Creator’s Space: Hello everyone. Here we have Amelia creating her character, entering the game for the first time, and explaining some of the rules that make this game unique! Next chapter we will see more of the outside world. I don’t know if I will do that for a whole chapter or if I will start the fighting in game as well. Probably the first option because my chapters so far are somewhat on the short side.
Additionally, I got a single follower! This is my first time writing anything so the first follower makes me feel somewhat accomplished.
Additionally, go read Warhawx’s fictions as his stories are my favorite on this site and are what inspired me to start writing this story.
Anyway, thank you for giving this story a chance. Enjoy!
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When I opened my eyes, I was in the middle of an endless sea of yellow grass with a light gray sky overhead. Looking around, I quickly spotted where I was supposed to go—a big dead cottonwood tree, with branches spreading out like lightning. ‘The Gatekeeper’s Tree.' I was not surprised at my surroundings, mainly because I’ve seen this place hundreds of times online; so I was also not surprised when the cloaked figure came out from behind the tree as I approached.
“Welcome traveler, I am the Gatekeeper and this is my realm blah blah blah. I am a great being who allows you to come here blah blah blah. I will reward you if you defeat the evils plaguing my world blah blah. You will be known as a dimension traveler blah.”
‘Ugh, it’s the monologue. Let me create my character already!’ Because I have heard the speech many times before (online), my impatience surfaced. Unfortunately, the Gatekeeper does not like being interrupted so there was little that I could do to change my situation.
After several minutes of waiting—staring at the Gatekeeper with glazed eyes—I finally heard what I was waiting for. “Now, who do you want to be when you enter the Old World?”
A perfect copy of myself slowly grew straight out of the ground and started copying my every move—a girl, about 5’4 with soft rounded facial features and extremely long blonde hair. It was a little strange because unlike a mirror, my actions weren’t reflected. If I circled right, she circled left.
“Disable movement.” I commanded, making it much easier for me to get a good look at different angles. I kept the human race and changed my hair to a messy bob cut just below my jaw, bangs swept to the side, and a few strands on the same side coming down to my collarbone. I decided to keep everything else the same as I quite like how I look. Father always says that I look just like my mother, and I'd have to agree.
I just had one temptation—breast size. It’s not like I don’t like my chest; B cups are good! Frankly, I don’t see what the big deal is with other women always saying they want them bigger. But now that I had the option, I was strangely tempted. ‘Everyone on the internet says that boys like big breasts. It wouldn’t hurt to change them a little would it? Wait, but what if the extra weight distracts me during battle? What am I even thinking?! Keep them the same Amelia. You don’t need bigger breasts to prove yourself.’
“Accept appearance.” I said determinedly, before I could think any more about the subject.
“What would you like to be called?”
“Liana Lane.”
“Now, select your class. Would you like me to recommend your class?”
“Yes.”
The recommended class feature lets the VR pod scan your brain to find the classes that fit your personality and talents best. Almost all of the top 10,000 players (C rank players) used this feature, with only a handful of exceptions. Playing a class that you are unsuited for in the Old World is an extreme liability. For example, a warrior who cannot handle pain cannot fight effectively.
The Gatekeeper handed me an old scroll which held the results of the scan. The first option that showed up was a bard type class called Strolling Minstrel, specialized in acting and storytelling. I was surprised at how accurately that describes me, but the class did not fit my ambitions.
I laughed when I saw the second option on the list—the Sheltered Princess class. Honestly I wasn’t expecting this one. I quickly considered what it would be like if I was a princess in this world as well. Of course I decided against it.
I was happy that the class that I wanted was only third on the list—SpellSword, a swordsman (or swordswoman in my case) adept in magic, usually coating or infusing their blades with magic to deal elemental damage.
I read about a few more classes (some that I found interesting), and then I decided on the SpellSword class like I thought I would. Not only is it flashy, it is difficult to master and it complements the Shishin-ryu sword style as well.
