Chapter 004

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‘ ‘ for thoughts

“ “ for speech

Hope you enjoy this chapter! –please point out any mistakes/inconsistencies you notice and feel free to post any comments you might have. I had a date today, but got stood up. So what do I do to cheer myself up? Bring another chapter!

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Jacob logged out and got ready with stretches for his morning free running circuit. After completing his circuit, he had his ablutions, took a warm water shower. For breakfast he decided to bake leftover tortilla flour to make some shrimp tostadas with avocados. After his breakfast, Jacob decided to browse through some forums till lunch, since his four weeks in game wouldn’t be complete till 2pm today.

The forums were either filled with praise for the life like fantastical experience, or filled with whining about game mechanics. Mages who had an extremely easy time one shotting rabbits, foxes and slimes with the starter spell fireball were the most verbal. Their spells increased damage as they got more intelligence and skill proficiency rose, but it was no longer enough to one shot lv15 wolves. Furthermore, wolves usually were in packs of three to five, so it was almost impossible to solo for squishy mages who usually pumped intelligence and willpower, with a bit of vitality.

More damaging spells, like flame tornado or thunderstorm, had level requirements and very quite expensive. The initial elemental spells like fireball, thunderbolt, icicle strike or stone bullet cost around 2 silvers apiece, which was easily obtained by doing starter quests. Also, new mages were given one of these free of charge, much like warriors were given a melee weapon of their choice. But flame-tornado for example, went for 3 gold. On top of that one cast took away 150MP, and cast time was around 10 seconds and had a cooldown of a minute. The starter thunderbolt, in comparison was 25 MP with a cast time of 1.5 seconds with a cooldown of 5 seconds. Sure a flame tornado could wipe out a pack of wolves in one shot, but the wolves weren’t exactly statues waiting to be hit like the grazing rabbits.

Priests on the other hand had a different reason to bitch. They gained spells automatically as they leveled up and their Faith increased. The first 4 weeks, most priests easily achieved a faith of 30 or so by doing their class specific easy quests, and donating a chunk of their earnings to their temple coffers. But to maintain their faith they had to spend a minimum set of hours to just keep on praying. Obtaining Faith above 50 via donations was very expensive. Sure they had to increase their intelligence for Mp, and it boosted their spells, but they wouldn’t get more spells, if they didn’t meet minimum Faith and level requirements. Both offensive and support priests were severely restricted by Faith.

Jacob was amused at the problems, most spellcasters were facing. The problem of dependency on expensive tomes for hermetic mages and the faith for priests were kind of obvious, if anyone bothered to do some research ingame. ‘I wonder how Carlos and Adam bitch about the costs to keep their spell arsenal updated.’ Jacob thought amused. After reviewing the forums he was glad that he didn’t run to the nearest guild of hermetic magicians to quickly start casting spells.

Jacob speculated that Carlos, was not the run of the mill hermetic mage, as he wasn’t whining about the cost to acquire new spells and whining was second nature to him. Jacob resisted the urge to pry Carlos about this. ‘I will get to know about it when we meet anyway, hopefully in three RL weeks anyway. Although, in hindsight it looks like it might have been a mistake to start randomly in different locations. Travelling looks like a bitch ingame, so we will probably have to meet later than planned.’ Jacob speculated.

Warriors faced quite a bit of problems with their playstyle too. In the initial four weeks, they would grab a rusty iron sword and could whack foxes all day long. Their damage output however, was severely limited by their equipment. They couldn’t invest all their stat points into strength, as they usually took a defensive approach to building their character. Warriors did get some skills to increase their damage output, but they consumed quite a bit of stamina and hence had artificial cooldowns since they consumed more stamina with their armor and constant melee swinging. Better equipment was expensive, but it wasn’t just a onetime deal as better equipment had higher repair costs.

