《Trapped: Online》 Prologue: And the world comes crashing down For future reference: ¡®This means thinking¡¯ ¡°This is speaking¡± (This is telepathy) Are we all good? Great, Enjoy the chapter! Also I REALLY need some good code for text boxes, if anyone could write where I could find how to do them, or if you have good templates yourself, leave them in the comment sections below Also please ignore the Poll above. I figured out what i want the character to be but i couldn''t figure out how to get rid of the poll so i had to close it Prologue ¡®This is so unfair!¡¯ Charles thought as he looked out the glass of his new VR-Pod. ¡®I get one of the first thousand copies of Anarchy Online and this has to happen!¡¯ Just as he was starting to get really mad another crash sounded outside the pod. ¡®Shit! It sounds like the whole house is collapsing! Oh wait, It IS!!¡¯ Charles couldn¡¯t believe his luck. First he finally got that bonus he needed from his construction job to pay for the game after a year and a half of constant back breaking work, and then just as he finished installing the pod in his house the damn city beautification project goes and accidentally collapses some of the underground tunnels from World War Two, which apparently his apartment was located on! If that wasn¡¯t bad enough by the time he ran to the door, the frame had already bent and jammed the damn thing! When he ran to the windows he found that the landlord still hadn¡¯t sent anyone to un-jam the thing despite asking for a year! And thanks to the mesh in the glass he couldn¡¯t smash his way out. ¡®Typical O¡¯dell luck, whatever happened to the luck of the Irish! What, does it take us eating the clovers to be lucky? I knew my families luck was bad, but not killing you bad!¡¯ Looking around for a way out, Charles remembered his new pod. ¡®At least the thing should stop me from being crushed¡­.. I hope.¡¯ Quickly he climbed into the pod and closed it. As soon as the lid clicked into place a soft soothing voice spoke through the hidden speakers ¡°Welcome new player, please wait as we browse your game library for any new downloads.¡± ¡°I only have one download you stupid machine!¡± Charles screamed. ¡°And I¡¯ll be dead before I can even play it!¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Just as he finished a rather long screaming session at the pod, most of which would make even navy men flinch, Charles heard a crashing sound. Looking out the glass roof of the pod, he found out that his family apparently didn¡¯t have bad luck, they were freaking cursed! A beam from the roof of his bedroom crashed and pinned the pod door shut. If that wasn¡¯t bad enough, the beam had knocked a rather large amount of rubble over the pods air vents. ¡°Well that¡¯s just great! Of course that would happen! In all the universe of course that would happen today you stupid son of a ......¡± he ranted, all the while tears coming out his eyes. ¡°.... I mean it¡¯s just so unfair!¡¯ After maybe 5 minutes of him trying to push off the pod lid and having a good cry, hey who was going to judge him he was a dead man, Charles took a deep breath and steeled his resolve. ¡®Well I spent over 5 grand on this pod and this game and there is no way out without being crushed. If I¡¯m going to die I am at least going to use this stupid thing, no matter how short the time is! At least when I¡¯m in the game my conscious won¡¯t be in my body so I won¡¯t feel myself suffocate to death.¡¯ With that cheery thought Charles started up the scanning sequence. It took 5 minutes to finish scanning the neural map of his brain; all the while he could actually feel the air getting thinner as the emergency air tanks depleted themselves trying to keep him alive. ¡®Well let¡¯s get this show on the road!¡¯ ¡°Link account batoutahell.0609 Upload to Anarchy Online!¡± he said, starting up his first, and last, neural upload to the first ever Virtual Reality game. Charles saw a large flash of light and felt a pulling sensation as his vision blurred and his consciousness was redirected into virtual reality.
WELCOME TO ANARCHY ONLINE
Next Chapter 1: Really weird old man Remember: "This is talking" ''This is thinking'' (And this is telepathy) At least for now until im more use to the system Chapter 1 Blinking Charles looked around. He was standing in the middle of a large white room. Suddenly behind him he heard ¡°Welcome wanderer to Anarchy Online where players can be the heroes of legend, or the villains.¡± Jumping a little, he was still a little high strung from his apartment collapsing on him; he turned around and saw a floating crystal. As he watched the crystal morphed itself into a statuesque version of a woman. ¡°My name is Neulla. I am the Goddess of Death, Resurrection, and the Afterlife. As the goddess of resurrection it is my duty to help all wayward travelers build the beginning of their new life. You are the 4th traveler to connect to Anarchy Online. As being one of the first 10 players you have won an exclusive skill for your character. This skill will be based of the race that you choose. Would you like to start creating your new body?¡± Charles - ¡°No, I really don¡¯t think I have the time. My capsule was kind of having some¡­..difficulty. I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m going to log out soon.¡± Neulla -¡°Are you sure? It states that you were fully uploaded. If you¡¯d like I can do a diagnostic of your pod and send a report to the main office.¡± Charles - ¡°Sure why not." ''At least then I can get my body out of all that rubble.'' Neulla- ¡°Very well, I will now scan your pod for any errors and send the report to the technical support department.¡± Neulla then closed her eyes and the lights in the room seem to dim a little. After maybe ten minutes or so a rippling appeared in the center of the room and a man walked out. He was around 6 feet tall and had a large build. He was also a little on the chunky side, but not enough to be considered obese. Looking closer you could see some silver in his hair, so Charles guessed he must have been around 50. As soon as he saw Charles he ran up and yelled, ¡°My goodness its true!¡± ¡°What¡¯s true sir?¡± Charles asked trying to casually back up and put some distance between him and the eccentric man who appeared before him. Noticing this, the man took a deep breath and said ¡°I am sorry, this is just unprecedented. We never imagined that the pod could download an entire entity! We thought that at best it could only take some of the subconscious into the game, you know for some basic sensory data to make the game more real. But you! It took not only your consciousness but your entire subconscious too! We never expected to be able to do this for years!¡± As the man started to work himself back into a frenzy, Charles took another step back and thought ¡®Good god what is with this man! Wait¡­. Did he just say the pod took an entire entity?¡¯ Nervously he asked ¡°Wait does this mean that I¡¯m not dead?¡± Strange man - ¡°Well technically you are, at least I think. As soon as we got the diagnostic from the pod we sent someone straight to your house. They should be there in a few hours. Then we¡¯ll know if you¡¯re just comatose or deceased. But on the plus side if you¡¯re just comatose then there¡¯s a chance that we can re-download your mind into your body, albeit a small one.¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Charles- ¡°And what am I suppose to do until then? Just stay in this place?¡± Man- ¡°Oh no, the computer wasn¡¯t designed to keep a conscious mind in the character creation page forever. It was only designed to be a way point between the game and the real world. Honestly we were going to add programming that would move a persons mind to their own mini world that they could stay in, but it was designed for those that were going into comas and the paralyzed. They had to have it built into the pod. However I think we can take your pods coding and work it to where that programming is implemented, but¡­¡­¡± Not really liking the way the man said that word, Charles hesitantly asked ¡°But what?¡± Man ¨C¡° But the problem is that normally we would send someone to your pod and reprogram it with the appropriate software, however we can¡¯t do that in your case since ejecting you would kill what¡¯s left of your mind.¡± Charles- ¡°So what are you going to do?