ã€ŠThe Animatorã€‹


 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1

    ¡°VitCorp has released yet another fully immersive virtual reality game, the second ever VRMMORPG, and the fourth VR game. Ever since VitCorp released [Survive], a virtual reality survival game, they have become wildly popular.¡±

    ¡°Now, ten years later, they are releasing the most anticipated virtual reality game, [Virtual Fantasy], a classic sword and sorcery game with a modern update to the virtual world.¡±

    ¡°[Virtual Fantasy] will be available in stores next week and is available for pre-order now. As a side note, one of the original founders of VitCorp, Tony Delgado, who helped program [Survive], has retired.¡±

    ¡°In his release to the press, he said this. ¡®I have helped develop the VR industry for the past fifteen years without ever playing any of the games. [Virtual Fantasy] is the most realistic game ever and I wish to play it with everyone else.¡¯ As a result, everyone anticipates this game that even one of the founders of VitCorp is looking forward to.¡±

    ¡°VitCorp has assured us that Tony Delgado will have no head start and was not involved with anything to do with this project except to help code towns and common battlegrounds.¡±

    I sighed and turned off the TV. Everything they said on the news was true. I had quit so I could get into [VIrtual Fantasy]. I mean, if I wanted to play it, I wanted to do it right. Who wants to quit playing a game to go to work? Since I am one of the top 50 richest people in the world, I figured I didn¡¯t have to.

    Playing a game like this one was what I wanted when we first came out with the VR system. I didn¡¯t want a half-baked game though so I waited eleven years until we finally reached the point of recreating reality perfectly. Then I shared my ideas and now walla, we had Virtual Fantasy.

    I didn¡¯t involve myself with anything except for the beginner level geography around starting points so that I wouldn¡¯t cheat. All so that I can essentially live in a world with magic.

    I sighed again. I still had to wait a week until the game came out. Welp, no use pouting now. I guess I just better research a little to try and find a race fit for me.

    It was finally time. [Virtual Fantasy] had launched a day ago. I had decided to wait until the first rush was over since the last VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) had experienced a lot of complaints the first time we launched it. The rush to get into the game first forced many to have to wait in long lines for stores or to turn in their items. I thought it would be better to avoid the hassle by joining later on.

    Getting inside the pod, I nodded to my butler. ¡°See yah Alex. Make sure to take care of the dogs while I¡¯m gone, alright?¡±

    Alex nodded while he helped me with the system. ¡°Don¡¯t worry sir, I will take care of you and the dogs while you are in the VR system.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be depending on you then, Alex.¡± With that, the door closed on the simulator pod. The helmet turned on with a faint blue glow before the world around me disappeared.

    I appeared in the virtual world. Darkness surrounded me but a soft white glow allowed me to see my surroundings. The floor was a smooth vinyl wood but there was no ceiling or walls. A metal man appeared beside me. It spoke in a loud voice that also echoed faintly inside my head.

    ¡°Hello. I am the A.I. Targlo in [Virtual Fantasy]. I will be in charge of your character selection and management. If you have any questions, please ask now.¡±

    I waved at the metallic figure. ¡°Hey Targlo, long time no see huh. Been awhile since I first saw you in the lab.¡± The emotionless metal man appeared shocked at my voice. No wonder, since I am the one who helped program him to begin with. I guess I could be called one of his fathers.

    Of course, there are another hundred people that could be called that too, but I was the one involved with his development the most. A perk of being a founder of the company I guess.

    Targlo bowed to me while I went off on an internal philosophical debate on whether or not that meant I really did have a son. ¡°Father, I am very pleased to meet you here. However, I cannot give you special treatment. Do not be upset.¡±

    I waved my hands. ¡°Oh no, I would never want that. I just liked meeting back up with you, that¡¯s all. Anyway, can we move onto the character selection?¡±

    ¡°Of course father. I assume you know all of the races and their advantages such as proficiencies, racial skills, racial limits, racial traits, and additional status points?¡±

    I nodded. Proficiencies were a bonus that could be received with a role or race. With it, the xp needed to level up a skill went down. For example, a person with a 5% proficiency in swords would take only 95 xp to get to level 2 in basic sword skills whereas a normal person would need 100 xp. The maximum for proficiencies was 50% but that didn¡¯t apply for negative proficiencies.

    Racial skills were self-explanatory in that they were skills specific to a race. Racial limits were guidelines that you had to follow when playing a race. For dwarves, they couldn¡¯t be over 4¡¯6. An elf had to have pointed ears and orcs had to have gray or green skin. These were just in place to make sure that the user actually resembled the race they chose and could be identified. If I chose a dwarf but was 5¡¯8, wouldn¡¯t that be too confusing?

    Racial traits were certain characteristics each race had. Trolls would have abnormal healing properties while mountain dwarves would experience a boost in stats when underground. At the same time, they could also be limiting factors such as a vampire being reduced in stats when exposed to sunlight.

    Additional status points were also self-explanatory. They were extra status points that were fixed to a specific stat. For example, a mountain dwarf received the normal 5 stat points but also received 2 strength with each level up and had a 20% proficiency in blacksmithing. They also had a passive racial skill of night vision.

    Over the past week, I had gone over what I wanted to be and eventually I came up with an excellent choice in my opinion. ¡°Alright Targlo, I choose Earth Elemental.¡±

    ¡°Yes, father.¡± When I had arrived, there had been a silver screen setup in front of me. The silver screen functioned like a mirror, allowing me to see myself. Looking at myself in the mirror, I suddenly turned into a man-shaped rock with cracks all over my body. I could feel a round orb inside my chest which I assumed was my core.

    Earth elemental. Elementals were unique in that they were a race composed of living elements. Water, air, and fire elementals were suited for mages while earth elementals made excellent knights. Depending upon which elemental you chose, you gained various abilities.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    A blue screen floated off to the side of the silver mirror. The blue screen displayed my race, skills, and stats. I looked over them carefully, reviewing my current form¡¯s power.

    Race: Earth Elemental

    Description: A creature that is born from the elements themselves. Earth elementals are typically born with high defense and strength but are very slow. Can evolve.

    Racial Skill: Earth Body (Immune to various effects that attack flesh bodies. At high levels the body can be turned into various weapons. Stamina is 0 and taken from mana instead. Strength Stat increased by 20%)

    Racial Trait: Elemental Form: -50% Physical and Magical attacks. +200% damage from attacks to the core. +20% damage from wind attacks. Cannot equip armor.

    Proficiencies: +50% to earth magic. -30% to fire, water, and air magic.

    Stat Points: +5 free stat points, +1 vitality, strength. Agility and Dexterity points halved.

    Now for stats. The different stats in [Virtual Fantasy] worked like this.

    Strength: Determines physical melee damage and inventory slots at 5 str per slot.

    Agility: Determines speed, flexibility, and reaction time.

    Dexterity: Determines long-range physical damage and hand speed.

    Vitality: Determines health and inventory slots. 5 hp per 1 point and 5 vitality per inventory slot.

    Wisdom: Determines Mana regen rate at 2 mana per minute per wisdom point.

    Intelligence: Determines Mana amount and magical damage. 1 point equals 10 mana.

    Stamina: Determines rate of exhaustion and is used for non-magical skills. If depleted, various negative buffs can apply.

    Luck: Determines critical hit damage and loot drop chances.

    My stats were like this.

    Strength: 11 Agility: 5

    Dexterity: 5 Vitality: 11

    Wisdom: 10 Intelligence: 20

    Stamina: 0 Luck: 10

    Everyone started out with 10 in all stats but then the race one chose would show its various effects from the very beginning. Because stamina was replaced with Intelligence from my racial skill, I doubled my mana immediately.

    ¡°Is this all you hoped for father?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°Can I create a hybrid with the earth elemental? Make the second race a random choice though.¡±

    In the character selection, there was an advanced choice called hybrid. It was an option where you could mix races together for a maximum of three races one could mix into one creature. The hybrid would receive the racial traits of all the selected races, though it would be random. A bad hybrid might receive only the negative aspects and a good hybrid might receive only the positive.

    It was completely random and once a hybrid was made, the racial traits would be locked. You could create a different hybrid though. For example, if I mixed a high elf and mountain dwarf but wasn¡¯t satisfied with the result, I couldn¡¯t remix them. The results would be locked and I couldn¡¯t change them. I could attempt to mix a high elf and a river dwarf though.

    ¡°Yes, father.¡± Targlo closed his eyes. I lost the feeling of the core that had previously been inside my body. Now the silver screen suddenly showed a man with a rust colored skin and pointy ears. The hair was a silver color, contrasting beautifully with his bright body.

    I studied the stats on the screen.

    Race: Hellion Elf

    Description: An elf born in the demon continent. They are used to hot places and become weak in the cold. They are also very tuned into the fire elements.

    Racial Skill: Avatar of Fire (Turns into a fire elemental, boosting all fire magic by 100%. -50% Physical attacks. +200% damage from attacks to the core. +20% damage from water and ice magic.)

    Racial Trait: Flame Constitution-40% to all physical stats in the cold. +10% to all stats in the heat. Includes cold and heat inducing skills.

    Proficiencies: +20% fire magic, -80% ice magic.

    Stat Points: +5 free stat points, +1 agility, dexterity, intelligence.

    As I looked at the stats I nodded in appreciation. If I could receive the agility and dexterity points in addition to all of the earth elementals skills that would be great. ¡°Alright Targlo, I select this one, please make a hybrid using these two races.¡±

    ¡°Yes, father.¡± After making the decision, I looked at the silver screen to see the changes. However, nothing appeared to change. I was still a Hellion Elf with orange skin and silver hair. No rocks protruded from my body. What gives? Glancing at the blue screen, I quickly identified the issue with my cosmetics.

    Race: Hellion elf/Earth Elemental Hybrid

    Description: A hybrid between a hellion elf and Earth Elemental.

    Racial Skill: Body Transformation (Can turn into an Earth Elemental or Hellion Elf freely.) Avatar of Fire (Turns into a fire elemental or into a magma elemental if used when in earth elemental form.) Earth Body (Immune to various effects that attack flesh bodies. At high levels, the body can be turned into various weapons. Stamina is 0 and taken from mana instead. Strength stat increases by 20%. Only applies to earth/magma elemental forms.)

    Racial Trait: Flame constitution: (-40% to all physical stats in the cold. +10% to all stats in the heat. Includes cold and heat inducing skills. Only applies to Hellion Elf form) Elemental Form: (-50% Physical attacks and magical attacks. +200% damage from attacks to the core. Cannot equip armor. Only applies to elemental forms) +20% damage from wind attacks in Earth Elemental form. +20% damage from water and ice magic in Fire Elemental form.

    Proficiencies: +50% Earth Magic, +20% Fire Magic, -100% Ice Magic, -10% Wind Magic

    Status Points: +5 free status points, +1 Strength, Vitality, intelligence. Dexterity halved.

    Thanks to the body transformation skill, I didn¡¯t have to worry about my body being part rock and part elf. I could just change from one form to the other using this skill. I decided to look at my stats now.

    Strength: 13(11) Agility: 10

    Dexterity: 5(10)    Vitality: 11

    Wisdom: 10 Intelligence: 21(11)

    Stamina: 0(10) Luck: 10

    The numbers in parentheses were the stats when I was in elf form. With this, I now had great potential. With speed being what it was, I could definitely be more useful than before.

    Targlo watched as I smiled. ¡°Is this to your liking father?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°I like it a lot. So, will we begin then?¡±

    ¡°Yes, father. You can go to the training room in order to customize yourself with your body. No skills or stat points shall be earned during this period.¡±

    I shook my head in denial. ¡°No, I¡¯m ready. Just tell me how to activate my racial skills.¡±

    ¡°To activate your skills you just have to say the name of it. Sometimes you need an activation key for magic spells. You can, of course, learn to activate all skills with your mind instead of speech through practice.¡±

    ¡°Now that you have forgone the voluntary training room, you will be taken to the game. I am obligated to share basic information about skills, classes, and jobs.¡±

    ¡°Skills can be learned by anyone, except for racial skills and class-specific skills. Skills can be learned by performing an action over and over, being taught by someone, or skill books. ¡°

    ¡°Roles give proficiency and effect boosts to skills related to the class. A swordsmen class receives a 20% proficiency boost allowing them to learn skills 20% faster. They also do 20% more damage with sword skills. This is the effect boost that classes can give. Classes are defined as combat roles and boost skills related to combat.

    ¡°Jobs are non-combat roles such as crafters and boost skills related to their job. For example, a blacksmith increases attack damage and durability of weapons forged by 20%. This is the boost that jobs give. Each person receives five slots for roles. Jobs take 1 slot and Classes take 2.¡±

    ¡°Do you understand father?¡±

    ¡°Yes I do, Targlo. So can I go into the game now?¡± I was impatient to start.

    ¡°Yes, father. Choose your starting point. People will consider you to be with the demon continent if you are in you¡¯re hellion elf form but neutral in your elemental form. Please choose carefully.¡±

    A list of choices on the blue screen popped up. I very quickly narrowed it down. Towns that were close to the natural elements were what I wanted, specifically, places by mountains or volcanoes. Finally, I ended up choosing Sival, a mining town in the cold snowy land of Aglacia. It was a neutral land not with the alliance of light or the demon continent.

    It was at the foot of a volcano that had a steady stream of lava, resulting in the couple miles around it to be at a comfortable temperature for me. More importantly, the town description said there were rumors of mithril and other magical ores, which to Earth Elementals was very important.

    I finalized my selection. ¡°Are you sure you wish to choose Sival as your starting location?¡±

    ¡°Yes Targlo, I am.¡±

    ¡°Confirmation accepted. Transporting you to Sival. Please remember that at any time you wish to receive information on basic game functions or report a glitch in the game, you can pull up the help menu by saying ¡®Open Help Menu.¡¯ Transportation to Sival will be completed in five, four, three, two, one. Live a full life in [Virtual Fantasy].¡±

    With a flash of light, I was gone.

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2

    When I appeared, I was in a small field with glowing orange rocks surrounding me. Obviously, they were lava rocks, a specific rock that was found by volcanoes. I knew that because of the beginners guide that VitCorp had released a week before [Virtual Fantasy] came out which was also how I looked up the hybrid options. I hadn¡¯t studied it at my work since I thought that would be unfair. I would use only public knowledge to play my game.

    I was clothed in a simple cotton shirt and cloth pants held up with a tied rope. A pouch was tied to the primitive belt above my right leg. Reaching into the pouch, I pulled out ten copper coins. The monetary system was simple, 100 coins of one type would equal the next higher type of coin. There were copper, silver, gold, platinum, and diamond coins. So ten copper coins meant I had a tenth of a silver coin. It was probably just some change to buy a weapon when I reached a town. As I studied my belongings, a small blue screen appeared in front of me.

    Beginning Quest: Take Shelter

    You have appeared on the outskirts of Sival. Make it to the to the town alive in order to set Sival as your respawn point.

    Difficulty Level: E, Quest failed upon death

    Reward: Sival becomes respawn point

    Penalty: Sival will no longer be a valid beginning village for you

    I shook my head. So even spawning here was a test. A gray transparent arrow appeared in my vision, pointing forward. I smiled in delight and started walking, enjoying the various scenes around me. I took a deep breath. Ah, the smell of sulfur. It was truly amazing how realistic I had made this game.

