“Five individual players? Wow.”
“Indeed. It is interesting that you would have two options made available to you that are restricted by stat levels. It is most impressive.”
“So what else can you tell me about the Protean race?”
“The information available is limited before you enter the game, but I can tell you that Proteans are capable of altering their physical appearance with concentration and willpower. The stat alterations that they receive can be changed with a specialized ritual once per week. Anything else must be discovered during game play.”
“That sounds....ridiculously overpowered.”
“Which is one of the many reasons the race was deemed to be limited in both availability and number.”
“I think I have to go with the Protean. The flexibility is too much to pass up.”
“Excellent. Where would you like to place the stat adjustments to start with?”
“Good question.” I thought about it for a few minutes before Elias broke in.`
“If I may offer one more piece of advice?”
“Sure thing man. You haven’t steered me wrong yet.”
“I would suggest placing your additional two points into your Luck stat. While its effect may be intangible, early gameplay may rely heavily on chance encounters and such. Your minus two should be placed in your Charisma stat. As a Protean, you can alter your appearance to be more attractive, which would grant you a bonus to your charisma in most personal interactions, so the minus would do the least harm there.”
“That sounds good to me. I can always shuffle them around if I don’t like it, right?”
“Quite.”
“Well then, I think that’s what I’ll do.” With those words, my character sheet updated again.
Player: Archon
Level: 0
Archetype: Adaptor
Race: Protean
Class:
Alignment: Chaotic Good[Error]
Stats:
Str: 10
Dex: 11
Con: 10
Int: 13
Cha: 10
Luc: 18
Wil: 18
"Okay, it looks like there's still an alignment error. What can we do about that?"
"I'm sorry, I don't see any more errors in your file. Are you sure?"
"Uh, yeah. It says 'Alignment: Chaotic Good', and then error."
"Interesting. For now, I will do a full diagnostic of your profile to better understand, but if an error is occurring, it will not impact your play experience in the least."
“Great, now I can pick my class and finally get started.”
“Actually Archon, that is the last thing we need to accomplish. Classes are earned during gameplay only. On that note, I am pleased to inform you that your character's stats qualify you for a hidden class. When you begin play, the class trainer’s location will be highlighted on your map display. “
“Wait, I qualify for a secret class because my race altered my stats?”
“That is correct. This hidden class is only available to players who begin play with 18’s in their Luck and Will stats.”
“So, I only qualify because you talked me into bumping up my Luck?”
“I merely gave the advice I thought would best benefit you, Archon.” I would swear there was a twinkle in his eye. A literal glint of golden light.
“Sure. Well, I suppose it’s time to get started. Send me in I suppose.”
“Brace yourself, the transition may be disorienting.”
**********
Disorienting was underselling it. There weren’t really words to describe the sensation. The closest I could come was it felt like falling out of myself.
My vision cleared for a moment, and I caught a glimpse of an open courtyard, in the middle of a city. There were other figures manifesting around me in similar swirls of light. Odd, I thought I would be the first person to log into the game. As I was thinking that, there was a jerk in gut and another of those weird rendering glitches. My vision got static-y, a kaleidoscope of color filled my entire field of vision, and then I was there. By there, I mean I was standing in the middle of nowhere.
I stood on top of a short hill. The hilltop was bare, with only short grass and an odd-looking stone. In one direction, at the foot of the hill, a forest began, and the trees towered over the hill itself. In the opposite direction, the hill dropped into a plain, and a few miles away I could see the wall of a small town. Before I could take in any more, my vision was bombarded with notices.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Welcome to Archetype Online
First Login
First Rare Race
Hidden Class Unlocked!
Secret War Begun!
Vault of The Gods has been made available!
The first few notifications made sense, based on what I had learned from Elias. But the last two didn’t make any sense to me. Before I could do anything but wonder, a text box began to edge out the notices as it typed into my vision.
Welcome to Archetype Online! System checks indicate that this is your first login. To celebrate your birth in this world, you will be awarded a free starting package. Your starting statistics indicate a spellcaster build, would you like the standard spellcaster starting package? Y/N
Here we go. I’d never really played spellcasters, my style was always more up close and personal, and spellcasters are squishy. But the system was right, my stats were prime for a caster build. But no, let's see what else the system could cough up. I selected no.
Understood. Would you like to browse the starting package, or create a custom starting set? Browse/Customize
My stats were made for a caster, so the pre-made packages would probably not be any better for me than the caster package. Let's do the custom job.
Available options for starting package:
Armor:
Casters Robes-grant a bonus to mana regeneration, minimal armor
Leather Armor-grants a bonus to stealth, moderate armor
Heavy Armor-grants resistance to knockback, maximal armor
Main hand:
Mage’s Staff-grants layman evocation, 2-8 dmg
Assassin blade-grants critical strike, 4-9 dmg
Knight Saber-grants cleave, 6-10 dmg
Offhand:
Seers Orb-grants scan
Poison pouch-grants layman alchemy
Shield-grants bash
Accessory
Oculus eyewear that grants mana manipulation abilities
Picks-tools that grant pickpocketing and lockpicking abilities
Crafters gear-kit that grants layman crafting abilities
.
