[Greater shadow step] [Agility boost] [Greater Agility boost]

With his body obscured and light as a feather it took little effort to hop onto one of the two story buildings in a single leap. Man this was cool. He hopped from building to building and took in the sight of his creation's growth.

He had infused the buildings with Earth elementals so that they could be persuaded to grow or change based on the occupants needs. It also made them more natural as they integrated with the surrounding trees which the dryad's lived with. The earth elementals and dryads had a very uncle and niece relationship since the earth elementals had a more infinite life span compared to the dryads. They also took the form of hooded warrior wraiths cloaked in a cloud of translucent dust wielding swords and shields of refined ore when the time came to defend themselves.

It was a customization that Calloway took great pride in since they made up the bulk of the defense when it came to repelling intruders. But the biggest perk was that when the city needed to grow, it was a little thing for the Earth Elementals and Dryads to multiply to create more homes. With such a harmonious relationship between the city itself and the forest the was no wonder why the city had grown so much in the last couple of centuries.

Long polls lined the streets like the oil lamps from 18th century London. Those were home to the second most numerous occupying elemental class in the city the fire elementals. Dubbed the phoenix class by Calloway they took the form of many different colored fire birds as they lit up the night. They also had a humanoid form that looked like a young woman with flaming wings that sprouted out of her back. These Elementals were capable of defending the city with a plethora of powerful fire-based spell attacks. They worked in tandem with the foxes whose sly nature made them more of cute mascots who welcomed the travelers and acted as good luck charms, but nobody knew how many there were.

The third caste of Elementals build into the city were the water elementals, the nymphs, who worked with the slimes. The slimes took the forms of beautiful women in long flowing dresses. The dresses were part of the slime girls and would break up litter and dust. Anything that couldn't be broken up to fertilize the forest floor was consumed by the slime girls as they made regular rounds throughout the city. The nymphs supported the city’s water by keeping wells and tended the small streams that networked through the city itself. The nymphs were charming ladies and good friends with the Dryads often small groves of flowers sprouted where the two came together in harmony.

Last but not least were the Air elementals, the class dubbed the Valkyries. They were less numerous than the combined number of nymphs and slimes, but their combat prowess was greater than any of the other elementals. The Valkyries stood guard on the city walls with their garrisons of spirit warriors dubbed the Einherjar. The Einherjar slept within the outer walls of the city as its first line of defense against invaders. They were the spirit familiars of the elementals that took the shape of Viking berserkers. The Valkyries despite their garrisons of frightful warriors were the embodiment of femininity with angel wings and battle dresses that extended no farther than their knees. However, despite their summoned nature and soft features, the Valkyries rivaled the Earth wraiths in brutal strength and the Phoenix's fierceness.

Calloway's city grew well, a bit too well. The borders of the outer wall stretched far beyond the lines of the original fortress. The number of Elementals defied his ability to count and that wasn't even counting the druids and their numerous summoned, tamed, and befriended companions. Nor did it include the spike of both Elven and demi-human populations. It became apparent that his city had become a bustling metropolis that extended far beyond his estimations. Did he create a new age of Elves?

When the shock of his city hit him, he sat on a five-story building sporting a foundational tree sprouted through the middle, five Earth Elementals, two water elementals, four fire elementals, six dryads, one slime, one air elemental, three elf couples, three demi-human families, one druid, and seven war hawks. How did he know all of this? For whatever reason when he touched the building he was instantly gifted with its information as if a query window opened in his mind.

"This is too much." Calloway said to himself.

"Hey! Stop! Somebody stop her!"

Calloway peered over the edge of the building to see what the guard was yelling about, it seems that at least the city guard weren't obsolete.

A flash of pink and orange hair caught Calloway's eye and noted the culprit.

Finally, some drama. Calloway thought as he watched the scene. The pink and orange hair belonged to a young elf maiden, her long colorful hair bobbed as she ran through the street and then the chase got interesting as she fled to the roof tops.

"Ooh, she's good. I got to see this." Calloway decided that it was time to engage in the chase as well.

"So what did you do?" Calloway asked as he ran alongside the girl.

"AHH!" the girl nearly tripped. "Who the heck are you?"

"I believe I was first, its rather rude to try and skip my turn."

"Who-wah, just go away!" the girls speed increased.

Calloway casually sped up as well, keeping pace with her with no obvious effort.

"Wow, I'm impressed. Most of this place seems kind of complacent and boring. But you must have done something really exciting, especially if you have Li'fian and Justafer on your tail, they are pretty high-ranking guard captains."

"How are you- get lost loser. I'm the fastest in the city."

The girl used one of her special moves that she normally saved for showing off. She dashed between a couple building bounding off the walls till she was several blocks away in an instant.

"Faster than the guards at least. I'm actually impressed"

Calloway was waiting for her on the building as he looked off in the distance in the direction of the guard captains.

"Go away freak!"

The girl dashed away, this time she not only used the building but the trees as well. This time she hid in an abandoned nest of a giant bird. She peered over the edge and breathed a sigh of relief until she turned around.

"You know, you look oddly familiar." Calloway bit into a fresh apple he found in the tree. "Did you dye your hair?"

"Wha-"

Calloway tilted his head then looked at his apple and back at her, "Wanna bite?"