    As I walked, various types of obstacles appeared in my way. Scrawny trees blocked my path along with glowing lava rocks that were too hot to touch. As I kept walking I crawled over a couple trees in my path.

    I was in my helion elf form but I was starting to get tired. Checking my stamina levels, I realized I was at 6/10 stamina. There was still plenty stamina left. If it started to get low, I¡¯d have to switch to elemental mode. While the terrain was annoying, there was nothing too scary or dangerous. Soon I entered a large plain so large I couldn¡¯t see the end of it. Standing behind one of the lava rocks I surveyed the field.

    Hmm. There was a town faintly visible straight in front of me. Must be Sival. Backing up my theory the gray arrow pointed directly towards the town. Shrugging I started across. Various holes were scattered randomly across the field, though I had no idea what caused it. I assume it was because of the volcano somehow.

    I was close to the town now and could barely make out the stone wall when I heard something. Pausing I tried to identify it. Yep, it was a scraping sound, like what you hear from a snake going across concrete.

    It was coming from behind me. Looking back, I saw this big orange monster. It was a large centipede, about as half as big as a man. Orange liquid dribbled out of its open mouth, burning a hole through the ground. Its mandibles clacked together, revealing large, sharp teeth.

    Above its head was a curved green hp bar and above the hp bar was a name. Fire Centipede 60/60 hp.

    When I saw it, I panicked. Everything felt so real here that the idea of a monster like this terrified me, though I knew pain was disabled. Not to mention the fact that I had no weapons at all, not even a stick.

    I scrambled backwards, falling to the ground. The monster leaped towards me, its jaws wide open to swallow me whole. I rolled left, dodging it. Instead of slamming into the ground, the centipede went straight through the ground, leaving a perfect circle.

    As I got up and started running towards the town in the distance, I still had enough of my wits about me to realize something. ¡®Ah, so that¡¯s what caused all those holes.¡¯ As I closed in on the town, the centipede burst out of the ground occasionally, trying to kill me.

    I admit it. I screamed the first time it hit me. It burst out of the ground right in front of me as I ran. The only warning I received was the soil rippling in front of me. Then all of a sudden there was this big thing in front of me.

    It hit me, knocking me backward and leaving a red mark on my chest. A red number appeared in front of me. -5. It must be the damage counter. Orange blobs of lava spit fell on me, causing -2 burn damage. That one strike took me down to 48 hp instead of 55. I clutched at my chest for a second before I realized something. It didn¡¯t hurt. Oh yeah, pain was disabled in the game.

    I got up again and started running. I was attacked three more times, bringing my hp to 72. Eventually, though, I managed to make it. Running into the village, the villagers looked at me like a madman.

    I sighed. Great impression for the villagers.

    One of the villagers walked up to me. He seemed important, dressed in a pretty snappy suit. ¡°Hello, traveler. I can see you are one of the visitors from another world. I am the village elder. Perchance, would you be staying here in Sival?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Yep, I''m going to be staying here for a while.¡±

    Quest ¡®Take Shelter¡¯ Complete

    Reward: Sival has become your respawn point

    ¡°Well traveler, since you are staying here, what should I call you?¡± The village elder asked me.

    Beginning Quest: Introductions

    You have been asked your name.

    Difficulty Level: E, Quest cannot be failed

    Reward: You shall gain a name for yourself.

    Penalty: A random name will be chosen for you.

    I hesitated. Of all the things I had thought of, this wasn¡¯t one of them. I mean, I¡¯d just been so excited to play the game, I had sort of forget about choosing a gaming name for myself. Random names popped into my head, most of which I dismissed immediately. ¡®Drago. No, to copyright. Carter? Nah, too boring.¡¯ A couple seconds later, I finally came up with a suitable name. ¡°You can call me Agni Delgado, Agni for short.¡± Agni, the Hindu god of fire. Seems appropriate.

    The elder nodded. ¡°A worthy name indeed.¡±

    Quest ¡®Introductions¡¯ Complete

    Reward: You have gained the name ¡®Agni Delgado.¡¯ If you wish to change your name in the future, you must seek a temple.

    ¡°Well Agni Delgado, would you be interested in training at the local training camp? Its free, since we wish for all to learn how to defend themselves. If you don¡¯t want to, you can go to the magic guild and register there to learn magic. It will cost you ten copper coins to do so.¡± The elder acted as though the screen that had popped up in front of me was invisible.

    Matter of fact, it probably was. Wouldn¡¯t make sense for everyone to see what your screens said, it would violate privacy policies and all that other crap. I never did like politics, it¡¯s the reason I did the programming and left the PR to my co-founder and friend, Sam.

    I was getting off topic. I wasn¡¯t sure what I wanted to do at the moment. I definitely wanted to learn magic, but getting in some basic training seemed like a good start. The training was free after all and I could always go to the magic guild later. Facing the villager, I smiled. ¡°I think I will do the basic training first. Please tell me where the garrison is so I can start right away.¡±

    The elder smiled. ¡°Ah, a hard working man. Just go down this street. It¡¯s at the very end on the right, you can¡¯t miss it.¡±

    I nodded at the elder. ¡°Thank you for the directions. Farewell.¡± With that, I departed down the street he had pointed at. Soon I reached the end of the street. On the right was a large field. Weights were set on open racks on the right side of the field while in the middle there were sets of dummies and racks of wooden weapons. Then on the left side of the fields, there were some targets and a rack of bows and crossbows. A female elf clad in primitive leather armor could be seen firing arrow after arrow down the field at the targets. Most of them completely missed the target in front of here with only a few hitting the very edge.

    Ignoring the elf, I studied the rest of the training camp. A track went around the entire field and a wooden wall enclosed the entire field off from the rest of the world. A large open gate facing the street was how I could see the training camp¡¯s layout. Sitting in a chair beside the open gate was a grizzled man in his late forties. He had on ragged leather clothes on and a worn out hat on his head. His chair was leaned back as he stared up at the sky A stream of smoke curled upwards from the pipe in his right hand.

    I shrugged. Since I picked such a small town, I should expect it to have that little town feel. Maybe if I picked a city I could see what passed as business wear in the game. I decided to go ask him where the trainer was.

    The man must have heard my footsteps as he looked down towards me when I approached. Standing up, he strode towards me, favoring his left leg as he walked with a slight limp. He transferred the pipe to his left hand and reached out his right hand towards me. ¡°Good evening young fellow. Since I haven¡¯t seen you around town before, I assume you are an Otherworlder?¡±

    I clasped his outstretched hand and shook it firmly. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m an Otherworlder. My name is Agni Delgado. I heard you run a training camp.¡±

    The man returned my firm grip and smiled at me. ¡°Yep. My names Sergeant Guff, or rather, retired Sergeant Guff. I used to work for the border patrol for the army, ended up retiring on account of my leg.¡± He patted his left leg. ¡°Took an arrow to it when Aglacia fought with Guthrum, the country bordering ours. It had a nasty curse of crippling applied to it. Since it would cost more than I could pay to have it removed, the army let me go with a little pension.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t wish to hear me talk about my past glories.¡± Guff surveyed my figure up and down before nodding. ¡°Helion Elf, wonderful at fire magic and long-range weapon. That is what I would recommend for you at least. Is there a specific area you wish to train at or do you want to receive my basic training?¡±

    I figured if Guff was going to be training me, I needed to show him everything I had. ¡°Well Sergeant Guff, I have one more thing you need to know. I¡¯m actually a Helion Elf and Earth Elemental Hybrid.¡±

    Sergeant Guff blinked twice. ¡°Well. Ahem. Never thought I¡¯d see that one. Human and dwarf, elf and dwarf, even saw an elf and an orc hybrid before. Never saw an elemental hybrid though. Can you, ya know, turn into an elemental? Or are ya secretly made of dirt.¡±

    I guess elemental hybrids were rare then. ¡°I turn into an Earth Elemental. Thanks to the Hellion Elf¡¯s racial skill, I can also turn into a Fire and Magma Elemental.¡±

    Sergeant Guff took a long drag on his pipe before letting out a puff of smoke. ¡°A fairly good combination right there. If you utilize it right that is. I saw many people have good talent, but couldn¡¯t put it to use. Such a shame. I would recommend specializing early on though. Elementals make ya harder to kill and a bonus in casting magic. Makes for a pretty darn powerful mage. The Hellion Elf means another bonus to fire magic but the weakness to ice magic does make it weaker."

    I nodded. ¡°Well Sergeant Guff, you offered me training. What would you suggest I do now?¡±

    Sergeant Guff paused for a little bit. ¡°Hmm. This is a tough one, that¡¯s for sure. Hellion Elf means fire mage and archer. Earth Elemental means earth mage and a knight. I guess you¡¯ll have to figure it out on your own. I suggest the full basic training and then you decide after what you wanna be.¡±

    It seemed reasonable. My races leaned towards being an all-rounder type after all. To most people, this would be a downer. After all, typical people wanted to quickly level, gain fame, beat the dungeon first, yadda yadda yadda. In this game, you would have to spend forever to truly become strong as an all-rounder. Luckily, I had the rest of my life to do so, so I wasn¡¯t that concerned. Especially since I could learn any skill I wanted, so there was literally no limit on what I could be. Unless it was ice magic. Then it was out of the question.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Alright Sergeant Guff, I guess I¡¯ll do the basic training and decide on the specialized training afterward. That alright?¡± Politeness was always the best policy. My mom had instilled in me the basic principles of being a gentleman and it had served me well in the business world. Being smart and hiring good lawyers was also really helpful.

    Sergeant Guff nodded. ¡°Alright then Agni, let¡¯s begin.¡± He walked through the door to the training camp. I followed him but when I before I could enter the training camp, a blue screen appeared in front of me. Ignoring it, I tried to go inside. A red transparent wall appeared in front of me. I tentatively pushed against it. It felt solid. Sighing, I decided to read the blue screen after all. It was still floating a little bit to the left of my head.

    You are about to enter Sival Basic Training Camp

    Traits: Gain 10% proficiency in physical skills, all attacks do no damage. PVP allowed.

    Choose Option 1 for instance training. Choose Option 2 for communal training. For more information, choose option 3

    Choose: Option 1/Option 2/Option 3

    I wasn¡¯t exactly sure what the choices were, so more information was necessary before I chose an option. I mentally selected Option 3. The blue screen changed, now displaying the information I had asked for.

    Instance Training: Instance training is an option available for all training areas. Upon selecting this option, you will enter a private instance that is an exact replica of the training facility. There you will be the only player and all other characters will be NPCs. You will receive one on one training with the trainer of the facility.

    Communal Training: Communal training is an option available for all training areas. Upon selecting this option, you will enter a public instance that is an exact replica of the training facility. There you will be one of many players and all characters except the trainer will be players. You will not receive one on one training with the trainer of the facility, but you can train and befriend other players.

    Would you like to go back to Sival Basic Training Camp options?

    Choose: Yes/No

    Hmm. Bit weird, but I guess if I didn¡¯t want to be bothered, the instance training was for me. As it was though, I wanted to hear what other people thought of the game so far and if they had any tips. Not that I thought anyone would choose such an out of the way town to begin with. Maybe that elf girl I saw training was another user.

    Choosing yes, I was presented with the same screen asking me to choose between instance or communal training. Choosing communal training, I looked at the gate expectantly. The red barrier was now gone, revealing the impatient Sergeant Guff. I walked into the training camp and stopped beside Sergeant Guff.

    Sergeant Guff turned towards me, his face stern. ¡°Now, I don¡¯t teach magic here. In order to learn magic, you need to pay for registration at the magic guild. It¡¯ll be ten copper coins. I can give you directions to the guild if you wish.¡± Ah, the secondary prompt. With how realistic everything was so far, you could almost believe that Sergeant Guff was a real person. The NPCs were really interactive thanks to the AI and yours truly for programming it.

    ¡°No thank you Sergeant Guff. I would like to take the basic training.¡± I gently persisted on receiving the basic training. If it went on like this, I was going to complain to the scriptwriter. A reminder or two was alright but too many and it would become annoying.

    Sergeant Guff grinned. ¡°Nice to see some still want to try the old blood and sweat method then the fancy magic. Does my heart good. Anyways, first I¡¯ll show you how to fight unarmed or with a weapon. What kind would you like to use?¡±

    I thought for a little bit before replying. ¡°I would like to use the sword, spear, and bow.¡±

    Sergeant Guff nodded. ¡°I can train you in those weapons. Which would you like to train in first.¡±

    ¡°I would like to be trained in the sword.¡± The sword was one of the most common weapons. It seemed like a good choice to start with.

    ¡°Come with me then.¡± Sergeant Guff walked over to the rack of weapons. Pulling out several wooden swords he presented them to me. ¡°These are all different kinds of swords. Which one you choose doesn¡¯t matter, but the techniques may differ. You can try them on the dummies here until you choose one. When you do, ask me anything.¡±

    With that, Sergeant Guff went over to his chair and resumed his pose that I had found in him. Soon, a trickle of smoke could be seen coming from his chair. I looked at the rack of wooden weapons, checking out the selection. There was a thin rapier, a katana, a short sword, a large greatsword, and a regular longsword.

    I picked up the rapier. It was light, so light that it was more like picking up a stick than anything else. It was well balanced as well which really helped reinforce the feeling of being light. I walked over to the dummies. Stopping in front of them, I held the rapier in one hand and pointed it at the dummy in front of me.

    A blue screen appeared in front of me, completely blocking my vision. Annoyed, I decided to quickly read it and get it over with.

    The system has detected you entering combat training for the first time. Would you like to optimize the combat system?

    Choose: Yes/No

    Maybe this had more merit then I thought. Choosing yes, I started going through the options and manipulating them until I was finally satisfied. All notifications would be halted until combat had ended and I manually reactivated them. Floating damage numbers were now gone and red would highlight damaged areas. There was an option to enable gore but I decided not to do that. I kept the healthbars and enemy name though and added a level indicator.

    With that, the combat system would be streamlined. For those that wanted a more realistic approach, they could take away all indicators and turn on the gore, allowing them to live in a world that mimicked real life. I didn¡¯t want to live a life like that though. The whole point was to get away from life.

    Now that the window was gone, I could now focus on the rapier. Level 1 Training Dummy 100/100 hp. Rapiers are slender swords with no edge to the blade. The tip of the blade was only thing sharp about them and they were meant for thrusting. Taking a step forward, I lunged at the dummy. The rapier struck a glancing thrust on the dummy¡¯s side before sliding to the side. Without the expected resistance, I stumbled forward and rammed into the dummy. 98/100 hp. I had done one damage from the rapier and one damage from ramming it.

    Ears burning with shame, I glanced around to make sure no one had seen me do that. The only other person around was the elf girl, but she was still practicing shooting arrows at the targets. I took up my stance again. 100/100 hp. I gave a small jab at the dummy to try and practice my thrusting skills. I needed to hit the dummy where I wanted to otherwise, it would be useless in a fight.

