《Infinite Horizons》 Chapter One I rubbed my eyes, tired. Another scam. I had so little time left as well. I was going to die in maybe about a month, and I didn¡¯t want to die! I was searching for anything, anything that could help me. Cryogenics was useless; my body was already too damaged. I was only 22, I couldn¡¯t die! I switched to my email,Jason¡¯s Inbox. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Nothing. Refresh. Refresh. Wait! What was that? I had a new message in my inbox. How could that be? I hadall messagesgoing to junk because I didn¡¯t have time to delete all of them. Eagerly, I opened my inbox. It was a message from Infinite Horizons, the biggest gaming company in the world. I was an amazing gamer¡­ I didn¡¯t have to have a job, I didn¡¯t have to pay rent, and I lived in luxury¡­ Anyway. I opened the message, to see it offered me a place in a Beta Testing. Might as well have fun as I die. I replied in the positive, I knew there was no chance of me finding anything. The meeting was the next day and, knowing I had nothing else to do, I climbed into bed. Why? Why do I have to sleep? I have so little time left, and I have to spend so much of it sleeping. I was slowly going mad, I don¡¯t know how I¡¯ll die, if I¡¯ll commit suicide or if I¡¯ll be killed by the cancer inside of me. The next day I climbed out bed at 4 am and scoured the internet for any chance of help. But nothing. It was 2037, and we were no closer to a cure for old age than in 2000 BC. Sure, we increased the lifespan to about 110, but who cares when you die at 22? I brushed my teeth, got dressed, and headed slowly out the door at 8 am, although the meeting was at 10 am. I kept on browsing the internet, but nothing suddenly appeared to my desperate eyes. I wanted to do something in my life, become someone important, not just someone a bit known on YouTube. I had posted one last video telling people what had happened and my subscribers had disappeared overnight. At least I had enough money for the rest of my short life. I was a failure, a wimp. I didn¡¯t do anything in my life. Nothing. By the time I had finished wallowing in self-pity/hate I had arrived at the office building. I spent the next hour trying to find which floor had the best Wi-Fi connection, which lead to me being banned from the elevator. That meant I had to walk up the stairs to my meeting. Exercise. It would have helped me to live a longer life, if I had one left. I entered the conference room five minutes later and ignored everyone else, browsing on my phone. This floor had the 3rd best Wi-Fi by the way. After sometime, that was better spent doing something fun, a woman walked up to the podium. ¡°Hello everyone, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all eager to get started, but we just need you to sign a non-disclosure before I can start. If you don¡¯t want to sign it, please leave.¡± I nodded by head and signed without question. Standard procedure.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Hello again, thank you for signing; now we can start on the interesting part. Have you ever heard of an ARMMORPG? All of you here know VRMMORPGs, some have even came to this very room before to join the Beta Testing of one of our numerous games. An ARMMORPG is a so close to reality, it is Alternative Reality MMORPG. We have created a perfectly realistic world, now we need to develop the rules. You may be surprised, how could we create a world without rules? First of all, we have the basic rules, but we need help on developing the rules for love, for power, for knowledge. How you research, develop a town, make someone fancy you. The game was created by a ¡®mother¡¯ AI¡­¡± Here she paused for effect as only three AIs were known, and all were in the military. ¡°¡­ who birthed new AIs from her to create the NPCs, or, as we call them, APC, AI Player Characters, who have the same interface, freedom, everything, of a player. Of course, we toned down the adventurous part so the players had something to do, but they exist none the less. We then made the game progress thousands of years in a day, so that the culture developed for itself. When the time is right, the ¡®mother¡¯ AI will birth a daughter, who will create her own world. This is all made possible by own advancement in quantum computing with our quatum servers. Where the game taking place, the world contains, mixed, magic and technology. For example, the gigantic metal Guardians of Zeidtar, or the eternal clock of Endubar.As I was saying.You may wonder why a large group of dying people have been recruited to test a game. You are not here to do that. You are here to live the game. We want to upload your minds into the game as beta testers. Don¡¯t worry, the game servers are eternal, even if all the servers shut down here, the game will have progressed by the time it is reconnected. Also, if you want, you can activate aging in the settings, which will slowly kill you, or you could pray, willingly, you cannot be forced; those who try will be punished, for release. By the way, APCs have the aging feature always on, although they respawn. Alternatively, when you get bored, you can create a character in another of the worlds, to add some variety to your life. I will now let it all sink in, but I hope that at least some of you join us.¡± That was an understatement. Everyone started signing, checking, copying, and typing as fast as they could in order to sign up. Myself included. I was very skeptical, but I wished, oh, how I wished for it to be true. After signing, everyone started chatting, talking, discussing what had been said and whether it was true. During the ride home I was so distracted that someone could have stolen the hair on my head and I wouldn¡¯t have noticed. Luckily, that didn¡¯t happen. I was thinking of how much I wanted everything to be true, and for how much I¡¯d sue them when it turned out to be a lie. I stumbled home, somehow took off my shoes and fell into bed and started wishing, for the first time in a month, for sleep to come. I didn¡¯t have to put my affairs into order; I had already done it a week ago, so I signed up for tomorrow. I somehow managed to get to sleep, it was like Christmas but with a near certitude I would only get coal. Still, I had to try. What was the use of