Eve

Acceptance

    Before taking my first step to the stairs, I looked back and enjoyed the beautiful scenery again. I bent down a bit and started to smell all the flowers. I had never seen this huge flower field before. I was happy. To be able to breathe clean, fresh air, to be able to feel the wind breeze, was something that I had never experienced in a crowded city. I plucked the white flower nearby. I remembered my mum had always brewed us jasmine flowers and tea leaves after we came home from school. It was a happy memory.

    These flowers are beautiful. I have never seen them before. The fragrance is not that strong yet the petals are so pretty. If only I could bring some of them...

  "Inventory", as I shouted, the inventory window popped out in front of me.

    Can I put the flower inside?

    Having played RPG games before, I understood that I could put some items inside the inventory. However those items were normally dropped from monsters that the players defeated or found inside some treasure chests. In addition, things that existed inside the game environment such as flowers, stones, or even things that the NPCs (Non Playable Character) possessed, were not something we could interact with freely.

    I started to put the flower into the inventory window and let the flower go, but then it dropped to the ground. I picked the flower back again.

    Is it impossible to put this into inventory?

    I tried to throw the flower into the inventory window, but it did not result in anything different.

    "Put Flower!" I shouted, but nothing happened.

    "Store Flower!" but nothing happened.

    This is frustrating. Normally when you play an RPG game, you can not really interact with the environments. But since I can pick these flowers, I should be able to store them, right? Ugh, what should I do? I guess I will just throw it to the ground... wait!! Let me try it.

    I closed my eyes. Mana was the core of energy and magic inside the human body, with this knowledge I assumed that the ability to summon all the windows was affected by mana. To put the flower inside the inventory, I tried to imagine that I was putting the flower using my mana. The flower disappeared.

    You gained White Flower x1

    I see! So this is how you put things inside the inventory. So I think I can take out the items I stored while imagining the action too.

    I checked the inventory. There was nothing interesting about the flower’s description. I opened my status window after that.

    There was nothing that described money on my inventory window. However, there was this thing called Fiore in my status window. Is this the world currency? Hmmm…

    I have decided to collect more flowers before proceeding to the next floor. I began to collect the flowers near the stair and made my way to the river bed. As I was collecting the flowers, I thought of a lot of things in my mind. At first, after I opened my eyes, I thought that I had already moved to a place where people who were dead went to. However, because of that small window that popped out before, I could not stop thinking that this world was a game until now. But knowing that we could interact with the environments had made me realize that this world was not a game. This world was real.

    Growing up as a Christian, this kind of place has never existed in the Holy Bible. A place where you could purify your souls... What did she mean by purifying our souls? In Christian teachings, we were only given two choices after we passed away; it was either going to Heaven or Hell. And the choices were affected on whether we have kept our faith or not. This place had never been told before.

    Was it reincarnation? Growing up in a multicultural country has given me the opportunity to learn different cultures and even beliefs, one of them was Buddhism. Samsara, a circle of life which explains that souls will be reincarnated through different realms because of their karma. When the souls had done good deeds and perpetuated with no self desires, Samsara would end and the souls would attend Nirvana. 

    Humans are interesting creatures. We were given the ability in expressing our emotions and feelings, solving problems, and reasoning. In the beginning, humans realized that there was something that was way bigger and more powerful than them. Humans started to worship animals, weather, mountain, sea, or even other objects (animism). Then, we started to give identities to those powers. Starting from there, different religions were established and even different teachings developed.

    Humans even fought because of different religions. Claiming that their own God(s) would protect them and convert the defeated parties in acknowledging their God(s). But religions also helped them to live in an order and promoted good behaviors. Humans are already accustomed to religions.

Is Buddhism the right religion? I was shaken a bit. But then from what I remembered, there were no places called Eden in Buddhism teachings. I sighed. I should have stopped thinking about many things for now. Even though this world was still unclear to me, the only door that I could open was to move forward. I stood up and wiped my sweat.

    I have gathered a lot. It should be enough right? I hope I can really sell these flowers.

    I checked my inventory window.

White Flower x46

Orange Flower x33

Red Flower x39

Pink Flower x47

Yellow Flower x28

Purple Flower x52

    Hum… two hundred and…. forty-two flowers? I guess I will just get another 5 flowers.