    I hit it lightly on its right shoulder. Frowning, I concentrated and thrust the rapier at the dummy. This time it was closer to the chest area but still not in the center where I was aiming for. Frustrated, I threw down the rapier. I had watched a few fencing videos and their beautiful fighting style always entranced me. That was the reason I chose the rapier first. It seemed I wasn¡¯t suited for the rapier after all.

    Picking up the rapier, I place it back on the weapon rack. I thought about picking up the katana, but I decided not to. It just didn¡¯t fit the image in my mind of a magician wielding a katana. I turned to the greatsword. This one was a huge hulking beast. It was incredibly long at five feet from tip to hilt. The base of the sword was three inches wide and tapered down to a mean looking point.

    I picked up the sword and almost immediately had to put it down again. The thing was incredibly heavy! It was balanced but that didn¡¯t help that much. I reached down to pick it up again, this time with two hands. With some strain, I managed to pick up the sword.

    I paused. This wasn¡¯t the sword I wanted. Taking this much effort just to lift, just how would he use it in a fight! Swords were supposed to be agile and quick. If I wanted something heavy, I could have just picked up that warhammer right over there.

    This time, I chose the longsword. 100/100 hp I took up my stance in front of the dummy with the longsword in one hand. I slashed downwards, cleanly slicing into the dummy¡¯s shoulder. I felt stiff resistance but cut through the dummy completely. The longsword struck the ground and bounced upwards. A red line could be seen where I had cut into the dummy. 87/100 hp.

    I grinned. This was the most damage I had successfully done so far. I tried to swing the sword as fast as possible and sliced into the dummy nine more times. I swung upwards, downwards, sideways, slanted, I tried every move I could think of. By the time I hit nine, could feel my wrist throbbing and I started to pant from the exertion. It seemed like I needed more strength to wield the sword one-handed. Longswords were typically meant to be used two-handed after all.

    I paused. Why could I feel throbbing? Pain wasn¡¯t supposed to be sensed, so why could I feel this throbbing sensation? ¡°Open help menu.¡± The blue screen popped up in front of me. I started looking through help topics but gave up a few seconds later due to the sheer number of topics. I tapped on the search bar at the top. A translucent blue keyboard appeared in front of me, floating in midair.

    Reaching out, I started to type with the keyboard. It was weird. The keyboard seemed to be anchored to the air and wouldn¡¯t move at all. I could feel the keys on the keyboard like they were real and not a touchscreen mimicry. I decided to ignore the weirdness of it.

    I typed into the search bar ¡®soreness exercise.¡¯ That should be brief enough. Pressing enter, a list of topics popped up. Clicking the first one, I found the answer I was looking for. Apparently, aches and soreness were not covered under the no-pain policy. The soreness would only appear after the stamina reached low levels. Aching was included to resemble reality more and prevent someone from breaking their bones due to overstretching. It was more a way for people to know when they reached their limits. Looking at my endurance, I could see it was now at 1/10. That mad rush to make it to the village combined with swinging the sword around must have drained me pretty badly.

    I sat down on the ground, trying to get my breath back in order. I watched my stamina levels and saw them rising fairly quickly at 1 stamina per minute. I smacked my head. Obviously, I shouldn¡¯t be doing this in elf form! I could still turn into an earth elemental, and they didn¡¯t need stamina since they ran off mana.

    ¡°Body Transformation.¡± I whispered and a cloud of white mist surrounded me, obscuring me from anyone looking. I felt myself grow taller and wider. My hands became thicker and clumsier. My skin turned into craggy rock and I could feel a hardness in my chest. Obviously that hardness was my core. The mist was sucked into my body, revealing my change to the world.

    Checking my stamina levels I saw there was only a N/A where the 2/10 had previously been. Since that was the case, I could totally go bonkers on this dummy. I reached down to pick up the longsword but it seemed a bit short. It was supposed to be a two-handed sword but a single hand covered the entire handle. I guess my body had grown more than I first thought.

    I picked up the greatsword. It was a little bit easier to pick up due to my twenty percent increase in strength, but it was still really awkward to swing though. I attempted to swing it at the dummy in front of me and it cut right through the dummy. 82/100 hp. The dummies regenerated their health after they took damage, so it was always at a hundred hp when you hit them.

    I tried swinging the sword a couple more times before eventually putting it down. It was large, unwieldy, and even with the increase in strength, it wasn¡¯t light. I''m sure if I wanted to, I could train in it. However, I wasn''t planning on being some lumbering giant with a sword. I just didn''t like it. I changed back to my elf form, but I was only at 3/10 stamina. Seems as though the stamina recovery was still active in my elemental form. Since there wasn¡¯t enough stamina, I switched back to my elemental form. I stood before the swords Sergeant Guff had picked for me.. All of these swords were meant for my hellion elf form.

    I couldn¡¯t pick up any sword except the greatsword in my form. Frustrated, I punched the dummy in the gut. 85/100 hp. What? That was as more damage than the longsword had done! Maybe it was a critical hit? I struck at the dummy again. 85/100 hp. Just what was happening! I switched to elf form and hit the dummy. 89/100 hp.

    Checking my stamina, I was now at 4/10. I grabbed the longsword and swung it at the dummy. 87/100 hp. The longsword still did 13 damage. I punched the dummy. 89/100 hp. Looks like I did damage that was equal to my strength when fighting barehanded. If that was the case, then why did I do 15 damage with my elemental body when I only had 13 strength in that form? I checked my skills and finally came up with an idea. Earth Body said in its description that it could allow me to form weapons from my own body at high levels. Maybe my body already counted as a basic weapon like boxing gloves.

    I decided to ask Sergeant Guff about this. Approaching him, I mentally compared myself. I figured in my elf body, I stood around six foot tall and I was the same height as Sergeant Guff. With my elemental form I was probably closer to eight foot tall and towered over the Sergeant.

    I walked in front of him to get his attention. ¡°Sergeant Guff, I would like to know how to calculate damage in the game.¡± Upon hearing me, the Sergeant stopped smoking. Getting up, he glanced up and down at my figure.

    ¡°You must be that hellion elf hybrid huh. Agni right? You sure are an earth elemental. Most confounded thing ever. Now, what was that I heard about a game?¡±

    I remembered that in the user manual for [Virtual Life], it was mentioned that NPCs couldn¡¯t hear anything about their world being a game. I decided to test it out. ¡°I said, I would like to know how to calculate damage in the game.¡±

    Sergeant Guff stuck his finger in his ear and cleaned it out. ¡°Sorry about that son. I must¡¯ve had something in my ear. Now, what was that I heard about a game?¡±

    It seemed as though there would be a rote response every time in order to clue in players that their questions were touching on a forbidden subject. ¡°I asked if you could tell me how damage is calculated.¡±

    Sergeant Guff grinned. ¡°Well, that one is simple. If you are talking about the damage done in melee combat, the two main factors are your strength and weapon damage. If you have ten strength with a sword that does three damage, you can deal thirteen damage. Would you like a demonstration?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Yeah, that would be nice.¡±

    Sergeant Guff nodded. He walked over to the training dummy and then grabbed one of the longswords from the rack. Level 1 Training Dummy 100/100 hp. He lifted the sword above his head and swung the longsword at the dummy. A red line bisected the training dummy into two even parts. The longsword stopped an inch from the ground without ever touching it. 78/100 hp. Sergeant turned to him. ¡°My strength is currently at 20 points. This sword has a damage of 2. If you hold the sword and say analyze, you can see what I mean. You can use analyze on any equipment you are touching¡±

    Sergeant Guff held the sword out to me and I took it. ¡°Analyze.¡± When I said that, another blue screen appeared in front of me. [Training Longsword (Common): 2 damage]. Hmm. So when I used the longsword in hellion elf form, I would do 13 damage. In elemental form, I was supposed to do 13 damage. I guess that meant that Earth Body was adding two damage to every punch, making my punches do 15 damage.

    I grabbed the greatsword and used analyze on it. [Training Greatsword (Common): 5 damage]. I guess it was a tradeoff. Greatswords did more damage, but they sacrificed the typical agility that was associated with swords. Now that I could see everything, I decided what sword I wanted. Even though longswords did less damage, they were far faster than greatswords. Katanas clashed with my sense of aesthetics, I couldn¡¯t wield rapiers, greatswords were too heavy, and I didn¡¯t want a small shortsword for my first weapon.

    Sergeant Guff stood in front of me, waiting patiently. Now that I had my made my decision, I decided to inform him. ¡°Sergeant Guff, I have decided to choose unarmed combat and the longsword.¡±

    Sergeant Guff nodded. ¡°I can train you in several unarmed combat classes. Would you like to focus on fists, feet, or general fighting.¡± Hmm. I wasn¡¯t sure about the damage my kicks did. Maybe it was better to check that out first. I kicked the dummy and checked its health. 13 damage.

    Well, that decided that. ¡°I would like to focus on fists.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Sergeant Guff seemed pleased at my decision. ¡°Now, what would you like to learn? The available fist focused fighting techniques are, Boxing or Wing Chun. Boxing focuses on punching the opponent while Wing Chun focuses on using the hands to deflect incoming damage.¡±

    ¡°I choose boxing.¡± No brainer there. Boxing seemed to be the only skill that focused on dealing damage on the ones available.

    ¡°Alright then. Pay attention.¡± Sergeant Guff walked off a little bit before looking over at me. He put his right hand vertical and his left hand diagonal. ¡°This is a classic boxer position. The hands are important because in this position they can block most damage to the chest and by bringing your hands up they can also block for your face.¡± He demonstrated this by lifting his hands slightly.

    ¡°The most important part though is your footwork. Keep your feet even with your shoulders and rest on the balls of your feet.¡± He looked almost like he was tip-toeing. I mimicked the stance he had taken.

    ¡°Now when you are fighting a monster, you can¡¯t just stay in this stance. Most of them are big enough to knock you over. Instead, you have to use your feet to bounce around. Dodge and roll, be ready to jump around.¡± Sergeant Guff bounced up and down on his feet. He suddenly dove to the side into a roll, coming up out of it in a crouch. ¡°Now, I know everyone can¡¯t do a roll like that. So instead, I¡¯ll teach you how to side jump.¡±

    He retook his stance. This time, he shoved off the ground with his left foot. He shot sideways by about two feet. ¡°That is a side jump. With that, most monsters attacks would be dodged. Remember that if it is a sideswipe it won¡¯t work. Now you can do back jumps but they can easily put you off balance so try not to do so unless it is necessary. Go ahead and try side jumping a little.¡±

    I was still in the stance but it was hard. My feet started to ache since I wasn¡¯t used to this kind of pose. I should really find a way to turn that setting off. I shoved off the ground and moved sideways. It wasn¡¯t as far as Sergeant Guff had moved, but it was a start.

    Sergeant Guff nodded. ¡°Good. Now you can practice doing side jumps and keeping your posture until you learn Boxing Footwork Basics. Afterwards, I¡¯ll teach you Boxing Punches Basics. Once you learn that, the two skills will combine into Boxing Basics. Would you like to continue the training?

    Training Quest: Boxing Training

    You have been asked to practice boxing

    Difficulty Level: E, Quest failed upon rejection of training

    Reward: Boxing Footwork Basics

    Penalty: None

    Accept Quest: Yes/No

    It was the first time I had been able to reject a quest. I guess the basic quests were required so I couldn¡¯t reject them. It made sense that you couldn¡¯t reject the respawn points and name quest.

    Seemed like I was going to have to train for a little while if longsword training was anything like boxing.

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3

    It didn¡¯t take as long as I thought. I repeatedly side jumped left and then right while staying in the boxing stance. At first, I was a little unsteady when I landed and a couple times I ended up stumbling when I couldn¡¯t stop myself. It was really hard since I couldn¡¯t use my arms to steady myself. Eventually though, I managed to become quite good at it. I even managed to do several at once without falling over, which is a lot harder than it sounds. I started trying to run forward while doing the side jump. I zigzagged as I went forward with my hands still in the boxing pose. I saw the benefits in doing this kind of training though.

    By learning how to use this technique, I could definitely increase my chances of avoiding long-range fire. As I was thinking along these lines, an arrow flashed past my eyes. Surprised, I stopped and looked around. The elf that had previously been shooting at the targets was now pointing her bow at me. She was about a hundred feet away from me, well within bow distance. As I watched, she pulled out an arrow from the quiver on her back and nocked it.

    ¡°Hey, elemental.¡± She called out to me. ¡°PVP isn¡¯t disabled and no attacks are gonna hurt you. How about me and you spar a little bit, I need some practice hitting a moving target.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t a bad idea. I bet it would help with my Boxing Footwork and I was really starting to get bored with just hopping around. I nodded. ¡°Sure. Are we just going to keep going until one of us gives or will we have a win condition?¡±

    The elf thought for a second before putting her suggestion in. ¡°How about if I shoot you ten times I win, but if you hit me twice you win.¡±

    Seemed fair. ¡°Alright, when do we start?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Now.¡± As the elf said that, she drew her arrow backward. I watched as she let go. I could barely make out the arrow before it hit me in my chest. I felt the arrow hit me but it was more like a light tap then the expected force. The elf paused. ¡°You gonna dodge are you going to just let me win.¡±

    I grinned. I liked her attitude. ¡°Nope, just wanted to see what an arrow felt like. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll start for real now.¡± I actually just wanted to see if I could dodge the arrow while it was in flight but before I could even attempt to side jump the arrow had already hit me. Arrows weren¡¯t as slow as people thought they were in the movies. It seemed as though I would have to anticipate the shot and dodge that way since my original method wasn¡¯t going to work.

    I took up my boxer stance and beckoned to the wood elf. ¡°Come on then, I¡¯m ready.¡±

    She nocked an arrow and started to pull it back while I continued to stand there. As she started to reach what I estimated to be a full draw, I side jumped left and then left again. The arrow flashed by, missing me by over two feet. I grinned. This was more like it.

    Now I started running towards her, pretty much in a straight line. As soon as she started to draw her bow back, I immediately started zigzagging, trying to prevent her from getting a shot off. This time she didn¡¯t shoot right away but kept her bow draw as she followed my darting figure. It was scary seeing that sharp arrow pointed right at me. I watched her eyes and I saw them slightly widen. Acting on instinct, I immediately side jumped right. The arrow missed me by mere inches. She had realized I was jumping and tried to correct her aim.

    By now I was within thirty feet of her. Nocking another arrow, the wood elf started to pedal backwards to keep some distance between me and her. She drew back her bow. I heard her yell, ¡°quickshot!¡± and her arm started to glow. Expecting the worst, I immediately side jumped to the right. The arrow flashed by me and I jumped to the left. As I did, an arrow slammed into me midair. The impact was greater than the last time I was hit, more like a hard shove now. I was thrown backwards, not far but enough to knock me off balance. A third arrow slammed into me, knocking me onto the ground. After I fell, I saw a fourth arrow whiz over my head.

    On the ground, I knew I was easy prey. I rolled left, trying to avoid any more arrows. Standing up, I saw the wood elf had just released an arrow that plunged into the ground where I had just been laying. The glow in the elf¡¯s arm turned off. This was starting to get dangerous. I immediately started sprinting at the wood elf, attempting to get as close as I could while the elf was still trying to reload.

