Ash awoke to darkness.

  She felt tired, weak. But… not in pain. Not woozy from painkillers, either. That felt refreshing. Her eyes opened but the world stayed black. No dim hospital night lighting, no flashing monitors tracking her declining health. Just her and the cold hard floor she was laying on.

  Her eyes flicked left and right, struggling to find purchase in the dark. Nothing.

  Where am I? Is this the game still? Did my uncle’s hat somehow allow me to play the new Novus early?

  She rose unsteadily to a crouch, feeling at the floor around her. It definitely was stone, but it seemed shaped, made up of a series of hard slabs of semi smooth material. Probably stone.

  Not being able to see was a serious inconvenience. She felt at her face, her eyelids. She definitely seemed to have functional eyes. Feeling around her a bit more, her fingers touched something new, startling her momentarily. It scraped softly as she pushed it aside. Trying again, her fingers slowly wrapped around the object. It felt wooden, like a small baseball bat. With how weak she felt currently, even lifting it made her arms shake.

  Well, if this is the game, she thought maybe the voice commands work like the last one.

  In the first Novus, the player wore the VR headset and could access their menus by speaking out loud.

  “Status” she said, almost falling back as the window flicked to life before her.

  Well, that was about what she had expected. Those same crappy stats.

  Come on, 3 Hitpoints!?

  The dumb combination of magic, her appalling strength stat and her pointless specialisation in Great-hammers.

  Does that mean this stick I found is my starting equipment?

  Clearly it was the only ‘Great-hammer’ she could even hold right now. At least she had a few neat spells. Fire and ice were a fun start. She wasn’t quite sure what that ‘Curse: Hammer Time’ meant. But there didn’t seem to be any further information on it.

  Now though, she needed some light. Fortunately, she just so happened to have a method to generate some.

  She placed the stick next to her feet, held her hands out before her, and spoke.

  “Flame burst!” she cried, the cry turning into a yell as a blast of heat and light exploded before her.

  Fuck. That haptic feedback is intense.

  Squinting this time, she focused on trying to take in as much of her surroundings as possible.

  “Flame burst!”

  The fire burst out in front of her once more, but this time she caught more. She did indeed appear to be in a room built of thick stone slabs. There seemed to be an opening to one side the lead out into what could be a corridor? She tried once more, confirming her suspicion and taking in more of the details. Stone slabs, curved stonework around the ceiling. It was definitely giving off ‘castle dungeon’ vibes. Still, there was one extra thing that had caught her eye on the floor, giving her a small burst of hope.

  She picked up the ‘stick’, quickly calling out “Equipment!”.

  A new window lit up, showing her that strangely she was wearing the same clothes from the hospital, but also that she was holding:

  Torch (unlit) – Hammer/ Great-hammer (2h) - damage modifier: 1.2x(physical)

  This was indeed her starting equipment. A torch!

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  Finally, something useful! Now I just have to light it.

  Carefully, she felt at the slightly bulbus head, placing it on the floor before her and aiming with her hands. She’d need to make sure she didn’t burn the shaft.

  “Flame burst!”

  The light burst forth but this time a small patch of flame lingered, spreading. The head of the torch soon flared into life.

  Tentatively Ash picked it up, her weak arms shaking with strain as she lifted it overhead.

  Torch (lit) - - Hammer / Great-hammer (2h) - damage modifier: 1.2x(physical) + 0.2x(fire)

  There. Now let’s get a good look around.

  Yes, she was in a stone room, open at one side, the floor extending beyond the walls and then stopping suddenly and opening into darkness. It seemed reminiscent of a sewer or catacombs level in some of the games she had played, but not quite right. Gradual steps led up alongside the edge, beyond the flat section bordering her room. She cautiously approached the far edge and peered over, unable to make out anything in the black void below.

  Clack

  The sound was sharp, sudden and came from behind. Ash wheeled around, torch up. The fire, so bright compared to the surrounding dark stone, made it hard to make anything else out beyond. Ash blinked, trying to focus as the sound started again.

  Clack. Clack.

  Was that getting louder? Ash shifted the torch left to right, trying to see where it was coming from.

  Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.

  From around the corner, it came. A pale shape, humanoid, yet not quite. It moved jerkily. Methodically. Walking towards her, feet clacking against the stone.

  “H- hello?” Ash started to ask, then yelped in sudden fear as the light revealed the creature’s yellowed face, utterly devoid of humanity. A pale, eyeless skull leered towards her, the greyed bones of its limbs jerking in time with its clacking feet. Ash stumbled backwards, remembering the ledge just in time to stop herself. Half of her foot balanced precariously over the edge.

