After refreshments, Alice brought forth a rapier sword from battle mode and brandished some player skills to the rookies.

"Skills are classified into dynamic, passive, and conditional," she explained, holding up her rapier. Dynamic skills come into play only when you activate them. Agility, movement, and sword skills are examples. Remember that these differ from non-combat skills and attributes. We'll come to those later."

Alice dexterously thrust her sword into the air. "Cut and Thrust!" Then she walked over to a tree, took a stance, and sliced at its stem.

Thwuck! Thwuck! Thwuck! Thwuck!

[ Damage 55 ]

The ten-foot-tall tree fell back over and crashed to the ground. Its bole had split in the middle as if struck by gigantic axes. The rookies applauded with surprised expressions.

"Regardless of whether it is a rapier, a cutlass, a longsword, or a broadsword, sword skills and combo skills work on similar principles. Most of them are dynamically activated."

Chad scratched his head, unable to follow. He was one of the better fighters, but he understood less than he ought to at his level.

"Attack is equal to the damage a weapon can cause," Drake broke it down. "The standard damage can be maximized by pairing with player attack points, combos, and critical skills. Cut, thrust, parry, swing, vault, sting, spike, cleave are some of the sword movements you may have heard of. Some of you may have practiced the moves independently. However, we get a combo when we mix them in the right order. The purpose of unleashing a combo is that it multiplies the damage. Raw attack of a level 5 rapier is 35 points at best. The combo that Alice showed caused 55 points of damage!"

"A non-player not connected to Trinity can hack away at a tree for days without causing even an appreciable cut," Skylar said with disdain.

"Memorize combos from the Trinity wiki," Alice instructed. "There are, however, much more complex sword skills available. Two-handed wielding, quickdraw, shadow combat, swift step, among others, which you will learn at advanced levels. You don't need to concern yourself with them right now."

"Did the Ace use any advanced sword skills during his fight with the Karkadann?" Rin had been raring to ask the question.

Drake chuckled. "I did. Sword summoning was one of the skills I used. It makes your weapon return to your possession wherever it is." The rookies exclaimed in a low tone. "Since all of you have joined us to train and get stronger, I will drill advanced skills into you when the time comes." Somehow, the statement made the rookies exchange glances nervously.

"Passive skills are those which are always active, with the network offline, even while you sleep. Hmm. Let's see. Log into the Worldwide Trinity Network (WTN) and look at my status."

The newbies did as they were told, assessing the Ace through their HUD. There was a text hovering around Drake.

[ Poison Resistance ]

"Do you see my passive skill activated? Since we are members of a party, we can read most stats and statuses of the other members. The booze I've been drinking is getting expunged from my body ten times faster than a regular person. How, you ask? My passive skill- level 7 poison resistance is always working passively. There are numerous such skills of resistance, combat, defense, and magic that you can learn. Perhaps Sub-lieutenant Skylar, who is a mage, can give you a better idea of the magical domain."

Skylar nodded at Drake and logged into Trinity.

"I have seventy-seven passive skills, twenty-five of them magical," she announced.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Whoa!" the newbies exclaimed.

"Don't be so shocked, people. Our Ace has over three hundred." That time the exclaims were more pronounced. Drake was indeed a ridiculously leveled-up player.

"Magic always had several broad categories, even before Trinity arrived," Skylar began. "Based on the application, there was offensive, defensive, tactical, and healing. Based on the source, there was white magic and dark magic. We will always practice white magic at all times. Providence forbids dark magic under the penalty of execution. Moreover, it is a largely unexplored area of magic that the Galatean Mages shun vehemently. It is said that dark magic is quite common in Planet Gehenna. All in all, the realm is very unsafe, and if you come across a rune or an incantation that looks like it may contain dark magic, don't be tempted. It may be the end of you."

A hush had fallen over the rookies. Dark magic was a subject of children's fables. Still, the discovery of God Formula had dug up the realm for even teenagers to explore. Hence, the diktat of Providence HQ had been absolute. They could not risk their official players getting hurt over adventurous pursuits.

Skylar continued her discourse. "In the realm of white magic, based on the form, we have-"

"Elemental magic." She held out her hand, and a yellow flame bounced on it.

"Illusory magic." She flicked her brown hair, which suddenly turned purple, and then back.

"Summoning magic." Skylar spoke a few cryptic words, and a cricket appeared on her hand. It jumped off with a chirp and disappeared in the grass.

"Nature magic. Which is a rare form. Unfortunately, it is too advanced at my level."

"Transmutation magic." She picked up a muddied rock, closed her fist, and when she opened it, it had turned into a shining gemstone.

The small crowd applauded cheerfully. Skylar had put on a quick and entertaining show of magic.

"There are several other forms. God Formula enables you to create and execute your own form and style. You can refer to the discovered list in the Trinity Wiki available on the WTN. The truth is, God Formula opened up a pandora box of magical powers that had been lost for centuries. Therefore, be careful what you wish for and let into your system." She eyed Rin and Shay, who were both mages.

"Conditional skills are automatically activated when a condition is fulfilled," Drake said. "For example, when my defense is below 20%, my special skill, Invincible, comes into play for 20 seconds. During that period, I have complete immunity from physical or magical attacks."

"What about non-combat skills?" Nadja posed. He was the musical and creative one in the group.

"Non-combat skills like cooking, sewing, gardening, singing- I am sure you have explored them, but I have no interest in discussing them in Fellowship," the Ace said dismissively, waving his hand. He had no respect for skills that did not offend or defend.

"Finally, we have attributes." Drake looked at Alice.

"Before we talk about them, I'd like to tell everyone to update their systems."

The rookies logged into Trinity, which started updating automatically.

[....... DOWNLOADING……

UPDATING…..

TRINITY UUI UPDATE 3.23

WHAT’S NEW—

Attributes List Updated—

Strength, Vitality, Defense, Stamina, Intelligence, Charisma, Dexterity, Willpower, Perception and Luck

Stats Representation Updated—

Equipped Inventory to be represented as EQ …….]

"Okay, I think the update was self-explanatory. So, since we are scheduled to arrive at the Wyrm Mines in a few hours, we are running short of time. However, for your understanding, remember that attributes are the stats of a player leveled up through sheer hard work, practice, and experience. They reflect on your numerical stats, in your battle performance, and your research mode."

"Now, let us have a practical demonstration."

"Are you going to fight us, Ace?" Omar asked excitedly.

"While I would love to parry with you. However, I have been too hard on rookies," Drake replied, grabbing his bottle of rum by default. "Therefore, Skylar and Alice will be your opponents for the demonstration. Entertain me!"

Alice and Skylar walked forward, adjusting their battle gear. "Bring it on, newbies," they said together.