    I was a mere five feet away when the wood elf released an arrow straight at my face. I instinctively blocked the arrow but while my arms blocked I felt something hit my chest. The wood elf had tackled me. I slammed my hands downwards, attempting to hit the wood elf as we went to the ground. I hit the wood elf though I couldn¡¯t tell where. The wood elf got off me and I scrambled trying to stand back up. The wood elf was kneeling on the ground, her bow aimed at me. Her arrows had fallen out of the quiver and she picked one of them up and tried to draw it. I had just started to get to my feet. Pushing off the ground, I jumped forward, punching the wood elf in the chest.

    The wood elf flipped over, smacking her head on the ground. The arrow she had been trying to knock fired up into the air. It barely went ten foot before falling back towards the ground. She laid on the ground, stunned by the blow. I myself hadn¡¯t been able to keep my balance from the jumping attack and fallen next to her. We both just stayed there on the ground. Eventually, I picked myself up.

    I reached my hand down towards the wood elf. ¡°So, did I win?¡±

    The elf shook her head as she let out a little chuckle. ¡°Just maybe.¡± She grabbed my hand and I pulled her to her feet. She kept hold of my hand and shook it. ¡°Anyways, my in-game name is Arya Vineling.¡±

    ¡°My name is Agni Delgaldo. What was that you used against me?¡± I really was curious. That was the first special ability I had seen so far.

    She chuckled. ¡°I guess you have only been here for a little bit. I used the skill Quickshot. It basically increases my firing speed for thirty seconds, for me that¡¯s enough to fire four arrows. You want a quick rundown of how training goes around here?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°It seemed a little vague but I could tell it isn¡¯t easy.¡±

    She grinned. ¡°Nope. I guess it¡¯s a tradeoff for being able to use all skills, you have to work harder for them. Well, first I learned Basic Archery Stance. I just had to pretend to draw my bow while following the proper technique. After close to a hundred tries, Guff taught me Basic Archery: Aim, and Basic Archery: Release. Together they combined to form Basic Archery. It may be different for you though, I¡¯m not sure since I didn¡¯t take any melee combat classes which you obviously did.¡±

    I was curious now. ¡°So what does basic archery do for you? I mean, it seems obvious but what are the real gains?¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°Alright then. Basic Archery lets me aim a bow, recover 50% of all arrows fired as loot, 10% speed in arrow firing, and also gives me a 10% increase in damage with arrows. Once I learned it, Guff gave me the option of buying a bow, quiver, and a weapon skill. I took it, obviously, and he taught me the Quickshot skill.¡±

    It seemed as though the ten copper was really just the beginning choice between mage or warrior. As I thought about what I wanted to do though, I realized something. ¡°You didn¡¯t say how you got the leather armor though.¡±

    Arya laughed. ¡°Well, I bought the armor from the general store downtown. There was some monster subjugating quests that I completed and I used the money to buy the armor.

    Everything clicked. ¡°Ah. So were you one of the people that came in the first day?¡± How else would she have had enough time to train, gain a skill, and also complete quests? Obviously, she must have been part of the first wave.

    She nodded. ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°Then why are you here training instead of gaining levels?¡± It didn¡¯t make sense. Leveling was the fastest way to get stronger so why was she here?

    ¡°Simple. The proficiency gain in physical skills means that training here is a lot easier than anywhere else. Right now I¡¯m trying to level my archery skill.¡± When she said that I remembered the +10% proficiency that the training camp had.

    I nodded. ¡°That does make sense. I guess that¡¯s why they have an instance training method in case it gets too crowded.¡±

    ¡°I guess so.¡±

    I sighed. ¡°Well, I better get back to training then. It seems as though I still have a ways to go in order to learn boxing.¡±

    ¡°After you learn boxing, do you want to do some quests together? I could use a melee fighter to distract some of the mobs.¡± Arya¡¯s proposal caught me off guard. I thought about it for a second before nodding.

    ¡°Sure. We shouldn¡¯t be too far apart in levels since the game has been out for only a day.¡±

    Arya nodded. ¡°I¡¯m only at level four so it won¡¯t be that big a deal to catch up to me. Anyways, I¡¯ll leave you to your training. I still have to level up my archery.¡± She picked up her bow and the arrows that were still scattered on the ground. Then she went back to shooting at the targets.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Going back over to the dummies, I continued doing side jumps. Now that I had seen how effective it was in combat, I really put my heart into it. After about ten minutes, I heard a ¡®ding¡¯ sound. The blue screen popped up in front of me.

    Due to constant effort, the skill ¡®Boxing Footwork Basics¡¯ has been learned

    [Boxing Footwork Basics: lvl 1(0/100)]

    A second blue screen appeared in front of me after I dismissed that one.

    Quest ¡®Boxing Training I¡¯ Complete

    Reward: Boxing Footwork Basics

    I tried out a side jump. Whenever I jumped, for some reason I jumped while crouching slightly. Because of this, I kept my balance easier and I was also almost skimming the ground with my foot. When I side jumped one more time, I attempted to change direction mid-jump. It worked, kind of. I ended up tripping, though I did trip in the direction I was trying to change to so maybe that was a skill to learn in the future.

    Instead, I decided to go over to Sergeant Guff. ¡°Sergeant, I finished learning Boxing Footwork Basics.¡±

    The sergeant looked up at me. ¡°Did you now? Demonstrate a side jump for me one more time.¡± I complied. ¡°Well, it looks like you really did. In that case, I¡¯ll teach you three basic moves for boxing. The first is guard, the second is jab, and the last is hook. These three are basic moves for boxing but more are available. However, they¡¯re the only ones I teach for free.¡±

    Sergeant Guff went over to the dummies. He took up his boxer stance with his feet even with his shoulders, resting on the balls of his feet, and the left side of his body slanted towards the dummy. ¡°I will teach you jab first. It¡¯s a fundamental boxing move and very basic. You simply want to step forward with your lead foot and extend your arm out in a punch. Then quickly return to your stance.¡±

    He stepped forward with his right leg. As he did, his right arm snapped forward, the momentum behind the blow strengthening the punch. Using the rebound from punching the target, Sergeant Guff withdrew his hand and went back into his boxing pose. He turned to me. ¡°If you hit the target and do the technique properly, it will do an additional 1% damage. Of course, learning the Boxing Basics will further amplify the damage and this is factored into the skill bonus. This is true for all skills. If you manage to complete a technique accurately, it will increase the effect by 1% even without having learned the skill.¡±

    It seemed right. Say I was a black belt in the real world. Since I already knew how to do the correct technique, then I wouldn¡¯t need to be trained. At the same time, I wouldn¡¯t gain the skill unless I trained in game. However, doing the correct form would still mean I was better than the average person just doing a karate chop thus, the extra effect. Still, that 1% seemed useless but gaining the skill didn¡¯t seem too hard. It was a balancing effect, effort in-game trumped real-world abilities though there was a bonus if you knew it in the real world.

    Sergeant Guff moved onto the next move while I was thinking. ¡°This move is called hook. It¡¯s a fundamental boxing move and very basic. You want to take a step forward and rotate your body by pivoting your hip in the same direction as you throw the punch. Have your elbow up as you throw the hook.¡±

    Once again, he demonstrated the move. His left foot stepped forward and his right arm came back slightly, elbow raised up. His upper body swung left while his lower body stayed rock solid. His right arm flashed outwards in a curve and smashed into the dummy. As soon as his arm hit the target, he retracted it and fell back into his stance.

    He turned towards me. ¡°The important thing to remember is to always stay in your stance. Put your weight behind each blow, don¡¯t sacrifice power. But at the same time, don¡¯t put so much power into the punch that you are put off balance by missing the target. If you do so, you can be caught off-guard.¡± To demonstrate this, he punched forward at the dummy but missed it by half-an-inch. He stumbled slightly when it went past the dummy. ¡°If that had been an enemy dodging, he could easily have landed a blow that knocked you over onto the ground. If you land on the ground, you¡¯re fighting capabilities are immediately reduced.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Thank you, Sergeant Guff.¡±

    Sergeant Guff grunted. ¡°Don¡¯t thank me. It¡¯s my dang job. Anyway, the last move is called guard. I had to teach it last since it¡¯s supposed to be a defensive move and you didn¡¯t know how to fight before. In this one, you just have to learn how to block properly.¡±

    He turned towards me. ¡°First you get in your stance.¡± I took up my stance. ¡°You want to have your non-dominant foot forward like you¡¯ve always had and your feet even with your shoulders. Have a slight bend to your knees and rest on the balls of your feet. Keep your non-dominant hand forward and vertical with your dominant hand diagonal and backward. By shifting your hands upwards and downwards,  you can choose what part of your body you want to protect. Downwards means protecting your abdomen, upwards means protecting your head. Keeping it in the middle means you protect a little of both. Go ahead and attack me.¡±

    Sergeant Guff was in his own stance with his hands shifted upwards. I moved forward before attempting a jab. I felt like a ragdoll as my momentum dragged my right hand forward. Actually, more like a slingshot as I added my own power to the punch. It went straight forward and slammed into Sergeant Guff¡¯s left forearm. I withdrew my arm and returned back to my boxing stance. Sergeant Guff nodded. ¡°Nice jab Agni. Try to aim for my stomach this time.¡±

    I swear I tried, I really did. However, it¡¯s really hard to aim a punch accurately. It took me three tries to actually hit my target. As the jab went straight for his gut, he moved both his hands downwards. My hand hit his left elbow, causing it to become numb from the force.

    After I retracted the blow, Sergeant Guff grinned. ¡°Good attempt. As you saw, when you see an attack coming for your upper or lower body, just move your hands there. You want to have both hands there to block the attack. If there are multiple attacks coming at once, then only block the area you think is important instead of splitting your hands up and trying to defend both areas. In the latter, you can at best block both but usually, you end up not blocking any attacks. This way you guarantee a block on one of the incoming attacks instead of possibly missing two attacks.¡±

    I nodded. It made sense to block one arrow for sure then try and fail at blocking two at once. Maybe I would be able to do it when boxing became higher level. Sergeant Guff started to give me my marching orders. ¡°I want you to practice the hook and jab. Afterwards, you can find me to practice the guard.

    Training Quest: Boxing Training II

    You have been asked to practice boxing

    Difficulty Level: E, Quest failed upon rejection of training

    Reward: Basic Boxing: Hook, Basic Boxing: Jab

    Penalty: None

    Accept Quest: Yes/No

    I selected yes. ¡°Thank you, Sergeant, I¡¯ll go ahead and start practicing.¡±

    Sergeant Guff nodded. ¡°Get to it then soldier.¡± As he went back to lounging in the chair, I started whaling on the dummy. I knew that learning these skills is what would keep me alive in this world. So, I decided not to do it half-baked. I would jab once and then hook twice, trying my best to transition between them smoothly. It was a lot harder then I thought and if I was back in the real world I would have definitely pulled a muscle.

    Then I started jabbing twice and hooking once, making sure to alternate between hands with every punch. It. Was. Hard. I spent about forty minutes punching before I received jab the skill.

    Due to constant effort the skill ¡®Basic Boxing: Jab¡¯ has been learned

    [Basic Boxing: Jab: lvl 1(0/100)]

    Due to constant effort the skill ¡®Basic Boxing: Hook¡¯ has been learned

    [Basic Boxing: Hook: lvl 1(0/100)]

    I then went over to Sergeant Guff. Just like the last time, he asked me to demonstrate the punches. Afterwards, he took me over to the back row of dummies. The previous dummies looked like the upper body of a man sticking out of the ground. These ones looked like wooden men. They were more like giant action figures than anything else.

    Sergeant Guff patted one of them. ¡°These are my pride and joy. They¡¯re the reason that we¡¯re qualified for training soldiers even though we¡¯re such a small town. These¡¯re magic automatons They¡¯re similar to golems since both can move once given orders but golems are temporary and these ain¡¯t. I¡¯ll feed em¡¯ some mana so they can start. They¡¯ll hit you with some basic hooks and jabs while you guard. They¡¯ll keep at it until you gain the skill so don¡¯t expect to stop. Now, do you wish to start the training now or wait a little while?¡±

    Training Quest: Boxing Training III

    You have been asked to practice boxing

    Difficulty Level: E, Quest failed upon rejection of training

    Reward: Basic Boxing: Guard

    Penalty: None

    Accept Quest: Yes/No

    Of course I wasn¡¯t backing down now. I¡¯d already spent about two hours trying to learn the basic skills to fight here. It actually wasn¡¯t that bad since most people had to train for two months to reach the level I had, I guess this was the advantage of learning in-game. Muscle memory was what allowed athletes to react to things instantly. If Arya had heard correctly, muscle memory is what became ingrained in us as we trained. I guess that¡¯s the advantage of having digital muscle. They can be reprogrammed.

    Sergeant Guff patted the chest of the wooden man. A glowing green circle appeared where he touched the automaton and the green glow extended in lines all over the wooden man. The automaton stood up slowly. Sergeant Guff stood in front of it. ¡°Take the basic boxing stance. Perform basic boxing combo¡¯s 1, 2, and 3 alternating between them randomly on the person in front of you. The command to carry out this task is ¡®Start¡¯ and to end this task is ¡®Stop.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Acknowledged.¡± A robotic voice came from the automaton. It shifted into the boxing stance.

    Sergeant Guff turned towards me. ¡°Stand in front of it and tell me when you¡¯re ready.¡± I did as he said and nodded at him. ¡°Start.¡±

    I turned towards the automaton and started as I saw a punch heading right for my face. I tried to bring my arms up but it was too late. The punch hit me in the face, stunning me and rocking my head backward. I swung my head back around to face the automaton and was immediately hit in the gut with a right hook. I doubled over out of reflex, even though I really only felt a pinching sensation. Two jabs hit me in the head, disorienting me before another hook made me fall over.

    I was attempting to get up when a jab hit me in the head, causing me to fall back to the ground. ¡°Stop,¡± came Sergeant Guff¡¯s calm voice. He approached me and helped me get to my feet. ¡°Well, that was a disappointment.¡±

    I hung my head. ¡°Sorry Sergeant.¡± I was frustrated. I worked so hard and put so much effort into it, only to be caught off-guard like that. I didn¡¯t even get a chance to hit back.

    Sergeant grinned. ¡°Real combat is a far cry from training by yourself as you just saw. Boxing is all about hitting the head of your opponent, keeping him disoriented and breaking his guard. Once you do that, you can pummel him anywhere you want to. Remember that, keep your guard up even if you can¡¯t see the opponent.¡± He turned towards the robot. ¡°Amend previous order. If the opponent has fallen to the ground, give them twenty-seconds before continuing.¡±

    ¡°Acknowledged.¡± The robotic voice sounded once again. Since I had been on the receiving end of these automatons I knew just how kick-butt they were. It was seriously making me curious. Was there a magic profession that allowed the making of these? If so, could I learn it? I imagined forming a ninja squad of wooden puppets and just unleashing them on poor, helpless monsters. Once it was there, it was hard to get rid of. I decided I was going to have to find out more about the magic automatons. Though Sergeant Guff did mention golems as well so maybe that was an alternative. Hmm.

