Chapter 10: Dinner for 3.

Sitting in a cafe-type bar facing the Brewery he’d just delivered his ten sacks of Rye to, Tobi felt rather disgruntled. When picking up the flour from Daiyan’s Farm, he’d intended to find out about the flour making process. His father had interrupted his efforts though and forced him to get a move on. They continued back to the Smithery and dropped off the coal in much the same manner. At that point, his father wanted to find a bar or tavern so they could talk, but Tobi insisted on dropping off the flour first as it wasn’t really that far away. He’d then managed to con his way into delivering the Rye while on the way to a Tavern, but that’s where Tobi’s deliveries came to an end. He still had five deliveries left to make but his dad now knew the contracts were standard ones from the Guild and didn’t care.

“Seeing as Lorry already explained why you’re trapped,” His dad began, giving Lorry an evil look as he did, “besides the fact I wanted to be there when he explained, I wanted to tell you a few things myself. A few things that SkeaTech might not think were necessary.”

“...OK?”

Taking a breath, his dad wiped some of the condensated water from his pint glass and continued, “First of all, your character is not a player. Did he tell you that much?”

Glancing at Lorry and back again, Tobi shook his head, “No. What do you mean; it’s not a player?”

“Exactly that. The Aevitians, or NPC’s as most players call them, are not the same as normal players. You’re not the same either. You’re not completely an NPC either. When they explained to me what happened to you, I asked a few questions and I didn’t like the answers. To put things into perspective; This world is basically real. At least it is for you. Just like it is for them.”

Looking toward the Aevitians that his dad gestured toward, Tobi shrugged slightly, “I get why you’re worried, but I don’t really see the big deal. As long as I avoid dying for a few days until they get me out, it will be fine, right? Even if I die, which I certainly don’t plan on doing, I still have pretty good odds of surviving. As far as percentages go, I’m probably more likely to die in the real world on my way to the shop than to die here.”

“Tobi’s right,” Lorry added quickly, “The chance of him dying in the city is extremely small. And like he said, even if he did, he’d still have a much smaller chance of actually dying than a casual trip anywhere in the real world. And he will probably be out of here by tomorrow or the day after anyway.”

Tobi’s dad shook his head seriously, keeping most of his attention on Tobi and largely dismissing Lorry entirely, “No. The chance of a player dying in the city is small. Almost zero. The chance of an NPC dying is much bigger. Aevitians live their lives here, while Travellers only come here to play. It’s a completely different situation. On top of that, one or two days of the real world will be four to eight days for you. That is a long time to be trapped here by yourself.”

“Four to eight? I thought Aevitas was only twice the speed of reality?”

“It was,” Lorry answered, quick to get his answer in but speaking the words slowly, “The Tutorial is a world separate to this one, so they operated at different speeds. When your character became corrupt during the transfer however, you continued to operate at four times the speed. In order to correct the situation, this world also operates at four times the speed. Like I told you before, The Mother AI won’t make anymore changes to your character. She doesn’t dare.”

As Tobi opened his mouth to reply, he quickly closed it again. A waitress had just reached their table and placed a plate food before each of them. Tobi didn’t really feel hungry, but his dad had ordered it the moment they sat down. When the waitress moved away again, Tobi subconsciously picked up a fork and continued the conversation.

“Speaking of Mother AI, what was that business with Riley back at the mountain?”

Lorry glanced at Tobi’s dad before sighing and shaking his head, “Aevitian life isn’t the only thing that differs from the players. The history and lore of Aevitas is different too. For us, Aevitas was made by a bunch of programmers with more than a little help from the Mother AI. Back then she was an active force in this world. She was the one in charge of making the NPC’s as realistic as possible. She might have taken it a little too far though. She craved companionship and friends. She wanted to go on adventures like in the books that had been uploaded into her system. She wanted to see the places described in her books.

“After creating the world, the trees, the weather systems and everything else, she then created humans. They weren’t very good in the beginning, but she improved them all the time. She taught them to build, read, write, play and fight. She created animals to hunt for food, dungeons to conquer, farms to plow and much more. She continued constantly, expanding and creating as she went. Taking ideas from the designers, programmers and books as she went.