Archers also faced problems with their resource management as they needed more expensive arrows to do reasonable amount of damage to stronger mobs. Furthermore, critical hits in combat were very rare when used with System Assist. This was because; system assist used the luck stat as a factor for critical hit chance. And there was no known way for most players to increase luck. ‘If an archer can train his luck along with his dex and agi, he will become a machine gun spamming critical hits. They won’t have to worry about cast times and cooldowns apart from their skills, but ammunition cost would become quite exorbitant.’ Jacob speculated.

Rogues on the other hand whined that their damage output was similar to archers in melee, but they were extremely squishy if there was no tank to attract agro. They could opt to use bows as weapons, but their class skills were mainly stealth based, and focused on burst melee damage output. They did get skills to make exploration easier like mapping and trap finding/disarming…but were too squishy to solo them.

The consensus on the forums was that if they had to level up efficiently, they could no longer solo. Warriors to tank, and priests to heal were essential. Archers would attract mobs from afar into the killzone, where the mage was casting area of effect spells. They had to co-ordinate it very well taking into account the cast time and movement speed of aggroed mobs, or would risk friendly fire. Due to that, mages along with archers prefer to bring down single targets with focused fire, concentrating on quickly reducing the pressure on the main tank. Rogues usually took up the role of protecting the priests and mages. If some mobs, broke away from the tank to target them, the rogue would quickly backstab them before they could disrupt any spell casting.

Despite the amount of complains, and they massive hate towards VDI for the 500$ fee to recreate avatars, most players couldn’t entertain the idea of abandoning AO. It was simply too much fun. They had a chance to live out their childhood fantasies of adventures and magic, and were loath to abandon it due to the difficulty they faced ingame. Guilds and PvP wasn’t a big part yet, as most players wanted to get stronger first before challenging other players or guilds. Furthermore, the cost of registering a guild was very high at this point of time. Some combat oriented classes had picked up a few crafting skills to support their income. But most combat classes had steep penalties to the growth of most crafting skills.

The crafting classes had it the hardest. They could get theoretically get rich ingame by offering various services cheaper than NCPs, but they were very slow to levelup due to their comparative lack of fighting prowess. Furthermore, it took a lot of effort and money to practice and levelup their crafting skills in the beginner tier, as their output was far worse than an NCP. Despite this, there was a visible minority of crafters active. Most of them had started playing with their friends in a single location. They were supported with gold to practice their crafting and leeched off experience from leveling parties. They would, no doubt, be very valuable to the guilds their friends formed later on.

‘Hmm, seems like most basic classes have an essential role in the party. A warrior could focus on DPS, but the rogue would beat him to it most of the time, and the DPS warrior would be a secondary tank at best. A support priest could take up a tanky role, self healing, but the other party members would face a lack of healing spells, due to mana problems. A mage would be great for sieges later on though, raining devastating AoE spells. Although I guess the cooldown and casting times for those spells will be very high, so they just can’t spam it. Such difficulty in the low levels… I wonder what the level cap is, and how difficult it will be to grind at higher levels.’ Jacob speculated as he prepared his lunch of stir fried squid with s peas, mashed potatoes and boiled spinach.

While having his lunch Jacob browsed though a certain image board, to see their take on AO. Other than the usual showcase of ingame trolling and griefing, he encountered something interesting. Quite a few members were posting links to ingame footage of certain quests they performed along with screenshots. However, other users called it out as fraud after investigating it. This was not an isolated incident, and there were many instances of a variety of such quests, which other users were unable to find. There was such a big flame war, that an additional sub board was created just to contain them. Jacob was on the fence whether it was an elaborate exercise in trolling. ‘If this is true, that means the AI might create unique quests on the fly. The game world could theoretically keep on pumping out content before it was consumed.’ Jacob speculated as he chewed a mouthful of squid.

After his lunch, Jacob decided to directly connect to AO as it was almost 2 pm. He connected through instant mode and after experiencing a short gut wrenching sensation, woke up in his dorm bed. He checked the ingame time and it was 7:45 am. Jack had a quick free breakfast, stocked up on some pieces of rabbit meat jerky and went to the Head librarian’s office. He knocked and entered after hearing an affirmative response.

