She looked up from her screen with a reassuring expression.
“Our records can’t find your Class. It’s not a problem, we have discovered new classes like this before, but it just means that we can’t necessarily give you any class-specific training right away.” She seemed somewhat apologetic about this.
A relieved sigh escaped his lips, for a brief moment he thought something was wrong. But if they didn’t have his class on file it made sense why he hadn’t heard about it before. During his relieved thoughts, the machine let out a little blip before turning off. A tiny screen beside it lit up with his attributes and list of skill names.
“Please confirm that this is correct.” She commented, pointing at the screen.
Sam brought up the list of things in his vision, the System producing the requested info right away, and everything looked matched up as far as he could see.
“Looks good to me.”
Seconds after he confirmed it the little screen turned off as the woman continued for a few moments.
“Good, we’re done. If you just take this card with you through that door, there is an intro course starting in a few hours. You can wait in there if you want, or just come back when it starts.”
Pushing a temporary TAC-ID card alongside a few brochures and information papers to him she looked at him with a practiced smile.
Taking his normal ID card, he put it back in his wallet before he took everything else with a slight smile.
“Thank you.”
He gave her a nod and left for the door she pointed at, it wasn’t like had much else to do anyway so he might as well wait in here.
Opening the door he entered a long hallway that opened up into a large room, almost akin to a rectangular gym hall with staired seating on one side, being surprisingly long in the direction away from the seating to the point of having some targets in the far distance. Going in he found himself somewhere to sit. There were already a few people in here, most looking as green as he did, wearing street clothing or something loose like a tracksuit.
As he sat down he overheard some of them speaking, there were a few groups here. Most were loners like Sam but a few seemed to be a small group of two or three, talking about how they were going to do this and that, and how this and that ability was better than their friends’ because of... This went on for the whole hour he waited. Though, he ignored most of it and rather focused on his own stuff. He wanted to play with his powers but it would probably not be smart to just all willy-nilly flail about with what he could do, not only for secretive purposes but mainly for safety. They were all new in using their abilities and he could accidentally hurt someone. Instead, he tried smaller things like manifesting a Psyhand and stretching it out, seeing if he could barely move objects in the distance by focusing his Energy into his Area of Influence, though his maximum range, considering manifesting one hand using his remaining Energy; was just 15m/50ft. Thought he was happy with the rough 50% range boost at the moment. Once he felt done with that, he did other things like using them close, playing with his shoelaces or trying to move things in his pockets. Just trying out subtle things like that. It made him surprisingly happy, even though he could only lift about an apple with each hand.
The door in the hallway opened and remained open for several seconds before it closed again, footsteps closed in before two men and one woman came out into the hall where everyone else was. They all wore very simple-looking leather armour, though it had what looked like glowing glyphs or runes on it. It was easy to guess that this was the entry-level armour they would be using.
But one of the men was much more intimidating. According to the picture and information in the pamphlets given by the clerk, this was Chief Trainer Toren Ashfold. He stood a bit taller than average, looking to be in his mid-40s, quite muscular and honed. Lightly tanned skin, strong jawline, piercing blue eyes and short, neatly maintained brown hair with flecked grey at the temples. He wore the same armour as the others but it looked substantially weaker and less covering on his slab of a body.
“SO!” He shouted out, quieting any murmurs or talking in the hall and gaining complete attention. “You want to become Players. That’s good, very good. But it’s very, very dangerous. Some of you will most likely die the first time you enter Aetheria. Some might die the second time, arrogance is a harsh enemy. Today we’re going to go through the basics of how Aetheria works, what you should consider and if there’s time, some light training.”
His voice boomed and carried well, he sounded like he had done public speaking for most of his life, and though he looked incredibly rough and intimidating, there was a strange warmth to his words.
He proceeded to explain the basics, how to enter Aetheria, which was just to enter an area the Tower had reach in, and the System would display information for you. Though the most common place for this was around the Towers themselves, there might be pockets here and there, these were commonly referred to as Dungeons.
Further explaining he touched on how to find these, what to do once you find them and so on. Everything was ranked on a list of letter grades the System has made, displayed from the lowest to highest, the letter E, the letter D, C, B, A and S above A. This was the same for classes, items, monsters, dungeon job difficulty, and so on. Everything was scaled on this rank on a comparative scale. An E-grade sword could be better than a D-grade dagger, but a D-grade dagger would be worse than a B-grade dagger. Somewhat logical.
The continued explanation was that this shouldn't be taken blindly, a novice with an A-grade weapon wouldn’t automatically be better than an expert with an E-grade weapon, though the weapons would comparatively have a massive difference, by itself it’s not always a definitive answer. However, in item value, it was almost always the case.
The Chief Trainer continued, talked about all kinds of different things, kind of an information overload about everything from the item rarity and Towers to the auction, how to find help in the Plains of Aetherium and much, much more.
Sam did his best to absorb it all, but it was several hours of talking and explanation. It helped when they got to see small snippets of videos, but as most of them were to explain what he was talking about it didn’t help too much.
