《World Walkers》 Chapter 1: Log in There was a sharp pain in the back of my head when I hit the log in button, but other than that it was a smooth process. I get more and more impressed with this game every time I see how advanced it is. Instead of a plain white expanse I was standing in an overgrown garden in from of a mirror-like Crystal jutting up from the ground and reaching well above my short 5 foot 4 inch self. This is the coolest character creation area I have ever seen. After a few minutes of gawking at my surroundings I finally placed my hand on the crystal, triggering the process. A slightly transparent blue window appeared.
Please Select your race
"Dwarf" I responded without even bothering to check the options. I''ve always felt a connection to them and always played one when given the option. Maybe it''s a short thing, I don''t really know.
Would you like to select a sub-species?
Huh, That''s new. there was nothing in the promotional material that said anything about there being sub-species. It''s nothing new or revolutionary, but it shows a strong attention to detail. Plus one on the respect meter from me. "Display sub-race options" I said, and a list appeared.
Mountain Dwarf: Shorter than the other species, but much tougher. Gains the "Stone-skin" trait
Hill Dwarf: The tallest sub-species of Dwarf, and the most skilled warriors. Gains the "Dwarven Combat Training" trait
Gold Dwarf: Bronze skin and an obsession with wealth define these dwarves. Gains the "Dwarven Greed" trait
Deep Dwarf: The only sub-species of dwarf to embrace magic and was thus forced to live deep underground to avoid persecution. Gains the "arcane affinity" and "True Darkvision" traits.
Half-Blood: Choose 2 Dwarven sub-species and gain the benefits of both, but lose the "Dwarven Bond" trait
Ok, that''s cool. They seemed to covered just about every kind of dwarf I can think of. I''m probably going to pick the half-blood, but before I do, "Display Dwarven Bond"
Dwarven Bond: A trait shared by all dwarves that drive them to see kinship with each other no matter which clan they belong and to respect and honor each other even if they are enemies. Dwarves without this trait are considered dishonorable and will likely be snubbed by other dwarves.
Ouch. That''s a pretty nasty negative, even when you take into account the positives. It could easily cripple you in the early and late game if you can''t find a way around it. Dwarves are the best smiths, period. Having them snub you could cost you big time in repairs and limt your ability to upgrade your equipment. Whelp, this is going to be interesting. "I choose Half-blood with the combined sub-races being Deep Dwarf and Mountain Dwarf."
Are tou sure? y/n
After a momentary hesitation I selected yes. This was not going to be an easy road, but I figure I''ll find some way to compensate for that nasty down-side. Besides I have a plan regarding the positive traits I am getting from the Deep and Mountain dwarf sub-races. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
As World Walkers is a skill based experience that does not rely on classes you are able to select 3 skills from a list compiled based on your selected race. Please do so now.
An absolutely massive list of skills appeared in front of me. "Holy shit, this is going to take a while." I said to myself. I started sifting through the list quickly eliminating the ones that I had no interest in, or did not fit my plan of action. The whole process took more than a couple of hours, but I finally narrowed it down to 3.
Blacksmithing: Gain knowledge and skills necessary to forge and shape metal. Skill rank determines quality and type of materials workable. Level up bonus: +2 Str, +2 Dex
Unarmed: Can learn and used any unarmed fighting techniques. Skill rank determines damage and effectiveness. Level up bonus: +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con
Mana Cultivation: Instead of Chi you can cultivate mana and use it as thought it were chi. Skill rank determines effectiveness, power, and mana regen. Level up Bonus: +2 Int, +2 wis
The first 2 skills were expected, but the last on was a bit of a surprise. It was likely due to the Deep Dwarf bloodline. When I was sifting through the skills I noticed they all had a level bonus to stats and when I asked the system what that was about it told me that when you level up you only gain 3 stat points to freely spend and that the bonuses from the skills are given every level up as a way to promote focus on skills rather than levels and to prevent stat inflation. Though stats can be raised through training it''s gain at such a slow rate that even the most hardcore of grinders will likely only treat it as a side task rather than trying to create uber characters through it. With all that done it was time to design my avatar. What appeared on the mirror-like crystal was a stereotypical dwarf, but with dark grey skin instead of the usual tan. I made a few tweaks to emphasize strength and sturdiness, which resulted in very square and muscular features. Instead of a full beard I went with a large mustache that flowed into glorious over-the-top mutton chops. I kept the thick stubble on the chin to keep the overall look rugged. I chose a mohawk for the hairstyle. Not a very tall one, but it was tall enough to stand out. I selected black as the color for my facial hair and mohawk. I then chose blue for the eyes, I had hovered over green for a bit, but liked blue better for the appearance as a whole. From toes to the tip of the mohawk my avatar stood a whopping 5 feet even. Finally satisfied I hit confirm.
Please select a name
"Duran Blackiron" I said, having already decided on the name long before I even logged in.
Welcome to World Walkers Duran Blackiron
My vision then went black. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A/N: A super short first chapter, but it has everything I wanted it to have. I plan to make future chapters longer. Chapter 2: Welcome to World Walkers
Due to limitations placed on your race selection your starting area has been pre-selected. You will begin at the capital city Hammerdown.
As this is your first login there will be a lengthy load time. This will not occur in subsequent logins. Would you like to read the lore logs of World Walkers while you wait? y/n
My vision was still black when those windows appeared. I guess this is what passes for a loading screen in World Walkers. Given the estimated size of the world and the rich detail shown in the promotional material this load time is probably going to be a long one and I''ve got nothing better to do since I took the week off to play during launch (don''t tell my boss) I selected yes. The first bit of the lore logs was a basic run down of the world as it exists now: Countries, political systems, race distributions, etc. Despite this it was a massive wall of text. Instead of getting a headache trying to take it all in at once I decided to skip around and just read about the stuff related to my starting area and race. Hammerdown, as it turns out, is the capital of the Mountaindeep Empire. Which itself is an alliance of the 4 Dwarven kingdoms, one for each subrace of dwarves. Apparently despite begin technically run by a council it does have an emperor who is chosen from one of the four kings of it''s allied kingdoms. A new Emperor is only chosen upon the death of the previous one and it is not chosen via heredity, but by merit. A new emperor must have proven himself as a master smith, skill tactician, and displayed strong leadership skills to be selected. Whoops, kind of got carried away there. It''s way too easy to get lost in these logs as they are super detailed. Anyway, back to Hammerdown. The Emperor takes up residence there and the city itself is located underneath Mount Inneoin. The layout is made of 5 large caverns. One for each of the 4 kingdoms and 1 in the center that acts as neutral territory for them to interact with each other without fear of falling victim to the turbulent politics of the empire. I got lost in the stories of the Mountaindeep Empire and its history before a thought occurred to me. Why is this the only place my race could spawn? I began to read through the race specific lore regarding dwarves. It wasn''t until I had finished reading through each of them did I put the pieces together. It turns out that the empire itself only exists because the god that created the dwarves, Bainen, grew tired of the kingdoms constantly being at war made a divine decree to the 4 royal families that as long as the 4 kingdoms united there would be prosperity for all. Given the choice between constant war or a divine blessing the ancestors of the modern royal families made the obvious choice. Despite that, however, tensions and old hatreds never truly vanished and the only place where the four subraces truly interact peacefully is Hammerdown. In an attempt to keep the peace several laws were put into place to appease the masses. One of those laws was that inter-marrying between the subraces was deemed unlawful in a misguided attempt to prevent the purist fanatics from becoming violent. It didn''t work, but all attempts to rectify the situation were prevent by the threat of making it worse. Now the whole thing is caught up in so much legal red tape that almost all hope of the law being removed is gone. As a result all hybrid dwarves are deemed ''Born Criminals'' and have very few rights within the Empire. That explains the debuff and hints at how hard it''s going to be for me there. I''m not sure exactly how much time passed while I was reading, but as I was finally starting to move on the lore outside the empire