¡± Man-¡°Well I can have my people do it remotely when we get your pod but it¡¯s going to take a lot longer since we don¡¯t want to touch any of the parts that were designed to keep a player in the game.¡± Charles-¡°So how long will it take?¡± Man-¡°About 4 to 6 months¡­. Real time¡± Charles- ¡°What do you mean real time?¡± Man- ¡°Well we did let it leak that time would run faster in game, but we never said how much faster. We wanted it to be a surprise for the first thousand. However since you''ll be living it I guess I should tell you. The game runs 4 times faster than real time so it will actually be over a year in game. So your character will have to survive over a year without dying in a rather¡­harsh environment.¡± ¡®Great! Just great!¡¯ Charles thought. ¡°So your telling me I¡¯m going to go into a world that¡¯s incredibly dangerous and cannot die for over a year, possibly two, all while you poke around the device that¡¯s literally keeping me existing hoping that you won¡¯t touch something you shouldn¡¯t and accidentally erase my existence? Perfect just perfect.¡± Looking rather ashamed the man turned his head. ¡°Pretty much, also we need to monitor you in the game. But we¡¯re not total assholes, because of all this¡­ inconvenience we will be giving you some extra perks. Luckily you were one of the first 5 which give you a random benefit. We can just hide the bonuses under a super lucky draw. That way if anyone starts asking questions you can just say you were one of the first five to play.¡± Charles though about that and warily asked ¡°And who are you to authorize that exactly? I don¡¯t even know your name?¡± ¡°Oh! I¡¯m sorry. My name is Samuel Crooper, I¡¯m the CEO of FutureTech and creator of Anarchy Online.¡± Previous Next Chapter 2: Character Creation Chapter 2 Charles was stunned. ¡°The CEO? Really?¡± Samuel nodded. ¡°Yeah. When the data from your pod came in the technicians went into an uproar. They said it had to be a glitch in the programming, probably caused by all the people in their pods trying to get on all at once. However I was there to watch the launch of the game and decided to use one of the pods in the office to come check it out. Boy was I surprised to see you here.¡± Charles thought for a second, then asked ¡°But I don¡¯t understand. How can you just tell with one glance that all of, well, ME is here?¡± ¡°Well when the game was still in testing we would have technicians plugged into the system to monitor when players started. That¡¯s how I was able to get in. However the technicians noticed something. When a player joins they are transparent. It was theorized because the pod only took the players consciousness and only part of the subconscious the game shows them as transparent because not all of their mind was there. So we designed the game so that after the character creation we place that transparent person inside a digital skin, after all we couldn¡¯t have transparent people walking around. The NPCs would believe that the world was coming to an end and would hunt players constantly. That¡¯s why it¡¯s usually better to have a body type that¡¯s closer to your original. You however look completely solid.¡± Charles looked down at his body; ¡°Really? I¡¯m supposed to be transparent?¡± Samuel nodded. ¡°Yes. It also helps with the programming for Neulla. The reason she is a crystal is because the crystal acts as a sort of filter for what goes on in here. We didn¡¯t want a god to know it was a game. So since Neulla is the goddess of resurrection we made it seem like the players were just souls that had slipped in from another dimension. She takes pity on them and gives them a new life. At least that¡¯s from her perspective.¡± ¡°Souls from another dimension? Wouldn¡¯t that cause uproar from the gods? I mean wouldn¡¯t they see that as an invasion?¡± Charles asked? Now that the imminent threat of him disappearing was over he was actually kind of intrigued. After all this game might as well be his new home, so he¡¯d want to know as much as possible. ¡°Well it would be except the very minute the gods were formed the goddess Luna prophesied that one day travelers from another dimension would flood into theirs. They would be escaping a mass calamity and used their knowledge to make a bridge to the nearest dimension. These souls would be so strong that they could reform their bodies and could not be destroyed. However it would take some time to reform the bodies and they would be weaker after, though they would never become weaker than when they first joined. It was also stated that some of the greatest and valiant heroes were to be forged from these souls and that these souls would increase the power of the gods.¡± Samuel said smugly. ¡°That was one of the few inputs we did with the lore of the world. The goddess of prophesy who is never wrong said that it would happen and there was nothing the gods could do about it. We also made it seem like them coming were a good thing since it could make the gods stronger if they get the players to follow them.¡± ¡°One of the few inputs? Didn¡¯t you guys write the history?¡± Charles asked. This was getting really exiting to him, after all how often can you ask a company with more net worth than several countries about there creative processes. ¡°Yeah, we didn¡¯t actually do much with the history aspect. After we put down basic things we wanted we essentially made a random generating world and left it running for 3 years to get the game ready. We only know certain things that have happened. Everything else we have no idea, that¡¯s why it¡¯s ANARCHY online.¡± Samuel said with a laugh. Charles was stunned. FutureTech started out 30 years ago as a simple company that made robotic limbs for people, primarily the military. After a few years they branched out into bionic armor for the military and some specialized equipment for hospitals. A few years after that they went ahead and brought back cloning technology, however they made sure to only clone body PARTS so they wouldn¡¯t anger any religious organizations. These parts were made for organ transplants, since not enough hears or lungs were being donated and a lot of people were dying. After 20 years the number of things that FutureTech were a part of were astronomical. They had developed a reputation of going against the grain and doing just about anything from hover cars to the first moon mining operation. But even Charles couldn¡¯t believe that they made a game that was literally made from the beginning to be out of even their hands. ¡°Anyway¡± Samuel continued, ¡°this is just a heads up. Since it was known from the beginning that players, or wanderers as you¡¯ll be known in game, were coming some of the NPCs started their own organizations to hunt them. Most NPCs will just be wary of you until you prove yourself, but there will be those that will hate you just for being there. We made sure that none of the clergy or nobility will be them, nor will any of the guild trainers. But anyone else could so watch out. Now do you want to start on your character?¡± Charles was stunned by this ¡®NPCs hating player for just being players? Wow this game will definitely not be easy¡¯ ¡°Uh.. sure. But I¡¯ve still got several questions.¡± Samuel held up his hand. ¡°Make you character first and I¡¯ll answer a few of them. But I can¡¯t give too much information away. We could already get into major trouble with what we are already going to give you, and we still have to be partially fair to the other players.¡± ¡°Uh OK.¡± Charles turned to Neulla who was just standing waiting all this time. ¡°I¡¯d like to start character creation please.¡± ¡°Very well. Here are the options available to you sir.¡± Waiving her had 4 figures appeared. ¡°You have the choice between Human, Elf, Halfling, and Dwarf. Please be advised that each race gets different bonuses when you log on.¡± ¡®Damn¡± Charles thought ¡®Only 4 races?¡¯ Looking at them all he was rather depressed. He didn¡¯t want Halfling or Dwarf since he never really liked to play those characters in his Pathfinder sessions. His inner fantasy nerd also hated the thought of being human. He never understood those people who pick fantasy games but ended up as something they already were. However he didn¡¯t want to be an elf either since they were known to be rather squishy and only good for archery and magic. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. He turned to Samuel and asked ¡°Isn¡¯t there anything else? I mean I¡¯m going to need something stronger than a base starter to survive without dying.