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Everything was like a fairy tail– the oak-brown wooden cottages, the stone-tiled ground and the myriads of differently dressed people running about. The view that unfurled before Adam was unlike what he’d ever seen before. But that was to be expected. This was, after all, the newest virtual-reality game released by google corps with over ninety-five percent realistic feel. A game that was talked again and again and again about on the internet. Google's first virtual reality game. Ragnarök.
The game was said to become the new best seller among games and already achieved the thirty million pre-order limit after a mere week of its announcement. And today, the twenty-fifth of July 2032, a month later, the game’s servers had finally opened and was letting players inside. As Adam thought of the incredible adventures that awaited him in this game, a curved grin spread from ear to ear across his face, making him seem even a bit scary to onlookers. Coughing lightly, he remembered that he stood in the middle of the central road, and hurriedly ran over to the sidewalks to avoid the bustling traffic of people
“Hello, how much for one of these apples?” asked Adam.
“One copper, young man.” replied the old man with a slight smile.
Pink-red apples basked in the sun while they were neatly packed in the food stall in front of Adam. He checked the inventory in the translucent box of his view. Adam had a grand sum of ten coppers. Without thinking twice, he withdrew two, dull-shining coppers from the starter funds given to him by the system and handed them to the old man behind the counter. The old man smiled widely of appreciation, nodding for Adam who in return took the biggest and most red apple of them all. Well, he thought at least.
“Thank you!” said Adam and left, walking along the sidewalk.
Gazing around the medieval town like a tourist, Adam was filled with wonder. Ragnarok was just so realistic. The apple in his hand was sweet and crispy. A perfect apple! It was even better than the ones he bought at him in the nearest market. A breeze brushed past him, gently coursing through his long, golden hair; and at the same time, he smelled the almost irresistible fragrance of roasted meat that followed. It was a shame the young man only had ten coppers, otherwise, he’d have been sure to buy a roasted duck to eat. He swore to himself that once he became wealthy enough, he would get some nice food here.
The town was very crowded. Players, like himself, were running around trying to get a good grasp of the city. Everyone was dressed in the basic garment given to them by the system. He himself wore a white tunic with brown pants. A bow was strapped to his back, signifying his class as an archer. He even had a well-made quiver beside the bow. How awesome!
“Rusty Iron Broadsword! 3-6 damage – only 6 coppers! The best sword available for berserkers in the game right now! Buy it and everyone will want you on their team! Become a master warrior and conquer dungeons!”
“Tattered Robe! 2 defense, 5 health! Only 4 coppers! The best robe available for spellcasters like mages, priests warlocks in the game right now! Buy it and everyone will want you one their team! Become a master magician and conquer dungeons!
“I want the sword!”
“Let me buy the robe!
“I’ll pay 7 coppers for the sword!”
Two players were surrounded by many others after announcing their wares and items. Adam snorted quietly after seeing the scene playing out in front of him. The two players trying to sell their items were obviously swindlers; players taking advantage of newer players in order to get more money. And since the game had just started, new players were like a flock of sheep, they would believe everything one said. The two players had probably gotten some lucky drops from mobs and decided to take the dirty way to sell the sword and the robe, which probably wasn't even worth half of the amount they were being sold for.
That apple wasn’t worth 2 coppers. I got swindled too, I guess…
Adam laughed to himself and then started walking to the city exit. He had one skill which was the ability to tame beasts, the figurehead skill for an archer, his class! Walking for a while, Adam came to a field of green grass. There was a single, masive tree in the left region of the field. He could see hundreds of players making their way through the field either by themselves or in groups. However, not to his surprise, only a few were courageous enough to engage in combat with the small level 1 hound that was roaming freely without a care in the world until they were attacked. They wouldn’t be aggroed until someone attacked them, which wasn't uncommon in beginner stages of games.
So this is the first test, huh? It was apparent that the game developers had chosen to give the players this first test. The hurdle for new players, especially to those that had never played a VRMMO before, was to take the first step and defeat these dogs. In order to play this game, the players had to overcome the fear and the hesitation gained from the twentieth century’s society.
Adam reached for the bow on his back. Touching it with his hands, he felt the rough tree lines that followed along the curved piece of wood. Th basic bow had a damage of 1-2 and was most likely one of the weakest bows in the game. Yet, it was the great workmanship of a fletcher. This would be classified as a piece of art back on Earth, probably yielding a few hundred dollars at the very least. But here in Ragnarok it was the worst bow, not even worth a copper, unsellable to stores and vendors
He checked his character screen:
–Name: Houyi
–Level: 1
–Health: 100
–Mana: 100
–Defence: 0
–Strenght: 1
–Agility: 1
–Intellect: 1
–Spirit: 1
–Stamina: 10
–Dexterity: 1
–Unallotted stat points: 5
–Skills: Tame Beast
He named himself Houyi after the Chinese god of archery. Even though he was American, the young man had always had an eye for Chinese mythology. Since this was the case, and that he wanted a cool name that suited him, Houyi was perfect to pick. Luckily for him, it was free when he created his character a bit less than a month ago.
