《A New Beginning By Aerebes》 Prologue: A New Beginning Be brutal (not too brutal, constructive only please). This is my first time doing creative writing. I thought it would be interesting to experience the game from a different perspective. Someone (probably MC''s) thoughts ~Machine-like voice~ -sound effect- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darkness. More accurately, nothingness, as I could see myself perfectly fine. ~The scan on your irises and veins have determined that you are an unregistered user. Would you like to create an account?~ ¡°Yes please.¡± ~Select the name of your Avatar.~ ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I kind of like Loor¡­¡­¡­Oops! ¡°Loor¡± ~Select a gender from Male, Female, or Neutral.~ Ooh, I wonder what neutral gender is¡­If it¡¯s really bad I can just remake my character. ¡°Neutral¡± ~Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine available~ ¡°Random, please.¡± ~You may alter your appearance. Would you like to do so?~ I should really make sure I didn¡¯t end up as something disgusting. ¡°May I see how I look?¡± Floating in front of Loor¡¯s eyes, a person dressed in nondescript brown clothing appears. At first glance it seems to be a 5¡¯6¡± tall, tan, effeminate human male. Shoulder-length brown hair, bright green eyes, and a rather large, aquiline nose are readily apparent. Upon closer inspection, he notices sharply pointed ears, thus deducing it must be an elf. ¡°I¡¯ve never really liked my nose¡­could you make it a little smaller and straighter?¡± The nose of the ¡®person¡¯ in front of Loor appears much more in proportion to the rest of the face now. ¡°Thanks. That¡¯s all.¡± ~Your account has been activated. Your stats and skills will be determined while you are playing Royal Road.~ ~Select a city in which you wish to start.~ ¡°Random, please.¡± ~Welcome to Royal Road. Would you like to participate in the tutorial?~ ¡°Yes please.¡± "Really?!" ¡°Yes. Is something wrong with that?¡± "Oh, umm." ~No. Have a pleasant journey.~ ¡°Why thank you.¡± A bright light flashes and Loor finds himself blinking in the middle of a small clearing in the forest. He is wearing the same brown clothes as the floating person was before. The sun is shining down brightly from an extremely blue cloudless sky. A young woman stands at the edge of the tree line. Oh yeah, that''s why it¡¯s called sky blue. Don''t really see that too often. -bong- Suddenly a translucent window appears before him.
Royal Road Tutorial
Welcome to Royal Road. This tutorial will guide you along basic tasks in order to give you a general understanding of how to work within the highly realistic Virtual Reality. Additionally, you will be provided with some basic items and useful tips that will prove helpful at the start of your journey. Current Task: Open Quest window Information: To open the quest list, say ¡°quests.¡± Alternatively, you may say ¡°Character Menu¡± and navigate to the quest window from there. We encourage you to try all possibilities. Once at the quest window, open the window for this quest by tapping it with your finger. You may move on once you have done so.
¡°Quests¡±
Quest List
--Royal Road Tutorial-- An introduction to the mechanics of high realism virtual reality and Royal Road.
Whoa, that is so cool. Wait¡­what is that? To Loor¡¯s complete surprise, he looks behind himself and sees a long, furry, feline tail. It looks just like a brown panther¡¯s tail. Where in the world did that come from¡­? It¡¯s kinda cute. I¡¯ll investigate more later. ¡°Character Menu¡± A bunch of floating, translucent ovals appear in front of Loor. Each one has a different word inside. He starts scanning them, looking for Quests. Inventory¡­¡­Friends¡­¡­Ignore¡­¡­Aha! Quests. As Loor taps the quest oval the Quest List window appears again. This time he also taps the Royal Road Tutorial rectangle and is rewarded with a nice, cheery chime.
Royal Road Tutorial
Congratulations on taking your first step into becoming an emperor. From now on you may use the process you just learned to return to this quest window if you ever forget what your current task is. Furthermore, the chime you just heard indicates an update of the current task. Current Task: View the stat window. Information: You can either simply say ¡°Stats,¡± or use the character menu you just learned about and navigate to ¡®stats.¡¯ Alternatively, saying ¡®Character Window¡¯ shows a picture of your avatar, your stats, and a list of the names of learned skills. Additionally, say ¡®Information ¡¯ to view more information about an individual stat.
¡°Character window.¡± Instantly, a large window with oodles of information appears.
NameLoorRaceHybrid Elf
Health80/80Mana120/120
Level1Experience0.00%
Strength8Agility10
Wisdom12Intelligence12
Dexterity10Vitality8
Stamina80/80
Characteristics
¡ªAndrogynous¡ª ¡ªElemental Connection¡ª ¡ªAnimal Magnetism¡ª ¡ªNatural Camouflage¡ª ¡ªInfravision¡ª ¡ªMaker''s Skill¡ª
Skills
¡ªHandicraft¡ª
Yikes, that¡¯s a lot of information. Gonna have to figure out what some of those mean. ¡°Information Vitality¡± -ding- To Loor¡¯s surprise, the chime indicating a task change sounds when the window appears. I guess that was the next task.
Vitality A rough measurement of physical resilience. Helps determine Health and Stamina.
¡°Information Mana¡±
Mana A measure of overall mental force. Allows for the manipulation of magic.
Hmm, that¡¯s kind of annoying¡­I wonder if I can just¡­say them all at once. ¡°Information Maker''s Skill, Information Infravision, Information Natural Camouflage, Information Animal Magnetism, Information Elemental Connection, Information Androgynous¡±
Maker''s Skill [Passive] Gray elves, like dwarves, are naturally drawn towards creating. As only part gray elf, you are are not fully affected by this compulsion. Effect: Handicraft skill obtained
Infravision Dark elves have the ability to see in total darkness by looking into the infrared spectrum. As only part dark elf, you must use mana to activate this ability. Effect: See subtle differences in Heat Mana Cost: 3/sec
Natural Camouflage [Passive] Wood elves have a natural ability to blend into the forest, even exuding the scent of the forest. As only part wood elf, this ability is only half as effective for you. Effect: Enemies less likely to detect you in woody environments.
Animal Magnetism [Passive] Moon elves have a natural connection with all wild beasts. As only part moon elf, this connection is only half as strong for you. Effect: +5 familiarity with any non-humanoid beast.
Elemental Connection [Passive] High elves have natural talents with all forms of magic. As only part high elf, these talents are only half as strong for you. Effect: All magical effects cast by you gain +5% magnitude
Androgynous [Passive] As a member of the neutral gender, all natives see you as whichever gender they prefer to speak with. However, if you get too close with someone, they may discover you are not actually what they thought you were. Therefore, you keep your distance. Effect: Player gains relationship bonuses of both genders, without the penalties. Penalty: Relationship may not progress beyond Good Friends.
Cool, they give you lots of fun stuff, I¡¯ve always wondered what it would be like to see heat. Loor attempts to activate his Infravision skill, but quickly runs into a problem. ¡­¡­Right¡­how do I actually use a skill? Guess I should just continue with the tutorial. Having thought this, Loor navigates again to the tutorial quest window.
Royal Road Tutorial
Now that you know what some of your stats mean, it is time to look at your skills. Don¡¯t worry, soon you will know enough to start interacting with the world around you. Current Task: Open Skill list Information: To open the skill list, say ¡°skills.¡± Alternatively, you may use the character menu and navigate to skills from there. ¡°Information ¡± can be used to acquire more detailed information about a specific skill. Or you could just tap the skill name in the skill list.
Loor, having already seen his skill list, powers right through these instructions by barely glancing at the windows that pop up. -ding- -ding- A smug look appears on Loor¡¯s face after hearing two chimes in quick succession. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Hehe, I must be doing this much faster than other people! He again navigates to the quest window.
Royal Road Tutorial
Very good. Remember, without first obtaining a class, you are limited to only 15 total skills. This restriction is completely lifted after your first transition into a class. Additionally, skill level restrictions may apply according to your primary class. Gaea will further instruct you. Current Task: Speak with the Lady at the edge of the trees.
