The sun was just climbing over the crooked rooftops of Brindlecross when William left the square. After the shock of villagers bowing and calling him a fallen god, he needed to collect his thoughts and find better food to eat.

  Most of the villagers had returned to their chores, still glancing at him from doorways as he sat on a small wall while he waited for his stamina to recover. One elderly woman, the one who had first called him a fallen god, approached, holding out a plate of bread and apples.

  “For you, my lord.” She offered him the plate. “You should eat. You look weak from your… journey.” She half bowed.

  Will hesitated, but his stomach roared in agreement. He accepted the plate with a smile. “Thank you, but I’m not a noble. What do I owe you?”

  The woman looked confused. “Nothing, my lord.” She gave another bow and shuffled back, muttering prayers under her breath.

  “Weird.” An important aspect of the game was reputation. Treat the NPCs of a Kingdom well, and rep went up faster. In a scenario like this one, offering payment was a surefire way of gaining favour with a villager.

  William tore a piece of bread. It was dense and sour, but it filled the hollow ache gnawing at his stomach better than the slice of cardboard cake had. He chewed, marvelling at how real it was. Not a texture file or taste algorithm, this felt and tasted like actual food. “That’s not too bad.”

  An apple followed, crisp and tart, juice running down his chin. Each bite seemed to pulse warmth through his chest. “Mmm. That’s really nice. Maybe this new update isn’t so bad after all.” He could feel his energy returning; the raw fatigue in his body and mind began to ease.

  As he ate more bread and apples, he observed the villagers around him. A child kicked at a stray dog while laughing. A man chopped wood with uneven strokes, and another repaired a roof. None of them moved like AI-controlled NPCs; they were unpredictable, flawed, and behaved all too real.

  He set down the empty plate and brushed the crumbs from his hands. His stomach no longer screamed, and the hollow fatigue had dulled to a manageable ache. It wasn’t a full recovery; he could feel that, but it was enough to allow him to move. He checked his system again.

  [SYSTEM ERROR: Incomplete Interface]

  Stamina: 55%

  [Warning: Moderate Fatigue 55%]

  The only changes were to his Stamina, and the warning had changed from Heavy Fatigue to Moderate Fatigue.

  “Moderate’s better, I suppose.” He stared at his stamina value. Why is it recovering so slowly? Before the system errors, sitting still and eating food would have had him back to 100% by now. He checked through his inventory again, looking for anything with a stamina boost, but found nothing but 4x [Slice of Strawberry Cake] and 4x [Skin of Water].

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  “What happened to all my potions and other gear?” A single high-level [Stamina Potion] would have fixed him in seconds. His spatial storage was almost empty. “Why the hell do I have a hand mirror but none of my weapons?” As a Holy Paladin, he could wield swords, axes, maces, and polearms with proficiency. All of it, including different types of armour, was missing.

  “Where did that come from?” He felt sure the mirror wasn’t there when he first checked his spatial storage. Shrugging, he willed the hand mirror from his storage and took a look at himself. “Oh, God. I forgot I gave myself this… look.” The reflection showed a handsome half-elf/human with long white hair, striking blue eyes, and. “What the hell was I thinking? A goddamn blue goatee. I look like a young Gandalf at Burning Man.” He shook his head before returning the mirror to his storage. “I need a shave.”

  “This damn armour is so uncomfortable.” He stored his helmet and gauntlets in his spatial storage before spending the next fifteen minutes randomly loosening and then tightening various straps and buckles until it didn’t feel like he was wearing a full-body torture corset.

  Will retrieved his sword from where he’d rested it against the wall. “That’s much better.” He swung the sword, his armour no longer scraping as he moved. The weapon still felt heavy, but at least he’d recovered enough stamina to swing it now. Sheathing the blade, he moved towards a random cottage and knocked on the door to fulfil an important quest.

  After borrowing a razor from a shocked villager, William spent the morning wandering the village in disbelief at how real the messed-up update was. Despite the annoying growl in his stomach, the weight of his armour, and the ache in his muscles, he was in awe at how realistic everything was now.

  “How have they done this?” Will muttered as he watched a cat with heterochromatic eyes walk by with a dead rat in its mouth. The black cat gave him a suspicious look and a wide birth, its green and orange eyes blinking at the stranger in its territory. “I thought this level of realism wasn’t possible yet?”

  The VR technology was advanced, but the rendered virtual worlds still had a cartoon-like feel to them. What he was experiencing was a perfect replica of a real medieval fantasy world. Having no answers, he continued wandering the village of Brindlecross.

  At one point, he found a secluded spot and attempted to use his Skills. As a Holy Paladin, he had a diverse set of battle and healing skills, which together made the class OP in numerous scenarios.

  Will pictured his [Divine Shield] forming. Nothing happened. “[Divine Shield.]” He tested more skills. [Sword Strike], [Divine Fire], [Light’s Mercy], [Beacon of Divine Light]. All for nought. “How am I meant to fight?”

  William examined his sword; it wasn’t even his preferred weapon, but it was useful for the endgame raid boss his guild had been tackling. He was wearing armour and wielding a sword suitable for a paladin acting as a secondary tank and backup healer. “All the runes have changed!”

  In-game, he had the professions Holy Runesmith and Alchemist. He’d spent many hours adding the runes to the sword he was examining, but now they looked like gibberish. “What do they do?” There were similar runes on his armour. Every rune had a purpose, but without knowing what they did, he couldn’t use them. They might as well have been children’s drawings.

  Blood Mage Assassin.

  Chapter 003 [Game Notification: Starter Dungeon for Newbies Discovered]