《Tales of Good and Evil》


 Act I: Chapter 1

    Year 2021, the world had a technological breakthrough in Virtual Reality and more immersive and realistic VR had become available. The gaming companies quickly jumped with all their effort to this expanded frontier, releasing varied VR games, garnering a considerable success, impaired only by the large prices of virtual reality gear. But that changed in 2027 when one of the largest virtual reality hardware providers ¡°Gentek International Company¡± released a new and superior model of virtual reality capsules that were many times cheaper than anything else in the current market. Fallowing the new capsules a previously almost unnoticed subsidiary of Gentek ¨C Dark Horseman Studio announced a new VR game sponsored by their parent company with these two news the world boiled, DHS was just an unknown studio with little to their name except for belonging to Gentek, what game will they release?


    2027 April 3<sup>rd</sup> 5 AM, somewhere in eastern Europe a man was woken up by a ringing tune of a smartphone. Looking at the phones screen he saw that the name of the caller was Pasha.


    So what is so urgent that you are calling me so early in the morning?


    Don¡¯t be so grumpy, indeed it is early but it¡¯s important. I managed to get my hands on the new VR capsules for all of us. And before you start procrastinating we agreed before that you also will join us. I know that you had some bad experiences with VR before Mothy, but let it go and just enjoy the new game with us. God knows that we are not getting younger and we should get together and enjoy ourselves.


    Fine, you win, send it to me. By the way what game are we playing anyway?


    It¡¯s the new game sponsored by Gentek themselves!


    Aren''t they just hardware developers and sellers? When did they start making games?Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    It¡¯s not exactly them that are making the new game but their subsidiary Dark Horse Studios.


    So what¡¯s the name of the game?


    The name was released just recently, Tales of Good and Evil they call it.


    Wow, what a clich¨¦ name, OK I¡¯m going back to sleep. See you later.


    2027 April 5<sup>th</sup> 11 AM. The capsule finally arrived to Mothys home and was installed by the workers, it¡¯s sleek form almost glowing in the bedroom. Watching it for a few more minutes and letting out a long sight Mothy finally climbed into the capsule. After the closing and powering up of the capsule it took a few moments for him to navigate the menus till he found the game his friends so adamantly forced him into playing¡­ Ha, well can¡¯t really run away from this so might as well be done with it¡­ Opening the game, after a few second of darkness Mothy was met whit blinding light and a slight discomfort and disorientation which took a few minutes to get used to.


    Hello new adventurer I am Roxie the Pixie of Beginning , I welcome you the world of Tales of Good and Evil. Although the game will only open 3 days but you can still try out the VR practice room and also create your character. What is your decision?


    I will select random race, keep the same appearance except make the beard longer and abyss black, short black hair and icy green eyes. No need for practice room for now.


    Please Note User that selecting random race will make your race known only once you start the game and changing your race will only be possible if you delete your character but the penalty will include a 1 month cool down. Confirm?


    Yes. Oh yeah what about classes?


    All new users will start as an adventurer and after passing a quest later on they will acquire their class, while in the novice village a player will be able to experience different classes spells,skills and play styles.


    So I am done now?


    Yes user, you may logout now and return on April 8.


    After logging out, Mothy looked out from his window into the darkening sky, sighing once again clenching his fist and mumbling


    I hope I won¡¯t regret this...

 Act 1: Chapter 2

    Finally the release date of ToGaE had come and Mothy logged in.


    User your random race was chosen as Dwarf. Your appearance changes were applied to your race. The game will start in 6 minutes, while you wait it is suggested to try out your new body in a VR practice room.


    OK, bring me into the practice room.


    In the practice room Mothy checked his new body, flexing it and attacking a few targets.


    Hmm everything seems good, a bit awkward because of the size and mass differences but ill get used to it in a while.


    User be aware that the game starts in 10 second...


    Once I am in game, I will need to get used to the game, learn how this game works at the very least and then find the rest of the old guys. If nothing changes they most likely have some kind of shitty nicknames. Well it¡¯s not like I am one to speak when I used my own name but with different meaning.


    ...1, Initiating the game. In another flash of light the game started.


    Welcome Adventurer to the world of Sturmford where your tales of good and evil will unfold!


