The Erantel Continent is the largest of the seven continents in the world of TFP (Tales From Players). Four major powers dominate this continent.
The Kingdom of Everfrost, a northern kingdom surrounded by snow in every season.
The Arcane Tech of Lumina Spire, a kingdom in the western region of the Erantel Continent, built around magical technology and largely inhabited by dwarves and gnomes.
The Grand Elysian Empire, an empire at the center of the continent with five subordinate kingdoms under its rule.
The Obsidian Sands of Ash-Dune, a union of the many great tribes inhabiting the vast desert.
The four most influential regions on the Erantel Continent.
Even though I probably wouldn't be visiting every one of those places, I still needed to know about every superpower influencing the movement of the Erantel Continent.
The problem right now was, where was I?
The place this young man's body—which was now my body—belonged to.
The TFP player-POV videos had given me the answer—the Erantel Continent, more specifically, one of the territories under the Grand Elysian Empire.
The Margravate of Serpentspire. An autonomous territory under the Grand Elysian Empire. It lay along the empire's eastern border, directly facing the sea route to the Archipelago of the Seven Seas, the island chain east of the Erantel Continent.
A territory that strongly supported the empire's third prince in the struggle for the throne after the emperor's death. A territory that would be plunged into war over the succession, a war caused by the imperial princes themselves.
Terrifying...
There wasn't a single truly safe place on the Erantel Continent.
Intrigue and chaos, whether caused by its own inhabitants or by other creatures such as monsters and the like, were the seasoning that kept the players of Tales From Players playing.
Damn developers, making the story dangerous for every one of its inhabitants.
It was great when you were just a player sitting comfortably in front of a screen. But what if you were a native inhabitant?
Horrifying....
Terrifying....
I needed to know the exact date. Without a reference date, none of my knowledge about Tales From Players could be matched to the event timeline. I couldn't make reliable plans or decisions for the future.
I was tired of thinking about all that—
"How do I get out of here?"
The moment I said those words, the empty space of the Sanctuary suddenly split apart, exactly like a sci-fi movie's computer-generated spatial transition effect.
The sensation of floating faded, making me realize that my soul had returned to its physical form.
My vision was still dark because my eyelids were closed. When I slowly tried to open my eyes, I saw another unfamiliar place.
I was lying on a simple bed inside a tent.
"Ack!"
The instant I moved my body even a little, pain shot through every part of it—especially this body's chest!
Thinking about everything that had happened lately, I remembered that this body had gone through some dangerous experiences.
Dying after being stabbed by a rusty sword, right after awakening because my own soul had taken over it.
Only to end up sprawled on the ground again after that damn pig monster's punches and kicks slammed into me.
Just moments after I had awakened in this world!
It hurt like hell...
That monster's attack had felt like being hit head-on by a truck. Damn...
At least the dizziness that had struck me right after I first woke up was gone.
Now, where was I, exactly?
Several cloth partitions stood beside me, dividing the beds on each side of the room. The roof seemed to be made of canvas, held up by several stakes.
Was this a recovery tent?
There was no one else here, just me and the silence filling one of the four beds in the room.
The sharp smell of herbal medicine mixed with cheap incense stung my nose—the typical medical treatment of the medieval era.
Lying alone in an unfamiliar place with no one to talk to was incredibly boring. Going back to sleep was impossible with pain radiating through my entire body, and my chest kept throbbing every time I breathed.
How was I supposed to pass the time?
"Ah! What about that?"
In a world based on a game system, that had to exist, right?
"Status!"
....Silence. No pop-up screen appeared, despite the hope behind my thought.
"Status info!"
"Personal data!!"
"System!!!"
"Not a single thing!"
Every utterance, every word I spoke, met with no sign that my hopes had produced anything.
This is the world of Tales From Players, isn't it!?
Calm down...
The world's characteristics and the information from the life-recording video screens had already confirmed it. The only logical conclusion was that I wasn't an NPC in the game.
But why wasn't the part of the system that worked in the game working now?
Could this be another multiverse?
Maybe...
I tried my luck with something else—
"Map!"
"World map!"
"Inventory!"
"Skill!"
Nothing. There was no cheat menu, no dimensional bag. My world had officially entered Nightmare Mode.
"Huuuh... There's nothing I can do..."
