“The best laid scheme of Mice and Men,

  Go often aske,

  and leave us nothing but grief and pain,

  For promised joy!”– Robert Burns, To a Mouse

  Zach watched as the blue glass screen disappeared in a gentle flash of light. The metal cylinder that he was holding began to gather the light about it. Zach felt the grimoire start to heat up and as his gaze looked at it, the soft light started to condense around the top of the cylinder. Bright lines began to form making the outline of a gem when the light turned into a soft pale blue forming a cloudy white blue gem. Once done, the gem seemed to emit a flash and a cloudy blue ball of light appeared in front of him.

  “Hello Master, how may I serve you today?” said a voice that came from the ball.

  “Ummm…hello, are you my Grimoire Companion?” asked Zach.

  “Why, yes, I am.” aid the ball of light, and then just seemed to hang still in the air. The sounds of the forest began to echo in Zach’s ears for a few seconds when he realized that he had asked the ball of light a yes or no question. Shaking his head, he realized that an intelligent companion may have been a bit of a stretch, or was it? Zach had spent years working with AIs back on Earth. Perhaps his companion needed the experience and additional data that a fledging AI did. For the first time on this new world, Zach felt like he might have an idea of how to move forward.

  Ok - Zach thought - let's approach this as a new born AI.

  “Companion, your name will be… Grim. Now, I need you to help me establish the best Divine Items that I can purchase to increase my survivability until I reach a town. Remove all items that cost over four hundred DP. In order for me to survive, my first priority is to be able to find food and water. My second priority is being able to defend myself from monsters and dangerous creatures. Lastly I will need to be able to make a shelter and fire on my own.” Zach felt bad for naming him Grim, but then again it wasn’t like he couldn’t change it later.

  Grim swirled for a moment and then spoke, “Name confirmed. Insufficient knowledge is available to assess all variables. Review of Divine Shop performed to find additional knowledge. Please purchase the Wilderness Lore skill with the subcategory Forest to at least a level ten.”

  A blue screen appeared in front of Zach asking him if he wanted to purchase the skill, [Wilderness Lore (Forest)], for ten DP. Zach confirmed the request and immediately felt the mental connection within his mind expand. Originally, he had looked at the forest around him as if it was just a bunch of brown and greens. Now he noticed small differences in the bushes and trees. Those differences hinted at knowledge and as he focused on a leaf there seemed to be a small taste of bitterness that said he could eat this, but it would foul his insides. Another blue screen appeared in front of Zach asking him how much he wanted to increase his skill by. Zach increase the skill by nine points and confirmed his purchase. Once again knowledge bloomed in his mind and now he knew some of the plant names and which were edible.

  Grim seemed to swirl for a moment and then spoke. “Knowledge received. Updating request… Updating… Updating… Complete. Master, after reviewing the available skill information I have generated a package to purchase that will allow you to live off the land until fall, which is in four months. The cost of the Package is two hundred and thirteen DP.”

  Zach was shocked at the idea of losing so many of his points. Then he realized that Grim had told him he would be able to live off the land for months at a time. Maybe Grim had included all kinds of unnecessary equipment. “Grim, instead of four months perhaps you could narrow it down to two weeks. Additionally, I must be able to remain mobile as I want to travel to a town, village, or a hamlet. Get rid of anything overly heavy or outside of my strength range. Oh, and one more thing! Stop calling me Master, just refer to me as Zach.”

  “Request updated, Zach. Cost of the Package is one hundred and thirty six DP.” Grim said.

  Zach nodded and told Grim to show him the list of items within the package. Looking at the list he was surprised that Grim had included bonuses to his constitution and endurance, as well as, strength. There were a couple of support skills like [Camp Creation] and [Foraging]. While only thirty DP were spent on camping gear and rations. Zach spent several minutes debating whether he could remove anything, but the simple truth was that the list looked good and that it wasn’t filled with a whole bunch of useless things, like extra socks or soap. Zach told Grim to go ahead and give him the package to purchase. Confirming the purchase Zach saw a blue screen appear.

  Light whirled around Zach and Grim as changes to his body began to happen and a backpack stuffed with equipment appeared to the side of the stump. Zach could feel energy began to fill the muscles of his legs and chest. “Alright Grim, what about Monsters? Surely I need a sword or staff to kill things?”

  Grim seemed to swirl for a moment and then spoke, “Insufficient knowledge available to assess all variables. No knowledge of area monsters is available, lack of understanding of efficient combat techniques and equipment, no knowledge of your fight or flight response, lack of body knowledge, lack of observation skill, lack of long term goals, lack of pain tolerance, lack of…”

  “Enough!” shouted Zach. He realized that this line of questioning wasn’t going to get him anywhere. So instead he thought over what Grim had said. “Grim, can you tell me why the lack of long term goals is a variable?” Zach asked in a calmer tone.