having tried so hard to find something but to not to dare test it? None. Chapter Two The next morning passed in a blur, I brushed my teeth, got dressed, stumbled out the door and fell into the company car outside my apartment. As the car drove to destination unknown, I browsed through the internet some more, apart from at a stop where the only thing my phone was useful for was was watching the minutes slowly pass by. Wasted time, wasted time. It took about an hour to get to our destination, aunofficial building for Unlimited Horizons. I climbed out of the car in anurbanzone in front of an unassumingbuilding.I was lead past huge server rooms and arrived in a room filled with people, some of which I recognized from the meeting. This time, no one was talking; people were just looking around with a wary eye. Just when someone was about to stand up and leave, the same woman as before came in. ¡°Hello, once again. I¡¯m so glad so many people want to come explore the new world with me. Oh yes, I forget to introduce myself. I am the Mother, goddess of the new world.¡± With those words, she vanished into swirling pixels. A hologram! Excited by the new turn of events, everyone settled down again. We were lead into a large room, filled with what looked like normal dive capsules. The young man who led us there uncomfortably straightened his suit and reluctantly started talking. ¡°Welcome everyone, uh, these are the capsules, which you are going to use to upload, I mean, if you want to. There are enough for everyone, so everyone can participate. Um, some attendants will help you get connected, you will have three days in game¡­ before you have to decide whether or not you want to stay, but you can do it earlier if you wish. Also, you will automatically be uploaded if you start dying, so no worries there. If you don¡¯t want to leave right away, we have helmets that will automatically upload you when you die. Anyway, for now, you can learn the rules and choose your character. However, before you go in, you must sign a few documents.¡± A few? By the time I had finished signing, my arm was aching and I had emptied a pen. Maybe I exaggerate a bit. But anyway. I was strapped in by a young man, in the prime of his life, who was probably going to live another 80 years¡­ Anyway. I found myself in a nondescript place, so nondescript in fact that I couldn¡¯t even see the ground, for some reason. ¡°Hello,¡± said a voice. I spun around, looking to see from whom it came. I saw an ordinary person, no extra features. ¡°Hello,¡± it repeated. ¡°Do you want to start your tutorial?¡± ¡°What tutorial?¡± I asked, confused. ¡°That will be explained in the tutorial.¡± Was it¡­ teasing me? No, it couldn¡¯t be. Its voice was perfectly bland. ¡°Sure, will it take long?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°You may judge that by the end of the tutorial.¡± Now I wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°What else can I do?¡± ¡°That is explained in the tutorial.¡± Definitely teasing. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s begin the tutorial.¡± The tutorial showed me how the interface worked; it also explained an interesting skill level system. Skills had eight ranks, Neophyte, Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, Adept, Master and Grandmaster, with 10 levels in each. A few other skills had only eight levels, one for each rank. To level up a skill, you must complete the Practice and Knowledge bars. Practice was increased by, you guessed it, practice, and Knowledge was increased by understanding the correspondingtechniques, andknowinghow to improve. In some skills, it required an Intelligence stat high enough in order in increase Knowledge beyond a certain stage. The rest was rather common place. Ten stats: Intelligence, Wisdom, Stamina, Strength, Constitution, Willpower, Agility, Dexterity, Charisma and Luck. There was no specialization; you had to carve your own path. For magic, there were many types: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Light, Dark, Life, Death, Summoning, Enchanting, Scrying... There were many kinds of magic, and magic types could even be created and/or discovered, but they had yet to become widespread. Evidently, the Mother AI had limited there growth in most areas to make it more interesting when players appeared. Spells were created with runes. Runes were the script of the ancient language of magic, but again, more could be created. With that in mind, I had to choose my race and I could also change slightlymy features. After checking the dozens of races, I chose a dragon-kin human. Dragon-kin were the descendants of a humanoid blessed by a dragon. They could switch between human and a dragon like form, and they lived for a long time. As they grew older, their dragon form started to resemble more a real dragon. They were very gifted with magic, and all stats had a good boost. They may have seemed a bit OP, but in fact all races gave large bonuses, and some had even better but they didn¡¯t have what I wanted. Human was because it had also general stat boosts, which were lessened by the dragon-kin part, but I didn¡¯t take pure human because of a low affinity with magic. Pretty much every species was available, I even saw ghost! You couldn¡¯t become, however, for example a dragon or a tiger, but some species came pretty close. Anyway. Once I choose my race, I got to edit my human self, and my dragon self. The human self I left pretty much the same, changed the face a bit but nothing much, then spent the rest of the alteration on increasing by size. I didn¡¯t both with adding muscle, increasing strength would do that, but there was nothing I know of with increased size. When you add in how dragon-kin were naturally taller, I became 2 meters. I then moved onto my dragon form. It took me much longer because I wasn¡¯t sure what a dragon should look like, so I changed a few things and again, made it bigger. One interesting thing was that apparently dragons can change their colouring at will, and it even carried over slightly into human form. The next step involved choosing where I wanted to spawn. Just when I started studying a map, a notification appeared.
Attention! Before you can continue on, you must have your consciousness uploaded. Do you wish to upload? Y/N?