I wished the internet and gadgets existed here.
I was already starting to get bored...
Then how was I supposed to return to the Sanctuary of Players?
At least I could pass the time there. In my old world, streaming and video platforms could be used to kill time. The Sanctuary of Players should work the same way, right?
I closed my eyes and tried to imagine the Sanctuary's empty space again. The moment I opened my eyes—
I was back!
Back inside the space that could display so many video screens.
Was getting in really that simple?
"Too bad this is my only special ability. If only there were a status panel or an inventory—"
[Name: Efren | Age: 13 | Level: 3]
[Race: Human | Class: None]
[Title: [The Foreign Observer]]
[Mana: 120]
[Strength: 5 | Defense: 4 | Speed: 6 | Reflex: 4 | Perception: 5]
[Special Stats: None | Element: None | Skill: None]
A full panel suddenly appeared right in the center of my vision!
It contained every piece of information about this body's data.
"There it is! These are game stats! It appeared!"
I threw my hands into the air and hopped around excitedly at what had just appeared.
I examined every word in the status panel.
Thirteen years old...
So this kid was still young...
His Level was already 3, but there was no Experience (EXP) bar anywhere.
How did you increase your Level?
Did you have to kill monsters?
There was no information showing how many achievement points had been earned or how many more were needed to increase his Level.
In the game settings of Tales From Players, experience was gained by killing monsters, completing quests, and creating or discovering certain things.
Randomly killing NPCs or other humanoid types didn't grant Experience points just like that. As a result, indiscriminate murder didn't provide points toward increasing your Level.
Experience points could only be obtained from NPCs classified as monsters by the system, or NPCs categorized as being connected to a quest.
When it was done anyway, it was usually by psychotic players. The only thing they gained was prestige—either bad prestige or good prestige—depending on the type of NPC and the title attached to them.
I'd still need to test that directly after I recovered and could move around freely.
The Class information was still blank, too.
Class itself was the main category that determined a player character's identity, role, and playstyle or combat style. In TFP, a Class usually served as a specialization for skills, whether combat skills or crafting and creation skills.
Fortunately, Class didn't restrict a player's ability to learn skills. Class was more like a buff: an increase to skill effectiveness, a boost to specific stats, or some other advantage for the player character.
Because of that, Class remained an ambiguous matter for all players, even up to the final day I remembered.
A Title was an honor bestowed upon someone. Depending on their achievements, a Title was usually obtained after completing a particular quest or accomplishing some great deed capable of affecting the storyline of Tales From Players.
When I examined the information in my Stat panel, I found one Title listed there.
I hadn't done anything yet, so what was this? An honor attached to my status?
I touched the [The Foreign Observer] line. An additional description window blossomed beside it—
[The Foreign Observer]
[Increases resistance to bad fate. The world has difficulty “rejecting” or killing the character because he isn't registered in the original fate.]
The explanation appeared in another pop-up, just a simple explanation with no other information accompanying it.
Hmm...?
What did the explanation for this Title mean?
Was it because I was currently inhabiting Efren's body?
Or because my soul—me—came from a different world?
Could the Sanctuary of Players be responsible?
I thought about the meaning behind the words. Foreign meant a stranger, someone like me who wasn't from this world, while Observer meant an observer—me, someone who could observe the future.
Was that it?
At least this Title gave me resistance against bad fate...
I was very happy with this ability. At the very least, it reduced the possibility of me ending up in a dangerous situation.
Then there were the stat columns...
Mana. Mana was the energy generated by this world itself. It was a form of energy that could be harnessed and stored inside a person. It was the fuel needed to use skills or magic.
In the attribute panel, the base Mana was 100 at Level 1, increasing by 10 points with every Level gained. Since Efren was already Level 3, his Mana value was 120—his base points plus the additional amount.
Without the influence of a Class or other consumable items, the increase proceeded normally in accordance with Level gains.
But his physical attributes were seriously disappointing...
In TFP, a Level 1 character's starting status was 5 points in every attribute. But this Efren, already at Level 3, only had 4 Defense and 4 Reflex! His Speed had only increased by 1, to 6.
The other Status columns—Special Stats, Element, and Skill—were still empty. Filling those Status columns would be another task.
A terrible start for me in this new life.