¡± Samuel rubbed his chin and said ¡°That¡¯s true and I did promise we would help. Hmmm¡­. I know I can give you some races that are rather easy to unlock, at least compared to the majority of other hidden races. One of the random prizes for being in the top 10 was a chance to be part of a hidden race, though we made the chance about 1 in 10,000.¡± Walking up to Neulla Samuel muttered something under his breath and then stuck his hand into the statue. He then turned to Charles and said. ¡°OK I can give you one of two options Beastfolk or Elementalists. Beastfolk are just that, humanoids with beastial body parts. Depending on the beast it is depends on the bonuses. Elementalists are races with the blood of elemental beings inside them. There attuned with whatever element that¡¯s in their ancestry.¡± Charles thought for a moment. ¡®Well there certainly better than the starting four that¡¯s for certain.¡¯ Then he had a thought. ¡°I¡¯ll take elementalists.¡± Samuel nodded and suddenly the 4 figures that were standing there before were replaced with 6 new figures. ¡°The elementalists are Ifrit, Oread, Undine, Sylph, Aasmar, and Tiefling respectively. Ifrits are attuned to fire, Oreads attuned to earth, Undines to water, Sylphs to air, Aasmar to light, and Tiefling to darkness.¡± ¡®I was right! That was one of the options! Thank you Pathfinder and your Advanced race book!¡¯ Charles cheered. ¡°I¡¯ll take Oread.¡± Eyebrows raised Samuel did something to Neulla and took out his hand. Neulla then turned to me and said ¡°Congratulations player as being one of the first 10 to log into Anarchy Online you have been given the chance to play one of the many hidden races in the game. This extra race is the Oread, a race with rather close ties to the dwarfs. If you choose this race then you must start out in one of the beginning towns of the dwarven kingdom of Heldur or one of the beginning towns of the kingdom of Balawin.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll choose Oread.¡± This time Charles said it to Neulla. For the next 20 minutes or so he created my character while asking questions to Samuel. By the end he ended up with a rather impressive figure. He was about 6ft 4in tall with a medium build. He was a dark grey and is eyes were as black as coal. His hair stood up in spikes and was the same shade as his skin making it look like his character was chiseled out of one solid boulder. Thanks to the fact that Charles was working a construction job to save up enough money to play the game he was also rather well toned. Charles also found out that Oreads take special crystals and turn them into tattoos, so he had a large red tribal tattoo going up the right arm. After Charles was finished Neulla turned to him and asked ¡°What would you like to name your new character?¡± ¡°Onyx¡± Charles said, deciding to name it after one of his campaign characters he use to play. ¡°Very well which kingdom would you like to begin in: Heldur or Balawin?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Charles said. ¡°Very well then¡­.¡± Just as Neulla was going to finish her sentence Samuel stuck his hand into her chest and stopped her. He then turned to Charles and said ¡°Before we begin there are some things we need to do.¡± He walked over to Charles avatar and stuck his hand into it like he did with Neulla. After a few minutes he removed his hand and turned back to Charles. ¡°Alright here are a few things you should know. I went ahead and put in a few extra traits to your character as well as a special code that will let you see GM administrators that are disguised as NPCs. If you need to talk with us go to one of them. We¡¯ll be trying to make you your own sub program for you consciousness to go to when you die in game. I¡¯ve also got word that yes you are dead in real life. However if you want we have your body with the pod and have sent out a story saying that you are in a coma in one of our hospitals. Since we will be monitoring you in game and will be getting a lot of data, we can clone you a new body in secret however that will take several years.¡± Charles was stunned. He was secretly hoping he had just been put in a coma and could be put back into his body. But after a few minutes of being in a silent panic he tried to calm himself back down. ¡®It isn¡¯t like you didn¡¯t expect this. I mean you felt the air getting lower while you were in the pod. Nothing has changed.¡¯ Taking a deep breath, and then another because one wasn¡¯t enough, Charles said ¡°I¡¯d like the cloning option please.¡± Samuel smiled. ¡°I though as much so I sent the OK as soon as I got the message while you were making your character. Second the game was not meant to take a persons entire mind into the game so we have no idea what problems it could cause. However there is a good chance that the pain threshold will be higher for you than other players. So if you get hit, it will hurt. So watch out. And finally, remember what we talked about when you were making your character. It could save your life.¡± Charles nodded. ¡°Thank you. I don¡¯t think any other company would do this. They would probably just auto eject me and blame my death on the apartment collapse.¡± Samuel took Charles hand and shook it. ¡°No problem. We¡¯re getting as much out of this as we are giving you a chance to survive. But remember to play smart. And if you can, later on get a healer. The player actually has about 10 minutes in game to cast Resurrect on a player before they are logged out so when healers have reached that level I suggest you befriend one quick!¡± ¡°Will do.¡± Charles said with a grin. ¡°Well see you in a few years.¡± Samuel gave him a small smile and walked back over to Neulla turning her back on, who immediately continued as if nothing happened ¡°¡­.. have fun adventurer and welcome to Anarchy Online.¡± With that there was one final flash of light and Charles Xavier O¡¯dell was gone. Previous Next Chapter 3: Time to break a broken character From this point on I¡¯m going to be using Charles Character name since that¡¯s primarily what he will be called and it could get confusing Chapter 3 Blinking Onyx looked around. He stood in front of a large fountain in a town square. He saw several shops nearby as well as several other people blinking and looking rather dazed. Realizing they were other players Onyx quickly went to the nearest guard. He was a rather short fellow, only coming up to Onyx¡¯s chest. ¡°Greetings sir, I was wondering if you could tell me the name of this village and point me to the nearest training ground.¡± The guard blinked and looked up at Onyx¡¯s face. ¡°Well aren¡¯t you a large one. I¡¯m assuming you¡¯re one of those wanderers that are popping up. Well for your information the towns called Freyview and the nearest training center is run by Galdin. Take the south road for about 2 blocks and then take a left. Look for the building with the statue of a warrior next to the door.¡± Seeing how Onyx seemed to not know which way south was, he pointed to the appropriate road. ¡°Thank you good sir.¡± With the directions he needed, Onyx quickly went down the south road to avoid the other new characters that would most likely have questions as to what he was. After going down two blocks he went left and ducked into the nearest alley. ¡°Now to see what stats I¡¯ve got. Status.¡± Suddenly a blue screen appeared. [quart=Name, Satiety ]Onyx ,99%[/quart] [quart=Level, Race]1,Oread[/quart] [quart=Class, Fame/Notoriety] Wanderer, 0/0[/quart][quart=Health, Mana]150,100 [/quart] [quart=Strength, Agility] 20,20[/quart] [quart=Wisdom, Intellect]20, 20[/quart] [quart=Vitality, Luck] 20,0[/quart][quart=Attack, Defence] 10,5[/quart][quart=Earth, Fire]10%,0%[/quart] [quart=Water, Wind]0%,0%[/quart] [quart=Light, Darkness]0%,0%[/quart]
Status Window
TitleNone
Magic Affinity
Unallocated Stat Points0
Skills Racial: Earth Affinity Racial(Special): Iron Stomach Racial (Special): Tremorsense
