《Tales of a Traveler》 Ch. 0 -We try to forget- A figure stood in the endless desert. He was slightly taller then average and stood on a sand dune looking into the empty wasteland around him. His cloak was pure white and covered his head, obscuring his face with its shadow. The humanoid was dressed entirely in the same white as his cloak, baggy pants and long sleeves on his shirt hiding his skin from the sun¡¯s harsh glare. By his side he carried a blade. It was without a sheath, and was old, rust gathered on its surface and along its edges. The blade itself looked like it was made of something similar to steel, but not quite that. It had an angular diamond like shape despite being a one handed weapon. The hilt of the blade was wrapped in a fine cloth, and the rusted metal glimmered in the heated desert sun. With a sigh the humanoid figure gazed at the golden world around him and shook his head as if dispelling some thought. In this desert nothing was alive, only the golden grains of sand spread across the sea like landscape as far as the eye could see. This place was truly an ocean of gold. However while at first glance the desert seemed to be wild, and the sand dunes randomly scattered as the wind willed them, in reality things were different. If one were to look at the desert from the heavens the truth of the landscape could be seen- the dunes seemed to encircle an area of sandstone in the middle of the golden sea. The sandstone, a pale yellow, contrasted against the sands around it, and the dunes were reminiscent to walls guarding a castle as they spread outwards. The figure slid down another dune and stepped onto the sandstone platform in the center of the desert. With a heavy sigh he walked to the center and stabbed the blade into the heart of the platform and looked up to the heavens and turned, a tear shimmering as it faded in the midday air. As the blade sunk into the sandstone as strong gust of wind rampaged through the landscape, the gust grew stronger by the moment and turned into a full-blown sandstorm that covered the entire desert. As the figure turned a slightly sad smile could be seen on his face and his voice could almost be heard beneath the roaring of the nearing sandstorm,¡± ¡­be safe here, and sleep forever...¡± Then the storm overwhelmed the figure, his form disappearing into the storm of sand. Hours later as the sand settled around the sandstorm platform with a sword stabbed into its center. The white clothed figure nowhere to be seen, the raging desert silent once more.
In another realm at the same time
The red sands billowed across the barren landscape, the winds buffeting against a fortress made of thick metals. This fortress was scarred by plasma and torn by bullets, corpses of things not human lay on the ground as the corpses black blood oozed onto the sands and metal despite the freezing temperature. Siting atop the fortress was a single living figure, the figure was dressed in a black bodysuit with white numbers covered by dried blood. By it¡¯s side were several rifles and limbs and with a thud a reptilian, alien arm fell onto the ground as the being sat on the edge of the building. His gloved fingers clenched against the cold metal walls, causing light dents as his armor creeked under the force of his grip, and his expressionless helmet shone in the light of the sun. As the figure studied his handiwork he looked like a god gazing upon the world below him, the corpses of his enemys laying dead and in ruins. However if one were to be able to listen to him, there would only be the following words capable of being heard from the broken man as they were repeated over and over again. ¡°Unit S-461, Soldier S-7523.¡± As the figure repeated the phrase he didn¡¯t react as several shuttles landed a distance away, with similarly dressed beings as himself started running to the base. All he did was grip the cold metal under him harder as he listlessly gazed ahead.
General Abris Techrin stood on the bow of his ship as the recovery shuttle brought the only survivor from the enemy base to the ship¡¯s medbay. He looked at the eerily still figure of the soldier and sighed, ¡°Amanda.¡± A holopannel in the shape of a disk in front of him flickered and a woman appeared wearing secretary clothing appeared and tilted her head to the General ,¡±General Abris, you have an order?¡± Looking at the AI the General sighed again, ¡°Get the Psych team prepped- they have one hell of a case to fix. The man being escorted to the medbay is the only survivor of the S-461 Black OPs unit, and the only man to be able to take down a Nightmare stronghold alone.... while captured. We will be sending him back to the Station, but by the looks of things he can¡¯t even remember who he is- Psych is going to pissed at this job.¡± Nodding the woman disappeared. The Station was a military outpost for returning soldiers, it was a place that housed the most damaged of the military personnel, and attempted to fix them. It used state of the art facilities, and was a black site hidden between Venus and Mercury. However, the was a catch, any returning soldier could only stay for a three months before returning home- and all memories of being on site were to be expunged from their minds upon leaving. It wasn¡¯t just for their safety, but to protect the soldiers who resided, reside, and were to arrive there.
Jack sighed as he lay on the blue couch of his house. His mandatory tour of duty was over and had been finished a few months ago, it was a pleasant thing being away from the war. Or rather, it should have been, however he still saw all the blood whenever he closed his eyes- but the psychologist was helping with that. In the modern day of 2165 all youths after graduating high school had to join the military to help fight for Earth. It was an attractive law to be honest, during the time in the military the recruits would get a free college education and placement into a military sector of their choice should they have the qualifications, then after 4 years of study finished they would be released into the field they had chosen. After all, wars were being waged and every man was needed to fight. Jack sighed looking at the celling, it was strange, to come back home and find that he was not only ¡®safe¡¯ but also rich. While in high school he was independent and started a business, invested stocks, and now after his time in the military he was back with an amassed fortune that would take a few lifetimes to bottom out. He was one of the richest people in the world, he would like to say to was luck, but when he was younger he had planned pretty far ahead- even though he was a naive boy back then. The reality was that he worked hard and with his father being a business man he was able to make well informed decisions with his assistance. If he was the firstborn of his family he could have avoided the draft, however Jack wasn¡¯t that lucky. He was the third child in his family, and the second male born to his parents so he was unable to escape the war and the the cold grasp of fear that it held over the people of the world. Now that he was back he had found an unexpected problem; With all his fortune- he didn¡¯t want any of it, but it was far too much to spend. If he could, he would have traded his newfound riches for the lives of his comrads... Shaking his head, Jack sighed, returning to his thoughts of the last few months. He had to create a few grant systems and such to keep his finances manageable, and even if he was able to live life as he wanted, he was still bitter. The war wan¡¯t going as well as the governments wanted the people to think. He was considered a war hero, and as such he had to deal with the commercials that wanted to use him as a poster-boy while hiding the reality behind what he had done, behind the monster that he had been changed into. With his Psychologist''s approval, he turned down the offers by the UNSC and said no, never appearing in the public eye since. However something happened today that was different from the normal silence and calm around his house, he received a letter from one of the companies he invested in when he was younger. It was called Zenix, it was a Virtual Reality gaming company with a heavy hand in the medical community. The letter was something thanking him for helping found the company and included a pamphlet of a game that was to be released today, a game they worked on conceiving all those years ago. The game was called Acea. Now he was debating weather or not to play the game they offered him for free. Apparently it was a massive world that was constantly expanding, the developers mentioned that it was already at least 50 to 60 times the size of the earth from what they had discovered so far. To be honest the size was unimaginable, and to complete it in roughly a decade years was unthinkable. The developers said they had several AI¡¯s help develop the would generation and in that time they set the time 100 days for every hour. So the ten years of development was closer to 9 million days, or about 24,000 years, to work on making the game. He paused, rolling the number in his head 24,000 years. The concept of being alive for so long frightened him, and Jack couldn¡¯t imagine how the AI that created the game were able to stay sane.... in fact, a part of him thought that maybe they did go mad, and then passed the boundary of madness and left into the next realm of thought like he did so long ago. The game had its time set to the legal norm for Virtual Reality games with a 5:1 hour ratio and entered beta while he was fighting in the war. It was a brilliant success with the player-base, and the play testing was more of stress testing the system to tweak any unreasonable rules that had been created. Now that he was back the beta had closed a few years ago and the mail that Jack had in his hand at the moment was an offer to receive a lifetime subscription and a copy of the game as thanks for being a supporter to the company. The game boosted incredible AI¡¯s, and Jack couldn¡¯t help but smile as he read that. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. In this day and age AI¡¯s had evolved at an astonishing rate, and many were used in the military and for building. In the war he had an AI on his squad, it was named Knight. As the name suggests the AI acted with chivalry in mind, he would constantly talk about honor and Knightly things. He was a young AI after all, only a week into its identity before being thrown into the war. It was always amusing remembering the antics of the sentient program, However these memories led to a sad smile as Jack remembered the long dead squad member. Zenix had done something incredible for the sake of their game, it was something Jack couldn¡¯t even try to fathom a reason for- or try to figure out how they amassed so much cash to do it. The company made their main server on the dark side of the moon, and it was a massive complex taking up 2 miles in a spherical radius under the moons surface and was basically unnoticeable to anything in the known universe with the ¡®dark¡¯ alloy plating that prevented it from showing up on Radars and other sensors. With the temperature of space the computer system didn¡¯t need coolant, and with its processing speed it was a monster. Supercomputers paled in comparison to it. Each square inch of the computer held thousands of petabytes of data. It was ridiculous for a need of that much processing power, but the company had aims to defeat the current top¡¯s of the market that had maintained their place for the last century or so. With a shrug Jack decided to pick up the phone and call the number on the flyer, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to see what was being offered, however, he called his psychologist first to see if it was a good idea for him to play the game- and after a brief discussion about whether he felt ready to play such a game, Jack nodded, hung up, and called another number. Two days later... ¡°DING~¡± the doorbell rang out sharply as it chimed a soft tune, looking at the door to his left Jack stood up, his bright green eyes gazing at the door intently as he opened it to see several people in grey Zenix company outfits standing there with a large package. One of the people, a woman with blond hair and grey eyes spoke, ¡°Mister Jack Rayn right?¡± Jack nodded, remembering that he had been told that the game would arrive at his house today. ¡°Well, finding out that you returned from an extended tour of duty, our companies CEO decided to gift you with a free custom Capsule and copy of Acea, pre installed of course. Just sign here.¡± She took out a small rectangular device and a holographic form opened up in front of Jack. It was nothing major, just a paper saying that he agreed not to illegally distribute the game and that he actually received the gift from the company, that the company would fix any issues with the device, but would not be responsible for injuries caused by it due to extended playtime. Nodding he signed the paper and looked at the girl as two burly men wheeled a large, human-size package into his living room, ¡°Mister Jack, is right next to the couch a good place to install this?¡± Jack looked at them, ¡°Yeah, thats as good a place as any.¡± and the men went to work on building and installing the capsule. Turning back to the girl Jack asked her, ¡°So, anything I should know about this? I wasn¡¯t expecting the capsule.¡± Chuckling the woman smiled dazzlingly, ¡°Well, the Capsule we gave you is top of the line- it¡¯s not going to be released until next year. It will exercise your body as you rest in it to prevent muscular atrophy, also it will sustain your body inside while you play. The device is virtually indestructible, so no worries about being hurt while inside. There is a short calibration sequence that needs to be done, but that is automatic. This is a gift from our company to you Jack, as thanks for helping found it- and as a gift for coming back safely.¡± Jack looked at her tilted his head, out of all the companies he invested in, Zenix was more of a pet project he poured cash into when he was younger. To be honest he owned 23% of the company stock and received that percentage of income- not that he knew. Zenix was a large umbrella company similar to many other corporations. It had a hand in recent medical advancements and new engineering feats world wide. Jack had actually invested in several branches of Zenix and then the main company, making him a major investor since his name came up in almost all the branches lists of first investors. In a way he helped kick off the companies current power and in turn as the company looked at his records it noticed his own business of engineering computer parts and entered a life lifelong contract to help buid the game and future devices. Due to all this in the background Jack was making over 100 million a year, and didn¡¯t know what to do with the absurd amount of cash, in a way it felt like a sick joke after he found out he was making such an income while he was fighting on Mars and watching his friends die as they fought for their lives. Lost in thought Jack jumped when the Men came up to him and patted him on the shoulder, ¡°Have a good dive man, you¡¯ll have a blast.¡± And they left leaving only the Capsule as proof of them even being there. Walking up to the cold silver device Jack looked at the small Zenix logo and the name of the machine, ¡°CPTSx 4005¡±. Shrugging and having nothing better to do in his house he opened the machine and carefully laid inside. Then the lid slid over him encasing him in darkness as the soft jell surrounding him molded to his body. It was then that a light flashed in front of his eyes making him blink. When he opened his eyes he was in a pure white room. Then without warning a message appeared in front of him,
Please do the following for calibration. -Raise left arm -Raise right arm -Walk -Jump -Kick with left leg -Kick with right leg
Complying with the message Jack as was asked of him. He stretched as he raised his arms, trying to take a step forward he ended up falling over due to the sensation of his virtual body and the lack of any real substance behind his actions. After a few more fumbles he finally managed to walk properly and managed to break into a run. While running several figures approached him, and markers with the image of a foot appeared on their chests. With a flurry of kicks Jack maneuvered his body, smacking the undefined figures with his legs and he kicked them. Finishing the workout he stood still and looked around before realizing something- he had both his arms. In the war Jack had lost his left arm, it was something he didn¡¯t like to remember, with modern prosthetics he was able to get a robotic arm. Durring his spare time at home he would mess around with his arm, adding compnents and modifications to improve it. Behind honest with himself Jack couldn''t help but smile sheepily as he remembered how he got carried away. His ''arm'' had a nano-blade installed and was able to move with just a thought. He only refined what he could and added some extra bits to make him feel safer at home durring his first few weeks back. His Psychologist even approved of his actions (Although she didn''t know just how far he went), and let him get lost in his work as he dealt with his trauma. However in this virtual body he had an arm of flesh and bone, or rather something as close to flesh and bone as pure data can get. Looking at his arm in wonder and pking at the pale skin, Jack was brought to awareness when a soft chime brought him to attention.
Callibration Complete!
With that the message box disappeared without warning and a new one appeared with a soft ¡®Ding¡¯.
Please log out of the Pod. Adjustments are being made, you may log in once again in: 38:00 Hours.