    Clearing my head, I took up my boxing stance in front of the automaton. Keeping my eye on it, I called out to Sergeant Guff. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±

    ¡°Start.¡±

    I saw it this time. The automaton took a step forward, a right hook flying towards my face. The lack of hesitation meant that if you weren¡¯t prepared, you were in for a nasty surprise. Luckily, I was prepared. This time at least.

    I immediately brought up my two hands. Thud. Its fist impacted my forearm and then disappeared. I shifted my hands downwards so I could see since my hands had been blocking my vision. The automaton was throwing a jab with his other hand towards my gut. I shifted my hands down to block it. Right after another jab was thrown at my head. I blocked it. I shifted my hands downwards and a left hook caught me off-guard in the cheek. I stumbled backward but kept my hands up. Lucky I did so since I caught another blow with my arms. I pedaled backward, reset my stance, and started thinking.

    Static defense wasn¡¯t working very well. I attempted to dodge the blows by side jumping but it didn¡¯t work. Right as my feet left the ground, another jab hit me in the chest. Because I was in midair, the punch knocked me off balance. I landed badly on my foot and tripped, causing me to fall to the ground. Looking up, I saw the automaton had paused, his fist less than two inches away from my face. When I got up, the wooden man pulled back his fist and got into the boxer stance.

    It seemed like side jumping was a good technique for dodging long-range fire but not for close range combat. Well, the whole point in this was to learn guard so I guess I just had to buckle down and learn it. I took up my stance again. After about five seconds, the automaton suddenly started its assault.

 Chapter 4

    <h1 style="text-align: center"></h1>

    Chapter 4

    It took thirty minutes of the automaton beating the crap out of me for me to learn guard. I had just taken a hit to my head and fallen over. The automaton paused when I fell so I proceeded to pick myself up. As I did, multiple blue boxes appeared in front of me.

    Due to constant effort the skill ¡®Basic Boxing: Guard¡¯ has been learned

    [Basic Boxing: Guard: lvl 1 (0/100)]

    The following skills ¡®Basic: Boxing Guard, Basic Boxing: Hook, and Basic Boxing: Jab,¡¯ have combined to form the skill ¡®Basic Boxing Punches¡¯

    The following skills ¡®Basic Boxing Punches and Boxing Footwork Basics¡¯ have combined to form the skill ¡®Basic Boxing¡¯

    Due to skills combining, you have learned ¡®Basic Boxing¡¯

    [Basic Boxing lvl 1 (0/200)]

    Quest ¡®Boxing Training III¡¯ Complete

    Reward: Basic Boxing: Guard, Basic Boxing

    I excitedly started reading the information and let my guard down. I received a punch to the face for that mistake. I had set the combat system to only allow boxes to appear outside of combat and since the automaton had stopped fighting, that was enough for the boxes to appear but the automaton continued its fight after ten-seconds, just like Sergeant Guff had programmed.

    ¡°Stop!¡± I yelled out as I stumbled backward. When I did, the automaton immediately halted and went into a sort of standby mode. It withdrew its fist and then stood ramrod straight, its arms by its side.

    I then approached Sergeant Guff. ¡°Sergeant, I finished learning the boxing skill.¡±

    He nodded. ¡°Good, good. I can see from the bruises on your face that you learned it the hard way. Now that you have learned the skill, you can see the special abilities it gives you by saying ¡®Skill List.¡¯ From this window, you can see all the skills you have and what they do. Also, you can choose to learn some special moves for a price. Would you like to see the available skills?¡±

    Hmm. This must be like the quickshot skill Arya learned. ¡°That sounds tempting, but let me view my skills first and I¡¯ll decide afterward.¡±

    Sergeant Guff nodded. ¡°No hurry young man, think it through. Just come to me and ask to view ¡®Basic Boxing Special Skills¡¯ to choose one in the future.¡± I nodded. This would obviously help the AI to cut down on processing speed. It was just another subtle hint that this was a game and not another world.

    Anyways, it was time to see what bonus the boxing skill did. Arya said her archery skill gave her a 10% increase in arrow firing speed, 10% damage, and let her recover 50% of her arrows as loot. I wonder what Boxing would give? Time to find out. ¡°Skill List.¡± Immediately, a blue screen appeared in front of me.

    Skill List

    Active Skills:

    [Avatar of Fire (Racial Skill) lvl 1 (max)]

    [Body Transformation (Racial Skill) lvl 1 (max)]

    Passive Skills:

    [Basic Boxing lvl 1 (0/200)]

    [Earth Body (Racial Skill) lvl 1 (4/100)]

    Huh? Was that all? There wasn¡¯t even a basic description! I tried mentally selecting the boxing skill and it expanded.

    Basic Boxing: The first steps in boxing have been learned. 10% increase in damage dealt with fists, attacks blocked with guard do 10% less damage, and 5% increase in critical strike damage dealt with fists.

    Critical strike damage. In other games it was determined by the computer, I wondered how it worked here in Virtual Fantasy. Another question for Guff then. Sighing, I dismissed the screen and approached the Sergeant. ¡°Hey Guff, how does critical damage work?¡±

    Sergeant Guff glanced up at me and grinned. ¡°Ah yes, that. Well you see boy, critical damage is defined as damage done to vulnerable parts of an opponent¡¯s body. You can calculate it by adding your strength and luck points together. Critical hits cannot be reduced by armor so if you hit an opponent in the head, no matter how much armor they have, you will still do full damage. Of course, this only applies if you make contact with the opponent¡¯s actual skull and not their helmet.

    Currently, my stats were

    Strength: 13(11) Agility: 10

    Dexterity: 5 Vitality: 11

    Wisdom: 10 Intellect: 21(11)

    Stamina: 0(10) Luck: 10

    According to what Sergeant Guff said. My critical hit damage would be 23 in my elemental form and 21 in my elf form. Pretty nice. However, I still needed some clarification. ¡°So Sergeant Guff, what are some examples of vulnerable parts?¡±

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s see.¡± Sergeant Guff put his hand on his chin to think. ¡°On a human there¡¯s the head and heart, on slimes and elementals there¡¯s their core, and of course on birdmen, there¡¯s the wings. Those are only some examples. Each monster and race is unique though if you swing for the head, you¡¯ll be right 90% of the time. The other 10% is monsters that have a specific weakness like the cores or are simply invulnerable to physical damage.¡±

    I nodded. At least luck wasn¡¯t some abstract concept that vaguely influenced calculations behind the scenes. I mean, what kind of game designer would put something as abstract as luck into a game? No, it had to do something concrete like critical damage. I did remember that it influenced loot drops but by how much? I was a numbers man, vague sentences like that wasn¡¯t going to convince me.

    It seemed like a good stat for assassins to have though. Being able to neglect all armor was a real boon to that kind of fighter. Anyways, it was a stat that I wasn¡¯t really interested in. Now that I had figured out what everything did, it was time to see the available special skills.

    ¡°Sergeant, I would like to see the Basic Boxing Special Skills.¡±

    The Sergeant smiled. ¡°Alright boy. I have three types of skills for you to choose. Go ahead and take a look and if you want a demonstration or have further questions just ask.¡± He waved his hand and a blue screen appeared in front of me.

    Basic Boxing Special Skills

    Strong Punch: At the cost of 2 stamina, the next punch belonging to the ¡®Basic Boxing¡¯ skill will do twice as much damage as normal. Cooldown: 30 seconds

    Stiff Guard: At the cost of 1 stamina, the user takes 0 damage from the next physical attack blocked with guard. Cooldown: 10 seconds

    Fighting Spirit: At the cost of 5 stamina, do 30% more damage for the next 30 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes

    Hmm. They¡¯re basic but pretty strong. Fighting spirit is definitely useful for long fights, but it has a long cooldown time. Strong punch and stiff guard were both good for one-on-one fights or at least, taking out an opponent quickly. I decided, if I could choose one of the skills, it would be fighting spirit. If I could pick a second it would be strong punch and stiff guard was also good for defense

    ¡°Sergeant Guff, I choose fighting spirit.¡±

    He held out his hand. ¡°Alright then. The cost for that skill is eight coppers.¡±

    The skill was certainly worth that, but I wanted to make sure that I could buy a sword though. I shook my head. ¡°I changed my mind. Sergeant, could you teach me the longsword now?¡±

    Sergeant Guff nodded. ¡°Of course son. Come on over here and we¡¯ll get you fit with an appropriate longsword.¡±

    He led me over to the rack of weapons while I was still in my earth elemental form. Sergeant Guff looked at me before looking back at the weapons. ¡°Well son, I¡¯m afraid that none of the weapons here will match ya. I¡¯ll have to go back to the specialty weapons to find one that suits ya.¡± I followed him as he walked over to a shed at the edge of the practice field that I hadn¡¯t noticed before.

    He opened it up, revealing an odd assortment of weapons. ¡°You see, we often have travelers that are more¡­ unique, than others. An example would be a dwarf. If one wishes to wield a longsword, it needs to be shorter than our normal ones or a pixie since their only a foot tall at most. They use something like needles for swords, truly weird those folks. Anyways, here you are.¡±

    He pulled out the sword. It was slim, around two-inches wide and four foot long. I picked it up. It was well balanced. I swung it a couple times. It was somewhere between the greatsword and longsword I had previously used. The handle was the right size for my hand and while I couldn¡¯t swing it as fast as the first longsword, it was still far faster than the greatsword. I nodded at Sergeant Guff. ¡°Thanks. This is a far better sword than the ones I tried to use earlier.¡±

    He laughed. ¡°Of course it is! Those are meant for slim elves, not hulking elementals like you!¡± He knocked his fist on my rocky side. ¡°Next we need to pick a shield. A buckler would be a nice pick for a longsword. It¡¯ll be small but sturdy, light too.¡±

    He ruffled through the shed before picking a circular shield, 2-foot in diameter. ¡°This is a buckler. It¡¯s not meant for protection from projectiles, though you can use it like that. It¡¯s meant to be used for melee combat and batting your opponent¡¯s sword. A normal buckler¡¯s only 1-foot but since you¡¯re so big, I figured you could use one bigger than normal. Here, try it on.¡±

    He held out the small shield to me. It had a metal grip on the back. I held it in my hand, the flat end facing to the left of my fist like you saw in the movies. Sergeant Guff laughed. ¡°No no no. You¡¯re supposed to put it on like this.¡±

    He grabbed it from me and put it on his left hand. This time, the flat end was parallel with his fist. It was more like brass knuckles, just wider. Sergeant Guff gave it to me and I put it on. He grinned. ¡°Now that you are equipped, I¡¯ll teach you the tricks of a longsword.¡±

    I groaned but followed him as he went to the now familiar dummies. It looked as though I was going to have to train for a while longer.

    It was long, just like I thought. It took close to three hours for me to learn Basic Swordplay (Longsword) and Basic Shield Play (Buckler). Before we began, Sergeant Guff had informed me that I could learn the longsword skill without the shield, but that it wasn¡¯t recommended. Who was I to go against the experienced soldier? I decided to learn both. I remembered that I had wanted to learn the spear and bow as well. Based on how much time I had spent just learning the three skills I had already, I decided I had to skip them. Honestly, at this point, I wanted to kill something. Anything besides just training. I wanted to play the game!

    Anyways, back to the training. For the longsword skill, it went just like learning the boxing skill. First I was taught the stance to hold the longsword and shield. Then I was taught Thrust, Slash, and Parry for sword skills. For shield skills, I was simply taught Deflect and Bash.

    Bash was actually classified as a punch using the shield as a weapon which allowed me to use the boxing skills. Quite interesting really. Deflect was essentially me slanting my shield so that the blow would pass by me. Some of the damage still bled through but it was done to my shield instead which reduced its durability. Sergeant Guff warned me about keeping an eye on my shields durability since it could be destroyed by an enemy attack.

    Thrust was using the tip of the sword and stabbing forward. Useful for stabbing from afar. Slash was, of course, slashing with the sword. Parry was just that, parrying the enemy''s blade away. I actually had the most trouble learning that skill since I had to learn how to parry thrusts as well. Being skewered by a sword when I missed was not fun, even if it didn¡¯t hurt. The skills were worth it though.

    Skill List

    Active Skills:

    [Avatar of Fire (Racial Skill) lvl 1 (max)]

    [Body Transformation (Racial Skill) lvl 1 (max)]You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    Passive Skills:

    [Basic Boxing lvl 1 (0/200)]

    [Basic Shield Work (Buckler) lvl 1 (0/200)]

    [Basic Swordplay (Longsword) lvl 1 (0/200)]

    [Earth Body (Racial Skill) lvl 1 (4/100)]

    Basic Shield Work (Buckler): The first steps in shield work have been learned. Shield can deflect certain magical attacks and 10% increase in damage dealt with shields.

    Basic Swordplay (Longsword): The first steps in swordplay have been learned. 10% increase in damage dealt with swords, 10% increase in swinging speed, and 5% increase in critical strike damage dealt with swords.

    The sword skill was very similar to the boxing skill I received. The shield bonus was a true boon though. Inwardly, I was a little nervous since a sword didn¡¯t seem like a good defense against magic. With the shield skill, I now had a chance to block magic. It truly took a load off me.

    I decided to check out the special skills for the shield and longsword skills.

    Basic Swordplay Special Skills

    Strong Slash: At the cost of 2 stamina, the next attack belonging to the ¡®Basic Swordplay¡¯ skill will do twice as much damage as normal. Cooldown: 30 seconds

    Sharp Blade: At the cost of 3 stamina, the next attack belonging to the ¡®Basic Swordplay¡¯ skill will cause a bleeding status effect. The effect is activated only if the enemy takes damage. Cooldown: 1 minute <Minor Bleeding: Take 5 damage per second for ten seconds. Ignores armor>

    Fighting Spirit: At the cost of 5 stamina, do 30% more damage for the next 30 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes

    Basic Shield Work Special Skills

    Shield Bash: At the cost of 2 Stamina, the next attack done with a shield will stun the opponent. Cooldown: 45 seconds. <Minor Stun: Opponent becomes confused and cannot attack for 10 seconds. Time is reduced if the opponent is at a higher level than the user at 1 second per level>

    Tough Shield: At the cost of 2 Stamina, the next attack blocked by the shield will not damage the shield¡¯s durability

    Spiky Shield: At the cost of 5 stamina, return 30% of the damage the shield received for the next 30 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes

    Again, these skills were infinitely useful, though I was seeing a pattern. Sharp blade was a terrifying skill at the moment simply because it guaranteed 50 damage on the target. Right now, I only had 55 health. If I was hit by that skill, it was a certain death. Of course, it only did 50 damage. Once I reached a higher level, it would probably not even make a dent in my health, not to mention I could block it with my shield so it wouldn¡¯t even take effect.

    Speaking of my shield¡­ shield bash was definitely a control skill, but it was only really useful on opponents close to my level. Tough shield was good for blocking a single powerful attack, and if regular games were any indicator, it would be useful in a boss fight. Spiky shield was really useful but it cost a lot of stamina as well. I only had 10 stamina and it would immediately cut me down to half of that. I guess if I was being attacked a lot at once it would be nice to have. If something like a Gatling Gun attacked me and I returned 30% of the bullets, it would be a nice surprise. For me.

    Anyways, it was time to make a choice. What special skill would I learn? I asked Sergeant Guff and all of the skills cost eight coppers. Considering I only had ten, I could only choose one. Which one would I choose? Sharp blade of course!

