Bitter

Britta looked over the status screen trying to understand it, although she didn’t try very hard since she was never going to put any of it to use.

Her character name was B as the dragon had said. She’d chosen it because it was short so required less typing. Her character’s job was illusionist. She didn’t even remember picking it. She had definitely decided to go with a magic user since she didn’t fancy fighting hand to hand, but not this sub-class. It must have been a misclick. It didn’t matter.

The attribute stats were underwhelming to say the least. Only Int stood out, which probably stood for Intelligence. It could be Integrity, but that would be a strange thing to assign to a character. Of course, Intelligence had nothing to do with how smart you were. Britta only had her own wits to rely on, it wasn’t like the game could give your brain a boost. In most games, the Int score related to how much magic you could do.

Judging by her other scores, Britta’s character would be depending on her magic a lot.

She had hardly any Hit Points which was basically her life total. When that reached zero, she would die, assuming the game followed standard rules. How many weapons did less than five points of damage? Even a stick would do at least one point. Five hits to the head and lights out.

On the other hand, she did have a lot of MP. Magic Points? Mana Points? Something to do with casting spells. At least, she had a lot of it.

Then there were the spells she could use.

“What does Glamor do?” Britta muttered to herself.

“At Level 1, it casts a bright flash of light that can blind the enemy,” answered Nigel.

“Can blind? So it isn’t certain?”

“All characters have resistance. If they resist, they will be unaffected.”

“Isn’t that kind of unfair? Half the time my spell won’t do anything.”

Nigel tilted his big dragon head to look at her. “It depends on your level and how much resistance your victim has. Half the time is very unlikely.”

Britta wasn’t convinced. The spell could be totally ineffective, which meant whenever she needed it most, it would let her down. Just like everything else.

“What about Mirror? I can make a copy of something?”

“Yes. The copied image looks and feels just like the real thing, but can’t make sound. How long the copy lasts will depends on your level.”

“Can I copy myself?”

“Yes,” said Nigel.

That could come in useful, although it wouldn’t take much longer to kill two of her than it would one.

“And what are those strange words next to each spell?”

“That is the word you must say to cast the spell.”

Typical nonsense words. “Can’t I change the word?”

“Yes.” He sounded a bit disappointed. “In the setting menu, you can assign whatever word or gesture you choose.”

There was a Setting button at the bottom, next to one that said Exit which was good to finally find.

“My Magic Resistance, that’s quite high, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Since you are an illusionist, you aren’t easily fooled by magic. Although a high level magic user will bring your score down.”

“Is that all magic? If someone throws a fireball at me, it won’t hurt?”

“No,” said Nigel like he was talking to an idiot. “It only means non-damage inducing magics. Like illusions.”

It would have been somewhat over the top if she was immune to magic completely.

“Okay, that all seems fine. Are we done?”

“No.” He sounded even more like he was talking to an idiot. It was starting to get on Britta’s nerves. “You need to choose a weapon.”

“But I’m a magic user. I don’t need a weapon, do I?”

“Everyone needs a weapon. At low levels, your magic is limited and weak. You will need to defend yourself.”

“Alright, what are the choices?”

Three weapons materialised in front of her. A small knife, a pieces of wood and a pair of gloves with brass knuckles woven into them. They hung in mid-air, bobbing slightly.

The piece of wood, which was supposed to be a staff, was way too big for her. And if they scaled it down to her size, it would do hardly any damage.

The gloves were definitely out. No way would she be beating people up. Not only did she have tiny hands, the thought of punching something to death was just horrible. The people that designed these games…

It would have to be the knife. She plucked it out of the air. The weight and texture felt completely real.

“Do you choose the dagger?” asked Nigel, somewhat redundantly.

“I suppose so,” said Britta.

Two buttons appeared before her. Yes and No. They really wanted to string this out. She pressed Yes.

“Now you need to have a practice fight,” said Nigel. A small, ugly creature appeared out of nowhere.

It was a little bigger than Britta, wore shoddy armour that was still far better than what Britta had on, and it had a sword.

“Wait, I don’t want to fight whatever that is.”

“It is a goblin,” said Nigel. “Attack!”

The goblin came rushing at her.

Britta stumbled backwards and shouted, “Artua!”

There was a bright flash and then Britta couldn’t see a thing. Apparently, she’d used the spell on herself.