Project: TheirWorld - Chapter 010 - Part 2

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Receiving an Education

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TheirWorld

Grimhai was still sitting at his desk, looking out over the classes. She sat back down in the chair and said, “Teacher Grimhai, I have done as you asked.”

“Very good,” he said with a smile. “And it looks like you have done the great accomplishment of doing it without further upsetting our poor Scribe Marlon. A great feat indeed. Now you should have at least one Sub-Skill. Please pull up your skill window.”

Doing so, Guin wondered if she visibly paled at the sheer amount of skills that she now possessed. The screen itself was nice, with each skill having it’s own seal-like graphic to differentiate it from others.

[Geography] [Beginner] [Cartography] [Beginner] [Calligraphy] [Beginner] [Fine Arts] [Beginner] [Drawing] [Beginner] [Cryptozoology] [Beginner] [History and Lore] [Beginner] [Stealth] [Beginner] [Burglary] [Beginner] [Domestic] [Beginner] [Charismatic] [Beginner] [Beguiling] [Intermediate] [Hunting] [Beginner] [Animal Handling] [Beginner]

“Well, well,” he said. “You certainly have been busy! You have a number of skills at your disposal. I will now explain how general skills and sub skills work. Each general skill and sub skill has it’s own experience bar. When you work on general skill, you gain experience in that skill. If you work on a sub skill, you get full experience in the sub skill, and half the experience in the general skill it falls under. General skills and sub skills have the same amount of experience required to gain a proficiency level in them. Rank - Beginner requires 1 XP to achieve, Rank - Intermediate requires 1,000 XP to achieve, Rank - Advanced, 10,000 XP, Craftsmen, 100,000 XP; and so on, so forth, until the final achievable rank of Grandmaster. There are currently 0 Grandmasters in TheirWorld.” Almost gagging, she looked at her skill window. Just how many people were out there who were trying to be a Grandmaster in one of these skills, and yet there wasn’t a single one? Even in combat skills? “In order to progress in a rank, you must also take on a quest given by a skill mentor.

“It should also be noted that in order to use a sub skill to it’s full potential, the sub skill and the general skill must be at the same rank. In this case, the sub skill is a slave to the general skill. Using your skills as an example, though you have the sub skill [Charismatic - Beguiling] at Intermediate Rank, since your [Charismatic] skill is only Beginner Rank, you can only use your [Charismatic - Beguiling] at Beginner Rank. That said, if the general skill is higher rank than the sub skill, the sub skill will receive a bonus equal to half the experience points of the differential experience points. Do you understand?”

“I think so,” Guin nodded. In theory she did, at least. If she was correct in her understanding, it really was fairly straightforward - just difficult on more than one level. The internet explained it a similar way, but she wasn’t sure that helped her understanding of it. The system was complicated, but it was fairly logical so far. Essentially, you couldn’t function as a true Grandmaster of a sub skill without having a broad knowledge of the general subjects involved. On the other hand, you could just power through focusing on one sub skill to level a general skill, though that takes more time. There were a lot of angry players who complained about how slow the progression was, but at the same time, it made sense to her. One didn’t become a master craftsmen overnight.

“Lastly, it can be very difficult to keep track of skills. There is a system in place that allows you to select as many skills as you wish to be filed on a separate page than our full list of skills. Please open your skill window again,” the teacher instructed, and Guin did as she was told. “There you will note that each skill has a small check box next to it. Choose a skill, and check that box. Next, you will see to the left that there is a tab that says ‘Saved Skills’. Click on that box.”

Guin clicked the box on [Cryptozoology], and clicked on the ‘Saved Skills’ tab. [Cryptozoology] was listed alone. “Ahh…” she wondered aloud. It could still get muddy, depending on how many skills a player wanted to have access to, but it wasn’t bad.

“Clicking on a skill will bring up information on that skill,” Grimhai went on. “Information such as the benefits of having the skill, what the skill will give you if you continue leveling it, examples of what the skill affects, the experience that you need to put in for the next level, and various other things. It is very beneficial to keep track of these bonuses, as they may be able to help in the future. In the end, each skill has it’s own rules and quirks, but it’s best to seek advice from specific skill masters about those in the future. Shall we move on?”

Accept this quest to begin a series of quests on how to play the game.

You must fulfill the basic five lessons of the teacher Grimhai Kidalmar.

You have finished the second lesson:

UPDATE: The Third Requirement: Listen to Teacher Grimhai’s introduction to factions. Follow his instructions to gain a randomized faction quest.

This quest is required.>

Guin nodded. This was a lot of information - though she knew that there were other routes one could take to learn these things, it was also considered by the community to have been worth it to sit through the first teacher’s lessons. She felt like she had been a pretty docile player so far, but she had gotten some benefits from it, so she decided to continue.

“Excellent,” Grimhai nodded. “The next thing that I will teach you about is the factions in the world and your reputation with those factions. Like skills, there are many factions that you gain reputations and sub-reputations with, thought the sub system for factions works a little bit differently. While they do not outright affect your character, having a high reputation with a faction can give you access to quests, allow you to wear faction specific equipment, use faction specific mounts and pets, allow you to gain access to higher ranked NPCs, and various other benefits. First, let’s talk about how you gain faction points.

“As with anything in TheirWorld, there are various ways to attain faction points - though some factions are more specific than others. One of the easiest ways to gain faction points is to complete quests.” Taking a piece of paper out of his desk, Grimhai began scribbling with a quill that was on his desk. He only took a moment to finish - though she couldn’t see, she assumed he was only signing it - rolled it up, and sealed it with melted wax, and handed it to her. “Take this letter of introduction to Pastor Jormund in the Imperial Church of the Lady. He will ask you to perform a task for him. Once you have completed his task and gone to him for your reward, you may return to me.”

Hesitantly, Guin took the scroll from his hands.

Guin stood, put the letter in her bag, and stretched. “Alright! I will be back as soon as this quest is complete!” With that, Guin turned to leave the school house.