*Ding Ding*
Ahhhh Monday!
Jumping out of my bed I have a nice long 5 minute shower.
OML 5 minutes you say? That’s the longest shower in literally forever!
Yes, but that’s because I haven’t actually washed for...jesus and entire week IRL...yeah I stank.
Though, shaving my terrible beard and moustache as well as pits and actually having nice smelling hair, I’m all ready just a little past eight.
Knocking on Mickey’s door once I’m dressed, I don’t actually get a response. Hmm he must be downstairs already then.
Hopping downstairs, I grab multiple pieces of bread, lather them with peanut butter and chocolate and bananas before wrapping them in clingfilm and stuffing them in my backpack...I can have breakfast later, no time now!
Saying bye to Martha, who gives me a worried look but finally determines that I’m fine, I head out the door and get Viper ready.
Strolling down the road at a nice 20 miles per hour, it actually seems kind of slow today...maybe because I’ve been running about 13/14 mph for the better part of a week.
Arriving at Missy’s at the usually perfect time (phew). I see her come out and give me a nice warm hug.
DANGER, FATHER WILL COMMENCE MURDER IN 3...2...1
Ending the hug cleanly, my inner death alarm stops counting down and I breathe a sigh of relief
Driving slowly while she clings to my back, is a great feeling...though after Thalia...the feeling’s dulled somewhat.
It’s the second odd thing about my RL life I’m noticing this morning.
Dropping her off at school, I park viper and get to my tutor group at 8:29:06, with most of a minute to spare haha!.
Walking proudly into my classroom, everyone looks at me, some even show signs of worry.
“Zach, are you alright?” Mila comes up to me, eyes full of worry.
“Yeah, heard you were hospitalised” Jane adds in, her eyes too reflecting with worry.
I glance past them towards Mickey, who just gives the sign that what else could he have said.
Ok, kind of true...not sure rumours about me falling unconscious and almost dying from gaming is good for anybody to know...
“I just fell off my bike and had a mild concussion, had to spend pretty much the whole week in hospital, but I’m good now so don’t worry” I give them both a pat on the shoulder before squeezing past them (seriously gods, please let their growth continue).
Well that lie is probably going to fall through since all the teachers know I didn’t go to hospital...but then again I don’t think many of them will blab about it...professionalism and all.
So I’m safe...as long as I do the homework.
With my reputation somewhat safe and with the rest of the class not truly caring whether I’m fine or not (Mila and Jane represented them enough so that’s all people really need), I sit down in front of Mickey and begin my beautiful sleeping plan!
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Oh wait its maths first period.
Keeping my tears back, I get registered and then head to maths class.
“Zach, to the board” Jerry, conniving maths teacher extraordinaire says with a special little glint in his eyes.
Guess he didn’t enjoy my messed up math homework.
Dragging my drained corpse to the board, I begin mathematical hell.
He gives me eight questions to do on the board (seriously I swear I’m the one teaching everyone).
Let’s get this done as fast as possible please (I really need some sleep).
Grabbing two board markers, I begin with questions 1 and 2, dividing the board vertically in two.
Alright, so do this and that, put the x there, factorise here, divide and multiply...
And I’ve somehow not completely screwed it up. (though I had to correct a few mistakes here and there).
Doing the rest of the questions in pairs, I end up finishing them a decent amount faster than if I did it one at a time (even if individually the questions took slightly longer than usual).
Turning back towards the class, pretty much everyone is slackjawed (even Mickey).
“H-how?” James, one of my fellow mathmates calls out from the front of the class.
...Oh right, whoops, it isn’t nor-Wait a second; I just answered two questions at once!
Oh my god...oh my god!
I just thought of doing it quicker, I didn’t actually fully realise that I just did two at a time...
“Practice” Yeah, explaining it is not going to happen (because it’s a special skill secret suckers woo!).
Jerry, quite flabbergasted himself tells me to return to my seat and continues the lesson.
Ahhh, time for breakfast and nap.
Munching on my bread (thankfully Jerry is nice enough to allow food in class...says it’s useful to keep your brain active while working...fair enough), I finish it off quickly and then drop off into a deep sleep...for an hour at least.
Luckily the rest of the morning is just biology and psyche, so sleeping through those is easy peasy.