“Blah blah choose basic equipment blah.”
Not even bothering to listen to the Gatekeeper at this point, I chose full leather armor (because cheap metal doesn’t conduct magic very well) and a katana with runes etched along the sides. The runes, only available at the start for certain classes, allow mana to pass through the sword easier.
“Starting location.”
Those were the only words that I heard this time and I wondered if the Gatekeeper knew that I wasn’t paying attention to him. Suddenly another scroll flew my direction and hit me in the forehead with surprising force, knocking me off my feet. ‘Yep, he knew.’
Rubbing my head, I opened the map and looked around at all the starting towns and cities. The town that I wanted was in the southern most kingdom of the central continent—Lazra of Karahan, the desert kingdom.
There are two main reasons that people start in Karahan, despite the heat and sand. The first are the many pyramids and undiscovered tombs that people love to explore. Rattlesnakes, scorpions, mummies, booby-traps, hidden treasure—it’s every adventurer’s dream.
The second reason is the coliseums, at least one in every town and city. This is the reason that I chose to start there. In order to become stronger and find determined, hardworking people that judge me by my actions—I must make myself known.
“I’d like to start in Lazra of Karahan.” I said relieved that the character creation is finally over.
“Blah blah good luck blah.”
‘Wait, is he actually saying the word ‘blah’? How long has he been doing that?’ My thinking was interrupted by a bright flash of light and a clash of thunder, imprinting the dark figure under the tree in my vision.
*****
When I regained my sight, I found myself just outside of a small town with square yellow stone buildings, surrounded by miles and miles of sand and a bright sun glaring down at me.
‘Freedom.’
The first thought that came to mind was a bit different than I expected. Gone was the excitement that I hid my emotions under. Instead, the word sounded almost bitter. ‘I have nobody to protect me here.’ Anxiety and loneliness welled up inside of me. I almost wanted to logout right then and there, but recalling my mother’s last words calmed me down.
‘Remember, as long as you feel emotion, you are human.’ My mother was amazing. When she died of sickness 5 years ago she left us with those words. The words were directed to my father who was born and raised to be the King. Many people don’t consider him human, and before he met my mother he even believed that himself. Little did she know (or maybe she did) that I felt the same way as him. I still do a little bit. I was given everything I needed from birth, unable to even reject many things that others would call luxuries. The only real friend that I've ever had had insulted me before he left the Royal Court 10 years ago because I didn't have to work like everybody else. Of course I beat him up afterwards, but let’s just say that there were many times after that where I believed myself to be less than human.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Anyway, because I believe that any emotion is a good emotion, this is exactly how I wanted to feel—scared and alone, but hopeful. ‘I can finally earn my own place in the world.’ With a few tears in my eyes from the sudden emotion, I decided to head to the training center.
Walking down the main street while following the map that I found in my inventory, I saw many merchants sitting on colorful rugs or in wooden stalls, selling their wares. They were protected from the heat by many different colored awnings hanging above them. Jewelry, cloth, and foodstuffs were the most common merchandise being sold. Karahan is one of the least popular starting kingdoms (people don’t want to deal with the heat and sand) so I saw only a few players—dimension travelers—identified by a name written in the air above their heads. The main road was still pretty crowded with residents though.
As I came upon the training grounds, I felt like I was at my limit. I wasn’t REALLY, but the sand in my clothes and the bright sun beating down on me was something that I definitely was not used to. I drank some water from my canteen and examined the training grounds. It was an area about as big as a football field, half covered in sand, with many different types of targets spread around. I quickly found some shade underneath a 10’ tall sandstone wall.
“Open status window.”