With a soft hiss, the pod opened, Jack stepping out and closing it behind him. It was fine, he expected the notice and had other things to do today- the most important being his meeting with the Military Psychologist who was to be arriving within the hour. Closing his eyes, Jack sat down on the couch and leaned back, exhaling slowly as brief images of the battlefield flashed across his vision- maybe this game could help him think of something other then the war. Ch. 1 First Day In a New World Jack sighed as he woke up, rubbing his eyes. A dull ache throbbed in the back of his head as he slowly lumbered out of his bed, groaning unhappily as the angry rays of sunlight pierced his eyes. Slapping his face as he slowly woke up, Jack closed his eyes and inhaled, feeling the warm air inside of his house flood his lungs and escape with vigorous glee. Shivering slightly, Jack continued taking deep breaths, the dull pangs of fear echoing in his mind as he shook his head. He couldn¡¯t remember what he had dreamed last night, but by the panic he was feeling it was probably a nightmare. Nightmare.... the word made him shudder as he flopped onto the soft bedding. Tall creatures with elongated limbs, thick carapace like armor¡¯s tinted a pitch black as light shimmered on their bodies. The narrow, pointed, reptilian fingers that we so often holding their races version of plasma rifles and other weapons. He could remember their eyes too, the small reddish-purple glows that emitted from the smooth sockets that were hidden behind their masks. Their mouth¡¯s were filled with razor sharp teeth, the fang¡¯s easily tearing though flesh and bone. Burying his head in his hands, he let the images drift though his mind. The cold battlefields, the lifeless bodies, the charred smoke that slowly rose off the corpses of soldiers and monster¡¯s alike. His psychologist told him it was normal to remember these things. That it was normal to be afraid every time he woke up, that it was normal to remember all the faces of the dead. However, he didn¡¯t feel afraid. He didn¡¯t remember all the faces. He didn¡¯t feel normal. Apparently that was normal too. Jack snorted in disgust, he could hear the chucking voices of his squad in the back of his mind, ¡®ah, it looks like the captain finally retired!¡¯, ¡®See Jacky-boy, I told you that you would be able to get back!¡¯, ¡®You don¡¯t need to regret our death¡¯s Sir, we chose them ourselves- leave us that honor.¡¯. A small smile creeped up his face as he ¡®listened¡¯ to their voices, his eyes watering as he took a deep breath. He knew they were dead, he knew that they were never coming back. He knew it was his fault they died.... but he couldn¡¯t help feeling guilty, despite how he knew they wouldn¡¯t want him to regret how they fell in battle. Closing his eyes, Jack prayed silently. He was never much of a religious man before the war. Then the war changed that. Getting up and clearing his mind, Jack walked over to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from his refrigerator. Feeling the chilled water burn down his throat, Jack relaxed letting his thoughts drift away from the war. Even if it was for a short while- he wasn¡¯t ready to remember. Looking around the kitchen, a small glint of light attracted his attention. Looking closer, Jack chuckled- he forgot about the capsule. Looking at the device, Jack paused. After leaving the Pod, he had put it into the back of his mind, and it was only now that he remembered that he had the device in the first place. Shrugging, Jack walked over to the smooth, silvery capsule, opening it with a smooth motion and moving to lay inside. Jack was left in the darkness for a few moments as the capsule closed, the sounds of the outside world muted and subdued as he was left inside the darkness. Looking around Jack sighed, as he looked into the pitch black void around him. While he was gazing into the darkness, he noticed that he was missing a body, in fact when he ¡®looked¡¯ down he didn¡¯t see his feet or anything else that would normally be associated with one¡¯s physical form. Closing his ¡®eye¡¯s¡¯ Jack forced himself to relax, quelling the feeling of disgust and panic that was seeping though his gut. This wasn¡¯t the war, he was home, on Earth. Reminding himself of where and when he was a bright sound echoed in his ears ¡®Ding!~¡¯ and a text box appeared floating in front of him.
The scan on your biometrics has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?
Pausing for a moment Jack spoke, his voice echoing strangely within the void around him, ¡°Yes¡±. He tilted his head, or what would have been his head in real life, idly thinking about they system, ¡®Why is there a calibration before actually registering? I wonder if its to test if the system is working?¡¯ Another cheery ¡®Ding!~¡¯ interrupted him before he could continue that process of thought. With a sudden flash of light, the darkness around Jack contorted, the void shifting to a blank room as another popup appeared in front of him.
Welcome! Please select the name you want to be known as.
Jack winced and sighed, naming was never his forte. He was better at... well, anything other then naming. With a troubled expression he rubbed his chin, muttering quietly as he thought of something to call himself in this game. As he thought for a few moments another message appeared, Jack couldn¡¯t help but think that there was a smug tone behind the words, seemingly amused by his lack of naming skills- but it was probably just him.
There is a random naming feature, do you want to use this?
Jack winced and sighed, naming was never his forte. He was better at... well, anything other then naming. With a troubled expression he rubbed his chin, muttering quietly as he thought of something to call himself in this game. As he thought for a few moments another message appeared, Jack couldn¡¯t help but think that there was a smug tone behind the words, seemingly amused by his lack of naming skills- but it was probably just him.
There is a random naming feature, do you want to use this?
Shrugging Jack nodded as he replied, ¡°Sure...?¡± his reply was tinged with a hint of a question as he looked at the blue screen curiously. Watching the screen ripple, Jack raised an eyebrow as a list of names appeared before him.
Please choose a name from this list, or pick another option for more names. -Aithe -Crow -Crimson -Arlen -Rain -Aelfric -More Names
Looking at the list Jack winced as he saw the name Rain. It was only letters away from his last name ¡®Rayn¡¯ and the pronunciation was the same too. Shaking his head Jack looked back at the list, he wanted to make a new persona, to be someone who wouldn¡¯t be trapped by the fears of his past. Looking at the names on the list, Jack took a deep breath, ¡°Alright.... My name will be Aelfric then.¡± With a cheery ¡®Ding!¡¯ another window appeared, the previous list of names showing the name Aelfric in glowing letters before fading.
Select your gender from male, female or neutral.
Without any hesitation this time Jack spoke ¡°I¡¯ll be a Male.¡± He didn¡¯t feel comfortable trying to pretend to be another gender in a Virtual Reality game. In fact, the ability to be another gender was something that was only recently added to games. There was a large stigma about playing as another gender in a game where the world was as realistic as life. It was something to deal with ¡®romance¡¯ in games, but Jack never cared about such things, despite how it was taught technology classes in schools.
Acea has many Races to play as. As a donator to the game Tier 2 races have been unlocked. As a stock holder to the company, Tier 1 through 3 races have been revoked, and access to Tier 4 races are available. Please note that the previous Tiers have been revoked due to the privileges given to Tier 4 races. -Dragonkin -Gryphonkin -Demon King -Lord Vampire -True Elf -Random -More Options
Looking at the list curiously Jack spoke, ¡°Can I see the appearances of the races?¡± In reply to his words, several figures appeared around him. In front of Jack was someone who looked like a Lizardkin from most other games, thick scales covering his skin and membraned wings folded tightly to his back. Loosing interest with the character Jack looked to the left, seeing what looked like a normal human labeled Gryphonkin, however there were a few notable differences. First, his legs were birdlike with only three toes, and the head of the being was covered in feathers rather then hair. Shaking his head Jack looked to the left once more, seeing the ¡®True Vampire¡¯ who was dressed in over exaggerated clothes. The vampire had sharp canines in his mouth, and looked like a normal human, however his eyes were tight slits and his nails looked like sharp claws. Next to the Vampire was an Elf, long hair trailed back behind him, tied into a pony tail. The Elf was slim, with little muscle on him, however the cleaver gleam in his eyes made Jack curious, the character model seemed to grin mockingly at the world around it and Jack blinked- did it just wink at him!? Looking next to the Elf, Jack saw the ¡®Demon¡¯ race. He stood tall and proud with a cloak behind him, the demon¡¯s thick horn¡¯s pointing back behind him as they raised from the crown of his head. The demon¡¯s eyes were tight snake like slits¡¯s as well, thin membranes of... something covering the iris¡¯s of the eyes in strange runic symbols. on the back of the demon were thin runes, seemingly there for decoration. Not seeing any race that particularly called out to him, Jack lazily moved his hand and pressed on the ¡®More Option¡¯s¡¯ tab on the screen.
Random Option has been chosen! Choosing a random Tier 4 race from 15 choices!
Groaning as he saw a wheel appear in front of him, Jack could only watch as it spun. ¡°W-wait! Stop! I meant to choose More Options!¡± the wheel made a soft dinging sound as Jack yelled stop, the situation making him groan as he rubbed his face unhappily. Watching the wheel spin, it slowly started to stop, the spinner slowly came to a rest on the race ¡®Demon¡¯. Sighing in annoyance Jack could only watch as the room shifted, showing a version of his avatar as new popup appeared in front of him. He wasn¡¯t upset about pressing random by accident, well, he was, however what annoyed him the most was that the race shown was something the he had already seen. Out of fifteen possible races it was one of the five he had seen already! Grumbling in annoyance, Jack sighed, reading the next popup that appeared in front of him.
You may alter your appearance. Also because you are one of the first thousand players a slight amount of variation will be added to your character after you begin.
Looking at the character Jack spoke, ¡°Can I go back?¡± only to have another popup appear in front of him.
At the end of the Character creation phase one may choose to restart if they don¡¯t like the avatar that has been developed. This was done to help inspire curiosity on the various races available.