a blue screen popped up saying that the load was complete and that I had 10 seconds to prepare for entry into World Walkers. I quickly asked if I would be able to read the lore logs in-game to which I was told I would as the information in them is considered common knowledge by the natives of the world. as the countdown hit 1 I took a deep breath and a bright white light flashed in my "eyes" When my vision recovered I was standing on a cliff side over looking a valley filled with lush green vegetation that slowly petered out as it grew up to the treeline before disappearing all together. The mountains themselves had snow covered peaks and seemed to tower over the world. After taking in the sights for moment I couldn''t help but let out a loud whistle over the shear size and detail of it all. In fact, I almost forgot that this was video game for a moment. "Damn" I said to myself out loud, "This TruVR shit is unbelievable" TruVR is the Technology developed specifically for World Walkers. It took a decade to develop and as for how it works I have no idea. They did release some information about it, but it was way to technical for me. The laymen explanation is that it temporarily overrides your senses and uses your brainwaves for control to simulated actually living in the game. There was a huge controversy over the safety of the system, but the company, Isotope Studios, went to great lengths to demonstrate and prove it''s safety. On one occasion they even went on live TV and showed an employee being removed from the system without logging out and he described it as being like woken up from a vivid dream. Despite all of it, however, they almost didn''t get it approved due to false information and fear mongering tactics used by the old guard of the gaming industry. It was pretty sad to watch it all go down honestly. After that depressing moment of contemplation I realized there was a well worn path leading up the mountain a bit from my location. Before that though, I looked around to confirm I was alone then begin to move around in a silly fashion. I waved my arms around in the air and gyrated my hips and did a full body shake. Why am I embarrassing myself in this way? Simple, to get used to movement. Stretches are too boring. When I finished that humiliating displayed I checked my equipment; plain clothes, 10 copper coins, and a bronze dagger. Standard affair from that front. I took out the dagger to try and see my reflection, but it was too corroded and roughed up to make anything out on it. With a sigh I put it away. I really wanted to see what I looked like. I''m positive I look like I did in the creation area, but I still wanted to confirm it. I turned and walked up the path I saw before. After a rather short walk I came around a boulder and saw a massive door carved into the side of the mountain. It was currently open with two armored dwarves at the gate and a short line of people looking to get inside. The guards were inspecting and questioning everyone before they could go in. I took my place at the back of the line, this might be a game, but I''d be willing to bet that if I tried to treat it like any other game I''d be in for a world of hurt (I did mention the sense override thing right? That includes pain even if it is lowered to only 30%). World Walkers was designed to be an immersive world that is almost alive. As such it would be wise to follow the crowd a bit until I figure out just how far I can push things as a player. While I waited in line I started eavesdropping on the conversations of everyone else. Most of them were merchants heading into the city to ply their trade, some were people looking to learn the smithing trade, and a couple of them were fellow players who also chose the hybrid option for dwarves. From the sound of it the two players arrived at almost the same time and were discussing how awesome their first impressions were. As it came time for them to get in I listened very closely to see how the lack of Dwarven Bond was going to affect them gaining entrance. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. "Names" said the taller of the two guards who was the one blocking the entrance. The shorter one was seated at a wooden table with a thick book in front of him holding a feather quill. "Morden Rockbreath" said the player with a thick black beard and bald head/ "Rodrick Bronzebottom" Said the player with red hair and and a braided beard of matching color. The shorter guard starting writing in the book which is obviously a visitor log at this point. "Kingdom of Origin?" The Tall guard asked. The two players gave each other a grim knowing look. They, like me, had come to the conclusion that just getting into the city was going to be a pain in the ass. "None," Said Morden giving the guard a serious expression. The guard snorted at that, and his expression went from one of apathy to one of disgust. He looked over to Rodrick. "And you?" he said roughly. Rodrick crossed his arms and raised his chin, "Same" he replied proudly. Throughout this tense exchange the shorter guard never raised his head and just wrote in the logbook. He clearly did not care about anything other than doing his job. The Taller guard, on the other hand, looked like he was insulted just being around Rodrick and Morden. After hearing Rodrick''s response he pulled what looked like and old time branding iron, only smaller and the tip had a faint blue glow. "All half-breeds are required to be marked for easy identification in order to enter the city" He said with a nasty grin. At this point the shorter guard ceased writing and spoke. "Put that away Drake, you know that policy was removed last week" his eyes never lifted from the logbook, but his words seemed to carry a heavy weight as the taller guard flinched then put the brand away frowning. "You know as well as I do that no cares about that Boros." he said sneering at the guard at the table. "The Law doesn''t care if you like it or not, it still applies" Said Boros with finality in voice. Drake grumbled a bit before stepping aside to let Morden and Rodrick through. Neither of them looked happy as they both realized what Drake had just tried to do. If they were branded openly then it would have been impossible for them to hide their origins and would likely have not been able to stay in the city for long. Drake glared at them as they walked passed before returning to his position for the next person in line. It didn''t take long before my turn came up and I''ll be honest I was a bit furious at him for what he tried to pull with Morden and Rodrick. "Duran Blackiron, Half-breed" I said while looking him straight in the eye. He hadn''t even had a chance to ask the questions yet. As the anger began to show on his face my smile grew. He pointed at my aggressively and open his mouth to start yelling when Boros spoke up, "You may pass" and motioned for Drake to move. Drake looked absolutely insulted as he gaped at Boros before stepping aside. I broke eye contact and walked passed him without even acknowledging he was there and entered the city. I could hear drake start yelling at Boros as soon as I was out of sight. When I came out of the entrance tunnel I was in the center of the Neutral Zone of Hammerdown which is politely referred to as the "Market District" to played down the internal problems of the empire. At the center of the plaza I saw a stature of a Dwarf in full plate armor without a helmet. I went over to inspect it and the saw the plaque at it''s base read
Draugen Goldhammer, First Emperor of Mountaindeep
Interesting, the lore logs never stated who the first emperor was. I guess it''s not common knowledge, which is odd since there is a statue of the guy in the middle of the Market District. There''s probably a story behind that. I''ll be looking into that later. While I was looking at the statue I heard a couple of familiar voices behind me and I turned to see Morden and Rodrick conversing and they looked pissed. I walked over, and they stopped talking and soon as they saw me approaching and gave me suspicious looks. "Easy guys," I said raising up my hands "Player here and fellow outcast" I specifically avoided using the word hybrid or half-breed in case people around us were listening in. You could see the tension fade away from them. "Sorry," said Morden, "but it''s not possible to tell who''s a player and who isn''t so we''re a bit on edge" "No problem man," I said with a grin, "I was behind you guys at the entrance so I kinda heard what went down." "Fucking bastard" Rodrick said spitting on the ground towards the entrance. "So what''s the problem guys, I doubt the asshole is the reason you two weren''t too happy a second ago" I asked, genuinely curious. They frowned and looked at each other before Morden responded, "It turns out the only quest available for us right now is a mob hunt, everything else is too high level and even the Mob hunt requires killing a lvl 5 mob. I''m a healer without any real offensive abilities and Rodrick here is pure offense with no defense. So we''re not sure if we''ll be able to do it." "how many need to be killed?" I asked. "30," Rodrick said, " and they a creature called a rock eater. Apparently they''re and armadillo like monster that''s 3 foot tall and 6 foot long. It''s apatite for rocks can lead to tunnel instability so they''re a bit of a pest here." "I could lend a hand," I said, "I''m pretty much in the same situation as you so everyone benefits." "Sure" said Morden, " but to be sure what skills do you have for combat?" As he was talking he seemed to be distracted by something and a blue window popped up as he finished.