    May you find your Truth and Way XEXEXEXEXEXE¡­.


    The first thing Mothy noticed when the flash of light passed was the smell and sound, fresh nature and village air and loud chatter from other users hit his senses. Looking around he saw more and more users appearing in his surroundings. Thinking a bit Mothy decided to go find some kind of a quest and get the feel of the world. Walking through the crowd towards what he thought was the village leaders house or something similar he saw many people looking surprised while others rushing towards outside the village. From the chatter of the people Mothy understood that the ones rushing outside are trying to occupy the best spots for farming mobs and getting EXP, while the ones surprised consisted of either new players who got the new capsules and finally were able to experience the wonders of VR or experienced users from other games who were amazed that ToGaE was more realistic than the competition. In fact one of the amazing things about this game was that the Dark Horse Studio claimed that they achieved over 80% realism in the game what¡¯s more they said that players will be able to experience far more things in their game than in any other released VR game to date! This statement made a lot of noise and attracted plenty members of other VR games to try ToGaE and at least for now they were not disappointed.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Finally Mothy reached the Village Leaders house only to witness some players leaving disappointedly. They shouted to others coming to the house.


    Don¡¯t bother to go to the village head, he only gives out the tutorial and teachings, no quests at least for now. Just a waste of time.


    Most people hearing this also started leaving towards other places in search for quests. While Mothy decided to still go meet the Village Head.


    Hello young adventurer Mothy, have you come to learn about this world and how to be a successful adventurer?


    Yes village head Thomas, I Mothy have come to learn all you could teach so that my road would be smoother.


    Then listen well young one, and because you are so eager to learn I will start from the classes since they are most likely what interest you the most. The classes are divided into short range,mid range and long range classes which adhere to tenets of protection, damage dealing or support. For example a fighter which is a basic class that you are able to transfer, he falls under short-mid range


    physical type while mystic falls on the mid-long range magical type. They are the two basic classes which you will get once you complete a few challenges our village. Later as you grow in power you will be able to advance, a fighter will advance into classes like knight,warrior,rogue,archer and so on while the mystic into mages,sorcerers,priest and so on. There are special cases and rare or hidden classes, for example paladins which you can transfer by doing great contributions to one of the churches, it is both a physical and a magic class with both melee and long-mid range capabilities.


    Now moving on, you as an adventurer get quests and complete them fighting against threats to good people of Sturmford but beware for there are evil forces everywhere. Undead Legions,Demons and all kind of lesser evil lurks in all the corners of Sturmford threatening everyone. Chief among these are the Evil Gods with their minions, The Spectre Council, Demon King Ulthor and last but not the least Triumvirate of The Emperors. But these evils are far away from our small village, the most you can expect here is some beasts, small monsters like goblins and bandits.


    Do you have any questions?


    Yes village head Thomas, I wonder if and where can one learn gathering and crafting professions?


    Ah yes as one would expect from a dwarf, indeed there are these kinds of professions such as blacksmiths, woodworkers, jewelcrafters, alchemists, rune refiners, herbalist and many more.


    In fact if you are interested I can give you an introduction letter to the local craftsmen so that you could get a quest for your selected sub professions. But be aware that even if there are no limits to the amount of sub professions that one can have but as one advances in his profession more and more resources and time one will require so I advise that you focus on less but more attentively that to waste on being jack of all trades.


    Thank you wise Thomas, I have learned much from you and now it is time for me to use what I learned.


    Oh before you go could I ask you for some assistance although its nothing grand and it wont bring much to you, young one, but I ask you to humour this old man and do some errands for me. It¡¯s nothing much but sending some notices,letters and passing on words , ah also checking on a few people for me, would you be willing?


    My pleasure , you can consider this as my payment for the information you provided village head Thomas.


    Thanks again Mothy, here is the list of task, please complete them at your own leisure.


    * Ding * You have received Village Head Thomas Quest ¡°Errands of the Novice Village (Tutorial) Part 1¡±


    Well this seems like a good start for my first time playing a VR game if I say so myself.

 Act 1: Chapter 3

    Now what do I need to do for this quest I wonder, I should also check my stats.


    And just as Mothy was thinking about it, the status screen appeared.