However my real day challenge begins at lunch.
*Ding*
My alarm goes off 10 seconds before 12pm, allowing me time to gain my senses before bursting out my chair at the ring of the school bell.
Diving under James’ chair, I then jump over Derek’s, pirouetting as I land to not hit Foreman as he gets out of his chair, before dashing off across the open space and out into the corridor.
Kicking off the corridor wall, I use my momentum to push off in the direction of the cafeteria, so fast that I’m at the stairs by the time Clara, the hall monitor steps out of her own classroom.
Jumping the entire flight of stairs, landing then jumping the next flight, I roll when I next land, rocketing up and continually sprinting through the corridor and into the canteen.
...2nd...Seriously?
I ran so fast that I’ve smashed my usual record of just under 2 minutes to a 1 minute 2 seconds from my class to the canteen. But I’m still second!
The guy in-front, well no surprise, is Ricky.
Ricky is the sprinter of the school basically: his life is a mania of sporty activities all based around him running faster than everyone else so nobody can catch him.
So therefore he’s basically the star of the football, rugby, Ultimate Frisbee, athletics and basketball club...Which is pretty impressive mind you.
But he isn’t some muscle freak with bulging arms and abs...He’s actually a really lean guy (with some seriously toned legs and arms).
I’ve only challenged him once running...he won by a mile.
Like if anyone was ever going to be an Olympic runner, it’s this guy.
But c’mon, I’d just love to be 1st in queue (yeah, since he came no one has ever been 1st in queue since, unless they arrive before the bell but no one counts that).
“Hey Zach, heard you went to hospital” Although his tone is sincere, his eyes are more analyzing; as if trying to figure me out (I’m a pretty simple guy, or I think I am). “But I’m guessing that’s a lie”
Huh? How could he tell?
“By your facial expression I can tell you’re confused. But if someone were to be at hospital for a week, I’d think there’d be a visible mark of such a visit should there not?”
Smart and athletic, too perfect for his own good, eugh. Why are people always so perfect!?
“Yeah, just gamed too much” I concede, he’ll figure it out anyways (plus I’ve never heard of him to be a snitch).
Immediately his eyes light up in a strange fashion.
“Insanity Online”
...
..
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No way...Ricky? I’d never think of him being on a computer...scratch that, I don’t think he’s ever touched an electronic device before!
“You?”
“Yea”
“How?”
“Have you not...oh you haven’t been here”
I’m definitely missing some information here! Plus it’s so weird to think of Ricky playing Insanity Online.
“It’s because o-”
“Zach” Missy calls from a distance, immediately catching my attention and of course I quickly grab lunch, apologising to Ricky for not having time to stay and chat and zip towards her, sitting down in the lunch hall for once in a blue moon.
Sadly today is chicken goujons and curly fries (I say sadly but they’re pretty damn delicious).
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Mickey joins us at the table and the three of us silently dig into the group meal.
*Thunk*
Ricky’s plate settles down on the space next to me and just after Ricky sits down next to me.
I quickly glance towards both Mickey and Missy, who shrug their shoulders.
Nobody invited him so why is this seriously cool, way out of our friendship league sitting with us (I’m going to ignore that Missy’s also way out of any league because she’s been a friend for so long).
“Erm Ricky, not trying to be rude or anything but-”
“How do I get a class?” He blurts out
...
..
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Ohhhhhhh OHHHHHHH...I HAVE POWER OVER THIS ONE!
He’s asking me about game related details, because he knows that I am a humongous nerd.
He didn’t even use the possible blackmail card, so bonus points for you Ricky.
“Well in all honesty, I don’t think my way of getting one was exactly normal”
“You got a class?” Mickey butts in “is it special?”
Even Missy leans in and I note a couple of quite interested onlookers (probably from Ricky) leaning in too.
“It’s special as in not easy to find, but it’s actually a pretty common class if you think about it”
Mickey’s eyes bore into mine wanting explanation.
“It’s a Berzerker”
“Oh” Mickey gets slightly less excited, slightly. Though Ricky looks confused as hell...oh right, he has no idea, ooh it’ll be fun teaching this one!
“Berzerkers are basically warriors who rage and don’t have much armour on” I think that’s a decently dummed down explanation and Ricky seems to get it.