    I walked around and picked some other purple flowers. A window popped out in front of me once again.

    You have gained the Harvest skill.

Harvest (Passive) Lvl. 1

With proper tools, this skill enables you to farm berries, crops, honey, flowers, or other plant items easier. This skill might double your harvested items by chance during harvesting.

Requirement: Harvesting 250 items.

    I got my second skill. Another passive skill. So, I think, acquiring new skills can be done by doing certain actions. This is interesting. Well I should start trying several different actions in the future. I am tired. I feel thirsty.

    I ran down to the river bed. The river was so clean and clear. If I was in the real world, drinking from the river was something I should be aware of. We did not know whether the water was clean enough to begin with. However, I could not think those thoughts and began to scoop some water with my hands.

    “Ahh….” I quenched.

    “This is so refreshing!”

    I began to wipe my sweats again and stood up. I was looking around. There was nothing changed here, the flower field, a river, and trees on the eastern side of the map. My stomach started to grumble. I felt hungry. There has been nothing that I could think of that was able to be eaten here.

    Should I go to the next floor now? I have gathered some flowers already. Maybe I can get some food there. But… should I check the forest? Will there be some fruits there? Hmmm…

    I walked to the trees on the eastern side and entered the forest. There were some berries and apples. I started to pick, eat, and store them. The Harvest skill has helped me neatly when picking the fruits. Sometimes I obtained doubled amounts when picking them. A funny idea passed my mind. Should I just live here? I smiled. I breathed the fresh air and started running along the trees and bushes. That was so fun.

    I walked deeper into the forest. I bumped into something. It was a white colored hexagonal barrier. It seemed like that was the end of this place. I tried to touch them but I could not reach the other side. There was no way out unless I went upstairs. I walked around the area while touching the barrier. I looked up at the sky but I could not see anything beside the clouds.

    There were some birds chirping before, right?

    I could not find any other creatures besides flowers and trees. There was really nothing to see anymore here. While I was walking to the staircase, I spotted a white statue far away on the north.

    I walked to the north closer to the white statue. At first glance, it looked like a statue, but as I came closer I noticed it was not a statue. It was a small altar. The altar was round and placed higher than the field. It was made of huge stones. There was a broken stone staircase that still could be used to reach the altar. There are several things that I could see on the altar. An offering table with horns in each corner, a laver filled with water, and four white stone pillars behind the offering table.

    “You have found the beginner altar!” a window popped out in front of me.

    “Based on your offerings, you will earn some rewards accordingly.”

    The window was shutted after that. There were not many things that I could offer except all the flowers and berries that I had gathered. There has been something that has bugged me for a short time. I was pretty sure that I did not see any altar in the beginning. I could only assume that this altar only appeared because I have not yet gone to the first floor.

    I should just put the flowers and berries on the offering table then…

    Before I put the flowers and berries, I looked at the laver. A verse from the Bible came into my mind.

    They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations (Exodus 30:21).

    I walked to the laver and took off my shoes. I performed the ablution ritual. I washed my feet and my hands. I scooped more water to wash my face. I, then, walked to the offering table barefoot. I took out the flowers and berries and put them into the offering table. Soon after, my offerings perished and turned into blue crystal dust and another window popped out in front of me.

        “Your offerings have been regarded.”

    I saw a bright light coming from the offering table. The light materialized and turned into a flower ring and a book. I grabbed the items.

You have acquired Floral Ring x1

You have acquired the Book of the special class: Florist x1

    A Florist Class? I was dazzled. A florist as a class, and it is special?

    I, then, checked the Floral Ring that I got from the offering table.

Floral Ring

A weapon shaped as a ring for the Florist. The ring was crafted with the twig from the tree of knowledge of good and bad. While the flower ornaments are infused with the pollen from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and bad.

Attack : 0

Magic Attack : 0

    A weapon with 0 attack and 0 magic attack? What is wrong with these gifts? 

    I sighed. I felt scammed. I walked to the staircase. I planned to think about the items later. As for now, I needed to unreveal what would exist on the next floor.

    This world was ridiculous to begin with.