¡°What the¡­? How come my stats are so high?¡± He was confused. Just about every game he played all the characters starting stats were 10 not 20. So why on earth was his twice what it was supposed to be? ¡°Maybe¡­ Could this be because I¡¯m a full mind and not a fraction? Samuel did say that the game was only made for a partial mind, so is this the games way of compensating?¡± Mulling it over a bit, Onyx noticed he was standing near a doorway. However it looked lower than it was suppose to be. He went over and found out that the door only came up to his neck! ¡°It can¡¯t be¡­. Because I¡¯m a full mind my avatar got bigger?!¡± It was true, in order to try to compensate for there simply being more of him, the game made his character larger than he created. It also boosted his physical and mental stats to twice what they should be. Unknown to him it also gave him a base defense which would stack with whatever armor he wore, since his ¡°soul¡± was more compact that other players. So instead of the 6ft tall avatar he wanted he got a 7ft 2¡± avatar that had skin thick enough to actually mitigate some damage. ¡°This¡­ This is broken!¡± Laughing Onyx sat down. ¡°Maybe living for so long isn¡¯t as far fetched as I thought.¡± Having a good laugh, it took a few minutes for Onyx to calm himself down. ¡°Well then, let¡¯s see what these skills are. Show racial skill Earth Affinity.¡±
Earth Affinity None
Your character is more attuned to the power of the earth than most. The player is immediately given an affinity of 10% with Earth based magic and earth affinity is easier to obtain. However because of the players natural affinity to earth, water and wind based affinities are twice as hard to obtain. All earth based spells cost 15% less mana and do 1.5X as much damage or can absorb 1.5X as much damage. This skill cannot increase.
¡®My god an elemental affinity right off the bat! And it makes getting more earth affinity easier! This is going to be so much fun!¡¯ Smiling Onyx called for the next skill he saw. ¡°Show skill Tremorsense.¡±
TremorsenseNone
The player gains a sixth sense. The player is so in tune with the earth that he can sense things that walk on or under it. The higher affinity the player has with the earth, the larger the radius of the skill. If the player has a high enough Earth affinity and strength, it is possible to stomp the ground and use the impact force to find ore veins. The larger the strength stat the farther the resounding wave will go. Cannot exceed the maximum radius of the skill. Current radius: 100 feet This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
¡°Hehehehe. Samuel I could kiss you.¡± Thanks to this skill it would be far easier to hunt and level up. As long as he was cautious he could sense any danger. ¡®But I¡¯d better make sure not to become too reliant on it. It specifically states that it can only sense things on the ground. So I can¡¯t sense aerial attacks. But it should help cancel any potential backstab damage.¡¯ Onyx called for the last skill, ¡°Show skill Iron Stomach.¡±
Iron StomachBeginner
This ability is a rare affinity that appears in some Oreads. This ability allows the player to eat almost anything. Poison effects are lowered by 10% and satiety for consumable objects is increased by 5%. As this trait is for an Oread, the player may even consume stones, metals, and ore. If a player eats either metal or ore doing so has a 5% chance of making the player sick. If a player does consume metals or ore, there is a 5% chance that the player may gain bonuses to stats and resistances. Warning: For every pound of metal eaten the chance of getting any decreases by 1% and chance of getting sick increases by 1%. For ores it is every 5 pounds. This resets every 24 hours.
With this Onyx couldn¡¯t help himself. He started laughing all over again. One of the biggest problems for newbies would be getting enough food to eat. Even late game characters would always have to worry about bringing food along that wouldn¡¯t spoil. But he could literally eat the stones on the side of the road! This time it took a lot longer to get himself together. Trying to distract himself from his overly broken status Onyx tried to think about what he had to do now. ¡®First things first I need to go and train as much as I can. According to what Samuel told me, I can increase my stats by training. However I have to keep doing harsher and harsher training to get more points. Also every level has a stat cap of 40, so I can only train till all my stats are 40 before needing to go out and start hunting. I should also get several crafting jobs since that way I can repair my armor and weapons while having a way to get money besides killing things and risking my life. Plus I¡¯m pretty sure it will cost more since I¡¯m so much bigger than most characters and almost all my armor will probably need to be custom made.¡¯ Nodding to himself he decided, ¡®First things first, the training hall, time to break a broken character!¡¯ Smiling to himself he left the alleyway and continued down the street. Now that he was aware of it, he realized just how much taller than everyone he was. Not one person was taller than his chest, and just about every door he would need to duck just to get into. ¡®Well so much for going unnoticed while I¡¯m playing.¡¯ After maybe 15 minutes walking down the road he came across a statue holding the pommel of a large stone sword planted in the ground. Onyx got into a boxing pose in front of the statue and said ¡°My evil twin, we meet at last. Prepare to be defeated!¡± ¡°Uh excuse me mister but what exactly are you doing?¡± Turning around quickly he saw a little girl no older than thirteen in training gear standing behind him with a basket hanging from one of her arms. Trying to hide his embarrassment he said ¡°Oh I was just goofing around. Uh what are you doing?¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying to go inside to train with my dad and deliver his lunch.¡± The girl said, crossing her arms, ¡°However some stone giant is blocking my way.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± getting even more embarrassed he stepped aside to let the girl pass. Giving him one final look she went inside. Following her Onyx saw her head to a man in the corner with bright red hair and arms as big around as a frying pan. The man scooped up his daughter and tried to spin her around, but the little girl kicked one of her shoes off at his face. Dropping her, don¡¯t worry she landed on her feet, he held his nose in pain. Smiling Onyx looked around for any other instructors; however there were none to be seen. So he walked over to the man, who was now kneeling on the ground still holding his nose. ¡°Greetings sir, I was wondering if I could use the training ground.¡± Trying to gain some dignity back the man got back up and said ¡°Welcome traveler. My name is Galdin and I own this training hall. If you wish to use the facilities it will cost you 5 copper a day.¡± While he was saying this a little bit of blood had leaked out of his nose. Trying not to laugh, something he seemed to not be able to stop doing since entering the game, Onyx called up his inventory. Inside was a water skin, 100 pieces of bread, and 2 silver pieces. Taking out a silver piece he asked ¡°Here this should cover the next 5 days.¡± ¡°Sure, however just so you know you don''t have to use all 5 days in a row. Don''t worry though we''ll be keeping tabs on how many days you still have.¡± Taking the piece, Galdin gave him back 75 copper and then takes him over to a large rack with a bunch of wooden tools. ¡°Take whatever you¡¯re most proficient with and start hitting the training dummies. IF you do archery the range is upstairs.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± With a nod Galdin walks back over to his daughter, who had started pulling out some sandwiches from the basket. Picking up one of the wooden swords, Onyx turned to the training dummies. ¡®In the words of Newton-John, Lets Get Physical!¡¯ With that last thought Onyx took his first steps on the road of survival. Previous Next Chapter 4: Time to make some money Sorry the chapter is so small. I told myself since this is the first weekend of the story I would post at least once a day. However I¡¯m in college and this week is the last tests of the semester. Next week is also finals so I¡¯ve had to study today. But don¡¯t worry I¡¯m still going to try to upload at least once a week Chapter 4 Onyx lay panting on the floor. It had been about 16 hours since he entered the training grounds. 16 hours of constant beating on the training dummies. 16 hours of smacking and weaving, of taking just about every weapon on the wall and training with it. Honestly the only reason he was able to last that long was because of his higher than normal stats. Panting he reopened his players log. Suddenly all the pop ups he had ignored reappeared in front of him.
