash jumped out of the inn with a cry. "Time to... shop, actually." He hurried across the little town to a shop that had a big scroll over its door. Inside was a wizened elven bat pony. "Oooo!" He rushed the counter for a better look at the fantastical pony. "You look awesome."

"Thank you?" The elven bat pony inclined a sharp ear at the little potential customer. "I am told you are an adventurer. Is that correct?"

"Yep!" He slapped down his bag of coins. "An adventurer that wants to learn some magic!"

The shopkeep glanced at the coins, most of his attention on Button Mash. "Alright. I would feel bad if I didn't ask, but can you read magic scrolls?"

"What?"

The elf-bat reached down and plucked up a scroll, setting it on the counter. "Then your first purchase will be this. For one hundred coins, I will use it on you to allow you to read magic scrolls. Then you can do it yourself from that point forward. The other option is to learn it the slow way, but I know few adventurers that want anything 'the slow way' if there's an option to get it in any other way."

"You are reading my mind." Button Mash shoved his hoof into his bag and began pulling out heaps of coins and forming them into stacks of ten for counting, coming up with ten stacks. He could math! "And with this, I'll read magic."

The shopkeep brought down a hoof with a heavy thud, drawing the hundred coins towards himself. "A done deal. Now, I will read this." His wings made for handy hands as he drew the scroll apart and began reading the strange arcane words from it. Button could feel memories he never had surfacing. He had read tons of scrolls. It was easy! "And there. A fair trade."

Button was down a good collection of his coins, but could read magic! "Awesome! So..." He poked at his bag. "Hook me up with awesome spells like fire blast and ice jet!"

"Fitting spells for an adventurer." He nudged the bag. "But you don't have the coins, and I'm not permitted to offer such high level spells anyway. How about Spark and Chill? Fine starting spells to get a grasp on while you work your way."

Spark? Chill?! Those were the weakest elemental spells. Still, he had to start somewhere, right? "Alright..." He was only going to get so much from the starting town. "One of those then." Coins and scrolls exchanged hooves. "Later!" And off he dashed with his new booty, giggling the whole way.

He dropped off the lackluster equipment at the general store that was happy to pay him for it, and he was off. "Good bye, starting town!" It had a name, he was sure of it, but it was all the way in the start of the game. He'd forgotten it. It was the starting town, and that was all he needed to know. 

Little Feather was kinda cool though. But Button had a wide world to save and bad guys to kick the back ends of! With quality equipment worn and equipped, he boldly marched onto the grassy fields. "On to the second town!" He could remember the second town. You had to loop back to it later in the story. "That was a nice touch..." Seeing older NPCs popping up a second time.

A sweet move. He just had to cross the fields, then pass a mountain trail, and, in the game, be ambushed by the baddies.

Hm. "Is that going to happen?" He wasn't the original protagonist. They had no reason to ambush him. Maybe they would, which would mean he was the protagonist. Maybe they wouldn't, in which case he was just some guy... who knew all the secrets. Both possibilities were kind of exciting when he thought of them. He would win either way! Though if there was a protagonist out there, trying to save the world, what then?

"Duh." That meant Button would become the best mentor ever and point that clueless hero at all the good stuff. "That would be funny..." He pushed through the grass towards the increasingly towering mountain ahead of him. "But first, get past this."

"Rawr!" A bipedal figure of flame and rock stood before him.

Button drew his poison sword and began to dance in place, humming the combat music as he went. "You look tougher than some slimes." But still a low level enemy, to his remembering. "You're going down!"

To the flame-rock creature's credit, it took one solid thwack and didn't immediately die, unlike the slimes. "Woah!" It caught Button across the side and sent him flying to land in the tall grass, eyes swirling. "Ow..." But it was also coming closer to finish the job. "No you don't! Chill!" Magical swirls rushed out from Button Mash in all directions, gathering in large snowflakes that crashed against the charging monster.

With a great hiss of steam, the ice blast put part of its fire out and the creature staggered in pain. "Ha, didn't expect that, did ya?!" Learning magic, good idea. He could take advantage of elemental weaknesses a lot easier with them. "You're looking a little sick, hm?"

It wasn't the cold rush, but the sword had done its job. The rocky thing was losing bits of itself as the poison ate away at it, costing it precious hit points. "I have such a good idea." Button proceeded to not fight it anymore. He led it on a merry chase, laughing all the while as it tried desperately to catch up, but the rock flame thing wasn't as fast as a hyper colt, and it met failure, stumbling forward into pieces, the poison finishing its job.

"Loser!" called Button Mash, marching up to claim his earned loot.