“What class are you picking?” Seajee asked as they fell in step behind the NPC following him deeper into the city.
Wyrm grinned and flexed a bicep, “Pugilist.”
“Like a boxer?”
“Sort of. They’re a warrior subclass specializing in unarmed combat. They can gain special abilities that make them one of the most versatile combat classes in the game.”
They continued chatting while following the NPC, but Seajee’s breathing started becoming laboured after only a few minutes, and Wyrm was also struggling. Their conversation became more and more strained as the walk dragged on. After almost twenty minutes, both were breathing heavily and mopping at their foreheads to keep the sweat from dripping into their eyes.
“Why do I feel like I just ran a marathon instead of having had a leisurely walk through the city?” She asked between breaths.
“We’re classless, that means we’re about as durable as wet toilet paper.” Wyrm said as he rubbed his shirtsleeve across his face to mop up more sweat.
“What difference does having a class make?”
He began to wheeze between every other word as he forced out an answer, “Once we get a class and hit level one, we’ll be able to access the spheres.”
“Spheres?”
“Breathing now, explain later.” He gasped out.
A few minutes later, the NPC came to a stop and announced they had arrived at the Great Library.
“About damn time.” Seajee muttered, drawing in a deep lungful of air and barely managing to keep herself from collapsing. The Great Library the NPC pointed at was fairly large, but she wasn’t sure she would call it great. It looked like an office building made of stone with no windows.
Wyrm lowered himself wearily to sit on the stone steps that led to the entrance and Seajee followed his example, examining the building the NPC indicated as she did. Some mildly impressive columns flanked a large set of carved double doors with designs she didn’t recognize, but other than that there was no sign that this was a library. Despite its size, every other building they passed on the way here looked the same. In fact, the only truly unique building she could see was an impossibly tall crenelated tower that overlooked everything else in the city.
While she rested, the NPC casually turned around to walk back the way they came.
Wyrm groaned and staggered to his feet. “Wait! How do I get to the warrior class hall?” He asked before it wandered away.
“Follow me, sir.” it said, and turned in a new direction.
He sighed and waved tiredly at her before stumbling after the NPC. “Meet me back at the newbie zone when you’re done.”
It only took a few more minutes before Seajee felt rested enough to continue. She climbed the stone steps and pushed on one of the carved doors. It surprised her at how easily it opened. Considering its size, she was sure it would have groaned under its own weight. Instead, it swung open smoothly, without even a squeaky hinge.
Once inside, the first thing she noticed was that the interior was much more impressive than the outside. The entry hall was wide open, light filtering in from a stained-glass ceiling several stories above. There were various floors visible from balconies reaching all the way to the top, she quickly counted ten floors meaning the ceiling was at least over a hundred feet high. Two winding staircases made of wrought iron rose on either side of the entry hall, provided access to each floor. Everywhere she looked there were rows upon rows of bookcases, every shelf stuffed full of books and scrolls. The overall layout reminded her of a labyrinth, with twists and turns in every direction in between the shelves. She understood now why they called it the Great Library.
“May I help you?” A prominent nasal voice asked, interrupting her gawking.
She tore her eyes away from the books. The man who spoke was only about as tall as her, which means he was short for a guy, although he still managed to look down at her by wearing a pair of glasses on the tip of his nose. He also sported an expensive-looking purple robe trimmed in gold, as well as an expression of mild disgust on his face as he studied her. An orange bordered window appeared over his shoulder displaying his name as Rendel. This was an NPC.
“Hi, I’d like to become a Diviner?”
He snorted, “Is that a question?”
Seajee hesitated, this wasn’t like the NPC guide. “No?”
Rendel rolled his eyes and shook his head, “I’m sorry, but divination is one of the most highly educated arts to study. A peasant with no education would never make it in our ranks.”
Her eyelid twitched at his superior tone. “I am educated.”
He snorted again, “Your outfit tells me you can barely afford to keep yourself clothed. You look like you’re only one step from running wild in the woods like an animal. I doubt you could afford the lessons to learn to read.”
She bristled and crossed her arms over her chest, “Try me.”
He sighed and pulled a list out of his pocket. “Fine, here is a list of five books. Five. Can you count?” She inhaled, about to tell him off when he waved his hand in the air dismissively. “Never mind, I don’t really care. Retrieve these five books from the stacks and return to me with a summary of their contents. Then, I shall admit I was mistaken and allow you to learn the noble art of Divination.”
A window popped up in her vision.
.
You have been offered your first quest!
The noble art of Divination
Find the five books Rendel requested and present him with a summary of their contents.
Reward: Diviner Class
Failure: ineligible for Diviner class
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She smiled, looked like she was on the right track.