Morden has invited you his party. Joining his party will cause experience to be shared, but all members gain credit for the party leader''s quests. Do you want to join? y/n
I pressed yes before replying "Right now just Unarmed. I also got a skilled called Mana Cultivation, but I haven''t experimented with it yet so I''m not sure how it works." Morden nodded "Alright, cool. According to the guy we got the quest from the rock eaters are in the small connector tunnels between the districts so that''s where we gotta go." I motioned for Morden to lead the way and the three of us headed off into the tunnels for our first taste of combat in World Walkers. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: After a long wait it''s here! Things should be coming in weekly now that I''ve got the story direction solidified. Chapter 3: First Combat As we walked through the busy roads of Hammerdown I began to realise how odd it was that Morden and Roderick were able to find out so much about the quests in the city so quickly. They hadn''t been in the city for very long til I caught up with them after entering so there was no way they were able to traverse this entire city hunting for quests in that time. After pondering for a few minutes I realized I was probably missing something so I finally asked them about it. "Hey Morden, how did you guys find this quest anyway?" I asked, "You weren''t in the city for very long when I caught up to you" "Through the quest long of course." He responded, and when he saw my confused face he continued, "The Quest log, you know, the thing that lists all publically known quests in the area? Wow dude, did you not even open the game menu?" He started laughing. "H-how do I do that?" I asked nervously after learning I was missing out on a lot more than I thought. Unfortunately this caused Morden to laugh louder. Which prompted Roderick to speak up instead, though he was clearly fighting to not laugh himself. "Just say Menu" he finally got out, "How did you NOT know about this? It was all in the help files you could read during the first login" After that he lost his struggle and started laughing. "Hey, I was more interested in the lore files" I said a little irritated, "Menu" Another blue window popped up containing several different options including Character Sheet, Quest Log, Settings, Inventory, and so on. I pressed my finger on the quest log button and a list of quest available in the area popped up. I ignored the laughing duo as we walked on and read through the log. It was just like Morden said, all public quests are listed here and all but one were way above our capabilities and even that one, a Hunting Quest, was still listed as very hard for our levels. The Hunting quest itself was to kill a mob called "Rockeaters." There was even an image of them for identification. They look a lot like Pangolins except they are more canine in appearance and the scales look as though they are made of stone. I closed the quest log after that and opened the lore files to see if I could find anything about Rockeaters. There was a little bit, but not much. Most of it revolving around how much of a pest they are to subterranian peoples like dwarves. This was because their tunneling would compromised the caverns those people call home and caused cave ins on grand scales. One recorded event was that the coronation of a Dwarven Emperor was cut short because the coronation chamber collapsed due to rock eaters killing hundreds. These things are worse than termites apparently. "Yo Duran, snap out of it" I heard a voice call out while I was reading. "What what?" I said suddenly confused about what was going on as I closed the windows. "How did you not run into anyone walking around reading like that?" Said Roderick shaking his head. "Dude I was reading up on the things we''re supposed to be killing, which are called rockeaters by the way" I said grumpily. "Well we''re here" said Morden pointing towards a tunnel entrance that wasn''t as big as the main tunnels, but still very sizable. "That''s where the log says they are" "OK, cool. So do you have a plan to handle this Morden?" I asked him. He had taken the initiative to lead this group, and since I was clearly lacking in gameplay knowledge I wasn''t going to complain. "Actually yes, I do. These things have tough scales, but a soft underbelly. Normally this would cause a lot of problems, but from what I was able to gather by asking around a bit they use a rolling attack from time to time. If we can hold out until then we can lure them into rolling into the wall and hopefully that''ll stun em and cause them to reveal their weak underbellies. As for how we''ll do that, you''ll function as the puller and tanker Duran, meanwhile Roderick will attack at any weakness he can find and I''ll keep you both alive with my Healing Hands spell. It''s super shitty as it has a high cost for the amount it heals, but it''s still better than nothing." Roderick nodded to him and pulled out two axes. "Sounds solid enough to me. Roderick is easily our best chance for damage and you''re the only one with heals." I said nodding to Morden. I had already expected this so there was no surprise. "Let''s do this" I walked towards the tunnel with Morden and Roderick following behind. Once inside I saw rockeaters everywhere. some were sleeping, others were munching on the walls, and some were even fighting each other for some reason. Probably over a food source or mate I didn''t care either way. I picked up a palm sized rock and picked out Rockeater that was separate from the main horde. "Ok, I am going to pull them one a time for now and see how we handle it, and I''m starting with that one." I pointed towards the one I picked out, "I''m going to lead it closer to the entrance of the tunnel to prevent unwanted aggro so be ready to move." I explained, and they both nodded. With that I threw the rock as hard as a I could at the lone creature and it bounced off it''s scales. There was no damage but it did exactly what I was hoping it would do. The Rockeater turned around and looked right at me before charging in a rage. I began backpeddling to bring it away from the group, but I didn''t get as far as I hoped. This thing was fast as hell. When it got close enough it launched itself at me with it''s front claws spread out ready to tear me apart and it''s jaws open and waiting to take out a chunk of my hide. Since this since was almost as big as I was and faster than me I knew i couldn''t sidestep it so instead I went under it and grabbed one of it''s outstretched limbs and pulled it in such a way to cause the rockeater to flip over in mid-air. I took a scrapes from it''s back claws for my effort and saw my HP bar appear in the top right of my vision suddenly lose 20 points out of 120. A sixth of my life gone in one hit, holy shit. At least I was able to flip it. While it was on the ground I let go of it''s leg and wrapped my arms around it''s neck to hold it down. I took another 10 points of damage as it tried to claw at me. Thankfully it didn''t get as solid of a grip this time so the damage was lower.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. I began to choke the Rockeater as hard as I could. It squirmed and struggled viciously, but I was locked on tight. While I was holding on for dear life I saw Roderick lunge into the fray with a loud roar and began hacking at the exposed stomach of the rockeater. Blood went everywhere, and the creatures life bar appear and started dropping rapidly. It tried to lash out at Roderick but every time it did he would jump back out of reach before charging back in. After a third attempt it gave up on getting him and focused and trying to break out of my hold by clawing mercissly at my arms. Large gashes appeared and my HP started dropping in chunks. When I got to around 20hp I was about to let go when I felt a hand touch my head and my hp recovered by 50 whole points. "I gotcha Duran, hold on a bit longer it''s almost dead" I heard Morden say. I was a bit too busy to properly respond so I gave him a grunt. I took a few more claws to the arm before I had had enough. Enough though pain was set 30% of reality this still hurt! I tightened my grip on it''s neck and shifted my weight before quickly twisted it''s neck and an unnatural angle. A dull snap echoed out from the Rockeaters neck and it''s body went still.
You have slain a Rockeater and gained 20 experience points!
