Kris couldn’t believe it, even with his outdated gaming knowledge he knew that he went from something great to an insignificant role, and it forced him onto that path with no warning. Not to mention that he was once again hungry in real life when he logged off Royal Road. He was wondering if the desire for a pen inside a game was worth the cost. He could after all, write about his experiences once he was offline. However there was this game speed issue, where it would be 4 times faster in-game than in real life. There was a risk that he would miss or forget a detail. He also realized that when he was offline, that it had only passed 3 hours in real life.
Appearing back in where he logged off after his dinner, he once again faced Kauwl who had a wide grin on his face. That was definitely not the first thing Kris would like to see.
“You’re back. I can’t wait to see how you will develop. You see, I have a task for you. The church has been looking for help for a long while. They’re very influential you see, but their priests and bishops are all too busy to solve their own internal problems as they are always needed somewhere constantly. Take this scroll with you and show them that you’re being sent by me.”
*Di-di-ding*
You’ve acquired Kauwl’s scroll
Quest WindowAssisting the Church
It’s clear that Kauwl has been in contact with the church quite regularly. Find out what help they are in need of.
Difficulty level: F
Reward: Unknown.
Quest Requirements:
Scribe class.
You cannot deny this quest
Kris was taken by surprise. The virtual reality wasn’t going easy on him at all. He tried to swipe away the quest window and it quietly obeyed. Never seeing this happening before, he tried to summon it back to no avail. He decided to ask the old man.
“How do I open the quest window I just closed?”
Kauwl curiously looked at Kris as if he was witnessing an odd behaviour of a drunken man.
“You didn’t open any window. In fact, there are no windows in this room.”
“You know, the “ding” sound you hear and a window pops up. I just closed it down and I was wondering how to open it again.”
“Hahaha! Sure, if you attached a bell to it, you would certainly hear that as much as you want.”
“Fine, whatever. So I just need to go to the church?”
“Indeed.”
An awkward, broken conversation, it still amused Kauwl nonetheless, just like seeing a child speaking in slurs. Kris left with no more further words and went to church while eating a bread. It was dark, perhaps midnight, he couldn’t really tell. It was quiet, as if the town itself went to sleep. Way different from where Kris lived in. Any time, one could still hear activities, cars driving, late night hang-outs and the regular crowd one would see in the daytime, albeit a smaller scale. In a distant behind several corners, Kris could hear clanking noises, presumably armor of guards patrolling which broke the silent night.
At the church Kris saw two men standing at attention, outfitted with different gear from other guards. Paladins. It was hard to mistake them from any others because they emitted divine light in the darkness. Kris greeted and showed them the scroll. As if it was during the day, the paladins let him in with no hesitation, not letting the night make them wary.
Lone inside, he was greeted by the enormous decorations of wealth. Shiny objects reflected the fire of the candles which in turn lit up the large chamber. Not only that, many of the reflected light were directed to the statue positioned in the center of the room. Kris was in awe of the beauty of the sculpted goddess. Her gaze was set towards the entrance, embracing the visitors. Kris wasn’t sure if he wanted to move on or stand there and enjoy attention he got from the statue, waiting to be fetched by the priests instead. He decided to admire the statue.
*Di-ding*
A new stat has been added: Art
You witnessed a new beauty of Freya, bathing in the dimly light.
Temporary boost to skills by 10% for 24h
Experience earned increased by 10% for 24h
Regeneration increased by 10% for 24h
Does not stack with other statues.
Wisdom has been permanently increased by 2
Art has been permanently increased by 3
“Art? I have never heard of such stat in games. How things have changed. However, considering the scribe class, it shouldn’t really surprise me. There’s also this that I had to cook whole afternoon and evening recently. Rather than a game, it’s more of having a second life? Ah… hence the ‘virtual reality’. Then I shouldn’t think Royal Road as a game anymore?”