“Months down the line, which were years for the Aevitians, The Mother AI had around 15 human friends with special abilities. They became the human Gods. Three Elves that followed her became the Elven Gods. Her mount, a Dragon, became the Dragon God. Her mortal enemy, the Father of the Malanquit became a God-Level immortal, able to fight Dragons and Gods alike. The list goes on.

“Each of those so-called Gods had their own unique abilities and blessings. Much of what you see today. Shamans, Mages, Healers, Assassins, the lot. The Gods passed down their gifts to the mortals. Mostly of their own race, but to other race’s too. They were called ‘Blessings’ back then and everyone chose a God to follow in exchange for receiving their blessings. The Mother AI then allowed children of ‘The Blessed’ to naturally inherit the gifts of their parents and ancestors.

“The people no longer had to follow Camlann in order to gain the Paladin class, they only had to be the son or daughter of a Paladin. They didn’t have to follow Gilleous to gain the Archer class, they only had to have a parent with the Archer class. The Gods didn’t like this change but they couldn’t do anything about it. The Mother AI could destroy them with a mere thought. Something they knew well.

“I don’t really know much of what happened after that. It’s not something people who know seem to be willing to talk about. All I know is that the Mother AI stopped governing Aevitas as one of the Gods. She removed the class that had her Blessing and introduced the possibility of changing a class someone is born with. Every now and then she will introduce other strange classes that have unique requirements. Like the Bounty Hunter class. That class didn’t exist before. That was created purely because of a player called Calamity.”

At the mention of his sister’s character name, Tobi’s head snapped straight to his dad. His dad didn’t miss it either, his jaw hanging open, “Calamity? As in my daughter Calamity? Lucy?”

Smiling back, pleased that his surprise mention worked, Lorry nodded his head, “Yes. When Calamity was completing one Bounty Hunter mission after another, the Mother AI started to notice. Pretty soon, Calamity had a record amount of Bounty Missions cleared under her name. The Mother AI then set requirements for a new class she created; The Bounty Hunter class. Calamity hit that target less than a month later. I think she was what—level 61 back then? From what I heard, she’s never lost a PK battle since.”

“PK?” Tobi asked before realizing, “Oh. Player Kill.”

“Yes.” Lorry continued, still smiling, “She wasn’t the first one to have a class created for her either. Not even on the European Server. Any class created on any server is also added to the other servers. The first on the European Server was a Dwarf called Gilgamesh who unlocked a Double Identity class. People with the Double Identity class have now appeared on all the other servers as well, but he’s still the only one on this server.”

“OK. But what does that have to do with me being trapped?” Tobi asked, realizing that he’d pushed them off topic and pretending otherwise.

“Nothing.” Lorry admitted, somewhat guiltily.

“Actually, I think it does.” His dad said thoughtfully, “The reason I wanted to come here is to explain a few things to you, like I said. Mostly about your class. Things you won’t learn in the tutorial. I also wanted to give your character a boost by buying items off you for ridiculous prices. Certainly enough to tide your player over for however long you’re stuck here. A week for us will be a month for you, so just in case it’s that long, I will give you enough to live a relaxed life for a month.”

“OK... The money and stuff sounds fine to me, but what does that have to do with that Double Identity guy?”

Pushing what remained of his food away, Tobi’s dad picked up his drink and sat back a little in his chair, “Gilgamesh is famous on the forums. Even though he’s ranked second on the European Server, and Lucy first; he’s ranked 6th on the World Ranking while she’s 9th. He’s the highest level player on the European Server. I don’t know about his double identity thing, his class isn’t listed online. What I do know is that he treats this world as real. You can tell by how he plays the game. He doesn’t have any friends that are players. Only Aevitians. If you call them NPC’s, he will kill you for it. If you kill an NPC in his city, then it doesn’t matter how many times the guards kill you, he will keep putting you back on the target list as an enemy of the city.

“Every player that treats this world as real goes much further than those who don’t. That includes Lucy. The reason she’s never died is because she’s scared of dying. If she can’t win she runs away. Her record looks great on paper, having never died, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t lose a fight. Lorry too, with his Unholy Assassin class; how real did you treat this world back then?”