Uh oh¡­what does that mean ¡®skill level restrictions.¡¯ Skills have levels? I shouldn¡¯t have skipped the other windows. Deciding that there is nothing he could do about it now, Loor walks towards the woman in order to continue learning. She is a beautiful woman, with long golden hair, and a soft, kind face. A simple moss green dress hints at a well-proportioned body and complements eyes the color of the sky above. ¡°Hello miss, you are Gaea, correct?¡± The Lady¡¯s eyes sparkle with amusement as her mouth turns up at the corners into a grin. She says in a melodious voice ¡°Yes, I am Gaea, The Holy Seeress. It is nice to finally see someone out here. Come, you have much to learn young one.¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to have a hairband, would you? This is kinda getting in the way.¡± Loor asks, gesturing at his hair. ¡°Ah, yes, here you go.¡± Gaea reaches into the pocket of her dress, retrieves a dark brown hairband, and hands it to Loor. With a practiced motion, Loor pulls up his hair into a neat ponytail. ¡°Now, follow me¡± They trek a short way into the broadleaf forest before coming upon a small camp. Around the fire pit stand two stumps sized perfectly for sitting and a small tent a bit further away. As Gaea sits down, she motions for Loor to take a seat on the stump opposite her. ¡°Let us begin.¡± She says. ¡°First say ¡®inventory.¡¯ This command shows you any items currently in your possession, as well as how much they weigh.¡± After saying this command, an empty window appears before Loor. ¡°Nothing¡¯s there.¡± ¡°Of course, you have not yet obtained any items.¡± Gaea says, laughing softly. ¡°Here, take this canteen and place it in the window.¡± Loor takes the leather-wrapped, metal canteen, sticks his arm through the surface of the window, and opens his hand. That looks so weird. ¡°Wow!¡± -bong-
Stat Created: Innocence
Gaea giggles at Loor¡¯s wonder. ¡°Ooh, a new stat was created! Does that mean a lot more stats than just the starting ones exist?¡± Gaea looks at Loor in surprise. ¡°You must have done that quite a bit before if a stat was created. Yes there are many different stats. Why don¡¯t you check how that stat works? I don¡¯t mind waiting.¡± ¡°Okey dokey, I¡¯ll do that. Information Innocence.¡±
Innocence Your childlike delight and naivety causes sentient beings to be more hesitant to harm you. However, if non-sentient beasts detect your Innocence, they will attack. Stat points may not be distributed to this stat. This stat will rise spontaneously as a result of your actions.
Loor closes the window and looks again at Gaea. ¡°Now, young one, I will teach you how to use a skill. To use a skill, you must first have a skill, so I will teach you how to make a campfire.¡± Gaea takes Loor through the steps of building a campfire. From collecting nice, dry tinder to large pieces of fuel. Finally, she teaches him how to light a campfire without using any special tools. -bong-
You have learned a new skill: Campfire
¡°Now, you may either go through the full process of creating a campfire the way I just showed you, or you may gather the materials, tap them, and simply say ¡®Campfire.¡¯¡± Gaea instructs ¡°The first method has the advantages of training the skill much faster and customization of the shape of the campfire. As you may imagine, the second method is much easier. Now you try.¡± Just tapping a pile of logs doesn¡¯t sound like much fun. Loor gathers all the materials and rubs a dry stick against the tinder in order to create sparks. After about five minutes of effort, a tiny curl of smoke starts rising from the point of connection between the sticks and log. He gently blows on the miniscule spark to fan it into life. The fire starts licking at the dry kindling surrounding the tinder and catches. As it begins to crackle merrily, a rectangular window appears in front of Loor.
Campfire gains 20% proficiency.
¡°I did it! I¡¯ve never made a campfire like that before!¡± ¡°Well done!¡± Gaea says, smiling warmly ¡°Now you know how to use skills. Next I will show you some basic fighting.¡± Gaea walks into the tent and returns with a small bundle. ¡°First, what color clothes would you like?¡± ¡°But I already have clothes.¡± ¡°Those boring old things? You need something nicer.¡± ¡°Okay, what colors do you have?¡± ¡°All of the basic colors of the rainbow, black, and white.¡± ¡°Can I get a blue shirt and black pants?¡± ¡°Of course, here you are.¡± Gaea reaches into the bundle and pulls out a shirt and trousers similar in style to those Loor is already wearing. ¡°Just put on the clothing as you would normally. You may use the tent for some privacy.¡± Loor enters the tent and replaces his brown clothing with the more interesting colors. The fabric they are made of seems much finer than the ones he just took off. When he exits the tent, he jumps in startled fright, seeing Gaea holding a short metal sword. Gaea giggles softly and holds out the sword for Loor to take. ¡°Tap the sword, and select examine, or just say ¡®examine sword¡¯ to see the readily visible statistics.¡± Loor does so and a window appears in front of him.
Beginner¡¯s Iron Sword Damage 1-5 Durability 50/50 A sword given by the Holy Seeress as part of your training. Cannot be Improved
¡°Wow, thanks!¡± ¡°You¡¯re quite welcome. Get ready to use that sword.¡± ¡°What?¡± Gaea grins, brings her right hand to her mouth, and lets out a piercing whistle. Loor hears rustling in the forest and starts to panic. Just as he is about to run away, a small brown rabbit emerges from the bushes and stares at him. ¡­¡­¡­I was afraid of a bunny Grinning at his foolishness, Loor is taken by surprise when the bunny suddenly jumps to attack him. He tries to evade it, but stumbles and is gashed on the forearm by her large teeth. Loor attempts to retaliate with a clumsy swing of his new sword. The bunny avoids it easily. The sword is heavier than he expected and he overbalances. He does a funny little pirouette and falls to the ground. Taking advantage of his weakness, the bunny jumps on his chest and starts kicking his face like crazy. The red bar in the corner of his eye was getting very low at this point. Just as it was about to empty completely, Gaea calls for the bunny to stop and says a few words. ¡°Healing Hand.¡± Suddenly, a bright light appears above Loor¡¯s head and the red bar returns to full. ¡°Until you are able to defeat Nerat here, we cannot move on.¡± Slightly annoyed by this pronouncement, Loor nevertheless stands up and gets into a ready position. This time, he attempts to draw first blood in the battle. He fails. Nerat evades his slow thrust and slashes at his leg with her teeth. Desperate to get the rabbit away from him, Loor kicks out wildly. By some lucky chance, he connects directly with Nerat¡¯s body. She goes flying into a tree. Much to Loor¡¯s consternation, she gets back up without a problem. Now, however, Nerat is swaying on her feet. She seems to have gotten a concussion. She hops drunkenly towards Loor, much slower than before. Loor gets ready to swing his sword and times it to make perfect contact with Nerat. Gaea again calls for the battle to stop. She says those same words and a light appears over Nerat this time. Gaea pets Nerat, thanks her, and dismisses her. ¡°Congratulations, you are ready to adventure through the world.¡± Gaea pronounces as she pats him on the back ¡°All that¡¯s left is to teach you how to rest your soul, and give you a small gift.¡± ¡°Rest my soul?¡± ¡°Yes, either say ¡®Log out¡¯ or ''System Menu'' and tap the words that say log out.¡± Ah, so that is the term for logging out. ¡°Do I have to do it now?¡± ¡°No, you just needed to know how to do it.¡± Gaea enters the tent again and returns with a brown leather backpack. ¡°Here is the gift I mentioned, It increases your inventory capacity, and has some helpful items inside already.¡± ¡°Thank you so much for helping me!¡± ¡°Think nothing of it. I will now drop you off just inside the city gates. You will not be allowed to leave for one month. I suggest either going to the training hall to practice your sword skills, or going to the library to learn some more.¡± They walk on a path through the forest for a short time. Exiting the forest, they see a large field absolutely covered with tree stumps. Near the large wooden walls in the distance is a cluster of people engaged in heated battle with rabbits and the occasional fox. While they walk along the road to reach the gates of those walls, no animals attack them and people turn to stare, eyes wide, at the golden-haired beauty. As Loor and Gaea walk through the gates, the guards bow deeply to the Holy Seeress. ¡°This is where I must leave you, good luck on your journey.¡± -bong-
You have completed the Tutorial! For being the first player to complete the tutorial, +5 unallocated stat points.