  It was a fucking skeleton. Ash tried to calm herself. She’d fought many of these simple foes before, right? It should be easy. Though, this time it felt a little bit too real. Plus, with how fragile and weak she was currently, she wasn’t sure if she was even capable of damaging the thing.

  Clack. Clack.

  It approached, moving forward relentlessly towards her, arm outstretched before it. She needed to act. Ash lowered the torch to her left side, lifted her right arm and shouted, “flame burst!”

  Fire plumed, surrounding the skeleton and rapidly fading. The creature didn’t even react.

  The skeleton lunged. Ash scrambled to the side, just barely avoiding its grasping bony fingers and almost forgetting about the sheer drop again, managing to stumble alongside it, then hop away. She had accidentally manoeuvred herself behind the creature, but it was already turning jerkily, its stretched out arm swung about and clawed at her. The clawed fingers snagged against her exposed skin. The pain bloomed immediately, followed by blood. Her gaze fixed upon it. The pair of gashes, the crimson fluid leaking freely.

  The skeleton’s foot clacked, breaking her from her fixation. She was too close. It would lunge again any moment. She had to do something. Desperately she flailed with her left arm, the torch swinging out and knocking aside the creature’s hand.

  The creature’s hand moved to the side but it seemed otherwise unphased. Plus, the weight of her swing was enough to unbalance her, as frail as she was. Ash stumbled again, just about catching herself and grasping the torch with both hands, wincing at the wound in her right arm. She’d have to try harder. The skeleton stepped forward and she swung, hauling the heavy torch up with both hands and all her might. It lifted, smacking into the creature’s right leg.

  Two things happened. The impact reverberated up the wood of the torch and into Ash’s fingers. The recoil enough to send the tool, and her only light source, spinning from her grasp. Secondly, the skeleton, hit on its outstretched leg, started to fall backwards. Both skeleton and torch landed on the stone floor, teetering over the edge. Ash Didn’t think, she acted. She leapt forwards, reaching for her torch. She needed that light. It started to fall, tilting over the abyss, then her fingers connected and she grasped hold. She had it!

  Then her momentum carried her forwards and she realised she’d lunged too far. Now she was about to slip over the edge with it! Her scrabbling legs thwacked into something hard, and she came to a sudden stop, her head staring down past her torch and into the darkness. The sound of bone grinding against stone sounded beside her. Her flailing legs had hit the skeleton and it was half over the edge itself, hips and one leg dangling as it scrambled to get back up. One clawed, bony hand came towards her and Ash hurriedly got to her feet, swinging her makeshift club with a hoarse roar of defiance. She smashed the flaming top straight into the skeleton’s creepily grinning face.

  The damage was minimal, but the impact was more than enough. With a screech of bone, it slid the rest of the way and tumbled off of the edge. About seven seconds later came a faint echoing rattle of impact as it clattered into whatever lay below.

  You have slain 1 Level 3 decrepit lizardman skeleton. You have received 90 Exp!

  Ash slumped in relief, panting from the sheer exertion. Finally she checked her own status, noting with dread that her own health bar had fallen a whole third from just the single scratch. The bleeding seemed to have slowed a little, but the wound was still leaking blood. Another pulse dripped down her wrist and another point shaved off of her health, leaving her on one. She needed to bandage that. Or get a health potion. Or anything really.

  She pulled off her overshirt, tying the sleeve around her wrist. That got rid of the bleeding status at least. It was at this point she actually internalised that she was dressed in what she had been wearing at the hospital. A t-shirt, shorts and a long hospital overshirt. She didn’t even have any shoes, only thick compression socks on her feet. Now, that was more than a little strange, but she attributed it to the atypical way she had entered the game.

  Trying to get her breath back, she moved slowly away from the edge and advanced up the steps, looking cautiously around the corner the skeleton had come from. Just another corridor. She thought she made out some more steps at one side. Behind her, the steps only seemed to lead down. It was probable that going up would lead out, Ash reasoned and started walking. Each step up was a labour, and she could feel her body was already tiring. She stubbornly continued, through the corridor and up the stairs. Then along another corridor. She turned another corner, and screamed.

  Another skeleton’s lifeless eyes stared at her from across the way. Not again! She thought, scrambling backwards. Then she realised that this one was not moving. It lay against the side of the corridor elongated face with sharp teeth jutting out from it but it remained lifeless and still. A few scraps of tattered clothing hanging off of the body. Ash reached out with the torch and poked at its foot. The bones shifted backwards, but the thing itself didn’t move. Cautiously, she edged past it, hurrying away while doing her best to glance back every few moments. Fortunately, it seemed this one was not going to jump up and attack her. It took 2 dead ends and a whole series of confusingly similar passageways before Ash finally saw something that lifted her spirits. A faint shaft of light shone down at the end of this stretch. She hurried over and discovered what looked to be a boarded up, small circular opening in the ceiling. She lifted her torch, which could just about reach it. Beyond she could make out the light of day through the weathered cracks in the boards. Now, how did she get out?