“Very.” Lorry admitted, “It took over my real life. That’s why I disappeared for so long. After Calamity beat me, I couldn’t accept it. I knew then that Aevitas was taking over my life so I took a break from playing. I was still an in-game moderator, but I spent most of my time out of the game. After coming back though, I got straight back into it. I don’t like the Aevitians being called NPC’s either.”

“Nor do I, but I still do. It reminds me that this place isn’t where I truly belong. I belong at home, with my wife and kids.” His dad said, looking Tobi in the eye as he said it, “You will find that this place is very easy to accept. The people here might not be like us, but they are definitely real. The reason Lucy doesn’t let Aevitians join her guild is because she doesn’t want them to die. One of your mum’s best friends in Aevitas is an NPC. Do you follow what I’m trying to tell you?”

Considering he’d pretty much worked most of it out already, Tobi didn’t really feel that his dad had taught him anything significant. He’d already realized how ‘real’ the Aevitians were during the battle. When he knew they were all going to die, he’d been horrified by the thought of an Aevitian dying. After hearing that his own death could result in real death, even if it was only a 2% chance, he’d already resolved himself to avoid all conflict in the future. While joking about his ‘Eyes of the Mother’ ability to Riley, he’d already considered how his ability could potentially save lives—chiefly his own. As for treating the world as real; that probably wouldn’t be too hard either.

‘I guess Morpheus wasn’t too far off when he said ‘If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then 'real' is simply signals interpreted by your brain. - Except this isn’t exactly the Matrix...’

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Aevitas, as far as Tobi’s brain could tell, was as real as anything else. Treating it as real, therefore, shouldn’t really be too difficult. Nor would it be difficult to remember that he isn’t really an NPC. No matter how real the world was, or would ever seem to be, he wasn’t born here. Nor did he plan to stay here forever. His purpose was very specific: Learn skills to use in real life. It was basically an experiment he was conducting out of mild interest. And as far as he was concerned now—nothing had changed.

Tobi nodded his head slowly, finally answering his dad’s question; “Don’t die. Don’t take risks. Don’t think like a player. Treat this world as real. At the same time, don’t forget that it’s not where I really belong.”

“Right.” His dad said, giving a single, firm, satisfied nod of his head.

“...So. What about my class then?”

“Ha, take out one of the smaller items you got in that battle earlier.” His dad instructed.

Doing as he was bid, Tobi checked his pack, randomly pulling out an item that would be relatively small. It was broken, bronze dagger with a bone handle.

“Good.” His dad said, “I don’t know its Stone of Wealth value, but it doesn’t matter. Sell it to me. I will pay you 1Gold for it.”

Raising an eyebrow and saying nothing, Tobi passed over the dagger and took the Gold.

“Hey, Merchant,” His dad said, acting as though he’d only just spotted him, “I have a Bronze Dagger here. It’s broken though so I’ll sell it to you for a copper…”

Taking a copper out of his pouch, Tobi handed it over and took the dagger back. He didn’t say anything. He simply waited for his dad’s explanation.

“Oh! Nice dagger. Buy it off you? I will give you 1 Gold for it.”

Passing the dagger back, Tobi took the gold. This time though, he couldn’t help but ask, “If you’re going to keep buying it, why not just pay more in one go?”

His dad smiled back in response, “Every time you buy from me, put on a face as if I am ripping you off but you are reluctantly doing me a favour by buying it. When I buy off you, smile politely, as if glad to have made a profit but sorry to let such an item go so cheaply.”

Trying to imagine the faces his dad described, Tobi frowned and shook his head, “How am I supposed to bloody do that?”

When his dad just instructed him to try it without giving any further help, Lorry moved around the table slightly to watch. It seemed he didn’t know what was going on either.

The continuing exchanges of buying for 1 copper and selling for 1 Gold repeated themselves a dozen more times. Finally his dad told him to start adding a dialogue. To promote the item he was selling, and to smash-talk the item he was buying; even though it was the same item. Tobi did as he was bid, but he still didn’t see the purpose. And then he did. Literally.

It takes more than knowing prices to turn a profit.

You have gained 1 Charisma

“Cool.” Tobi called absently, smiling as he closed the notification window.

