//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Accommodation in the New World // Story: The Games we Play // by Sunny Milk //------------------------------// It didn't take long for us to reach The Golden Oak Library, but during that time I had learnt some crucial details while grinding Observe on the various ponies we passed. For starters, the average adult pony was usually around Level 4 to 5, meaning that they weren't at a much higher level than me. However, while their level wasn't impressive, their base stats threw me through a loop. From what I could tell, their stats were pretty similar to mine, barring the fact that their races gave them pretty decent boosts to various stats. Earth Ponies, as I have learnt, tend to have STR and VIT in the 20s to 30s range on average. Pegasi tent to have DEX in the upper 30s range, and VIT in the 20s range and Unicorns typically had INT and WIS in the 30s range and had a passive boost to their base Mana pool. Once my Observe reached level 3, It showed me some of the Passive Skills the target possessed, which is how I learnt about these things called 'Cutie Marks', which seem to symbolise one's calling in life and gave passive boosts relating to such a calling. Quite overpowered, if I do say so myself. The last thing I learnt is that if my target had significantly more levels than me, I wasn't able to see any information on them, I learnt that by using it on Celestia only to get an error message telling me just that. At least I could still see the names of people even if I couldn't see their level, since it floats above their heads. The three of us were sat down on the wooden floor of the Library, and Spike stood holding a quill and parchment, ready to transcribe our discussion. Celestia started off with a single question. "So, Aria. What makes you say that you're from a different world?" She asked simply, a neutral expression plastered on her face. "Because I've just had a conversation with a Unicorn and a Dragon. Those didn't exactly exist in any real capacity back home, they were just mythological creatures and even then, they didn't have the ability to speak. I'm either in a different world, or this is just one weird dream." I deadpanned, before flashing a small smile. "There's also the fact that I can see all of your names floating above your head, that too." Celestia blinked, but before she could reply Twilight interrupted her, eyebrow raised. "You can see what? How's that even possible?" She questioned incredulously. I sighed and chuckled. "Hell if I know, I went to bed one night, woke up in that forest nearby with this strange ability and walked here. That forest is extremely creepy by the way." Twilight's puzzled expression quickly shifted into worry as she realised what I said. "Y-You walked through the Everfree Forest? You aren't hurt, are you? Nopony is supposed to go in there, because of how dangerous it is!" She exclaimed. Celestia raised an eyebrow at her student, her face breaking out into a wry smile. I was clearly missing some context there. Twilight noticed her look and quickly looked away, a faint blush appearing on her as the tentatively rubbed a foreleg with another. Celestia made eye contact with me again and continued. "The Everfree Forest is quite a dangerous place, you're lucky to have made it out of there alive. But enough of that, what is this ability you speak of?" She asked, listening curiously. I sheepishly rubbed the back of my skull and answered. "Well, it's a little hard to explain... tell me, do you know what a Role Playing Game is?" Before either could answer, Spike, called out. "Like Ogres and Oubliettes?" I shot him a puzzled glance before answering. "Well, if it's like Dungeons and Dragons from back home, then yeah, it's kinda like that. Ogres and Oubliettes is a Table Top Role Playing Game, I assume?" He gave me a simple nod. "Then yes, like that. My ability allows me to exist kinda like a game character. I can not only see your name but your level too!" Twilight's mouth was agape as she attempted to comprehend the absurd statement that came out of my mouth. Celestia intervened and asked another question. "Do you know everything about your power yet?" I winced and answered honestly. "I don't, but I do have some ideas when it comes to what other things I can do, but for now, let me show you something!" I spoke 'Status' out loud and as expected, the status text box appeared in front of me. I lifted my hand and pointed at it. "Can any of you see this?" I asked. Unfortunately, the three of them shook their heads. I lifted a hand to my chin, deep in thought. Hmm...maybe I could try inviting them to a party? "Maybe this will work, Invite Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon to my Party!" A yellow text box