    Mothy


    Class: Adventurer


    HP: 100 Strength: 5


    MP: 75 Agility: 5


    STA: 40 Dexterity: 5


    Vitality: 5


    Endurance: 5


    Willpower: 5


    Wisdom: 5


    Intellect: 5


    Spirit: 5


    Charisma: 1


    Luck: 1


    Karma: 0          Alignment: Neutral


    Skills: Active: None


    Passive: None


    Quests and Deeds


    1.Errands of the Novice Village (Tutorial) Part 1¡± - Deliver a letter from Village Head Thomas to Smith Roderick.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Reward: 5 copper coins and maybe something else.


    Oh Village Head Thomas, sorry to still bother you but I am a bit stumped about what each stat does, maybe you could explain it to me?


    With pleasure young adventurer, I should have done it earlier but I got a bit side tracked when I explained to you about secondary professions. Listen well and beware since it¡¯s a bit long.


    Strength affects most Melee weapons and some Ranged Weapons, some crafting skills and actions that require strength to execute. Agility ¨C affects Most Ranged Weapons and some Melee weapons, Increases body movement speed and actions that require finesse and agile body movements.


    Dexterity ¨C Mainly affects hands be they weapons or crafting. Rogue/Thieves/Assassins... Pickpocketing and Lock picking skills are affected by it.


    Vitality ¨C Affects Health Points and Health Point Regeneration.


    Endurance ¨C Affects Stamina and Stamina Regeneration. Endurance affects skill usage and some actions that need it. Also Fast Sprinting and Holding breath, underwater swimming all consume stamina.


    Willpower ¨C A defensive stat that increases resistance to physical and magical damage, with greater emphasis on physical. Also increases success of some actions and more so in-combat, for example making it easier to cast spells while under attack.


    Wisdom ¨C This stat increases MP and MP Regeneration, it is also one of the stats that greatly affects primal spell casters like shamans, druids and the like.


    Intellect ¨C This stat slightly increases MP and MP Regeneration, while being a primary stat of mages and casters. Increasing the damage of spells and the ability to cast multiple and or higher level spells.


    Spirit ¨C Primary stat of priest and other healers, increasing healing spells power and also increasing magic resistance. Small MP increase and Moderate MP Regeneration, small HP regeneration.


    Charisma ¨C Increases the chances of successful interaction with NPC''s and chances of getting quests and hints. Also Increases damage of some spells from Warlock, Sorcerer and similar schools of magic. This stat can only be allocated 1 point per level up and the increase is small.


    Luck ¨C Increases drop chance of items and some other special functions. Also increases crafting chance of some items, and actions. This stat can only be allocated 1 point per level up and the increase is minimal. Do you want to know anything else?


    No Head Thomas, for now I think that is enough and I should hurry with the task you entrusted. Oh yeah, can I know where to find the smithy?


    Very Well, the smithy is not far just a few houses to the north from my house, with all the clanging sounds and smoke coming from the chimney I think it won¡¯t be too hard for you to spot.


    Leaving Village Head Thomas house, Mothy hurried towards the smithy, eager to try his first quest in a VR game. And in 5 minutes while squeezing through a few groups of player Mothy finally arrived. Entering the Smithy he saw Roderick, a towering barbarian like figure, hammering at a piece of pig iron.


    Hello Smith Roderick, I am here to deliver a letter sent from Head Thomas!


    Oh, you scared me a bit young Mothy. Didn¡¯t see you coming right now, was a bit busy with my work, you know how it is. Now show me what that old bastard Thom wants.


    Reading the letter Roderick begins to mutter, at the beginning he seemed annoyed but as he was nearing the end his expression turned serious and even frowning a bit.


    Thank you, Mothy for delivering this letter to me. Here is your reward of 5 copper coins and a few rough sharpening stones for your weapon, they might be crude and unassuming but as a warrior you should never scoff even at a slight increase in your power and this little thing while not much will increase your weapons damage for some time.


    Errands of the Novice Village (Tutorial) Part 1¡± was completed.


    Thank you for the reward Smith Roderick. Mothy turned to leave the smithy.


    Wait a bit young one, if you are interested I could use your help a bit. It¡¯s just the same as you did before but I could give you a bit of a more generous reward this time.