The only thing running through Loor¡¯s mind as she reads this is...What the¡­¡­I thought this game has been out for over a year now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pronouns referring to Loor are interchangeable. Am trying to use the opposite of whichever gender is more abundant in the area. Don''t hesitate if anything in the tutorial seems unreasonable. I tried to make it fairly balanced. I am horrible at inventing names, any suggestions for the city? Should i keep it third person or switch to first person from Loor''s point of view? Past tense or Present tense? Home|Next Chapter Chapter 1: Anden Feel free to comment, criticize, make suggestions etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loor dismisses the useless thoughts and looks around. Curving gently inwards, the walls on either side of the gate are made of giant logs, with no corner in sight. A Dirt road runs along the wall on opposite sides of the paved main road. Shabby wooden houses with almost no space between them line both paths. Visible in the distance down the perfectly straight main road is a huge castle made of sparkly reddish-brown stone. Having forgotten Gaea¡¯s advice in her excitement and unsure what to do now, Loor starts wandering down the main road towards the castle. And promptly falls flat on her face. She hears one of the guards snickering behind her as she mutters under her breath. ¡°Stupid air¡­always trips me up.¡± Red faced with embarrassment, Loor stands and again begins walking toward the castle. While walking, she notices side roads curving away periodically from the main road. The first road she passes is made of freshly turned gravel and the houses on either side look cleaner and brighter than those near the wall. As she gets closer to the castle, the roads on either side get richer and richer. The next road is paved with common stone, and the one closest to the castle paved with that same reddish, sparkly stone. That stone is really pretty, I wonder what kind it is. Reaching the castle, Loor realizes it is actually at the center of a large, round, plaza. Merchants hawk their wares from stalls lining the rim of the circle. Some are sitting next to large squares of cloth randomly situated within the area of the circle, objects for sale lain out in a pleasing fashion on the blanket. Looking around, Loor notices a road very similar to the one she came from spaced at even intervals around the edge of the plaza. Each one, from where she stood, seemed equally straight and pointed in the direction of the walls, almost like the spokes of a wheel. She spots a sign with a large picture on it near the entrance to the castle. Investigating the sign reveals a map of the city. (Extremely rough depiction of map) What an easy to remember layout! Seeing ¡°training hall¡± on the map reminds Loor of Gaea¡¯s words so she decides to check it out. Just one problem. Each direction looks exactly the same! Am I going to have to walk around the whole city before I find it? Loor sighs in resignation as she realizes how much work this is going to be. Just as she is about to go trudging off on her search, she is startled by a voice from behind her. ¡°Excuse me¡± Loor turns towards the voice to find a young elven woman. Immediately noticeable at a glance, bright blue hair frames light brown eyes set in a pretty, yet somewhat plain face. An unadorned leather tunic and dark green shirt is worn over a rather thin torso. Her long legs are covered by light brown, leather pants. She is wearing gold-embroidered, dark green shoes that don¡¯t really match with the rest of the outfit. Two knife sheaths on a brown leather belt complete the ensemble. ¡°Would you like to join our party? We were about to go out to hunt some wolves and you look a little lost.¡± ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°First day.¡± The woman is quite surprised at this. How did she get those clothes if this is only her first day? And is that a sword she has? Loor begins to worry. Why is she looking at me like that? Did I do something wrong? ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry, never mind.¡± The woman begins to walk away. Loor, realizing he can save himself some time, (and more importantly effort) rushes to catch her before she can get out of sight. ¡°Sorry, but do you know the way to the training hall? I don¡¯t really know which direction is which¡± The woman gets even more confused. To her way of thinking, someone should at least have to know their way around the city before they are able get new equipment. ¡°Just walk straight down that road until the merchant¡¯s district. Take a right and follow the road. The training hall is the only stone building in that area, so it¡¯s hard to miss.¡± She says, pointing at the third ¡®spoke¡¯ on the left. ¡°Thank you very much. My name is Loor by the way.¡± ¡°No problem, I¡¯m Robin. Be careful, I¡¯ve heard the instructor is a bit sexist.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll watch out. Oh wait, which one is the merchant¡¯s district?¡± Robin stares incredulously at Loor. How in the world has she gotten these items? She acts as if she¡¯s only been here for a few minutes. Pulling herself together, Robin says ¡°The road with gray stone paving similar to the main road is the merchant¡¯s district. The one made of sandstone is the noble¡¯s district, the one with gravel is the housing district, and the one that is just dirt along the walls is the slums.¡± ¡°Ooh, thanks a lot! Wanna be friends?¡±
Friend request sent.
¡°Sure¡± Maybe I can figure out what she did to get all that stuff¡­
Request Accepted.
¡°Yay! Seeya later!¡± Loor waves at Robin as he walks off towards the road she indicated earlier. Skipping down a road remarkably similar to the one he arrived on, Loor starts singing. ? "-Friend friend friend, I made a friend, friend friend friend, I made a friend¡­-"? Clearly, he is not a composer. Reaching the merchant¡¯s district, (still singing under his breath) Loor turns onto the road as he was instructed. He notices a group of people standing outside of a large, stone building that he realizes must be the training hall. As he approaches, he notices that the group is composed mostly of crying women. Stolen story; please report. ¡°Waaah! Why won¡¯t he talk to me?!¡± ¡°He told me to leave before I even spoke! Waaaaaah!¡± ¡°He bodily threw me out! *sniff* WAAAAAAAH!¡± ¡°You think *sob* that¡¯s bad? He attacked me *sob* with his sword!¡± Loor walks up to the ¡®happiest¡¯ looking woman to find out what happened. ¡°What is going on? Why is everyone so sad?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the swordsmanship instructor. He is soooo handsome, but he hates girls. Be careful if you plan to go in there.¡± ¡°Okey dokey, thanks for the warning.¡± Finding (forcing) a path through the crying women, Loor enters the training hall. The room he arrives in is much bigger than it looks from the outside. The walls are lined with evenly spaced scarecrows interrupted only by a door at the far end. Ferociously attacking a scarecrow in the center of the room stands a tall, extremely good-looking elf. His face is perfectly symmetrical and so beautiful it looks as if it was sculpted by angels. His short, messy hair seems to shimmer between silver, platinum and gold. His eyes are a ghostly, ice blue color and currently completely focused on what he is doing. Well-formed and perfectly proportioned muscles standd outlined against his clothes each time he swings his sword. -thwack- -thwack- -shiiiiiiiing- -boom- With a loud sound that almost shakes the air, the elf shatters the scarecrow he is attacking to pieces. Looking at it in disgust, he shakes his head. He looks around and notices Loor standing near the entrance. He smiles, transforming his face from the deadly beauty of a sword, to the tranquil, natural beauty of a rushing waterfall. What the hell am I even thinking?!? Loor quickly shakes like a dog trying to get rid of water. When he looks again at the elf, he is able to think rationally. By this time the elf has walked over and starts speaking. ¡°Hello young man! Are you here to learn the way of the sword?¡± ¡°Yes, I would very much appreciate if you could teach me how to use a sword.¡± ¡°Excellent! It¡¯s been such a long time since I¡¯ve had a proper student to instruct.¡± The instructor walks over to a previously unnoticed weapons rack, picks up a long, sturdy staff, and returns. ¡°Before learning how to fight with a sword, you must master the basics by learning how to use a staff. First you must learn as much as possible about the specifics of your weapon.¡± The instructor hands Loor the staff and waits expectantly. ¡°Umm, I don¡¯t mean to be rude, but we don¡¯t even know each other¡¯s name. I¡¯ll start, my name is Loor.¡± The instructor looks startled for a moment, and then grins sheepishly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry; I was so excited to have a student that I completely forgot my manners. My name is Rari, I am the weapon master of this fair city. Now please, examine your new staff.¡± Loor quickly obeys, and looks closely at his weapon. The wood is a nice tan-brown color. Two slightly roughened areas are located near the center of the weapon. Black knots and whorls abundantly adorn it. ¡°Oh yeah! I totally forgot¡±
Innocence +1
¡°Examine staff.¡±
Wooden Training Staff Damage 1-1 Durability 20/20 A standard quarterstaff made of oak. Suitable for training as a beginner, but not much else.
