Chapter II: Getting Started Once Again.

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Upon connecting to Exelcia Online, the first thing that he had heard was a female voice, and because he wasn't expecting this, he was somewhat startled him, for back in his day you wouldn't receive a welcoming from a woman when logging on. No, instead you'd hear this wonderful adventure music while signing in and what not to get you into the mood.

"Hmph, I miss the old main menu." Is what he thought aloud as his iris' and veins were scanned to see if he needed to create a new account or if he already had one.

After the capsule was done scanning him, the former Jester was greeted once again, and was told by the female voice that he has no character, and that he must create a new one. 

Once he was done being enlightened, he was taken to Character Creation. 

Upon arriving at Character Creation, the female voice asked him a question.

—What is the name of your character?—

The former Jester said nothing at first, and thought about several names he deemed to be cool, but after several long minutes of thinking, he reached a conclusion of what his name will be.

 "Ares." He declared in a firm tone with traces of pride in his voice. He had thought about naming himself, Hades or Thanatos, but Ares suited his persona best, so he went with that name instead. 

—What is your gender?—

The feminine voice asked him this as the options male or female came up. 

"Male." He swiftly stated.

—What are you? Exelcia Online has twenty-five playable races you can be.—

"Undead." He told the voice causing a naked skeleton to appear and beside it a description about what an undead is and the pluses and negatives of being one.

The Undead are an old and abhorred race in Exelcia Online. In the past, they went by another name, and had created one of the strongest empires the world has ever seen, but those days are long gone, and nowadays it is rare to see them.

Benefits Of Being An Undead:

Downside Of Being An Undead:

-During the night the damage you take is decreased by 10%. 

-You have the innate ability to use Dark Magic and Necromancy which is 20% more powerful. 

-You heal from Poison.

-When fighting in a dungeon or cave, your damage is increased by 15% and your defense is increased by 12%.

-During the day the damage you take is increased by 10%.

-You are unable to use Holy Magic and take 20% more damage when hit by Holy Magic or Holy Items.

-Healing Spells have no effect on you.

-If unveiled people might refuse to speak to you, and some might even attack you as well.

 Once he was done reading all of this and confirmed his selection did the voice ask him a question.

—Would you like to alter your appearance?—

"Yes." He told the voice, which then led to almost twenty minutes of customization. 

After he was done, the voice spoke to him again as a bunch of pictures showed up at the bottom of his field of vision.

—Select your class. There are over fifty classes you can choose from, each holding unique—

"Classless." He interrupted in a stern tone causing one of the many pictures to become highlighted and his naked character to change into simple clothes with a hood to hide his boney features, and a short sword that was attached to his waist.

—You have selected Classless. Are you sure you want to be a Classless? Warning, once done creating your character you will be unable to change classes.—

Was what the voice told him.

"Yes, I want my class to be Classless." He affirmed. 

—Confirmed, please select your—

"Aeraston Kingdom, Wintervale Village." He interrupted.

—Confirmed, welcome to Exelcia Online.—

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In Exelcia Online, there were over dozens upon dozens of kingdoms players could start out in, but the one that was rumored to be the worst kingdom to start out in was the Aeraston Kingdom. 

He didn't know why it had gotten so much hate, but almost everyone on the internet hated the kingdom and deemed it to be terrible. 

With a flash of light, he appeared out of thin in the Village of Wintervale in between two buildings. 

He didn't appear high up in the air, but he did appear a few feet off of the ground, so he had fallen onto his knees upon spawning in. 

"This is," He started as he lifted his left hand off of the ground and moved his fingers one at a time. 

Both his arms and legs were covered so those who had walked by and noticed him in the alley had assumed him to be some drunkard who had too much to drink. His hands were also covered, so he was unable to see his boney fingers.

"Stat Window." He said to himself after a few more seconds of moving his fingers. 

Character Name: Ares. Title: None. Alignment: None.   Level: 1. Profession: Classless.  Reputation: 0.  Health: 120.  Stamina: 120. Mana: 120.

Strength: 12. Perception: 11. Endurance: 12.  Charisma: 11. Intelligence: 12.  Agility: 12. Luck: 10. 

Attack: 6-9. Defense: 7.