Warning! Satiety has dropped below 75% Heath regeneration will decrease!
For constant strenuous workout you have gained +8 Strength!
For constantly moving around while practicing swordsmanship you have gained +5 Agility!
Warning! Satiety has dropped below 50% Heath regeneration has stopped!
For going full out while training for over 10 hours you have gained +3 Vitality!
Skill Learned!
Congratulations! For constant use of over 10 different types of slashing weapons you have gained the following skill: Slashing weapon mastery
Skill Learned!
Congratulations! For constant use of over 10 different types of blunt weapons you have gained the following skill: Blunt weapon mastery
Skill Learned!
Congratulations! For constant use of over 10 different types of piercing weapons you have gained the following skill: Piercing weapon mastery
Skill Learned!
Congratulations! For continuously slashing at your opponent you have gained the skill: Slash
Skill Learned!
Congratulations! For continuously thrusting at your opponent you have gained the skill: Thrust
Skill Learned!
Congratulations! For continuously hitting your opponent with blunt weapons you have gained the skill: Bash
Skill Learned!
Congratulations! For continuously applying footwork while fighting you have gained the skill: Dodge
New Title!
Congratulations! For continuous training for almost the entirety of game play of the first 24 hours you have gained the following title: Rising Star
Smiling Onyx got into a sitting position. Looking around he saw that it was now only just becoming dawn outside. Getting up he took out 5 pieces of bread and his water flask and downed them both, bringing his satiety up to above 75%. Wiping his mouth with his arm he called up his status. [quart=Name, Satiety ]Onyx ,100%[/quart] [quart=Level, Race]1,Oread[/quart] [quart=Class, Fame/Notoriety] Wanderer, 0[/quart][quart=Health, Mana]185,100 [/quart] [quart=Strength, Agility] 28,25[/quart] [quart=Wisdom, Intellect]20, 20[/quart] [quart=Vitality, Luck] 23,0[/quart][quart=Attack, Defence] 10,5[/quart][quart=Earth, Fire]10%,0%[/quart] [quart=Water, Wind]0%,0%[/quart] [quart=Light, Darkness]0%,0%[/quart]
Status Window
TitleRising Star
Magic Affinity
Unallocated Stat Points0
Skills Racial: Earth Affinity Racial(Special): Iron Stomach Racial (Special): Tremorsense Blunt Weapon Mastery Pierce Weapon Mastery Slashing Weapon Mastery The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Dodge Thrust Bash Slash
¡®Nice my health went up!¡¯ Onyx thought happily. ¡®I wonder what my new skills are.¡¯ ¡°Show new skills.¡± Skills:
Slashing Weapon Mastery (Passive) Beginner
Unlike a normal warrior who chooses one weapon or one type of weapon, you have tried at least one of every type of slashing weapon there is. All slashing weapons can now be used without penalties. Higher bonuses can be applied at a higher skill rank.
Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) Beginner
Unlike a normal warrior who chooses one weapon or one type of weapon, you have tried at least one of every type of blunt weapon there is. All blunt weapons can now be used without penalties. Higher bonuses can be applied at a higher skill rank.
Piercing Weapon Mastery (Passive) Beginner
Unlike a normal warrior who chooses one weapon or one type of weapon, you have tried at least one of every type of piercing weapon there is. All piercing weapons can now be used without penalties. Higher bonuses can be applied at a higher skill rank.
Dodge (Passive) Beginner
For continuously applying footwork while battling, you are a warrior who knows that it¡¯s not just about taking a hit, you also have to DODGE! Reaction time to attacks is increased by 10%.
Slash Beginner
For continuously slashing at opponents you have learned the skill slash. When slashing an opponent damage will be increased by 130%. There is a 5% chance of causing the bleed status effect to an opponent. Costs 25 mana
Bash Beginner
For continuously bashing at opponents you have learned the skill Bash. When Bashing an opponent damage will be increased by 110%. There is a 10% of stunning the opponent. Costs 25 mana
Thrust Beginner
For continuously thrusting at opponents you have learned the skill Thrust. When thrusting at an opponent there is a 5% chance of ignoring armor. Costs 25 mana
Smiling Onyx thought ¡®Nice with this my battle potential just went up. I can use just about every kind of melee weapon out there now.¡¯ Looking around again he decided to go out and explore the town before all the players decided to swarm the streets. Since the majority of his fun in online games was destroyed by griefers, Onyx had developed a certain wariness of other players, more so since he couldn¡¯t respond like everyone else. There was no protection from someone trying to PK him except that there were better things to do, but there always seemed to be that one asshole that always finds joy in another players suffering. Opening the door, Onyx looked down both sides of the streets. Since no one was there he decided to head back to the square where he spawned in. Once arriving, he looked around. He noticed several shops that looked interesting, one of which seemed to be a bakery. Noticing the delicious aroma coming from it, he decided to go get something other than stale bread. He started walking and then stopped! ¡®How am I going to pay for it!¡¯ he thought. The reality of the situation hit him. Unlike other players who could go out and kill monsters for money, he couldn¡¯t jus throw his life away for a few copper pieces. However unlike other players, he needed a place to sleep at night, which means he would have to continuously pay for inn fees. But he only had 1 silver! ¡°God damn it!¡± he shouted. Taking a deep breath, he started looking around for something else. Spying a guard he walked over and asked ¡°Excuse me sir, could you tell me where I could find out who is hiring in town?¡± The guard stared at him for a minute, probably trying to discern what kind of trouble he could be. ¡°Well sir I know that you can ask the town hall. They should have listings on who needs hiring right now. If you would like I could take you there.¡± ¡°That would be great thank you.¡± Following the guard it took him about 15 minutes to get to the town hall, taking so many back roads and turns that if it wasn¡¯t for the guard leading him he would most likely have gotten lost. ¡°Hear you go sir. Just go inside and talk to the person at the desk. She should be able to help you.¡± The guard said to Onyx, before turning back the way they just came, most likely returning to his post. Onyx looked back toward the guard. ¡®That was rather abrasive, but at least I got here. Still I wonder what that was all about. Could he be one of those NPCs that don¡¯t like players?¡¯ Thinking it over for a sec, he decided that it didn¡¯t really matter since Samuel told him that FutureTech made sure that all the NPCs in the starting cities would help the players. Turning back around Onyx noticed that the town hall looked a little like Four Courts in Ireland. ¡®Well with a game as expansive as this I guess the developers had to steal some ideas from the real world. Hell my race was stolen from D&D.