"I have an important mission for you all," Kristina addresses her guards.They are 8 in total, 4 women and 4 men. Among the women, there are 2 demons, 1 beastfolk and 1 dark elf. Among the men, there are 3 demons and 1 beastfolk.
The lands of the kingdom Kristina was a subject of were mostly inhabited by demons. While beastfolk were a sizable minority. Because of that she decided to make most "generic" custom NPCs be demons and beastfolk.
Appearance wise, they all look mostly human, except:
-Demons have horns and pointy ears.
-Beastfolk have animal ears and tail.
-Elves have long pointy ears.
Some could theorize that the reason for them being so similar to humans was so the Vera devs wouldn't need to make completely different models for each humanoid species.
"We, alongside the mansion, have been transported to an unknown world. I need you to scout the surrounding lands and report back any useful information you find."
All of the guards nod in understanding.
"Do you all have the Warp spell and the Message spell?" In Vera, instead of a traditional chat, there was the Message spell for long-distance communication. Some thought that was unnecessarily cumbersome, Emilia on the other hand found it very immersive.
"Yes, ma'am!" They all answer in unison.
"If you find any danger, don't hesitate to Warp back here. If for some reason you can't use warp, use Message to contact me, I should be able to use 'Warp Ally' to get you to safety."
"Understood, ma'am!"
"Alert: Death," Kristina casts on the guards. "This way, I will know if you die and where you died. So, worst case scenario, I will have Frederick revive you."
"Frederick?", the elf guard asks.
Before Kristina can answer, one of the guards, a demon woman, answers first, "That's the necromancer, be glad you hadn't had to deal with him yet rookie."
I might have made Frederick a bit toxic in his description...
"Is there anything you need to do before you leave for your mission?", Kristina asks.
"No, ma'am!" They answer in unison.
"Then head out!"
"For Sanguis!" They all shout and salute in unison, before leaving the mansion.
Now that I sent them off, there's not much for me to do but wait... I guess I'm gonna head to the library, there's something I want to check. In Vera making a room filled with chests would be way more efficient for storing books (and anything else really), but as Emilia would say: "What sort of noble would I be if I didn't have a huge library in my mansion?"
You couldn't really read books in Vera, they only served to grant bonuses or spells. What she wants to know is, can she read them now?
Exiting the mansion, the guards discuss among themselves.
"So... How should we do the scouting?" Ismet, the beastfolk woman, asks. She's a wolf woman.
"We should probably split up, it would be faster that way," Tycho, a demon man, suggests.
"As we are eight, we could divide ourselves into 4 pairs, each going to a cardinal direction..." Teleri, the dark elf woman, expands.
"Oh, you are good, rookie!" Caelia, the demon woman who earlier answered Teleri's question about Frederick, comments. She gives the elf a thumbs up.
In Teleri's description it is said that she was the newest member of the guards, that's why she gets called rookie.
"What's a cardinal direction...?" Okan, the beastfolk man, asks honestly. He's a bunny man that may know how to fight, but not much beyond that.
"North, south, east and west," Dordalus, another demon man, answers. No hint of condescension in his voice.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Well, who goes with who?" Milphio, the last demon man, asks. His eyes fixated on the women, hoping to go with one of them.
"I would like to go with Ismet..." Attia, the other demon woman, asks. She has a slight blush on her face.
"Then I will go with Teleri!" Caelia announces.
"Ah..." Milphio feels disappointed.
"Don't worry, I can go with you, Milphio," says Tycho.
Arriving at the library, she gets a bunch of books from the bookshelfs and sets them on the table. Most of them are spell books.
Before I try any spells... "Stats," she says and a floating menu appears before her.
Name: Kristina Sanguis
Species: Human (Vampire)
Rank: Unlanded
Level: 100
Strength: 100
Constitution: 100
Intelligence: 100
Agility: 100
Magic: 100
Everything seems just like they were the last time she had checked it in Vera, except... "Rank: Unlanded"?! That's mean! I still have my mansion, that's land, right? Wait... There usually would be a "(max level)" label beside my level and "(maxed out)" beside each attribute, does this mean there's no cap anymore...?