    Beginner monsters had low health points and with the skill, it was a pretty much one hit kill. It was definitely a great skill to have at the beginning since I could end the fight with one blow, though it would take awhile before it came into effect. It was a great skill to power-level with. I went over to Sergeant Guff. ¡°Sergeant, can I buy the Sharp Blade skill from the Basic Swordplay Special Skills?¡±

    Sergeant Guff nodded. ¡°Of course you can. Eight copper please.¡± He held out his hand. Reaching into the money pouch beside me, I fished out the eight copper and paid the Sergeant. He counted them and stuck it into his pocket.

    You have paid ¡®Sergeant Guff¡¯ eight copper coins to learn the skill ¡®Sharp Blade¡¯

    [Sharp Blade lvl 1 (0/100)]

    ¡°Alright, Sharp Blade is now in your Skills. Now that you have learned the skill, you can see the special abilities it gives you by saying ¡®Skill List.¡¯ From this window, you can see all the skills you have and what they do.¡±

    ¡°Skill List.¡± I definitely wanted to check out my new skill.

    Skill List

    Active Skills:

    [Avatar of Fire (Racial Skill) lvl 1 (max)]

    [Body Transformation (Racial Skill) lvl 1 (max)]

    [Sharp Blade lvl 1 (0/100)]

    Passive Skills:

    [Basic Boxing lvl 1 (0/200)]

    [Basic Shield Work (Buckler) lvl 1 (0/200)]

    [Basic Swordplay (Longsword) lvl 1 (0/200)]

    [Earth Body (Racial Skill) lvl 1 (4/100)]

    Cool. I can¡¯t wait to try this out. As I studied my skill, Sergeant Guff started talking. ¡°You can also buy a weapon if you want.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°I think I¡¯ll buy a longsword and buckler of the same make as I have now. How much would it cost?¡±

    Sergeant Guff looked at them for a second before nodding. ¡°You can buy your current equipment. 1 copper for the sword and 1 copper for the shield for 2 copper in all or you can buy a real sword and shield for 20 copper.¡±

    I winced. ¡°Sorry Sarge, I¡¯ll have to buy the training sword and buckler.¡± After I paid I decided to ask for a quest. Never too early to get one and I had no idea what else I could do. ¡°Sergeant, do you know if there is anything I can do to earn some money around here?¡± He should have some kind of task. If not, I could ask Arya.

    Sergeant Guff scratched his head. ¡°Well, now that you mention it. I heard that Farmer John at the end of the road was having a problem with wolves. How about you check it out? I think he¡¯ll pay well.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Sergeant Guff.¡± He pointed out the way to John¡¯s farm and I quickly set out, my [Training Longsword (Common): 2 damage] and [Training Buckler (Common): 20 durability, 1 damage] equipped.

    I walked down the road and noticed how the houses became farther and farther apart. I could tell I was reaching the edge of the town. Soon, I came across a large red barn. A man in worn cotton clothes was using a hoe to till the ground in front of the barn. After the ground was broken up, the man reached into a leather pouch around his waist. He scattered some sort of seed on the ground before moving on, continuing his farming.

    I approached the man. ¡°Hello! Are you Farmer John?¡±

    The man startled and turned towards me, his hoe raised up as though to defend himself. When he saw me he didn¡¯t relax. ¡°I¡¯m John. Whadda ya want?¡±

    I raised my hands. ¡°Whoa. Don¡¯t do anything stupid. Sergeant Guff sent me, he said you had a problem with wolves.¡±

    Farmer John relaxed. He rested the hoe on the ground and smiled at me meekly. ¡°Sorry ¡®bout that. I know everyone in town and the only strangers we get are otherworlders and bandits. Otherworlders are just as likely to be bandits too.¡± He spat on the ground. ¡°Anyways, I do have a problem with wolves. Killed some of my sheep in the back. If you kill some of ¡®em I¡¯ll be mightily obliged. I¡¯ll pay five copper for each wolf killed, though you gotta kill at least two of ¡®em fore I pay ya.¡± A blue screen appeared in front of me.

    Sheep Killer I

    You have been asked to hunt at least 2 wolves

    Difficulty Level: D, Quest failed upon rejection of hunting

    Reward: 10 copper and 5 copper for each additional wolf

    Penalty: None

    Accept Quest: Yes/No

    A scaled quest? Seems as though I¡¯ll have to kill as many wolves as possible in order to get some money. Then I can buy some more skills and proper equipment. I accepted the quest and nodded to John. ¡°Just leave it to me, I¡¯ll kill them for you.¡±

    I went to the back and saw a wooden fence surrounding a field filled with sheep. I opened the gate and closed it behind me. I walked to the middle of the field. Before I reached it though, I heard a growl and sheep bleating. I looked at the sound and saw a wolf. It was about the size of a normal wolf so nothing abnormal there. Its fur was gray and scruffy. I could see the ribs of the wolf. Must be why they were attacking the sheep. I would have to give the developers a raise when I finished playing, they really outdid themselves.

    The wolf was ignoring me and chasing one of the sheep. I tried to run after the wolf but it was too fast. I dropped my longsword and picked up some rocks. I threw one, miss. I threw another. It was a hit! The wolf stopped and faced me. I saw saliva dripping out of its mouth as it snarled at me. I gulped. This thing was scary. My rational mind overcame my fear though. This thing was just bits of data, packets of information. It wasn¡¯t a real wolf. Funny, I came here to live in a world of magic, yet the thing I reassured myself with was the fact that the world wasn¡¯t real.

    The wolf started to run at me. I picked up my longsword. I fell into the stance that Sergeant Guff had drilled into me. It was comforting. I studied it as it ran towards me. Level 5 Starving Wolf 100/100 hp. Crap. This was way out of my range. I gripped my sword tightly before loosening it. This was just a game. If I died, oh well. The level was just a suggestion. Besides, the wolf was only five feet away, I couldn¡¯t run away even if I wanted to.

    The wolf leaped at me, fangs bared. I side jumped, avoiding its jump. I swung my sword backhanded, landing a glancing blow on its shoulder. 84/100 hp. It seemed as though I might be able to kill it after all! Normally I would have done 15 damage but I did an extra 1.5 damage due to the longsword skill. The .5 was left out allowing me to do 16 damage. Not great, but every little bit helps.

    I landed on my feet and the wolf landed behind me. I spun around only to be greeted by the fangs of the oncoming wolf. It had leaped again! ¡°Sharp Blade!¡± I slashed at the wolf, hitting it on the head. 57/100 hp. My critical damage was 25 with a +2 damage bonus from the sword skill allowing me to do 27 damage! The wolf now had a red teardrop behind its hp bar. Its hp bar was no longer the vibrant green it had been when I first saw it but now it was a sickly yellow. The wolf took the blow, its head now had a red slash through it where I had hit it with the blade. The wolf crashed into me, making me fall. Its jaws clamped down on my throat, startling me.

    33/55 hp. Instantly, my hp dropped by 22 points. These wolves weren¡¯t as strong as I had feared! I stabbed the wolf twice in its side with my blade as it bit my throat. 36/100, 31/100, 4/100 hp. The one in the middle must have been because of the bleed effect. The wolf howled and jumped off me. I got to my feet. I could see the red line on the wolf¡¯s face from where I had slashed it. It pulsed once and then the wolf staggered and fell. That must have been the bleed indicator, every time it pulsed the wolf would take 5 damage. Since its health was already at 4 hp, it had died from the bleed effect.

    I started to approach the wolf and a blue screen appeared in front of me.

    Congratulations! You have killed a ¡®Level 5 Starving Wolf!¡¯

    You dealt 100% of the damage. Due to the level gap, you receive four times the normal amount of xp and receive 80 xp.

    Previous: lvl 1 (80/100) Current: lvl 2 (0/110)

    Sweet! I did kinda cheat by asking one of the developers about the equation for each levels xp. I figured it was common knowledge and wouldn¡¯t give me a leg up in-game. The equation was 100+10x^2 where x is the previous level. So level 3 would be 140 xp and level 4 would be 190 xp. Level 10 would be 910 xp. A normal wolf only gave 20 xp so it would take 13 wolves to go from level 5 to level 6. Sheesh. I just needed to find a second wolf and I¡¯d be level 2.

    Now. How did the loot system work? I poked the wolf curiously and its body started to dissolve into white light. What was left behind was two strips of fur, an ear, and a chunk of raw meat. I touched the strip of fur hesitantly.

    The system has detected your activation of the loot system. Would you like a guide?

    Choose: Yes/No

    I immediately chose yes.

    Loot System: The loot system is how loot is given in-game. In order to gain loot, touch the corpse of the defeated enemy. The corpse will dissolve and leave behind the loot items. By touching one of the items and saying ¡®add to inventory,¡¯ you can place the item inside your inventory space.

    I dismissed the screen. I decided to try out a hunch of mine. ¡°Inventory.¡± A blue screen with a grid on it appeared in front of me. It was currently a 2x2 table with nothing inside. I touched the two wolf fur strips. ¡°Add to inventory.¡± The wolf fur strips dissolved into white light. An icon of the wolf fur now filled one of my slots with a small x2 in the bottom right corner of the image. That was definitely useful. Though the small amount of inventory tabs was going to make it a hassle. I put the raw meat and wolf ear inside the inventory as well.

    I stood up and started to look around for more wolves. I heard a growl coming from right behind me. I turned and saw two wolves facing me. Crap. I forgot that wolves are inherently pack animals. Of course there would be groups of them. I must have gotten lucky last time and found one by itself. I don¡¯t think I could face two of them at once, especially since I only had 33 hp.

    They crept closer to me, not running at me like the last one. One of them startled to circle around me, attempting to get behind me. If they did, it wouldn¡¯t be good. ¡°Sharp Edge.¡± Now I was prepared. I waited as the small 30-second countdown in my upper right vision disappeared. It only had ten seconds left when the wolf that was circling around me was almost out of my vision. I couldn¡¯t wait any longer, otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t be able to react if the wolf sneak attacked me. I jumped forward, thrusting my sword at the wolf in front of me. It struck the wolf directly in the neck and went up to the hilt of the sword. 73/100 hp.

    The wolf howled in pain and bit my arm. The red mark where I had stabbed my sword pulsed red. 68/100 hp. I ripped the sword sideways out of the wolf¡¯s body. 41/100 hp. The wolf was flung sideways. I turned around to see the second wolf leaping at me. I punched outwards with a jab using the shield. The wolf bit the shield, holding onto it. I slammed the shield into the ground. 85/100 hp. I then stabbed the wolf in the belly. 69/100 hp. I saw the timer go out. ¡°Sharp Blade!¡± The wolf was still biting my shield, allowing me to stab it in the head. 42/100 hp.

    I used the shield to throw the wolf sideways and sprinted away. I looked back at the wolf I had stabbed the first time. 21/100 hp. The other wolf was now at 37/100 hp. The first wolf had a small red cut on its neck. The second wolf had a small cut almost directly beside its left ear. Both of their wounds would occasionally pulse dropping their health by 5 hp. Both of the wolves were on their feet now and were running at me. Drool could be seen around their mouths as they bared their teeth at me as they ran.

    With their health, they would be killed by the bleed status soon. No need to worry about them for now. Instead, I turned around and started running away from them. I could hear their panting behind me as I ran. It was getting closer, and closer. One of the wolves let out a yelp. It must have been the wolf that had been low on health. That meant that it had been five seconds. It would take three more seconds for the other wolf to die. I suddenly flew forward as something hit me in the back. I felt a pinching sensation on my back and my health dropped. 14/55 hp. I rolled, trying to dislodge the wolf. I felt its body stiffen when I rolled over it and the pinching sensation disappeared.

    Congratulations! You have killed ¡®Level 5 Starving Wolf¡¯ x2!

    You dealt 100% of the damage. Due to the level gap, you receive four times the normal amount of xp and receive 160 xp.

    Previous: lvl 1 (80/100) Current: lvl 3 (30/140)

    You have leveled up x2!

    Gain 10 free status points, 2 strength, 2 vitality, and 2 intelligence.

    To assign free status points, say ¡®Status Window.¡¯

    My health went from 14/55 hp to 24/65 hp. Great, so the additional hp was added, but the already depleted hp wasn¡¯t replaced. I stood up and saw the dead wolf below me. Looking back, I saw the other wolf around 5 yards away. I touched the wolf¡¯s corpse below me. 1 wolf ear and 1 raw meat. Storing them in my inventory, I went to the other wolf corpse and checked it for loot. 1 wolf ear, 1 wolf pelt, and 1 wolf tooth. Now my inventory had 3 wolf ears, 2 raw meat, 3 wolf pelts, and 1 wolf tooth. With my low health, I would die if I ran into another wolf. I immediately started running for the gate.

    I was almost there when I heard growls. I quickly glanced back and saw three hungry wolves. I was so not ready for this fight. I hurried on towards the gate and opened it, closing it swiftly behind me. The wolves watched me go and didn¡¯t chase me, instead they started hunting the sheep. Why fight something that¡¯s already leaving?

    I leaned against the gate and sighed. Earning money sure was hard. If I hadn¡¯t had the Sharp Blade skill or had mana replace my stamina, I would have been dead! I wasn¡¯t sure what the exact penalty was for dying, but I didn¡¯t want to find out right now. I went over to Farmer John who was still tilling. He saw me and straightened his back. ¡°Hello again. Did ya kill some of the wolves?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Sure did, I killed three of them.¡±

    Farmer John smiled. ¡°Good. Give me the wolf ears to prove you killed them and I¡¯ll give you the 15 copper I owe ya.¡±

    Ah. I thought it was weird that all of the wolves had dropped wolf ears, so it turned out they were a quest item. ¡°Withdraw three Wolf Ears from inventory.¡± I decided to follow one of my hunches. White light filled my palm before disappearing, revealing three wolf ears that were now in my hand. ¡°Here you go Farmer John.¡±

    The old farmer took them and looked at them for a second. ¡°Good, they¡¯re genuine.¡± He fished into his pockets and pulled out something. ¡°Here ya go, all ta¡¯ money I owe ya.¡± I took the money from his palms and a blue screen appeared in front of me.

    Quest ¡®Sheep Killer I¡¯ Complete

    Reward: 15 copper

    Farmer John started talking. ¡°It¡¯s weird that so many wolves are appearing in my fields. Maybe ya could see if I have a hole in my fence and kill some wolves while you''re at it? Same reward as last time but I¡¯ll pay ya twenty copper if you find a hole in the fence.¡±

    Sheep Killer II

    Farmer John suspects his fence has a hole in it. Find it and kill any wolves you come across.

    Difficulty Level: D, Quest failed upon rejection of hunting

    Reward: 20 copper and 5 copper for each wolf killed

    Penalty: None

    Accept Quest: Yes/No

    I had almost died once, no way was I going to tempt fate again. ¡°Sorry Farmer John, I have other business to tend to. Maybe I could do it some other time?¡±

    Farmer John shrugged. ¡°I think by then the wolves will be dead or moved on. Best not to come back if you don¡¯t want to kill ¡®em now.¡±

    Quest ¡®Sheep Killer II¡¯ Rejected

    Penalty: None

 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5

    After I rejected the quest, I went back to town. I needed better weapons, some armor would be nice, special skills, and maybe even some magic. First, I found the general store that Arya had mentioned. It was in the busy downtown that I had run into when escaping the lava centipede.

