《Arcadia》 01: Introduction It is currectly the year 2034. The humans are still the leading and only "intelligent" race. In terms of scientific progress we have progressed by leaps and bounds since let us say, 20 years ago. But sadly that scientific progress is limited to warfare technology and entertainment industry. Well, it isn''t as if there was no progress elsewhere, it''s just that it''s minuscule compared to the progress in the afforementioned fields. A product that is being classified as an invention of the entertainment industry, but its possibilities are endless really, was currently being advetised on TV all over USA- the first VRMMORPG ever created. The long awaited first VRMMORPG was successfully created by a rather small company, not very known in the entertainment world, Pandora Entertainment. The first batch of VR gear was limited to 100 000 units and scheduled to be released in a months time. Synyster Gates was watching the commercial dumbfoundedly. It just felt surreal and it did drop out of the blue. There were no reports on the progress in this field. All the public knew about this was that research was in progress, but the stage of research was unknown. - Arcadia is set in the most beloved age for the RPG genre, the middle ages. The combination of swords, magic and epic creatures has been, and still is, this genres favorite setting. But there is also some bad news, you can''t have good without the bad, and the other way around. The price of the game unit has been set at 10 000$. Yes, you heard right, the gaming unit costs 10000$. That must have doused quite some fires out there. But since there is no competition on the market, the Pandora Entertainment are free to do as they wish, so it could be said we are lucky the price has been set at 10000$ and not 20000$ or more.- And thus the newsfeed was over. Synyster needed a few minutes for it all to sink in after which he called his mother. "Hey mom. How''s it going? Is pops doing ok?" "Hi sweetie. Well isn''t this a nice surprise, you haven''t called in ages." "It wasn''t that long mom. Besides, with the amount I have to learn, you should count yourself lucky I even called now." "Haha sweetie, what are you talking about? You and I both know that''s not true, so would you stop with the charade and say what you need?" "Sharp as ever, I see. So, I need some money." "Thought so. And how much do you need?" "Umm, well, uhh, 5000$?" "What? Did you get yourself into trouble? I warned you to stay out of trouble, but you just had to do it, huh? Do you ever think of other people? Of me, for example? Did you ever stop to think why I told you not to get into trouble? Did it occur to you that I''m worried about you?" "Wowowowoah, just a second, let me finish, okay? So there''s this new gear that could help me with my studies, and it costs 10000$. It has all the school stuff there and time runs at a pace 3 times slower than in reality. So it would help me immensely. Besides I could use it later for work too, with that gear my options are infinite." Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation."It''s for that stupid new game they''ve been airing for the last hour, isn''t it? Forget it!" "Oh come on! Please, give me the money, I''ll do anything." "Are you sure? If that''s how it is then okay, but you''ll have to come home for every holiday till you graduate from college." "What? But mom, you know I don''t like our cousins. As if it weren''t bad enough I come for New Year. That brat Brad is impossible to deal with." "Do you want the money or not?" "Tch, yes, but you have to transfer it to my account today." "No problem. I''ll take care of it right now. Goodbye, sweetie. See you at Thanksgiving!" "Tch, bye." And so 2 hours later he ordered his gear and all that was left was to wait for the delivery. *** Immediately after installing the gear, he lay on the bed and turned it on. After the link was established, he felt something like suction pull him into a vortex of some sort and the next thing he knew he was in a room filled with mirrors. ''Wow, this has got to be a spectrophobiacs worst nightmare'' he thought to himself.'' Right after that he heard a female robotic voice, but he couldn''t see anyone. "Welcome to the world of Arcadia. I will guide you through the character creation process. Do note that any changes will not be possible after a character has been created, so choose wisely. First of all, choose a nickname." "Syn" "Choose a race. There are 4 races to choose from, with some of them having sub-species: -Humans inhabit the majority of the continent. They are the most balanced race, but because of them not being specialized in anything, they a slower growth rate skillwise. -Halflings are a race that is hard to see, because they aren''t trusty of strangers. There are 2 sub-species of Halflings: 1.Dwarfs are master craftsmen, even though they have short stubbly legs and arms, their hands are very dexterous and nimble, thus enabling them the most detailed handiwork. Their strength is also nothing to laugh at. 2.Goblins are extremely greedy creatures. They would sell their souls for a few gold coins. Goblins are proficient at bartering, scamming and pickpocketing. -Elves are the most beautiful of creatures. They used to be a united race, but because of a conflict long forgotten they have branched into 2 sub-species: 1.Wood elves are agile and have dextrous arms. Do not be fooled by their delicate and pure appearance as you might turn into a pincushion. Masters of archery. 2.Dark elves are masters of magic and they excel at summoning magic. Prefer darkness to light. -Werewolves are halfbreeds between wolves and humans. In the beginning the humans were the weakest of races, thus to become stronger they have tried to breed humans with wolves. After countless of failures they succeeded at last, thus they created the vilest and strongest of predators." "Now choose a race." "Werewolf" "Would you like to customize your appearance?" "Ummm, make my hair white. The whole body. Now that''s more like it." "You have successfully created your character. Embark on your adventure and create your legend. May the stars guide your way." The scenery around him started to change and he appeared in the werewolf starting village, Crowley. ----------------------- This is my first attempt to write something. I think my grammar isn''t that bad, but I think the story does need some makeover. If anyone gets this far I hope you will leave a comment. I have the general layout figured out, but I''m open to suggestions. Joker Syn''s vision slowly started returning to him after being blinded when the world was inialized. He sincerely hoped that wouldn''t happen every time he logged in, thinking it would get pretty old pretty fast. And as you can probably imagine, if you had to experience something that uncomfortable every time you logged in you would get tired of the game no matter how good it were. The first thing that greeted him a blue screen. Syn grinned, finally, he was there, in an actual virtual reality game. You could say it was one of his biggest dreams, being able to live another life, not just the plain, boring one everyone had to deal with. The constant struggle, dealing with others, especially those "above" you; the fear of tomorrow, because you never know what it has in store for you. But now, now he can finally be a part of something bigger, something fun, a world full of adventure awaits him, and he was ready.