Seeing his instructions followed, Rari grins. Aah, so nice to be obeyed by a student. ¡°Okay, good. Now I will show you the three basic blocks, and three basic attacks.¡± Rari plants his feet shoulder width apart and holds his staff in two hands. First, he holds the weapon above his head horizontally, his hands approximately two feet apart. ¡°This is called the high block; used to foil the high strike.¡± At this Rari smoothly moves the weapon vertical and pulls the lower hand back, forcing the top of the staff down in a lightning-fast strike. Next, he holds his quarterstaff vertically in front of his body hands in the same position, feet still shoulder-width apart. ¡°This is middle block. You can use it to foil a middle strike.¡± Moving his staff into a horizontal position, Rari pulls one hand back and pushes the other forward. The head of the staff swings around from right to left with enough speed to cause some damage. ¡°Finally, you have the low block; used to foil a low strike.¡± Rari holds his staff below his waist at a slight angle for a few moments. He then flows into a vertical hold and pulls his top hand back, this time, while pushing his bottom hand forward. The base of the staff swings up to strike the air. ¡°Now you try, high block, middle block, low block, high strike, middle strike, low strike in that order.¡± Loor attempts to copy the actions he just saw. His blocks look fairly good, and surprisingly, his strikes are even better. He didn¡¯t even whack himself! ¡°Not bad at all. In fact, it looks as if you¡¯ve been training for a week, rather than five minutes.¡± Blushing, Loor starts to mumble a thank you, but realizes what Rari just said. Doesn¡¯t that mean it still looks pretty dang bad? Rari, however, is smiling as if he really did just compliment him greatly. ¡°Continue practicing just like that for a few more hours. I will be doing a bit of training of my own, but will still be watching you and can answer any questions you might have.¡± Nodding, Loor begins the sequence again as Rari walks toward a suddenly reconstructed scarecrow. Wait¡­..Did he say a few hours?! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry about the length, hard to find inspiration. Can you figure out the instructor''s ''secret?'' Previous Chapter|Home|Next Chapter News, Comments, other fun stuff Woohoo! Okay, I''m on break now and plan to be writing at any time i get bored, which is often. Still probably won''t be releasing chapters all that quickly though. Side Note: Slightly altered Prologue. Added new race/skill to the pot. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Alright, I edited the book in chapter 2 per request Any comments about a past chapter or suggestions/questions for/about the series as a whole can be put in this thread. Chapter 2: Learning Approximately three hours have passed since Loor started his training and he is beginning to get ferociously bored. Ugh, when is this going to end? I¡¯ve got to be an expert at this staff fighting stuff by now. Trying to think of actions he could take to pass the time, Loor remembers that he hasn¡¯t actually checked out the campfire or handicraft skill. ¡°Information Campfire, Information Handicraft.¡±
Campfire Beginner 1 20.00% A warm, crackling campfire lifts the spirit on a dark, cold night. It can also be used to cook basic recipes. Magnitude and radius of the effect increases at higher skill levels. Effect: Increase stamina recovery by 50% and cold resistance by 50% while around a campfire. Effect Radius: 2m
Handicraft [Passive] Beginner 1 0.00% The ability to move your hand dexterously and intricately. Assists all skills that use your hands. Effect: Amplifies effects of various craft skills. Amplifies effect of weapon mastery.
ugh, that only took like, two minutes¡­ Loor¡¯s face lights up as he remembers his infravision skill. ¡°Infravision.¡± Instantly, everything becomes varying shades of gray. Rari is an extremely bright gray, almost white. The stone of the walls, however, are a much darker color. By this, Loor decides that the hotter the object, the closer the color is to white. Ooh, so that¡¯s why it¡¯s called ¡®white hot.¡¯ Totally not why it¡¯s called white hot, but whatever. Rari walks over to check on the quality of Loor¡¯s exercises. ¡°Well, I¡¯d say that¡¯s about as good as it will get without further instruction. I am impressed that you stayed focused for four hours.¡± What? Four hours? I thought it was only three. The blue bar in the corner of Loor¡¯s view finally empties completely, and his vision suddenly snaps back to normal. Disoriented, Loor blinks a few times. ¡°That must be my mana.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Oh, sorry, did I actually say that?¡± Loor blushes ¡°Just ignore it.¡± ¡°Alright¡­Are you ready for the next step of your training?¡± Suspicious, Loor asks ¡°How long will this step take?¡± ¡°Oh, not long, only about six hours.¡± ¡°See ya later.¡± Loor escap-uh, leaves the training hall with all haste. Most of the large group of females left at some point in the last four hours, so only a few of the determined ones are still around. ¡°YOU! How did you get the instructor to talk to you!?¡± An intense red-haired woman stalks up to Loor and pokes her finger into his chest. Flustered and having no clue how to handle the situation, Loor stands there with a slightly frightened look on his face. Punctuating each word with another poke, she continues her tirade ¡°He hates all fem-¡° She stops, confused, looks at her finger, then gropes Loor¡¯s chest. ¡°Oh! You¡¯re a guy¡­Sorry about that.¡± She blushes in embarrassment and quickly backs away out of Loor¡¯s personal space. ¡°Um, my name is Olivacea. What is yours?¡± Loor grins Another friend! and responds. ¡°My name is J- I mean, Loor.¡± ¡°You¡¯re new, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yeah. How did you know?¡± Is he stupid? ¡°You almost just told me your real name.¡± Olivacea said, in tone which showed that she thought him stupid. ¡°Oh, right¡­¡± Loor says sheepishly ¡°How long have you been playing?¡± ¡°About four months RR time.¡± ¡°Wow! You must be really strong.¡±
Innocence +1
¡°Do you have any recommendations on what I should do aside from the training hall?¡± ¡°Hmm, you could always go to the library to read, or you could find some work somewhere to get money and skills.¡± ¡°Oh yeah! Ms. Gaea said something about the library, thanks for reminding me!¡± Loor says, smiling. ¡°Do you know where the library is?¡± Olivacea looks at Loor with a look on her face that absolutely broadcasts ¡®are you sure you¡¯re not stupid?¡¯ and points across the street at the huge wooden building with a gigantic sign that says ¡®library.¡¯ ¡°Haha, I¡¯ll just be going now.¡± Loor quickly walks away, embarrassed, finally noticing that he was acting quite stupid. Walking into the library Loor enters an oddly small, low-roofed room when compared to the size of the building itself. The ceiling is only about two feet above her head. Standing in the center of the room she is able to stretch out her arms and touch, at the same time, the desk taking up most of the space to the right and the wall on the left, but only just (I totally don¡¯t know that because she just did or anything). ¡°What are you doing?¡± A nasally, masculine voice asks, contempt evident in the tone. Okay, so I lied. Loor, face burning (seems to be happening quite a lot recently) quickly drops her hands and turns toward the desk. Sitting behind the desk is a very short, thin, and pale elf. He has slick, oiled brown hair pulled back tight to the scalp; revealing a sharp widow¡¯s peak. Brown eyes magnified to quite unusual proportions by thick round glasses stare back at Loor with barely concealed annoyance. ¡°Ah, s-sorry.¡± ¡°Can I help you?¡± the librarian asks in tone that shows he clearly hopes the answer is no. ¡°Am I a-allowed to read the b-books here?¡± *sigh* ¡°Of course you are allowed to read the books here. If you want to bring any out, you must first purchase a library card.¡± The librarian looks at her expectantly, hoping she would leave. ¡°A-are the books through th-there?¡± Loor asks, pointing at the door directly across from the entrance. ¡°Yes they are through there. Did you see any outside when you came in?¡± Loor quickly scampers away through the indicated doorway, eager to escape from beneath the librarian¡¯s contemptuous gaze. Shelves of books are everywhere. All different kinds of shelves too. Towering shelves, squat shelves, circular shelves, wall shelves, floating shelves, and even more. This is what Loor sees as she enters the library proper. Overwhelmed, Loor walks over to sturdy, circular table to collect herself. After she calms down a bit, she walks up to a shelf and picks up a book at random. ¡°Hairstyles across the ages. Hmm¡­not really my cup of tea.