Sleep, Eat, Drink, or Die

1 hour stamina coma completed

Malnourished: Active

Dehydrated: Active

Sleep Deprived: Active

8 hours to dispel status effects

John blinked at the info box in front of him. His eyes were dry, and every blink pained him. He tried to swallow, but his mouth was dry as well. There was a pulsing pain in his abdomen, like an elephant jumping rope on his stomach. He sat up and felt like passing out again, a wave of exhaustion assaulting him. His vision was blurry, but he could hear someone making a lot of clanking noise nearby.

Sounds like… Cooking?

He tried to focus on where the sounds were coming from, but all that accomplished was the beginnings of a headache.

“He’s awake!”

A female voice called out, and he whipped his head in her direction, giving the headache plenty of room to grow. His eyes narrowed and he groaned in pain. He would have held his head in his hands, but he was currently using his arms to stay in a sitting position.

“John, John, can you hear me?”

He tried to nod, but barely managed to raise his head a few centimeters. She seemed to see his response, though, and continued talking.

“Follow my finger.”

She moved her finger from the left to the right, but it looked really fast to John, and he could barely keep it in sight. She clicked her tongue.

Must be nice to have enough moisture for that. Get me some water. Wa-ter.

She, of course, couldn’t read his thoug-

“Water? Smart choice.”

What?

She left what he assumed was a bedside in the school infirmary, and came back in a few seconds with a glass of water. John was so happy to see the life-giving liquid, he would have teared up. He couldn’t, of course… He didn’t have enough to spare on such frivolities. He took an arm out from under him to take the glass, and then fell back onto the bed. He groaned, more in annoyance than in pain, and used both hands to get back into a sitting position. She put the glass to his lips, which he now realized were dry and cracked. The cup pained him, but the water it brought gave him life. He gulped down the entire glass greedily and another glass was poured. He downed fifteen glasses before he felt like he could speak again, muttering a hoarse thank you, and then downed twelve more. He checked his new stamina bar. -589/100. He groaned.

“Take me to the faucet.”

Surprisingly, the (assumed) nurse complied and helped him out of bed and towards a sink. John turned the cold water on and stuck his head in the sink, drinking from it like a water fountain.

Ding!

Dehydration Dispelled!

Six hours to dispel status effects.

John instantly felt better. The headache lessened, as did his sore throat, dry mouth, and dry eyes. He could see clearly again, but his stomach still felt like castle gates being broken down by a battering ram. He looked at his nurse… Who was most definitely not a nurse. She wore white full plate armor, and had a sword sheathed at her waist. She had a glowing white aura, and, what stuck out the most, a pair of wings made of her aura. Her helmet was on the counter, and her shoulder length light brown hair was tied in a ponytail. Her brown eyes looked at him with… Contempt? Disdain? Scorn? It was hard to tell, but one thing was clear to John: she was beautiful.

“You have six hours to dispel your malnutrition and sleep deprivation. Which will you take care of next?”

John blinked in surprise.

“How do y-”

“I was sent by The Developer to guide you through your first, and hopefully for you, your only coma experience. I see the world as you do. Now, food or sleep?”

John just shook his head.

I’ll be in better shape to understand what’s going on after eating so-

She had walked away when John started his thought, and was now standing in front of him with a pot of soup. Not a bowl, an entire pot. She put the pot in the sink and handed John the ladle.

“Eat.”

John eyed the soup suspiciously before shrugging and ladling a mouthful. It was delicious. He had no idea what it tasted like, but he loved it. He started to stuff his face, and soon enough, the pot was empty. Another was put in its place. John emptied that one as well. Next came several loaves of bread. Then an entire box of spaghetti. John was finishing his last noodle when,

Ding!

Malnutrition Dispelled

Four hours to dispel status effects.

John’s condition improved drastically. The pain in his stomach disappeared. He could move on his own. He felt his strength returning. But he was exhausted. He shuffled over to the bed and laid down. Before falling asleep, though, he checked his stamina bar.

-300/100

He chose to sleep for four hours.

His dreams were a tortured nightmare. He cycled through different agonizing scenarios. First, he was a flame being thrust into the ocean, fighting to stay lit but quickly being put out. Then he was a raindrop falling onto lava, instantly vaporized. Next, he was a mesa, constantly being beat at and worn away by the air. These scenes and many others plagued him, but he couldn’t escape them. Not until his four hours were over.