    Understood, but before I go I wanted to ask you if it is possible to learn some secondary professions from you Smith Roderick, in particular mining and smiting.


    Hmm, usually I wouldn¡¯t teach you secondary professions this soon but, seeing as you brought me Thomas letter and also accepted my own errand I will lower the requirements a bit. But still it won¡¯t be for free, you will have to bring me 50 copper coins, 25 each for both professions and complete my errand list.


    * Ding * You have received Smith Roderick Quest list, notice adventurer to complete this quest all the parts of it must be completed to receive the reward!


    Reward: a chance to learn mining and smiting from Roderick.

 Act 1: Chapter 4

    3 Hours passed by as Mothy ran all over the novice village, fulfilling Roderick¡¯s quest bit by bit. Meeting the village herbalist Vanesa, general goods store head Rickard, village militia leader Robert and a few others. Mothy managed to get 72 copper coins , 15 weak minor healing potions, 5 weak minor mana potions and 5 weak minor stamina potions. Returning to the smithy he saw Roderick sitting and reading the same letter he delivered before from Thomas.


    I am back Roderick, I completed your task.


    Ah yeah, the errands, good job Mothy. Did you have enough money?


    Yes.


    Good, now I will bestow upon you the skills of mining and smiting. For mining you will obviously will need a mining pickaxe, you will need to find various ores and rare stones to level up your mining, but even then it will require a lot of work and effort. The rarer the ores you find the more exp you will get. As for smiting you will need a hammer, forge and an anvil, I will provide you with a hammer and some basic recipes, but for more you will need to find other teachers or find. Buy it from someone else. As a bonus reward I will give you some ores to make your first recipe.


    *Ding* you have received your rewards: mining skill, smiting skill. To access your new skills think crafting window to open the interface for them.


    Awesome, is there anything else I could do for you smith Roderick?


    No, but thanks for asking Mothy. You should venture out to the wilds and gain experience. And if you grow mighty enough I just might have something for you to do. Ah by the way there are several recluses out there in the wilds if you meet them you might get some task from them. There are 3 hermits out there. A dwarf warrior Thorgrim, a grizzled veteran who has for some reason wandered into our village some years ago and decided to stay around. Then there¡¯s the Elf, Diana is her name, but be careful around her. She is a shifty one for an elf, reeking of a thief if you ask me, but for now she is a huntress, sometimes she trades game with the village, and she too arrived a few years ago and decided to stay. And last but not the least is the human mage Alfred, a wise man indeed and when we meet problems that our village head can¡¯t solve we ask him for advice if you want to learn some magic he is the one to go. Now run along young one.


    I will, just want to try the smiting recipe you gave me.


    Indeed, the forge and anvil are in the back, feel free to use it for free.


    Mothy went towards the back near the forge and opened the crafting interface. In there he saw his two crafting skills, he selected smiting and a further window opened showing his available recipes.


    Crafting: Smiting


    Available recipes: 5


    Novice recipes:


    1. Rough sharpening stone ( 2 rough flint stones, 1 linen )


    2. Rough weighting stone ( 2 rough flint stones, 1 linen )


    3.Rough low quality iron sword ( 2 low quality iron bars, 1 wooden log)


    4.Rough low quality iron plated round shield ( 2 low quality iron, 3 wood logs)


    5.Rough low quality iron rimmed round shield ( 1 low quality iron, 3 wood logs)


    Crafting level: Novice


    Crafting EXP: 0/1000


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Hmm, I can make 1 low quality iron swords and 1 low quality iron played round shield, and still have enough materials to make another sword.


    Mothy began crafting, a bit disappointed that the crafting was so simple, just selecting the recipe and then hammering at the item outline. The sword came out first, having normal stats of 3-7 attack and 100 durability. The shield on the other hand had 5 physical defence and 100 durability. Mothy decided to make the second sword right away and as he was making it, suddenly he heard.


    *Ding* Congratulations your crafting of rough low quality iron sword critically succeeded, coming out as a rough mid quality iron sword. 6 ¨C 14 attack, 100 durability.


    Damn, awesome. This sword shall make me invincible mwuhahahaah. Just joking, but it¡¯s nice anyway. Now let¡¯s go to the village square and sell the first sword.