Okay, so it looked like there were three starting kits, and players could combine the different pieces into custom sets. I browsed the options, thinking of my normal playstyle and my current stats. I was fairly squishy for now, so heavy armor for sure. I’m going to want to be able to do some damage, and my combat style was always more of a close-up, down and dirty. Let's go with the Assassin blade. Now, off-hand looks like they grant supplementary abilities for the main classes. Bash might be nice, but the scan ability looked like it would allow me to see my enemies' stats. Orb was a no-brainer. The accessory was easy. My Will stat was going to give me a lot of mana, and without any other casting abilities, mana manipulation was going to have to do. After I made my selections, the system kicked back another message.
Caution: Your selections do not offer complete synergy. Are you sure of your choices? Y/N
Well, I never had a game admonish me for creativity before. But my choices made sense to me, so let's get on with it. I selected yes, and the package screen disappeared.
Now that your starting gear has been selected, would you like to begin tutorial training? Y/N
Tutorial? No thanks, I was more of a jump-in-and-do-it kind of guy. I selected no.
The text boxes cleared for a second, and I got a brief look at the world around me again before more text started scrolling in.
First Rare Race! Congratulations, you have unlocked the Rare Race of Protean, and as an Olympus-level member, you have been allowed to choose this race. You are one of only five Proteans in the entire world of Caernon! As a Protean, you have been given a unique spawn point, visible in the overworld as a carved stone block, just outside of a settlement consisting of people with which your race has at least a neutral standing.
Hidden Class Unlocked! Congratulations, you have unlocked a Hidden Class. As an Olympus level member, the Class Trainer has been marked on your map and you have been placed near the settlement closest to your trainer.
You are now outside the Gnome town of Kazmirath
Secret War Begun! You are a member of a faction that has declared war on another faction. Secret War is not known to all players and keeping it that way is the only way to guarantee rewards. Your faction (ENIGMA) has declared war on (The Moles).
Vault of the Gods has been made available! Your position as a leader of your faction has granted you access to your faction’s treasury. You have currently earned (1) points to spend in the Vault. Error: Vault cannot be opened until faction Orders have been read.
There were lights and trumpets accompanying each notification. As my vision cleared, my HUD faded in, my life, mana, and stamina bars glowing along the bottom of my vision, and an envelope with an exclamation mark blinked in the upper left corner of my vision. I tried to select it, and a menu popped up in front of me like a holo display.
Status
Inventory
Messages(!)
System
LogOut(x)
The Messages option was blinking, but when I tried to select it I got another alert
Messages can only be accessed after the tutorial is completed, or the player reaches level 5.
Crap. I looked through the menu, but there was no option to start the Tutorial. Apparently, the offer I got at the beginning was a one-shot deal. So, I had access to some uber vault of goodies, but I couldn’t access it until I finished the tutorial or got to level five, and I couldn’t do the tutorial anymore. Not to mention I was apparently involved in some kind of war that I didn’t know a thing about. Maybe it was something to do with all this talk of Olympus-level nonsense. More importantly, why was there an ‘x’ after LogOut? I tried selecting it and got another alert.
Your player is not yet ready to LogOut.
What the hell did that mean?! I AM the player. But, it said ‘not yet’, so maybe it was like a thing where you can’t log out unless you’re in a safe place. Lots of games did that.
Well, might as well get started. I accessed my inventory, and a box showed up with a 5x5 grid, alongside a miniature me with slots like a classic RPG. I was definitely digging the old-school vibe. One small issue, the mini-me looked like, well, me. I was hoping for some character customization. And then I remembered what Elias had said about my race. I equipped all of my starting gear, the armor appearing on my torso, the short blade at my waist, the Oculus on a chain around my neck, and a pouch, which I assumed contained the Orb, opposite the blade.
Next, I went into the Status option, where I found what I was looking for, under racial abilities.
Protean Metamorphosis(minor)
Protean Metamorphosis(greater)
The first was the cosmetic change ability, and the second was the once-per-week stat change. I used the first now, and a screen showed up, allowing me to adjust my appearance with sliders, again just like old school rpg’s I had played in the past.
I decided not to change myself too much, just adding some height and increasing muscle definition. Then, I couldn’t resist, so I changed my eyes to an intense golden color. They just looked cool.
Also inside of the System menu was a ‘Map’ option, and I selected it. A square of mostly black popped up in front of me, with a small area in the center lit up. In that area was a small icon that looked like a rock, and next to it was a blinking arrow shape, which was probably me. There was also a small blinking light in the middle of the black, which was probably the class trainer the system had mentioned. It was in a different direction from the town I could see in the distance.
After about five seconds of thinking, I decided that going to the town first would be best. I needed to get a handle on what was happening before I started hunting for my super secret special class.
All adjusted and kitted out, I began the walk toward the town I saw in the distance. Let’s see what Archetype Online had to offer.