“I think it's here guys!” A young man barely into his twenties, with short chopped black hair and fair skin wearing pure white plate armor inscribed with holy symbols and light arcane runes that give off a faint glow called over to his companions.
A Tall, athletic looking woman with pale skin and long pointed ears, a elf, wearing a skin-tight bodysuit with leather straps holding an assortment of weapons wrapping around her body, accentuating what little curves she has, and an extremely short, stern yet kindly-looking older man, a dwarf, with gray & black hair & beard and dark skin, wearing a traditional wizard’s robes while holding a Rod with a floating crystal ball at one end walked over to the young man, who was standing in front of a secret entrance inside of a secluded cave, leading to an infamous “dark” guild known as Today’s Tomorrow’s suspected base.
“I believe we have finally struck gold!” the young man yelled excitedly, his voice bouncing off of the cave walls.
“Alright alright Liam, calm down lad.” The older man calmed the younger man, looking around the cave just in case something heard Liam’s exclamation. “We found the entrance, but it doesn’t mean we can go in and plunder. The dark guild’s average level is over 40, we can’t handle that sort of strength ourselves” He explained as he pulled Liam away from the entrance.
“Plus we have to go back to the Information Guild and inform them of our findings. This is a quest after all.” The dark skinned woman added in, “Now hurry up and come on before someone finds us here. Those dark guild players are crazy, so I'd rather not get in a fight with them yet. And I doubt you want to fight them either Regnir, and noobie over there barely knows how to fight,” she gestures to the dull, colorless orb on the Rod Regnir was holding and Liam.
“Yeah yeah Sarah, don’t get ye panties in a twist, we’re coming.” Regnir grumbled, pulling Liam along with him.
“I hope the Captain is back in Altisia.” Liam wondered aloud once the trio left the secluded cave, causing the other two to look back at him.
Altisia. Capital of the Asur Empire on the Star Continent. The most powerful Empire on the continent, led by a King Lyonel Asur, a human publically known to be over level 100.
“Maybe laddie, just maybe.” Regnir motioned Liam forward until the young man was walking next to him, “Haven’t seen nor met the great Captain of our little family yet have ye?”
“No sir, I haven’t,” Liam said ruefully, “But I have heard of them! They are supposed to be one of the strongest heroes in the Asur Empire.”
“Aye, That’s right,” Regnir nodded thoughtfully, “But don’t get yer hopes up too much, they aren’t all they seem to be. Best not get your hope up too much about meeting them anytime soon lad.” He finishes saying with a grimace.
Regnir patted the young man on the back as the boy became saddened and said. “How about I teach you more in depth about levels and skills while we walk back, since the great bitch still has a nicely stick up her arse.” He whispered to Liam, looking to see if Sarah heard.
Levels. An abstract system either the world’s gods or some other all-powerful being created to allow its inhabitants to grow and obtain power through experience points. This system allowed the creation of new classes and use of classes already created through the world itself, from everything from common classes like Paladin, like the young man Liam, to unique classes like Sarah’s Shadow Dancer class or Regnir’s self-created class Ouromancer, a class that uses a rod-like focus to cast a variety of preset spells they can create with a mixture of magic, alchemy, and divine arts. Most usually get their first class around the ages of 12-15.
There is a variety of skills available to each class, some class specific, some anyone can use. Through increasing one’s proficiency with these skills and killing monsters, one gains experience points. With enough experience points, one can level up to unimaginable heights of power.
Soon enough the trio make their way to a forest just outside of Altisia to the west called the Fog-rest Woods, after the abundant amount of fog in and around the forest. Known for its vicious monsters and packs of bandits roaming for unsuspecting travelers, the trio move into the Woods proper cautiously, Sarah going in and out from between the trees, unseen, scouting ahead of Regnir and Liam for dangers.
