Kai found himself standing on a large circular pedestal, in the middle of a bustling city street. The air was warmed by the sun high up in the sky, lighting up the colorful buildings all around Kai. It was as if Kai had appeared in the center of an ancient Roman or Greek city, full of beautiful stone architecture, colorful mosaics, amazing statues of unknown dirties and historical events. Kai took in a breath of air fresher than newly baked bread.
"Greetings, new wanderer, to the human city of Eldoria's Reach!" A man with graying hair,n from beside Kai. He was covered in armor made from bronze plates, clearly shaped to specifically fit the man's particular… rotundness. "Would you tell me some of your interests, so I could direct you to where you can get training and quests?"
Kai, still being a bit dazed, muttered "no thanks," as he made his way to explore the city. He had more important business, mainly calling his friend. Maybe he should've called Martin before entering the game, but it was too late for that. Kai opened his Interface, and searched through it to find a way to contact his friend.
It rang for a few seconds, as Kai kept waking around the city, enjoying the sights, before the loud, excited and tired voice of his friend came through. "Hey Kai, where have you been? I've been trying to call you for a week, man. Nevermind that, are you good?"
"Hi, I'm um, good. Dad told me of ECLIPSE earlier today. I started the game, did my character, and those messed up trials."
"Dude, that's great! I'm online currently, outside the city fighting against these bipedal deer with fingers, real creepy. But nevermind that, I'll come to you soon. Where you at?"
"Middle of the city, on some bridge. There's a statue of three lions tied together by the tails next to me."
"Aight, see you there. I'll be there soon." Martin said as he ended the call.
After waiting for a few minutes, Kai decided to spend the wait getting used to his three skills. He was most interested in the skill: Shadowstride (epic), novice 1. This skill allows the wielder the ability to traverse between shadows with unparalleled speed and stealth. When activated, the character seamlessly melds with the shadows, becoming an elusive and near-invisible presence. Increases all movement speed by up to (200 + 50n)%, for the cost of 10n mana per second depending on how much the user increases their speed, where n is skill level. An additional two and a half times the movement speed for one second, or presumably more if Kai didn't increase his speed two and a half fold.
One of the nearby statues was large enough to cast a shadow that could cover Kai entirely. Deciding to give it a try, Kai stepped in it, and activated his skill. As he did, Kai's hand darkened and blurred, looking as if it was made from dark fog. Kai waved his hand around, and sure enough it moved much faster than normal. Then the second was up, and Kai was left feeling absolutely exhausted, not even capable of lifting a finger. It took nearly two minutes for him to fully recover his mana, but the moment he did, Kai tried again. He activated the skill, and started running as fast as he could.
Kai blinked owlishly, on the ground next to a wall where he'd fallen. Hit points left, 3/10. Mana left, 2/10. Stamina left, 9/10. He had crashed in the blink of an eye. In the shadow of the wall he'd crashed to, Kai had tried to save himself from injury the moment after the crash. The result was Kai smashing himself all over the place until he turned the skill off with two mana left. Moving multiple times faster clearly hadn't increased his reaction speed, but at least he wasn't as exhausted as he'd been with zero mana.
"Oof, that looks painful." Someone said, "Hey, Pal! Give him a heal, aight?"
A wonderfully cool sensation spread throughout Kai's body, covering all his injuries. Hit points 10/10. With the pain gone, Kai slowly took a deep breath, and stood up. Kai stared at his savior, giving him all his attention, and after a few moments of staring at the person with bright leaf green hair, and silver irises, who had healed him, words appeared above his green head. Arson (Midnight Healer), level 13. Kai looked back at Arson's face, before slowly saying "Thanks… Arson"
"I knew you were happy to walk again, Kai, but I didn't expect you to run at a wall at fifty miles an hour." The person who'd asked Arson to heal Kai laughed.
"Wait… Martin?" Kai wondered aloud.
"Who else? But please use my character name, Kai, master of the trials." Martin looked nothing like he did in reality.
Kai focused intently on Martin's as a whole, until words appeared above his head. Droozle (Trailblazer), level 11. "You want me to call you Droozle? Seriously? And what's with the 'trailblazer' and level?"
"It's my title, I got it when I single handedly saved my team from certain doom, by lighting the road on fire." Arson gave Martin, or Droozle, a nudge, "Or not exactly single handedly. The level is the highest level skill the player, NPC or monster has. I have a skill at novice 11, so my level shows as 11. Arson has a skill at beginner 1, so his level is 13. And yeah, call me Droozle. Anyways, You're coming with us, we gotta get you used to combat. What skills do you have?"