When I saw the window I let go of the beast and laid out on the ground to catch my breath. I looked over at Roderick who had also sat down and was breathing hard. "So," I said between breathes, "How much xp did you guys get?" I asked them. "20" said Roderick still sitting on the ground. "Same" said Morden happily. Man he had it easy this time around. "Ditto" I said, "So who wants to bet that these things actually give out 60xp on a solo kill" "Well, since these things amount to was is basically a trash mob for a lvl 5 group I''d say that''s about right." replied Morden, "But they are all we got, and it was still 1/5 of what we need to level up" "100 xp to level 2?" I said, "That sounds a bit low, unless there is a massive exp requirement spike later on." "Don''t know," said Roderick, finally getting to his feet, "Game just came out and there was no leaks so no one has any idea how the mechanics work yet. That said, you are a mad man Duran." He chuckled. "Seriously, that was an insane way to deal with the rockeater" Morden Chimed in, "It takes half my mana to heal 50 HP so I can only use it twice when my mana is full, so we can''t use that method again. Was cool as shit though" "Sorry, just kinda went with the flow there." I said sheepishly, knowing it was a stupid thing to do. "next one will go by the plan." Morden nodded, "Ready when you two are, we got 29 more to go" "Hang on," said Roderick, "Was there any loot?" I sat up, and examined the Rockeater corpse for a moment, but found nothing, "Unless you''re a skinner there''s nothing." I told him. In response he pulled out a knife. "As a matter of fact," He said with a grin, "I am." He walked over to the corpse, and I stepped aside. "Have at it man." I told him. He looked over the body a bit and probe here and there with his knife before beggining his bloody work. All in all it took about a minute for him to strip the leather and scales from the body. There was a lot of meat on the rockeater apparently, which prompted my next question. "you think you can get some of that meat from it too? Might be worth a few copper, it not we can try and cook it ourselves." I explained. He mused about it for a second. "I can try, but I''m not a butcher so don''t expect too much." He said before starting to carved away the meat. After he was done the rest of the corpse disappeared, " Damn, it I had been more careful we might''ve been able to get the bones too. At least I was able to get the left ear as proof from the quest" After that we began pulling more rockeaters, this time using the strategy Morden had thought up. I worked like a dream as we were able to kill the Rockeater before it recovered from the stun every time. After little over an hour''s work all 30 rockeaters were dead and we had a nice supply of rockeater scales and rockeater hides. we also made it to lvl 3 with only 100xp left til lvl 4. After a quick discussion we stayed to kill another 5 extra Rockeaters to put us up to lvl 4. Every time we leveled they died faster and faster so it was easier and easier. After hitting level 4 killin them would probably be trivial, but we now needed 800 exp to hit level 5 confirming that exp requirements were growing exponentially. "Damn that was fun," Said Roderick, "But we should probably turn in now, their numbers are getting lower and other people are starting to show up now." He pointed towards the groups of players who had begun showing up and attacking the Rockeaters. "Yeah, I agree," said Morden. "I still want to get some training in my alchemy skill and learn how to use Mana Cultivation before I log today" I perked up at that, "You have that too? I need to figure it out as well. Any ideas on where to start?" "I figure the library might be the best bet to start off," He said, "Having two people sifting through the books would be easier than one if you wanna double team this thing." "Definitely in," I said, "let''s head to the Deep Dwarf distrit library though as they are the most well versed in magic among the dwarf sub-races" "Wanna tag along Roderick?" Morden asked, looking at the red haired dwarf. "Yeah, why not. I have nothing better to do. All my skills are combat based except for skinning so I don''t have anything special I need to look into" He said with a shrug. We left the Rockeater tunnel and walked through the city towards the turn in for the Rockeater kill quest. It turned out to be a simple city guardsmen who had put out the bounty on behalf of the city. He paid us 10 copper per ear for a total of 300 copper which we split evenly. After that we left the market district and headed for the deep dwarf district''s library. Along the way we chatted about our experience with combat and the changes we noticed each level up. Morden noted that his mana increased quite a bit each level up allowing him to cast Healing Hands a few more times, but the amount healed hasn''t changed yet. Roderick explained that it was getting easier to swing his axes how he wanted to, and that the damage was going up. As for me I didn''t noticed too much during the combat as my punches couldn''t do any damage to the scales at any point and I just got out of Rodericks way when we stunned them. It took us about 20 minutes to reach the library, which looked like a spiralling tower that reached from the floor of the cavern all the way to the ceiling. It kind of stuck out. "damn, that''s a big building," Said Roderick. "Deep Dwarves treasure knowledge of all kinds," I said, "This Library is the most precious part of Hammerdown to them as they built it when the city was founded. They still haven''t filled it yet though. So if you ever come across any kind of unique scroll, books, or tablets they''ll pay good money to add it to the collection." I looked at Roderick and Morden who were giving me weird looks, "I told you guys I read the lore files." I said with a shrug. Chapter 4 - Mana There were two guards at the doorway, but they weren''t checking people going in. I guess they are more of a passive security than an active one. They were both heavily armed and could probably snap me in two. We passed them and entered the massive tower. There was a short stone-arched pathway before we entered the library proper. When I saw the sheer size of the collection of books that lined the walls with a path spiraling around I think I forgot to breath. There were also three book lined pillars in the center of the building that also had spiraling paths going up them. If I had to describe the library in one word it would be ¡°Colossal¡±. I don''t know how much time had passed but we were kinda standing at the entrance for a while completely enraptured by the massive scale of the library. Eventually Roderick broke the silence. ¡°Holy shit.¡± he said, ¡°You see how big it is on the outside, but it doesn''t hit you til you see this¡± I nodded, and looked around. A library this big has got to have some sort of system in place to aide in the hunt for a specific book or topic. The bottom floor had tables scattered all over the place, take up about half the space left. Many of the desks had dwarves seated at them seated at them with a stack of books in front of them doing research. Directly in front of us, though, was something that resembled a receptionist. There was an ancient looking dwarf seated there in plain looking robes with a gigantic open book in front him and he was writing in it while occasionally placing his wrinkled old finger onto a blue crystal floating next to him. I walked up to him. "Excuse me, this is our first time here and we could use some help.¡± I said. The old dwarf looked up from the book and the first thing I noticed was his eyes, the iris was like liquid gold. He looked us up and down several times. ¡° My name Thrum and I am the keeper of this collection. It''s 10 copper per hour for a desk, books cannot be taken out of the tower.¡± he began to explain, ¡°There is a sorting crystal at each desk that can be used to locate the books or topics you need. We do not carry skill books, but we do purchase them along with other books you have that we don''t already possess. Our prices are fair, and likely the best you will find in all of Hammerdown. Are you here to sell or study?¡± I sighed, nothing in life is free after all. I looked over to Morden, ¡°We should probably get our own tables and do our own research then compare notes afterwards. Those desks don''t look big enough to accommodate more than 1 or 2 at a time.¡± He nodded. ¡°Yeah, that would probably cut our time in half,¡± He said, ¡°Roderick can come with me and either help me or do his own thing¡± He looked at Roderick. ¡°I''ll help you out, I doubt I will find anything to help my build out here, but mana is a pretty universal resource so it never hurts to know a bit about it.¡± Roderick said. ¡°Alright,¡± I said, ¡°See you guys in 3 hours.¡± I paid Thrum for 3 hours of use and he gave me a card with a desk number. It took me a few moments to figure out how the desks were numbered, but once I figured it out I was able to find my desk pretty quickly after that. It was a well worn, dark brown wooden desk with a matching chair. It looked functional and sturdy, but not very decorative. Floating in one of the corners of the desk was a blue crystal like the one Thrum had. I placed my finger on it like I saw Thrum doing before, and a window popped up that looked exactly like a digital database of a library. I typed ¡°Mana Cultivation¡± into the search bar and hit ¡°Search¡± Apparently there are about 500 books in this library on that topic alone. A credit to sheer size of this place I suppose. I refined my search to focus on beginner''s guides. There were still 150 results though. Ok, fine, fuck you library. I picked out two books one called, ¡°Mage''s compendium of Mana Cultivation- Acolyte edition¡± and the other ¡°Theoretical Medical Applications of Mana Cultivation.¡± For shits and giggles I also Picked out a book on generic mana theory called ¡°Rukbar''s Mana Research.¡± As for whether or not any of these are any good I have no idea, there were no notes about the quality of the material in the Sorting Crystal. Thankfully it did have a detailed description on where the books were located. They were only on the second floor of one of the pillars. All in all, it took about 10 minutes to pick out the books and find them. I sat down at my desk and cracked open ¡°Rukbar''s Mana Research¡± first. I''ve never read a book that was both interesting and utterly boring before, but this one was. The information regarding mana was both very detailed and brought up some interesting possibilities while at the same time presented in the driest possible way. After an hour of reading I felt a bit more confident about what mana was and how it work at the most basic level. Apparently, blue is not the color of pure mana which I found odd. Almost every game I have ever played used blue for the color of pure mana. According to Rukbar''s research it was supposedly black in it''s purest form. Not sure I agree with that, but it''s something to go on. Next up were the two books on actual cultivation, they were definitely more fun to read than Rukbar''s book. While I was reading through them I was comparing and contrasting the methods between the books. They both pretty much started out the same way saying that before cultivation can begin a mana core must be formed first. The formation of a mana core isn''t actually that complicated though. You just have to concentrate enough mana into a single point in the body, usually the brain and one will form when a certain concentration of mana is reached. You have to be in a meditative state to do so, however. From there they begin to differ greatly. The compendium says to continue focusing on the core and build it up as high as you can while forming pathways to allow it to better flow through the brain. Makes sense, the mind is the focal point of spell casters. The medical book was a bit different though, it focused on forming complicated pathways throughout the entire body to spread the mana flow our across the whole body while forming special points in the hands. These points are designed to amplify healing magic focused through the hands. Naturally I picked the one book almost tailor fight for Morden. I''ll be passing this along to Morden later. It wasn''t a waste of time for me though, a side-effect of these pathways seems to be increased physical abilities and improved self healing while circulating mana. The design of the points for healing could probably be modified for offensive purposes too. With all the books finished, I still have about an hour before my time is up. I looked around and everyone was focused on their own studies. I shifted to a comfortable sitting position and closed my eyes. Might as well give the formation process a try while I have the materials at hand. Besides, I have an idea about how to get the purest mana possible to form my core.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I followed the meditation method that both books recommended to use and soon enough I was looking down at my own body surrounded by a bright blue mist. Sweet, cultivation is a mini-game! I focused on the mist and found I could move it pretty easily. I formed a small vortex in front of me and created a ball of the mana mist approximately the size of a basketball. I then began condensing the ball to make the mana denser and denser. In a few minutes I had a black ball about the size of a tennis ball. Still though, I kept pressing it together to make it smaller and smaller. My theory is pretty silly if you think about it. In the real world a chemically diluted form of silver is blue, and it''s black when oxidized. So I believe the color of pure mana is silver. Makes more sense than black in my opinion, and I hope the developers and I are on the same wavelength here. Sure enough when the ball was condensed to the size of a marble it looked a lot like liquid silver. I then took that ball and moved it into the center of my creepily transparent body. I was greeted by a series of windows.