 Magic Resistance

Fire: 0%. Water: 0%. Ice: 0%. Earth: 0%. Dark: 20%. Holy: -20%. Poison: 100%. Lightning: 0%. Wind: 0%.

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Once he was done looking at them, he dismissed the window and headed out of the alleyway with a small spring in his step. "Hmm, not bad." He said aloud upon seeing his stats. "Could be worse." 

Upon exiting he was greeted by the sight of more buildings and people walking down the dirt road. The buildings looked to be in good condition, and those who were walking down the street were mostly NPCs with only a handful of them being players. 

"Huh, this place doesn't-" 

 Is what he was thinking before somebody bumping into him.

"Hey, are you stupid or something? Can't you see I'm walking here." The man who had knocked into him asked as he glared at Ares. He was a tall and burly man wearing simple clothing with a dagger strapped to his belt. 

"Sorry?" Was the response he gave the man with uncertainty in his voice. 

The man at first said nothing, and had narrowed his eyes, and looked like he was about to attack him, but eventually, his gaze softened a bit and he said, "Next time pay attention, or I'll smash your teeth in, got it?" 

"Got it." He affirmed.

With that said and done, the man walked away, but as he did so, he spoke his thoughts out loud. "Fucking newcomers." 

"I take what I said back, this place is pretty bad." Ares thought as he watched the man walk away with a small scowl. "Oh well, no take-backs."

With that thought in mind, Ares looked for the bulletin board, which wasn't that far from where he spawned in, and approached it.

However, while he was walking over to it, he twisted his body, shot his arms forward, and jumped up and down a few times. As for why it was so that he could get used to the movement, for when leaving the alleyway, he didn't leave in the most graceful of manners.  

One of the few players in the village had noticed his strange actions, and after taking a look at his clothing, came to a conclusion almost instantaneously. 

"Noob." 

A few of the NPCs had also witnessed him doing these things, and gave him funny looks, but they didn't call out to him or anything like that. They just gave him weird looks as they passed by him.  

Upon reaching the bulletin board, Ares examined the map of the village as well as the Aeroston Kingdom, read the description about the Aeroston Kingdom and looked at the directions for how the basic interface worked. 

Once he was finished, he made his way to the Guard Barracks.

When a newcomer starts in Exelcia Online, they're unable to leave their origin town, city, or village for the duration of four weeks, which was a week in real life. Of course, they'd be allowed to go out to hunt, but they must stay within five kilometers of their origin place.   

Those who would try to leave early would be stopped by an invisible barrier, and get a notification telling them about how they can't leave yet and how they are not ready.

Another thing they'd be unable to do in this timeframe is PvP. Newcomers would be unable to fight other players for the first four weeks, and do PvE only. This was implemented to prevent higher level players from straight-up massacring players who just started out. 

Of course, once the first four weeks have passed their invincibility would be gone and they'd have to be more careful, for monsters wouldn't be your only enemy in Exelcia Online. 

In the past, when he first played Exelcia Online, there wasn't exactly a main storyline for players to follow, but now there was, and the goal of the players was to unite the lands and to become Emperor, which was easier said than done. 

However, this wasn't something players had to do, and this wasn't the only way to become a legend on Exelcia Online.

Like he had once done, players could enter the once a year Exlecia Online Championship, and reach legendary hood through that, or they could gain reputation by completing quests and events and achieve it through that. The paths players could take were practically endless. 

Once he arrived at the Guard Barracks, which was located in the heart of the village, Ares entered it, and upon entering he was welcomed to the sight of a few men. However, the one that had immediately caught his attention was the one who was sitting behind a desk.

Unlike the others, he wore a full suit armor that was blackened steel. He had a great helm with wings on it sitting on top of what he assumed to be his desk since he was sitting behind it that was also blackened steel, short black hair, and a well-trimmed black goatee.  

The armored man had felt Ares' eyes land on him, but he paid him no attention and allowed one of his guards to deal with him. 

"Something you need, stranger?" One of the guards asked as he ceased eating his food and got up from the bench he was sitting on and approached Ares. 

He wore the standard guard uniform, which was a blackened steel cuirass with vambraces that were also blackened steel, and greaves that were blackened steel. He wore dark blue padded clothing underneath all of this, and he had black hair as well. 