Why put it off? I thought yes, and it sufficed. Chapter Three I felt a bit weird as the tiny connection I had left to my body faded, and was suffused by a wave of panic. What did I do? What did I do? I should have thought more about it¡­ After a half hour of panic, I decided to continue on, I didn¡¯t have a choice anymore, did I? I was going to die there anyway, it doesn¡¯t matter. No time like the present to continue on with the present. The past is the past and it is past time to accept that. I opened the map, shaken, to see where I could start. After hunting for a little, I found a place that was perfect for my desires. It was a city state in an isolated part of the world, but that wasn¡¯t what interested me. I wanted to discover all kind of things, to create a kingdom of power and technology, to unlock the mysteries of magic and lay bare the secrets of the universe. All very ambitious, but I had eternity, so why worry? I found a large area, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with a river passing through. It surprised me that no one had settled there, but the river was the only one in alarge area, and rather recent. An earthquake far upstream had changed the path of the river and before it was inhabited by monsters. Of course, this is probablyjust an excuse to have some territory that can be exploited by the new¡­ what? Not players¡­ residents? Sure, residents. Anyway, I selected the city and confirmed that I wanted to choose it.
[Do you wish to sleep until the game commences? Y/N]
Yes. When I woke up, I found myself watching an introduction. ¡°As long foretold, a momentous event has come to pass. The Goddess has summoned Chosen Ones to many towns. With no knowledge of this world, they will take a long time to become powerful, but as they are immortal, they could become unstoppable. They could use their power for good or evil, creation or destruction. Help them or hinder them, the choice is yours.¡± The cutscene showed many creatures, goblins, dwarves, kobolds¡­ appearing in cities, towns and villages bathed in a golden glow. The last one was a dragon-kin, named Jiro, the one I created. Apparently you couldn¡¯t choose the name, but I was satisfied with it. Before starting to move around, I sat down and opened my stat page.
Name: Jiro
Level: 1 00% 0 XP 0 XP
Race: Dragon-Kin
Platinum 5 Gold 0 Silver 0 Copper 0
Stats
Intelligence: 10 00% Willpower: 10 00%
Wisdom: 10 00% Agility: 10 00%
Stamina: 10 00% Dexterity: 10 00%
Strength:If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. 10 00% Charisma: 10 00%
Constitution: 10 00% Luck: 10 00%
Unspent Stat Points: 0
Mana: 100/100 Mana Regen: 1/Minute
Energy: 97/100 Energy Regen: 1/Minute
Health : 100/100 Health Regen : 1/Minute
Abilities
Dragon Form Nightvision
Skills
% % %
Fame: 1000
Title: Chosen One
Alignment: 0
I also played around with the settings till I was happy with it. My health, mana and energy were displayed at the top, and my notifications at the bottom. I stood up, stumbling a bit because of my height. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have made myself quite so big. I slowly walked over to a map of the town and the surroundings. I decided to walk over to an inn first. ¡°Hello, may I ask how much a room for the night costs?¡± I inquired to the innkeeper. ¡°A Chosen One!¡± he exclaimed ¡°No, no it¡¯s free, don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°It is fine, I¡¯ll pay.¡± I had to learn the prices, and also increase my reputation a bit. ¡°Well, with a 50% discount, 50 copper.¡± 1silver a night? With 100 copper to silver, 100 silver to gold and 100 gold to platinumI was rich. ¡°I¡¯ll pay the full price.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± He agreed, ¡°But then free meals, no negotiating.¡± ¡°Free meals only while I stay here.¡± I compromised. ¡°Agreed.¡± I gave him seven silver, luckily, I didn¡¯t have to make change, I reached in my bag and I instantly could get the needed amount. ¡°I¡¯d like a room for a week please.¡± He gave me a key to a room. ¡°Thank you.¡± I walked to the room of my door and unlocked it. I looked in and sighed with a smile. He had managed to put over me; the room was about the size of two normal rooms. I sat down on the king-sized bed and checked my notifications.
Trading Neophyte 2: +2% to selling price -2 to the effective Trading level of the other party
+1 Charisma, (11)
Well, an easy stat increase. While in the privacy of my room, I triggered my race specific ability. ¡°Dragon Form.¡±
You have initiated Dragon Form for the first time. Choose an Attribute: Knowledge of a Dragon: +10% to Intelligence and Wisdom Fortitude of a Dragon: +10% to Constitution and Willpower Power of a Dragon: +10% to Strength and Stamina Speed of a Dragon: +10% to Agility and Dexterity Cunning of a Dragon: +10% to Charisma and Luck
No question, Knowledge of a Dragon.