You have created a Mana core: Low-Quality Pure Core
Your mana has increased by 100
You have gained the skill: Meditation lvl 1
I ended the meditation and open my eyes. A massive grin spread across my face. I love being right, it''s such a wonderful feeling. I checked the HUD clock and it was about time to meet back up with Morden and Roderick. I took the books back to there shelves and headed to the exit, still grinning. Morden and Roderick were already there. ¡°From that shit-eating grin you have I guess you found something good.¡± Roderick said. ¡°Hell yeah I did,¡± I said, ¡°I found out that my build idea is plausible and something good for Morden.¡± ¡°What IS your build plan Duran?¡± Roderick asked. I gave him a massive grin before responding. ¡°Tell you later,¡± I said,¡± but first I found something that Morden needs to hear about. I went on to explain everything I read about mana cultivation and went into explicit detail regarding the mana points that could be used to amplify healing magic through the hands. Morden was listening very closely at that part. When I was done he started going over everything he and Roderick were able to find. It turns out that everyone knows pure mana is silver and the book I picked up was basically out of date garbage. I couldn''t help but face palm when heard that. The rest was just different designs for mana pathways. It seems like everyone has their own opinions on which is best and what to focus on. ¡°I kinda wanna start building my pathways and try and solo one of the Rockeaters.¡± I said as we exited the library, ¡°want to watch me die a horrible death?¡± We all shared a laugh at that, but they agreed. Morden was also eager to get started since he now knew that forming the core increases your mana pool. We worked our way back to the Rockeater tunnel and I sat down outside and went into the meditative state. The first step in forming the pathways is to gather mana so I followed the same method as before to created the silver marble. I then used that mana to form 3 pathways that went in a helix pattern out the bottom of my core and drew them down towards my heart. There I drew out a pattern that caused the mana to flow into the heart itself. I barely had enough mana in the marble to do it, but it was complete. My plan is to use my brain as the storage for my mana, but then use the heart to pump it throughout the body. It''s not as thorough as building the complex pathways in the medical book, but sometimes simple is better, and if it''s not, then I can alter it later. I didn''t have to time to experiment with my idea for the offensive mana points though. Probably for the best though, trying too much at once would probably fuck me over in the long term. I ended my meditation and stood up. I then began to circulate my mana as described in the books. I instantly felt energized and lighter on my feet. There was no window this time, but that''s probably because the pathways aren''t complete yet. Morden was still lost in meditation, but Roderick looked bored standing there waiting for us. ¡°Hey Roderick,¡± I said, ¡°Let''s get stupid!¡± I ran into the tunnel, I could hear Roderick laughing and following me. I charged ahead towards one of the Rockeaters not in combat with another player. There was no rock throwing, or intricate plan. I just rammed into it''s side as hard as I could. Surprisingly the beast was thrown several feet away with cracks in it''s sscales. It did not flip over though. It roared and did it''s rolling charge aimed straight for me. This time I didn''t dodge, I planted my feet firmly and got into a low stance. As soon as it got in range I thrust forward with both palms and got a grip on the spinning creature. Instead of trying to completely stop the Rockeater I used my low stance as leverage and flipped it over my head into the wall in a pseudo suplex. I turned and saw it sprawled out, clearly stunned from the impact. Instead of rushing in to beat it to death I instead walked over to it and waited for the stun to end. When it did, the Rockeater got to it''s feet and snarled at me. Apparently it was smart enough realize it was being toyed with. I lunged forward and started throwing heavy punches into it as often as I could while dodging, sometimes successfully, out of the way of it''s teeth and claws. It''s stone like scales were strong and I had yet to actually deal anymore damage to it outside of the initial charge. I used the knowledge gained about mana to activate my racial ability for the first time. My skin turned grey as it hardened into stone. This wouldn''t last long, but it might be enough to break those scales. I ducked as the creature used my momentary distraction as a chance to attack. With my new defense buff and the boost of energy I was getting from the Mana circulation I went all in on offense. I stopped dodging and just laid into the Rockeater. It''s scales cracked and shattered under my stone reinforced fists. What was an even fight between dwarf and beast became a one-sided beat down and the Rockeater''s defenses crumbled and it''s claws and teeth could no longer dig in deep enough for a serious wound. It gave one last desperate attempt as it lunged for my throat. Unfortunately for the Rockeater, all it met was an upper-cut that slammed it jaws shut. I felt a sickening crunch as it''s jaw shattered from the impact. I ignored the experience windows as I stood there over the dead Rockeater. My skin turned back to normal and I looked over to Roderick covered in cuts with only 20% of my HP left. ¡°THAT was a blast!¡± I said half-laughing Chapter 5 - The Longest Day I staggered out the mob spawn zone back to where Rodrick was watching the fight. A wicked grin was plastered all over his face. ¡°It almost got you, scrub¡± he said with a jovial tone. ¡°Your turn then,¡± I responded, ¡°let''s see how YOU handle em¡± gesturing towards the nearest Rockeater not currently engaged by another party. Rodrick doesn''t say anything, he just takes out his axes and rolls his shoulders before charging at the creature. His first attack came in low as he dropped to a slide before reaching the Rockeater and swung one of his axes at it''s less armored legs. Only to receive a face full of scaled tail as a reward. The two of them went back an forth after that trading blow after blow. It wasn''t too long before I realized Rodrick was not winning these exchanges. I shook my head at that, he knows he cant win a direct exchange against something with as much armor as a Rockeater. Rodrick did cause the creature a great deal of frustration however, and in a rage it rolled into a ball and charged recklessly at him, only for Rodrick to side-step it and cause it to slam into the wall. ¡°Ah¡± I thought to myself, ¡°here comes the pain¡± As if on queue Rodrick lunged into the soft underbelly of the now vulnerable Rockeater who was stunned from hitting the wall and disoriented by suddenly being pulled from a rage state. A few brutal slashes and it was over. Roderick, however, only had 10% of his life left. ¡°you cut it closer than I did, Scrub¡± I said grinning. ¡°Shut up,¡± he said, ¡°took me longer than I thought to piss it off enough to go into a rage. Let''s go check on Morden¡± He headed towards the tunnel entrance where we left him. We found him sitting there looking off in the distance with a focused look on his face. He was probably sifting through menus. I wasn''t gonna interrupt a man reading, but Rodrick did not share that particular restraint as he slapped Morden on the back. ¡°Wake up bud! How''d it go?¡± he yelled loudly clearly intending to startle the poor guy. I swear I saw Morden''s soul leave his body as he yelped. Rodrick lost himself to his laughter for a good 5 minutes before He calmed down enough to actually talk. Morden looked both irritated and embarrassed as he answered Rodrick''s early question, ¡°I gained a Low-Quality Impure Core, and It only gave me a +50 mana pool. I was looking through the forums and reddit to see if anyone has figured out how upgrade it to a pure core. No luck¡± he sighed. ¡°I got my Pure core by compressing the mana to its silver stage, if you didn''t get it that far then manybe you can try compressing your core during meditation instead of adding to it or building the pathways.¡± I said remembering how my core was formed. He looked at me in surprise, ¡°You can compress it!?!¡± he said surprised, ¡°I thought you had to filter out impurities¡± I shrugged, ¡°maybe compressing it IS how you filter out the impurities, I dunno. I just know that blue is the color of the most impure mana, black mana has a lot of the impurities worked out, and Silver is the color of pure mana¡± ¡°well shit,¡± Morden said, ¡°that''ll have to be my project tomorrow. It''s getting late and I gotta log out. But first...¡±