I guess he’s been playing enough to understand that at least.
Looking at Mickey I motion for him to explain, since I’m guessing he has a better idea on classes and stuff (since he’s not stuck in the middle of nowhere...with zilch information...).
“Ahem. Well first you must understand there are four types of classes: Unique, Hidden, Special and Normal. Berzerkers are Special classes, so they’re harder to find and get, but they’re not the best class by far.
Now I’m a warrior, which is a Normal class, so nothing special about me; there are literally thousands of me. Around the world there are people who will teach you classes and usually they will give you a normal/special class. Hidden classes are as the name suggest, hidden and require a lot of work to find, while unique classes are only given under certain circumstances.
An example for a unique class is...well no one is a unique class as of yet and if they are they won’t tell” I swear Mickey just glanced at me (hey I don’t have a unique class...just a Hidden Special one...).
“So for a class I just need to find someone to give it to me?” Ricky asks, completely absorbed, yet his eyes still show a shimmer of analyticness.
“Yes, however any class above normal require conditions and quests for you to complete, some of which you naturally can’t because of one reason or another. One set in stone condition is to be above level 10”
Ricky looks down in thought...wait, is he not even level 10 yet?
“Thank you guys...erm I know you may not have noticed but I don’t really know much about this game... I haven’t even started yet actually” Oh no...I can feel it, HERE IT COMES “So would it be cool if...you helped me out a little in-game?” Ah knew it! The NOOB PREACH! Ah how it has been a long time since someone has done that in my presence.
Hmm, though doing so might make me more friendly to Ricky...plus I’m a fan of making sure people fall in love with games (what can I say, I’m a digital cupid).
“Sorry Ricky, but I’ve already got my hands full with this one” Mickey points to Missy with a chuckle, who retorts by expertly shoving a curly fry up his nose.
While Mickey recovers on the floor, coughing and spluttering, I turn to Ricky.
“Sure, I’ll help you get on your feet”
“Really?” Both him and Missy look at me in awe/disbelief (seriously Missy, I do have a heart).
“Yeah, I need a break from my main, something calm would be great right now”
“Main?”
“Oh, you can have 5 characters, so the one you play most is called your main”
“So are the other 4 called subs or something?”
“Not exactly. Usually you’ll have your Banker, your Farmer, your Craftsman and
The rest are just substitutes for when you’re bored with your main”
Ricky raises his eyebrows, confused.
“Your Banker will always be by your bank so you can constantly just trade things. Your farmer will farm gold, don’t try to understand that, and your Craftsman will basically just sit in a city and craft.
It’s more convenient to have them all as different characters because you can’t always find the best craftsmanship and farming in the same place”
Ricky nods, probably not understanding anything.
“Anyways, I can give you 2-3 days in game to help you before I need to get back to work”
“Sure that sounds perfect” Ricky sounds really happy, while I notice Missy looking rather dour. “Right, I need to go to basketball practice. See you in game” He starts to race off.
“Ricky!” I call after him, causing him to stop and swerve round. “What’s your in-game name?”
Oh, maybe shouldn’t have asked that question out loud...but then again the more people that know here, the more likely they will help him (I do know that around a fifth of the school plays).
“RickyLamper” He shouts back before buzzing off
...
..
.
He just used his real name didn’t he...?
I’m not going to be surprised if his ingame character is literally him, with the same messy brown hair, brown eyes and bony face spotted with freckles...No surprise at all.
Turning back to the rest of my meal, Mickey finally recovered and Missy now looks at me with a rather...unhappy expression.
“He asked and you know how I am with noobs” She looks darkly at me “And you have Mickey anyways” The darkness spreads from her eyes into her body causing her to shake the table in anger “I’ll come visit you with my main as soon as I can ok?”
The table stops rumbling...phew, survived.
“So how was your first week of-” I ask her, moving it all onto her and away from me and Ricky, stopping mid sentence because I get the feeling I wasn’t supposed to ask out loud.
That could cause hell to break loose with everyone trying to get her in-game name.
Both Mickey and Missy look at me with raised eyebrows.
