‘Players…welcome to the world of ARIA…The beta test officially begins in 10…9…8…’
The system announcement starts counting down and my black world begins to brighten as if reaching the end of a tunnel.
‘3…2…1…Commence game’
A bright splash of colours washes over my face and, after blinking away the bright sunny light, I find myself standing in the town square of a small village.
Well not just me; there are quite a number of people rubbing their eyes thanks to the intense light. About 100 or so people stand in the village with me.
ARIA, the beta test has finally come…
ARIA is the newest VR(well AR now I guess) game on the market that features swords and magic as they are always hugely popular. However there are a couple of differences…
I breathe deeply to smell the fresh air. My ears tingle at the bustling sounds of town and the small gasps escaping from my fellow testers. My saliva tastes as it should…How incredible.
Until ARIA, all VR games could only boast to be about 30% realism. ARIA proudly boasts a full 93%. It’s not 100% only because they’ve taken away most of the pain sensors, for obvious reasons (no one wants to feel themselves getting roasted by a dragon). Because of such a high rate of realism the game system itself was renamed Augmented Reality (AR). Thus ARIA came to be(?) (but I have no idea what the IA at the end stands for).
Thus it is easily the best game in the market and obviously everyone wants to play it. However the game designers still wanted a beta test for reasons of which I do not know nor care. All I care about is the fact that I’m in the test.
I look around and see that pretty much everyone is wearing a white t-shirt and trousers, although it looks much better on some than others. Woah, extremely good on that voluptuous Neko-lady (Cat-beastlady, rrrar) dare I say.
“WHAT?”
A loud shout of disbelief comes from my right and I swivel round to see a bull-beastman (basically a fake Minotaur) with bright orange hair (fur?), and a shocked face as he looks at a blank window.
It seems like he’s attracted the attention of everyone and a petite elf with long locks of golden hair puts a frail hand on his muscular shoulder
“What’s wrong there friend?”
“The character sheet…its strange” He looks completely lost as he says that to no one in particular really
In a rush there’s a flick of hands and character sheets opening. Of course I follow suit.
NAME:Joat (?)TITLE:(none)Class:NoneRace:HobgoblinGender:MaleLevel:1Experience:0%
STATUS:Remaining Points (0)Health Points10/10HP Regen (Out of Combat)1/secAttack:1-1Defense:0Empty:-Empty:-Empty:-Empty:-Empty:-Empty:-Empty:-Empty:-Empty:-Empty:-Satiety:180/180(Full)[/td2]
SKILLS:
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O…K?
A chorus of ‘WHAT?’s quickly proliferate in the village square as well all see the most bizarre character sheet.
It’s empty…Which is completely weird. Because we don’t even have stats…
What is going on with this character sheet?
“HEY Everybody, click the question mark on the top right of the sheet” A random person says.
Frantically everyone does so and upon pressing the question mark at the top right another window comes up.
Your character sheet: Guide You may notice that under the STATUS there are many Empty: boxes. These are where Stats will go upon discovery.
All players have 10 stat slots that once filled are semi-permanently locked with that stat.
When discovered, stats may be denied. Denied stats will be stored in an Unused Stats box where they may be taken to fill a slot at a later date.
Stats will only increase through level, titles or through items. Skill are gained the same way as stats however there are no limit to them
Decently ambiguous but after reading it a couple of times I think I get the idea; basically we’re allowed 10 different types of stats: such as Strength, Agility and so on. However once we choose them they’re locked until we find a way to remove them (hence the semi-permanently).
So it’s going to be a complete free pick and choose which suggests there are going to be a lot of different types of stats which may allow some pretty awesome combos. Just imagine how happy wizards would be if they didn’t have to have strength and could put extra magic power there instead. That sounds like fun.
However it doesn’t seem like everyone likes the idea as they look a bit grumpy (and still a bit confused) at the ambiguity and possible pain of gaining stats.
I’m pretty happy with it though, because that means I can become whatever I want…
The whole place quietened down when they read and re-read this quite vital piece of information. As beta testers we came here to test the system of which we were told nothing about…
The red Minotaur from earlier closes his window and with a mooing bellow, charges outside the village (I think he said Mooove, but I’m not sure…).