“Hmm, I need to use these stat points wisely. I have 1 points in each stat except stamina, in which I have 10. In that sense, 10 stamina equals 100 hp. 1 stamina being 10 hp. I don't know yet what each attribute does, so I’ll have to find out before spending the points. I do remember that the archer’s main attribute is agility while its secondary attribute which you can’t train is dexterity, but I will have to wait until I’ve played the game for a bit longer. Just because the system says one stat is better, it doesn’t mean it’s the best configuration for me. I'm used to shooting with my own body, so I need to recreate it here.” muttered Adam quietly.
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“Let’s get started then.”
Adam picked an arrow from his leather quiver that also hung from his back, and nocked it onto the bow, using his thumb and index finger to keep it in place. The fletching was well-made, and would surely do its job. He gazed around for a moment before finding his target. A cute dog was playing around in the green, lush grass about twenty meters away from him. Breathing out slowly, Adam drew the bowstring fully and aimed carefully at his target. But just as he was about to let loose of the arrow and send it on its way, his view pulsated slightly, and a system message appeared in front of him.
<
He pressed <
Adam needed no help, this would be a good game for improving his skills. If it worked well, he could even use it instead of his normal routine training, so the system’s help was unnecessary to him. His view blurred again, and the system message was gone.
He brought up his bow and aimed again. Adam waited a few seconds, calming his heart. This was crucial for archers, they needed to be very calm when shooting. A small slip of the hand, or even a faulty calculation of the wind speed, and the arrow’s path would deviate from the right one, and completely miss its target. That was the crux of archery. It was unlike swordsmanship or sorcery. You only had a mere centimeter to work with, and one mistake could mean everything.
He released the arrow
“Swoosh”
The arrow flew in a straight line, hitting the dog’s heart dead-on.
(-4)
The dog whimpered loudly and turned to Adam. Its eyes changed into crimson as the dog bared its fangs and charged toward him. The dog was quite fast. From his estimation, It would only take about 4-5 seconds for the small creature to reach him.
–Brown Dog: Lvl 1
–Health: (10/6)
“Tame beast only works on non-humanoid monsters that are on the same level as me, and with twenty or below twenty percent health remaining. So, I need the at two health minimum before I can attempt to tame this dog as my pet. As an archer, I have three pet slots and can discard and/or tame a new beast each day.” Adam muttered to himself while nocking another arrow onto his bow, quickly letting it loose towards his prey. “That’s quite nice.”
(-3)
The dog was almost at him. He didn’t have time to fire another arrow before the time was up, so he took his guard up and braced himself. Even though he could dodge, he was very curious to see how much damage the dog dealt, and how much pain he would feel from the dog's attack. He actually wanted to get bitten, how strange that sounded when he thought about it!
“Woooof!”
(-5)
The dog hopped onto him and aimed for his throat. Luckily, Adam guarded his throat carefully. He knew that dogs primal instincts were as such and would, without thinking, aim for that spot. Of course, he couldn’t protect himself fully, and took a bit of damage. His hp was reduced by 5 He threw away the dog, giving it a good kick while he did.
(-1)
“Now!
“Tame Beast” shouted Adam loudly, activating his one and only skill. A dark-green light coiled like a snake over to the dog and immobilised it. The dog tried to resist, but couldn't. He noticed his mana bar plummeting down slowly but surely. After ten seconds or so, the dog quieted down, and the dark-green light disappeared like it had never existed.
<
“Hercules!” said Adam with a glee.
<
The dog on the ground blurred, and then magically appeared by his side. It stroked its furry but soft throat to his leg, showing off its affection. Hehe, If not for the previous action of wanting to rip him apart, maybe he'd even go down and pet it. But for now, it would take some time for him recuperate from the shock. Jokes aside, Adam noticed a status above the figure of the dog.
–Hercules: Lvl 1
–Health: (50/50)
“Show Pet’s status screen.” said Adam.
Another, a bit bigger, status appeared.
–Name: Hercules
–Level: 1
–Health: 20
–Energy: 5
–Defence: 2
–Strenght: 2
–Agility: 1
–Intellect: 0
–Spirit: 0
–Stamina: 1 (+ 1)
–Skills: Reckless Charge. Bite.
–Pet bonus: 200% stamina and 150% defence
<
Adam looked through his pet’s status and felt that it was quite good. Archer truly was a class for farming. He didn’t know about the other classes, but archers should be quite capable of grinding massive experience from monsters. Maybe they could even solo bosses in dungeons! Heh, I logged in a bit late today. Well, I’ve finished college, so I got some spare time. Guess I’ll be in the game tomorrow again. But it's no use to play more when only ten minutes are remaining. Adam jogged back to town and logged out.
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