A tear in space floated in the air within a small clearing amid a sea of trees. "It's actually here." One thing Alex worried about when he first found himself with two sets of memories was whether the world he found himself in was that of the REALMS, Realms At War, or something entirely new. If he had to wager on one of the options, he would bet that he was in REALMS over the other two. The absence of a stats system makes it more likely that he was in REALMS rather than in Realms At War, despite having created his character for the video game before arriving here.
REALMS features a game system that doesn't rely on the typical stat system found in other TTRPGs; instead, it employs a trait system. Anything that would usually have stats is instead characterized by a list of Traits that embody the object. For instance, a sword might provide a +1 attack in other TTRPGs, but in REALMS, it would possess the Sharp Trait instead. When a player wishes to take an action, they would state the traits they have that could assist in the situation, while the GM invokes traits they believe would hinder the players.
For example, a Player playing as a werewolf is trying to break down a silver door. The Player can argue that their super strength Trait helps them accomplish the task, while the GM can invoke the door's Sturdy Trait and the werewolf's Silver weakness Trait. The Player then rolls the appropriate die, adds any bonus they got from their Traits and then adds any penalties from the Traits that hindered the player's action.
Despite the freedom and customization the Trait system offered, it quickly became clear that integrating it into Realms at War was nearly impossible. After numerous attempts, the development team ultimately gave up, reached out to the original creators of REALMS, and with their assistance, adapted the Trait system into a more conventional Stat system.
The fact that Alex has Traits and his stats are disabled suggests he's in the world of REALMS and not Realms at War. Regarding the third option, Alex could only hope he wasn't in a completely new or mash-up world, as much of his knowledge would quickly become useless if that were the case. The last thing Alex wanted was to make a mistake that could cost him his life just because he was relying on information he thought was reliable. However, seeing a Rift at the same location as the one in REALMS gave Alex hope that his knowledge wasn't completely useless.
Taking his backpack off, Alex confirmed he had everything he needed. Taking a deep breath, Alex closed his eyes before jumping through the Rift. Feeling solid ground underneath him, Alex opened his eyes and looked around. "Tch!" Alex couldn't help but click his tongue once he saw a dense forest of grey leafless trees. In REALMS, Rifts act like dungeons where Players can go to get loot, exp and Traits. The more important Rifts have set Realms they send players to, while the less important ones use a roll of a die to decide where they lead. Seeing the dead forest with a giant tree in the far distance and knowing the level of the Rift, Alex knew exactly which Realm he landed in.
"Why did it have to be the Hollowed Forest?" Taking a swig of a Mana potion, Alex weaved Flame Lash as he started to walk towards the giant tree. "Silk prepare Boost." Boost is a spell that took Alex a solid month to learn, which could be used to enhance a target's physical abilities at the cost of Mana to maintain.
-Hiss Click Click- sounded as Silk responded within Alex's body. "Just spin the spell, I'll tell you when to activate it," Silk answered back with more hisses. "Yeah, I'll give you plenty of Mana once we get home." After walking for a few minutes, Alex began to hear creaking around him. He quickly turned and slashed at the source with his fiery whip, slicing in half a humanoid figure made of withered plants. Approaching the burning creature crawling toward him, Alex stomped down on its head. Lifting his foot revealed a glowing red orb with vein-like vines at its center. Crouching down, he tore the orb out, causing both halves to stop moving. "Tch! Brambles, what a pain to fight," he muttered. Brambles are monsters made of dead plants, found in various shapes. Though slow, they are resistant to damage and strong enough to overpower an average person. While weak to fire, their regeneration often outpaces most flames. Their only real weakness is their core, located in areas resembling their head or torso.
Lifting the orb, Alex inspected it under the dim, unmoving moon. "Low-grade Bramble core, roughly ten to fifty credits." Taking off his backpack, Alex grabbed a storage pouch he bought a week earlier. "Another seventy or so, and I'll have made back what I spent on this thing." Storage pouches are enchanted to be bigger on the inside and lightweight, usually used to store loot gained from Rifts. Another useful feature of storage pouches is their automatic retrieval function, which allows you to quickly take out items you need. Dropping the core into the storage pouch, Alex tied it to his backpack and kept walking toward the giant tree at the centre of the forest, killing and looting any monsters he encountered along the way. After a few hours of walking, Alex stood before the big tree, drinking a mana potion and munching on a handful of Moon Petals.
"Silk, how many spells do you still have prepared?"
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-Shree-
"Twelve? Hmm, depending on the boss, that might be too little." In REALMS, every boss in non-major Rifts is chosen randomly from a list depending on the characteristics of said Rift. "Hallowed Forest has the undead, haunted and nature tag. So, taking into account the Rift's difficulty. The boss could be Seed Zero, Withered Treant, or the Blooming Corpse. None of them should pose too big a threat, but better not risk it." It took Alex over half an hour of weaving spells with Silk before he felt prepared enough to face the boss. "This should be enough. I would have liked to be more prepared, but if the boss is Blooming Corpse, I risk it growing too strong." Tying a prepared Storage Pouch to his side, Alex downed another Mana Potion before closing his eyes and placing his hand on the tree's base. With a flash of bright light, Alex disappeared. Opening his eyes, Alex found himself in front of a large, grey, withered tree with cracked holes resembling a screaming face with closed eyes.