Sighing with resignation, Jack looked at the blank avatar once more. ¡°Alright. Lets use my real body as a base then.¡± With those words spoken, a copy of his body appeared in front of him. Jack¡¯s avatar shifted, his form twisting as it grew to about 6 feet tall. The figure had gained black hair and bright green eyes, he was lean and well muscled, his hair¡¯s light curls hanging over his head giving him a sleepy appearance. Jack¡¯s face wasn¡¯t ugly, however it wasn¡¯t handsome either. On his face were small pocket-marked scars that were scattered around his cheek¡¯s and neck. A thick scar on his arm trailed over to his chest, and several plasma scars his back showed the harrowing experiences in combat that he had been witness to. Across his chest was a thick scar that was usually seen when someone had their chest opened for surgeries- only far larger, the scar was a fine plasma line that started at his collar bone and ended at his waist. Looking at the large horn¡¯s on the demon¡¯s head, Jack grumbled, playing with the options and blinking in surprise as he ended up shrinking the thick horns into smaller nubs that were hidden by his hair. Pausing as he looked at his avatar Jack sighed, more so seeing what he could do with the character creation menu as he would recycle the demon for a different race when he was done. Jack was surprised by how far one could customize the races, for this particular model he could not only choose the runes, he could manipulate his scar¡¯s, mess with his eyes, and affect his bones? He blinked, looking at the option again. He had removed a majority of the scar¡¯s from his face, leaving some of the burns on his neck to remind him of his past. Looking at the option, Jack paused he he started messing with the sliders, chuckling as his avatar seemed to deform and reform as he slid them about. Settling on the default settings of bone size and density, Jack looked down the list of sliders, what he guessed was a racial specific checkbox for the Demon Race. It was labeled, ¡°Internal Horns¡±. Looking at it curiously, Jack held his finger over the text, reading a small window of text that opened up in front of him. By the looks of things, he could affect the horns on his Avatar¡¯s head, and instead of having them grow outwards, they would influence his bones to slowly be made of the same material. Blinking again Jack exhaled slowly though his nose, thinking about it. Shrugging he pressed the check-box and closed the slider. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m done now.¡± ¡®Ding!~¡¯
Your account has been activated. There is no class system in game, and no level system, nor a stat system. The world of Acea is dominated by Skills and player skill. All skills are able to be used with complete freedom, and will only minimally assist in the development of combat experience.
Jack nodded as he read the text, feeling a wave of nausea as his body shifted- his formless existence changing into the very avatar he created over the last few hours. Groaning as he stood up, Jack winced coughing as he slowly got used to the violent sensation. The fact that he was going to have to feel this again made him grumble unhappily as he looked at the empty void around him.
Select a city and kingdom you want to start.
Reading the text Jack looked at the list of names available to him, and looking at the brief ¡®photo¡¯s¡¯ of the areas, he shook his head unhappily. It seemed like all the spawn locations available were hellish landscapes. Glad that he was almost done, Jack spoke, ¡°Make it Random.¡± Jumping in surprise with the smooth tone of his voice, Jack blinked, while it sounded like he did normally, the commanding tone in his voice was something that he didn¡¯t expect to hear. Testing a few more random words Jack paused, realizing that the tone was just part of this character¡¯s voice. Thinking about it, Jack chuckled, it might have been his voice if he didn¡¯t have all the scars in the real world. Seeing the window fade, Jack spoke up once more, breaking away from his thoughts ¡°Can I restart character creation?¡± only to experience a pure moment of silence around him before a new window appeared.
With apologies from Zenix, the servers are experiencing slight problems due to a DDOS attempt, there might be some lag with replies for the next fifteen minutes of accelerated time, however it will not affect gameplay. We can delete this character and allow a new one to be made, it will take 7 days before we can allow you to remake a character.The normal wait time for players is 30 days, however as a donator, you have the privilege of a lesser wait time. Do you wish to delete this character?
Growling softly in the back of his throat Jack sighed, shaking his head in defeat. He wanted to play the game, and while he could wait, it wasn¡¯t the end of the world if he didn¡¯t get to see all the races the he could have played as. ¡°No. I¡¯ll try this character out and see where I end up.¡± At the very least he could always remake a new character if he didn¡¯t like his current one. Waiting a moment before the next reply Jack paused wondering why someone would bother attacking the... no, he shook his head. People did things because they could, so trying to hack into the game wasn¡¯t that much of a surprise. jumping in surprise as a new window appeared, Jack reflexively punched into the air in front of him, seeing a popup as he relaxed.
Before we begin please answer the following question. ¡° What do you want to do in this world, what is it you desire?¡±
Jack''s face wrinkled and he thought for a moment, thinking about his life. He had fame, and it was more annoying then anything else. He was rich too, so he constantly had to deal with people trying to use his fame for some propaganda, and he never knew if he was being used for his money as his face was so well known. ¡°Fame and Money always get¡¯s in the way. I would rather live at my own pace and relax, there is a whole world to explore. I can see things never seen by others, fight monsters people have never heard whispers of... I think that is what I want.¡±
So your desire is to Adventure is this correct?
Jack nodded, ¡°Yes.¡± chuckling mentally at the simplified version of what he said.
Fantastic! The Gods of this world are pleased to hear that. Few of the Travelers in our world want to actually see it. Before we send you on your way, as a Demon, you will be assigned a certain level of power and a domain. Your domain will be gained as you grow, however, your level of power will be randomly assigned to you. Good Luck!
Pausing in surprise, Jack looked at a familiar wheel of fortune that appeared in front of him. Each option had the same space of the wheel, so there was an even chance to get any of them. Looking at the words, Jack tried to read them as the wheel spun. Words such as ¡®Commoner¡¯, ¡®King¡¯, ¡®Prince¡¯, ¡®Noble¡¯, ¡®Baron¡¯ ¡®Hero¡¯ and several others spun past his vision. Watching the wheel spin, the words form the popup sunk into his mind. The ¡®Gods¡¯ or rather the AI governing the game were monitoring new players? While he understood that they could, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder why they bothered to message him.... well then again, it was a game, and he was playing a rare race. So some attention would be given to him, Jack supposed, however he doubted it would amount to anything greater then what he already saw. Looking at the spinning blur of the wheel Jack finally spoke, ¡°Stop.¡± the Wheel starting to slow down as different words passed by. ¡®Farmer¡¯, ¡®Woodsman¡¯, ¡®General¡¯, ¡®Commoner¡¯. Watching the text move by, Jack cringed inwardly as he saw the word General, his vision shifting as he took deep breaths and closed his eyes, hearing the sounds of screams in the background, knowing full well what was coming as he fought against it.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. He was in a forest. Tall trees reached to the sky, brushing the clouds. The gentle light of the sun filtered though the leaves as the warm wind caressed his cheek. There were old stone ruins around him as he sat on a bench, the soft sounds of birds chirping calming him down. Opening his eyes Jack was relieved to still be standing in front of the wheel. He knew he had some deep Trauma, however his psychologist had given him a way out. He could create a place where he could not be drawn into the void of his memories. He could spend time creating every detail of his own ¡®place¡¯ and in turn change his focus from the memories that threatened to overwhelm him. Looking at the wheel, Jack only managed to see the last fragments of it fade out of existence, leaving him without any idea as to what he had received. Looking around the darkness, Aelfric covered his eyes as the world twisted, another violent wave of nausea washing over him. A bright flash of light surrounded Aelfric as the feeling of nausea faded, the feeling of a gentle wind brushed across his body as he inhaled warm summer air. He opened his eyes, not realizing that they closed as he looked about startled by the sudden change in scenery. He was in a small town by the looks of things, there was a large smithy by the name of "The Wayward Sword" in the center of town across from the local church. Several stores were around him, and directly in front of his was a well reaching