Welcome, Syn!
Welcome to the world of Arcadia! A world full of adventure awaits! There are many positions to fill like soldiers, mages, knights, heroes or maybe even villains. The path is yours to take. We would like to encourage everyone to try to make their paths as unique as possible. And we would like to warn you that there are no redos in Arcadia, after you have picked your class, race and other customizations you went through in the character screen, you will have to stick with it. Yes, folks, you heard it right( Well, read *snicker*)! Good luck and have fun!
Congratulations! As you are on the first 10000 people to log in you will receive a reward for your "effort"! You can reclaim your reward at you nearest post office! Good luck and have fun!
Syn was in a great mood after the last message, though he really cringed at the first one. Not because of the character restriction per account but because of that cringe as hell joke at the end. Yikes! He was actually glad about the character restrinction since it would prevent "netbuilds", Syn really hated seeing everyone building the same in most games because of those builds being most efficient. What''s the point of games if not to have fun? And where is the fun in that? Syn was suddenly snapped out of his thinking by an older man approaching him sporting a cheshire grin. He didn''t know why but that grin unsettled him deeply. And then he was struck speechless when he noticed it. This man couldn''t have possibly been a player. He took a look around in utter awe. The details in everything were so accurate and polished to perfection you couldn''t notice the difference between this world and reality. He was suddenly broken out of his reverie by the man clearing his throat to get his attention. "Greeting, traveler! I was expecting you!" This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere."Expecting me? Why? What do you need me for?" Syn replied with confusion apparent in his voice. The old man just smiled slightly like he would at a child and spoke to dissolve his confusion. "Don''t worry, the arrival of your kind was long foretold by the Gods! And I am just glad I was able to see it in my lifetime." "Oh, well, are you here to help me? Because I''m not exactly sure where I should go." "I suppose I could. There isn''t much to do around here even as a village elder. But first things first. What is your name, child? I am Evan, the elder of Methler." "Oh, haha sorry, I forgot all about that. My name is Syn. So this village is called Methler?" "I am glad to meet you, Syn, welcome to our village. So how can I help you?" "Can you tell me where the nearest post office is? And where can I spend the night? Is there some work around here I could do to? I am pretty much broke right now." "Haha you really don''t mess around, straight to bussiness. Well, we have one in the village, and generally visitors sleep in the inn, and don''t worry, I will give you some assignments later. You can also talk to other villagers, as I am sure they have some tasks you could help with. Since you are broke I will give you some money to help you start out." "Many thanks. I''ll be on my way then." Syn received the 5 copper coins the old man gave him and went to the post office where he received a little box with a handle at the side. Since he didn''t know what to do with it, he just went with the gut and spun the handle. It caused the box to produce music, which sounded kind of ominous, but he ignored the feeling since it was a gift from the company, and they wouldn''t do anything to harm their customers- probably... the music came to an abrupt stop and a Jack in the box sprung out scaring Syn half to death.Syn
Congratulations!
You have received a Unique class "The Joker". Due to the nature of the class, you won''t get any additional information on your class, you will have to discover it alone through levelling and experimentation.
New skill acquired!
Weapon up! You get a random weapon. You cannot change the weaponuntil you leave combat or die. The chance of getting a good weapon rises with luck stat.
Syn was really excited and wanted to try it out as soon as possible so he went out of the village. Outside of the village there was a sizable meadow and behind it was a forest. The meadow was filled with critters like rabbits, foxes, oversized squirells and the like. Perfect opponents to try it out on. "Weapon up!" he yelled on top of his lungs. A sword appeared in his hand, the sword wasn''t flashy but it was engraved with some weird characters. He struck a rabbit and the sword cut clean through, leaving the meat sizzling. The sword was probably enchanted with some fire dmg. The detail of the game baffled him once again, thankfully the corpse disappeared quickly before he started vomiting and left a hide behind. Feeling full of confidence he strode into the forest where he quickly stumbled upon a bear. He quickly weaponed up, quietly this time, afraid of aggroing the bear. In his hand appeared a small handgunlike weapon. Feeling confident he aimed at the bear and pressed the trigger. The gun squirted the bear with water, yes, squirted! The bear turned around and ran at him. He was so horrified by the monstrosity charging at him that he didn''t even manage to think about running, much else do something about it. And that was the first death of our Joker, not even 2 hours into the game, which meant barely more than half an hour in real life! Feeling quite glum, he went to take a shower. Not that he could get back to playing, since the penalty for dying in the game is being locked out of the game for 1 ingame hour per level.