“Oh right, I forgot to tell you, sorry man” Mickey claps himself on the forehead “Everyone knows”
Oh ok. That would explain why no one seems overly amazed when Mickey announces that (though a few still glance our way).
Mickey leans in and whispers “It’s also the reason why almost the entire school is now playing Insanity Online”
...
..
.
Ohhhhh...wow, WOW. Missy has some powerful influence. And that explains why someone like Ricky, who’s probably never touched an electronical device before (seriously, never seen him with a cellphone, ever) is playing Insanity Online.
“Tell me about it later” I whisper back to him. “So how did you find the past week?” I turn back to Missy giving her my undivided attention.
“Well it’s been quite fun learning a whole bunch of spells and finding out the system is so open”
...
..
.
Spells? Did my ears fail me? Nope the look Mickey’s responding with is telling me that Missy is learning spells.
“Missy, what is your class?”
“Oh, I haven’t actually gotten one yet because Mickey keeps telling me I should try find a special one at least, but you could say I’m a fire mage”
...
..
.
Mickey?!
He just looks at me with as much confusion as I’ve given him.
Yeah we both know that she’s not a spellcaster, in the slightest.
Honestly, out of three of us, she’s way more likely to be the Berzerker.
And by looking at what she usually played in the mmo’s that I was able to introduce to her a long time ago, she favoured the more beat the living daylights out of the enemy class...
“So, what made you decide to be a fire mage?” Might as well know why.
“Well magic just seemed really interesting, especially because we’re casting ourselves, and fire is really fun” There’s a glint in her eye which makes me glance at Mickey, seeing him just look back with morbid terror painted on his face
...
..
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Oh no...What have we done?
“Oh time for Netball” Missy announces and jogs off, carpeted by stares as per usual.
“Mickey, why’d you let her go mage? And fire at that?” I whisper half angrily, half confused to him. For we both know the consequence of letting a rather violent personality have destructive magic...
“I didn’t have a choice, plus I’m trying my best to stop her finalizing it. She scary enough as a wanderer” he whispers back as angry and confused as I
“What’s she done?”
“They call her the Burning Witch” a voice answers from behind, obviously listening in to our situation.
Aaaand that sounds like Mila’s voice.
Turning round, I see her equally hot shadow Jane standing by her.
“Firstly, private conversation, secondly what?”
“Firstly, you’re a terrible whisperer, everyone can hear you, secondly it’s the nickname she’s got on the forums for burning down an entire forest in one of the beginner villages” She sassily responds back to me without missing a heartbeat.
Whipping my head back to Mickey, he nods. What the hell Mickey, why’d you let her do that?
“Anyways, we heard you’re going to be helping Ricky out” Oh no, Lady Luck don’t play around with me please “So could you help us out too?”
Hmm...Number 4 and 5 asking me to help them out...not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing...maybe a little bit of both?
I really shouldn’t, but as long as I make clear only them and no one else then I should be fine (Definitely going to regret this I can tell already).
“Sure, I could help you out but I’ll be busy with Ricky today”
“Oh don’t worry about that, we haven’t make our characters yet, we just got the game ehe” Jane replies quickly with an embarrassed laugh.
“So we could spawn in the same village and you can help all 3 of us?” Mila gives a perfect plan.
That is a good plan indeed, 3 birds with one stone. I WILL BE THE MASTER OF THREE OF THE MOST POPULAR PEOPLE IN THE SCHOOL WOO!
They both jump in joy, even hug me (slight bonus but not as much as Missy’s bonus!) before heading off.
I feel rather empowered today!
Finishing off my lunch in gusto talking about class related things with Mickey, I learnt a few useful things:
Firstly classes have skill trees and most will be based off the Normal classes; Warrior, Thief and Mage. According to Mickey special classes get access to a single tree while having a specific skill tree, whereas Hidden classes will have access to two skill trees, supposedly Normal ones along with a few unique skills.
Now my class, since its hidden special, has access to both the specific skill trees of its respective special classes as well as a few unique skills, pretty awesome.
However the only downside is that I can only take Berzerker/Auramancer specific skills, so no basic warrior skills (except the ones I have), no Thief skills and no mage skills, a slight shame.
