10. RPG Expert

“So first, you want to try and sense the water near your hand.” Ardan instructed.

After a quick change of clothes and a shower, he had considered Sandria’s request. At first, he was reluctant. Ardan had never taught anyone anything before, and he wasn’t exactly good at magic, either. Sandria insisted that it would only be a matter of time until she learnt it, anyways, so he eventually conceded.

Now Ardan leant against the cold tiles of the bathroom wall, Elemental Magic: History, Information and Guide in one hand and a ball of water floating above the other. He deemed his skill level high enough to multitask teaching Sandria and practicing water magic, though his concentration was frequently disrupted by her questions.

He offered to lend her the manual, but she claimed she learnt better when someone was teaching her. Ardan reckoned she was just trying to spend more time with him, but didn’t bring it up, because he wanted that too.

“So how close should I put my hand to the water?” Sandria asked, breaking Ardan’s focus on the water sphere. It splattered in the sink as he turned to her.

“It shouldn’t be more than a few millimeters away at first. It says here that all you need to do is imagine you’re controlling it.” Ardan said.

She turned back toward the bathtub and grunted loudly in concentration. Ardan couldn’t help but giggle at the sound.

“Hey! I almost had it!” Sandria said, annoyed for a second. But Ardan’s laugh was contagious and within moments, she was laughing too.

“Do you wanna take a break?” Sandria suggested. “I’ve got some math homework due tomorrow I need to finish.”

“Sure, I think I’ll go take a break now too.” Ardan replied, still smiling. His fatigue had crept back up to forty-five, which meant he needed to pause for a while.

- Alert! -

You have completed [Daily Requirements] (Quest)

You have recieved 550 EXP (x41)

You leveled up!

You have recieved 4 ATP

You have recieved 1 SKP

You have receieved 10§

The notifications appeared on cue, reminding him of the system that bound him. Sandria stood up and strode out of the bathroom, walking straight through the floating screens only visible to Ardan. Now that he had skills, would he be able to spend the skill points? Also, another level up meant more attribute points to spend.

Now that I think about it, Sandria said that I could approach her with anything, right? I wonder if she knows anything about RPG games...

+ - + - + - +

A half hour later, Ardan sat on Sandria’s bed, being tutored on RPG game mechanics and choices.

Sandria’s room was strangely plain for a young girl. It had bare white walls and a simple pink bed. Opposite that was a large wooden study desk - also pink - and a display shelf containing several flashy trophies. It appeared that Sandria had many talents in academics too, along with her extensive gaming expertise. There was a laptop and multiple study books on the table.

By this time, Ardan had been around her long enough to realise she was a being that craved knowledge. Though she was smart and had high intellect, Sandria never seemed to boast, and was more mature than some people his age. Thus, Ardan didn’t bother asking her where she had gotten so good at gaming.

“So what game are you playing, anyways? I know dad’s planning to get you a computer soon, so you can either start school or go to work.” Sandria said, tilting her head sideways

That was news to him. Ardan realised that he had no plans for the future as yet, though he knew he couldn’t possibly stay at home all day every day.

“Um, it’s not a very well-known game. I think. It’s called League of Progression.” He replied cautiously. Ardan still wasn’t sure whether or not to tell Sandria that L.O.P wasn’t just a game. How would she react? She wouldn’t believe him because the screens were invisible to everyone other than himself.

And suddenly, it hit Ardan.

“Menu. Shop.” he said.

“Uh, Ardan? What’re you doing?” Sandria asked.

“Would you believe me if I told you that the game I’m playing is in real life?” Ardan shot back.

Frowning in confusion, she replied. “What do you mean? That’s so vague.”

“Purchase minor health potion. Quantity one.” he said, ignoring her.

A vial materialised out of nowhere, dropping into Ardan’s awaiting hands. Would Sandria be able to see it? If not, it would’ve been a waste of his newly acquired money. He turned back towards Sandria, who had gone quiet.

“Can you see this?” Ardan said, holding the bottle up to her eye level.

“W-what? B-but how did you-” Sandria stuttered, moving closer to inspect the health potion.

So she could see it, after all.

Ardan let her take the bottle, which she did gently, caressing it. She examined it carefully, tracing her fingers over the rough surface and intricate carvings. A minute later, she turned her attention back to Ardan.

