5 Hard work, first impressions and new findings

, Come with me I will show you what to do." said one bald man among the villagers. I went after him to start my first fieldwork experience. We arrived at one spot where he gave me a spade and said

, Follow my lead."

I took the spade in my hands and started following him. He was digging the land with it somewhere around a quarter a meter in depth. I was trying to imitate him as best as possible. Digging earth was not an easy job, I can see that our ancestors had a hard life. In this age robots do everything, in agriculture, human engineers need to input determined headings and that's it. If you don't want to tire yourself you need to pace yourself. Power and angle at which you hit and dig the earth are very important.

While I finished one furrow my teacher already finished his second. I could only sigh about the result. He also seemed still able to do two more while I was tired after just one. Well that EXP points won't come running to you. I looked at the sun high in the sky and continued working.

It seems that day and night are reversed here in the game. When it is night, in reality, it is a day here. When I came to the village it was 24 h in reality so in here was probably 12 in the afternoon. If time is going the same here and in reality now is somewhere around 14 h in the game or 02 h in reality. If the sun sets around 19 h I have roughly five more furrows to do.

Time was passing slowly and even my hunger bar was getting really low. Fortunately, villagers made a lunch break and I joined them. Since game reproduced reality almost 100% you could feel fatigue, wind blowing on your skin, even sweat was visible and was trickling down my cheeks. Because of that, I was looking forward to eating in game. The meal consisted of one loaf of bread and one bowl of some kind of stew. Bread was made this morning but wasn't hard. It still retained some of his softness. The stew was made here from different kinds of vegetables. The only ones I could recognize where carrots and some kind of onions and cabbage. There was little meat in it probably because they couldn't eat it every day. Anyway, it was delicious for a meal made in this kind of environment. Smell and taste were just like in reality.

My hunger bar which was almost empty was finally full and I even got temporary strength buff of 2 points for 2 hours. I continued my work until chief came back. He was obviously done with the merchant and had a smile on his face. Not short after that villagers started collecting all the equipment and tools and started going back to the village. I also followed them so I can log out in a safe environment which was, of course, the village. I could log out here but who knows if some monster will show up when a log in next time. I also wanted to have a little real sleep. Thankfully I didn't have many classes today. This was the first time where I thought that less history was a good thing since I could come home quickly after school and continue the game.

While I had my breakfast I was browsing forums to see first impressions of other players. As I suspected many players filed complains to game designers about the difficulty of the game and scarcity of monsters and quests to level up. Game designers only answered with the same story, rely on yourself and believe in gods. I was on good track so far and I suspect that I am not the only one. Wolf and Marco probably also found their way in raising their level so I will not worry about them.

Finally, Hope couldn't restrain herself and she asked me what did I do.

, Brother is it really that hard as people say? What did you do?"

, It is if you don't find the right way and say the right words. Everything has some function in the Age of Gods."

, I can't understand what are you talking about." she said pouting with raised eyebrows.

, Haha, don't worry you will understand when you start playing. I will also help you so you will be fine. At least I won't let you to the farm to level up."

, What, brother you are farming?" she asked me with a confused look. Even mom and dad gave me the same look.

, Yeah, I am doing farm work can you imagine. I bet there are stranger ways to raise your level. I was lucky enough to find one at all."

, Well son" said my father,, it is not bad to experience that kind of work also."

, That was my thought exactly dad " I said in response and said my goodbyes for today,, well I should get going now." I kissed mom and Hope and went out the door.

The school was in an even bigger uproar then yesterday. I couldn't wait to finish my classes. When kids are in this kind of mood there are few things to do with them or calm them. Most classes are like that, except Maria's, kids there are usually quiet all the time.

I saw three of my peers on break when I finished my first class, they discussed the game. If I was more precise Maria and Anna talked about it and Nick tried to interject every now and than. He even had not so nice expression on his face because he didn't have any to brag about in front of Anna. They saw me and two ladies beckoned me to sit with them. Anna asked me how was my first day after complaining how hard the game was.

, It wasn't that bad I found two quests and I am still in progress with one of them."

, You found not one but two quests how did you do it?" asked Anna with an excited expression, and I could also see Maria show some interest from her sparkling eyes.