The videos of the recruits being brutally torn apart by monsters within Aetheria woke them up a lot, as did the graphic butchering and dismantling videos and the damage certain explosive skills could do. He explained that they were going to go into that world, so they needed to handle at least that much, there was plenty of gore in this line of work, even for support classes such as healers.
The main goal, as they called it, of the Towers was to beat it. At least that’s how much they had gathered. Aetheria was split up into floors, levels or whatever you wanted to call them. A floor could be beaten by triggering the condition of that floor, in some it was killing a boss, in others it was a puzzle, or it could be something else. It was unique to the floor and wasn’t something they knew at the start. It wasn’t always explained to them and in some cases, they needed to find out on their own.
The process ended with a small recess of sorts, Toren wanted a quick check of their abilities and tried to aid them in their use, he had the experience and seeking input or aid from others should always be positive.
Sam just used the brief moment to keep playing with his telekinesis, though at one point he thought that Toren noticed, he was eyeing him weirdly, which had Sam stopping and just relaxing instead.
Eventually, the break was over and they were all to come down to the floor. At this time several other people came in through the hallway and just stood on the side to watch. They were all armed and armoured, one person stranger or more elaborately dressed than the next, as they just stood there focus returned to the Instructor as soon as he started talking.
“The three of us are going to go through with you one by one, we’ll see what you can do and try to help you find good ways to use your skills, we have training weapons and armour, and this room is also covered in a barrier, so we should be safe as long as you listen to the instructors.” He eyed everyone with judging eyes. Though the room looked fine, it was clear that it was not in pristine shape, signs of repair were found in certain areas of the room so this warning was not without reason.
Everyone remained in a pile of students, but the three instructors split up and waved people over one by one. Sam was not among the first called over so he got to see the instruction from the sidelines first. The people with physical skills were given a weapon and some guidance on how to use their skills best, where to hit and aim, what to do in certain cases and so on. They also explained how to take advantage of their skills and strengths, and how to make up for their weaknesses. Most of it sounded textbook but that’s usually a good place to start.
People with more magical abilities were told to send a spell down the room. Then got pointers on things based on what they saw.
Eventually, it was Sam’s turn.
“Next!” Toren commanded.
Sam walked up, having kept an eye on all the others before him, he right away answered the questions they asked everyone.
“My name is Sam, my class is a Telekineticist and I can lift and manipulate things from afar.”
Toren mused for a moment. “Ah, so you’re the one.” He didn’t look entirely happy but took a good look at Sam.
“I haven’t seen a Telekineticist before, so I don’t know the extent of what you can do. Explain in more detail and I’ll see.”
He looked at Sam judgingly, but positively, hinting that he wanted to help.
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Sam explained the gist of his powers, he didn’t go into extreme detail just how they functioned.
“That’s actually not bad, let’s give things a try.” He pulled some weapons from a rack of training weapons next to him, taking out a single arrow, a one-handed sword, a dagger and a larger sword.
“Show me what you can do with these.” He started by giving him the arrow and pointed at a target in the distance.
Sam reached out with a telekinetic hand and grabbed the arrow, he was extremely relieved to see that it was light enough for him to lift it with one Psyhand, he felt that he could probably barely lift two arrows with one hand.
To the unaware eye, one of the arrows would just start floating from Toren’s hand, lining itself up towards one of the targets in the distance and with a low volume, dull pulsing sound, it darted towards it.
Though the arrow hit, to Sam’s glee, it didn’t hit well. It got a 2-point hit on a max of 10 points target, however, he hit on the first attempt and felt great about that.
Toren took a look at it from a distance and made a little humph before he handed Sam the dagger. The dagger wiggled in his hand but didn’t lift right away, Sam had to manifest a second hand to get it to lift properly. Though when it did lift it was well within a two-hand grip’s limit.
The instructor held out his sword in a solid grip. “Attack the sword, as hard as you can.”
Sam focused and did as told, putting in all the weight and power he could, using the momentum of a swing to his advantage. The first few swings didn’t even have a solid sound in the attack, almost as if he was using his frail arms to do the strike. He tried to mix in the Force Thrust, but he couldn’t hold onto them properly without ruining the attack entirely.
Toren told him to stop and handed him the training sword. But though a wooden copy of a long sword, it was too heavy for him to lift, even when using all five hands on it.
“I... I can’t.. It’s too heavy...” Sam admitted in defeat.
He heard snickering and laughter behind him. Through hushed one of the boys commented. “His arrow lands weaker than a bow, his dagger is weaker than my hands, and this kind of shit-tier man is going to die.” It was said to his friend, who joined him snickering.
Toren didn’t pay it any mind and rather started thinking. “Without any force behind the attack, I can’t recommend you attacking, but you might be able to become a decent support, throwing things like bombs, picking up things from afar that are dangerous, triggering traps from a safe spot, things like that.”
He looked at Sam with some sadness in his eyes. “I’m afraid I just don’t know how to help you. Try to find some supportive way to get some experience, things might change later.”