“How did you do that?” Sandria asked.

“It wasn’t me, it was the system. The game. You know how I was telling you about a game in real life?” Ardan explained.

“Go on…” Sandria said, intrigued.

“It can somehow create things out of thin air and change the world around me. That’s a health potion.” he said.

Nodding, she looked at the health potion, deep in thought. “So your sickness yesterday. Did you cure it with this?”

Damn, she caught on quickly.

Ardan chuckled. “Actually, that was caused by the game. A quest I didn’t complete, specifically.”

“A quest… Hold on. So just now, when you were telling me about the penalties for not completing quests, you meant this?” Sandria asked, astounded.

Ardan’s nod confirmed it. He had already gone through the majority of the aspects of L.O.P that he knew with Sandria, apart from the shop and the statistics.

“So if this game is in real life, how are you supposed to get ‘experience points’?” She asked suspiciously.

“I complete the daily quests.” Ardan paused. Daily quests hadn’t been the only time he had gotten EXP. The first time he had received it was in the incinerator, when he had killed the trash rat. “Also… I think I get it from killing things.”

Sandria’s face featured disappointment and horror, yet her voice was calm and steady. “So do you want to tell me what you killed? Was it a person?"

“N-no! I would never do that! It was a rat, and I didn’t even kill it anyways.” Ardan said defensively.

Sandria heaved a sigh of relief while he explained.

“All I did was throw it across the room, since it was scratching me. It fell down and I think it got incinerated. Since I dealt damage to it, I think the system counted it as an assisted kill.”

Shaking her head, Sandria made eye contact with Ardan. “Listen to me. I won't ask what you were doing in an incinerator, but you can’t kill things. You just can’t. If they’re real life creatures, you can’t kill them.”

“Of course I won’t! I’m not a murderer.” he replied.

Satisfied with his answer, her curiosity returned. “So what do you get from leveling up? Is it money, or some sort of point system?” she asked.

“I’m pretty sure I get four attribute points and one skill point, along with my health increasing by twenty-five per level.”

“Attribute points? What kind of statistics do you have in the game? Is it just standard, with strength, intelligence…” Sandria trailed off.

“Actually, that’s something I wanted to talk to you about before. This game has a very strange stat system which is really fluid, so I’m not sure what to increase. Basically, it’s split into a few categories.” Ardan paused and pulled up the stat screen before continuing. “Strength, dexterity, endurance, recovery, durability and some appearance thing I can change. I can improve parts of my body with those categories and the larger the body part the less it increases. I’ve only increased my strength once in my entire body. The other time I used the attribute points was to increase strength and dexterity in my hands because I needed to climb a wall. The second part of the stat system is called ‘Non-Physical’, and is similar to the traditional style where you add points into specific sections to improve them.”

Shaking her head, Sandria replied. “Hang on a minute. First of all, why would you increase your strength and dexterity in your hands if you were trying to climb a wall? You realise that climbing consists of arm strength too, not just hand strength. Second of all, if I understood what you said correctly, this stat system is one where you can’t just randomly add points into whatever you want. If you do that, your body could become unbalanced and you might become disfigured. Might.” She repeated after witnessing Ardan’s shocked face.

He nodded slowly, absorbing the information. “So what should I put my stat points into now?”

Sandria bit her lip and stood up, walking towards her desk. “To be honest, I really don’t know. You’ll have to give me a bit of time before I can tell you, but first. Do you know how much the game increases your particular stat by, and how do you want to improve yourself?”

This, Ardan could answer easily. “It said for every two metres it’ll increase by zero-point-one percent, and for every two centimeters it’ll increase by ten percent. I want to become a ninja.”

At this, Sandria let out a wolf whistle, which Ardan interpreted as her being impressed.

“I know, right? Being a ninja is so cool!” he said enthusiastically.

“That’s… not what I was whistling at. I was impressed at the amount the system can boost your body. Wanting to become a ninja is so cliche and kind of cringe, not gonna lie.” Sandria said as she placed the health potion on her table.

It was like dropping a bomb on poor Ardan. He blushed profusely and stared down at his lap in embarrassment. During his sheltered life, never had he been put down so harshly, and his fragile ego just couldn’t bear it. Fortunately for Ardan, Sandria sensed his discomfort and was quick to console him.