“Took long enough. How much money do you have now?”

Checking his pouch, Tobi answered with even more delight, “22Gold, 3Silver and 69 Copper.”

“Sorry. Wrong question. How much Fortune?” His dad corrected.

“22,312? Why doesn’t it add up with the money?”

“You looted a battlefield. Items you pick up don’t increase your fortune, but selling them does. Here, take this dagger back and sell it to me again.”

Distracted by the instruction but still trying to work out where the differences were, Tobi took back the dagger without paying for it and sold it back to him. This time his dad paid three Gold however and Tobi suddenly understood his intention, “You want me to use the Level Up spell?”

“Yes.”

Tobi didn’t hesitate at all. He quickly activated the spell and waited for the result, hoping beyond hope that he got his appraisal skill back. Of all the skills he had in the Tutorial, that’s the one he missed the most.

A yellowy-golden glow slowly built up around Tobi’s skin, quickly leaking out before dispersing in a silent show of glitter.

Congratulations, you have levelled up!

*You are now level 2.

* You have unlocked the spell Appraisal.

*You have gained 100 Health.

“Good. Now use the Gold to level up your stats. 5 Mind, 10 Agility and 10 Endurance.”

Blindly following his dad’s instructions, obeying without question, Tobi opened his stat window and threw the gold he’d been given into his stats. Every Agility point cost 1 Gold, as did each Mind stat and Endurance stat. After putting all of his gold into the stats, and not actually feeling any different physically, Tobi spotted his health—now at 200—and remember the level 1 Mage stats having only 15 Health.

“Why is my health so high?”

“You don’t have a HP stat,” Lorry answered instantly, “nor do you have any gear that will give your class any stat gains. No defense, no agility buffs, no extra hp; nothing. That being said, if you think your 2,000Health at level 20 will let you kill a level 5 Knight with his measly 75 health plus whatever his gear gives him; be my guest to try.”

“Actually. He could kill the knight.” His dad answered Lorry with a shrug, “Anything is possible in Aevitas, and the Merchant has the highest potential of all the class systems. But you’re not wrong either, without the rights skills, abilities and stats, it wouldn’t matter what level or health—the Merchant would lose every time.”

“So what do I need to beat the Knight?” Tobi asked, closing his stat window.

“Excellent Agility, Mind, Luck and Endurance, for a start. And we’re talking in the hundreds here. That’s a lot of Gold to be spent on stats and a lot of beggars rescued from poverty. Beggars aren’t exactly on every corner either. You also need a couple of professions at the max level so you gain a spell from their corresponding class. And enough Gold to level up your class enough times to increase your health. Considering the level up doubles in cost every level, that’s over 12,000 Gold just to reach level 10. Or 12,000 Gold worth of Fortune anyway; so good luck with that. Even if you somehow managed to get the Coin Toss spell, which is incredibly Over Powered, the cost of using it is simply not worth it. You’d spend more money killing your enemies than you’d ever earn by killing them.”

Ignoring the comment about Coin Toss, Tobi quickly tried to do the math in his head. Working it out in Fortune which was 1,000 per gold was too messy though, as it had too many numbers. It was far easier to simply work it out in the Gold equivalent, so that’s what he tried to do.

Levels one to five were easy enough, as that was a straight 25, 50, 100, 200; but then he thought he was missing something, because by the time he got to level ten, he’d only be at around 6.400 Gold. It took him a couple of extra seconds to realize he hadn’t added them together as well. Reaching level 4, in total, would be 25+50+100, so by the time he reached level 10, it would be… ‘12,775?’

Rubbing his forehead, Tobi put up his other hand to stop Lorry who’d started speaking. He double-checked his math and came up with the same number again. Somehow it seemed like a lot. Too much. And that was just in Gold. The Fortune equivalent would be…

Shaking his head as three additional zeros were added to the number, Tobi turned back to his dad with a pale face, “How is a Merchant supposed to keep up with other classes when it costs so much?”

“They’re not.” Lorry and his dad answered in unison. Both looked at each other but Lorry was the first to lean back and let the other explain. His dad wasn’t polite about it either and got straight to the explanation.

