Hetman and Metar entered to library. Library was not small room. It had at least 500 m2 and everywhere one looked were bookshelves except small space with tables. At the table were sitting group of 9 people. Half of them wore beginners clothes so it was easy to guess they were players. The other half wore commoner clothes or leather armors so they probably were either NPC or players who bought some basic equipment.
“Please sit down” said man in leather armor.
“Ok since we have 10 people we can begin your training” He was talking while Hetman and Metar walked to the tables.
“My name is Wilhelm Sung and I’m the person in charge of your training for Explorers” he introduced himself
“Before you start asking questions I will give you some basic information about class you will receive after this training and can later receive in our guild. Let’s begin with Explorer class, it’s basic class whose main purpose is discovery of new territories. It is well balanced class with basic advantages. Firstly you will receive double advantages from discovering new dungeon and territories, secondly you will get ten stat points in vitality, physical fitness and agility each. As Explorers you will be able to learn combat skills up to advanced level, crafting skills up to intermediate, magic to basic and material gathering skills up to master. Of course universal skills still will be able to be mastered. You will gain proficiency two times faster in gathering and universal skills, two times slower for magic skills and normal speed for rest. Special skills are not defined as each is different. For each point invested in vitality, physical fitness and intelligence you will respectively get 20 in health 20 in stamina and 10 in mana.”
Information provided by Wilhelm needed basic understanding of skills in Age of Champions. Skills were divided in 6 different categories: combat, magic, crafting, gathering, normal and special.
Combat group are skills like sword mastery or rapid strikes. Magic skills are like fireball or fire manipulation. Crafting skills are skills that allows to produce new items from raw materials like blacksmiths. Gathering skills are skills which help to gather resources like mining. Normal skills increase capabilities of bodies and mind like jumping or fast reading.
Special skills are the hardest to define as they can be put into many different categories. Example of such skill is sonic slash. This skill allow swordsman to generate ultrasonic wave that will cut enemies in distance by waving his sword. As this skill combine magic and combat skill qualities (consume mana and stamina) it can’t be put in either category.
Also each class group get little bit different bonuses from 3 basic: stats vitality, physical fitness and intelligence.
For example mage with 100 points in Vitality have less health then warrior with 34 point in Vitality.
“About equipment you will be able to carry…” Wilhelm continued “… heavy amours are out of your reach but except that you can use anything you like. I think that this cover everything about you class I had to say so now I will continue with your class perspectives in our guild. Our guild can give you gathering classes like miner, more battle oriented like hunter, even class that allow you to tame wild animals like beast master or tamer. If you would like fight on horse you can become messenger and of course you can also further advance in path of explorer. Each of these classes keep bonuses you will receive from previous one and add new ones. Ok so are there any questions about classes?” He ended asking
After Wilhelm ended explaining in library regained dead silence but soon one of players asked the question.
“What criteria do I have to fulfill to become beast master?”
“This is question I cannot answer right now but most of class criteria are listed and can be accessible right here in library.”
“What do you mean by most of classes are listed. Are there some hidden ones?” one of players quickly asked.
“Yes there are few secret classes that can be given only by specific teachers.”
“So how will I know that I fulfilled requirements for hidden class?” player continued asking
“It is quite simple. In every guild building is orb similar to the ones in information guild. If you pay small fee you can use it and it will show you classes available to you in this moment. Even if class is hidden it will be listed if you will fulfill requirements but you should be careful with hidden classes. They are not only harder to get because of hidden requirements but also because they are not given simply after passing training. Some are given after you will do quests for gods or devils other after you will find teacher and pass his trials. Ok any more questions?”
This time no one had any questions.
“I don’t hear any questions so I will proceeded with training. The first part is about theoretical knowledge. What you need to do is in week time read books I had prepared for you on this table and pass the test. See you in week time and good luck” Wilhelm said and left.
Hetman immediately picked up his pile of books and went to quieter part of library. He sit down and scanned books he had to read. There were 10 in total but they were rather thin. What draw his attention was topic books had. There were 3 books which concentrated on flora, fauna and geography of Aerian Empire. They were the thicker. One book about cartography. One about survival techniques. Next was about how to take care of minor injuries. One was map of the sky. There were also two books about basics of dwarven and elven language. Lastly there was a journal of some explorer about how he got to the peak of the nearest mountain.