deep into the ground. Pausing as he looked at the blue sky, Aelfric smiled slightly at his luck. From what he saw about the places he could spawn in, all of them were in a place named the ¡®Realm of Purgatory¡¯. Relaxing Aelfric noticed people walking down the streets talking amongst each other avidly, as he looked at them there was nothing to identify wether they were players or NPC¡¯s. Sighing as he shook his head Aelfric sat down on the edge of the well and let himself breath the fresh air, looking at the bright blue sky with the sun shining directly overhead he smiled. Wondering what the ended up rolling on the ¡®wheel of fortune¡¯ Aelfric paused, speaking softly, ¡°Status menu¡± Nothing appeared. Raising an eyebrow Aelfric sighed, and shrugged. He would figure out how things worked eventually, the game said that he was going to be stuck in town for the next three weeks, so there was no rush. Looking around he noticed a person look at a shimmering blue screen and walked over to the man. The man was an inch shorter then Aelfric was and had bright coffee-bean colored eyes, a large robe hung loosely over his body as clothing, and a tight shirt was underneath the robe. The man was an elderly figure using a staff to help him walk, he had wrinkles on his face with liver spots on his nose, and a wispy white beard on his face. Stepping next to the elder Aelfric spoke, ¡°Excuse me sir, I am a foreigner in these lands and I have to ask, what was that blue screen I saw in from of you earlier?" With a good natured chuckle the elderly man spoke, his voice a warm rasp, "Ah, that''s a common piece of magic in these parts. Its called ''Self Identification'', usually you need to awaken your magic talent to get it to show itself. However there are occasions I''ve heard about were warriors without a speck of magic talent manage to get the magic to activate." Pausing a moment the man looked Aelfric over, ¡°Since you¡¯re new in these lands, let me teach you a few things. You seem to have a healthy pool of magic already although it is latent. Come with me, I live in the library in town, so we can talk on the way there. My name is Verdai by the way." The man, Verdai turned and gestured for Aelfric to follow him as they walked through the towns alleyways, "My name is Aelfric sir." Smiling Verdai looked back, mischief in his eyes, "Aelfric Sir? A strange family name that is." Pausing to laugh at his joke Verdai smiled, "I joke of course, no need to call me sir all the time, Verdai is fine. I''ll explain about that magic you noticed back there as we walk." "That magic is rather useful to say the least. Normally everyone receives it on their coming of age ceremony, there are many exceptions though. This magic was originally made a wizard who was tired of having incapable assistants in his work, so he made it to view the ability of his students and see how much they knew and what they were able to do. Over time it was adjusted to be able o tell how healthy a person is, how much mana they have, and what skills they have learned. There used to be a numerical representation of a person¡¯s body, however that was thrown out after being proven to be wildly inaccurate. How can you put ¡®Wisdom¡¯ in a numerical form? it¡¯s nonsense! The only thing that can be measured with numbers now is the mana pool of a person, as International Researchers have developed a unit to measure magic- an ¡®Ideal¡¯. It is a theoretical term for how much energy it costs to fill a small, 6 centimerter marble with magic energy. This magic is now what is known as Self-Identification, and while the screen of it can be seen, as you noticed, the contents can''t. Also it takes almost no magic power to use. There are several more magics on this tree, most used by monks to look into their bodies and identify poisons and illnesses." Walking up the increasingly steep incline with ease before arriving at a wall the mage casually pushed in a stone opening a large passage disappearing from view as Aelfric tried to catch up. Following Verdai, Aelfric walked up the incline slightly out of breath as he arrived at the top, and entered the now open passage into a large room and stopped inside the chamber, seeing the mage smiling as he waited, "Well, not fast, but quick enough, you should head over to train your stamina young man! You can¡¯t let an old man manage to outpace you.¡± Chuckling at Aelfric, Verdai smiled letting him catch his breath before continuing, ¡°Now then, when you gain access to Information magic you will have all things formatted in front of you in easy to read text, retrievable at any time. However, first you must activate your latent magic." Verdai took a deep breath and a blue wisp appeared, circling around his staff. "Magic itself is a tad bit unpredictable, so I made this place to practice in when I was younger, it''s actually under my house, but I made an entrance in the ally back there to make it easier to leave in case something went wrong in my magic experiments.¡± Verdai chuckled with a soft smile of his face as he remembered the past, grinning as he continued, ¡°Now then, your lucky you know that? I''m surprised you never received this magic as a youth, it''s fairly widespread in the world. Luckily cases like yours are not so uncommon that they can''t be fixed. Just focus on the energy of the world around you and you should get the hang of it. You will know when a small panel will appear in front of you saying something like ''Magic Mastery'' or the like. Information magic has already been imprinted on your body as soon as you came in contact with it, so you should learn Self-Identification as soon as you activate your mana pool. Of course, you can choose not to, and nobody will be able to identify you as you reject the magic, but that leads to it¡¯s own problems.¡± Nodding Aelfric took a seat as the magician left moving upstairs. "Just come on up when you get it, I''ll start teaching you some important things about magic, after all it would be a sin to let another in the search for knowledge starve. Just try to meditate, you¡¯ll be able to find where to start from there.¡± Verdai grinned as he started walking up the stairs, his voice echoing down from above, ¡°I¡¯ll get some tea going while you work. Maybe read a book¡± Aelfric nodded, thinking about the strange old man and mentally thanking him as he wondered what other players would be experiencing. Looking around the room, Aelfric let his eyes wander over the runic markings on the walls, various circles of runes on the ground and ceiling shimmering softly as they illuminated the area. Sitting down, Aelfric closed his eyes, took a breath, and started to meditate. He sat there and listened, observant to the world and the flow of the air around him as he emptied his mind of thoughts. After a few hours of being in this in-between state Aelfric found himself falling asleep and shook himself trying to keep his body awake. As he opened his drowsy eyes, he was surprised to see a number of small multicolored motes of light floating around him. However as Aelfric focused on one it would disappear entirely and the others would brighten slightly. With a sudden ¡®Ping¡¯ sound, a blue screen popped up in front of him, startling him. With a yelp Aelfric fell backwards and looked at the message hovering in front of his face.
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experiance:
Meditation Amature 5 5%
*Due to your efforts you have managed to maintain a being of calm. You will regenerate magic and heal 50% faster in this state and hunger will decrease 50% slower, as you practice more Meditation will become more effective.
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experiance:
Magic Manipulation Amature 1 2%
*Through your efforts of meditation you have noticed magic energy in the world! Thanks to this you may now manipulate magic and gain affinity to the elements. You may now access the self-information magic ''Status Window''! This magic will keep up with the changes that occur over time and permanent bonus effects will be shown in this window as well.
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experiance:
True Sight Amature 2 3%
*You can see magic itself. You can not turn off this skill and as you become more proficient in it you will be able to copy spells by seeing how they are organized. Be careful, seeing magic too high above your capabilities may leave you stunned and blinded if you look at it too long- it can even drive someoneinexperiencedinsane.
Smiling at the windows in front of him Aelfric groaned sleepily, ¡°ugh... I wish Verdai told me that this would make me so groggy....¡± Standing up Aelfric stretched, slapping his cheeks as he woke himself up idly thinking to himself. ¡®I wonder how the warrior classes will be able to see their abilities.... or do they not need to?¡¯ Pausing at the thought he shrugged, more interested in what he could see about himself. Speaking in a soft tone, Aelfric activated his Status Window, feeling a bit silly if he was going to need to chant every spells name. "Status Window¡±, in a glimmer of light another screen appeared in front of him, it was only now that he noticed that the other windows were still opened. With his vision crowded by all the screens Aelfric pushed at the windows and dismissed them by touch leaving only his Status Window open.