materialised in front of me. Party Created. What would you like to name your Party? Below the yellow text box, was an ethereal keyboard. I typed in the phrase, 'Magic Casters' stifling a giggle as I did so. Once I pressed enter, the keyboard disappeared and the yellow text box had changed. Invites to Party 'Magic Casters' has been sent Immediately, I noticed yellow text boxes appearing in front of the three, boxes that they seemed to be able to perceive, given they had all flinched. Celestia was the first to speak up. "Do I... accept?" She questioned, puzzled. I eased her confusion. "If my theory is right, you might not have been able to see my status because my ability does not consider us to be 'on the same team' if that makes sense. That should change if you accept the Party Invite, though." My explanation was sound enough, as the three of them accepted the invite. In the top left of my vision, I finally noticed my own HP and MP bars, red and blue respectively, along with the addition of three new sets of HP and MP, courtesy of my new party members. I flipped my status screen in their direction, now that they should actually be able to see it. Lo and behold, the trio gasped in shock as they looked over my full status screen. I gave them time to read it over, before asking a question. "Is there anything else you would like to know, Celestia?" She thought for a moment, before answering. "There is much that I wish we could learn, however, I believe my time here is coming to an end, I must see my sister as she and I have much to discuss. Before I leave for Canterlot, the nation's capital, I will inform the townspeople of you, so that none of them is afraid of you. They're good ponies, but they can be... jumpy, at times. The only thing I wish to know is, are you capable of Magic?" Am I..? I mean, MP does imply I have access to Mana so... probably? "I might, we didn't have Magic back at home but, the fact that I have MP implies that I at least have some Mana inside of me," I answered confidently. She simply smiled at me, issuing the last decree for today. "In that case, I, Princess Celestia, decree that Aria Lee the Human is to live here in The Golden Oak Library, as both a valuable friend to my protégé and a student to be taught Magic. And yes, I do also expect you to write Friendship Reports, just like Twilight." Both Twilight and Spike bowed as she finished up, and I copied, not wanting to be rude. And with that, she took to her leave. The three of us sat there for a moment, in silence. Spike was the first to break said silence. "Soooo... you come of a different world, right? What was it like there?" The baby Dragon asked inquisitively. Twilight seems to pipe up with the mention of the other world. "That's a great question! I'm pretty curious about your world too, especially since you mentioned that races like Unicorns and Dragons were myths. After all, what are the chances of one culture depicting something that actually exists in a different world?!" She stared into my eyes intently, lusting for the knowledge that lay within me. I chuckled and responded cheekily. "How about we make a game out of it? Flip a coin, if it lands on heads you can ask me a question, and if it lands on tails I get to ask you one!" I smirked at her, and to my delight, she smirked back. "You're on, Aria!" When we had started our little game, it was around evening time, and we had continued playing long into the night, and I had learnt quite a bit about the new world I lived in, and she learnt about mine. The first thing she asked me about was how advanced human technology had become, as we don't have magic. Turns out that Twilight, before even asking the question had already hypothesised that human technology was vastly superior since it was all we could rely on. I could only dumbly nod my head as she told me this. If there's anything to remember about Twilight, it was just how smart she was. The next couple of questions revolved around human culture and what we did for entertainment. I recounted some tidbits of various historical events across multiple cultures off of the top of my head. Something that I had noticed was just how clear my memory was now, I suspected that it had something to do with Gamer's Mind but I decided not to bring it up. As for entertainment... well, she decided to be a bit more personal and asked what I specifically did for fun. I nearly talked my head off for an hour straight about various Anime that I had enjoyed over the years, and she was engrossed in my retellings of some of my favourite Anime. "...So Vegeta got so mad that he just decided to destroy the entire planet with his Galic Gun,"- I got up and mimicked Vegeta's pose before firing his Ki Blast- "But Goku wasn't down yet, and prepared a Kaioken x3 