“Hey, it’s ok, everyone wants to become a ninja at first.” She lied. “Besides ninjas, there are a lot of other cool classes and things you can be.”

Ardan looked up and cheered up a little. He wasn’t a child anymore, and he should’ve been expecting things like this when he left the orphanage.

“Oh yeah, talking about classes, do you have a class yet?” Sandria continued.

Surprisingly, Ardan had forgotten all about classes. “Oh, that’s right, there are classes in this game. I think it’s locked though, let me check. Menu. Profile."

While he was activating his profile, Sandria observed Ardan. She had already deduced the system control panel mainly depended on voice activation, and the ‘screens’ were un-interactable and somehow visible only to Ardan. However, she had yet to identify whether they were an illusion induced by some sort of drug, or actual, literal magic.

#8573 Profile - Ardan Boone PR: Insane Lvl. 6 - 18874/21000 EXP Title: The First Hybrid HP 225/225 Equipped Items Traits: Hybrid MP 100/220 Tools: None Class: Unlocked at level 15 Fatigue 2 Armour: None Sub-class: Unlocked at class level 15 Accessories: None Currency: 0§ Active Quests None

Ardan’s profile had only changed a little. “It says here that classes only unlock at level fifteen and sub classes only unlock when my class level is fifteen.” he stumbled over the tongue-twisting sentence.

Just as Sandria was about to respond, the pair heard the jangling of keys near the front door.

“We’ll talk about this another time. For now, don’t say a word about this to Pat. Understand? I’ll keep the health potion.” Sandria hissed.

Ardan nodded and walked as casually as possible into the corridor to greet his ‘dad’. Meanwhile, Sandria rushed out enthusiastically and leapt into her fathers awaiting arms.

“Dad! You’re back!”

This time, he wasn’t carrying a briefcase or wearing a suit. Instead, he wore casual clothing and carried a large black backpack. As usual, he called out: “Hey kids! How were your days!” before collapsing into a chair.

However, this time he had something else to say.

“Are you feeling alright, Ardan?” he asked.

Ardan mumbled yes as a response, feeling awkward around Pat’s attention.

“How would you like to visit the mall with us tomorrow? I can get you some new clothes and whatever else you need to settle in.” Pat offered.

Struck by the gesture, Ardan stuttered as he replied. “S-sure! I’d love that!”

+ - + - + - +

The room was dark, the only light emanating from the fluorescent blue holographic screens hovering above the desks. Ten people were scattered across the room, each facing their own computers, monitoring an important project. Multiple giant wires were embedded in the walls and floor, all leading to a large hatch in the centre of the room. The wires connected to the floor beneath the room, extracting something.

“Hey. M1.” Someone said.

“What is it, M6?” A person across the room replied.

“The first hybrid just reached level six in three days.”

M1 wasn’t impressed. “So? The highest rankers have leveled up much faster than that. He’s only leveling just above average now.”

“Yeah, but the thing is, he’s only killed one thing, and it wasn’t even a monster from a dungeon. He’s gotten this far just by completing his daily quests.” M6 said.

Swivelling around in their chair, M1 stared at M6 from across the room. “How? That’s an impossible amount of experience from daily quests. Is this some sort of benefit from their title?”

“I’m… not sure. It seems he’s acquired some sort of experience multiplier.” M6 replied, just as shocked.

Some of the other inhabitants mumbled their thoughts on the subject, but most of them ignored the conversation.

“Keep monitoring them. I’ll have the recruitment team on standby, just in case we need to… recruit him.” M1 turned back to his own screen.

“Will do. They don’t seem to have a direct strategy to level up yet. I think they’re still exploring the system.”

“Good. It would cause drama if someone with the benefits of the in-between suddenly gained another overpowered ability like experience multiplication. If they continue progressing at this rate, they won’t get anywhere near the top charts, so no one will know him.” M1 assured M6. But he wasn’t finished yet.

"Remember, The First Hybrid is a second priority. Your first is to monitor those damn sneaky elves. Who knows what kind of horrid things they’re doing now. Honestly, feeding their own kind filum? They might as well have commited mass genocide.” He scoffed, before returning his attention back to his monitor.

If they continued to progress at that rate, M6 thought. Somehow, I don’t think that’s likely.