You have chosen Knowledge of a Dragon: +10% to Intelligence and Wisdom This will increase at Level 25
I then examined myself in a mirror. I had a few scales, but that was about it. Well, as I level, more changes will appear. I reverted to human form and decided to go to discover how magic worked; otherwise my decision would have been useless. I exited the inn and walked to the town¡¯s Mage¡¯s College. ¡°How much do lessons cost?¡± I asked the guard at the gate. ¡°Five silver per week. It includes access to the library, lessons and access to the practice room.¡± He declared. ¡°Sounds reasonable.¡± I passed him the money. ¡°No, no,¡± he corrected and gave me back my money. ¡°You must give the money to one of the professors. I¡¯ll go get one.¡± The other guard pointedly ignored me. I guess he doesn¡¯t approve of Chosen Ones. About five minutes later the guard came out with a rather strong young man. Not really my idea of a professor, but in this world, who knows? ¡°I understand you wish to learn magic.¡± He established as he approached. ¡°Yes,¡± I confirmed, ¡°Do I give you the money?¡± ¡°Yes, you¡­ give me the money.¡± His voice had a note of distaste in it. Another one. I exchanged the money for a medallion with a glowing rune in the center. ¡°The rune glows for long as you have paid in order to display your membership.¡± With those words, he left, still with his sneer. Chapter Four It was still morning, so I decided to enter and went straight to the registration desk. ¡°Good morning, I would like to sign up for beginner classes.¡± ¡°Okay, what is your name? And level?¡± She inquired. ¡°Jiro, I¡¯m level one.¡± I responded, impatient to start my lessons. ¡°Level one? How can that be?¡± She exclaimed and stood up. She examined me closely. ¡°It¡¯s true, but how?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a Chosen One, can¡¯t you tell?¡± Why can¡¯t she tell? ¡°The man at the inn could.¡± ¡°A Chosen One? I knew they had arrived, but I never thought I¡¯d see one.¡± She examined me again. ¡°He probably could because he had a high level Analyze.¡± ¡°Analyze?¡± I asked, interested to learn something new. ¡°Analyze is the skill used to identify people, it has only has eight levels, he must have the fifth or sixth rank, Expert or Adept.¡± She explained, ¡°With it, you can see their approximate level, the precision depends on the level. I¡¯m at the fourth rank, Journeyman, which is useful for this job.¡± ¡°Then why couldn¡¯t you see my name and level?¡± I inquired. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, maybe your title protects against it or something. Anyway, I¡¯ll check if any classes are available.¡± While she searched through the pile, I tried to use Analyze on her. It took a few seconds staring at her, glad she wasn¡¯t looking at me, but I unlocked the skill and saw her name and her approximate level, 7~10.
Analyze Neophyte: Allows you to see the name of low level people and monsters and their approximate levels.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, there are no more openings.¡± She told me. Her face brightened, ¡°However, I am sure there are professors who will be delighted to teach a Chosen One, even though you are a dragon-kin.¡± ¡°What do you mean? I thought that this was a more¡­ accepting place.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just that some of the professors here came from other kingdoms,¡± she explained diplomatically. I bet there is a skill for it. ¡°So they aren¡¯t very progressive in their manner of treating other species.¡± ¡°I see.¡± She left, and I was alone at the registration desk. I decided to Analyze every one that came by. After a while, I checked the progression and while Practice was a 100% but Knowledge was at 20%. I knew that Knowledge showed how much you understood, but I was baffled by how to increase it. I just looked at the faces, how could you improve that? Maybe I had to look at more than their faces? To the next person I saw, I studied their clothes as well, and got a welcome message.
Analyze has advanced to skill rank Novice You now may Analyze higher levels, and gain a better approximation of their level. +50 XP
Agina, the receptionist, had returned with a professor. Short, compared to me, and thin with shining eyes. When I tried to Analyze him, no luck. ¡°A true Chosen One!¡± he exclaimed. He strode up to me and grasped my hand in firm handshake. ¡°My name is Egric. I already know your name. Level 2 already? You were just level 1 ten minutes ago. I suppose you must have already gotten a skill to Novice rank. I feel very lucky, Agina passed by me first so I had the chance to teach a Chosen One. I¡¯ve sure you will increase in strength very fast; it comes with being a Chosen One. Well, enough dilly dallying, let¡¯s get to work.¡± He dragged me off as I throw a despairing look towards Agina and she hid a smile. I was dragged off to a small classroom and was forcefully sat down in a too small chair. Apart from his unstoppable enthusiasm, he was a good teacher, and by lunch time I received two skills.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Magical Knowledge Neophyte 3 You understand a few basic runes
Magical Talent Neophyte 1 You can cast basic spells
It took me a few minutes of negotiation, but I managed to leave to go eat, as I was ravenous. A few people pointedly ignored me in the road, but I understood that because I was a dragon-kin, and not because I was a Chosen One. Taking a deep breath, I strode into the classroom. He was waiting for me, drumming his fingers on the desk top, and declared. ¡°Now that we¡¯ve done the basic, we can go put the theory into practice.¡± He examined me ¡°You do have the skills, correct?¡± ¡°I think so, Magical Knowledge level 3 and Magical Talent level 1.¡± I replied cautiously. ¡°Excellent! Most students normally only have at most one of the two, and almost none have a higher level than one in any.¡± Still babbling on, he led me to the magically protected room for practicing. ¡°Now, using what you¡¯ve learnt, cast a light spell.¡± ¡°How?¡± I asked. ¡°Think of the rune for light, and then try to infuse to with mana.¡± I closed my eyes, looking for my mana, and found a small ball of glowing mist. I then imagined the mana streaming out and making the form of the rune for light with it. When I opened my eyes, I saw the rune in the air, but not activated. Taking the rest of my mana, I used it to activate the rune.
Mana Rune To cast a spell, you can use your mana to draw the rune. This method is more costly, but may be used in unique ways.