Rendel waved the list in front of her eyes as she finished reading the quest notification. “I have things to do peasant, either take the list or get out of my library.”
The smile dropped from her face and she snatched the list from his hand. “I’ll get you your books.”
Snorting once more, this time in amusement, he walked away from her and climbed one of the winding staircases. Seajee glared at the back of his head until he moved out of her sight. Whoever wrote that NPC’s personality must have been having a bad day.
“Ignore his attitude,” Seajee muttered to herself, “He’s just a character for a quest.” Speaking of quests, she turned her attention back to the list of books he gave her. Unsurprisingly, they were all titles she didn’t recognize but at least it seemed they were all written in English. Finding them should be easy enough with the help of an index.
She searched the entry hall for any kind of record keeping system but couldn’t find anything. It wasn’t like she expected to find a computer with a database in here, but she was sure they would at least have some kind of card system similar to what they used in libraries on earth decades ago. There didn’t appear to be anything like that within this library. Deciding to wander over to a bookshelf to see what kind of organization they used, it shocked her to discover there was none. Books of random titles and subjects just seemed to sit next to each other. On one shelf she found a treatise on the history of gods next to a children’s book with tales involving dragons. The shelf above contained technical documents on the construction of a keep, nestled between a fat book in a language she didn’t understand and another with no title but pictures of demons dancing on the cover. Confused, she examined several shelves and found the same chaotic organization. Nothing made sense, not alphabetical, not sorted by author or subject, not even anything resembling the Dewey Decimal system. It was ridiculous.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“How am I supposed to find anything in this mess?” she grumbled.
“That’s just how they like it, my dear,” a kind voice said from behind her, “Diviners love it when they know something others don’t.”
Startled, she whirled around to see a person who she assumed could only be Santa Claus peering at her in amusement. He had flowing snow white hair down to his shoulders with a matching mustache and beard, and wore a finely tailored outfit. The gentleman also had more jewellery on him than anyone she had ever seen.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t think anyone would hear me.”
Smiling, the man gave a deep baritone laugh that echoed in the library, “Ho, ho, ho, don’t worry my dear. I’m ashamed to admit that I snuck up behind you, I was curious who you were.”
Seajee couldn’t help but smile. Along with the unmistakable paunch, he even laughed like Santa Claus. But he also carried himself comfortably, as if he wouldn’t feel the least bit out-of-place anywhere. A gold bordered window appeared over his shoulder, indicating he was an Eternal and displaying his name as Lord Hodaiah.
“Lord Hodaiah? As in nobility?” She asked. “You can become a noble here?”
He laughed again, the pleasant sound making her feel warm and safe. “Just call me Hod. I was lucky enough to stumble upon a hidden class, which granted me access to a unique path to power. As the Lord of the city, I have access to a distinct play style that most are unfamiliar with. Athanasia for me is a strategy game, whereas warriors, rogues, and most mages are more of an action game.”
“I didn’t even realize gameplay style was even an option.”
He nodded. “Take the Diviners for example, joining that class will make your gameplay more like a pen and paper role playing game rather than action oriented. They are scholars and rarely leave the library.”
That both surprised and bothered her. While information gathering would be an important part of finding her parents, she also knew she might need to venture out in the world, and she couldn’t do that cooped up in the library all the time.
“What about alchemists? What’s their play style like?”
His smile faltered for a moment. “Far be it from me to judge other classes, but from what I understand alchemy and other crafting professions are tedious and overly simplified. But some people enjoy that kind of thing, I suppose.” His eyes unfocused for a few seconds before he blinked and smiled at her again. “My apologies, my mind wandered. I overheard you looking for a way to search for books. The Diviners catalog every bit of information they come across, but they tend to just toss it onto the shelves and the magic of the Library eventually whisks it away to wherever there is room. Whenever they need to find something, they have a basic cantrip that directs them to what they are looking for, as long as it’s inside the Library.”
“How are non-diviners supposed to find anything then?” she asked him.
He chortled, “Usually, they have to pay.”
“Great, I’ve been here less than an hour. I haven’t even seen money yet.”
“Perhaps I may assist if you tell me what you’re looking for,” He offered with a warm smile, sounding genuinely interested in helping.
She was about to tell him about her quest, but then a thought occurred to her. This was the Lord of the City, a player with connections and influence. If anyone could help her find her parents, it would be him. Wyrm's warning about not revealing any information about themselves was still fresh in her mind, but she felt rather safe with Hodaiah. Asking him about two random people should be fine, as long as she didn't reveal who she was.
“Actually, what I am really looking for is for is, uhm, a couple of old acquaintances. You wouldn’t happen to know a Liam and Veronica Grey by any chance?”
Hodaiah paused to scratch his beard in thought. “I’m afraid not, do you know their names within Athanasia?”