The boy who snickered before failed to stifle a mocking laugh. Sam wanted to comment but... everything was true. He also saw the boy, earlier, let out a fireball enough to scorch a wall, so it’s not like he had a good starting point.
“Don’t worry about it, kid.” Toren comforted. “Worst case scenario you’ll probably make a great support Player.”
Seeming to almost want to change the topic, he simply looked at the rest of the group. “Next!”
Sam was deflated, so he went to sit down, he didn’t keep training like the others but rather waited for the next step. They would get some more information on how to join a newbie outing, which would at least let him experience things for himself. But for now, he waited and mentally worked on getting to term that even though he wouldn’t be the hero, at least he was a Player, and at least he could finally get some money, at least enough to eat well for a change.
This helped his mentality a little bit, even though it might just be coping at least he was feeling a little better about it.
“Don’t worry about what he said.” A male voice stated as some dude sat down in the chair next to Sam.
Sam had a glance at him, the man had shoulder-long brown hair kept back in a pink ribbon, he wore a mismatch of clothing that almost looked like he fell through a good-will store, a bandana over his forehead, of all things a rubber duckie hanging off his belt, a ring on each finger, at least five bracelets, four pins over his vest and... he was a walking lost & found. He had a sword at each hip, the one on his left side, so the one he used in his right hand, looked a little heavier. Along his belt on his lower back was the sheath for a dagger.
“And you are?” Sam asked dryly, already in a somewhat sour mood, and though his mental pep talk was making the situation ever so slightly better, being interrupted by this guy didn’t help much.
“Name’s Janik, with a J.” He commented as he pronounced it more like Ya-nick, it seemed like this was something that happened often.
“And ignore what Mr. Master Trainer over there is saying. He can only see things with the eyes of raw power. I don’t think he gets the value of remote control.”
“... The value of remote control?” Sam asked with a confused expression as he somewhat used his hand simulating using a TV remote.
“Not that kind of remote, you fuck. Using things remotely. I saw your little test and heard, at least some of what you explained to him. You shouldn’t underestimate being able to do things ‘over there’.” At the end of his comment he used his arms to emphasise a location and when he said ‘over there’ he moved one of his hands and wobbled it in a different area.
“I mean, good Ol’ Slabchest over there, he tested you for direct combat and said that you should consider support, that makes sense from his mindset but. You couldn’t lift heavy things but what if you just get a bunch of toothpicks or needles, and shove them in the eyes of everything around you? You can take your time and just slit their throats afterwards.” He nodded to himself as if he had the best idea in the world.
“Even the biggest baddie usually has a weak point or two. Hell, you might not even need items, just use your voodoo hands and poke them in the eyes, yank at their eyelids, and twist their nuts. Weak force is surprisingly powerful if used in the right way.”
This caused Sam to consider things very differently, at first he was infected by Toren’s mentality and explanation. But as the saying goes; If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
“You have a good point. I... I have to admit that I was affected by his mentality there...” Sam forced a smile, not even a good one, he instantly realised that this weird man just saw things differently. Though, he was still a weird man.
“Now. I think it’s a good idea to go with them on that training thing. It’s most likely going to be a mining mission with someone experienced, that is what my first one was, so you can see a fight and learn the basics of material gathering. But when you get back, hit me up. I would like to learn more about your abilities, and if we’re lucky, we might go in together at some point.” He smiled honestly at Sam.
At the end of his explanation, he took out his phone and opened a contact card, reading his name and number, and showing it to Sam.
Sam pondered it for a few seconds but decided to save it on his phone, after all, it wasn’t like he shared his details, so if he changed his mind he could always just not contact him.
“I’ll consider it, if nothing else you have given me some good ideas, and a different way to think about this.” He smiled properly again.
Sam genuinely felt happy about this now. Though originally sad when Toren stated that he should consider support, it wasn’t a bad idea, perhaps he should start like that and migrate once he got more experience and more testing done. Now he was getting ideas on how to leverage the little force he had available. After all, as Janik said; Weak force could be strong if used right.
“Thank you.” Sam ended with gratitude, it was only fair.
Janik got up from the seat and left, not seeming too interested in the other new Players, he just headed into the hallway and disappeared.
Sam didn’t have to wait long for the topic in the room to change from personal guidance to an upcoming training job. As Janik predicted it was going to be a routine resource-gathering mission. Experienced Players would go with them and find something for them to fight, or at least be a part of harassing to get some hands-on experience. They would learn how to harvest simple things, but all in all, this mission was just a way to ensure that their first trip was relatively safe.
Sam had no plans to make friends, but he was open to the option. Right now, he just wanted to go in there and see what he could figure out to do.
“Well, if everyone is still on board, gear up, go to the toilet, and have a snack, we’ll head there in a few moments.” Toren explained as the two other instructors had left and returned with some shelves on wheels that had several backpacks on them.
Sam had a weird thought when Toren mentioned that. Just now he properly realised that he hadn’t gone to the toilet yet today, not that he had taken in much in the sense of fluids lately but the pressure was there. However, that wasn’t the weird thought, the weird thought was... How would it be to use his Psyhands when in the toilet?