Name: LianaTitles: NoneClass:SpellSwordRace:HumanLevel:1Gender:FemaleExperience:0%Rank:121,574,220 (G)
StatusStat Points: 0Health:100Stamina:93%Mana:100Mana Regen:2/secStength:10Intelligence:10Dexterity:10Wisdom:10Constitution:10Perception:10Charisma:0Luck:0
ResistancesArmor:30Magic Resist:10Fire:0%Water:0%Earth:0%Air:0%Lightning:0%Gravity:0%Light:0%Dark:0%
Class Skills:Sword Mastery (passive)(1)
Infuse Mana (1)
Learned Skills:None
Created Skills:None
Normal so far. “Open class skills.”
Class Skills:Sword Mastery (passive)(1):Mastery of the sword and sword skillsIncreases sword damage by 5%Mana Infuse (1):Infuses equiped weapon with Mana
(5/sec) up to (20/sec)Weapon deals damage proportional to mana comsumption (1:1)
Prevents weapon durability loss by 10% when infused
Pretty standard stuff. ‘Okay, time to create some skills.’
That’s right! In this game you don’t earn skills by doing certain actions repeatedly. Though there are other ways to learn skills, the main method is to create them yourself. Almost anything can be a skill, but that doesn’t mean they all have beneficial effects, for example, sneezing. I mean, it might give you a small increase in pollen expulsion per sneeze, but how are you supposed to level that up? You can’t just ‘get better’ at sneezing. That’s actually another thing. Skill levels and effects directly correlate to your actual skill level with the skill. That sounds confusing. I mean, you can’t just level up a skill by using it a lot, you have to actually get better at using the skill (though resistance skills are a bit different). These rules make it so all skills are unique to a player, depending on how a person chooses to improve themselves. Everybody is completely unique.
Anyway, the first skills that I need are my sword stances, my breathing technique, and some minor mana manipulation. In order to get more experience I should start with mana manipulation. I could start with my breathing technique but I think that I’ll get better results if I create that one while I am physically exerting myself.
“Create skill, Meditation.” To create a skill you must first speak the name of the skill and then demonstrate it. If you perform better, you get higher increases in effects but it becomes harder to level. So although I could have meditated for only a few seconds and still gotten the skill, I decided to meditate for 30 minutes, an average amount of time for me. I cleared my thoughts and focused my consciousness inward. It felt a little different than meditating outside the game because I could clearly feel an energy swirling around inside of me. I decided to focus completely on the mana (inferring that the energy was my mana) and tried to learn how it moved. I also started using my Infuse Mana ability so that I could observe it and learn how to focus and move the mana myself.
New Skill: Meditation (1)Focus your consciousness inwardIncrease in mana regen by 200% while meditating
Sensing and manipulation of mana is increased by 50% while meditating
Your rank has increased by 254,722
“Remove rank notifications.” If I received a notification every time I increased my rank, I wouldn’t ever see the end of them.
Once I was done, I had learned a little about my mana. I could move it around a little, but not enough to create noticeable effects. One thing that I did notice was that my sword forcefully drew out my mana when I used Infuse Mana, instead of letting me controlling the amount. I could not get the output down to the minimum of 5 mana/sec nor could I raise it to the 20/sec maximum. My consumption was static at 10 mana/sec and changing that amount was much harder than I expected. ‘It looks like I’ll need to spend more time learning about mana.’
Deciding to do that later, I got up and walked over to a scarecrow that nobody was using. While training my Infuse Mana skill, I then started creating skills for the eight sword stances of the Shishin-ryu style (Ryuu, Tora, Kame, Hou-ou, Usagi, Fukuro, Kuma, and Hachidori), as well as my breathing technique. I had to take a lot breaks for cooling off, refilling my mana, eating, resting, filling up my canteen, etc.
*****
Eight hours had passed since I first logged on, it was now evening and the sun was setting. ‘The damn sand itches. The damn sun is too bright. The damn heat is too hot. Damn. Damn. Damn.’ My stamina was low; so while regretting my decision to start in Karahan, I decided to log off for today—‘stepping through the dimensional gateway’ as the Gatekeeper called it.