“Welcome Jack. I see you have performed your duties here to my satisfaction. Before I give you your card, I want to know did you attempt to read up about magic?” Madam Curie asked jack inquisitively.

“Yes Madam Curie. I did as you asked.” Jack replied. ‘That annoying brat did say that she dislikes mages… could this be something related to that?’ Jack thought as the Head Librarian sternly looked at him.

“Then you can begin summarizing what you have learnt about magic.” Madam Curie ordered Madam Curie.

Jack began summarizing whatever he had learnt about magic in two weeks of reading. He began with mana, then moved on to the two main systems of magic which were Arcane and Divine. He summarized about hermetic magicians, druids and shamans. He also briefly touched upon the various arcane magics rumored to be in existence, but not confirmed. He then gave a brief overview of divine spellcasters namely paladins and clerics. Jack concluded his discourse by stating that metal body armor caused arcane spells to sizzle and that divine spellcasters needed more mana to channel their spells when wearing metal armor.

“Those are just the basics every traveler who comes to Terra should know. I suppose with your love for brawling, you didn’t have the time to read more about the intricacies of magic. Now what is your opinion of divine spellcasting? Surely it is tempting to have apportion of a deity’s power?” Madam Curie enquired after insulting his lack of diligence. Jack was reminded about The Divine Wars and The Divine Inquisition and snorted, before replying.

“Ma’am I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but praying all day to borrow power from deities who were responsible for The Divine Wars and its aftermath doesn’t really sound appealing to me.” Jack thought he saw a twinkle in her eyes before she responded.

“So you have read more about our divinities and the history of Terra. Smart answer, but don’t tell so to the priests when you go to them for high grade curse removal. They will not be happy. Anyways, what is your opinion on the various types of arcane spellcasters?” After pondering for a bit Jack replied,

“Druids are restricted to mostly nature based magic, and I am sure they have lots of restrictions on how they can behave in order to keep their power. And shamanism seems interesting…but who knows what spirits might do, in exchange for their power? And hermetic magic is just a big scam! You are dependent completely on your guild for your spells unless you want to spend months, or even years, researching a basic spell. They have a smooth operation going, lure in novices with the lure of arcane power with a free spell, and own their finances for life! I really want to try and learn magic, but if all I have is to choose between hermetic spellcasting and divine spellcasting, I would rather just punch and kick monsters all day long. At least by that, I am relying on myself.” For the fist time, Jack saw Madam Curie smile.

“Oh, we have a feisty brawler here, don’t we? But you show more wisdom than my idiot nephew, which isn’t much I admit, but it is a start. Hand me your provisional employee card for a moment.” Jack obeyed her and handed the Head Librarian his card. After pricking herself with a quill, she then wrote some glyphs on his card. The glyphs shone momentarily and were absorbed by the card. The card shimmered and changed to a silver color. Madam Curie returned him his card.

“This card marks you as a visiting employee, and will allow you to issue 10 books from any library in the Kingdom of Hinazal. It will also allow you to obtain lodging and meals free of cost in those libraries. But if you damage any books, I can and will revoke all your privileges. Understand?” The head Librarian said sternly.

“Yes ma’am! And thank you!” Jack replied. ‘I had hoped for something better, but saving the cost of food and lodging while in towns big enough to have a library doesn’t sound too bad.’ Jack was about to get up and leave, when Madam Curie motioned him to sit. She handed him a book and said:

“As you know, mana is essential to cast spells. Most hermetic mages have absolutely no control over mana. The spells they learn are etched into their mind by their spellbooks. They have to follow an exact sequence of vocal and somatic components to cast their spell and cannot modify it on the fly. Priests on the other hand have to beg deities to provide them with a bit of their essence so that they can cast spells. Don’t get me wrong, there are certain things only high ranking priests can do, but that path is not for everyone.” Julia paused for a bit, pointed at the book in his hands and continued:

“What you have in your hands is probably the biggest secret of hermetic mages. It is a very rare skill book, which will allow you to learn how to manipulate mana. Skill books are extremely valuable. The author usually sacrifices a portion of her skill, in order to create it. Anyone can directly learn the said skill, if he meets certain requirements, bypassing months, sometimes years, of training. Now use it.”