Morden Rockbreath wishes to add you to his Friends list. Do you Accept? Y/N
I selected yes, obviously. ¡°cool, now we can meet up again some time. Later folks¡± he said before he disappeared in a flash of blue light. ¡°huh,¡± I said, ¡°so that''s what it looks like to log out. I was curous about that¡± ¡°I gotta bail too man¡± Rodrick said, ¡°Morden and I are usually on at the same time though so if you see one of us the other isn''t far behind¡± I got another friend request from Rodrick Bronzebottom, which I also accepted. Another flash of light and he was gone as well. Leaving me alone outside the Rockeater tunnel. I really wanted to get check out blacksmithing, but I also wanted to finish up my pathways so I can begin cultivating for real instead of the half-baked version I got going on right now. I found a quiet corner near the Rockeater tunnel that was out of everyone''s way before sitting down and activating meditation. I was once again greeted by the same mining game as before. I began the tedious process of collecting the blue mist and condensing it all into a silver marble. This time I collected as much as I could instead of stopping at the size of a marble. I got to the size of an apple before I began to feel in begin to become unstable. With that done I started adding on to what I already had, drawing pathways from the heart through all the major arteries and veins creating a cycle that returns unused mana back to the core. I also created some exit points so I can use mana externally as well as internally. With the major exits being in my palms and forearms. When I was done I used the pea sized leftover mana to tweak the pathways after I noticed a few weak points in the rotation. Finished, I opened my eyes.
You have reached Beginner 2 in Mana Cultivation
You have reached Beginner 2 in Meditation
You have created a Custom Cultivation method rather than using an established method, would you like to name this method? Y/N (a random name will be chosen if you select no)
I could barely contain my excitement and almost hit no while trying to select yes.
please enter the name of your method
I quickly typed the message in instead of saying it because it felt weird talking to no one when there are people nearby.
Congratulations on creating the ¡°Blackiron Heart¡± mana cultivation method. Your Mana cultivation Skill has been renamed to ¡°Blackiron Heart Cultivation¡± and it is now possible to learn mana Techniques
Ok, that was unexpected. It says the name was just changed so I am assuming it''ll still function as the Mana Cultivation skill, but I am not sure what else changed. It probably has something to do with being able to learn Mana Techniques now. I open up the info tab on Blackiron Heart to see.
Blackiron Heart Cultivation - Beginner 2: Functions as mana cultivation, but now provides a 10% boost to physical stats when circulating mana and the ability to learn mana techniques. Drains 5 mana per second when circulating
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°A stat boost!?!¡± I almost yelled aloud in surprise. It does drain my mana pretty fast though. That''s either because my method has flaws or the AI is balancing cultivators from being to overpowered. Probably a little bit of both if I am honest with myself though. I''m pretty sure I have a long way to go before Blackiron Heart is truly complete. I do a quick check of my status. Duran Blackiron: Race- Dwarf Halfblood (Hill/Deep) Character level- 4 Exp to lvl up- 20/800 HP: 180 - HP regen: 2.1 per 5 seconds MP: 280 - MP regen 1.8 per 5 seconds STR: 24 DEX: 22 CON: 18 WIS: 18 INT: 18 VIT: 21 Stats gained per level: +4 STR, +4Dex, +2 Con, +2 Int, +2 WIS, +3 Free points to spend on any trait Traits Stoneskin lvl 1: Gain 5% physical damage reduction per level when active. Drains 5 mana per second per level of Stoneskin. Low-Quality Pure Mana core: +100 Mana Arcane Affinity: Magic skills level 10% faster True Darkvision: Can see clearly even in the darkest environments, magical or natural. Primary Skills Blacksmithing - Beginner lvl 1: [+2 STR and +2 Dex per Character lvl up] Unarmed - Beginner lvl 1: [+2 STR, +2 Dex, and +2 Con per Character lvl up] [+2 INT and +2 WIS per character lvl up] Secondary Skills Meditation - Beginner 2: Allows for increased mana regen and active Cultivation. The higher the level the more effective Odd, despite all of that fighting, my Unarmed still hasn''t leveled. Maybe combat abilities take more exp to level? I dunno, maybe I''m just not really pushing it hard enough. Been dropping all my free points into Vitality though since it looks like that''s the stat that affects Health regeneration. Looks fine to me so far. I close the window and stretch. Sitting in meditation so long has left me pretty stiff. I guess I should be logging off anyway. It is getting really late after all. I open up the menu and select ¡°log out¡±
error ¨C Unable to detect TruVR device. Admin has been notified
¡°Wha?¡± I said aloud as I felt my heart drop into my stomach. That''s not good. Not good at all. My brain starts firing on all cylinders going over every possibility I can think that could have caused the error. As I am not a technician for TruVR or even a standard one I am unable to think of anything. I can feel my panic rise as a cold feeling washes over me. I almost didn''t noticed the human in full plate armor trying to get my attention. ¡°Y-yeah?¡± I asked nervously. ¡°Hello, I am David. The admin assigned to your ticket¡± the man named David said, ¡°First, I want to inform you that log out failures are pretty common today. We have at least a dozen fail-safes built into the TruVR system and we''re getting a lot of false positives which has been causing some problems. We''ll be rolling out a patch next week to fix them as the issue is too big for a hotfix, but for now we are dealing with them on a case by case basis. Now, I am just gonna run a quick check on your account to determine which failsafe has caused the error¡± I released the breath I didn''t know I was holding. So it''s not as bad as I thought it would be. ¡°Thanks,¡± I said trying not to sound as relieved as I felt at that moment. ¡°No Problem¡± he said, ¡°this is going to take a few minutes which I run the check¡± I nod and take a seat while he does his thing. David starts moving around like he flipping through a book or touching a screen. Must be a lot of data to go through. After a few minutes I can see a frown on his face as he motions to close the windows in from of him. ¡°Okay, it looks like the problem is on the hardware side, I have passed the ticket on our tech team to make an emergency maintenance visit to the address listed on your account. Until they are done, please enjoy you time in World Walkers. I will visit you again when we have an update.¡± with a flash David is gone before I can even respond. Well, he did say they were very busy today. I take another deep breath. It may not be planned but I have some more time to kill. I look over to the Rockeater Tunnel. Time for some more combat practice. I head into the tunnel, which is actually less crowded now. Most people have either logged out or moved on by now. I pick up a rock and hurl it at lone Rockeater. This time a red 1 appears over it. Damn, I can hurt it with rocks now, sweet. As it charges at me I activate Rock skin and circulate Blackrion Heart. I''m gonna be losing 10 mana a second so I got just under 30 seconds to crush this critter. The fight goes much easier than my last solo attempt. The bonus from Blackiron Heart and Stoneskin amounts to a quite a lot against such a weak mob. 15 seconds into the fight and it''s broken corpse falls off the wall I threw it at. I deactivate my buffs and take a seat to let my health and mana regen naturally. Man I need to find a good source of money so I can buy potions. When my health and mana pools are full I get up and pull another Rockeater. I repeat this process until I hit level 5, and it took longer than I thought it would as the Rockeaters started giving less and less exp the closer I got to level 5. I pulled another one after that, but noticed I didn''t get any experience for it. Trash mobs man, not worth dick in the long run. My Unarmed did hit lvl 2 though, so that''s something. I walked out of the tunnels to find something else to do and was greet by David at the entrance. ¡°I''m sorry to interrupt but I need you to come with me for a moment¡± he said with a very serious expression on his face, and there was a blinding white flash. When my eyes adjusted I was standing in what looked like an office from the real world. ¡°Please have a seat¡± David said pointing to the chair in front of the desk he was sitting at. ¡°This is one of many Admin offices in the game. We only bring players in here for serious discussions that we don''t want others overhearing for privacy reasons.