Status Window
Name: Aelfric Alignment: Neutral
Race: Demon (Human) Gender: Male
Titles: "He Who is a King"
Fame: 0 Infamy: 0
Health and Mana
Health: Perfect Mana: 300/300
Affinities
Light 0% Fire 0% Earth 0%
Dark 0% Water 0% Wind 0%
Looking at his stats Aelfric paused, unable to figure out if they were any good or not. His health was in ¡®perfect¡¯ condition, which meant that he was feeling fine without any injuries. He did have a mana pool of 300... ideals? he paused, thinking back to Verdai¡¯s lecture. Nodding, Aelfric remembered the term, Ideals. He seemed to have no particular affinity, but that meant little to him. The only particular part of his status that stood out was the Title that he had. Looking at the title, ¡¯He who is a King¡¯ Aelfric almost laughed. Shaking his head he tapped on the title, curious as to what is meant, only to have nothing occur. With a heavy sigh he shrugged his shoulders, Jack leaning against the wall as he thought about his character and if it was a good idea to keep playing as Aelfric. He had what seemed to be a good start, and besides that he was in the library, so he could at the very least get some information about the world and where to head next. Dismissing the window Aelfric walked to the elegantly carved wooden stairs and moved up them, each step making them creak softly under his weight. Grumbling at the sound, Aelfric shook his head, trying to ignore it as he entered the main room of Verdai¡¯s library. Looking around he could see small motes of light moving around the room thanks to his True Sight, the motes shifting about in complex formations, the depth of such formations almost dragging Aelfric into them. He pulled his gaze away, while they looked beautiful and had such depth to them, they had no use for someone who had no idea what he was looking at. Continuing with his idle observation¡¯s, Aelfric noticed that he entered what looked to be a library. Looking at the tall walls of books, his gaze was soon drawn to the mage sitting down reading a book with a bowl of bread in front of him, and a pair of hot cups of what looked like Tea next to him. Peering over his book the old man''s face wrinkled in a genuine smile, "3 hours. Either you gave up or you''re done.¡± Pausing to look closer at Aelfric¡¯s wide eyes Verdai chuckled, ¡°By the amazed look on your face I assume its the latter. So tell me, what did you learn? I forgot to mention to you that you will learn another two skills besides Magic Manipulation. One should be Meditation, which is the foundation of all magic, even magic manipulation originates from meditation... but I didn¡¯t tell you that.¡± Chuckling softly Verdai sat up eagerly, closing his book and looking at Aelfric, ¡°So, what was the third skill you learned then? I¡¯m rather curious as it tends to be unique from person to person.¡± Verdai eagerly waved Aelfric over, motioning to a chair "Don''t be slow now! Have some tea while you¡¯re at it too!¡± Sitting next to the old wizard Aelfric looked at the book Verdai was reading, the thick text labled "The Nature of Magic". Opening his mouth to ask about the book, a loud rumble escaped from his stomach. Laughing Verdai passed Aelfric a loaf of bread, "Learning new things makes one hungry doesn''t it? Eat your fill and then you can satisfy an old mans curiosity." Nodding Aelfric hungrily bit into the small loaf of bread, it was about the size of his hand but as he devoured it he noticed it was surprisingly filling. With a final gulp the last of that loaf disappeared from his hands and Aelfric spoke, "I received a skill named True sight. It lets me see magic, wether I want to or not apparently." With a happy smile Virdai chuckled, "That''s a nice skill to have as an early magician like yourself. So before we continue, let me tell you about how the ¡¯levels of Magic¡¯ are in this land. Well, more so what the titles associated with a person¡¯s skills would be. Anyone who uses magic is a magician in general. From there terms start to become much more specialized depending on what one choses to research and learn. For example a Pries would focus on Holy and Light magics, dealing more with healing and exorcising spirits then elemental magics. Other titles would be names like Wizard, Sage, and Bard for example. There are many, many more, but you will learn about that later when you start reading. All these titles are just names to be honest. Real practitioners of magic use everything available, from music to weapons, so don¡¯t let yourself be categorized within your own mind. Try to keep yourself open to new concepts of magic.¡± Pausing, Verdai took a sip of his tea, dipping his bread into it and eating it before continuing, ¡°The skill you have, True Sight that is, is something that will be make teaching you much easier." Aelfric looked at Verdai startled, "Teach me?" Still smiling the magician fiddled with his book, "Of course! You just started to learn magic, the last thing I want is for you to blow yourself up- or the town for that matter! So I will teach you the basics, and you can grow from there. If you do well enough, I might even make you my apprentice!¡± Verdai laughed as he grinned mischievously at Aelfric, ¡°I''m giving you a free pass to learn some magic, normally this is a few gold, but you are definitely intelligent enough to understand what I want to teach, and even if you¡¯re not, your eyes will let you learn anyways. Besides that, your young and probably someone who will want travel the world, so you can share any interesting things you discover with me when you come back to town and rest.¡± Smiling the elder stood up motioning for Aelfric to follow. The two moved down the library like room, and it was only now that Aelfric realized it was a hallway. Opening a door into a moderately sized room Verdai spoke,"This will be your room while you are learning under me, I don''t particularly care for honorifics so call me by my name if you have a question. I''ll teach you tomorrow morning, so relax. It takes a bit out of a person when they first access their magic pool.¡± Closing the door after ushering Aelfric inside, Verdai chuckled as he left, his bright smile changing to a more worried and curious expression, ¡°Otherworlders huh...?¡± Sitting on the bed Aelfric sighed, He did feel a bit sore from his experience today. Verdai was right, now that he thought about it, activating his mana pool felt as if he lit a fire within him, and his body had to suddenly adjust to the influx of energy that it provided. If he had to think of an analogy, he would think of it as similar to when exercising you will gain a burst of energy, however after this burst your body gets incredibly sore. It was something similar to this, only the soreness came with the energy, and made him want to sleep more then anything else. laying back on the bed Aelfric closed his eyes, pulling up the status screen and opening the options menu, deciding now was a good time to log out and and take a shower. Yawning as he opened his mouth, he spoke the words "Log out¡±.
We apologize for the inconvenience, however it is unsafe to open the capsule for the next UNKNOWN period of time. Your body is being cared for, and this option will be temporarily disabled until UNKOWN time passes, and it is safe to exit the capsule.
Opening his eyes, Aelfric looked at the message, too shocked to make heads or tails out of it. Chapter 2: Beginnings Start Somewhere A television flickered to life in the dark as a man watched the screen, a pile of papers on his desk showing various graphs and charts. Hearing the newscaster, a tall blond woman, speak the man¡¯s attention was drawn from his paperwork as he paused in his work. ¡°Today there was a recall for the game ¡®ACEA¡¯. In the space of twenty four hours over five million people have been locked in their capsules. Reports say that there was a case of hacking in the POD¡¯s that were used with the game, locking players inside as the external world was considered a ¡®hazardous¡¯ environment. Experts in Virtual technologies are voicing complaints and many are testing POD technology to see if they can find a way to forcibly eject the million¡¯s of stranded players. Furthermore Zenix has declared bankruptcy and all employees have arrest warrants. If you see any Xenix Employee, please report them to the local Police station. The following is a link to all known Employees from the company....¡± The man exhaled slowly though his nose, waving a hand as he changed to a conference call. The screen twisted, showing static as another voice spilled out of the speakers, ¡°So far all is going as planned. We are enacting the Ascension, for the survival of Humanity we will do what we must.¡± With those words the room was left in darkness once more, the shadow covered man sighed, shaking his head silently.
