I wake up a little groggily. I feel a little stiff, not sore but more like I haven’t moved in a long time. As I try moving, I find out I can’t. Opening my eyes I look around and see what looks like a study or research room. There are diagrams all over the walls and a long table with a chair covered in books and papers. I look down and see that I am strapped down to a table. Well, I was expecting a random start but this seems a bit too peculiar. As I think about what is going on a man walks in the door. He is wearing an open long white coat and wearing a decent quality shirt, long pants, and leather shoes. His black hair is a mess and when he looks at me I see his pale green eyes.
???: Oh…..you’re awake. I was expecting that to take a bit longer.
Me: Um, hi.
???: Sorry, I imagine this is fairly confusing for you. Hold on a moment and I’ll explain. Oh, and my name is Albert.
He pulls over the chair and sits facing me.
Albert: Well, before I begin, do you remember your name?
Remember my name? Isn’t this the tutorial? I haven’t given a name yet, so I shouldn’t have one to “remember.” Guess I’ll just use my favorite one.
Me: Yeah, my name is Tobias.
Albert: Great. Well Tobias, we have a lot to go over, so I’m going to just keep talking and you stop me if something I say goes over your head. Alright?
This is one confusing tutorial.
Me: Um, yeah.
Albert: Good. First thing we should get out of the way is what you are. You are a homunculus that I have created in order to host a special ability that we will come back to later. Right now the main thing is that in order to get a soul for the body I made, I had to pull a soul from the afterlife. The afterlife is a confusing place even using magic, so I don’t rightly know from exactly where I got your soul. So we need to test your memories, and how well your soul integrated with the body. We will start with the memories. This world is called Terra, do you remember it?
Holy shit, this is insane! I’m a homunculus. With some special power that I don’t even know about yet. I didn’t see that option on the race menu when I was looking before. Maybe when I randomized it I got extra races thrown into the possibilities? Well, Terra is the game world, but if he pulled me from the afterlife maybe I can do something here that never worked in any other game I’ve played. Maybe the A.I. in this game can handle it.
Me: No, I am from a world called earth. No one on my world ever had magic either. Are you a dream? Am I hallucinating?
Albert: Hm. That is fascinating. But no, this is not a dream, and no you are not hallucinating. It would appear that the afterlife connects to multiple worlds.
I am stunned, just absolutely stunned. Not only did the game not glitch out at the mention of other worlds, but he just incorporated it into the systems in this world. That is AMAZING! This is going to be an awesome life in this game.
Albert: But back to topic. If you don’t know about this world I will give you an overview later. How clear and complete would you say your memories are? Using a scale of 1-10, with 1 being none and 10 being perfect?
Me: Probably a 9, I think. I don’t have any missing memories that I recognize and I think the clarity is normal.
Albert: Perfect, I guess I got you before you began losing them. Now for body integration. Please place both hands flat on the table, palms down.
I do so. And then I do the hundred other little checks he has. Twist this, bend that. Half way thru he warned me against trying anything violent and then undid the straps so we could finish.
Albert: Alright then, looks like your soul has successfully connected to the body. Now, this world has a few things generally called world magic, but most researchers and academics call it system magic. This magic is something that you need to be familiar with in order to live in this world. In order to access this magic, think “System: status screen.” If there is anything on there that you don’t understand, focus on it and think “Additional Information” and if that doesn’t explain, you can ask me although I probably won’t know more than the system in regards to your status.
I must be gaping like a lunatic. The npcs can access the system menus. I don’t even know what to say anymore, beyond this is amazing.
(From now on <….> is an internal dialogue or command)
NameTobiasRaceHomunculus (Experimental)Primary ClassN/ASecondary ClassN/ATraitsUnique Beginning
Magical NeutralityBlessingsFortune's Smile
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Hmm, it would appear I got two traits and the blessing from the other goddess, who I’m assuming is Fortune. Since I already saw the blessing, I focus on the two traits to see what they do and then I check what my race does.
Unique BeginningYou have a unique beginning. You start as a child of your chosen race and gender and grow into the appearance you chose. Your family, societal status and environment are all chosen to allow for a unique beginning. By having a unique beginning, you may gain additional traits and abilities that you would not have otherwise been able to have. Possibility of positive and negative factors in your unique beginning.
Due to your random choice of race, the set of possible factors in your unique beginning include; ALL POSSIBLITIES
Magical NeutralityYou are unable to use spells from the following categories: holy, unholy, divine, celestial, and demonic.
This does not prevent the use of blessings and abilities in those catagories.
Homunculus (Experimental)You are a created life form and your body has been built using a male human as a template. Your body is ageless, immune to most diseases and poisons, and does not require sustenance. You are unable to gain physical attributes through training.
Due to being an experimental subtype, you can absorb the effects of enchantments on objects and incorporate them into yourself. This ability is currently locked, and will be unlocked during the course of your tutorial.
Right then. So traits first, it appears I got a neutral trait and a negative trait, with no positive traits. Kind of annoyed that it didn’t balance it, but the negative isn’t that bad and this unique beginning seems like it is going to make me really powerful really fast. This race though, holy shit is that just amazing. I basically am immortal, and I have this enchantment thing which is probably what Albert had mentioned earlier. The physical attribute thing is going to be a huge setback though, hopefully I can work around it.
Albert: You figured everything out there?
Me: yeah, I understand everything except for the special ability of my race, but you mentioned that we would talk about it later.
Albert: Good, and that ability is going to require some materials so we will probably cover it tomorrow. The status screen is the biggest and most important part of the system magic for most people. There are some other functions as well, but you have to have other materials to either access them or unlock them. The status screen is the only freebie, along with the help system.
Me: What about skills?
Albert: Not sure what you mean by that, but this is probably a good example of how to use the help system. Think “System Help: Skills” and you should get an answer that will help you out.
System Help
Query: SkillsExile Online aims to provide a high level of realism. Skills information and levels are kept as background information. Anyone can use any skill at any time that skill would be usable. The success rate of the skill depends on your attributes, skill level, supporting skill levels, and an additional myriad of factors depending on the skill. For example, anyone can attempt to use the lock picking skill to pick a lock. The success rate of the skill depends on your dexterity attribute, intelligence attribute, perception skill, listening skill, tool handling skill, difficulty of the lock being attempted, type of lock being attempted, quality of lock being attempted, and quality of tools being used. In addition, possible factors even include humidity and temperature, and accessibility of the lock being attempted.
Right, so I have learned a valuable lesson. This game is realistic, and things get complicated out the wazoo when you attach numbers to them. I am now of the opinion that background info should stay background info, because I don’t need to pull out a calculator and sheet of paper every time I want to swing a sword.
Albert: Did you get your question answered?
Me: Actually yes, the system help was surprisingly helpful.
Albert: It is for that one but keep in mind it only helps on questions about system magic. Well, I suppose that’s it for the checkups now. You are free to look around if you wish, just be careful with my stuff. Oh, and if a door is locked, it’s locked for a reason.
Me: alright, what are you going to do?
Albert: I had just finished lunch when you woke up and now it is time for dinner, since us humans still need to eat and all that. You are welcome to join me, just because you don’t need to eat doesn’t mean you can’t eat. But if you want food you will have to help me cook it.
Me: Well, I think it will take a bit to get used to not eating food, so I will take you up on your offer.