¡¯ Shrugging he walked into the building to look for his first job in his new life. Previous Next Chapter 5: Hi Ho Hi Ho, Down the mine I go Hey Guys! Tests are over and another chapter is out! Still got finals next week though so not out of the park yet! Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think Chapter 5 Looking around the foyer of the building Onyx was surprised by how much bigger it looked on the inside. About 100 feet long the floor was made of some kind of black marble. All along the walls were plants and tapestries. There was a deep green carpet taking up the middle of the room with golden trimmings. About 20 feet straight across from the door was a desk with an elf sitting at it. But what caught his eye wasn¡¯t the desk, it wasn¡¯t the giant painting behind it (though it did catch his eye when he first looked, the thing was the size of a giant plasma TV!) No what caught (and kept) his eye was that the elf seemed to be glowing! Swirling all around her was a faint shimmering mist. Onyx blinked and rubbed his eyes but the swirling mist stayed clinging to the elf. Cautiously he went up to the desk. ¡°Hello sir, may I help you?¡± Turning towards him Onyx realized his mistake. The elf was a guy! ¡®God I almost fell into a trap!¡¯ ¡°I think so. A guard told me that this is where I could go to find jobs for the city? I¡¯m new in town and am looking for employment.¡± ¡°One moment sir.¡± Looking around his desk, the elf grabbed a few scrolls. Briefly glancing at each eventually he found to what seemed to be the right one. ¡°Here you go sir.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Taking the scroll I started to read what was on it.
Quest received!
Because of the influx of wanderers, the local alchemy shop is running low on herbs for potions and poultices. Bring Alchemist Burdo 10 of both wild blood clovers and manabloom flowers. 3 copper per bundle (max 50 bundles)
Quest received!
Because of the influx of wanderers, several stores are looking for sales associates to mind their stores. Shop owners Belewin, Samantha, Vincent, Burksor, Johnathan, Violet, and Cerci are currently hiring. Duration 3 months Pay: 4 copper a day, chance of learning merchant¡¯s class
Quest received!
Due to the influx of wanderers, the head librarian has asked for someone to come and help restock the library shelves and resort the books that are left on the tables. Duration 1 month Pay: 2 copper and 2 free meals a day
Looking over the list I wasn¡¯t really all that excited by what I saw. I was only able to get 3 of the jobs from the scroll. Either because I didn¡¯t meet the level requirement or have the right class. Frowning I turned back to the elf. ¡°Is this all there is?¡± ¡°Yes sir. That scroll holds all the jobs that are available for your level grade.¡± The elf responded. ¡°However those are only the jobs that are given to the town hall. There are still ¡­¡± Just as he was about to tell Onyx where else he could go, one of the back doors opened and a human came out. Man -¡°Celebren I need those¡­ oh I didn¡¯t know you were helping someone.¡± Celebrin ¡°It¡¯s alright sir. I know why you are here. I gave the scouts report to Donna this morning. I also gave Samuel in accounting the theorized budget for the guards for the next 6 months.¡± Man- ¡°Oh thank you. What about the rumor of bandits setting themselves up on the road?¡± Celebrin-¡°I talked to Galvin about it yesterday I think he sent out several guards to look into it.¡± As they were talking Onyx noticed that the man didn¡¯t even flinch at the glowing mist. It was almost like¡­. ¡®God I¡¯m stupid! He must be one of the GMs! Samuel told me he made it so I could tell who they were, but I didn¡¯t expect it to be this flashy.¡¯ After several more minutes of conversation the man turned to Onyx and apologized for taking up his time. After he left Onyx turned to Celebrin and said ¡°You¡¯re a GM aren¡¯t you.¡± Startled he turned to me and said ¡°I¡¯m sorry sir but I do not know what GM means. Are you perhaps a traveler? If so could you tell me what those¡­.¡± Onyx-¡°Cut the crap. Samuel Cooper already did something to my avatar so I can see who¡¯s a GM and whose not. Honestly though I never expected to meet one so quickly, especially out in a starter city. I figured you guys would be in the bigger towns near the capitals.¡± Celebrin sighing says ¡°Damn it Mr. Cooper. Look there aren¡¯t a lot of GMs around and all of us want to STAY HIDDEN. Mr. Cooper told us of you as soon as he came out of the pod. There was even a memo sent out about you. So I know who you are, and I¡¯m sorry for your loss. However we are NOT here to cater to your every whim. We can help you out a little from time to time but we are not at your beck and call, so don¡¯t start using us for your own advantage. It will be unfair to other players and could cause MAJOR blowback to the company if it got out.¡± Startled at the outburst Onyx snapped back ¡°Look all I was ask if you were a GM since to me you¡¯re surrounded by some kind of strange mist and I wanted to know what it was. You don¡¯t need to bite my head off. I plan to do this game on my own, I just wanted to know if you knew somewhere I could go to get paid and if you knew somewhere other than the scroll you gave me. If you didn¡¯t or couldn¡¯t tell me then I was going to leave and try to find something else.¡± Looking a little ashamed, Celebrin stated ¡°Sorry. I didn¡¯t know what kind of person you were. I thought you were one of those gamers who would EXPECT free handouts because of the situation you are in. I¡¯ve already got people coming in trying to get me to let them do higher level jobs than what they can do or expecting me to have something that¡¯s beneficial to them personally. They seem to forget that this is a virtual REALITY and in reality you don¡¯t always get what you want or what¡¯s most beneficial to you.¡± Onyx-¡°It¡¯s fine I just don¡¯t like being snapped at for just asking questions. Honestly I¡¯ve always been the type who didn¡¯t really like to ask for help but since this is literally life or death for me I just had to ask. If you can¡¯t help that¡¯s fine.¡± As he was turning away, Celebrin called him back. ¡°Look I can¡¯t help you but I can send you to another GM who could. We try to have a wide variety of jobs so we can get information from a larger pool of people. The guys name in game is Butch and he¡¯s a miner in the nearby hills. I can send him a message that you¡¯re coming so he can help you. However you¡¯re going to need at least a 25 in strength to do any mining.¡± Onyx smiled. ¡°That¡¯s ok I already have a 28. Just let him know I¡¯m coming and where he is.