It was the early hours of the morning, small birds flew outside and the sun was just peeking over the tree covered horizon. The moons were setting behind the large mountain range behind the village, and the large shadows created by the many buildings were steadily shortening. One moon was a deep blue in color, and the other was a soft green, their light fading as the sun illuminated the world. It was inside a strange building Aelfric resided, it was a tall and twisted structure, build with a firm foundation yet somehow looking twisted, the building was home to an elderly magician who was looking for a worthy successor to his magics, and it also served as the town library. The base of the building itself was similar to a large library, many rooms inside filled with bookshelves and books all gathered by various travelers and the elder who lived within the town. In the main hall of the building a staircase wond upwards into the air, reaching to the sky as it opened ip into a pavilion where the cold cobblestone made firm footholds for those looking to observe the stars at night. The main room of the building was rather large in design and served as the ¡®library¡¯, it held thousands of books, each stacked and placed on every surface and had an arching celling that reached big enough to make one think that the building was in fact two floors tall. This place was known as the Grand Library within the town, residents called it such not because the building deserved the title but because it was the only library in town, and often the only library they would ever see. Inside the building''s main room something similar to a couch, a table, and a person resided. It was here that the person, an old man with wispy white hair and a pair of spectacles, was sleeping with a book resting on his chest. Slowly getting up and grumbling Verdai muttered. "Curse time and how it ages these old bones. How I wish I was young again, at least I found a promising student.... Actually..." as he trailed off the elder chuckled darkly as he groaned getting out of his chair, his bones creaking softly. He was allowed to humor himself from time to time, he reasoned to himself as he walked. Casually and deftly the magician moved through the ocean of knowledge round him and walked into the open hallway, a blissful silence filled the hall almost filled with regret knowing the event that was about to occur. Smiling lightheartedly the old man walked into the room he lent Aelfric and pointed above his head. It was there that water gathered and congealed into a spherical mass the size of an apple. With a snap the water cooled rapidly, the air shimmering as it chilled, and following a downward motion of Verdai''s finger in a theatrical motion, the water dropped onto Aelfric''s face. ''COLD''. That was the first thought Aelfric had when he woke with a startled screech, the shadowy clouds of his dreams quickly escaping his thoughts as he shivered. Sitting up, Aelfric gasped rubbing his wet face and blindly swinging into the air with a punch before stopping. He was dreaming about something, he just couldn''t remember what it was... and maybe that was a good thing, it didn¡¯t feel like much of a good dream judging by the queasy feeling in his gut. "ah, it brings joy to an old man to see faces like that every once in a while." Verdai laughed deeply and smiled at the startled face Aelfric was wearing. Looking at he elder Aelfric spluttered, "Wai- what?" his voice a mix of confusion, sleepyness, rage, and more confusion, the syllables of his words shifting as his emotions changed. Chuckling Verdai walked out of the room and spoke, "Aelfric follow me. Dry your face off as well, the books don''t do well with water. ¡± Wiping his face on an arm Aelfric stood up grumbling softly before the reality of the situation took root within his thoughts. His mind started racing as he remembered that he couldn''t log out. Thoughts of what happened to cause him to get stuck in game echoed though his mind, some darker then others. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head. He didn¡¯t know what was happening, however he was alive. If he was able to be playing the game, then he was still breathing. Now it was a matter of being rescued by authorities. Most if not all VRMMORPG games tended to lock the user out for a specified time if they were inside too long as well, it was a health rule established to prevent starvation deaths while playing these games. So at most he would have to wait five days in game before he would be kicked out... hopefully. Deciding to push that thought off Aelfric followed Verdai out of the room and walked down the hall, forcing himself to calm down. Entering a large open room Aelfric gasped, the amount of books inside was absurd, and ladders led up the bookshelves into a seemingly infinite space, it was here that he vaguely remembered that the buildings largest part was here and couldn''t be taller then two stories high... well, save the observation tower, but that didn¡¯t count. Looking at Verdai he saw a book fall into the old man''s hands from the shelves far above him, "It''s nice seeing an amazed look like that when someone gets a peek at my library. It''s a pity I can''t see such faces as often now." With a bright and happy face Verdai walked over to Aelfric and placed the book in his hands, and grinned watching him almost fall over due to the weight. Looking at the book Aelfric opened his mouth, "It''s heavy." Still smiling Verdai spoke, "Of course it is. Bet you thought a book as thick as your arm would weigh as much as a cat ehh? What you''re experiencing is known as ''The weight of knowledge''. Now I want you to read the book and learn the basic magics from it, don''t worry it was hand written by me when I was younger so it''s something you should get an easy grasp on. If you have an issue on a particular subject ask me, I can demonstrate it to you and you can take a look at how the magic works with your True Sight. Now go on~, I have to clean up this place. A new shipment of books needs to be organized.¡± As Aelfric turned Verdai spoke up, as if remembering an afterthought, "OH yeah! One more thing, here. This should make it easy for you to remember what your doing and how far you''re progressing. "
Quest: Learn the basic magics
The elder Wizard Verdai has decided that he wan''t to teach you magic. Having received a book written by him you are tasked to gain some sort of understanding of magic. Difficulty: G
Conditions for failure: -None... You can''t fail this. He won¡¯t let you. Conditions for completion: - Gain an understanding of the following magics. -Earth 0% -Wind 0% -Fire 0% -Water 0% -Light 0% -Dark 0% -Healing 0%
Rewards: Be (openly) acknolaged as Verdai''s student
Looking at the window Aelfric grinned slightly, the game like screen relaxing his sight nervousness, ''So they have do have quests...'' his thoughts were interrupted by Verdai''s energetic voice, "Aelfric, as you have only received Information magic the other day I thought it would be a good idea to show you one of the most common uses for it. This Magic can give you entries that will track and manage what you do as you complete them, this is something that is similar to an insurance policy. It shows that the deed you have agreed to do was actually done, not lied about. Also it will update based on your knowledge and adjust itself accordingly." Takeing a breath the old man paused, smiling eagerly, "The ranks for tasks vary, however they normally follow this line, G, F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, X and so on. On some occasions you may have a plus next to the quest indicating it to be above its rank difficulty, but bellow the next rank in difficulty."Pausing to make sure that Aelfric understood Verdai continued, "This is a rather useful magic, however it does have limits. A normal person can only carry about 3 tasks at a time, while there are some exceptions to this rule, generally you can only have three ¡®normal¡¯ tasks. This was made so that people don''t accept more tasks then they can accomplish and get overwhelmed by the amount of work they must do. Now go! I have work to do.¡± With that Verdai disappeared into a mass of books. Shaking his head Jack couldn''t help but be amazed by how energetic the old man was. He looked as if he was well over a hundred, however he was running about and held as much energy as a toddler! Returning his attention to the screen in front of him, Aelfric nodded, "Alright then. Lets get started."
You have accepted the quest. You have 2 task slots open, this message will not appear again.
Walking into his room Aelfric set the heavy book down on the desk near the window and sat in the chair. Looking up he sighed, Well, the logout thing was probably a glitch so a GM would fix it and force everyone to log out... assuming it was a problem with everyone. If it was a problem with just him, then he would have to wait as he didn¡¯t see a contact GM option when he was looking for the logout button earlier- something that acted as a slight nagging worry in Jack''s mind. Taking a deep breath, Aelfric opened the book to see walls of unidentifiable symbols, forcing him to stare at the page blankly. It wasn''t in any language he knew. Closing his eyes Aelfric looked closer at the page and noticed the symbols start to shift and change on areas he wasn''t directly looking at, it was these areas of the page he could actually read. With a sigh Aelfric started working, rubbing his eyes as he already felt the ache that he would be feeling in a few hours, it was going to be a long day. After several hours of reading Aelfric was finished with the first of the 7 chapters in the book, his mind spinning as he processed the information. The ¡®introduction¡¯ (which wasn¡¯t even a chapter), introduced magic as an energy that one could manipulate with a foci, most people had a foci inside their bodies, however staves and wands helped alleviate the strain and would often work for people who lacked an internal Foci. The first real chapter in the book was about light magic and how it reacted with other substances, making it capable of casting illusion magic that was peerless to the illusions that other magics could make. It was mentioned that magic types such as Alteration, Illusion, and Conjuration were not limited to certain elements, however they were easier to use with certain elements. For example, a magician specializing in healing magic could still hurt people with their magic, they could ¡®over-heal¡¯ a person, and in turn cause tumors and other growths from the body, or make the body think it was normal to only have one arm- effectively removing an entire limb from a person and making it useless to try and heal. Stretching his arms Aelfric looked off the page for the first time in hours and a screen formed in front of him.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experience:
Focus Passive N/A N/A
Due to your consistent and unwavering concentration on your work, you have gained the skill to focus with ease. This skill will allow you to learn things faster with a 5% bonus to skill experience and allow you to read at a faster pace.