“Now you keep yer ears open laddie, this here forest is fulla nasties that wouldn’t mind a bite oou of ya.” Regnir warned Liam, as the young man looked around in astonishment at the various sights in the woods. “The moment you see or hear something you think is after us, you tell me right quick, got it?”
“Yes sir!” Liam nodded enthusiastically back to the older man, placing one hand at the ready on the hilt of the longsword at his side. “Actually, I was wondering whereー” He cut off as a loud scream sounded throughout the woods. “Holy shit! Was that Sarah?” Liam sprinted off towards the direction Sarah, and the scream, came from.
“Wait you daft fool!” Regnir yelled after the young man, trying to keep up to Liam’s long stride with his short dwarf legs, “Humh...Humh, lord this boy is going to get himself killed!” Regnir muttered to himself, nearly out of breath from trying to run after Liam. “Liam, Boy come back! We need to stickー” Shnk!
Critical damage sustained. HP - 1,000
An overwhelming attack has taken half your health, you are stunned and cannot move for 10 seconds.
Regnir cries out in pain as something spears his shoulder from behind, tearing a large bloody hole. The injured dwarf trips from the impact but manages to catch himself with a branch. ‘The hell?!..That single hit took half my health!’ Regnir starts to panic, thinking whatever can injure a level 15 with over 2,000 health in a single hit like that is well above his pay grade when he spots something moving in the shadows. “Don’t come any closer, be you beast or man! I won’t let you harm that young boy next, you...y-you.” Regnir stutters as the Creature creeps out from the darkness
“A-a child?” Regnir wonders aloud as he sees what he thinks is a little girl, not even reaching his diminutive height of 4ft 5in, clambering farther out from the shadows. It's no child the likes Regnir has ever seen, with long, messy dark purple hair hiding its eyes from view, extremely pale skin, and wearing torn up and ragged robe, basically rags, with a faint design Regnir had never seen before in his years of adventuring. It walks on all fours like a beast, crawling its way towards Regnir. The child looks to be around 6-8 years old, and heavily malnourished, but gives off the feeling of intense danger and savagery, having all sorts of small scars and large amounts of different color blood smeared on its body. It's killing intent is sensible by Regnir, who raises his Orb Rod in a panic as the child moves even closer to him. ‘That's one helluva kid... where in hell does a kid get such a terrible Aura? It feels like I’m in a blizzard..’
“N-now stay back kiddo, I don want ta have to hurt ye” Regnir hesitates as the child gets within 10 feet of him, The Orb floating on Regnir’s Orb Rod beginning to glow, visible arcs of lightning skittering across its surface, before fizzling out. The Child stops its approach as it notices Regnir’s weapon, dropping to the ground on all fours, an audible growl emanating from it “Now now little one, no need to be hasty” Regnir tried to placate the savage child, letting the charge in his Orb Rod dissipate, “Lets see, you must be hungry now, being in this right dreadful forest on yer own however long.”
Regnir slowly tries to pull his travel bag from his back, moving slowly to not startle the child that is starting to relax again, staring at the dwarf in front of it. Regnir rummages through his pack and finds an extra large strip of dried beef and holds it out towards the child.
“Here kiddo, have this. It's not much butー” Regnir cuts off as the meat in his hands disappears, a blur shooting past before the child re-appears farther away, tearing at the dried beef with extremely sharp pointed teeth. Regnir looks at the child then at his hand and back. “Well damn, ye musta been hungrier than i thought..” He watches the child devour the meat, noticing for the first time the child’s fingers, the tips of which equipped with long, claw-like blades, thinking to himself ‘What sort of monster leaves a child in a dangerous forest like this with no food? Even if the child is the monstrous sort themselves’
Regnir shakes his head, slowly standing up before pulling a glass vial with a vicious pink liquid sloshing around inside, ‘It’s a well good thing the boys at the Guild managed to talk me into buying a few of these for the trip, didn’t think we’d need health potions with a paladin with us, no matter how green the lad is..’ He downs the potion in one go, a faint green light emanating from him for a second before fading.