, One part luck one part intuition and even more luck, but I think you need to see NPC as real people and to talk with them as we talk here. And maybe you can find some benefits in that."

, What kind of a quest are you doing?" asked Maria. I responded with lightning speed when I heard her question happy like a bee in a field of flowers.

, Farming."

, Ha ha ha ha" Nick laughed with such voice that whole break room heard him. Some of our older colleagues gave him a strange look which said are you crazy. He felt the atmosphere quit down because of him and immediately stopped laughing.

, It is funny, but you can still earn experience if your villages have fields you can try it. Nick, you are a big guy that would be nothing for you. You would be a good farmer." I ended with small jest just to see his face.

He did give me hard look, but once he heard giggling coming from Maria and Anna he snorted something and went away exiting the break room.

, We should try it in our village, Maria, farming I mean, what do you think?"

, Maybe, we will see" Maria said thinking about it.

, You two are in the same village?" I couldn't help but ask.

, Yes we were very lucky." said Anna, with Maria nodding her head.

, That is nice" I said,, it is easier when you have someone you know."

We talked a little until the end of the break when we had to go to the next class. I remembered something and before we went through the door I said to them.

, Here is a little advice" both of them looked at me,, next time when you exit the village or as soon as you log in go to the temple. Try to pray to the gods, or in your case especially goddesses."

Anna looked at me with a confused look, but Maria seemed to realize something, as she nodded and thanked me for the advice.

, I have two more classes so I will see you on next break or tomorrow."

Next break was a short one so it was possible not seeing each other. After I finished with my classes I stayed for an hour or so to prepare the test I promised to my students. When I finished I packed my things and went home. As soon as I arrived and said hello to mom I entered my room and put my game helmet on.

I knew I had a little short of two hours before dad and Hope came from school for lunch so I wanted to use this time to the fullest.

When I showed up in the village it was still dark with the moon still in the sky. Sun won't be coming out for a few more hours. What should I do then? I went to the temple to see if prayer can give me some benefits.

As I thought, my week-long super buff is a lot stronger than a regular prayer from now on. But then I thought, wait, I prayed to all the gods what about only one. That should be looked into. Which one should I pray to? My look fell on a statue of a bear and a prayer went out of my mouth.

, Veles, please protect me in your forest and give me strength in your fields."

Since I wanted to search forest and also I will be working in the fields later Veles was the most obvious choice. He didn't let me down as I heard prompt in my head.

, Blessing of the Forest Lord, Veles

For the next 12 hours, strength and endurance in the fields and forests increased by 10 and all damage from beasts reduced by 20%."

Prayer worked, but what most shocking was its benefits. It seems that my tittle,, First Believer" isn't for show only. If a was a regular player duration time, stats increase and damage reduced would be half mine. I tried with one more prayer but it didn't work, it seems that for now, only one prayer per day is possible. Maybe in the future, I could gain buffs from multiple gods.

Well, let's head to the forest. With the stick I found yesterday still in my hand I started moving towards the north gate since I knew that forest is in that direction. Guards were guarding the village gates even in this time. One of them noticed me and when I arrived at the gate, he talked to me.

, Traveler where are you going in this time, night time is dangerous if you are alone."

, I couldn't sleep so I wanted to explore a little around the edges of the forest. Don't worry I won't go too far in."

, That is good, you should know your limits, but be careful anyway. There are some beasts and some even worse things out there at night."

, Worse things?" I asked a little frightened.

, It will be better for you not knowing, just be careful out there."

I saw that he won't talk about it anymore so I went my way. Since I was level 0 right now I didn't have any illusions that I can survive inside the forest, so I decided to walk around the edges and try to map more of the surroundings. There was no map which showed everything so players had to explore and map by themselves. Good thing was that we didn't have to draw maps, game designers were generous about this.

Forest was spread from the fields in the east until the mountainous region in the west. When I arrived at the mountainous region I saw one big rock in front of the mountains. To be more accurate first were small hills then there were bigger which than grew in a big mountain. I guess that the big rock is the namesake of the village. When you look at the hills and the mountain it is little, hence Little Rock village. This rock could be a sign for travelers or some kind of a boundary for villagers, like the big oak at the end the fields. I needed around one hour to go from the fields until the rock so I decided to go south and come back to the village at the south gate and to map the rest of the surroundings.