Jack was dumbfounded. This was beyond what he was hoping for. He recovered himself and used the skill book, and it disappeared from his hand. He felt an odd ebb and flow in his body, in rhythm with each heartbeat, almost like having extra muscles he could control. he mentally commanded to display the latest notification.

You have learnt Mana Manipulation

Jack then summoned the skill info on Mana Manipulation.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Mana ManipulationBeginner100.00%

You have learnt how to manipulate mana in your body and freely channel it. The more proficient you are in this skill, the better control you have over your mana.

Jack was ecstatic. He had learnt how to manipulate mana, but he had no idea how to create his own spell. While Jack was pondering over how he would experiment and try to create new spells, he missed the visibly shocked expression on the usually stern librarian.

‘Theon said that he was a newborn novice, who wasn’t in a rush to levelup. So he is a Lv0 novice, probably not more than Lv3. That skillbook had a minimum requirement of 80 intelligence and 60 willpower, or 40 intelligence and 30 willpower with at least 20 in wisdom. He must have been very diligent to sharpen his mind to such a degree in these four weeks, even for a traveler.’

Madam Curie quickly gathered herself, and wore her stern façade. She placed a dagger with some some scratches and a reddish looking herb on her desk. She cleared her throat to gain Jack’s attention. Jack snapped out of his reverie, and Madam Curie continued.

“You have learnt the skill? Good. Then stop day dreaming and pay attention.” Madam Curie snapped. She heard a hastily mumbled apology, and continued,

“Now just because you have learnt mana manipulation, doesn’t mean you can start throwing fireballs right off the bat. You need to be more proficient and gain elemental affinities, before you can attempt elemental spells. Mana Manipulation can have a variety of utility depending on your imagination. I will show you a couple of pointers to start off.” She paused for a bit, pointed at the herb on the table and continued

“Take this herb here on your palm, and then close your eyes. Will mana from your body and imagine the herb reverting back to a seed and being absorbed in your mana. What are you waiting for? Begin!” snapped Madam Curie. Jack didn’t know what exactly he had to look out for, so he silently enabled all notifications.

Jack closed his eyes and entered a light state of meditation with the herb on his palm. He could clearly feel a major knot near his heart and five more small knots along his spine. From all the knots something fluid was ebbing and flowing to all parts of his body. He concentrated on the large knot near his heart and willed the flow toward his palm. It took a few attempts, but he was finally able to do so.

After that he very carefully willed the fluid like substance to cover the herb in his palm. He gently retracted the excess mana back into his body. He then concentrated on visualizing the life of the herb backwards. The film outside his body broke. He repeated the process a few times before he could maintain the film while simultaneously imagining the herb shrinking and receding into his body. He found that if he had to imagine the process slowly if he wanted to maintain the film. Jack lost track of time and slowly repeated the attempts. Finally, he was able to complete the process, and slowly withdrew the mana film in him.

*Ding*

You have learnt the subskill Mana Identification!

*Ding*

You have identified the herb Ivelery!

*Ding*

IveleryType:Crafting IngredientDurability:10 / 10Rarity:CommonGrade:FThis is a very common herb with very weak medicinal properties.

*Ding*

Due to your actions, you have gained +1 to Concentration

Jack was barely able to contain his joy as he snapped out of his meditative trance, and dismissed all notifications. He had learnt how to identify items using Mana. If he trained diligently, he no longer had to visit and pay loremasters to identify items! He looked and Madam Curie and saw that she had her typical stern expression.