¡°Well done, what skill did you get?¡± exclaimed Egric, looking at me like he could read my mind. ¡°Mana Rune, why? Is it normal for me to get one?¡± I questioned, befuddled. ¡°Yes, it determines your way of casting spells.¡± He replied ¡°For example, mine was a skill that increased the bonus of saying the incantation. Nevertheless, I¡¯ve never heard of Mana Rune. How does it work?¡± ¡°I can draw the runes with my magic,¡± I told him ¡°but it costs more mana.¡± ¡°Wonderful!¡± he exclaimed ¡°Do you know what this means? You can create spells on the spot, which bypasses the time needed to create it on paper. On the downside, it could create a spell with unpleasant effects. It seems like that means good mana control. Tell me, what did your mana look like?¡± ¡°A dense ball of mist.¡± ¡°Yes, good mana control. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if someday you affect objects with it. That would also mean good spell control, so you could probably make a spell turn, or go backwards. Better precision, more critical hits¡­ Also, good with enchanting, could burn the enchantments into the item, enchantments made with pure mana, never heard of that before¡­¡± The professor continued on, give me good ideas, as well as getting on my nerves, when he finished up. ¡°Anyway, when you become a master with your ability, come show me what you can do.¡±
New Quest! Egric wants you to come see him when you have reached Master rank in Mana Rune. Difficulty: Unknown Reward: Variable Do you accept the quest? Y/N
¡°I will.¡±
Quest Accepted
¡°To guide you on your way,¡± continued Egric, ¡°I give you this book of all known runes. Take good care of it, there are only a few copies in all the lands. It is enchanted, so that when someone creates or discovers a rune, they can decide if they want it to become a part of the book.¡±
You have received: Book of Runes Item Class: Legendary, Quality: Masterwork, Durability: 2000/2000 (Regenerates by using the owner¡¯s mana) Soulbound This compendium of all runes is ever expanding, it hold almost all of the runes known.
¡°You can create runes? Also, why are you giving me this book?¡± ¡°Well, first of all, yes you can, and second, well, I feel like it. It also seems to have been the right choice as I got 2500 XP. You do know that you can get XP from creating quests for people, right? However, if you promise a reward and don¡¯t give it, you lose a lot of reputation and XP. You even can get a title, Oathbreaker, that you cannot lose and stays above your head until you have redeemed yourself. Some people even refuse to sell you things if you have it. That means, if you want to create a quest, make sure you can resolve it. Now, back to lessons? You still need lessons to help you learn more about magic, even though you have all the runes at your fingertips. I think we should concentrate on spell creation as your magic will depend on it. You will also need a spellbook to contain all your spells, an enchanted one at least, but I won¡¯t give it to you. I can recommend a great place, although I¡¯m not sure if you can afford it¡­¡± By the time I had escaped from his clutches, it was already dark out. I still got nice stat increases though.
Intelligence: +3 (14)
Wisdom: +1 (12)
I went back to the inn, ate a quick meal, and climbed into bed. Sadly, it didn¡¯t happen straight away, a curse that could have easily been remedied¡­ Chapter Five The next morning I woke up early and went downstairs for a meal. I ate quickly, before heading out to the store recommended by Egric. It took about ten minutes to get there, and I know I had only half an hour before I had to start towards the College. I entered the store and went up to the counter. ¡°Good morning,¡± I announced ¡°I¡¯d like to buy a magical spellbook.¡± ¡°What kind?¡± asked the woman behind the counter ¡°Just soulbound, magical protected, self-sorting¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯d like one with at least soulbound and infinite.¡± ¡°I have one with soulbound, protection against scrying, self-regenerating and which is unlimited, although you have to supply the paper to increase the number of pages. The price is only one gold.¡± My eyes went wide. Even though I had plenty of money, one gold was enough for three months at an inn. Enchantments are very costly here. ¡°No negotiation.¡± I manage to speak rather calmly. ¡°That seems reasonable. Does increasing the number of pages increase the size and weight?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re worried about that, we have one with soulbound, protection against scrying, page generation, normal regeneration and spatial distortion. That is only 10 gold.¡± ¡°Why such an increase?¡± ¡°The enchantments must be much smaller to fit, and it¡¯s hard to keep the enchantments from reacting. Are you buying? Remember, no negotiation.¡± I gritted my teeth my teeth but paid the price, knowing I really needed it. I ran out of the shop because I had only a few minutes to get to the College. Wait, why was I running? I slowed down, delaying how long until I had to continue with Egric. When I arrived, he didn¡¯t seem to upset I was late because he saw the spellbook in my hands. ¡°How much did it cost you? If it was under 12 gold, you were lucky. The owner changes the prices depending on her mood, for that spellbook the range would be about from 20 to 8 gold. One I saw her triple the price for someone¡­ ¡­ Let¡¯s get back to lessons now; I¡¯m not going to teach you much about runes today, instead about spell creation¡­¡± He explained that simple spells were created by just a line of runes, but they couldn¡¯t become extremely complex, or enchantments, you needed spell diagrams for that. There was an outer ring for containing the mana, which was lined on the inside by runes. Then, the inner ring diffused the magic into a series of polygons with runes in each corner, one inside the other. The last and central rune directed the spell, whether it should affect the