Kris kept pondered, it was just as real as real life so far, except the occasional pop-up windows he encountered. He reflected on what he has experienced so far. Kris was aware of the term NPC, but so far he hasn’t encountered any who met that criteria. There were times that both the old men at bookstore and Kauwl acted differently when asked about gaming, however he deemed them as just carefree people who enjoyed this fantasy world, unaware of the computer gaming words. His thoughts were abrupted as he noticed someone closing in.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“It is. So stunning that my worries faded away as long it was within my view. I’m sorry for having you meet me here instead, when I should have been the one to look for you.”
“You are worrying about petty things. I should be thanking you, it is not often one gets to stay here with the statue watching while having a talk. It feels like she is right next to us. Now were you sent to us by Kauwl? Let me see that scroll? Yes… It seems that Kauwl thinks highly of you. If that’s the case, I deem you worthy of the work we’re going to give you. Follow me.”
They went down underground. Kris saw items and equipments of all sorts. He could see that many of them were high quality, if not enchanted. Every other thing they passed, Kris shivered, like his body reacted to their forceful, unidentified powers. It was a discomforting feeling he never experienced before. Perhaps it was a game after all. Only that would explain the tingling feeling it forced upon him.
He was led into another storage room, now filled with books. Kris was astonished. The sudden smell hit him hard. Hundreds of books with their smell locked in for decades or centuries, developed into a sweet aroma. He has been to a few old libraries and they have never been this heavy. To think they would replicate the book smell as well. Perhaps for the first time Kris was thinking how fortunate he was for being a scribe. A game would never produce something like this. It’s virtual reality with an ounce of game stuff. Hopefully Kris wouldn’t have to change his conclusion yet again.
“We want you to copy a few each of the books here. Many of the churches don’t have as many books as us, we wish that our fellow followers were able to learn a greater detail to our cause. With your help, our priests and guardians will have the opportunity to improve themselves. In a month’s time, the priests will be gathered here to transport books to churches in need. You have a pile of books with empty pages over there.”
*Ding*
Quest WindowAssisting the Church (II)
Write copies of each book as much as you can before the time limit.
Reward: Unknown
Quest Requirement:
Assisting the Church
Kris was overwhelmed. Sure, in this day and age he still took notes in an old-fashioned way, thus he had some experience writing. But on a large-scale like this? He was pretty sure he wouldn’t pass two digits of copies. No wonder all the others were too busy to deal with this. However if Kris heard it right, there should be some kind of reward no matter the result the way the priest put it. They appreciated any extra copies they would get. Not only that, Kris had this golden opportunity of learning this world’s lore, or developer’s worldbuilding. There should be some inspirations he could use for his book.
“I can’t promise you that I can do all of them, but I will definitely put the best of my efforts into it. Also, do you have some scrolls as well I could use? I just got a new pen, I should get used to it first before I set myself to work.”
You have accepted the quest
Kris got what he wanted and the priest excused himself. Testing his pen for the first time with ink, on the very first attempt he had too much ink and it dripped onto the scroll for testing purposes. The next attempt he couldn’t angle the pen correctly for it to write. After several more tries, he managed to write decently. All that mattered now was that he just had to spell it right, from beginning to end. Kris erased that thought and began to copy.
Something was different. Kris wrote as usual, yet he felt something assisted him. As he memorized a few words at a time to write those in the empty book, he could feel that his hand was moving on its own, yet he was still in control. This continued over several pages until a window popped up.
*Ding*
You have acquired a new skill, Copy
Kris was in wonder, all these windows have popped up but he has no clue how to check what they did. Supposedly, the skill Copy was behind the tingling feeling on his hand. But now there was a definite clear change. He noticed that his hand now wrote on its own as he read through the words in the original book. Although he couldn’t read as fast as he normally could, because the hand couldn’t keep up with his reading speed. Adjusting, he kept a good pace between the reading eye and writing hand. Kris liked this change, he could now write almost constantly without having to pause each time looking which paragraph he was in. The other times were because of refilling with ink.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
*Ding*
Level up: Pen Mastery [Beginner - 2]
Writing speed is increased by +20%
Ink consumed is decreased by -5%
For the first time he could see what his skill did. That’s one part of why his hand felt different. And now he could read abit faster than before. He wondered what more or better effects Copy would bring him. With renewed energy and motivation, he went on copying books.