The books had from 100 to 150 pages except the ones about Aerien Empire which had 300 and in prologue were mentioned that they will only mention the most common creatures and animals. To
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Hetman who liked reading it was amount he would be able to read in 30-35 hours but to learn it would take two times more time so he started right now.
As Hetman started reading Metar walked to his table.
“Can I join?” He asked
“Sure”
“They gave us a lot to read”
“Yes, but it is only some basic information needed to survive in wild and find way back to civilization”
“Really, I see here only some useless academical knowledge and one adventure book” Metar complained
“I would suggest you to start with adventurer book but don’t simply read it but also answer what you would do in each situation he came across on his way” Hetman said from his experience. As he spend two week in forest he quickly saw how useful was the information in those books and on what aspects he should concentrate to memorize.
After 3 hours of reading Metar had ended reading journal and sighed.
“Ok I wouldn’t get lost in the forest as I spend in forests half of my life but still I would die either from animals attacks or because I ate some poisonous plant.” After this short sentence both Hetman and
Metar resumed reading. After next 5 hours Hetman logged out.
Bart went out of the capsule and looked at the watch he was inside the game for three hours and his body was stiff. He went to the kitchen and took out frozen pizza from freezer. He put it into microwave and went back to his room. Waiting for the computer to turn on he eat already half of the pizza. As usual he scaned for some new information about the game on forums and checked his email. He go new mail.
It was from one of the places he send his CV. They invited him for job interview in the Monday and asked confirmation. It was small shop so he didn’t had to prepare himself a lot for this interview. Bart wrote short mail confirming he will go for interview and logged back.
The next few in game days Hetman was reading and repeating material for the test. When the day of test finally come, Wilhelm appeared once more in library. The test was bit different from what hetman was expecting. He was guessing he will either be answering some questions or write the test but it was much simpler. He was only asked to show his knowledge window. Without Hetman noticing he gained new knowledge.
[quart=Knowledge Name,Knowledge Level]Knowledge Rank,Knowledge Progress[/quart]
[quart=Monsterology,9]Beginner,99%[/quart][quart=Botany,9]beginner, 99%[/quart][quart=Elven Language,3]A1,76%[/quart][quart=Dvarven Language,3]A1,83%[/quart][quart=Human Language,1]C1,12%[/quart][quart=Geography,1]Beginner,89%[/quart][quart=First Aid Knowledge,7]Advanced,32%[/quart][quart=Survival Knowledge,7]Beginner,45%[/quart][quart=Polearm fighting tactics,4]Beginner, 83%[/quart][quart=knife fighting tactics,4]Beginner, 83%[/quart]
Knowledge Window
Knowledge how creature body is build and its behavior. The more you know about Monsterology the easier it is to spot their week points and better are you in skinning and dressing creature.
You know anatomy of: 84 creatures
You know behavior of: 84 creatures
Knowledge about use and occurrence of plants
You know use of: 67 plants
You know occurrence of :67 plants
Ability to speak and read in human language.
You are able to understand numbers and basic words in elven language
Ability to speak and read in human language.
You are able to understand numbers and basic words in dwarven language
Ability to speak and read in human language.
You are able to understand 99% words in human language
Geography allows you to know where you currently are. Better orientation in the field.
You know basic geography of Aerian Empire, how to find a way using stars.
Knowledge how to take care of minor injuries.
Knowledge about how to survive in adverse condition.
The more tactics you know the easier it is to adapt to situation
Known tactics: ”Advantage of reach”
The more tactics you know the easier it is to adapt to situation
Known tactics: ”Dash and stab”
Hetman gained new knowledge and his animal anatomy transformed to monsterolgy.
He of course passed the test, as Metar did but except from them only 2 more players could advance further. The reason for this was simple they didn’t study at all as they don’t play this game to read books.
“Congratulations to everyone that passed the first test. 3 more and you will officially be part of Explorer guild and get explorer class. Now lets go to the training grounds.”