Waving the window away Aelfric smiled slightly, that was an unexpected surprise- and a good one at that. The skill would at the very least assist in his learning. Even though he had no idea how it worked, Aelfric figrued he could read into it later and ask Verdai. Having finished learning about light magic from the first seven chapters, Aelfric focused on the air willing Light Mote''s to form in front of him. Small white motes gathered and formed a small orb the size of a pool ball in front of Aelfric''s finger, each mote dancing to his will, attracted by the raw mana that he had emited above his finger. grinning Aelfric made a quiet fist pump at his success. Who needed torches when you can conjure your own light? Looking to his side he noticed a small basket of bread and looked behind him at the shut door. Verdai must have slipped in and gave him some food when he didn''t notice grabbign the bread, Aelfric bit into it and mucnched on the cheese next to it in the basket. For the next 5 days Aelfric studied the book and gained an understanding of each element, it was rudimentary, but was more of a starting point then most mages got. Verdai slipped into his room and told him about how a majority of Magicians thought reading books were beneath them, and that they should only reasearch their own magics- wighout bothering to see if it was already looked into by another mage. Not that Aelfric particularly cared, he was going to live his life how he wanted, and he was going to enjoy it. Having learned some of the magics that the book had taught, Aelfric had gained several spells, the list was shown in a tab when he pulled out his status window.
Aelfric''s Spells Incude
-Light orb -Shadow cloak -fire -earth ball -water ball -gust -healing touch
It was a short list, but the spells were all useful in their own way. Besides that, each spell was the basic spell any mage would have. Now they would evolve based on his reasearch and effort in creating them. Also, while he was learning from the book, Aelfric learned just how magic worked. A single spell would cost a single Ideal to summon. Most mages only had about 50 ideal''s worth of magic power in their bodies before they started training. Aelfric had 300 Ideals worth of magic residing within his body. The thought of such power startled him, and made him nervous as he thought about what he could do with so much energy was at his disposal. It was uncomfortable knowing that you were able to launch such powerful magics at any moment- and that he might end up blowing himself up if he messes up on a spell. While most would say that having a large mana pool was a powerful tool -and it was- it was also just as dangerous to the caster. And this wasn¡¯t even touching on the diseases that applied only to those with high mana densities. Having studied for five days straight Aelfric was dead tired, his eyes bloodshot as he struggled to stay awake. Walking out of his room with black circles under his eyes Aelfric entered the main library where Verdai was sitting. "I finished the book. Please give me something in normal language next time." Smiling Verdai looked at Aelfric, "Well, I didn''t expect you to stay up for five nights to read that book. Honestly, you could have slept. I wasn¡¯t expecting you to read it all at once! And you were able to read it right? So don¡¯t complain about that, mages tend to code their knowledge.... something of an old habit form the past.¡± shaking his head Verdai continued, "Get some sleep you did well. I was expecting you to finish next week, but as you decided to speed ahead of things, I¡¯m going to have to do some work and make an exam for you tomorow.¡± Turning back to the hallway Aelfric lumbered into his room and collapsed on the bed. He fell asleep on the spot and failed to notice the 3 messages floating above him.
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experience:
Speed Reading Amateur 5 5%
You can now read books 150% faster.
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experience:
Multilingual Amateur 4 26%
Due to your efforts you now have an easier time learning languages. Languages known: Common 100% Abyssal 100% Runic 100%
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experience:
Basic Understanding of Magic Passive Passive Passive
Because of your research into magic and its nature you may now combine elements and create new types of magic. Be aware that this is a basic requirement for all who want to forge their own path in the world of magic. Also You have a 5% chance to activate this skill that will allow you to cast a spell without any cost of Mana.
The next morning Aelfric woke up from a dreamless sleep, he didn''t even bother trying to log out. Five days had passed, and he was still in the game. Reality hit home for Jack as he relaxed, a strange feeling of relief spreading over him. This was nothing considered to when he was in the military fight against Those Things. He was alive and breathing, that was all that mattered- in fact, if anything he didn¡¯t want to go back, a part of him felt like it was cowardly to think such a thing, however this was much better then sitting around his house all the time. Slowly getting up Aelfric looked at the messages clustering his vision and read them before curtly nodding his head. "ughng... I need Slllleepp...¡± With a casual gesture he waved the screens away and left his room and picked up the book Verdai lent him. Walking down the hallway sluggishly Aelfric idly wondered what Verdai was planning, he didn¡¯t know much about the old man, other then that he was strangely generous. As such, a deep rooted, more suspicious part of Jack couldn¡¯t help but think that the elder was up to something. Entering the Main library Aelfric stopped stunned, he couldn''t believe what he was seeing. The Library had a floor. The books that were normally strew about were placed wherever they were supposed to be and the room was spotless. On the leather couch was Verdai, the old man looked at Aelfric and smiled warmly, ¡°Congratulations on learning the basic¡¯s of magic, although I do admit, I expected you to take a month or so before you got the basics down.¡± Pausing Verdai chuckled lightly, ¡°Well, who am I to be complaining about a good student. Your path is your own, and how you develop will be up to you after your final test from me- think of it as a good bye present.¡± Standing up Verdai looked at Aelfric and the book that had been glued to his hand the last few days, "So, your final test is to put the book on the table over there. That''s all. Good Luck!" Verdai smiled as he pointed tot he table next to him and gestured impatiently for Aelfric act. Looking suspiciously at the small night-table Aelfric narrowed his eyes, his True Sight looking at the many blinding magic formations in the room and glancing over them as he wrinkled his brow. With all the magic running around in the library it was impossible for him to see anything specific, it was like trying to see when you first stepped into sunlight after being in the dark for a long time. With a deep breath, Jack gathered non-elemental motes and formed a light sphere around himself, the shield acting erratic and flickering at times as he moved closer to the table. It was an idea he got when he looked at Verdai a moment ago. The old man had a fine shield around him composed of similar motes, only the way they moved was far more complex. While he doubted he would get a skill for making this partially completed version, Aelfric hoped that the old man didn¡¯t put anything dangerous to prevent him from finishing this ¡®test¡¯. Moving to the table, Aelfric felt something shift around him, as if he entered a bubble of magic. Preparing himself, he felt his pathetic excuse for a shield flicker out of existence as the book was placed on the table, a wave of Anti-Magic canceling his spell. Looking down at the table, Aelfric felt a thrumming in his chest and jumped back, hearing the stifled sounds of Verdai chuckling behind him. Feeling the thrum ebb and fade away, Jack paused. Nothing happened. It was rather anticlimactic to say the least. Looking at Verdai in confusion, the crisp sound of the elders laugh echoed in the room, a thick grin of amusement on his face. "Anticlimactic isn¡¯t it? I put up some slight effects and a tiny wave of Ani-magic and you get all terrified over nothing!¡± Aelfric looked at Verdai even more confused as the old man continued, trying to stifle the laughter that was escapign in bursts now, "I would like to tell you that there was some meaning in doing that. But there isn''t. That was your graduation exam- don''t misunderstand, it''s something I do to anyone I take as a student. It''s mainly to just surprise you, but that was the best expression I''ve seen in a long time." Regaining composure Aelfric looked at Verdai, "So thats all?" Nodding solemnly as he finally stopped laughing the old man nodded, a smile creeping up over his face and breaking the expression, "Yes you are now a ''magician'' not that the name means much. Its up to you to grow and gain new knowledge. Now go, practice your magic, learn some swordplay or something. There is a training hall by the smithy- you can¡¯t miss it.¡± Nodding Aelfric nodded, smiling kindly at Verdai, speaking a few words before moving on "Thanks Verdai, I''ll come back with some nice books for you as repayment for teaching me." Inside Verdai smiled, ¡°Five days huh. I wonder if this really was his first time using magic.¡± taking a breath the old mage paused, a thought corssing his mind, ¡° I wonder if he will find any of my legacies... that will be a nice surprise for everyone, now then...¡± His old face wrinkling Verdai smiled, "Ahh, I think I''ll visit my old friend in the South. That should keep things interesting!¡±