¡± I take a seat and nod towards him indicating for him to continue, but that feeling in my gut has come back. ¡°The tech team arrived at your house and discovered the problem¡± he said, but his expression told me that I wasn''t going to like what comes next, ¡°It appears that during your first login you suffered a heart attack and the TruVR system was unable to eject you so it instead made a full copy of your brain and implanted it into your avatar.¡± It felt like my heart stopped again and the panic returned in full force. ¡°while this situation is tragic, I would like to inform you that we did actually plan for this. There were so many novels out there about ¡°Death Games¡± and faulty devices causing all sorts of havoc we at TruVR were forced to devise a back-up plan in the case of critical failure, but we were obviously unable to test it due to the nature of its requirements. You are the only person the system has had to activate the program on, for now and hopefully ever.¡± David stops talking and lets me process it for a few minutes. I takes a while before I get the panic under control to ask some questions. ¡°Is my body still alive?¡± I ask full of hope. ¡°No,¡± David says, crushing those hopes, ¡°Your body is dead. The technology for transplanting copied mind into a biological receptor does not currently exist, but in the event that it does appear in the future TruVR has taken it upon itself to preserve a copy of your DNA so that a new body may be cloned in the future for you.¡± Cold comfort, but comfort none the less. ¡°So I am stuck here then.¡± I said exhausted and disheartened. ¡°For now,¡± David says, ¡° but TruVR is willing to make some reparations for the situation. First of all, your family is currently being informed of the situation. Second, you will be given a space like this office that you can customize to your likes and have access to the internet and TV. You will also be able to contact the outside world via phone, e-mail, text, and so on. You can even invite others who have the TruVR system over to visit. It''s the closest to a normal life we can give you. And third we have a beta feature for World Walkers you are free to test that will allow for deeper immersion into the game. We''re calling ¡°Hardcore Mode¡± in house¡± It''s all very sudden and I am seriously in need of a distraction so I can process all of this and a Hardcore mode sounds like it''ll give me that. ¡°What does hardcore mode change?¡± I ask. For the first time since the conversation started I see David smile. ¡°Hardcore mode strips all but the most essential menus and takes away the HUD so you can''t monitor HP or Mana, and in the event of your death a scar is left on your avatar based on the killing blow. If you lose a limb for the killing blow that limb is gone for good. The upside though, is that you''ll get 50% more experience for your actions.¡± he explains. ¡°That''s a lot of downsides for a simple exp boost¡± I said skeptical. ¡°No, I mean EVERYTHING gets a 50% exp boost. Skills, spells, traits, etc.¡± He goes on, ¡°Not just your character level. Nothing else in the game boosts gains so much, and those that do will stack with it.¡± Ok, now he has my attention. ¡°It''ll take some time to set up the room, and your family will be given a link to send private messages directly to your avatar from their cell phones after they are done being filled in. So, do you want into the beta or not?¡± After what has probably the longest day of my life, former life, whatever life. I just wanted to be distracted for a while. It''s too much to deal with on such short notice. So I did the only thing a panicked and stressed gamer could do. ¡°Yes,¡± I said. Chapter 6 - The First Day Begins ¡°Great¡± David said clapping his hands as if to signify the end of a business deal. He got up and walked over to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. ¡°Look, I''m not gonna pretend to know how you feel about all this, but I can tell you this. There are far worse places to stuck than fantasy MMO with so much freedom it''s like another world. You''ll be able to make friends with the NPCs and build a life here and still be able to stay connected with everyone outside of the game¡± He took his hand off my shoulder and sat on top of his desk. ¡°If you need help or have any questions just ask me whenever, ok?¡± He pokes a few screens I can''t see.
AdminDavid wants you add you to his friends list. Do you Accept? Y/N
I slightly nod to accept the invite. I barely had enough motivation to even do that. Everything is starting to sink in a bit. I lean back into the chair and close my eyes to deal with the one thing I haven''t been able to accept entirely. Even saying it in my head doesn''t seem to make it real. I''m dead. ¡°There''s gonna be some delay when I send you back while the Hardcore mods are added to your account.¡± David said, but I barely heard him. I''m sure there was a flash of light, but I didn''t see it with my eyes closed.
Processing Account changes to ¡°Hardcore¡± est. time to completion: 5 minutes
That''s not too long, but then I guess it doesn''t have to actually downloading anything to a TruVR set-up since... I''m.....yeah. Ok, so maybe in my situation these 5 minutes are gonna be pretty rough. I quickly try to pull up the lore logs to distract myself. Only to find that they are no longer accessible. After that I try the beginner''s log that Morden and Rodrick read. Luckily those are still viewable and I start reading through them. I notice a tab labeled ¡°Hardcore Features¡± and open that. Everything David talked about is listed here. I''d still be able to view my status and apply stat points on level ups, but only when I am asleep. The menu is still there, but only has access to my inventory and features used to interact with other players, like the Quest Log. So basically, unless I am grouping up with others it''s literally gonna be like I am just living in another world. Both very cool and very terrifying given my situation.
Processing Complete
Another flash of bright light and I''m standing outside the Rockeater Tunnel again. ¡°Finally,¡± I said, frustration oozing from voice, ¡±I can vent.¡± I march towards the tunnel. I don''t remember much after that. I can remember a lot of curing and yelling and red, lots of red. When I came to, I was laying down on the corpse of a Rockeater, and everything hurt. Disoriented and unsure of how much time had passed I look around. More Rockeater bodies are piled up all over the place. I climb to my feet feeling extremely weak. I can''t see it, but I''m pretty sure I have no mana and low on HP to feel like this. I was about to leave the tunnel and find a bar to get drunk in when a glint caught my eye. There was something under one of the rockeaters. I reached down and pulled the object out. It was a metal bound book, though there was blood smeared on the cover. I''m not sure if it''s mine or a Rockeater''s to be honest. I wipe it off to read the title. And a screen pops up.
Skill Book: Scaled Armor. Would you like to learn this skill? Y/N
¡°Holy fuck, a skill book. How many Rockeaters did I kill?¡± I look around again, this time more clear headed. I don''t see a single living Rockeater in the tunnel. So I guess ¡°All of Them¡± is the correct answer. Skill books only have a .001% chance of dropping from a mob''s loot table. And being a trash mob I wasn''t expecting the Rockeaters to even have a loot table. I guess I''m gonna have to unlearn some of that old gamer mentality here. No more assumptions. I press yes on the screen.