Lunch passes quickly and after asking a few more important questions, I learn that due to Missy accidentally blurting out that she’s playing Insanity Online, mostly everyone has begun playing...rather interesting indeed. Also according to Mickey someone’s already set up a guild based around Missy on one of the more popular forums (don’t ask me I don’t bother checking those things): The Pyre is the most voted for name at the moment it seems (It’s ironic, I give them that).
Returning back to class, both of us sleep through the rest of it, or so I thought I would.
Psychology class, what a wondrous class.
“Now children” Our teacher, Roger; frizzy grey hair and a handlebar moustache, the same grey colour bobs around the room with the energy of a young adult, even though he is in his late 40’s. “Out of Mage, Warrior and Thief, which is the best class?”
...
..
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Erm, what happened to Psyche?
Though I seem to be the only one who is looking confused...o...k?
“Thief” Someone shouts out, I’m not concentrating enough to see who.
“Why” Roger turns on them with questioning predation
“Because they have the highest dps and single target killing power”
Quite a few students nod at this.
Wait a second, why are we discussing this in Psyche class?
“Roger, are you going to start Insanity Online too?” I blurt out, because that’s the only logical explanation for this: fishing for information rather bluntly.
“Indeed!” Quite a few students clap in excitement (Well we do rather enjoy Roger, he’s a bubbly, fun man to be honest and that’s why I do all my psyche essays!).
“So what about you Zach, since you’re quite the gamer yourself you should have a good idea on what the best class is”
“Mage” A few nod at that, but a majority shake their heads.
Mages have always been called the weaker class, mostly because thieves just massacre them in one on ones, quite literally all the time. Though it does slightly depend on the type of Mage.
Roger gestures to continue.
“Well the spell capabilities for a mage in Insanity Online are tremendous, even if it may be limited to a single type” I actually have no idea if you can have more than one type of magic, maybe I should look that up, but as with most games you’ll focus on one type of magic really.
“True, but I still don’t quite see why a Mage would be better than a Thief” Roger tries to reel more information out of me.
“Well as great as Thieves are, their potential is limited. A mage’s potential is much higher and will most likely shine in the later game. A Thief in the end will become a one to few trick pony, a mage will remain a sole circus you could imagine”
“Wonderful, wonderful explanation” Roger claps his hands. “Now by all your reactions to these two answers we can see that those with the more western culture in this class tended towards thief, simply because Thieves are obviously powerful, whereas Mages tend to require time to become so.
Thus we can see the cultural differences between the western more individualistic cultures and the more collectivistic eastern cultures: The individualistic ones preferred the Thief because it was immediate power and immediate gain whereas the more collectivistic cultures preferred Mage due to not having issue with having to wait for gain.
This idea is used in a study by-”
Wow, can’t believe he actually tied that into psychology...This is why I like the guy and probably why he got the job too.
The lesson quickly divulged into a talk about individualistic and collectivistic cultural differences to which I summarily nodded off...I read these chapters while going through hell week (He has us write an essay each week on what we are going to learn, eugh it’s useful but kind of horrible).
Waking up to the school bell, schools over! And I fly out the door...only to be stopped by Roger calling me.
Oh yeah, we call teachers by their first names here (some strange thing about trying to make international students more comfortable...slightly strange but it’s nice I guess).
“Whaat is it Roger?” Slightly apprehensive BECAUSE MY GAMER SENSES ARE TINGLING.
“I overheard you’re helping M-”
“You can join too, but seriously people have got to stop asking” I interrupt him, obviously knowing what he’s going to say.
“Oh thanks but I was just going to ask if you needed help sorting them out, since teaching 3 people without any prior training can get slightly annoying”
“Really?” That might actually be pretty useful I guess? “Sure you can come along, but I’m in charge ok?” I have a feeling he does have things to learn too.
“Sure dues Zach”
“Sir to you”
“Oho, cheeky little blighter” He doesn’t say no though!
Laughing, I leave him after telling him my Skype (backup, not my main for obvious reasons) and then head off home super happy.
Although Missy looks slightly annoyed that I made her wait for a few minutes.
“Sorry, teacher held me back”
She simply shrugs away the anger and mounts behind me.
Ahh, much better reward than Mila and Jane.
Right, back to home because I need to teach those two, Ricky and my Psychology teacher how to play games (Always wanted to say that woo!).