Kamehameha Wave!" I then mimicked how Goku fired the Kamehameha, even down to throwing out my cupped hands. To both my shock and horror, as I threw out my hands I felt a strange sensation trickle out from my core, through my arms and out of my hands in a fraction of a second as a blue beam of Mana formed and blasted forward. Forward... heading straight for Twilight Sparkle. Thankfully, She acted quickly and erected a lavender magical barrier which tanked the blast, leaving no visible damage. Just as quickly as it appeared, the barrier was unerected and we stared wordlessly for a moment. "I-I didn't mean to do that! A-Are you okay Twilight?" I nervously stuttered out, worried that she thought I had done it purposefully. "I'm... fine. I'm not hurt, you just startled me is all," She weakly reassured me. "It's probably a good idea not to do any more poses just in case. I don't want you blowing up on me, you know?" She gently poked me with a hoof, a friendly gesture. "Also, one of those boxes your ability causes appeared to your left, in case you didn't see." I cautiously pivoted to the left, and lo and behold I had gained a new skill, or rather, created a new skill. A new Skill has been created via a special action! Due to performing both the somatic and verbal components for a certain technique you were already familiar with, Magic Kamehameha Wave (10 MP) (Active) Level 1(2.47%) has been created! I wasn't sure how to feel about this, I did feel kinda bad for being rewarded for nearly blowing Twilight's head off but, there was no denying that having a ranged skill like this did wonders for my survivability. We quickly got back into the flow of our game, which allowed me to ask some burning questions about this world. For starters, much to the confusion of both me and Twilight, many creatures from my world's mythology existed here. We theorised that maybe our worlds may have had contact at some point in the past, but that wasn't much more than guessing. Furthermore, these other species have their own Kingdoms like the Griffon Kingdom to the east past the Celestial Sea, Griffonstone. Twilight had remembered two of the skills I had in my slowly growing arsenal and asked me to demonstrate I.D Create and Escape for her which I obliged since it would also give me an excuse to use them enough times to level both up by 1, allowing me to make my first monster Illusion Barrier, which contained ...Faires. Now, something that I've noticed about I.D Create and Escape was that nearly every detail concerning how Illusion Barriers function practically burnt itself into my brain. While the term 'faires' was pretty vague, knowing that the enemies my Barrier would create were based on my own memories, specifically my memories of enemies I had fought in games in the past made me realise just how annoying that I.D would be to clear. I wasn't looking forward to having to dodge projectiles from all sides, that's for sure. The coin had been flipped in my favour once again, so I asked if I could use Observe on her, to which she obliged provided that she would also get to see what I did. Did I mention that Twilight was Level 35?! and she had some pretty insane stats too! I practically had to pick my jaw up off of the floor once I saw the numbers. Name: Twilight Sparkle Class: Grand Arcanist Title: The Element of Magic Race: Unicorn Level: 35(53.92%) HP: 375((VIT * 10) + Level) (34HP/Min) MP: 1905(((INT * 10) + Level) + 500) (73MP/Min) STR:14 VIT:34 DEX:24 INT:137 WIS:73 LUK: 8 Skills: Unicorn(Passive) Level MAX Your arcane birthright as a Unicorn grants you above-average ability in commanding the forces of the arcane. +10% Spell Damage -10% Spell Cost +500 MP +10 INT +10 WIS Gaining Attribute Points related to Spell Casting is easier for you. I really wish I had that passive. Unfortunately for me though, being a human didn't amount for shit as it didn't give me any kind of passive. As I stared up at the ceiling to my new room I lamented my current weakness. Tomorrow really can't come any sooner, once I learn how to do Magic, I think I'll try and tackle an Instant Dungeon. Also, are you there Stele? I haven't heard from you in a while. My little friend inside of my head responded, albeit groggily as if waking up in the morning. I have been resting in preparation for tomorrow, thanks for waking me up, baka. I had the distinct feeling that she'd be blowing raspberries at me right now if it was for- wait, did you just call me a baka? How are you even more of a weeb than I am, you're me! Stele did not respond. Fine, whatever. Let's go to sleep now. As that thought entered my head, a text box appeared. Would you like to rest until morning? I tapped 'yes' and felt a wave of tiredness wash over my body as I quickly passed out, deep into sleep.