"Withered Treant, not the worst it could be." Casting Flame Lash, Alex took a deep breath before stepping forward. The Treant's eyes shattered open, letting out a screech like rushing wind. Running forward, Alex ignored the stiff pain in his back as he whipped the Flame Lash towards Withered Treant. The Treant groaned as the fiery whip slashed against its left branch arm. Alex tried to attack the Treant's eyes with a flick of his wrist, but failed when the boss intercepted the attack with its charred arm. Before he could react, the Treant's arm cracked open before snapping shut on the spell, trapping it between charred wood.
Dismissing the spell, Alex momentarily paused as he felt a small rambling under him. 'Silk!' He mentally screamed. Feeling a sudden burst of power coursing through his body as a hurried screech echoed in his mind. Pushing the burst of power into his legs, Alex leaped to the side just in time to dodge thick, coiled roots bursting from the ground. Wincing as he rolled on the ground, Alex stopped in a crouch before jumping to the side once more to dodge more roots attacking from beneath him. Noticing the rumbling stop, he stayed still while crouching and put a hand over the Storage pouch on his side. "One Mana Potion," Alex murmured before finding a familiar weight in his hand. Downing the Potion, Alex threw the empty bottle towards the other side of the boss before weaving another Flame Lash.
The bottle flew in the air before smashing against the ground. With a loud creak, the Withered Treant turned and swung an arm towards the sound. 'KEEP THE SPELL GOING!' Pushing against the ground, he dashed towards the Boss, aiming his Flame Lash at its eyes again. The Withered Treant screamed as the fiery whip slashed its left 'eye', completely charring it. Rolling underneath the upcoming arm swing, Alex flicked his arm, aiming the Flame Lash towards the other eye. The Treant blocked the attack using its charred arm before the attack could hit. As they collided, the spell started to fizzle before disappearing, while the Treant's arm crumbled apart, big chunks of burnt wood crashing down until only a small stump was left over.
Dodging the falling debris, Alex jumped to the side when he heard rumbling from the ground again. He narrowly missed getting impaled by roots, only to get sent flying by the Treant's other arm swinging at him. Flying through the air, Alex's body skipped across the ground, only stopping when he crashed into the arena's wall. "One HP Potion." Alex coughed out, spitting out the bile mixed with blood filling his mouth. Alex drank the potion with a shaky arm while trying to stand back up. "Silk, how much time do we have left?"
-Scree Hiss scree!-
"FUCK! Keep the spell going and activate Energize, use half my Mana!" Tossing the empty bottle to his other hand, he took out a Mana potion and downed it before dashing towards the Boss. When he was close enough, Alex threw the bottle in his left hand, causing the Treant to turn towards the noise. Putting more power into his legs, Alex threw the other bottle further ahead and started weaving a Flame Lash. As the boss swung towards the sound of the second bottle, Alex jumped toward the Treant's face and slashed its right 'eye'. As the boss screeched in pain, Alex landed on its face, using a branch to hold himself next to its mouth. Dismissing Flame Lash, Alex raised his hand towards the boss's open mouth.
"SILK FLAME! PUMP EVERY I HAVE!" Activating the spell, a torrent of fire burst from Alex's hand into the Treant's open mouth. Ignoring the heat and searing pain, Alex held onto the boss as it tried to shake him off. Seeing movement in the corner of his eye, he dismissed the spell before letting go of the branch. Falling, Alex narrowly dodged the wooden arm that swung past where he was and strained into the Treant's face. Shielding his eyes from the falling wood chips, Alex grabbed another Mana Potion before jumping to the side to avoid the roots bursting underneath him. Landing on his feet, Alex downed the potion in one gulp before throwing it at the Treant's incoming arm, causing it to pause long enough for him to be able to duck underneath the attack.
Grabbing another Mana Potion, Alex tossed it to his other hand before taking out a Health Potion. Drinking both at once, Alex ignored the burning sensation in his chest before throwing a bottle a little distance from him and jumping in the opposite direction. He took advantage of the boss being momentarily distracted to catch his breath before vomiting out a small pool of blood. Hearing the familiar sound of creaking wood, Alex quickly tossed the other bottle before rolling underneath the Treant's arm that was trying to grab him. Pouring all the Mana he could, Alex weaved a Flame Lash and attacked the outstretched arm. With a furious roar, the Treant twisted its body to counterattack with a backhand slap; however, the crumbling, charred arm quickly fell apart, sending it flying into him.
Alex and the giant chunk of wood flew a few meters before crashing onto the ground. "Ugh," quickly taking out and drinking an HP Potion, Alex pushed the arm off him before getting up on shaking legs. Catching his breath, he looked towards the quickly crumbling boss as it let one last roar before completely falling apart. Alex coughed out chunks of solid blood as he slowly limped towards the boss's remains. Arriving at the pile of charred wood, Alex began collecting the larger chunks and stuffing them into his Storage Pouch. He then sifted through the remaining ash and wood chips until he discovered a fist-sized, marble-like orb.
"Got it, now it's time to get out of here." After he placed the orb into his storage pouch, Alex looked around for the exit. Finding the Rift that leads out of the area, a bright light engulfed Alex when he put his hand on it. Opening his eyes, he saw a bright blue sky and tall, healthy trees. Letting out a sigh of relief, Alex slowly got up off the ground. "God, I need a cold drink right now," he murmured out loud, slowly making his way back to the city.