The hunger hit him, which reminded Kris that he also had other works to do. He had to help out Aileen and Cecil. He had to check what time it was, however there was no clock in this isolated underground. Rising up and stretching, he made his way up to the surface. It shouldn’t have surprised him but it did. It was still sunrise, meaning he still have approximately eight hours left to copy books. Basing on when he last ate, it would take roughly five to eight hours to get hungry again. Eating the bread he had gotten as a pay from the pub, he went back down to the underground.
***
*Ding*
Wisdom has been permanently increased by 1
When Kris finished copying a book, he would sometime gain a stat as a reward. It wasn’t much but it was still something, considered he didn’t fight any monsters. He would earn one stat in Wisdom usually, sometimes Intelligence and occasionally earn one stat as well in Art, depending on the book. Trying to find a pattern, all he could find that the subject of the book didn’t mattered. He could have copied a thick book of Grapass’s uprising and he wouldn’t get anything, yet if he did a thin book of riddles or poetry he gained a stat and vice versa. Kris didn’t dwell much on it any longer and worked through another book.
Once again he felt he was getting hungry and decided to wrap it up. Having some time free before his other work began, he was in the mood of taking a stray walk with a piece of bread in his hand. While the taste was beginning to feel stale, he didn’t have the heart to throw it away since he had no other income than free food he would later get in the evening. And he needed the energy from bread to get to that point. Even with no access to game information, he has noted the importance of a steady supply of food in Royal Road.
Which reminded him, how would he kill monsters? He’s a scribe class and as far as he knows, has no combat capabilities and doesn’t know a single spell. Perhaps it’s still because he’s just an apprentice, but he had to know the potential of a scribe. He changed his direction back to the mage guild.
This time around it was more crowded than yesterday. A surge of people walked through the entrance. One might say it was a prime time for players to log on, but Kris didn’t know that, thinking that there was a small event ongoing. Nonetheless, he passed through the crowd, looking for Kauwl. Not finding him on the usual spot, Kris went further in. He found a decent amount of mages reading books, none of them were writing. Kris wasn’t sure if he was to be relieved that no one other had the same unique (obsolete) class as him, or to be in agony that he would never be on par with other mages.
“I see that something is troubling you. Otherwise you’d still be busy with the work they handed to you.”
Kris turned around and met with Kauwl’s eyes. He cut to the chase.
“It hadn’t occurred to me until now, how am I supposed to protect myself from dangers outside? I haven’t learnt any spells nor do I know any kind of offensive capabilities of my role.”
To bystanders who heard this, they’d sigh and move on with their own training. Every now and then, there would be some impatient apprentice who got tired of reading and meditating, which were essential for job change success. In a sense, this applied to Kris as well.
“You just started, do not worry. Time will tell and you will have your own answers. For now, just focus on the work given to you. If you are still lost after that, I’ll give you a clue. It is of essence that you learn your powers on your own pace. I won’t say more than this.”
Kris was none the wiser and decided to leave it be. Royal Roads just had a different pace from other games of achievement, he shouldn’t be too agitated yet, not to mention he was a apprentice. If his memory served him correctly, in older games one didn’t get new skills until he completely changed class. He left for the pub, couldn’t let Aileen and Cecil be waiting for him.
***
There wasn’t any big change from yesterday, Aileen was the same, quiet but thoughtful and Cecil lightened up the mood with her teasings. At one point he saw Cecil helping out Aileen whenever customers behaved themselves, but stopped when Kris saw it. Other than that, it was just another ordinary happy evening with bread as his payment.