The breath she had been unconsciously holding huffed out in disappointment. She knew it was silly to think that she would find someone who knew her parents within an hour of entering the game but it was worth a shot. “Unfortunately, I don’t. Then I guess what I really need now is to find five books for a quest here.”
“Ah, interesting,” Hod looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, “ho, ho, ho. I see, you want to become a Diviner yourself in order to find them.”
She blushed and nodded.
“Excellent, then I believe I can assist you.” He removed a ring from his finger and handed it to her. It was a simple ring compared to his other ones, a plain silver band with a script running around the edge. As she examined it, a small window similar to name plates showed up, this time with a green border instead of orange or gold.
.
Ring of the Great Library
.
“That ring will allow you to cast the cantrip ‘locate library item’ once a day. It lasts for about twenty minutes, so with five books to find, don’t dawdle.” He told her.
She slipped the ring on her finger. When she did, more information appeared on the nameplate.
.
Ring of the Great Library
Summon a rank 0 wisp capable of locating items stored in the Great Library for twenty minutes.
.
At the bottom of the display was an extra button marked ‘cast’. She pushed it with a finger and a blue glow suffused the ring, then detached into a fist sized ball of blue light that bobbed in the air in front of her.
“Oh my,” Hodaiah said, “I had hoped we could speak for a while longer, but since you activated the wisp, the timer has started. I suggest you get moving.”
“Thanks so much, Hod. I really appreciate this,” she told him.
“Ho, ho, ho. My pleasure, just remember me when you become a powerful Diviner and you can return the favour.”
She had a momentary flash of distrust at his mention of returning the favour later, but smothered that thought immediately. Hodaiah was nothing but kind to her, and here she was acting like the world was full of people like Leo. Not everyone was looking to befriend her with the intent of exploiting her. She vowed to change that about herself. That was Cassidy’s way of thinking, not hers. Not anymore.
“I will. Thank you again, Hod.”
Hodaiah favored her with one last smile before exiting the library though the large double-door. Seajee watched him leave, pleased to have met some great people already in this world, then consulted the list Rendel gave her.
“Please find Nordoyle’s Guide to Scrivening,” she asked of the glowing ball of light still hovering in the air.
The blue wisp that bobbed in the air moved into action immediately and flew quickly towards the staircase. She dashed up the stairs after it, hoping the sudden exercise wouldn’t leave her gasping for breath and unable to locate all the books before the timer ran out.
The wisp weaved its way through several bookcases before settling on a blue-bound book. She picked it up and saw it was indeed the book she was looking for. It only took two minutes to find, but she had better hurry if she wanted to ensure she had enough time to find the other four, depending where they were located in the library.
She was about to check the list for the next book when she remembered what Hod had said about stumbling across a hidden class. This was a good opportunity to think outside the box and maybe find a class that might suit her better. If there was a hidden class in the library, then there was a good chance it involved unearthing information as well. She considered the blue light hovering in the air in front of her and had an idea.
“Please find a hidden class guide book,” she told it, then held her breath.
The glowing wisp bobbed up and down twice as if thinking, then suddenly took off down the hall and she had to scramble to keep up with it. She followed its twists and turns for several minutes before beginning to worry she might have wasted her time. Time that she could have used to find the books she actually needed for the quest.
Eventually, the wisp settled on a tall shelf near the ceiling, and if the amount of dust was any sign, this was a far-forgotten corner of the library. Seajee had to spend another minute dragging a ladder over so she could get to the spot where the wisp was hovering. When she finally managed to climb up and peek her eyes over the edge, she saw a cobweb-infested book. It was bound in some kind of purple leather with iron bindings and what looked like a long belt made of that same purple leather attached to the spine. There was no title on the cover, but the nameplate appeared after she stared at it for a few moments. The nameplate border was gold, similar to a player nameplate.
.
Class book: Mystic
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Seajee chewed her lip. “Please tell me I didn’t just waste all my time.” She picked up the class book and dusted it off. A quest prompt appeared in front of her eyes.
.
You have discovered a hidden class quest!
The Mystic Arts
Mystics used to be the adventurers of the Divination school, but have vanished under mysterious circumstances over the years.
Return this book to Rendel instead of the five books he requested.
Reward: Potential class
Failure: Ineligible for Mystic class
.
“Yesss!” she hissed with a grin, although the reference to a potential class option confused her. Maybe Rendel could explain it to her.
“I can’t wait to tell Wyrm I found a hidden class.” She chuckled, then began climbing down the ladder when a sudden pressure behind her eyes made the room spin. Closing her eyes, she kept a firm grip on the ladder so she wouldn’t fall. The dizziness only lasted a moment. When the sensation passed, she opened her eyes and breathed in wonder.
“Wow.”