Your wounds have been healed. HP +500
“Ah, hell, Liam!” Regnir exclaims, startling the still eating child. The stout dwarf bolts upward, slinging his travel bag over his shoulder in a single practiced movement. He looks over his shoulder at the savage child once more, who is staring at the dwarf with its head tilted like an animal, before turning around and running into the forest to look for his missing companions.
“Liam! Boy do ye hear me? Call out, damn you!” Regnir yells into the forest as he runs towards the last direction he saw Liam run off to. “Liam! WhereーOof!” He stumbles and falls to the ground after crashing into something. Looking up Regnir sees a disoriented Liam sitting on the ground holding his stomach, Regnir having ran into him, not paying attention to what was directly in front of his path. “Liam boyo, yer alright!”
“R-Regnir?! Oh, I am so glad to see you!” Liam spryly jumps up, hurrying over to the older dwarf and helps him up.
“Glad you two are happy to see each other.” Sarah grumbles moodily as she walks over to the pair, large gashes in her leg and torso barely visible through the bandaging wrapped around them, “Though I’m happy noobie over here decided to come look for me. I got ambushed by some wild beast, but it looked really weird though. Reminded me of a kid.”
“Huh, what a right strange coincidence.” Regnir stroked his beard thoughtfully before saying, “I ran into a little kid as well, scared the bright hells outta me it did. Looked like it had been roaming the forest for a long time now, savage with an Aura that terrified me worse than the Captain’s.” He shared a concerned look with Sarah, both of them shuddering as they remembered the Captain’s uniquely powerful Aura.
“Um, Hey what's Aura?” Liam asked innocently, having no idea what Aura was.
“Hmph, what are they teaching you noobies in the guild these days.” Sarah said scornfully, shaking her head at Liam’s ignorance.
“Now give the boy a break. Aura isn’t usually taught to anyone below intermediate in the guild or above level 20. He's only barely level 10.” Regnir responded back patiently, “Now, Aura is the manifestation of one's power, level, life, basically the essence of who one is and what one has been through.” He explained, releasing a kind, calming Aura for a moment that both Sarah and Liam were enveloped in, before sealing it away. “Now a saint or someone godly and kind to life will have an Aura gentler and kinder feeling than yer mother’s own hugs, while something or someone who has experienced war or mass slaughter will have an Aura that will make ya soil yerself faster than you can blink.”
“Uh-huh, Aura seems like an interesting thing to have, do all people have an Aura?” Liam asked as they finally reached the edge of the Fog-rest Woods, Altisia’s main gates visible.
“If everyone had Auras they wouldn’t be special enough to even mention.” Sarah scoffed at the naive question. “Not everyone can have an Aura. Only those who have trained and have a Second Advancement Class. And before you ask it, no, We can’t tell you about Second Advancement Classes,” She shot down before Liam could ask, “You’ll have to find out about that when you are strong enough.”
“Well, that's right enough talking about that for now.” Regnir interrupted, gesturing to the large city gate that loomed above them. High walls over 20 meters tall surrounded the city, with 4 main entrance gates at each cardinal direction. They were at the west gate, the least used gate out of all 4. There are two guardsmen standing at the side of the tall archway into the city, and a scattering of people around it, doing everything from fixing carriage wheels to pulling livestock along into the city.
“Right, stop there if you’d please.” The guardsman to the left of the grand archway put his hand out to stop the trio from entering the city, “All who want to enter need to submit to a basic status check.”
“Oh come off it you great louse, you know who we are” Regnir complained to the guardsman, who indifferently looks at the dwarf before pulling out an opaque crystal orb from a pouch on his waist, holding it out to the dwarf. “I swear the guardsmen are stupider by the year.” Regnir mutters under his breath as he grasps the crystal orb, the orb lighting up with a bright white light.