About half the population (so about 50) follow him to the fields (to supposedly start leveling).
The remaining 50 choose to begin exploring the village. Quests are always better than grinding. Of course I’m within the 50 with brains.
I take a quick stroll around the village seeing it consist of 4 main buildings: The general goods, the blacksmith, the tavern and the elder’s house.
There are a couple of thatched houses in-between the main ones but they’re just places of residence for NPC’s.
Keeping a shouting connection between us all, we relay information about the village and what we find; we’re mostly trying to figure out the game so helping each-other out is hugely beneficial right now.
According to some high-pitched Squirrel-beastlady there’s a tailor, leatherworker, miner and alchemist in the village too. So 8 main buildings then.
I do like how they’ve given us basic crafting skills at the beginning. Can never have too many crafters.
Anyways the village exploration took a whopping 10 minutes and after a good 5 minutes of people conversing with the NPC’s a total of 2 quests were available (which we of course all ran to get)
QUEST: Rabbit ExterminationThe Village Elder has asked you to lower the population of the rabbits as they are literally eating the fields dry.
Kill 10 rabbitsRewards:
+1 intimacy with village
10 copper coins
QUEST: Rat ExterminationDaren, the Tavern keeper, has asked you to exterminate the rats in his cellar.
Percentage cleared: 0%Rewards:
+2 intimacy with village
20 copper coins
The rat extermination is literally 2 times the reward but almost every female character in our little network shook their heads furiously at the quest. However they also shook their heads at the quest for killing rabbits (albeit more in horror at the thought than in fear).
Of course the sight of pretty elves and gorgeous beastladies brought out the best in us men. Thus many valiantly offered to party and protect them from the rats (Since no way are we going to convince the women to kill cute bunnies…).
I watched them all pair up and head to the tavern while standing all by myself alone in the street
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I was being sarcastic. No way would a man like me give up on such an opportunity.
There were a decently fair number of women (about 20ish) and this may have been because they weren’t as naturally bloodlusty as us(?) (I think. I mean in most games cute rabbits and animals would be in the surroundings for beginners. And most women don’t like to kill cute things for some bizarre reason only known to them).
I peek around and quickly set my targets on a particularly busty rabbit-beastlady (hey don’t judge, 32 C rabbit woman? No man can resist that); she has a reddish tint to her hair (red seems like a popular colour these days) and one crooked ear, which is quite cute. Taking overly large steps I overtake a nearby Kobold who was heading to her. Giving a cheery smile I start the conversation.
“Hey there stranger, want to head to the cellars with me” I wiggle my eyebrows as I put on a jokey tone.
“Well if you say it like that it sounds…unsafe” Well she’s pretty to the point isn’t she…but she gives a glint of a smile.
“Hah, don’t worry we won’t be alone” I send a cheeky wink.
“Oh you’re bringing a friend? I thought it’d just be the two of us in ‘the cellar’” She feigns disappointment.
“Sadly no; there will be quite a few rats I believe” Letting out a fake sigh.
“Oh that’s quite a lot of friends you’ll have there, are you sure you’re not setting me up for something?” She gives me a devious smile.
“Now why would I want to share you?” I reciprocate the grin.
“Hehe” She turns away suppressing a giggle.
“I’m Joat, shall we go to the cellars?”
“Baila, and yes let’s go together”
I feel like I've had a bit of a weird conversation, buut there was repertoire so its all good(??)
Sending her a friend and then party invite I see her health-bar appear under mine. Also another 2 empty boxes appear under her health-bar. So we can have a max of 4 members then?
With that I start to walk to the tavern with Baila bouncing at my side.
-1
…
Wiping the blood off my nose stealthily I turn to see Baila looking at me with her crooked ear.
“I stepped on a rock”
“Really? That takes off a hitpoint? Jeez, we got to be careful” Phew she fell for that…I think; she may be sarcastic.
I’m quite lucky she had a good repertoire or when I spoke to her it would have gotten extremely awkward.
Anyways, the fact that I’m actually not that bad looking (despite being a hobgoblin) may have helped with her positive reaction with me.