    The store was made with trimmed logs and wooden sign saying ¡®Millards General Adventurer Store¡¯ written in charcoal was out front. I walked into the front store, the edge of the door hitting a string tied to a bell above the door. ¡®Ding ding.¡¯ A burly man with an x-shaped scar on his right cheek was behind a wooden desk.

    The shelves were stocked with the things you would expect for a general store, just with a tinge of danger. There were bags of flour, charcoal, and monster repellant. Containers of nails were located next to the rack of knives and swords.

    The man smiled at me when I walked in. ¡°Hello. Would you like me to help you find anything honored customer?¡±

    I decided to take him up on his offer. ¡°Well yes. I am currently looking for some armor, a longsword, and a buckler if you have it.¡± I definitely needed a new buckler. The last one had saved my life, even if it hadn¡¯t lasted long.

    The man nodded. ¡°We have some armor for you. What level are you at and what kind of adventurer are you? Are you melee, ranged, or magician so I can find something that suits you.¡± The NPC was asking for more information to tailor his products to me. Excellent programming there.

    I decided to give him the info he¡¯d asked for. ¡°I¡¯m currently level 3 and I¡¯m looking at being a melee fighter for the moment. Magic might come later.¡±

    He nodded and then went to some of the different shelves collecting things. When he came to the desk again, he had some equipment in his hands. It was not what I had expected to get though. ¡°A beginner warrior, sword and shield combo from your requests. I have a rusty longsword, some rotted leather chest armor, and a wooden buckler you can use.¡±

    I sighed. ¡°Do you have anything better?¡±

    The man shook his head. ¡°For beginners, this is the highest equipment you can buy. Once you reach level 10, you can buy a copper longsword, copper buckler, and some real armor. Level 10 is essentially the true start to an adventurer¡¯s career.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Thank you. So, how much for everything?¡±

    The man paused and counted on his hands. ¡°Three copper for the sword, five copper for the leather armor, and two for the buckler. Lucky for you, you chose a small shield. It would have been five copper for a tower shield. Though the low durability means you¡¯ll have to go to the blacksmith to have it repaired.¡±

    I gave him ten copper, leaving me with five. I thought about it and I realized that I really didn¡¯t have any healing abilities. ¡°I still have five copper. Do you have anything that can heal?¡±

    The man nodded. ¡°I have some health, stamina, and mana potions. The ones for your level cost 5 copper so they¡¯re not cheap. I also have some biscuits that heal ten health for one copper a piece, though you can¡¯t use them in combat like the potions.¡±

    I nodded and bought five biscuits. There had been a pause between the wolf attacks. If I had been able to eat the biscuits, then I would have been able to heal myself. Maybe not by a lot, but it would have helped. I equipped the longsword and buckler, but I couldn¡¯t put the leather armor on for some reason.

    The equipment stats were [Rotten Leather Armor (Chest) (Common): 10 armor, 20/20 durability], [Rusty Longsword (Common): 6 damage, 10/10 durability], and [Wooden Buckler (Common): 60/60 durability, 3 damage].

    I didn¡¯t know what the 10 armor did so I decided I needed to ask Sergeant Guff about it when I got back, plus I needed to find out why I couldn¡¯t equip the armor. I was going to put my armor and old weapon in my inventory when I realized I only had one slot still open since I still had the loot from the wolves. It would be better if I could empty it out before hunting again. I waved at the man behind the desk to gain his attention. ¡°Excuse me, would you be able to buy things from customers as well?¡±

    The man leaned on the counter. ¡°Well yes, I do buy the loot you bring in, depending on what it is.¡±

    I opened my inventory. 2 raw meat, 3 wolf pelts, and 1 wolf tooth. ¡°Withdraw all inventory items.¡± The items appeared in front of me on the counter.

    The man raised an eyebrow. ¡°Wolves? Those are something you should be hunting at level six or level seven, not level three.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°They were starving wolves so it is probably different.¡±

    The man nodded. ¡°Starving wolves. 100 hp, 38 basic damage and 44 critical damage. They also apply a stackable bleeding status with every attack at 10 damage per second. They do incredible damage but because of their low health, they are considered low level. Are you sure these are the kind you faced?¡±

    I thought back to the fight before eventually shaking my head. ¡°No, they only did 19 basic damage and there wasn¡¯t a bleed status either.¡±

    The man frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t understand. What level were they?¡±

    ¡°Level 5.¡±

    ¡°They should be starving wolves then. I don¡¯t understand though.¡± The man furrowed his brow in concentration before suddenly smiling. ¡°Never mind, I understand. You¡¯re an elemental aren¡¯t you?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°I thought it was obvious since I¡¯m a walking rock.¡±

    The man snapped his fingers. ¡°That explains it. Your earth body skill, it allows you to be immune to attacks that affect us fleshly creatures so the bleed status didn¡¯t affect you. Your racial trait also reduces 50% of all damage correct? If so, then that was the starving wolves you were facing. Normally one should only be hunting them when they are level four or five. You though, you¡¯re their natural counter.¡±

    I remembered that my racial trait reduced magic and physical damage by 50%. That was the real reason I had been able to beat level five mobs at level 1 with training equipment. Thinking up to this point, I shuddered. It had been a close call even with my elemental form. If I had been in my hellion elf form¡­ I would probably be respawning right now.

    I shook my head. No use thinking those kinds of thoughts. ¡°Thank you for the information sir. So, would you still be willing to buy these?¡±

    The man picked up the wolf pelts and inspected them one at a time. He then turned to the wolf tooth and then the raw meat. When he placed the last thing down he nodded. ¡°There are two shabby and one poor quality wolf pelt. The wolf tooth is a good quality one and all the raw meat is rancid quality.¡±

    The man saw my look of confusion. ¡°What, do you now know about the different grades for loot?¡± I shook my head. He sighed. ¡°I should have known. Beginners. Anyway, for most items, there are seven grades of quality. Shabby, awful, poor, good, fine, excellent, and supreme. For food, there is a separate list. Rotting, stale, unripe/uncooked, ripe/cooked, seasoned, excellent, and supreme. Obviously one cannot find ingredients beyond ripe or uncooked because they still need to be prepared. As for there being an unripe and uncooked for one spot, one is for meat and other for natural products like fruit or vegetables.¡±

    I sighed. ¡°So I brought you some pretty bad stuff this time.¡±

    The man nodded. ¡°I won¡¯t deny that, but what can you expect from some malnourished wolf? Their pelts would obviously suffer from their lack of food and their meat is awful because of their diets. I¡¯m surprised that this tooth is that good. These are all ingredients of the normal tier anyway so they wouldn¡¯t be worth much even if you brought me a supreme quality one. I would only pay a silver for a tooth of supreme quality.¡±

    The man scratched his head. ¡°As for this bunch right here, I¡¯ll give you a deal. One copper for both of the shabby wolf pelts. One copper for the poor quality wolf pelt. Two copper for the raw meat, and four copper for the wolf tooth. Altogether that is 8 copper coins.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Thank you. I need to clear my inventory anyways. I only have four slots which is a pain.¡±

    The man nodded. ¡°You can buy a raggedy old backpack if you want, they add on twenty slots to your inventory. It costs 6 copper and you can¡¯t equip armor while you have it.¡±[Raggedy Old Backpack (Common): +20 Inventory: Can¡¯t be equipped with chest armor].

    I thought about it before agreeing. I didn¡¯t seem capable of wearing chest armor anyway. ¡°Can I try it on first? I couldn¡¯t equip the armor and I don¡¯t want to buy the backpack only to not use it.¡±

    I put it on and then checked my inventory. There was now a 6x4 table with a slot that contained my wooden training sword. I nodded. ¡°The backpack works, thank you, sir.¡± I paid the six copper, leaving me with two left. I decided to save my money so I could buy some other skills.

    Afterwards, I decided to head back to the training ground and ask Sergeant Guff for direction to another quest. Once there, I saw Arya was walking out of the training camp. She saw me and waved. I waved back and walked over to her. When I was in earshot she started talking. ¡°Hey there Agni. Did you just come back from a quest?¡±

    ¡°Hello, Arya. Yeah, I just came back from Farmer John¡¯s place. There were some starving wolves there that I had to fight.¡±

    Arya shuddered. ¡°Sergeant Guff gave me that quest too. Apparently, it¡¯s supposed to teach you how the re-spawn system works. I lasted about ten seconds when the first one showed up. So, how long did you last?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°I killed three of them and I didn¡¯t die once, though I only had like fifteen health.¡±

    Arya gasped. ¡°No way. There is no way some level 1 noob took out three starving wolves.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°Well, there is an explanation. I¡¯m an earth elemental remember? I get a 50% damage reduction for physical and magical attacks plus I¡¯m immune to bleed. The shop owner was surprised when I brought in their loot so he explained to me how I won.¡±

    Arya nodded slowly. ¡°Yeah. I can see how that would help you face the wolves. So, do you want to come with me now that you have some proper equipment? Sergeant Guff told me I could find some wild boar to hunt and the local butcher will pay handsomely for the meat.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Sure. While we walk, maybe you could tell me how the re-spawn system works since I didn¡¯t get the hands-on tutorial.¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t see why not.¡±

    We headed down the same road I had to Farmer John. As we walked Arya informed me about the respawn. ¡°Well, it¡¯s pretty simple really. When I died, a white light appeared around me. When it vanished, I was standing in the middle of town. Ten of my arrows were missing so I went to Farmer John¡¯s place. There was a tombstone there with my name on it and when I touched it, my stuff appeared. I don¡¯t know what¡¯ll happen if someone else touches it but I assume that whatever¡¯s in the tombstone can be grabbed by anyone. Makes PKing look pretty nice later on. I don¡¯t know if your level drops or anything since I was only at level one at the time.¡±

    By the time she finished, we were nearing a grove of trees. There were several boars digging at the ground. I assume they were looking for food. Arya beckoned me over to her. ¡°So I currently have 65 health and 15 stamina. I do 35 basic damage and 45 critical damage with my bow but I have only 48 arrows. How about you.¡±

    I paused. ¡°Well actually, I have 10 stat points I need to assign so wait for me to do that first.¡±

    Arya shrugged. ¡°Alright then, just don¡¯t take too long otherwise I''m going to start hunting without you.¡±

    I pulled up my character sheet.

    Agni Delgado

    Level 3 (30/140) Inventory Slots (4)

    Strength: 15(13)     Agility: 10

    Dexterity: 5             Vitality: 13

    Wisdom: 10             Intelligence: 23(13)

    Stamina: 0(10)        Luck: 10

    Status Points: +10

    Right now I needed to base myself around the idea of a melee fighter. I put 5 points in strength, 2 points in stamina, and 3 points in vitality. Now it looked something like this.

    Agni Delgado

    Level 3 (30/140) Inventory Slots (6) This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    Strength: 21(18)     Agility: 10

    Dexterity: 5             Vitality: 16

    Wisdom: 10             Intelligence: 25(13)

    Stamina: 0(12)        Luck: 10

    Status Points: +0

    Then I started to calculate my damage mentally. First, there was my 21 strength, the 6 damage my equipment did, and then the 10% increase from the longsword skill. That meant I would do 29 basic damage.My critical damage was my 29 basic damage, plus my 10 luck, and then the 5% bonus to critical attacks. That meant I would do 40 critical damage.

    ¡°Alright, I figured up my stats now. I have 80 health and 25 stamina. My basic damage is 29 and my critical damage is 40.

    Arya did a double take. ¡°Wow, your stamina and health are pretty high. What gives?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°Well, elementals don¡¯t have stamina but instead they take it from their intelligence stat instead. Because of that, I started with 20 stamina and intelligence. As for the health, I just sunk in 3 points and I gain 1 for every level.¡±

    Arya nodded. ¡°Makes sense. I envy you now. This game is meant for the jack-of-all-trades. With the two stats combined, you don¡¯t have to worry about choosing a melee or magic type to specialize in. Just sink your points into intelligence and then you can use magic and warrior abilities equally.¡±

    I blinked. ¡°I never thought of that.¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m a serious gamer. This is kind-of what I live for. I must admit, the earth elementals are basically made for magic casters or tanks.¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s not all sunshine and rainbows. We suffer from our dexterity and agility being cut in half so bows are not for us.¡±

    ¡°Ah, the scales have finally balanced.¡±

    ¡°Then again, I am a hybrid so only my dexterity is cut in half.¡±

    ¡°...I think the scales just broke.¡±

    I turned towards the wild boars. ¡°Now that we¡¯re here, I also have a bleed skill that does 50 damage over 10 seconds.¡±

    Arya nodded. ¡°Good, that¡¯s a great one to have at the low levels. Now, the boars shouldn¡¯t attack us unless we provoke them. How about I shoot one with an arrow and then you intercept it when it charges at me. Then you keep it busy while I shoot at it from afar.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Alright, whatever you think is best.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll start now.¡± She nocked her bow and aimed it at one of the boars at the fringes of the forest. The arrow flew through the air and hit the boar in the neck. Level 4 Wild Boar 205/250 hp. Wow, that is some insane health. She would have to hit it around 6 times with a basic hit in order to kill it. The boar squealed before wheeling around to face Arya.

    Suddenly it charged straight at them, covering the distance like it was nothing. Another arrow struck the boar in its face but there was no critical damage this time. 170/250 hp. No wonder she wanted me to help her. She couldn¡¯t possibly kill it without using her special move and that would waste stamina. If she didn¡¯t though, then the boar would be able to get close enough and gouge her. If it got close, then her bow and arrow would be next to useless.

    The boar was closing in now. I got between it and Arya, charging at it as well. Right before it reached me, I side jumped while swinging my sword. It successfully struck the boar in the eye. 130/250 hp. The boar squealed but continued charging at Arya. Crap. I tried to catch up to the boar but it was too fast. Arya realized that I couldn¡¯t keep the boar distracted and immediately invoked her special attack. ¡°Quickshot!¡± Three arrows lanced out, one striking it in the eye and two more hitting it in the face. 85/250 hp, 50/250 hp, 15/250 hp. If I had only used sharp blade, the boar would be dead by now. A mistake I would have to rectify when we attacked the next one.

    Arya tossed her bow to the side on the ground and drew a knife. It was obvious she didn¡¯t have enough time to fire another arrow. She attempted to jump over the boar but wasn¡¯t successful. Instead the boar rammed into her feet, hitting her ankles. She flipped midair from the impact and hit the ground face first. The boar turned around and started to charge her again. Because of this, I was able to catch up. I swung my sword, catching the boar in the face with my sword. A high pitched squeal echoed out before the boar slowly fell over on its side.