¡± After sending a message to Butch, Celebrin gives Onyx direction to the mining ground. Thanking him again Onyx leaves for the mines. After buying 2 more water skins for 50 copper, Onyx heads to the starter fountain to fill them up. Once that was done he went out the west gate to the hills that are nearby where the mining post was suppose to be. Along the way he saw a large amount of other players killing wildlife. Rabbits, squirrels, the occasional bird, it seems that Anarchy Online didn¡¯t have just one kind of beginner animal. After walking about a half hour on the worn out road Onyx came to the split that would lead him either to another nearby town or to the mining complex. Taking the appropriate road he walked for another hour before spotting the mine shaft. Looking around he saw a small variety of races. Dwarves, Human, Beastfold, and even the occasional Oread were bringing up carts of rocks and sorting them at a large table off to the sides. About 50 feet from the entrance stood a large wooden building with smoke coming out of the chimney. Onyx assumed it was the grub hall or barracks for the miners. Scanning the crowd he spotted someone covered in the same swirling mist as Celebrin. The man was a beastfolk wolfman with black shoulder length hair standing about 5 10¡¯ in height. He seemed to be yelling at a human at the table sorting the rocks. Walking up to him Onyx said ¡°Hello sir, I believe Celebrin told you to expect me.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Turning around the wolfman saw how large Onyx was and stopped yelling. Sizing him up, the wolf man simply said ¡°Come with me.¡± He led Onyx into a smaller building that Onyx hadn¡¯t noticed before. After closing the door, the wolfman turned to him and said ¡°So you¡¯re the ghost in the machine huh. I got to expect you caused quite the stir in the office. No one thought that the pods could do what they did to you.¡± Bowing his head Onyx apologized. ¡°Sorry for any inconvenience on my part but I am rather glad it did what it did. At least I¡¯m still alive¡­kinda.¡± Snorting the wolfman waved his hand. ¡°It¡¯s fine. The company is getting a lot of good data from monitoring you. So we can call it even. Anyway the names Butch and as you can tell I¡¯m one of the GMs for this area. Cel already filled me in on you wanting to work so I¡¯m guessing you¡¯ll want me to teach you mining right.¡± Onyx-¡°Well I was just going to learn it the hard way, but I won¡¯t say no to someone teaching it to me. However I don¡¯t understand what the difference from being taught a skill or finding it out on your own are.¡± Butch-¡°Well I guess I could tell you. Teaching a skill is obviously a lot quicker than learning it on your own but it usually costs quite a bit of money. However there are some other differences as well. If a NPC teaches you the skill you get a set amount of bonuses every time you rank it up. However if you learn it on your own there is a good chance that the skill will actually be weaker than if someone teaches you. On the reverse though, skills that were taught cannot combine while skills that were self-taught can. For instance if someone learns all the crafting skills manually then they will all combine into the skill Craftsmanship, where as they would not if you got NPCs to teach you them all one by one. This is beneficial since Craftsmanship will gain experience from any crafting done instead of just the craft that you are currently making.¡± Onyx thought about that for a sec. If he got Butch to teach him, then his mining skill would be better and give him bigger bonuses. However there were a lot of gathering skills in the game. He was also of the mind that the more self-sufficient he is the better, and since resource gathering can produce a lot of gold from selling the resources he was honestly kind of stuck on choosing. After weighing the pros and the cons for a little bit, he decided to self-learn the skill. After all if he was going to be doing a lot of gathering form different resources then it would be easier to level them all up at the same time. After telling Butch his decision, Butch walked over to a nearby chest and pulled out a large pick axe. Walking back to Onyx, he handed the pick to him. Onyx took it and tried to identify what it was.
Giant Steel PickaxeDurability (500/500)
This pickaxe is far larger than a normal pickaxe. It was obviously made for those larger than normal people. Because of this the durability of the item is greater than normal, however it takes more strength to use. Attack: 16-20 +5% mining speed, -4 agility Restrictions: 28 Strength, 22 Vitality
After checking out his new pick, Butch told him ¡°The pay is 4 silver a day however you have to meet your quota of 3 carts of ore. Anything you mine hear is our property, though any ores that you bring past your quota will bring you a bonus of 1 silver a cart. Breakfast is at 6AM and dinner is as 5PM. The mine will close down at around 4, so no cheating by going in after dark. We have security systems placed up so no one is stupid enough to try to make some extra cash in the dark. Since you don¡¯t have the mining skill you only need to do a cart a day for the next 3 days, after that you have to do the same work as everyone else. Of course you¡¯ll only be getting 1 silver a day for the first 3 days.¡± Nodding Onyx lifted his pick onto his shoulder and said ¡°Hi ho hi ho down the hole I go.¡± Smiling at that Butch then led him outside to the compound. He explained how the large table had special runes in it that would detect what each ore was so they could properly sort them. He also went over several rules in the mine, like if one man is working a vein then you can¡¯t mine it without permission. After explaining the outside, Butch brought Onyx down into the mine itself. It was a large network of tunnels going off in all directions, however they made sure to make the main shaft extra-large with hanging lanterns so the miners knew all they had to do was follow that shaft to get out. They even painted arrows on the bottom of the lanterns so the miners knew which way was which. Butch led Onyx down one of the farther along shafts to a spot with a cart about 300ft away from the main shaft. ¡°Here this has some basic copper, it should be relatively easy for your first time. Just keep hitting and put the ore in the cart here then roll it out to the table. I¡¯ll send someone to check on you in a few hours.¡± With a pat on the back, Butch left Onyx to his own devices. ¡®Well time to get started.¡¯ Looking around he noticed that Butch forgot to leave any kind of light source for him. However he shrugged since there was still enough light to see by coming from the main shaft. Picking up his pick Onyx began to work. At first it wasn¡¯t all that bad. It took him a while to get into a good rhythm but once he did he was actually enjoying himself. He always did like doing things with his hand, and the work wasn¡¯t much harder than his construction job. However as time went on Onyx could feel his muscles start to burn. After maybe 4 hours of constant picking and putting ore into the cart he got a message.
For continuously working out for a long period of time you have gained: +4 Strength, +4 Vitality
Skill(s) Learned!
For continuously mining an ore vein in low light you have gained the following skills. Low Light Vision Mining
Blinking at the sudden glow from the screens. Onyx placed his pick on the ground and decided to take a break. Sitting down he took out one of his water skins and drank heavily from it. After a couple of minutes he called up his new skill windows.
low-Light VisionBeginner
From spending a large amount of time in a low-light environment your eyes have adapted. You can now see better in areas that have little light. You can now see 20% better and farther in areas with little light.