I spent an absurd amount of time on my character because I wanted to be green, but not Orc-like or Hulk-like. Also full on goblins are the ugliest things on earth. How is a man going to pick up chicks looking like a 90 year old?
My face is young looking of someone just out of their teenage years and I’d rate myself as a good 8 for the face. The body is more lean and not as many muscles are showing but it’s still pretty nice and worthy of a 7. And of course I am green as a bean, so I’m happy.
My hobgoblin sub-race comes from the Monster main race. So far it looks like races don’t do anything except for aesthetics but that may not be the case. That’s what we beta players are for.
The beta test for ARIA lasts for 10 weeks, so we’ve got 10 weeks to figure out everything we can. Well actually it lasts for 20 weeks due to the fact that time is 2:1 here so 10 weeks IRL is 20 weeks in game.
So a full 5 months of game time is quite a lot but seeing as though this system looks quite strange, it may not be enough time.
Anyways, back to the present.
About 14 of the girls ended up pairing up with guys (although most took a second guy for, I don’t know; they’re own personal enjoyment?). The remaining dozen or so people head to the taverns by themselves or in same sex pairs.
A trio of blue lizard-beastmen twins look quite depressed as they enter the tavern ladyless. I don’t know but they just stood out very distinctly with aquamarine blue tails sweeping the floor sadly.
Like a conga line, we all follow one another to the tavern.
While we wait for the queue to move (I hate queues), me and Baila have a chat about our character creation.
We both think the creation was extremely open because although it seemed simple, with only a choice of: Monster, Beastman or Humanoid: Each race had literally a ton of sub-races. Humanoid was basically Elves, Dwarves, Humans and all the more ‘normal’ races in this case. Beastman was literally any type of half-animal. And although I had fun creating a birdman, I decided to go for monsters. Monsters were literally everything you can think of. However a lot of Monster characters were inked black and thus not visible as to what they are. Also the chains around them gave the impression they were locked for a time it seemed.
Monsters weren’t the only locked things. The beastmen were locked to being half-human which gave me the idea that we can make a lot of different creatures. However how to unlock it is the question and why you’d unlock it if you’ve got a character already and don’t want to restart is another good question.
We’re both spouting theories when we finally reach the door of the tavern and head inside.
Like a good old medieval tavern there’s a lot of stools and tables everywhere with a big hearthplace on one side of the room. The Tavern is decently lively with locals but they’re all a bit too silent as they watch the conga-line of players head up to Daren.
Upon greeting Daren; he let us through to the cellar in our respective parties.
ALERT: You have entered a private instancePrivate Instance: Daren's CellarsThis is the Cellar to Starrynight TavernRecommended Level 1-3, Party Number 1-4
Ooh a private instance, great!
Looking into the darkness that covers the bottom of the stairs we think of waiting a couple of minutes to let our eyes adjust to the lack of light.
Although it seems I can see pretty decently already and Baila doesn’t seem affected by lack of light too much either.
Hmm so maybe we do have racials? Or it may be simply a system assist.
With a stride in my step, I begin to walk down the stairs into the cellar, while Baila stays close behind looking like a terrified little rabbit (well she technically is…). Seems like she’s got a good repertoire but is still somewhat scared of the dark, I’m extremely lucky today.
Not to mention that when we hear a scuttling somewhere in the distance, she lets out a small squeak and hugs up against my back, trembling slightly.
She may become completely useless throughout this whole instance but I’m still pleased she’s here with me. I am extremely enjoying the 93% realism here; every single percent.
…
Anyways, she finally eases up on me and we finally reach the bottom of the stairs.
The cellar itself quickly presents itself as a maze of sorts as the barrels and boxes that are stacked up creating walls.
If this was one of those old Pc games then us poor old players would have to walk around the maze encountering monsters while trying to find the exit.
However since this is AR there’s a lot more freedom.
Pointing up to Baila she nods and we both start to climb up the ‘walls’. Luckily it isn’t that hard and after about a minute of climbing we both reach the top and sit on a box.
The cellar itself is decently large; Walking from end to end would take me about 3 minutes, if there were no obstructions. So with the mazelike atmosphere it’d take at most 2 hours to walk around everywhere, once again without obstructions.