¡± After reshelving that book, she goes to another bookshelf and picks one at random again. And again¡­ And again¡­¡­. Finally, Loor gets fed up with trying to find something useful that way and actually thinks about how to find a good book. Eventually, she decides to find a floating bookshelf and browse. At least it¡¯s better than choosing any old shelf. She actually decides to read the titles before choosing a book (imagine that). ¡°Advanced Magical Theory¡­You, Me, and Dark Magic¡­1001 Ways to Cast a Fungus Fixing Spell... (What kind of weirdo comes up with these? Oh¡­right) The Colors of the Wind¡­¡± Isn¡¯t that a song? ¡°Aha! Magic for Dummies! That¡¯ll be perfect for me!¡± Ba-dum-ch Sorry, it had to be done. Loor reaches over and grabs the Magic for Dummies book. She brings it over to the table and inspects it further. The cover of the book is bright yellow with quite the familiar format and had a cartoon illustration of a wacky wizard and a magic circle. The book itself was about an inch or so thick. Fortunately Loor loves reading. She opens the book to the first real page, and begins. (I recommend reading the book. I actually put quite a bit of effort into it.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Magic for Dummies~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first thing that must be understood about magic is mana. Not much is actually known about mana. Is it a substance? Is it a form of energy? What is known, however, is that mana can be manipulated using the mind. Mana in its purest form is colorless. All living things leak out a very small amount of mana at all times, though the amount that leaks is directly proportional to the total amount of mana within. This mana is normally invisible, but can be seen by those with either the talent or the training to see it. The mana then takes on a color according to the being that emits it and the being that views it. This semi-visible mana is called an aura. No two base auras are exactly the same and are affected by the mental and physical status of the emitter. When a being emits mana without giving it any commands, the aura strengthens and becomes visible to all. This visible aura is often mistaken for Fighting Spirit. All living things have a finite amount of mana and a limited capacity for storing it. However, mana acts similar to a gas in that it will diffuse to the lower percentage. For example, if a being has less than their maximum capacity of mana, the natural mana that exists all around them will move into their body to fill the void. For some reason unknown, meditation increases your body or mind¡¯s ability to absorb mana. This phenomenon also explains the invisible aura. If you think of it as a chemical equation at theoretical equilibrium, the amount going in and out is exactly equal. Research is being done in an attempt to discover where the mana is actually stored in the body. The data that we already have points to it being stored somewhere in the brain, as the capacity increases as cognitive abilities increase. Along with the ubiquitous pure mana exists six other different kinds. These are fire, water, earth, air, light, and dark. Light, in this case has a greater affinity to the moral concepts of good than it does with actual light. The same goes for dark in reverse. Though small amounts of these different kinds of mana can be found everywhere, higher concentrations are located according to certain natural focal points. Earth mana is the easiest, as it can be found in abundance anywhere underground. Air mana is located, the opposite of earth, in high altitudes as well as certain areas in which the wind blows quite strongly. Fire mana is primarily found near volcanoes, but can also be found in extremely hot, arid places like the desert. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.Water mana is found in all water; higher concentrations, of course, at larger bodies of water. We do not actually know whether the mana creates the terrain, or the terrain produces the mana. Light and dark mana are slightly different. They are actually produced by sentient beings according to their moral standing. Even a person with the highest morals produces miniscule amounts of dark mana and vice versa. Magic is used by manipulating natural mana with internal mana to create a desired effect. Let¡¯s use the simplest of spells as an example. The mana bolt is created by merging internal mana with a fairly large amount of ambient pure mana, forcing it to clump together, and shooting towards your target. This magic is, effectively, the equivalent of throwing a small rock at your target. However, it does perform a few important functions. It is a very good measure of one¡¯s affinity to magic, and a very good way to train in efficiently using mana. As mana efficiency increases, your ability to manipulate ambient mana with internal mana increases. Thus, you get a greater magnitude for an equal price. Furthermore, Incantations are used in order to increase concentration on the desired affects thereby decreasing chance of failure. Failure results in a phenomenon known as feedback. During feedback, all of the mana you sent out is returned into your body along with the mana it was manipulating. Unfortunately, for some reason, the pure mana sent out becomes the type of mana manipulated. All ¡®wild¡¯ magic when entering the body causes damage. I encourage you to attempt to use mana bolt as a test to see if magic is right for you. The magic created using pure mana is called arcane, and the magic created using the other types is named the same as the type used. Certain schools of magic rely entirely on an individual mana type whereas others use a combination of multiple. The difficulty of manipulating the mana increases the further away from pure that the manipulated type becomes. For example, manipulating pure mana is much easier than manipulating fire mana which in turn, is much easier than manipulating lightning. However, the quantity of mana being manipulated does make a difference. As such, sometimes manipulating fire is more difficult than manipulating lightning. It is possible to imbue a living being with mana. The results differ depending on the type. Imbuing pure mana merely increases that being¡¯s stores, though not beyond capacity. This, by the way, is the principle upon which mana potions operate. Alternatively, by imbuing a mana such as fire or light into a person becomes what is known as a ¡®buff.¡¯ Buffs increase or decrease one or more properties for the duration of the effect. The effect does not last forever due to the beings inherent mana attempting to return to its natural state. Finally, objects can also be imbued with mana. Again, the results of this depend on the type being used as well as the material of the object being used. Metals are particularly weak storage units for mana but highly absorbent. They reach capacity very quickly. Past capacity, Metal becomes a near perfect conductor for mana. Gems are nearly as conductive as metal-just needing a slight stimulus to release the mana, but they can hold the greatest amount of mana of any known substance. Animal hide is highly absorbent of mana and quite greedy as well. It can hold and actually discharge as pure mana a fair amount. This is likely reminiscent of it being living creature. Wood is nearly a perfect conductor-even better than metal-but only a mediocre amplifier, storage, and absorbent for mana; which is why it is used in all the best magical staves. It is rumored that a certain type of wood exists that is an absolute conductor as well as greatly absorbent, not even needing part of a magical creature to assist in amplification. Now you know what mana is, how to use magic, and the properties of various substances often associated with magic. Recommend us to all your friends!
-bong-
Intelligence +1
Skill Learned: Meditation
¡°Ooh, I wanna try out magic now.¡± Loor closes her eyes and begins concentrating. She visualizes a bright white light inside of her head. She moves the light down towards her hand and imagines it combining with a similar light all around her. She then kneads the lights together and rolls them into a small ball. Opening her eyes, she sees a small white ball floating above her outstretched hand. The moment Loor sees it, it winks out. She forgot to continue concentrating. Excited with her success, Loor tries again. This time, she finishes much faster and is able to keep her concentration while looking at the ball for about thirty seconds. She continues trying a couple more times and improves each time. At this point, her mana bar is pretty much empty, so she decides to look for more interesting books to read. Returning to the previously visited floating shelf, Loor returns Magic for Dummies to its proper place and picks out a few others. The books she chooses are How to see Auras: A Learners Guide; Advanced Magical Theory; and-for entertainment purposes-Magical Misadventures: The Rivetingly Random Roaming of Rhonda Rim. She also got the sequel; Magical Misadventures: The Wondrously Whimsical Wayfaring of William Welt. Loor finishes the last book and looks around. Seeing how much the quality of the light changed, she realizes that she must have been reading for quite a bit longer than it seemed. Checking the clock, Loor finds out that 18 hours have passed. She also notices that she has a bit of a backlog of system messages.