MiningBeginner
Any civilization knows how important weapons and armor is. However to make those someone needs to go underground and provide the proper ores and minerals. That¡¯s where you come in. Ore veins will glow slightly making them easier to see You gain a % of extra ore equal to the % of the skills rank Satiety lost from mining will decrease There is a 2% chance to get rare material out of certain ore veins
Smiling Onyx took another swig of water and got back to work. Previous Chapter 6: Life in the mines Welcome back Guys! Finals are done, Got hired for the local renaissance fair, got to dress up as a failed keebler elf, and now were back with chapter 6! Enjoy! Also now we are getting to the actual game bit so if you have any ideas on what should happen during the beginning grind fest all noobs do let me know in the comments. Chapter 6 *Whoooo* *Whoooo* Hearing the whistle telling the end of the work day, Onyx put his pick down on the ground. Rubbing his arms he looked at the three quarter filled minecart next to him. ¡®Damn just a little longer and I could have finished another cart.¡¯ Onyx decided to sit down for a minute before bringing up the ore. It was now the final day of his probation period. Over the last few days Onyx found out just how hard mining was. On his first day when he brought up his first cart of ore he was reprimanded because it seems about half the stones were just plain stone. So he had to go back down and empty the cart and refill it, taking each chunk and inspecting it for minerals. Thanks to that he barely got his one cartful. The next day he tried eating a stone for the first time. It was actually kind of tasteless. However when he activated his Iron Stomach skill the texture of the stone became something similar to corn bread. Every time he took a bite it would crumble a little. But it filled his satiety rather well and stopped him from needing to go to the surface for provisions so he put up with it. With the time he saved Onyx barely got 2 carts full of ore by the end of the day. Now it was the end of his third day of probation and he had already brought up 2 carts of ore. Disappointed that he couldn¡¯t get the third one like he promised himself he would, Onyx decided that since he wouldn¡¯t get paid for the full amount of the cart, he might as well try the second part of his Iron Stomach. Reaching into the cart, Onyx pulled out a large chunk of copper ore. Taking a bite he was surprised at how it tasted like caramel. True the texture was off, but it tasted almost exactly like the caramel from the candy store that was right down the street from his apartment in the real world. ¡®Must be the system trying to allocate a taste from my memory to ores. Hmm¡­. If that¡¯s the case I wonder what tastes like taffy. Maybe tin? God how I miss taffy.¡¯ Onyx thought while taking another bite. After eating a few more chunks of ore a window suddenly appeared
For eating Copper ore for the first time you have gained the following: 1% Fire affinity, 2% Earth Affinity, +3 Agility
¡®Hmmm¡­ not all that great a gain, but it was just copper. If I got this from copper I wonder what I¡¯ll get from something stronger, like mithril!¡¯ Smiling at the prospect Onyx decided to bring the cart up anyway since he would be assigned his permanent station tomorrow and most likely wouldn¡¯t be this one. He didn¡¯t want another miner to get a bonus because they had an already almost filled minecart. I mean that would just be unfair. After bringing up the cart, for an extra 50 copper, and eating dinner, Onyx went out to roam the hills. Since he wasn¡¯t a NPC he didn¡¯t technically have to sleep. He could if he wanted and it would pretty much fast-forward the game to the morning, but Onyx decided he could just train. After all, he had a biome of hills and stone surrounding him. All through the night Onyx would dig holes and mine stones in the hills. Occasionally he would try to forage for plants to level up his low light vision and to try to get the foraging skill. When his satiety got low, he would eat stones nearby and drink water from his waterskin. When his muscles start to burn and he can barely hold his tools, he would take out one of the books he borrowed from Butch and read. Thanks to that, Onyx learned a lot about the different types of ores as well as where to find rare crystals and minerals. The interesting thing was that by reading these books his mining skill increased as well. The next morning Butch assigned Onyx to one of the iron veins since Onyx¡¯s mining skill past the 50% mark last night. It seems certain ores can only be mined after certain percentages of the skill. This was to stop players from going out and trying to mine mithral veins when they just got the skill. In fact you couldn¡¯t even mine mithral until the expert level. For the next week Onyx worked in the mineduring the day and trained his skills at night. By the end he had gained a total of 37 silver and 50 copper; enough to buy a starter weapon. So Onyx decided to go back to the city. It also helped his decision that he reached the max in strength and vitality yesterday. So he went to Butch to let him know he was returning to the city. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Well that¡¯s your decision. We never discussed a time you had to work for. A bit of oversight on my part but if you ever want to come back for some change just let me know. Honestly you¡¯re one of the most promising miners I¡¯ve seen. I don¡¯t know how you stay down there so long.¡± Butch said after Onyx returned the pick he was borrowing. ¡°Well what can I say; I¡¯m made for the earth. Thanks for your help. This is way better than what I could have gotten in the city.¡± With that the two shook hands and Onyx left to return to the city. On the way he decided to check his stats. [quart=Name, Satiety ]Onyx ,100%[/quart] [quart=Level, Race]1,Oread[/quart] [quart=Class, Fame/Notoriety] Wanderer, 0[/quart][quart=Health, Mana]375,115 [/quart] [quart=Strength, Agility] 50,37[/quart] [quart=Wisdom, Intellect]24, 22[/quart] [quart=Vitality, Luck] 50,0[/quart][quart=Attack, Defence] 25,10[/quart][quart=Earth, Fire]12%,1%[/quart] [quart=Water, Wind]0%,0%[/quart] [quart=Light, Darkness]0%,0%[/quart]
Status Window
TitleRising Star
Magic Affinity
Unallocated Stat Points0
Skills Racial: Earth Affinity Racial(Special): Iron Stomach Racial (Special): Tremorsense Blunt Weapon Mastery Pierce Weapon Mastery Slashing Weapon Mastery Dodge Thrust Bash Slash Mining (Intermediate) (14%) Low-Light (Beginner) (78%) Perception (Beginner) (54%) Discerning Eye (Beginner) (76%) Foraging (Beginner) (32%)
Smiling at just how strong he got in just a week, admittedly a week with a lot of hard work, Onyx called up his new skills
PerceptionBeginner (54%)
Perception is a must needed skill to survive. Perception is used to notice fine details in the environment. Hidden traps, tunnels, and treasures can now be perceived by the player. The higher the rank the more the player can notice. The player can now hear and see farther when the skill is active. This skill can also help a player find critical points on monsters, however the player must know about these critical points for the skill to activate.
Discerning EyeBeginner (76%)
You have learned to spot the subtle differences between things. Some plants are extremely poisonous, while others cure many diseases. The difference between these plants can be as obvious as coloring and shape or as subtle as the size of their stems. You can now find those slight differences easier than others.
ForagingBeginner (32%)
You have learned to spot herbs and wild plant life that can be beneficial in all kinds of crafts, from alchemy to healing. There is a small chance to gain re-plantable herbs Can now harvest basic herbs, berries, and mushrooms
¡®With this I should be able to easily survive the first few levels with ease!¡¯ With that thought Onyx began his journey back to the city to finally start playing the game. Poll Hello guys i was just wondering, do you like how ive made the status window? I''ve noticed with a lot of the other gaming stories that they have both mana and health regeneration on the status. So ive decided to do a poll the options are: Option 1: Keep the status window the way it is and have mana and health regen at an already known rate across the world Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Option 2: Make that both Vitality and Intelligence increase their respective pool by 10 and tweak the current formula im using to determine the regen rate Let me know what you decide and dont worry if you choose option 2 i will go back to earlier stories and change the format