But that’s just a waste of time.
Glancing around I quickly spot a rat scuttling on the floor a couple of metres away from where we are. Baila goes “Eeek” and hugs my arm for comfort.
Yes it is very comforting for me indeed.
Shaking her off reluctantly, I jump down onto the ground next to the rat.
Although I’d love to stay up there with a big-breasted rabbitess hugging my arm; Xp comes before women in this game (because then I’d get more women with higher levels, gamer logic, don’t refute).
The rat aggros as I land beside it (it’s a normal sized rat thankfully) and nibbles at my toes (I don’t have shoes it seems).
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
-1
-1
Kicking it into a nearby wall I then rush up to it as it tries to orientate itself.
Grabbing it with both hands I feel the rat wiggle in my hands (ewww) and do so much more violently as I tighten my grip and begin bending the rat in a way that won’t end well for it
*Crack*
The rat lets out a small squeak as its spine snaps like a twig.
Percentage complete: 0.1%
Only 999 more of them, not bad. They weren’t too hard either; although I did just grab the thing rather than properly fight it.
Looking up at Baila, I see her looking away from me while hugging her legs.
“That was brutal you know” She seems to be pouting with a little fear in her voice (hopefully from the rats not me).
“Ah, you don’t like my method, well feel free to take on a rat yourself”
“NO, no, that’s fine. You’re method is completely fine with me, just keep at it” She turns around and quickly nods her head up and down (oh those rabbit ears are so cute).
Thought so. Well I mean she has to understand all I have is fists and the last thing I want to try to is punch or curb-stomp rats as fun as that sounds. I’m all for efficiency.
Although there wasn’t any xp gain…Maybe because I didn’t use a proper method?
Using Baila as a lookout she reluctantly finds another close-by rat. However I quickly find out it’s a trio.
They are nibbling through the side of a box so I walk up to a decent distance and then look at them intensely
…
..
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*Nibble nibble*
“Um, Joat?” I feel her perplexed gaze on my back.
“hmm, guess it’s not available, maybe it’s a skill?”
“Oh…You can’t see the enemy information?”
“Nope”
Scrunching my eyes I look fiercely at the trio nibbling at the crates and watch their every move. I soon feel Baila’s gaze leave my back.
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*Ding*
Congratulations! Through careful observation of your enemy you have discovered a stat
[tds]YES
STAT: PerceptionPoints in perception with increase Vision range, Vision in lower lights and will affect skills related to perceptionDo you want to put this stat on one of your stat slots?NO
…Well that’s how you get a stat it seems.
Another ding sounds behind me as Baila seemed to get the stat too. Hmm, seems like she figured out what I was doing and joined in. She knows what she’s doing, somewhat(?).
I turn back round to her.
“So, are you going to get that stat?”
“Hmm, It seems like it’ll be useful, especially since perception-based skills are mostly passive, I think. Know thy enemy!
After she blurted out the last line trying to sound wise (although I don’t doubt her game knowledge and understanding), I decided to add Perception onto my stats. Why? Because she has got a point with ‘Know thy enemy’.
STAT: Perception, has been added to you stat slots. It has used up 1 stat slot. Perceptiom will stat at 50 due to hobgoblin race. Vision is now 50 feet.
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Well damn. 50 on a stat already
Due to Perception being 10, Dim vision skill has been acquired
Due to Perception being 25, Dim vision skill has changed to low-light vision
Due to Perception being 50, Low-light vision skill has changed to Night vision
SKILL:Night Vision, Master [LvMax] (passive)Night Vision allows user to see in the dark without light. Skill level depends on how far one can see.
[LvMax] -> Full vision: Can see as if it were day.
Detrimental effects: Vision is halved when eyes are in direct contact with light
…Well…cool? I guess I’m decently happy with the whole see in dark perfectly as that’d be great in dungeons and such, but to have half-vision in light? That’s a bit of a bummer.
However it does say ‘when eyes are in direct contact with light’. So I have to wear shades? I’m actually alright with that.
I hear a small gasp escape from Baila “Low-light vision. Cool”. Huh, so stat points all start at a set number due to the player’s race?