Scaled Armor has synergy with Racial Skill ¡°Stone-Skin¡±, would you like to merge the skills? Y/N
Wasn''t expecting that to be a thing. Not sure what the merger can to for my racial skill, but I don''t see how this particular merger could make it worse, so I hit yes again.
Stone-Skin has become Stone Scales as a result of the Skill Merge
Ok so what does that do. I try to access my skills only to remember that I can''t until I sleep. Guess that''s gonna have to wait then. I decide to look around for anymore loot these guys have dropped. I''ve already been wrong about them not dropping loot once. I managed to find 15 copper coins and 1 silver coin. Not much considering how many bodies I had to sift through. Not going to complain too much though since I got a Skill Book out of it. After god knows how long I finally stumble out of the tunnel and find a few guards standing around talking to each other. Once of them, the guard who was standing at the Rockeater tunnel entrance, notices me coming out. ¡°By tha gods ye are alive¡± he says as he rushes over the help me walk straight, ¡°I ''eard a lot of terrible roars comin'' from tha tunnel. I thought some kinda monster ''ad found its way inside an was on a killin spree.¡± He gestures for the other guards to come over. ¡°Tell us boy, wha didja see?¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°It was just me and the Rockeaters,¡± I said slowly from exhaustion, ¡°I got some bad news earlier and needed to vent.¡± I point to the tunnel, ¡° I figured no one was gonna miss a few Rockeaters. I may have lost my head a bit though. Didn''t one alive when I came to.¡± ¡°So yer sayin'' the noise I ''eard was just you fightin'' the vermin?¡± The guard asked with a skeptical look on his face. I don''t blame him either, if I heard what he said he heard I''d probably think the same thing. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said exasperated, ¡°you can check the tunnel yourself. I need to find an Inn and sleep, I''m exhausted.¡± The guard motions to the tunnel with a nod while looking at one of the other guards. The guard runs into the tunnel. A minute later he comes out, a shade paler than when he went in. ¡°Nuthin'' but dead vermin in there¡± he said, ¡°or at least wha''s left of ''em¡± he visibly shuddered. ¡°alright, ya go go boy,¡± the tunnel guard says, ¡°I recommend tha Broken Hammer Inn. It''s on tha cheaper side without getting'' sketchy.¡± He then goes on telling me how to get to the Inn. I tried to pay attention as much as I could. With a nod and a thank you I stumbled off. Everything became a blur after that. I think I remember finding the inn and paying 10 copper for a room. Not sure if I made it to the room or not though. But I know I''m asleep because I am standing in a white space after saying yes to the window that popped up asking if I wished to view my status. A couple of surprises in there too: Duran Blackiron: Race- Dwarf Halfblood (Hill/Deep) Character level- 5 Exp to lvl up- 0/1600 HP: 200 HP regen: 2.4 per 5 seconds MP: 300 MP regen: 2 per 5 seconds STR: 28 DEX: 26 CON: 20 WIS: 20 INT: 20 VIT: 24 Stats gained per level: +4 STR, +4Dex, +2 Con, +2 Int, +2 WIS, +3 Free points to spend on any trait Traits Stone Scales Beginner 2: Gain 10% physical damage reduction per level when active. Drains 2 mana per second per level of Stone Scales. Low-Quality Pure Mana core: +100 Mana Arcane Affinity: Magic skills level 10% faster True Darkvision: Can see clearly even in the darkest environments, magical or natural. Primary Skills Blacksmithing - Beginner 1: [+2 STR and +2 Dex per Character lvl up] Unarmed - Beginner 5: [+2 STR, +2 Dex, and +2 Con per Character lvl up] [+2 INT and +2 WIS per character lvl up] Secondary Skills Meditation - Beginner 2: Allows for increased mana regen and active Cultivation. The higher the level the more effective Rage - Intermediate 1: When triggered you go into a blind rage that boosts Physical Stats by 10 per level. Lasts 1 minutes and drains all Mana at the end of the duration. The Higher the level the more aware you are during the rage. It seems a couple of skills leveled up and I gained a new one. I notice that Stone Scales only reduced the mana cost. Pretty sure the increased defense is due to it leveling up rather than the merger. The rage skill explains why I was so exhausted. Though I do wanna know how the fuck it''s at the Intermediate Rank. That means the technical level of the skill is 11. I guess I really did lose myself in that tunnel, I shudder at the thought of losing control like that around other people. Though it looks like it''ll get better at higher ranks. After checking through it all, I close the window and let sleep take me. When I come to I am on a bed inside a strange room. I look around thinking that this isn''t my apartment before all the memories come flooding in. ¡°Oh yeah, Dead. God damn it¡± I sigh as I sit up and lower my feet to the floor. I check to make sure I still have everything by opening my inventory. Money, check. Clothes, Check. Useless dagger, check. I do a quick stretch before I open the door and find my way back to the lobby, which was apparently upstairs, instead of downstairs. Gotta love Dwarf logic, why build up when you can dig down? The smell of freshly cooked food floods the room. I walked over to the desk. ¡°Morning¡± I said as cheerfully as my non-morning person self could muster. ¡°Mornin'' lad¡± the Old looking dwarf behnd the counter said cheerfully, ¡° Ya musta been truly drained last night, had ta get my boys ta carry ya to yer room. No extra charge for tha though, happens more often than ya think. It''s usually drunkards though.¡± I nod. ¡°Longest day of my life,¡± I said, ¡°I don''t even remember getting here. How much for Breakfast?¡± I began eyeing other people''s plates rather hungrily. ¡°2 copper,¡± He said with a smile. I pass him the coin ¡°Go ahead an grab a seat. Someone''ll bring it out to ya.¡± Too hungry to even notice he didn''t ask what I wanted I nodded and took my seat. The wait wasn''t too long. A lady dwarf, the first I had actually seen, placed a plate of food in front me. ¡°Enjoy¡± she said before walking away. I immediately started eating what I''m guess was some kind of grits, eggs, and bacon meal. It was gone before I could taste it so I''m not sure. I wished the Innkeeper farewell I stepped outside. Not sure of where I wanted to go I just started to walk around explore the city. A few hours later I had found a series of tunnels that led to a ledge overlooking the crafting district. I sat there dangling my feet off the ledge and just watched the smoke stacks rise and listen to the distant ring of steel on steel. ¡°So this is life now, huh?¡± I started talking to myself, ¡°Could be worse I guess. My brother is probably freaking out right now. Probably cursing someone out.¡± I laugh at the image of him get cuffed by the cops because he didn''t know when to stop cussing ''em out. ¡°Dude always had a short fuse. I hope he contacts me soon.¡± With a sigh I climb to my feet. I should see if I can find a smith that''ll let me work under him. I''d like to level my Blacksmithing and make some coin. A few twists and turns in the tunnels and I''m in the Crafting District proper. I walk around looking for any help wanted signs at any of the shops. Not sure about the etiquette for job hunting in this district, but I am pretty sure going into a random shop uninvited, and without recommendation looking for work is a fast way to get laughed out of the building. After a few hours I had almost given up before I stumble on a shop with a sign in the window saying ¡°Help Wanted¡±. I walk in the shop and approach the counter. ¡°Hello, I''m here about the help wanted sign¡± I say the unhappy looking dwarf behind the counter. ¡°Out¡± he said curtly, ¡°No work for half-breeds here. I have a reputation to maintain¡± I almost felt that troublesome skill trigger as I struggled to at least keep my face neutral. ¡°Well fuck you too pal,¡± I said rudely as I left ignoring the tirade of his response, something about not knowing my place, gotta give myself some release after all. Not gonna wanna work under someone like that anyway. I managed to find a few more signs up, but got more or less the same response, some less rude than others, some more so. I decided to take a break to cool my head when I came across a dilapidated old smithy. I walk inside and take a seat on the dusty counter and rest my head in my hands. ¡°fucking assholes¡± I say to myself.