nearest person, the diagram itself, or another diagram. If you had a chain of diagrams, it could make a much more powerful spell. However, it wasn¡¯t the only way possible to make enchantments. Some people were even researching 3D enchantments. Of course, runes weren¡¯t the only form of magic. Some people controlled the elements around them directly with their mana, but then they often didn¡¯t have the element around that they needed. Also, simple carving is made with precision and filled with mana, gearwork¡­ there was no end to the types available. My eyes shone at the mention of gearwork, I¡¯d always loved steampunk. As I mentally tuned out Egric, and my stat increase, I thought about what I¡¯d need to do in order achieve that. Combined with my ambition of starting a village, this could be useful. After the morning lesson, I spoke to Egric. ¡°Would you mind if I didn¡¯t take your afternoon lessons?¡± I asked cautiously. ¡°Of course I do not. I don¡¯t really know much about spell creation, I¡¯ve basically taught you everything I know about it. I only know spell incantations, which isn¡¯t very useful for you because you will always create new spells.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I interrupted. ¡°Maybe I should learn how to figure out and create incantations because, as you said, I will often create new spells. Anyway, goodbye.¡± I speeded down the halls as he started talking to himself. I walked slowly towards the inn. Before I sat down to my free lunch, I asked the innkeeper, Gired, casually ¡°Do you know where I can learn how to create mechanical beasts?¡± ¡°You mean Hephaestus¡¯ Guild? You¡¯re lucky; they just opened a building a few years ago in this town.¡± He explained how to get there and I carefully committed it to memory. I sat down to enjoy my meal. I finished the rest of my meal and placed the plate in a discreet corner of the counter. I left the inn and jogged to the inn. Well, I tried to. My energy almost ran out so I decided to continue on walking before I collapsed. When I reached the building, I waited until my energy increased a bit. Once it was past the red, I came into the entry room and made a beeline for the desk. ¡°I would like to join the guild. What are the requirements?¡± I asked. ¡°Do you have a high intelligence or dexterity?¡± ¡°My intelligence is 15, my dexterity is 10.¡± ¡°That low? What did you put your stat points in?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t leveled up yet.¡± He looked shocked. ¡°How can it be?¡± he scrutinized me closely. ¡°You¡¯re a Chosen One? How can it be?¡± He rushed away. I waited rather impatiently before he returned. ¡°You¡¯re accepted. The annual cost is 5 gold per year, we can waive the registering fee. You can pay the first payment in one year, any questions?¡± ¡°Just, are lessons included? Or do I have to pay for it myself?¡± That was fast.¡± ¡°Lessons are included as well as access to the machines. You have to pay for the materials.¡± He started to turn away. ¡°Oh yes.¡± He passed me a medallion. ¡°This shows your membership.¡± ¡°How do I start lessons?¡± ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°Enchanting and creating a mechanical creature from scratch. Also, any specific magic you have.¡± ¡°What do you want to start with? And when are you available?¡± ¡°I would like to start with¡­¡± which one? Both are interesting. ¡°¡­enchanting.¡± It will help me create more complicated spells. ¡°Sorry, there are no openings for a few months.¡± Oh well. I brightened. I could go visit the place for my future village. I needed to go on an adventure! After saying goodbye I returned to the College to tell Egric about my decision. My Magical Knowledge had already increased to level 7, now I needed to put it into practice. ¡°Very good idea, it will help you. Did you know I had a student who was stuck, couldn¡¯t learn anymore, but after an adventure he was much more receptive to new ideas. I mean, he did put most of his points in Intelligence and Wisdom, so it could just be that, but then again he got the points from leveling¡­¡± I was content to listen because I had nothing else to do. I actually got a stat from listening.
Luck: +1 (11)
I interrupted him. ¡°Do you know what the Luck stat does?¡± He was easily diverted ¡°No one really knows. You just get them randomly. Also, as you have more, you receive them more frequently; however there is no real use. However, there is a guild only allows people that naturally have more than 20 luck join, they think it will increase their luck. I¡¯ve hear that there luck increases much faster, the highest is about 120. Mine is 17, I kind of want to join as I want to see what happens. They might have discovered what it does but it stays in the guild. They have to sign a magical agreement, which actually completely prevents any infraction, but it must be signed while completely agreeing, you can¡¯t be forced...¡± at that point I started sinking under the flow of his words¡­ Chapter Six The next day I woke up bright and early and headed out. I couldn¡¯t wait to level up! I decided to go straight to the forest as the rabbits and all around the city was of course too easy for me. I was going to use a simple mana bolt; it wasn¡¯t worth an elemental spell. It took me an eternal hour of walking to get there, but I finally arrived. I didn¡¯t wait to wait for my stamina to regen, so I entered the forest. I noticed a wolf so I stayed hidden and started creating the rune from my mana. It had had a really explosive effect, so I wanted to try it out. I sent it off and leaned back to enjoy the show. As I relaxed, the bolt started shedding mana, and ended with a fraction of the power. It seems if I stop concentrating it dissolves. I tried again, but I couldn¡¯t use the mana rune version as I didn¡¯t have enough mana. The wolf searched for me and noticed the glow of my rune magic. He leaped at me just before the rune was completed, and I lost concentration so the rune dissolved.