“Took you long enough. You didn’t respond for almost two hours! I thought you had fallen asleep.” Madam Curie paused and noticed Jack’s embarrassed expression. Secretly she was surprised; it had taken almost 6 hours when she herself learnt this subskill! Jack had a very high amount of Concentration to be able to learn it so quickly. She continued:

“You see, mana permeates everything. You can use mana to read the properties of unknown items. Learning about the most common medicinal herb took you two hours without any foreknowledge. The more knowledgeable you are about the class of items you are studying, the easier it becomes for you to identify items. For example, if you try to identify a magical sword, without any proficiency in blacksmithing and enchanting, with your current level in mana Identification, you will probably waste months worth of time. Don’t try to identify every herb you come across too, cause you will probably waste plenty of your time, unless you develop a certain level of proficiency in the Alchemy skill. Alternatively, you can read about herbology. But a combination of skill proficiency and knowledge about the relevant field works best.”

Jack absorbed this piece of information. No way was he going to spend hours identifying common herbs to grind his skill. He decided to utilize system assist for grinding Mana Identification in the lower levels for common items. Also, the skill while still good, wasn’t as awesome as Jack had imagined. He needed to be proficient in the associated skills, or know lore about related things to have higher chance of identifying unknown items.

“Now, you will try a similar procedure and attempt to repair this dagger. Instead of simply coating the dagger in your mana, attempt to make a mana bubble around the dagger, so that your own mana is also infused into the dagger. Then imagine the dagger in its ideal state, each and every fault slowly repairing itself.” Madam Curie instructed.

Jack calmed himself, disabled alarm notifications, and intently observed the dagger. He noticed many minor faults in the blade. After he was able to create a 3D mental image of the dagger, he placed it in his palm. Jack entered a meditative state and very carefully willed his mana to form a bubble around the dagger. After failing around half a dozen times, Jack succeeded in holding a stable mana bubble around the dagger. He then very carefully, and very slowly, willed his mana permeating the dagger to repair the cratches and dents on the blade. His mana bubble collapsed quite a few times. Each attempt, he again inspected the dagger to see how many visible defects were left. Jack repeated this procedure, until finally he received a notification window.

*Ding*

You have learnt the subskill Mana Repair!

Jack felt a bit exhausted mentally and noticed that his MP bar was around 90% full. He disabled all notifications except alarm decided to review his skills in detail later, and addressed the head Librarian:

“Thank you a lot Madam Curie! These skills which you have taught me are extremely valuable! This is more than I had dared to hope for. You mentioned that I couldn’t just start creating spells immediately and that I needed to gain elemental affinities. However I have one query, how many elements are there and how do I gain affinity for them?” Jack inquired. The head librarian looked irritated and said:

“Do you think I have all day to tutor you? It is almost 1:30pm now and I need to have Lunch. Here, take this book, it gives a brief overview of the known elements. As for how to gain affinities, there are multiple ways to do so now that you have Mana Manipulation. You could read and research in depth about the properties of an element, and experiment shaping it with your mana. You could also contract with spirits, and they can directly imprint the basics of an affinity on your being. Lastly, you could use Mana Manipulation directly on the concerned element of a high quality source, using mana manipulation on a fire drake’s breath for example. Be sure to meet instructor Theon before you leave Rotang, he had something for you. Now go have lunch. I have plenty of work to do.”

Jack accepted another book from Madam Curie and thanked her, and said gleefully, “Thank you for your guidance Madam Curie. After I obtain some affinity, I will enhance my fists with mana and pulverize my foes with it!” Jack could see a bulging vein near the head Librarian’s temple. Jack figured that it was a mistake to reveal his intentions. Madam Curie said in an icy cold voice with barely suppressed rage,

“I teach you highly coveted secrets of mana manipulation, and guide you on your path to obtain elemental affinities... and you decide to utilize this powerful arcane knowledge to better hit things with your fists?? What in Gaia’s name is wrong with you?” She then threw the quill she was holding at Jack, which he barely managed to dodge. This infuriated Madam Curie even more and she roared on the top of her lungs:

“OUT BOY OUT! GET OUT OF MY OFFICE NOW!” Jack took her advice and hastily went to the cafeteria, before it occurred to her to revoke his library card. He reasoned, there was no need to miss free lunch just because he pissed her off a little. After Jack had his lunch ingame and restocked his supply of rabbit meat jerky, he decided to go meet Instructor Theon.

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