Intelligence +1
Intelligence +1
Wisdom +1
Wisdom +1
Magical Misadventures You have read one of the books in the Magical Misadventures series. Read every book in the series and complete a short quiz to win a prize. Books Read The Rivetingly Random Roaming of Rhonda Rim Books Unread 9
Read a Magical Misadventures book Books Read The Rivetingly Random Roaming of Rhonda Rim The Wondrously Whimsical Wayfaring of William Welt Books Unread 8
I can get a prize for reading!! Without even looking around to make sure of her privacy, Loor does an extremely embarrassing ¡®happy dance.¡¯ Fortunately, no one is around to see her. Loor looks at the shelf she has been using thus far and cannot find any more Magical Misadventures books. She goes off to find more floating shelves and manages to find two more of the aforementioned books. Dejected, Loor does another sweep to see if she missed anything. Off in a corner of the room, Loor notices a stairway that he didn¡¯t see last time. In front of the stairway stands a female elf in long robes. Loor walks up to the elf and asks ¡°What¡¯s up there?¡± ¡°Up there is a roughly equal sized room with some of our relatively more valuable books.¡± The elf replies. ¡°Ooh, can I go up?¡± ¡°May I see your library card?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have one.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯m sorry, you are not allowed up there. Only library card holders are allowed past this point.¡± ¡°How do I get a library card?¡± ¡°You can buy one at the front desk for one silver coin.¡± ¡°Okey doke, Thanks!¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± Knowing that he does not have enough money for a library card¡ªand not wanting to have to talk to that scary librarian again¡ªLoor exits the building to find a way to make some money. ¡°Character Window¡±
NameLoorRaceHybrid Elf
Health80/80Mana140/140
Level1Experience0.00%
Strength8Agility10
Wisdom14Intelligence14
Dexterity10Vitality8
Innocence14Stamina80/80
Characteristics
¡ªAndrogynous¡ª ¡ªElemental Connection¡ª ¡ªAnimal Magnetism¡ª ¡ªNatural Camouflage¡ª ¡ªInfravision¡ª ¡ªMaker¡¯s Skill¡ª
Skills
¡ªCampfire¡ª ¡ªHandicraft¡ª ¡ªMeditation¡ª
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry about how short my chapters are, I try to end at a logical transition. Should I allow the narrators thoughts to interject into the story or continue as i did for the prologue and chapter 1? Did you actually read the book? As always, comments, recommendations, and constructive criticism are greatly encouraged. Edit: Tried formatting the book a bit per request. Is this better? Previous Chapter|Home|Next Chapter Chapter 3:An Unexpected Meeting NEW Line of ~~~~~~~ = Time skip -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loor begins searching for a part time job. He starts walking down the gray stone road of the merchant¡¯s district, but notices a problem. How do I find a job? Eventually, he decides to just go into every building and ask for one. Directly next to the library stands a small, two-story wooden building. Entering the building she finds herself in a room that looks quite similar to a convenience store. Behind the counter stands a tall, broad man with a bushy black beard. She walks up to the counter and asks ¡°Do you have any work for me?¡± ¡°No.¡± She leaves and crosses the street to an extremely similar looking building. The same outcome occurs. Undaunted, she leaves the building and walks towards the next one. Suddenly, she feels a rather strong impact and notices that the world looked oddly sideways. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry! Are you okay?¡± A tall white haired boy is reaching down with a worried look on his face. Blue eyes and soft cheeks give the impression of someone very young. He is wearing brightly colored clothing and a large, dark blue, feathered cap. Ah¡­I fell¡ªwait...that voice.¡± ¡°Frankie?¡± Startled, the young man looks closely at Loor. ¡°It can¡¯t be¡­Jesse?!¡± Loor stands up, brushes herself off, and replies. ¡°Yep, it¡¯s me.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you in forever!¡± Loor nods ¡°Not since Before¡­¡± ¡°Oh yeah, I heard about that. Are you okay? My mom used that as an excuse to not let me see you.¡± ¡°Huh, what a *****.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t she?!¡± ¡°So what have you been up to?¡± ¡°Nothing much. At least not until I started playing Royal Road.¡± ¡°I thought you hated games.¡± ¡°Normally I do. Who can hate this game though?¡± ¡°True.¡± His voice trails off and an uncomfortable silence falls on the two friends. Loor looks around and checks out her surroundings to see where she ended up wandering to. The two friends are now sitting on a bench situated in a very small park in the merchant¡¯s district. Behind them is a small pond, barely larger than a large puddle. Unable to stand the awkward silence, Frankie speaks up ¡°By the way, what is your name here? Mine is Sadunik.¡± (SAH-doo-neek) Really? What a stupid sounding name. ¡°Mine is Loor here.¡± ¡°Okay, now that that¡¯s out of the way; let¡¯s be friends!¡±
Sadunik has sent you a friend request. Accept? Yes/No
Friend request accepted.
Sadunik grins and asks ¡°So how long have you been playing?¡± ¡°About two days or so, what about you?¡± ¡°Almost four months real time. I can help you out if you want.¡± Loor thinks about it for a bit, then replies ¡°Hmm¡­no thanks for now, I think I want to at least get started on my own.¡± ¡°An admirable decision! Let me know when you are allowed out of the city. I¡¯ll help you out with your hunting.¡± ¡°Okay, see ya.¡± Loor waves goodbye at Sadunik, rises to her feet, and walks away, leaving Sadunik behind. She moves a small distance away before walking towards the next building, so that Sadunik cannot see her doing so. For some odd reason, she doesn¡¯t want Sadunik to know that she is having trouble finding a job. She walks up to a wooden building with a large window on the side that displays a few very pretty fabrics. Entering the building, Loor expects the same thing to happen again. However, his expectations were not met. ¡°Hello child, how may I help you?¡± Standing behind the counter of what must be a fabric store is an approximately 40-50 year old woman. She has black hair just starting to gray in spots and warm brown eyes. She is wearing a pretty white blouse and a golden pendant in the shape of a sunburst. ¡°Hello Miss, how are you today?¡± Loor responds politely. ¡°I am just fine, thank you.¡± ¡°Do you happen to need any help with work around here?¡± The woman smiles and says ¡°Why yes I do, what a coincidence, I was about to go put a sign up in the front window. Would you like to work here? I could pay you twenty-five copper per day, with bonuses for especially good or unusual work.¡± -bong-
You have been offered a Job
Fabric Store Helper You are required to do chores and odd jobs for the fabric store as well as run the counter while the owner is busy. Reward:25 coppers/day Extra rewards may be obtained according to performance.
Accept? Yes/No
Loor beams and says enthusiastically ¡°I accept, thank you!¡±
You have accepted the job.
Smiling, the woman asks ¡°In that case, what is your name? Mine is Silka.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Loor, I look forward to working with you!¡± ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Having been washing the floor for two hours, Loor is getting a bit tired of doing the grunt work. Finally, he finishes and is ready to move on to his next task. He looks at the list that Silka gave him washing the windows¡­Ugh, at least there are only two windows. He is just getting started on the windows when Silka calls him over. ¡°I have to go out for a bit.¡± She tells him ¡°I need you to stand behind the counter and help any customer that comes in.¡± Having said this, she leaves without waiting for a reply. What a slave driver! I can¡¯t believe this was the only work I could find. Loor decides that since he can¡¯t move from behind the counter. Now would be a good time to practice using magic. He again and again makes the small white ball float over his hand. After his tenth practice attempt¡ªwith intermittent breaks to regenerate mana¡ªhe is able to make it appear almost instantly and concentrate on it indefinitely. -bong-
You have learned a spell.
Wisp Beginner 1 0.00% You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. A small ball of bright white light appears above your hand. Higher levels of this spell allow you to manifest multiple lights and control the color and location of the wisp. Amount able to manifest: 1 Mana Cost: 10 mana to create, 1 mana/sec to maintain.
You have learned a skill
Magic Mastery Beginner 1 0.00% The ability to manipulate mana with your will. As this skill grows, so will the efficiency with which you can use magic. Effect: -1% casting cost, +1% casting effect.
Confused, I thought I was practicing mana bolt Loor is nonetheless happy about obtaining his first spell. Just now, a customer enters the store. Knowing her duty, (and wanting that extra reward) Loor greets the customer with a smile on her face. ¡°Hello sir, how may I help you?¡± The man looks at her, face unreadable, and responds rather gruffly ¡°Hmm¡­I¡¯m just looking around for now.¡± He turns his back and continues inspecting the bolts of fabric on display. Loor watches him for a bit. He has messy brown hair, a strong, square jaw, and dark gray eyes. A long black cloak covers most of his body, revealing only a flash of crimson fabric on his torso and what looks to be dark brown leather on his legs. His boots are mostly leather with a ring of some metal around the whole foot, from toe to heel. Remembering another book she read earlier, Loor starts concentrating on her internal mana and moving it into her eyes. Immediately she notices a very faint apple-green mist rising from the man. Excited, she again loses her concentration and the mist disappears. Undaunted she begins practicing this technique in order to make it easier. Unfortunately, before she is able to finish mastering the skill, the man walks up and asks to buy a specific bolt of cloth. ¡°How much for this one?¡± The cloth he is holding was dyed with extremely low quality dye. The color even faded from black to gray in many places, giving it a mottled appearance. Checking the registry, Loor responds ¡°That one costs 30 copper per yard. How much of it do you want?¡± ¡°Hmm...12 yards please.¡± ¡°Okay, that will be 1 silver 60 copper.¡± Loor measures out the fabric and cuts it with the tool attached to the counter. She passes over the section of cloth and receives the payment from the man. ¡°Thank you for shopping with us. We hope to see you again!¡± The man nods briefly and exits the store. Bored again¡ªLoor can¡¯t even practice seeing auras without a target¡ªshe tries to think of something else to do. She starts musing over why she didn¡¯t learn mana bolt, but can¡¯t figure it out. Finally, she decides to just practice the spell she already knows rather than try to make a new one at the moment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After eight days of similar work, chores while Silka is around and practicing magic while she is not. Loor¡¯s magical skills look something like this
Wisp Beginner 5 38.59% A small ball of bright white light appears above your hand. Higher levels of this spell allow you to manifest multiple lights and control the color and location of the wisp. Amount able to manifest: 1 Mana Cost: 10 mana to create, 1 mana/5sec to maintain.
Magic Mastery Beginner 3 65.32% The ability to manipulate mana with your will. As this skill grows, so will the efficiency with which you can use magic. Effect: -3% casting cost, +3% casting effect.