Mana Saturated Environment All regens are doubled for magic users. Duration 1 minute. Radius: 2 meters
Now what? I had no mana, and my stamina was dropping rapidly. I tried hitting the wolf and it took only 1 damage out of 70. I started running and kept an eye on my mana and stamina. I suddenly stopped. I took control of my mana and tried throwing it at the wolf. It hit the wolf but it started glowing. It expanded to twice its size, and then killed me with a single, very painful bite that took over half of my health.
You have been killed by your Nemesis Double the XP loss -50 XP (-10)
I appeared where I had spawned the first time. I leaned down to massage my leg; the bite felt like it pulled it off. I was glad I had invested in a soulbound backpack; I shuddered to think how much money I would have lost. I kept my clothes as well, which was also lucky. Wait, -10? Can that happen? I decided not to ask Egric, so I decided to ask the innkeeper. As I approached him, he noticed me. ¡°Ah, Jiro,¡± He strode towards me. ¡°Another Chosen One has been asking around for a chosen one. He has a room in the inn, and he pays well, so I ask you stay for a bit.¡± ¡°Of course. Can you tell me about negative XP?¡± He stifled a guffaw. ¡°Happens to us all. Died a few times, eh?¡± ¡°No, in fact I just got killed by me Nemesis.¡± ¡°Nemesis? You¡¯re unlucky.¡± ¡°What do they do?¡± ¡°Every seven days they come to try and kill you. If you manage to escape for a day, they stop for another week. They are very strong, but it depends on which type of mob it happens too. Saw a man with a chicken Nemesis. It still makes me laugh. You Nemesis can only be defeated by yourself, but then it becomes your ally. They respawn with you, so you never have to worry about them dying. They increase in level with you, when ally as when Nemesis, so it¡¯s suggested you kill them as fast as possible.¡± He looked at me seriously. ¡°Negative XP can lead to negative levels, but no one has gone beneath minus 5 as you lose 10% of your negative XP every day. Or 10, whichever is higher.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Just then, a¡­ half elf half human? Came down the stairs. Not quite as tall as me, basic clothing, small backpack, and a bow and quiver. I could tell she was a Chosen One, I mean a¡­ resident, like me. I walked over to introduce myself to him. ¡°Hi, my name is Jiro, and you?¡± ¡°Are you a gamer like me?¡± She asked abruptly. ¡°Yes, well, I call it resident.¡± She relaxed and let out a sigh. ¡°My name is Airona. Do you know how long I have seen a real person from this world? The natives are nice, but I just wanted to talk to someone who isn¡¯t, after all, just ones and zeros,¡± ¡°Well, you are just ones and zeros. So am I. Did you think about that?¡± She seemed a little shocked at my scathing reply, and to be honest, so was I. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m just freaked out about this. I didn¡¯t mean to insult anyone; I just wanted to speak to someone from my world.¡± I relaxed my stance. ¡°I understand. Why didn¡¯t you appear when I did?¡± ¡°I started in a small village not too far because I wanted to start as a half elf half human. What¡¯s your race? I don¡¯t believe anyone would choose simple human.¡± ¡°Dragon-kin. Why did you come here?¡± ¡°A dragon-kin! I wanted to try that, but half elf seemed more interesting. I came here because I wanted to team up. Eternity is long. I don¡¯t want to be alone.¡± She blushed, embarrassed. ¡°I mean, not that kind of not being alone.¡± It didn¡¯t seem possible, but I turned even brighter red than her. My skin, hair, even my irises turned a dull scarlet. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that was possible.¡± She said, in an attempt to forget what had just happened. ¡°Does that come with being dragon-kin?¡± ¡°Yeah, I can also change into dragon form.¡± ¡°Cool! Would you mind demonstrating for me?¡± ¡°Sure!¡± My coloring changed to a more normal shade, although my hair stayed red. I concentrated for a second, and my hair turned brown again. I wonder how many colors I can have my hair. It turns out any color, even reflecting, but I stopped when people started staring. Aronar included. I reminded myself to see if I could have multicolor skin. Airona cleared his throat. ¡°If I know you could do that as a dragon-kin, I would have chosen it in a second. Anyway, the demonstration?¡± I nodded and led her to my room. I put down my bag and activated dragon form. I stopped, too late as I realized that my clothes were absorbed by the process. It would have been better if I transformed more, but I was left naked covered in a few scales. I concentrated on clothes reappearing as my blush started even turning my finger nails red. Luckily, it worked. ¡°When I meant demonstrate, I meant¡­ not such quite a complete demonstration.¡± It was now a race. Three fingernails were pink on one hand; the other had two and a half. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t have great control, and it was the second time I did it.¡± Four and four. I quickly reverted to human form and started turning myself normal. As before, I started changing my hair color and found that yes, I could have multicolor hair. It turn out in the end that I couldn¡¯t have more than 3 colors at a time. I also tried changing my skin color. I could even make it look like I had tattoos! Airona coughed into his hand, and I realized I had spent ten minutes on it. ¡°What have you learnt?¡± I asked, trying to mask my lapse of concentration. She looked away. ¡°I haven¡¯t learnt anything much; I just came here straight away.¡± I smiled. ¡°What do you want to learn? I know my way about town.¡± ¡°I want to learn archery, and melee combat, I think a kind of Ranger path. And you? What have you learnt?