  Ash looked around. Other than the opening, there was very little here. The passageway was a dead end with only one way back where she came, and one thoroughly sealed way up. The boards looked like wood though. Maybe she could break them? She poked at them with her torch. Then harder, knocking against the wood but seemingly making little impact on it. It was too high to swing at properly, and she wasn’t sure she had she strength to break though even if she could. She was stuck.

  “Hello?” She called “Anyone there?”. Nothing. Still stuck.

  Wait. Wood is flammable, right? You have a fucking torch, dummy!

  Instead of poking it, she held the end up, as steadily as she could, letting the flames of her torch lick up at the aged wood. Slowly, ever so slowly, it began to smoke. The boards were burning! Sort of. They were clearly a little damp and the fire was not catching easily. She waited. Minutes stretching out into what seemed like hours. The boards stubbornly refused to ignite properly. The closest patch was singed and she sometimes caught embers on the wood’s surface, but never enough. Then the flames in her torch began to fade. It was running out of oiled rag to burn, gradually fading until it was merely a charred, smoking club.

  Well, so much for that plan. How am I supposed to burn it now- Oh, you idiot! You have fucking magic! Sure, it didn’t work too well on the skeleton but surely it will do fine on some blooming wood!

  She lifted her hand and spoke the incantation “flame burst!” The fire leapt forth, reaching upwards to the boards above. The distance was a little further than optimal, but she already saw more progress on lighting the boards than the past age of holding her torch to it. “Flame burst!” She tried again. “Flame burst! Flame-” She felt a strange empty weariness, and quickly realised the cause. “Oh, yeah… not got enough Will left to cast that anymore.”

  Will was the resource in Novus top cast spells and activate skills. It was a bit like mana but both mages and warriors used the same resource. It regenerated more quickly than health, but slower than stamina.

  Still, the three bursts seemed to have made some progress. The wood seemed to be actively smouldering now. She waited in pained silence, watching her Willpower crawl back up to 6.

  “Flame burst!” she cried again. A chunk of singed wood tumbled free and she could finally make out the cloudy sky above.

  Now, that’s progress!

  She realised that casting the spell in quick succession would build up heat better so she took to waiting for her full willpower to refill before firing off three bursts. Then, she would fire off another burst shortly after once she regenerated the few extra points for the fourth cast. After that, she repeated the cycle. More and more of the wood burned and crumbled away with each repetition until she felt that the hole was probably big enough for her to squeeze through.

  Now all I have to do is… reach it. Ash sighed at the thought.

  The opening was a good half a meter above her head. Jumping could only get her to just about brush her fingertips against the bottom bricks. She’d have to find at least another 30 cm to have a hope of grabbing onto the lip with her fingers, and even then she knew she would have no chance in pulling herself up. She searched around as far as the light spread and piled up a few loose bricks and stones, but it wasn’t enough. Kicking off of them caused her tower to topple. On one attempt she caught the lip with one hand only for her grip to immediately slide of the rain-smoothed stone. She took a point of falling damage as she slammed her back onto the bricks. She was glad she’d regenerated some back else that might had been enough to finish her off.

  Furthermore, the light outside was beginning to fade. It was evening then? She felt tired and noticed she was actually suffering from a tiredness debuff, reducing her mana and stamina by 10%. From what she knew from other games, that would only get worse if she didn’t rest. Though she’d likely get a hunger debuff after a while. Rain started falling, some trickling down through the opening. She cupped her hands and drank what she could, realising how thirsty she had gotten. The water refreshed her spirits a little and she resolved to rest for the night and try looking for more bricks in the morning.

  She untied her injured arm, the bleeding having faded and the wound knitting back together beneath. At least she seemed to have faster recovery speeds in this world. She bundled up her overshirt as a pillow and found a smoother section of the wall to rest against, that was out of the trickle of water oozing down the centre of the passage. Finally, she closed her eyes. Her thoughts blurred, memories of her parents, her mother’s concerned face looking down over her. She wondered how her uncle had convinced her to let her keep playing. She must really be in bad shape out there. She felt like she should be more concerned about that, but she was just so tired and she couldn’t focus on the feeling. Finally, sleep overtook her.