Auravision Beginner 2 28.25% By inundating your optical nerves with mana, your eyes are able to see even the faintest aura. As this skill grows, you may be able to see more than just auras. Mana cost: 18/sec
¡°Would you look at that. This place is spotless, and I¡¯ve finished with all of my outside business for the month.¡± Silka marveled, looking around in delight. ¡°You definitely deserve some good payment.¡± Elated, Loor walks over to the counter wreathed in the fresh citrus scent that he just finished applying to the store. ¡°Here you go, two silvers just like I promised. Since you did such a good job, I will also teach you a couple of skills.¡± -bong-
You have learned Spinning
You have learned Weaving
Loor smiles widely and thanks Silka profusely. ¡°I haven¡¯t even told you how to use them yet!¡± Silka admonishes, grinning. ¡°Spinning, which requires a spindle, is taking small fibers and turning them into thread or rope. Weaving is using that thread to create bolts of cloth or, when you¡¯re really good, tapestries. You need some sort of loom in order to weave. Go ahead, now you can thank me.¡± Loor suddenly lost his feeling of thankfulness¡­Though he did like the skills; her attitude rubbed him the wrong way. He said his goodbyes to Silka, and headed to the library. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you know why Loor didn''t learn mana bolt? (seriously, not sure if the hint I left was good enough, not really all that important if you don''t) Again, sorry for how short it is and how long it took. Not too over or under powered is it? How is the writing compared to previous chapters? Better? Worse? The same? Any comments, questions, or constructive criticisms are welcome and encouraged. Previous Chapter|Home|Next Chapter Chapter 4: More Learning So apparently I am only able to write when I should be doing something else... This chapter involves a lot explanation of the mechanics I''m using. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loor is lucky; the mean librarian isn¡¯t at the front desk today. Instead, that nice guard from before is there. ¡°Hello miss, I¡¯d like to purchase a library card.¡± The desk worker looks up from what she is reading and smiles when she recognizes Loor. ¡°Hello, that will be one silver.¡± Loor hands over the silver and receives the card in return. Happy, he walks into the library. First, he goes to find the two Magical Misadventures books from earlier that he forgot to read. Grabbing the books, he heads to the back to go up the stairs to the second floor. This floor looks much the same as the first floor albeit quite a bit more organized. Each area had a group of shelves of a specific style, so it seemed it would be much easier to find things. He walked over to the section of floating shelves to browse. Fortunately, he was able to find another two Magical Misadventure books he hadn¡¯t read yet. Satisfied for now, Loor goes to the table in the center of this section to read. ~~~~four hours later~~~~ ¡°Bwahahaha!!! Classic.¡± ~~~~four more hours later~~~~ ¡°Pfft, as if!¡± ~~~~A further four hours later~~~~
Wisdom +1
Wisdom +1
Wisdom +1
Wisdom +1
¡°Greatness, such greatness.¡± Loor says with a tear in her eyes (total exaggeration) as he closes the fourth book he had out. Too lazy to walk all the way downstairs to reshelf the first two books, he just leaves them on the table. He does, however, put the other two back where they belong. I should probably get some more information now, though I really want to find more magical misadventures books¡­I wonder who wrote them Fun fact: It was the central AI A few more books catch his eye. Specifically Manipulating the Elements: The Theory Behind it All, and A Better Weapon for a Better You: Magic Staves Edition. Bringing the two books back to the table, he buckles down for some serious learning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Manipulating the Elements: The Theory Behind it All~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The six elements of the natural world: Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Light, and Dark each have different specific properties that must be understood before attempting to utilize them. Ubiquitous Earth is the easiest element to find in abundance. Earth forms strong bonds with itself, making it easier to manipulate large amounts than the other elements. However, Earth is the most susceptible to manipulation by the other elements, and¡ªdue to the tendency to ¡®clump¡¯¡ªwhen one part is affected generally the entire section gets drawn in as well. Earth is also the heaviest of the elements, partly due to the attraction that the great amount of Earth in the ground exerts on any Earth not attached to it. It¡¯s weight and attraction causes it to be extremely difficult to penetrate. Slippery Air, as easy to find as earth, though in lesser concentrations, is the most difficult element to manipulate. You must encase the entirety of the clump of Air, on all sides, with internal mana. If this is not done, the air will escape from the gap with unwanted¡ªbut usually fairly amusing¡ªeffects. Air cooled to a sufficient temperature will convert into Water; heated to a sufficient temperature, it will spontaneously convert to Fire. As such, air is the most changeable of the Four true natural elements. Air is the lightest of the Four and is very good at slipping through even the smallest chinks in armor. This property grants it the greatest penetrating power. Hungry Fire has a very special property. It has the ability to consume and convert Air in sufficient concentrations into itself. Certain mixtures of Earth and other elements are also easily consumed by Fire. Fire forms extremely loose bonds with itself, second only to Air, and cannot survive long without at least one other mote of fire nearby. This property causes it to have the shortest life of all elements, ensuring that it does not consume the entirety of the world. Due to its consuming ability, Fire has the greatest destructive power of the elements and often clings to its target even after it no longer receives directions. Soothing Water is the antithesis of Fire. When Water comes into contact with Fire, both motes are converted into different elements. Water converts to Air, while Fire converts to Earth. This allows the balance between the four elements to be kept. The bonds that Water forms are quite tight, second only to Earth. This quality allows for Water to easily convert an equal volume of Fire while not totally losing cohesion. The special strength of its bonds, not too tight and not too loose, allows it to be the most diverse of the elements, and the easiest to manipulate. However, it is offensively the weakest of all. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Light and Dark are quite special. Not only are they solely produced by living things, but they also stand above the other four elements. Not affected by them, but affecting each in the same way. They are further unique in that the Two are the only elements that can be safely infused into living creatures. The basic form of Light, white light, when concentrated and directed, converts itself into one of the Four. This property allows one to increase the concentration of a specific element in one¡¯s body in order to further align them with that element. This principle is how the spells known as ¡°buffs¡± work. Furthermore, White light can be infused with the power of one of the gods in order to actually restore an injured being to the pink of health. Advanced Light magic, which we will not be covering in detail here, involves separate colors of light that each has a unique property. Dark stands exactly opposite Light in that when directed, it can absorb and destroy any of the Four as well as Light. However, when it absorbs Light anywhere, Dark is destroyed as well. Furthermore, anytime it absorbs any element in a living being, it is similarly destroyed. Advanced Dark magic involves combining Dark with one or more elements in order to achieve different effects. However, we will not cover this process here. Now that you understand the interactions between the elements, hopefully you will be able to control them better. If you found this book helpful, don¡¯t forget to read the sequel; Manipulating the Elements: Basic Spells for Beginner Mages.
Intelligence +1
So the elements actually interact with each other? So realistic!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Better Weapons for a Better You: Magical Staves~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many different factors must be taken into account when selecting any weapon. The desired properties for a staff are very different from those of other weapons. First is the ability for the materials of the staff to conduct mana easily. For best results purely for mana, the staff should be made of either metal, wood, or gemstones. In order of conductivity, it goes certain types of wood, certain types of metal, and gemstone. Wood is in general the best material for a staff due to this and some other properties that it possesses. The bones of certain rare magical creatures work just as well, though normal bones do not. Wood is highly absorbent of ambient mana. This property causes a synergistic affect whenever a spell is channeled through the wood of the staff, slightly amplifying the effects of the magic. The amplification can be increased by placing small, thin parts of a magical creature within the core of the staff. Generally, the amount of magical creatures that can be used as pure amplifiers is greater than the amount whose bones can be used as staves alone. Furthermore, the bones of a magical creature do not need this assistance to increase the strength of the amplification, as the mana inherent in that creature works perfectly well. The brain or heart tissue of a magical creature is the best used for amplification. A few powerful amplifiers are dragon, unicorn, gargoyle, chimaera, and manticore, however many more than just these exist. In fact, finding these creatures is quite difficult in and of itself, let alone killing them and using their body parts. Finally, a focus should be added in order to force the mana conducted through the staff to be discharged from a specific point. Generally, crystals and gemstones are used as a focus, though expensive, high purity mithril works just as well. Now you know all of the things you must watch out for when choosing a staff. Have fun buying your new weapon!