*Ding*
You have acquired a new skill, Cooking
Kris got it after having helped in kitchen for about ten hours in total. Harsh but considering that he was only helping out, not actually cooking on his own, it kind of made sense to him.
Having two works in-game which didn’t provide any income, Kris would never consider doing that in real life. But in Royal Road, despite its harsh and outdated tools, he still found satisfaction. The ding sound he got once a while, it brought him back to the past, nostalgia of having rewards every time a large effort was put in. It motivated him in a childish way, as if he had gotten a toy after every chore.
This routine went on for days, he had already scheduled his time around this at the start. He gained a couple of stats and skills leveled up. However he still hasn’t got a clue on how to check his status window. Everytime he said to himself that he would check it once he logs out, it never happens. He was just too tired to remember that when offline.
He had gotten to a point that he was allowed to arrive later as usual to food preparation due to his skill increase and was used to their recipes. Kris could have chosen to stay longer in the underground but he was afraid he would lose track of time. The only reliable timer he had was his hunger. If he were to stay after eating his bread at lunch, he would definitely be late for pub.
However he had a solution for this although it meant more work. Ever since Kauwl’s answer at his scribe class combat capabilities, there was a lingering uncomfortable feeling crawling on his back. But he couldn’t tell what it was about.
Kris wished to train fighting in melee range, or atleast get used to the feeling attacking with his weapon of choice. And he chose the staff. He could have picked a spear however he still had the hope of being able to field magic, and it resembled spear as well, just missing the deadly pointy tip.
When the stomach growled, Kris decided it was time to check out the training hall.
***
Kris was standing among spectators again, although the crowd was smaller this time around. There were more pupils hitting at the dolls and he could see the instructor standing proud at the amount of novices he had on his grounds. Moments later instructor proceeded yet again to persuade the spectators to join, a daily pattern he seemed to conduct. At Kris’s turn, the instructor rose one of his eyebrows.
“And you are back again? But you have already chosen your class, and this type of training isn’t suitable at all to you. Or is it that you had a change of heart?”
The instructor’s last question made it all easier for Kris to answer.
“Yes, after I changed to this class, I realized that fatal weakness it had. What can I do when an enemy at point-blank seals my lips and intrude my cast area? Nothing, and I will be standing there, regretting the chance to be taught by you which I threw away. It may be too late now, but I sincerely hope that you give me another chance.”
The instructor’s body language showed motions to refuse Kris but looking at Kris’s eager eyes, he changed his mind. He allowed Kris inside where Kris started to get picky about weapons. It wasn’t all that unusual, quite an amount of players did ask if they were able to practice with wooden spears or other weapon of their choice. Staff wasn’t all that different.
It didn’t piqued any interests from any others, such commotions happened quite regularly at the training hall. With few advices, Kris started to stab and swing at the doll, testing various attack styles, what movements was efficient. With each stab his hands slided across the borrowed plain staff, since there was no handle for his hands to firmly grip on, nor did he have gloves to prevent that from happening. It didn’t stop him but it easily caused blisters the next hour.
*Ding*
Vitality has been increased by 1
Again, he got another stat by doing self-inflicted injury. If possible, he would like try to avoid that since he noticed he had formed a habit to his real life over the course of days. He unconsciously lifted his pen from his notebook to dip into non-existent ink. But this training was an exception as he felt that this was an important step to his character.
From time to time, Kris watched the sun’s position in preparation for his departure to the pub. This was his new routine the oncoming days until the 4th week mark passed.
*Ding*
You have acquired a new skill, Staff Mastery
Kris smiled, he felt he accomplished something every time a window came up.
Notebook's DoodlesNEXT CHAPTER
Thanks to FireAsh for proofreading
And that's it for the start. Next chapter things will pick up the pace, somewhat. I think. We'll see.