¡± ¡°Spell casting. I¡¯m going to learn enchanting and creating mechanical creatures, but it¡¯s all booked up for a few months.¡± I stood up lead her out of my room, past the innkeeper and into the street. ¡°Already? Isn¡¯t it hard?¡± ¡°Not really.¡± I started leading the way. ¡°Come on, I can bring you to a place to learn archery.¡± It took us only a few minutes to get to the archery range, and I left Airona with a smile and a wave. Information I got up from my computer, after shutting it down with a sigh, and stretched. My head ached sharply for a moment. I closed my eyes and took the few steps into the section of my tiny apartment I called my kitchen. I knew my apartment by heart, I hadn¡¯t moved since I finished college, a few years ago. The headache was to be expected, I had been involved in a very long and intense raid with my guild. However, it had been happening more frequently. Well, I had a checkup tomorrow, and I could bring it up then. I opened the cupboard where I kept the small amount of emergency food I kept at home. My old fridge had broken down, so I ate a lot of takeout. I earned a bit of money selling items I got from raids, but as everyone moved to VR, I earned less and less. I was counting on being able to afford a VR headset before I became broke, but it seemed less and less likely every day. Shaking my head at the tiny selection, I got myself a bowl of ramen. I had sworn off it the day I left college, but that heartfelt oath had barely lasted a month. I barely tasted it as I wolfed it down. After rinsing my dishes, I dumped them in the sink to dry The next morning, I selected some cereal with water. I grimaced at the texture. I had added hot water, so it became almost instantly soggy. Since I couldn¡¯t have milk, I had to get used to the taste. I put the bare minimum of toothpaste on my spongy toothbrush to brush my teeth and slipped on my old, threadbare Nikes and my ancient rain jacket to walk to the doctor¡¯s office. It took me an hour or so, and I slipped in just over fifteen minutes late. Luckily, the line was running a bit slow, so I was pretty much on time. I undressed, and entered the glorified box for my full body scan that was customary. It made me feel slightly claustrophobic, my hair brushing against the top of the machine. I was tall, maybe 6 foot 4 inches and my brown hair couldn¡¯t be controlled without some gel, a comb and an hour, and since my alarm hadn¡¯t been turned on, I didn¡¯t have the time. I wasn¡¯t what you could call conventionally handsome, but some people claimed to see some beauty in my face. I couldn¡¯t really see it, but not for the lack of trying. The machine beeped and I jumped, bashing my large nose again the door. I quickly dressed myself, and after I had finished the door swung open. I was directed to another waiting room, while the scans were analyzed. I started drumming my feet, but stopped when I realized I didn¡¯t have anything also to do, so I could be patient. I took out my phone, and skimmed Amazon for a VR headset I could afford. I had already bought one, a few months, but it was broken and I had to discard it. The part which allowed the game to be controlled mentally was defective; it didn¡¯t immobilize me when I played. It was fine for 3D modeling programs, for example, but my apartment didn¡¯t have enough room for more than 5 steps.Stolen novel; please report. My number flashed on the screen with room number 13 next to it, and so I opened the door and slipped quietly in. ¡°Mr. Jason Jones?¡± the doctor checked. I nodded. ¡°Excellent. Please sit down.¡± They motioned towards a chair that looked surprisingly comfortable, compared the other chairs that I had to endure. I sat down cautiously and sighed slightly as I settled into my seat. The doctor looked through the records again on their tablet, and sighed. ¡°It says here you asked to be notified yourself if diagnosed with any problems. Can you please confirm that?¡± I nodded. They sighed again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I need verbal confirmation.¡± ¡°Yes, I did ask to be notified myself if diagnosed with any problems.¡± I parroted, not thinking about what I was saying. Problems? What kind of problems? ¡°Mr. Jones,¡± they started. ¡°Please call me Jason.¡± I hated that name. Jones. Jason Jones. Sounded like a failed actor or rapper or whatever. ¡°Jason, you have,¡± they hesitated, and then started again. ¡°Mr. Jones, you have severe and almost certainly fatal brain damage.¡± I sat there in shock. ¡°We think it may have come from a defective device, have you had any implants at any time? Did you attempt to have a memory erased?¡± ¡°¡­Yes.¡± ¡°Yes what?¡± When I didn¡¯t reply, the doctor pressed a small button on their desk. I felt a needle prick where I was sitting, and I started to regain my senses. ¡°So, do you have them installed in every chair, or just this one? Is there a reason this is room 13?¡± I joked weakly. ¡°Yes.¡± The doctor ground their teeth. ¡°The board of directors thought it would be ¡®amusing¡¯ to have all serious diagnosis in room 13. But can you answer me? I¡¯d understand if you wouldn¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°I ordered a very cheap VR headset on Amazon, turned out to be defective. It didn¡¯t stop my body from moving when it was active, so it was basically useless. But please tell me, how long do I have?¡± ¡°We believe that you can live comfortably for another¡­ two months? Afterwards, you will start feeling intense pain, your vision will start to go, but you will probably be dead in four.¡± ¡°... Goodbye¡± As I left room 13, I felt pats on the back from the nurses and doctors that had seen me leave the room and saw the tears on my cheeks. As I walked home, I could barely see through my tears, which were luckily disguised by the rain. With one hand shoved in my pocket, the other fumbled with fitting the key in the lock.