Intelligence +1
Whew! I really need to stretch a bit. After his sixteen hour study session, Loor decides to go back across the street and try to do some more staff training. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry about how short it is and how long it took. Please, questions, comments, criticisms are greatly encouraged. (please point out any continuity problems, if they are there they are likely unintentional) Thank you for continuing to read! Previous Chapter|Home|Next Chapter Chapter 5 Sorry about taking forever to post this. I had writers block and actually kinda gave up on the story. Looking at the comments asking for more revitalized me though. Please comment with any suggestions, criticisms, or really anything you think I should do better at. Also if anyone could comment with how to unlock a thread. I want to unlock the old chapters so I can edit them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loor enters the training hall only to find that Rari is nowhere in sight. Huh, that might explain why there was no crowd. Looking around, Loor sees the same quarterstaff he was training with before (at least he thinks it¡¯s the same one) leaning against the wall. He decides to have fun whacking a dummy for a bit before Rari gets back. He stands in front of the dummy and starts hitting it rhythmically. Without realizing it, he strikes the dummy with the exact same pattern and tempo as the practice he did earlier. Loor falls into a bit of a trance while he is doing this and time passes without his noticing. After about three hours, he stops training as his grumbling stomach notifies him that he should probably eat if he doesn¡¯t want to collapse. ¡°Very good, you¡¯ve gotten much better than before.¡± A voice says from behind him. Loor jumps and whirls in surprise. Unfortunately, his legs get tangled up in the staff and he falls to the ground. Rari who had arrived some time ago, helps Loor up from the floor. Grinning he says ¡°But I guess there is still some room to improve.¡± Blushing Loor nods and thanks Rari for the help. ¡°Very good, that was your next stage of training. I¡¯m glad to see you working without me being around to make sure.¡± Rari says as he walks over to the weapon rack to pick up another quarterstaff. ¡°Are you ready for some more practice?¡± ¡°Actually, I was just about to get something to eat.¡± Loor replies nervously. ¡°Would you like to share some of mine? My sister usually packs me far more food than I am able to eat.¡± Rari offers. Loor nods eagerly ¡°Yes please!¡± Rari beckons to Loor and they walk over to a large sack in the corner of the room. Rari opens it up and begins pulling packages of food out. By the time he is done, the sack is completely empty and there is enough to comfortably feed a large household spread out on the floor. Loor stares, amazed, at the sheer quantity of food littering the ground. ¡°Uh¡­Your sister is really enthusiastic about cooking, huh?¡± Rari nods ¡°Help yourself.¡± Loor wastes no time unwrapping the packages and eating one after another. Even with the copious amounts he is eating it barely makes a dent in the amount on the ground.
Gourmet Meal You have eaten a high protein meal cooked by a talented chef. Stamina regeneration tripled for two hours
Overstuffed You have overeaten by quite a bit. Stamina consumption doubled for 20 minutes
¡°That was amazing.¡± Loor enthuses. Rari blushes a little but nods ¡°Thank you, I will be sure to tell my sister that you approve.¡± Rari grabs his quarterstaff and stands ¡°All right, let us get back to training.¡± Groaning good naturedly, Loor stands and readies his staff. ¡°This time, we will have a sort of slow motion battle in which I will call out what I am going to do. You are to either attack or defend with the counterpart.¡± Rari explains ¡°A quick quiz, if I were to do this¡± Rari holds his staff in the middle block position ¡°you would¡­?¡± Loor makes a middle strike with his staff. ¡°Good! Remember, while practicing we don¡¯t want anyone to get injured so you use the attack that would be blocked. However in a real fight, you would obviously use some other strike.¡± Rari stands in a ready position ¡°Now, let us begin.¡± ¡°High strike¡­¡­Middle strike¡­¡­Middle block¡­¡­Low strike¡­¡­¡­¡± After roughly an hour of practice Rari calls for a pause. ¡°Now I will call out a sequence of moves that I will do, and you must remember the sequence and counter it. If you get it wrong, I will tap you lightly with the staff to remind you of the correct technique.¡± Tap lightly...That doesn¡¯t sound too bad. ¡°All right, begin.¡± ¡°High strike, Middle strike, Low block, Middle block.¡± High block, Middle block, Low strike, Middle strike Loor grins as he successfully counters the sequence. After a few more sequences he makes a mistake. ¡°Ah!¡± That was NOT a light tap! Flustered by the unexpected pain, Loor messes up again. ¡°Focus!¡± After a few more mistakes, Loor finally gets it down pat. By the time Rari stops for a break, he is able to remember and counter sequences of ten at a time. ¡°Good, you did well after that rough patch near the beginning.¡± Loor sags with relief as he realizes they are done. He collapses on the ground to rest and notices he has quite the backlog of system messages.
Strength +1
Agility +1
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Agility +1
Stamina +1
Stamina +1
You have learned a new skill: Cringe
Cringe By shrinking back from a blow as it hits, you can mitigate any pain received. Pain reduced by 5%
¡°Are you ready for the last stage of staff training?¡± Loor shakes his head, panicking ¡°I¡ªuh¡ªhave something I need to do first.¡± and quickly logs out. One day (four days game time) later, Loor appears in the training hall, refreshed and ready to finish training. Rari is standing in the center of the room. ¡°Ah good, I¡¯ve been waiting for you.¡± Rari¡¯s face brightens as he notices Loor. ¡°Are you ready for the final stage?¡± Loor nods confidently ¡°Bring it on!¡± Rari grins ¡°Now we¡¯re going to try sparring for real. Come at me with everything you have.¡± ¡°What if I hurt you?¡± Loor asks, worried. ¡°Hurt me?¡± Rari smirks. ¡°¡­forget I asked.¡± ¡°Alright, begin!¡± Loor immediately snaps a quick high strike at Rari¡¯s face. He blocks with almost contemptuous ease and counters with a swipe at Loor¡¯s kidney. Loor blocks it and performs a low strike at Rari¡¯s groin, which is avoided with a quick pivot. He then swings his staff down at Loor¡¯s head. Loor sidesteps the attack and tries to quickly trip Rari by sticking the staff between his legs. Rari kicks it away as he turns and swipes at Loor¡¯s leg. Loor jumps and uses gravity to aim a powerful strike at Rari¡¯s head. The instructor blocks it with his pole and diverts the force down to his side. Off-balance, Loor falls, attempting to turn it into a roll to easily get back on his feet. He failed. Rari holds his staff against Loor¡¯s throat as he lands flat on his back ¡°Your dead.¡± Loor sighs, disappointed in his dismal (he thinks) performance. Pulling back his staff, Rari grins and holds out his hand ¡°That was quite good for your first fight. I was expecting you to panic the moment my staff came at you.¡± Loor grabs the hand and is yanked to his feet. Much stronger than he looks. ¡°So I didn¡¯t fail?¡± ¡°Failed? On the contrary you passed with high marks.¡± Rari assures him. ¡°Of course there is some room for improvement, but considering that you¡¯ve only practiced for a few days, you did very well.¡± Loor grins in relief. Finally I finished. Having completely forgotten why he was doing this in the first place. ¡°So, are you ready to learn how to wield a sword now?¡± Rari asks. Losing the grin instantly, Loor starts shaking his head. ¡°I think I¡¯ll stick with just the staff. I¡¯d rather practice that and master it than learn a whole new weapon.¡± Rari smiles faintly ¡°In that case¡­¡± He walks over to the weapon rack and looks carefully at the various staves on display. Selecting one, he grabs it, walks back, and holds it out. ¡°Here, you should have a weapon you can use.¡± Loor takes it and thanks Rari profusely.
Seasoned Oak Staff Damage 10 ¨C 20 Durability 50/50 A standard quarterstaff made of well-seasoned oak. Very resilient. Agility +2
You have learned a Skill: Staff Mastery
Loor thanks Rari again, and leaves.
NameLoorRaceHybrid Elf
Health90/90Mana170/170
Level1Experience0.00%
Strength8Agility12+2
Wisdom18Intelligence16
Dexterity10Vitality9
Innocence14Stamina90/90
Characteristics
¡ªAndrogynous¡ª ¡ªElemental Connection¡ª ¡ªAnimal Magnetism¡ª ¡ªNatural Camouflage¡ª ¡ªInfravision¡ª ¡ªMaker¡¯s Skill¡ª
Skills
¡ªCampfire¡ª ¡ªHandicraft¡ª ¡ªMeditation¡ª ¡ªCringe¡ª ¡ªStaff Mastery¡ª
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