Despite being a roleplayer, not a min-maxer, she was one of the most powerful players in Vera. Before becoming a ruler, she grinded as an adventurer until she maxed out all her stats, she wanted to roleplay someone powerful after all!
She repeats, "Stats," and the menu disappears. Huh, what about... "Skills." Another floating menu appears showing a long list of skills, all at what would be considered max level in Vera Phantasia, but without the "(maxed out)" label. Same thing... That's interesting, but I will investigate it another time. Right now there's something else I wanna try.
She sits at the table and starts with a book called, "Introduction to Magic". In-game it gave a 50% experience gain bonus to magic skills until they hit level 10.
The first chapter is about how to learn to control ones mana and use it to cast spells. Casting Calm and Alert: Death before did feel different from the game, like I was moving muscles I didn't know I had and I felt something coming out of me, which could have been mana. I didn't have to do any conscious effort to do it though. Similar to walking, you don't think about how you move each leg, you just do it automatically.
Skimming through the other chapters, it's more mana control advice and some basic spells. Kristina tries one of them, "Light", a ball of light appears floating in front of her, but it disappears the moment she desires it to be gone. Oh, in-game I would have had to say Disable: Light to stop it.
The next book, a knowledge magic spell book. In-game, consuming it gave a random knowledge spell that you didn't already have.
Wow. It seems to include all of the knowledge spells, like "Census" and "Find Item". I wonder, do they have any spells not present in-game...? Wait is that? She finds Map on the book, but it was a "game command" not a spell in Vera.
Huh... I wonder, In Vera anyone who I put a alert spell on would be visible on the map... "Map", a floating menu appears, containing a map consisting mostly of just the mansion itself and the immediate area surrounding it. Yes! Just like I thought, I can see the guards as dots on the map... Oh! The areas they explore are being added to the map, that's nice!
Caelia and Teleri explore south of the mansion. So far nothing of note, just trees.
Teleri has a crossbow as her main weapon and, in case her enemy gets too near, a dagger for close combat. Caelia holds a sword with her right hand and a small shield with the left.
Suddenly, a giant boar, 3 meters in height, appears from in-between the trees.
Caelia readies herself for a fight.
"Wait, shouldn't we warp?" Teleri asks.
"No need! I can handle this!" Caelia replies.
"Alright..." She readies her crossbow.
The boar looks at the both of them, before deciding to charge towards the crossbow wielding elf. She tries to shoot it, but she stumbles backwards and misses the shot, falling to the ground.
Just before the boar could hit Teleri, "Slash!" With one swing of her sword, Caelia cuts the boar horizontally into a top and a bottom half.
"Eh...?" Teleri seem surprised.
"I told you I could handle it! I really didn't expect it to be that weak though...", Caelia comments.
The kingdom of Daemonia was located on one of the most high-level areas of of Vera Phantasia's world. Basic monsters there would be at least 10 times stronger than this boar.
Caelia helps Teleri get back on her feet and asks, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, thanks..." Teleri answers, averting her gaze in embarrassment.
Kristina looks through a book called "Advanced Magic". In-game it gave a 25% experience gain bonus to magic skills that were above 75 and below 90.
Near the end of the chapter it mentions something interesting though, "The most skilled mages may be able to forgo saying the spell's title and instead cast by just thinking it."
In Vera it wasn't possible to cast a spell with your mind... Spells, abilities, game commands. All of them could only be activated by voice, there's was nothing in Vera that could be activated with solely thought. I would definitely count as one of the most skilled mages, so, if it's possible, I should be able to do it! How would I go about that though?
Hmm... Light. It worked the same way as it did earlier, except she thought the spell name instead of saying it. However, Light, Calm, Alert: Death, she can also think a spell name without casting it. I don't know how exactly, but I can choose to cast or not at will, as naturally as I breathe.
Wait, can I silent "cast" commands? I mean, Map literally showed on a spell book, so I should be able to silent cast at least that, right?
Map Okay, it worked as expected. The guards have done some good progress, that's nice. Map. Then how about Stats ? Great! Also working. Stats. Settings... Nothing showed up... I guess it wouldn't make sense in a world that's real. Inventory, everything is still here, good. Inventory.
I would try Log Out too, but I don't want to risk unisekaing myself or worse, actually dying for real this time.