A few minutes into Evocation, Layla felt him. He was channeling his magic. His aura sent out powerful waves of energy, and she could feel them caress her. She shuddered in her seat, the urge to touch herself almost irresistible.

“Hey, Lay, you good?”

Then the entire building shook, and with a thundering crash the temperature in the room skyrocketed. Layla’s eyes rolled back into her head and she muffled a moan.

He’s gotten so much stronger. How?

“Whoa, Lay. Calm down. It’s probably Professor Aarav summoning an elder phoenix or something as a demonstration in class.”

Layla managed a weak nod and a squeaky “mhmm”

I know it’s him. I can feel it. His aura is too unique to be mistaken for someone else’s. It burns more passionately than the hottest forest fire. It washes over me with the **** of a ten-foot wave. It electrifies me and leaves my nerves stinging for more.

Professor Arjun continued with the lesson, although noticeably bothered by the sudden heat. A few more minutes passed by without incident. Then, the walls began to shake. The students were all really concerned for their safety, but a look at Professor Arjun and they all knew they were safe. He was completely calm. Layla, however, ran out of the room in pursuit of the privacy of a bathroom.

Sleep Cycle completed. 75 Stamina points per hour granted. 4 hours slept. 300 stamina points granted. Sleep Deprivation dispelled. You awaken feeling rested.

John opened his eyes and he sat up, his headache gone but still a little tired. He looked around the room for the first time, noticing that his was the only bed, and that there was a kitchenette where he had nearly drowned himself to get rid of his dehydration. It was like a very, very, small apartment.

A dorm room? Where’s the gir-

“I’m right here.”

She walked out of a door that presumably led to a bathroom, no longer wearing her armor. She wore a pair of skinny jeans and a black tank top. John narrowed his eyes.

“Okay. Stop reading my mind. Not cool. Not sure you should even be able to.”

He cast observe on her.

Sera

Level 77 Guardian Angel

A being sent from up above to protect you for a few weeks after completing the tutorial because you’re an idiot and would die without her. She knows this and really doesn’t want to be here. Treat her with respect and maybe she’ll warm up to you. Maybe.

John blinked in surprise. She sighed.

“You really are an idiot.”

She walked towards the kitchenette and continued talking.

“You completed your tutorial, but you learned basically nothing from it. I’m here to teach you what you should have learned and to keep you alive long enough to learn it. But that’s it. After you learn, you’re on your own for real.”

She started to rummage around in the fridge.

“So, your first lesson will be about your comas. The Developer put the comas in place as a safety precaution. If one of your status bars hit zero, you have no more than an hour to get it to at least one. If you don’t, you go into a coma. If your bar dips into the negatives, you go into a coma instantly. Each of your status bars has its own mechanics for their comas. You have first-hand experience with the stamina coma.”

She pulled out a bowl of vegetables and closed the fridge.

“The stamina coma is activated when you don’t eat, drink, or sleep for a long time. In your latest incident, it was all three. Idiot. Normally, you would have one status effect to dispel in 8 hours and you would be fine. Your dumb ass got all three. At least you figured it out pretty quickly.”

She started to cut up the vegetables, and raised her voice a bit to be heard over the chopping sound of the knife in her hand.

“The health coma is activated when you get hurt more than your body should physically be able to handle. The normal status effects for a health coma are bleeding, poisoned, or shock. I won’t tell you how to dispel these, so start thinking of ways that might help because I’m sure you’ll end up with them at least once.

“The mana coma is activated when you overcast spells, or when an enemy leeches your mana. The normal status effects for a mana coma are mage lock, mana degen, and spell amnesia. There really aren’t any effective ways to dispel these by yourself. If you don’t manage your mana well, you’re dead.

“Now, onto general coma rules. You are allowed a coma a week. If you somehow get into more than one in a specific week, the length of all your comas increases by an hour. So, you passed out for an hour today. If you get beaten to a pulp tomorrow and go into a health coma, you’ll be passed out for two hours, and every other time after that even if it isn’t this week. If somehow you end up with a 24-hour coma, you die. I suggest not going into a coma at all.”

She turned to him, a bowl of salad in her hands.

“Eat this, and then you should probably get back to class. The time dilation in this barrier is so strong that an hour in here is a minute out there.”