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"I've got Shadow stride, Thunderspear dance and lightning reflexes."
"That's great. Based on the names, you've got utility, movement and combat skills, it's a good start. We might want to get you a sword skill you can use with that shortsword of yours, or at least get you used to using your skills before we enter combat. I imagine the shadow stride is the reason for your crash?"
"Yeah, an added 250% to all my movement, and a stealth bonus. I wasn't used to the extra movement."
"Damn, that's a good skill, but double edged if anything."
"What about using your reflex skill at the same time?" Arson quietly questioned.
Kai quickly reread the description of the skill: Lightning reflexes (rare), novice 1. Increases the user's reaction speed to supernatural levels. When triggered, the user's reflexes become so swift that time seems to slow down around them. Increases reaction and mental processing speed by 20n%, for the cost of 2n mana per second, where n is skill level. "Yeah, I think that'd work. Thanks. But I might have to level it up a bit."
"Then that's what we'll do, you'll practice your skills, and get a sword skill. After that, the three of us can head out of the city."
—
It took a few minutes of walking as they talked to reach the training grounds. It was a large open space, with targets for shooting practice, dummies to hit with bladed weapons and various boxing bags for all blunt weapons. It was already half full with people. From what it looked like, there were quite a few dummies fighting back with wooden swords.
"Alright, we're here. Kai, feel free to smash at those dummies, I'll get in some archery practice. Arson, help Kai with his sword."
Droozle's bow was something Kai had wondered about during their walk to the training grounds. Droozle had the bow, but no quiver for any arrows. Kai decided to watch his friend shoot a couple of times, and saw as Droozle seemingly formed arrows out of water as he pulled the bowstring back, before the water froze it to an ice arrow moments before it was shot.
"You coming?" Arson asked. Kai followed without answering. Kai quickly found a training dummy in a shadow. It was time to learn more efficient use of his skills.
Kai quickly activated lightning reflexes, and watched in awe as everything around him slightly slowed down, including his own movements. A moment later, Kai activated shadow stride, before taking a slice at the dummy with his shortsword. It bit deep, getting stuck by over an inch in the wood of the dummy. And with a quick thought, once Kai was exhausted with a lack of mana, he realized why the sword had gone so deep in. If something moved twice as fast, it had four times the energy. Shadow stride gave an additional 250% to his movement, that meant 3.5 times the speed, or over 10 times the energy. No wonder why a skill that could only be used in the shadows was of epic rarity.
Congratulations, for the brilliant idea of using two skills at a time for added effect. Skill: shadow stride, novice 1 has increased to novice 2. Skill: lightning reflexes, novice 1, has increased to novice 2. Your mana has increased from 10, to 12.
Kai read the text that appeared ahead of him. It was nice enough in Kai's opinion. Skills would level up when the player learns to better use them, simple as that. Though later on, leveling skills would become harder. Same went for mana, or maybe it increased through use. But for now, Kai could continue learning to effectively use his skills. While he waited to regain his mana, Kai could test his third skill.
Thunderspear dance (rare), novice 1. Thunderspear Dance is a rare and intricate spear combat technique that harmonizes with the power of thunderstorms. When activated, the user blends spear strikes with the elemental force of thunder. Adds 5+n damage to spear strikes when skill is active, where n is skill level. Skill is active when the user resembles lightning.
The skill had no stated cost, and Kai wasn't entirely sure how to actually use the skill. So he decided to ask, "Arson, I've got a skill that says I've got to be like lightning to activate it. What does that mean?"
"You have to sort of symbolize lightning. I've got a similar skill, shadow strike. To use it I need to resemble a shadow, so I figured that means I have to copy an opponent's moves, the same way their shadow copies their move. Try doing something similar, but with lightning."
Alright, Kai thought, he has to strike like lightning. Lightning came from the sky, in a quick flash. Kai took his spear, and jumped in the air, preparing to strike the dummy from above. When he reached the top of his leap, the tip of his spear started crackling with arcing electricity. The spear descended upon the dummy with a crash, singing the wood where the metal tip landed.
"It works, thanks!"
For the next half an hour, the trio spent their time in the training grounds, refining their skills. Kai didn't increase the level of any skill further, but he did get more used to actually using them. Eventually Arson and Droozle decided it was time to face real combat, assuring that if Kai were to die, he might at most lose one level of his skills. He wouldn't be losing the skills entirely, or any of his equipment, which wasn't much.