  “Of course. In order to choose an appropriate weapon and related skill for you, long term class and goals must be assessed. For example, I can create a fighting package for a scaling short sword and weapon skill. However, if you are going to be a mage or a craftsman, then a scaling short sword would be a waste of DP. Review of Grimoire knowledge shows that the common person can expect to obtain a total of two hundred and fifty DP in their lifetime. A scaling weapon which is the most useful weapons one can purchase is around one hundred points and will gain power the more it is used.” Grim answered

  Zach sat there, stunned at the casual knowledge Grim had just given him. The common person could expect to obtain a total of two hundred and fifty points in their lifetime? He had spent more than twice as much to obtain Grim. Hell, even one [Divine Resurrection] was worth ten times that amount. “Grim, how…” Zach took a deep breath. “Grim, if the average person will obtain two hundred and fifty points in their lifetime, how could anyone purchase the Bloodline Upgrades or even some of the Character Enhancements?”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Grim swirled for a moment before speaking, “Most people do not obtain the Bloodline Upgrade. In fact, the few people who have them are considered nobles. As of right now you would be considered a poor landless knight. Purchasing or obtaining additional Bloodline Upgrades or inheritable abilities would raise your social status. In fact, most people receive one hundred points upon reaching their majority and generally spend it on enhancements, money, or Grimoire Upgrades. However, I believe that since the All Seeing God dropped you in the forest with nothing, he gave you a thousand points to help establish you in this world.”

  Zach shook his head at his own stupidity. He had been spending points like they would be given as quest rewards. “Grim,” Zach spoke in a deadly calm voice, “search the most popular purchases of this world and… Wait stop.” Zach realized that he needed to be more specific with his request. The most popular purchases would include those made by merchants and farmers. What he needed was more specific, and more inline. “Grim search the most popular mage purchases, giving priority to mages that have survived the longest.”

  “Searching… Searching… Total results are around ten successful, one hundred point packages. In order to assess which is the best package for you, a Grimoire Upgrade is needed.” And with that a blue screen appeared in front of Zach, asking him if he wanted to purchase the [Grimoire Upgrade: Inner Reflection] for fifty points. Focusing on the item another screen appeared in front of him.

  Zach confirmed the purchase for fifty points and light condensed around his Grimoire wand. This time, runes began to glow around the shaft etching themselves deep into the material. As soon as the glow disappeared the lights that made up Grim seemed to brighten, making him twinkle softly, as if rain drops were reflecting off the light of his cloud. The cloud began to grow and form the outline of a small child. Zach was taken aback for a moment at the advancement of Grim. If he had been back on earth, he would have assumed that the AI had developed to a stage where symbols, emotions and complex concepts were possible.

  Grim waved his hand in a gesture of greeting and a blue screen seemed to appear before Zach.

  Zach shook his head at the alternatives. He began to wonder how people of this world were able to do anything at all, but then again, they probably awakened around friends and family that would teach them skills, cultivations techniques, perhaps even a spell or two. Right now, he was out in the middle of the nowhere with only Grim by his side.

  Zach focused on the Enchanter package first. His rationale was that it had the greatest cost associated with it. He also had the temptation of mind controlling a pretty girl or five. Of course, he knew that if he did it even once, it would feel like rape to him, and he would just gain more and more guilt from it. With that feeling of uneasiness, Zach looked at the package. Apparently, the package would increase his Wisdom and Charisma, give him the skill [Singing], learn the [Cultivation technique: A Sparrow’s Song], and finally gain the spell [Sleep]. Zach opened a window to study the package.

  Zach was taken back by the idea of being some kind of singing mage. In fact, in all the games he’d ever played the bard was usually an unplayable class. Of course, Grim had run the statistics and even in the class description it said that an Enchanter was a powerful class. Still, something about singing made Zach self-conscious. “Grim, do I really have the latent talent for singing?”

  The glowing child-like cloud laughed for a full minute. Zach just shook his head and waited till Grim was done. “No Zach. You most definitely don’t have a talent for singing, but you do have a latent talent for the fiddle. Sadly, the price for the fiddle in the store is five DP due to its complexity. If you wish I can upgrade the package to include the fiddle. However, you will not have enough for the Auto-loot Grimoire upgrade and the Auto-Map upgrade, and I sense that you want both of those upgrades.”

  Zach shook his head, he might have had some talent as an Enchanter, but the price tag on the class was just too high. So instead he went back to examining the other two classes.

  Edit: Changed Sparrow's Song to Mocking Jay's Song

  Editted as of 6/1/2018. Thanks to my friendly and helpful editor.