Wow, so if that red Minotaur guy got strength as a stat…just how high would it start?
Due to learning STAT: Perception, xp increases by 10%
Due to learning SKILL: Night Vision, xp increases by 75%
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MY GOD! Well…I like this…A LOT.
Similarly Baila looks pretty shocked at the multiple windows showing up in quick intervals of one another.
…So it’s like that huh.
Turning round I gaze once more at the rat trio (who after 20 minutes of nibbling, yes I was watching for 20 minutes, finally broke through) were happily stuffing their faces on some seeds that spilled out.
*Ding*
Congratulations! You have learnt the skill: Monster Identification
SKILL: Monster Identificationbeginner [lvl1] (0%) (Active)Upon activation, user will get an information window of the targeted monster
Perception bonus: 50% more will be shownCost: None, Duration: 1 minute, Cooldown: None
For learning a new skill, xp is increased by 5%
Wow, so that’s what it meant by perception affecting skills. So those with strength stat will naturally get a bonus when using melee skills and thus be better than those without the stat. Interesting indeed.
Also the xp increase suggests that there are like 15 grades to each skill (since a master level gave 75% while a beginner only 5%)? So can I gain a skill already at a higher grade (well I already have so I’ve kind of answered that question already).
Skill levels are: Beginner -> Intermediate -> Advanced -> Expert -> Master
Ah nevermind. A useful window indeed. So there’s 5 grades to skills and learning a master gives you 75% while a beginner only 5%. Interesting…
Putting the questions aside I activate my new skill and check out the rats.
NAME:Cellar RatHealth:5/5Defense:0A rat which lives in cellars
Ok so the 50% increase showed the defense I’m guessing?
Baila seems to get the Monster Identification skill too and seems quite happy.
With both of us happy, I descend on the nibbling rats.
-1 -1 -1
Stomping on all three (since they are all packed together) I agro the lot.
-3
They nibble at my feet and I jump away and let them scuttle towards me.
-2
Two of them bite me as I kick the third and jump back again.
-1
Only 1 rat is next to me so I quickly scoop my foot under it and flick it up (years of football practice comes in handy once in a while, huh).
Catching it I quickly snap it like a twig and kick away the first one which just returned.
With a squeak it flies and smacks into a barrel sliding off dead.
The third rat comes at me and I kick it majestically into the same barrel, adding another splat to its wood.
Well kicking rats seems pretty effective, although I’ve lost 60% of my health…
Baila quickly finds some more rats and I go over and begin the stomp, kick, kick routine once more.
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…
After a good 30 minutes of this routine I’ve leveled up my Monster Identification 1 level (resulting in 1% xp increase, sweet) as well as killed another 178 rats.
Me and Baila have both come to the conclusion that rats, maybe even monsters themselves, don’t give any xp…So levels are dictated upon your skill growth it seems. I do like that since it means pointless grinding is going to be non-existent in this game.
Also rats don’t give any loot which is quite sad…
However we’re (well me at least) are still diligently killing rats for the sake of a quest.
We’ve wiped clean about a third of the room (we decided to sweep from the left side to the right so as to not have that missed the last rat and spend hours looking for it kind of situation). That’s seems a bit odd because we’ve only done 17.9% of the quest.
According to Baila though, there seems to be large groups of rats over on the right side of the room.
I mean the place isn’t deathly quiet and there is a decently continuous noise of rat scuttling (+rat dying squeals thanks to me) so it’s quite obvious where the rats are.
Furthermore, Baila gained the Acute Hearing skill a couple of minutes ago which she apparently gained through listening for the rats. According to her it improves her hearing by 4 times passively.
Of course after hearing her find that skill out, I naturally begin listening for the rats rather than looking for them, with some guidance from Baila:
She pointed me in the general direction and I listened for the rats and I edged closer.
The first group I came across was a group of 5 rats this time (before only groups of 3 were the max) and I start with a kick.
Successfully kicking 3 away with the first kick I quickly kick the others away only taking a meager 3 points of damage.
The first 3 then come back to me and I dutifully kick two away and flick up the other.