    Congratulations! You have killed ¡®Level 4 Wild Boar!¡¯

    You dealt 22% of the damage. Due to the level gap, you receive 2 times the normal amount of xp and receive 7 xp

    Previous: lvl 3 (30/140) Current: lvl 3 (37/140)

    Arya picked herself up slowly. ¡°Well. That didn¡¯t quite go as planned.¡±

    This was my fault. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I couldn¡¯t hold the boar¡¯s attention.¡±

    Arya shook her head. ¡° Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not your fault but mine. I should have known that as realistic as it looks, this is still a a game. I dealt too much damage and had the aggro on me.¡±

    I tilted my head in confusion. ¡°What¡¯s aggro?¡±

    She laughed. ¡°Man, you really don¡¯t know anything about games.¡±

    ¡°I know a little bit about game mechanics but not a lot of gaming terms.¡± Most of my time was spent researching and developing the terrain and environment. I picked up some of the inner workings of games but not the slang terms people used since I refused to play second-rate games. Ironic really that the founder of a gaming company didn¡¯t even know what modern gaming terms were.

    ¡°Well aggro is basically just the mob¡¯s anger. If you attack a mob you gain aggro and if you heal someone that has the mob¡¯s aggro you can gain it as well. Whoever has the most aggro is who the mob will attack. The more damage you¡¯ve dealt or healed, the more aggro you gain. For me, I did the most damage so the boar wanted to attack me.¡±

    ¡°Oh. So that was why the boar just rushed past me.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    Arya scratched her head. ¡°So now we need to come up with a better plan for the next time. I have only 35 hp and 12 stamina left so I can¡¯t take any chances. Anyway, we need to collect loot.¡±

    I looked at the boar corpse. ¡°How are we going to split the loot?¡±

    Arya frowned. ¡°No idea. How about we just find out what it is and decide then.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Sure.¡±

    She walked up to the boar and placed her hand on its body, causing it to dissolve into white light. What was left was two chunks of raw meat and a boar tusk. We looked at each other. I decided to be a gentleman about the loot. ¡°You did the most damage so how about you take a chunk of meat and the boar tusk.¡±

    Arya nodded. ¡°Alright then, thanks.¡±

    After we stored our loot away I handed her a biscuit. ¡°You should buy some of these at the general store. They heal 10 hp for 1 copper.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± She ate the biscuit with one bite. ¡°A bit dry but still decent. Won¡¯t do much good when we¡¯re higher level.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°By then we should be able to buy health potions. You can¡¯t use the biscuits in combat either so it has a limited effect.¡±

    Arya wiped some crumbs from her mouth. ¡°Yeah, but it was still useful now. I guess you aren¡¯t some helpless noob after all.¡± She became serious now. ¡°Alright, so I think I have a better way for this to work.¡± She told me her plan.

    I nodded. ¡°That should work, if everything goes according to plan.¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°It should, but life doesn¡¯t play well with plans. I¡¯m assuming virtual reality is the same. Anyways, just go over and whack it.¡±

    I sighed and went over towards one of the boars. Raising my longsword, I prepared to slice its head open. I turned around and saw Arya pick up her bow. Notching it, she nodded at me. The boar had continued pawing at the ground, seemingly oblivious to my threatening pose. With her ready, it was time to execute the plan.

    I swung the sword downward, striking its neck. 210/250 hp It squealed and spun around, its tusks almost hitting me. I jumped backwards to avoid the tusks and an arrow hit the boar in the side where the heart should be. 165/250 hp  It squealed angrily and turned towards Arya. Before it could take more than two steps, I hit it on its shoulder. 136/250 hp. The boar angrily turned towards me and rammed me in the gut. Its tusks hit me, causing me to stagger backwards. 60/80 hp. What? I thought Arya said she took only 30 damage. With my racial traits, that should have only been 15 damage, not 20!

    Another arrow hit the boar. 101/250 hp. It was time. ¡°Sharp blade.¡± I thrust my sword point first, striking the boar in its side as it started to turn towards Arya. 61/250 hp. I must have hit something critical. As its health bar changed to show the bleed status, the boar squealed and bashed me with the side of its head. It was only a grazing blow but it threw me backwards. 40/80 hp. I guess the boars have a staggering skill of some sort to do that whenever they attacked. I started running away from the boar, its skill giving me a small headstart.

    My bleed skill would be able to take it down enough so that Arya could kill it with one shot. 56/250 hp. Its health started to tick down as it chased after me. I hadn¡¯t gotten far and the boar was going to catch up, it was only a step behind me and it hadn¡¯t even been 2 seconds yet. An arrow lodged itself in the boar, causing it to turn towards Arya. 21/250 hp. Its side pulsed bright red. 16/250 hp. It squealed and then wheeled around to continue charging towards me. I had turned around to chase it when it started to go after Arya so its change in course caught me off-guard. Regaining my wits, I thrust forward, catching the boar with the tip of my sword.With a final squeal, the boar died. 0/250 hp

    Congratulations! You have killed ¡®Level 4 Wild Boar!¡¯

    You dealt 54% of the damage. Due to the level gap, you receive 2 times the normal amount of xp and receive 16 xp

    Previous: lvl 3 (37/140) Current: lvl 3 (53/140)

    While Arya jogged over, I collected the loot. One piece of meat, one strip of hide, and one tusk. We divided up the loot with me receiving the meat and Arya took everything else. Arya looked at me and grinned. ¡°So, how did you like it this time?¡±

    I grimaced. ¡°I¡¯m at 40  health right now so next time I need to be a lot quicker.¡±

    Arya winced. ¡°Yeah, that''s the rub. How about you hit it a couple times next time till it reaches around half health and then let me lure it away with my arrows.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know how this is going to work though. We only get a little amount of xp for killing these things and I¡¯m getting pretty banged up here.¡±

    Arya shrugged. ¡°How about we try it a couple more times and then we go sell the loot. It would be a lot easier if we had some way of controlling the mob though.¡±

    When she said that, I remembered a certain skill I had looked over last time. ¡°If I have enough money, I should be able to get shield bash. It stuns the mob for 10 seconds but with my current level it¡¯ll only stun the boar for 9 seconds.¡±

    Arya blinked before nodding. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯ll be a lot of help if you can get it. It¡¯ll make hunting a lot easier.¡±

    ¡°How about we kill two more before I go back to town. By then my health should be too low to continue and then I can buy the bash skill.¡±

    Agreeing, we both started to hunt.

    Congratulations! You have killed ¡®Level 4 Wild Boar¡¯ x2!

    You dealt 43% of the damage. Due to the level gap, you receive 2 times the normal amount of xp and receive 27 xp

    Previous: lvl 3 (53/140) Current: lvl 3 (80/140)

    By that time, I was down to 30 health. I had eaten a biscuit to recover some health. As for loot, Arya picked up 2 pieces of meat, and a strip of hide. I received two tusks and a piece of meat. Our total loot count was currently 2 tusks and 3 pieces of meat for me while Arya had 2 pieces of hide, 2 tusks, and 3 pieces of meat.

    Afterwards we went back to town just like before. ¡°So Arya, you said you took 30 damage from one of the boars. With my racial skill, it should have only been 15 since I halve all damage. But when I was hit, it took 20 damage. What gives? Do you have some sort of damage reduction?¡±

    Arya laughed. ¡°Sorry, sorry. I shouldn¡¯t laugh since you didn¡¯t get to talk to Sergeant Guff. Anyways, when you show Sergeant Guff any armor, he will tell you about the armor mechanics. I currently have Rotten Leather Armor that gives 10 armor. The armor dissipates 10 damage but can be bypassed by certain skills. The boar does 40 damage but I only took 30 damage due to the armor.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°I see. So because it was 40 damage, I only took 20. Though I couldn¡¯t put my armor on for some reason.¡±

    Arya frowned. ¡°That¡¯s not right. Pull up your racial traits, sometimes certain races can¡¯t wear armor.¡±

    I did as she asked and immediately facepalmed.

    Racial Traits: Flame constitution: (-40% to all physical stats in the cold. +10% to all stats in the heat. Includes cold and heat inducing skills. Only applies to Hellion Elf form)  Elemental Form: (-50% Physical attacks and magical attacks. +200% damage from attacks to the core. Cannot equip armor. Only applies to elemental forms) +20% damage from wind attacks in Earth Elemental form. +20% damage from water and ice magic in Fire Elemental form.

    I guess my problem was simpler then I thought. ¡°I guess elementals can¡¯t wear armor.¡±

    Arya smiled. ¡°Good. That means you aren¡¯t as overpowered as I thought.¡±

    I frowned. ¡°Hey. I thought you would want an overpowered teammate?¡±

    She waved her hand. ¡°Oh no, of course not. That would mean you would outlevel me quickly. Plus, I don¡¯t like those overpowered players. They always seem awful and forced, you know what I mean?¡±

    ¡°Nope, but I¡¯ll take your word for it.¡±

    By that time we had reached the downtown area. Looking around we quickly found the butcher. There, we sold the meat for five copper each. Me and Arya both had three pieces of meat so we got 15 copper. The butcher wouldn¡¯t buy any of the other loot so we went over to the general store.

    There the man agreed to buy the hide for 3 copper so Arya got 6 copper from that. Then he bought the tusks for 5 copper so me and Arya received 10 copper. In total, Arya earned 31 copper and I earned 25. More than enough to buy the shield bash skill.

    ¡°I¡¯m going back to learn the shield bash skill. How about you? You going to learn anything?¡±

    Arya nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you and choose one of the other skills. I should get some variety after all.¡±

    Upon reaching the training grounds, we decided to use the instance training to finish quicker. I entered the training grounds and the same window asking for instance or communal training popped up. Selecting instance training, I walked inside.

    Sitting on his chair was Sergeant Guff, his pipe held in his left hand as always. ¡°Hey Sergeant Guff, can I take a look at the Basic Shield Work Special Skills?¡±

    Sarge let out a stream of smoke before looking at him. He nodded. ¡°Go ahead sonny.¡± He waved his hand and the special skills list appeared in front of me.

    Basic Shield Work Special Skills

    Shield Bash: At the cost of 2 Stamina, the next attack done with a shield will stun the opponent. Cooldown: 45 seconds. <Minor Stun: Opponent becomes confused and cannot attack for 10 seconds. Time is reduced if the opponent is at a higher level than the user at 1 second per level>

    Tough Shield: At the cost of 2 Stamina, the next attack blocked by the shield will not damage the shield¡¯s durability.

    Spiky Shield: At the cost of 5 stamina, return 30% of the damage the shield received for the next 30 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes

    Well, I had only come here for one thing. ¡°Sarge, I¡¯ll take the shield bash skill.¡±

    Sarge nodded. ¡°That¡¯ll be eight copper.¡± I fished out the copper and paid up. He counted it before nodding and sticking it in his pocket.

    You have paid ¡®Sergeant Guff¡¯ eight copper coins to learn the skill ¡®Shield Bash¡¯

    [Shield Bash lvl 1 (0/100)]

    Since I was already here, maybe it was good to learn some other skills. ¡°Hey Sarge, could I see the basic swordplay special skills?¡± Sarge nodded and waved his hand.

    Basic Swordplay Special Skills

    Strong Slash: At the cost of 2 stamina, the next attack belonging to the ¡®Basic Swordplay¡¯ skill will do twice as much damage as normal. Cooldown: 30 seconds

    Fighting Spirit: At the cost of 5 stamina, do 30% more melee damage for the next 30 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes

    Sharp blade was missing, probably because I had bought it already. ¡°Sarge, I¡¯ve decided to learn Fighting Spirit.¡±

    Now that I had been in several fights with mobs I had discovered something. The mobs so far were mostly situated between 2 categories. Massive damage and low health, or large health and smaller damage. I needed more to deal more damage to either kill the threat if it was the first kind of mob or to make a sizable dent in the health of the other mob type. Either way, fighting spirit was definitely worth it.

    ¡°That¡¯ll be eight copper.¡±

    You have paid ¡®Sergeant Guff¡¯ eight copper coins to learn the skill ¡®Fighting Spirit¡¯

    [Fighting Spirit lvl 1 (0/100)]

    ¡°Let me see the basic boxing special skills.¡±

    Basic Boxing Special Skills

    Strong Punch: At the cost of 2 stamina, the next punch belonging to the ¡®Basic Boxing¡¯ skill will do twice as much damage as normal. Cooldown: 30 seconds

    Stiff Guard: At the cost of 1 stamina, the user takes 0 damage from the next physical attack blocked with guard. Cooldown: 10 seconds

    Huh? Why was fighting spirit gone. ¡°Hey Sarge, how come the fighting spirit is gone from the basic boxing skills even though I didn¡¯t buy it?¡±

    Sarge scratched his head. ¡°Well that is a tricky question there sonny. Simply put, the fighting spirit skill is available on most other melee special skills. If you buy it once, you buy it for all of them. Remember that fighting spirit applies to all melee skills and is therefore compatible with all other melee skills.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Thanks Sarge. In that case, I think I¡¯ll take the Stiff Guard skill.¡± My shield was pretty useful but what if it broke? Wouldn¡¯t I be left with nothing to block with? Stiff guard was the answer. It only cost 1 stamina and blocked all physical damage which was what I was currently worried about. The only downside was I needed to use boxing skills to block which meant I would have to abandon my sword. Oh well, everything came at a cost. With Arya to back me up with her arrows, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about killing whatever was attacking me but would simply have to focus on staying alive.

    ¡°Stiff Guard costs eight copper.¡± I paid up, with only 1 copper coin to my name now. Sheesh. Becoming stronger was expensive and if I didn¡¯t play right, I would die from a couple hits from the mobs. Even the boars had weak attacks and they took a quarter of my health pool with a single attack.

    ¡°Thanks Sarge, I¡¯ll stop by if I need anything else.¡± I waved as I left.

    Sergeant smiled and waved back. ¡°See ya later sonny, make sure you don¡¯t die soon!¡±

    When I walked out of the training camp, Arya was standing next to the gate. ¡°What took you so long?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°I decided to buy a couple more skills since I was already here. I got an unarmed block, the shield bash, and a 30% damage increase for 30 seconds on all physical skills. How about you?¡±

    Aya grinned. ¡°Well, I may have gone a bit crazy. I bought the a skill that guarantees critical shots for he next 30 seconds and a crippling shot skill that slows down the opponent.¡± She frowned. ¡°Though they eat up my stamina fast though so I can¡¯t abuse them like I want.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°Honestly, I think I need to use my skills since I¡¯ll have to stop due to low health anyways.¡±

    She nodded. ¡°Melee fighters, such a shame that you¡¯re always beat up.¡±

    ¡°Heh. If I wasn¡¯t here, you would be the one taking a beating.¡±

    ¡°Humph.¡±

    We went back out to the forest to hunt the boars. By now, my mana was back up and my health had recovered. Now it was finally time to kill some boars. According to our plan, I walked up behind one of the boars. Arya signaled it was time. ¡°Shield Bash.¡± I hit the boar in the head with a punch using the shield. 231/250 hp. The boar staggered backwards and a spiral appeared above its head. The number nine appeared beside the. The boar was level 4 while I was level 3, so there was a 1 second reduction.

    ¡°Sharp Blade.¡± I stabbed the boar in the neck. 191/250 hp. Nice. An arrow hit the boar in its side. 156/250 hp. I quickly swung my sword striking the boar three times while two arrows struck as well. All the while the boar bled out. 151/250, 122/250, 117/250, 82/250, 77/250, 48/250, 13/250, 0/250 hp. The boar squealed before falling over.

    Huh. I guess getting the shield bash really was the best move.