    Moving towards the square Mothy heard various things about the locations, monsters and exploits of other players. And just as he entered the square he heard.


    *Ding* Server Announcement: Congratulations to players of party Faze, for killing the first low stage bronze boss monster! Their deeds shall be recorded in the hall of fame and they shall receive 100 reputation towards the kingdom of Estrea and 20 silvers each. We hope you continue to challenge yourselves further!


    Wow these guys are as competitive as always, these esport teams just continued to grow in scale when the VR hit the market. Now quite a few of them are even more known than famous athletes in real sports. But that¡¯s how the youth is they, like the flashy guys. Now to find a spot for my shop, ah there¡¯s some space in the norther part of the square, got to hurry.


    Once Mothy reached his free spot in the norther part, he quickly opened the shop window selecting sell, and a small carpet appeared with a wooden plaque on it with the words N13 SELLING in bold red letters, then he put the rough iron sword in the middle of the carpet and waited for someone to take interest. At first he was thinking to yell about his merchandise but the constant flow of messages and yells would make it almost a futile effort. After waiting for 5 minutes he still decided to try at least once and sent a message into the chat.


    Selling a sword, 3-7 attack damage and 100 durability. Northern part of the square, N13 space.


    But as the message seemed to go unnoticed, as more and more time passed. Mothy almost started giving up, but then finally a interested person appeared.


    Hello, how much is the sword? Asked a young girl, with blond pigtails and average looks.


    Hello, it is 5s or something that I could use, like armour or something.


    Hmm, it¡¯s a bit expensive for those stats, maybe you could go lower?


    Sorry, I can¡¯t I spent a lot of trying to make it. Mothy lied, but he just couldn¡¯t go easy, he wanted to get a good amount for his sword even if he had to make some small lies.


    Could, you wait a bit I will call some of my friends maybe they will be interested in your sword and have something to exchange for it.


    Take your while, since it doesn¡¯t seem like anyone else will come for the time being.


    10 minutes passed and a small group of female adventurers arrived near Mothys stall. After taking a look at the sword and slightly discussing between themselves, the one who seems to be their leader finally came to Mothy,


    Hello, I am the leader of our group, Leandra. I wonder if we could pay a part of the sum and trade you a few items that you might find useful.


    That depends on what kind of items they are.


    A pair of bracers with +1 physical defence and a helmet with +3 physical defence. As for the money we would pay 1 silver.


    Ah, well alright I accept since it doesn¡¯t seem that anyone else would take interest. Let¡¯s trade.


    After trading the items, Mothy equipped them and felt a bit more durable. Being a bit amazed about this strange yet good feeling, he decided it was time to contact his friends and find them. After bidding goodbye to the group of girls he went towards a more secluded and less populated area.


    Using the VR integrated Discord app function he called his friends.


    Well look who finally decided to call us, did you get struck dumb by the awesome of VR and forget us?


    Robert, the game is indeed amazing but not that amazing to let be become awestruck, I just simply got busy with my first quest in this game.


    Oh you got a quest already? That was quick, anything good?


    Yep, got myself the mining and smiting professions and a better weapon and also a shield. By the way where are you guys?


    Well I and Ivan are in the 2413 novice village as for Robert he is in 1834 village and I don¡¯t fucking know where Darius is since he just got here too. (Pasha)


    Wait what, there are different villages? (Mothy)


    Have you gotten stupid Mothy, of course there are different villages, one village can¡¯t contain all the players, it¡¯s a single server in the whole world, how do you think they would all fit in a single village?(Pasha)


    I am in village 9614 (Darius)


    How do I check in which village am I? (Mothy)


    Look at your chats left corner, there is a small icon and your location should be written there, if you are in the village right now it should show what number it is. (Pasha)


    Oh I¡¯m in the same village as Darius! Nice, let¡¯s meet up. By the way when can we all meet up and what are your in game nicks? (Mothy)


    Darius is Seike, Robert is Rimts, Ivan is Iwinx and mine is TotalPeisha. We will be able to meet once you hit level 10 and complete the ending quest to move onto the city. (Pasha)


    Ok I am going to add you all into the friend list. (Mothy)


    Quickly adding all of them, their names turned green, indicating that they are online. Then he sent a party invite to Seike and went to meet him.