"Mmm, I was wondering if I could speak to the Captain of the Guard, I'm new here." He told the guardsman as he continued to stare at the fully armored guard who was busy writing.

"The Captain is busy, but if you're wanting to do some work, then why don't you go ask the Village Chief? I heard she is in need of adventures." The guardsman stated after coming to a stop and glancing at his leader only to see him act as if no one was wanting to speak to him.

"Really?" Ares asked with interest. 

"Yep, I heard while I was patrolling, so you should go talk to her, and stop interrupting my meal." The guardsman told him with a smirk that made Ares wonder if he was actually telling the truth or bullshitting him. 

 "Well alright then, I'll go speak to the chieftain, and sorry for disrupting your meal." He said after a couple of seconds of staring at the guardsman before turning around and heading out only to then be stopped by someone calling out to him. 

"Hold it." Is what he heard before turning around and seeing that the guard captain was giving him a stern look.

"Yes?" Ares questioned with traces of uncertainty in his voice.

"If you plan on adventuring then you better not die, I don't need the monsters craving for human blood to increase, okay? It's already bad, and I don't need you making it worse, you understand me?" The Captain of the Guard declared while maintaining a firm look.  

At this, a notification popped up. 

The Guard Captain's Request

The Guard Captain of Wintervale has requested that you do not die for the duration of one month. Failure to do this will result in favor lost with the guard captain, and rewards will not be given at the end of the month. 

Difficulty Level: Hard.

Quest Requirements: Must have started in Wintervale Village, and must have a neutral relationship with the Guard Captain of Wintervale.

Do you accept this quest?

Yes. | No. 

 "Hmm, how can you even turn down this quest?" He wondered upon reading the notification. "I mean, like how can you tell him that you refuse?" 

"I understand, I will try my best not to die." 

—Quest Accepted.—

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After accepting the quest and leaving the Guard Barracks, Ares made his way to the chieftain's home. 

The house was surprisingly small, and instead of being in the heart of the village, it was on outskirts of it. It was a one-story house with a porch and a small garden that was surrounded by waist-length fences. 

On the porch, there was a rocking chair, and in the chair at the moment was a woman who looked to be in her late forties to early fifties. 

She had watched him approach her house, but instead of calling out to him, she continued to hum softly with a blissful expression written on her face.

She didn't stop her humming even as he walked up the steps of her home. 

Eventually, when he started to approach her, she stopped her humming and spoke.

"Why hello there, mister." She greeted with a pleasant look. "Is there something you need?"

"Greetings, ma'am, and yeah, but um if you don't mind me asking, what was that you were humming? It was pretty nice to hear." He asked before complimenting her humming.

"Oh, well thank you, and if you must know, I was just humming this song my mother used to hum to when I was a little girl. She would always do it to calm me down, and this peaceful day made me think of her."  She revealed as she averted her eyes to the blue skies above them.

"That's nice." He told her with happiness in his voice.

"Yes, it is." She affirmed as she stared up at the sky for a few more seconds before averting her gaze back towards him. "Anyways, what is it you need from me?" 

As she asked him this, he received a notification. 

—Favor with Lady O'shea has increased.—

"I uh, I heard you were looking for adventures, so I was wondering what it is you need?" He stated. He had a bit of uncertainty in his voice, but that was because he was distracted by the notification in the bottom left corner of his field of vision. 

"I am, but adventuring might be the wrong term to use." She told him with a small frown. "You see, as of lately I have been hearing about how the monsters in the area have been growing more and more, so I was wondering if someone could look into this, and perhaps reduce some of their numbers?"

At this, he received another notification. 

An Old Woman's Concerns

The Chieftain of Wintervale Village has asked you to look into the growing numbers of monsters, and if possible reduce some of the monsters numbers.

Difficulty Level: Easy.

Quest Requirements: Must have started in Wintervale Village, must have heard this from one of the Wintervale Guards, and must have a neutral relationship with the Village of Wintervale.

Do you accept this quest?

Yes, | No.

Note, if completed without dying, you will receive bonus rewards.

 "Sure, I can look into this." He told her after reading the notification. 

—Quest Accepted.—