"Who the heck are you!"

"Call me Cal, and I'd be willing to bet that any of the Sylvan knights would be able to best you. I bet they'd want a bite of this apple. But your Dexterity stats are unusually high for your level."

When Calloway mentioned the Sylvan knights was when the girl really started to freak out. If the knights were finally involved that meant that she'd really had done something bad enough to warrant death. The knights were notorious for their disinterest in petty squabbles unless if affected the kingdom.

"It was just a prank I swear. I didn't mean to transgress-" when she stood up to plead for her life was when she started losing her balance. She pulled out her dagger to defend herself, if she was going down she wasn't leaving this life without a fight. As she was preparing her stance, her foot caught on one of the loose branches of the nest.

"Hey, be careful-"

Calloway jumped after her to protect her. They tumbled together in the air and Calloway used his body to protect hers from the branches and the ground. Combined with the pain shooting down his back there was a pinching sensation in his chest and a pressure on his thighs. His health was in the hundred thousands, but the fall and the pain in his chest barely added up to one percent damage and with his auto-recovery it only took a second for his health to fully recover.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself on his back on the dirt ground with the girl straddling him with horror in her eyes as she looked at the dagger that was plunged into his chest.

"Well that's unfortunate." He said touching the blood pooling around the wound and then looked at it as is coated his fingers. I'm bleeding? He wondered.

"I-I didn't mean to." The girl's whole body shook with fear.

For the first time her name popped into his head... Naomi Starchaser. It was Peter and Wendy's youngest daughter!

"Hey you there!"

One of the Captains pulled Naomi off and bound her in magical restraints. The other attended to Calloway as the remainder of the royal guard showed up.

The Royal guard should only appear if something heinous had happened. Even murder didn't warrant a visit from the Royal guard. What did Naomi do?

Before Calloway could even stand up they were hauling her away.

"Hey, wait!" he tried to stop them.

"Sir, you're wounded! Try not to move around."

Oh right, Calloway thought, I did get stabbed and there are people watching, it’s probably not a good idea to just walk away like nothing happened especially after getting stabbed in the chest. Dang it, I guess it's time to start acting like I'm a tough guy in pain or something.

Pain huh? Is this what it feels like to take damage? He wondered while double fake agonizing in front of the guards. Because of his professions he had unnaturally high health and recovery but he had pathetically low defense. All this added up to his health bar looking like an accordion whenever he engaged in a life or death battle. Apparently, falling four stories and being stabbed in the heart with a dagger didn't even scratch the surface of his health. He hated to think about what would bring him down to 50% damage in this world.

When it was discovered that he was in no need of healing they openly admired his high recovery and left without saying a word.

"What the Heck they must have really wanted her for doing something terrible. I wonder what she did?" He stared off in the direction that they left in. Greater Shadow step did cause lower levels to swiftly ignore him if they did see him.

When the question formed on his lips his head stung like it got kicked in the temple by a soccer player. He stumbled and had to catch himself against a wall of one of the buildings. Lines flashed before his eyes.

"What the-" he pressed his hand against his head and groaned in pain. Was he under attack? What was his health at-

Another kick to the temple forced him to collapse into the wall.

"Is this dream finally over? Such an unpleasen-" he was stopped by the picture of a menu in front of him. It was the game menu it was no longer just in his head, now it was in front of his eyes within reach. One of the boxes had his health, mana, and stamina it was fluctuating back and forth at an insane rate going as far as doubling and then into the negatives.

Cold sweat formed on his body as he fell to his knees in agony. Over his left hand that was pressed against the building another box appeared, the text jumbled like it couldn't figure out what it was trying to say.

One more agonizing cleat to the head and a roar of pain later and his stats all became 1.

Hp

1/777,899

Mp

1/46,453

St

1/94,621

To have stats in the five digits was typical of someone of Calloway's level, but because of his peculiar choice of jobs put his health far outside the typical realm. His Health point or Hp recovery was outside the norm too, and it replenished faster than the other two scores. And suddenly the pain was gone and even the words on the box over his hand cleared up.

Home of the Hatski Family

Elemental: Sergeant Gran Lagose

Market Value: 12,889 silver

...

The list went one but the rest of the information was more or less useless. It's the Sergeants house. I'd forgotten all about him. Jumping junipers Batman, this is no dream.

Another box appeared.

Quest: Naomi's Plight

Naomi, the daughter of Peter and Wendy Starchaser has committed an act so heinous that the royal guard has arrested her. This can only mean her eternal imprisonment or death.

Find out what she did?

Accept/Decline

Reward: 200 Xp

"Well that's a handbag full of balls. I get a quest, and this isn't a dream. I got kicked in the face by whoever or whatever did this and... well screw you, that was a cheap shot universe! I finally reconcile with all my doubts and concerns. I commit to abandoning this world of dolls and then you throw me back in. I was going to get a job and a wife and and..." Calloway let out an agonizing roar and then started laughing.

"Bring it! I accept!" Calloway reached out and slammed the accept icon.

Quest Accepted.

"Now let's find out how many of these God forsaken functions still work." Calloway opened up all the menus like he used to. A wicked grin spread across his as he pushed every button and pressed the system to whatever limit he could imagine.