Already 80% down I’m a little bit worried but I don’t mind it that much as I’m now in a good situation; the rats after being kicked come back but only one at a time. Thus they don’t get a chance to hit me as they just get kicked away and scuttle back towards me only to be kicked.
After 3 kicks for each they are all dead. I learnt in the past while that the kick itself only does 1 damage but when they hit the ‘walls’ they take another damage. So 3 kicks (2 if I stomp to agro) does the job.
I am quite grateful that the Ai for these rats is extremely simple; they only move forward and bite. If they did anymore I’d be hardpressed.
Groups of 5 are not a problem.
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…
Another hour passes and I’ve killed another 312 rats. So far the quest is only 49.1% complete but as far as I’m concerned, it’s a very bountiful quest.
Over the past hour I’ve gained a couple of new things:
Congratulations! Through repeated use of your body and muscles you have discovered a new stat
STAT: StrengthPoints in will increase damage, carry weight and it will affect strength related skillsDo you want to put this stat on one of your stat slots?YESNO
Congratulations! Through repeated aiming and accurate attacks you have discovered a new stat
STAT: DexterityPoints in Dexterity with increase critical chance, accuracy and it will affect Dexterity related skillsDo you want to put this stat on one of your stat slots?YESNO
Congratulations! Through taking damage repeatedly you have discovered a new stat
STAT: VitalityPoints in Vitality will increase your healthDo you want to put this stat on one of your stat slots?YESNO
These are the only 3 stats I’ve learned in the past hour and they each gave 10% xp which is great. I decided to press NO for all the stats because I really don’t need them at the moment and I don’t want to waste a stat slot (Also hob-goblins are not the most famous for having lots of strength and dexterity, and are relatively squishy too, so I won’t get high starting stats).
It’s quite cool though that you can decide to not gain health…but this will mean mages will be hella squishy.
However Stats were not the only thing I gained in that hour:
Congratulations! You have learnt the skill: Kicking mastery
SKILL:Kicking mastery, Beginner [lvl1] 0% (Active)Kicking is a skill and thus it must be trained to be mastered.
When used: Kick target 1 metre away (+- bonuses/penalties dependent on target.
Does unarmed damage.
1% chance of stun.
Strength bonus: n/a
Dexterity bonus: n/aCost: None, Duration: instantaneous, Cooldown: None
For learning a new skill, xp is increased by 5%
I gained the kicking skill at about the 300th rat and so it’s now at level 2 (along with Monster Identification being level 3). I gained the stats before I gained the skill so I have a suspicion…
Anyways I also finally gained Hearing:
Congratulations! You have learnt the skill: Hearing
SKILL:Hearing, Beginner [lvl1] 0% (Passive)Hearing is not only a normal benefit of humanity, but trained it is a sense beyond all others.
Hearing is increased by 1% (range and accuracy of sound).
Perception bonus: 50% hearing increase.Cost: None, Duration: infinite, Cooldown: None
For learning a new skill, xp is increased by 5%
Hearing got to level 2 pretty quickly gaining an extra 1% to hearing. Damn, that’s pretty good.
Ahhhhh all the skills. Almost 2 hours and I’ve gotten 4 skills, at this rate I might get to 6720 skills by the end of the beta test…
Well with it being that skills are pretty much anything that’s a reasonable number…
So with an extra 51% on my hearing range I can make out rat sounds a decent bit better. Having the stat bonus is extremely useful. I’m just scared what it would be like with attack skills…
I did notice that it wasn’t Acute Hearing. However after a quick chat with Baila she told me it was because it started maxed out at Master level. So kind of like my night vision. Thus the idea that we have racial abilities is most profound; however we actually need to find the abilities, which is painful to do yet extremely interesting…
So that was the things I have gained in the past hour. I’m at 84% and raring to get to level 2. Also we’re only 49.1% into the quest so I’m undoubtedly going to get there sometime.
Before I begin to hunt some more rats I give Baila a heads up about the stats. She jumps down and, to my horror begins bashing her head against a barrel
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..
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I understand why she’s doing it…But…it’s still extremely disturbing to watch.
Leaving Baila alone I go to exterminate a couple more rats. Oh level 2 here I come!!
…