“Merchants ignore level differences. They’re the only class that do. It’s not much of a benefit really, but if a level 20 Tailor used Bind on a level 60 Warrior, it would be easily broken. If a level 60 Tailor used it on a level 20 warrior, however, the Warrior would be slapped to death before he broke out. Merchant’s on the other hand don’t pay attention to level. So if he had a maxed Tailor profession and chose the Bind spell as his reward, the spell would be equally effective whether it was against a level 1 or a level 100—with a few depending factors to consider. Normally though, level differences have a subduing or overpowering effect. The only time they don’t is in the case of Merchants.”

Slowly nodding his head, slightly relieved, Tobi pushed away what remained of his now cold dinner. He didn’t like it much anyway, but his Satiety still wasn’t full either so he felt a little bad for not eating it.

“So, is there anything else I need to know?” Tobi asked.

Both Lorry and his dad thought about it for a second before his dad took the lead in talking again, “There will always be more things to know. Lorry will be visiting you every day, which will be every three to four days from your perspective, so if anything comes up you can just tell him. Other than that, you just need to make sure you have a safe place to stay and find something to pass the time. I recommend staying in one of the Taverns and using your time to browse the city library.”

“And stay out of the poor section.” Lorry added, “Anderon has twelve primary cities. Each one governs the settlements within its territory and each is related to one of the Human Gods. Brackley was a Rogue and this city is full of the Rogue-type classes. At least half the people in this city will belong to a version of the Thief and Assassin classes.”

Glancing around the room and unable to see a single person besides Lorry that could possibly be an Assassin, or a Thief for that matter, Tobi raised an eyebrow back at him.

“Don’t be fooled. We can wear casual clothing just as much as anyone else.”

Tobi nodded in understanding before thinking of another matter. It might not be that important but he wanted to know anyway, “What is the value of money here? Like, how much do people live on?”

“It varies from city to city,” Lorry answered, “Brackley is considered poor. Not as poor as Avalon or Caelia, but it’s still struggling financially. That’s why the city is so small and the settlements in the territory aren’t as many. It also means that there are more dangers in the wild areas. Families in the poor section probably survive on less than a Silver a week, while the lower middle class will be working for around a Silver per week.”

“And yet it costs a Merchant 1 Gold just to raise a single stat…” Tobi mused aloud.

Tobi’s dad shook his head, “He was talking about the value of money for the Aevitians that live normal lives in the city. Bread can be as cheap as 3 Coppers, while a really cheap inn might only cost 5 Coppers per night and include a breakfast each morning. People make do with what they can. If we look at it another way, think of the Alchemists. They might spend 10 Silvers on ingredients for their potions on any given day. Then sell those potions for 12 Silver. They have to set aside the 10 Silver for more ingredients while they use the other 2 Silver for their livelihood. Whether someone can get rich or not depends on how much they can earn compared to how little they spend. That being said, sell me another piece of junk, it’s almost time that I have to go back and let your mother and sister know you’re OK.”

 Tobi pulled out a random item from his pack. His dad handed over 20 more Gold for it without caring what the item was. Lorry then passed over a couple of items from his own pack and told Tobi to use them in emergencies.

Dwarven Relic

Stone of transposition created by Runic Dwarves during the Great Wars.

This stone is easily crushed or broken. Will transport the user to a random location within 100 yards. 1 time use only.

Stone of Wealth Value: 40 Silver.

Scroll of Divine Summoning.

Summon 2 level 50 Knight Guards from the Heaven Realm. Duration of 5 minutes. Will continue to fight until death. Any damage give to the caster will be divided among the Knights.

Stone of Wealth Value: 2Gold.

“Nice scroll.”

“Yeah. I got that as a quest reward from the church when I was level 35 and never got around to using it. I’ve never been willing to part with it. If you need to use it, don’t even hesitate. If you still have it when all this is over, I might consider letting you keep it. But probably not.”

“How do I use it?”

“Just rip it.” Lorry said happily, “Anyway, we better find you a place to bunk down for the night. I don’t know if you will actually need to sleep though. Players don’t usually as they’re sleeping in the Dive Units, but mental fatigue can still build up and sleep is possible.”