General Information Stats Classes Name Regnir Jadeblood Name Value Name Value Name Level Experience Gained Species Dwarf (Stonekin) Strength (STR) 32 Insight (INS) 12 Ouromancer 15 67% Sex Male Dexterity (DEX) 45 Mental Fortitude (MNT) 23 Wizard Override X% Age 56 Years Agility (AGI) 28 Affiliation Altisian Mage Consortium Endurance (END) 41 HP 1785/2100 (+0.8/sec) Intelligence (INT) 56 MP 650/1200 (+0.0/sec) Wisdom (WIS) 46
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“See, now was that so hard?” Sarah teases as she and Liam submit to the status check.
General Information Stats Classes Name Sarah Lylind Name Value Name Value Name Level Experience Gained Species Elf (Snow) Strength (STR) 30 Perception (PER) 18 Shadow Dancer 16 32% Sex Female Dexterity (DEX) 52 Awareness (AWN) 22 Age 34 Years Agility (AGI) 48 Affiliation Altisian Branch - Information Guild Endurance (END) 44 HP 968/1600 (+0.6/sec) Intelligence (INT) 34 MP 885/920 (+0.2/sec) Wisdom (WIS) 32
General Information Stats Classes Name Liam Krellum Name Value Name Value Name Level Experience Gained Species Human Strength 32 Faith (FTH) 30 Paladin 10 1% Sex Male Dexterity 16 Physical Fortitude (FTD) 20 Age 22 Years Agility 25 Affiliation Temple of Etheria Endurance 26 HP 1845/1850(+0.5/sec) Intelligence 18 MP 790/800 (+0.7/sec) Wisdom 15
“You may all enter.” The guardsman motions them forwards.
“About bloody time innit..” Regnir grumbles, before sharply turning around, hearing a shrill scream come from behind. Farther behind the trio, a commotion was happening. “Holy hell, that kid followed us..” He said, astonished. Commoners were currently running away from the savage child from the Fog-rest Woods that Regnir met, people hurriedly scampering out of its way, mistaking it's extremely fast form for a wild animal , the child running towards Regnir on all fours at full speed.
The two guardsmen unsheathed their swords, stepping forwards to receive what they saw as a threat. Liam pulled out a small dagger, forgetting about his much more useful longword in his inexperience panic while Sarah uncoiled a thin whip on her belt.
“Heeeeey, that's the thing that attacked me!” Sarah pulled her arm back to whip at the running creature as it drew near, “I’ll show you to try and kill me you little shit!”
Just as Sarah’s arm was about to swing a strong hand grabbed ahold of her arm from below, safely pulling downwards.
“Everybody stop!” Regnir shouted, holding Sarah’s arm down by force. The guardsmen looked back at the crazy dwarf, wondering what went wrong with his mind, while Liam lowered his dagger in confusion. As everybody stopped moving for a moment, the rushing figure flew at Regnir, nearly tackling him to the ground, forcing him to let go of Sarah. “Huhh?!” He yelped as he regained his balance, seeing the child from the forest resolutely hugging onto him with no sign of letting go.
“Um, why the hell is there a little girl holding onto you, and why the hell is she covered in blood?!” Sarah wildly shouted at Regnir, “and if that's the thing that attacked me, why the hell are you protecting it?! Huh?!”
“Sir, is this...Child yours?” one of the guardsmen approached cautiously, swords still unsheathed. Both guardsmen readied an attack as they felt an unknown Aura sweep over them, terrifying enough to make both of them shake.
“No, don’ be a daft idiot.” Regnir grimaced, the child holding onto him tightly. “She’s an abandoned child we encountered in the forest.” He placated both the guardsmen into lowering their weapons. “Poor thing was starving when I stumbled across it. Must have felt grateful for the food I’d given it. “ The child softly nodded their head in agreeance with Regnir’s explanation.
“Wait wait wait, you Fed that mangy kid that attacked me, while pretty boy over here was the one looking for me?” Sarah fumed at Regnir, seemingly furious that a stray wild kid was helped by Regnir rather than his own teammate.
“How did it even get to you that fast?” Liam asked, confused, “I was sure I was following whatever had attacked Sarah after I found her injured. That's how we ran into you.”
“That is quite enough,” The older of the two guardsmen interceded the impending argument between the trio, “Are you going to register this child to enter or will you pay the fine for us to take care of it?” Regnir frowned, remembering the Abandoned Children laws the city of Altisia. Those who find children abandoned while outside of the city with no discernable guardians could either take them into their household after extensive legal verification that they can raise a “stray” child or pay a fine to the city guard to have the child placed in a ward of other orphaned children.
“I'll take her into my clan. I’m sure they’ll love a youngling to fawn over.” The dwarf gestured towards the Status Check Orb, “Let’s hurry and get it over with.”
After setting the Orb, the guardsman holding it moved towards the dwarf and child pair, causing a vicious growling sound to grow stronger as the guardsman neared, setting everyone on edge.
“Now now kiddo, calm down. I'm not sure you understand me but if you want to stay near me you have to act rightly.” Regnir gently patted the child’s head, the growling subsiding greatly. He calmly takes the child’s hand and places it on the orb, which lets out a disturbing crimson light before dimming out again. “Well? Is she cleared to go out?”
“She? That is no she. This child is male.” The guardsman explained, confused himself on how such a feminine looking child was male.
“.....” the area around the child was silent as everyone processed what they just heard the guardsman say.
“What?!” The Trio of adventurers exclaimed in unison, the child burying its head in Regnir’s shoulder, seemingly annoyed at the loud noise.
“Yes, this young child is a boy. Strangely enough, they don’t have a name recorded in their status, their race is redacted, and they already seem to have a class despite their age, which is also redacted..” The guardsman looked strangely at the little boy, confused at the multitude of anomalies “Do you have a name in mind?”
“Hmm..” Regnir thought about a good name for the child, coming up with only names that would suit dwarven children. Just as he was about to say the name ‘Melkarn’, Liam spoke up.
“How about Quinn?” Liam said nervously, looking around at the other’s reactions to the name, “I think she, I mean he, looks like a Quinn.”
“Quinn huh?” Regnir looked at the child hiding its face in his shoulder, failing to connect the savage, deadly child from the forest to the passive, delicate looking child now holding onto him. “It has a well nice ring to it. Quinn Jadeblood, the newest edition to the Jadeblood clan and my new son! Haha!” Regnir starts to laugh heartily, bringing the little boy closer.
“Welcome to the family laddie.” Regnir smiles warmly at Quinn, having finally stopped laughing and entered the city. He separated from his two companions, Sarah simply ignoring him while walking past, Liam promising to stop by Regnir’s residence later, before running off towards a temple farther into the city.
Quinn looks at Regnir, head tilted slightly before giving a toothy grin, their sharp teeth on full display. “Hells bells sonny, those are rather sharp teeth. We’ll need to get you checked by a cleric soon enough, along with cleaning you up right properly haha!” Regnir chuckles at the confused face Quinn makes, momentarily forgetting Quinn doesn’t understand proper language yet.
‘So much to do for this little one, I just hope i can do it correctly’ Regnir thought to himself, before lightly shaking his head, ‘No matter what, I’ll give this kiddo a life worth living, better than in that gods-forsaken forest at the very least..’
The duo walk farther into the city, heading towards the center before getting swept up in the crowds, new father and adopted son walking side by side, the beginnings of a child that would grow up to change the world, for better or worse.
End of Prologue - New Beginnings
General Information Stats Classes Name Quinn Jadeblood Name Value Name Value Name Level Experience Gained Species XXXX Strength 60 Madness (MDN) 10 XXXXX XX XXX% Sex Male Dexterity 46 Survival (SUR) 25 Age 8 Years Agility 53 Affiliation None Endurance 38 HP 1255/1685(+0.2/sec) Intelligence 10 MP 200/450 (+0.3/sec) Wisdom 8