CHAPTER ONE:
A SECOND CHANCE
“I'll take one more” I hollered, holding up a few crumpled bills between my fingers.
A soft smile graces my lips as an ice cold beer is set down in front of me, and the money quickly plucked out. The bartender turns to serve the only other person in this dive bar, and I'm once again left to my own devices. Which is how I prefer it if we're being completely honest. Wrapping my hand around the beer I lift it up for a long swig until that light burning yet tingling sensation hits. It forces out a small sigh of satisfaction as I set the drink down, always the first sip that gets to you.
As I lean back in this old wooden chair at a beaten up table my torso naturally arches out of habit from my high school days, those desks were your own personal chiropractor. With all the shit going on in the world you've got to enjoy the little things. I close my eyes to relax but the moment is ruined by the sound of a tv playing the news which triggers thoughts of current world affairs into my head. After we nearly destroyed the planet, the World Leaders got together to make an attempt at ending all war for good.
But as those of us who can remember the word politician know they are about as useful as tits on a boar. So of course, all talks failed but on the bright side we had already destroyed half the planet so there really wasn't anything else to blow ourselves up with. We've been in the rebuilding phase for about five years now but most people carry the, "Go Fuck Yourself" chip on their shoulders these days so there is no unity, coming together or any going back to the way things used to be in sight.
I was jarred from my musings with the appearance of something flashing in the corner of my eye. At first, I thought it was just the glare of the tv or maybe one of the various neon signs but when I attempted to glance down at it whatever was flashing moved just out of view. I followed it progressively getting faster until my nose was just about buried into my shoulder before the thought of maybe it's just a bug crossed my mind and I took a swipe at it. There was a small swish sound before a box just appeared in front of my eyes. Almost like someone bringing back a tabbed out browser.
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At this point, I had to pause for a moment and think real carefully about what I was seeing in front of me. This was only my second beer and to be completely honest I can down a 30 bomb before getting shit faced. So being drunk is out of the question but I still picked up the bottle and stared at it like it was somehow going to start talking and tell me what the hell was going on. The counter for the video kept going down and all I could do is stare at it wondering what was going to happen.
When the timer reached zero my eyes began to water a bit as I hadn't blinked once and suddenly the words disappeared and the black screen was replaced with what looked to be a beach. The picture swayed up and down giving me a glimpse of the ocean and then sand, almost as if someone were carrying a video camera in their hand. It suddenly stopped swaying and just left an image of the sand before it moved up and was set on a rock I think. A few seconds later a man walked out in front and squatted down. He had long hair with a sharp nose and full beard. If I didn't know any better he almost looked like the pictures of…
"Hello my little creations, my true name is a bit hard for you all to pronounce but most of you know me as Jesus, Zeus, Allah or whatever other weird names I was given over the years but you may all just call me God." stated the man as he moved from his squat to being seated on a driftwood log.
You know that feeling when you were younger, where you knew that you had fucked up and your parents were going to find out no matter what. The cold shiver that runs down your back and the panic that then sets in as you begin to think of any reasonable excuse to prevent the ass whooping you knew was on its way? My mind began to race a mile a minute as I thought of all the bad stuff I'd done in my life. Don't get me wrong I wasn't some murdering rapist but I sure as hell... I mean heck didn't go to church every Sunday or live a completely honest life.
"Now most of you are probably panicking, denying my existence or praying for forgiveness right now but quite frankly it's all a moot point." said God before pausing and emptying some sand out of his shoe and brushing his soles off before replacing it on his foot.
"Believe all of this, don't believe it, doesn't matter to me either way as it's either sink or swim for you at this point. I took a backseat approach this last time and I think we can all agree that it didn't work at all." a small sigh escaped his lips as he gazed off into the distance for a brief moment before turning back towards the assumed camera.
"As soon as we are done speaking your souls will be placed in another realm, Purgatory if you wish to call it something. Now while you wait I shall terraform this world and between your wonderous imaginations and my spark we shall create the world anew." with a big grin on his face he stood up and walked over to the camera before picking it up and adjusting it to show just his head.
"Judgement Day has come but it will be over soon… oh, a bit of advice do be nice to the helpers." with a snap of his fingers the screen went black once more.
Before I could even begin to process what the hell just happened everything began to shake. At first, I thought it was a normal earthquake but it quickly felt as if the very air itself was rumbling. I instantly hit the floor and got under a table to ride it out. With the adrenaline running through my body I wasn't exactly focused on anything in particular except, survive. Suddenly small clumps of dust began rising in front of me. Following the trail down and seeing that it was pieces of my hand that looked as if they were being torn off and rising I did the only thing someone could do in that situation, I passed out.
"How much longer is your tutorial going to take? The rest of us were done hours ago!" a high pitched voice began to slowly rouse me from probably the most comfortable bed I'd ever been in.
"How should I know?!? He just appeared sleeping! And yes like I told all the others I tried shaking him awake, casting heal, poison cure… wait he's waking I'll call you back!"
A groan escaped my lips as I found myself leaving that wondrous realm of half asleep and half aware of what's going on around you. I wish I would've stayed there because as comfy as this bed may be my body feels like I was in one hell of a car wreck. Attempting to open my eyes they are immediately shut again as that blasted sun tries to blind me and I roll over instinctually… only to feel nothing under me followed by a sharp pain in my nose.
"What the fuck! Piece of shit, fucking… ahh, that fuckin hurt!" I would like to say that my vocabulary is a bit more extensive than just "Fuck" However, all thought process goes out the window when you get essentially sucker punched in the nose. With tears forming in my eyes I stood up quickly and brought my index finger and thumb to my nose gently to see if I had broken it. Luckily no, but damned if it didn't hurt.
A small snort and what sounded like the stifling of laughter reminded me that I wasn't alone, wherever this was. Blinking then wiping away the tears I turned towards the amused party only to see...a midget? Glancing around only further confused me as I was in a glade of some sorts. Now I'm not gonna lie, I've been known to get pretty drunk. But to go home with a midget and wake up in a forest? This will definitely be in my top five drunk stories.
"Good, you're finally awake! Now we can get this character creation over with. Let's see…" the little lady began making some weird movements in the air and pretending as if I wasn't even there.
"Wait… wait, what are you talking about? Who are you and more importantly where are we?" I asked as I began to rub my forehead to ward off the headache that I knew was soon to come.
"A rather odd question, didn't you watch the introduction? Never mind, you were in Purgatory while Te'luna was formed." like the pieces of a puzzle falling into place, everything came rushing back at the words Purgatory.
The bar, the video, my hands… I quickly brought my hands up and examined them thoroughly before letting out a sigh of relief. Looking back at the small person in front of me I was met with a weirded out and wary stare. Smiling sheepishly at her I mumbled a quick "Sorry" before she continued.
"Right… I am Nevea a Helper and this is the Tutorial area for creation and adjustment." she slowly finished while still giving me an odd look.
I guess what happened at the bar was real. But character creation? Tutorial? Sounds almost exactly like the start of an RPG game. I'd say maybe I'm still dreaming but that nose to ground kiss felt pretty damn real.
"This sounds more like a game, next you're going to tell me we get to pick a race, stats and skills?" I asked mirroring the same odd face she just gave me.
"It may emulate one but this is no game newbie, but yes I assist with picking your race, stats, starting skills and a few other things. That information then gets sent to System and you are essentially "Born" in Te'luna." she replied in a matter of fact tone.
"Look I don't mean to be rude but I've been here for three hours now due to you sleeping like a hibernating bear. I can normally complete three to five newbie characters in an hour. So I've lost a ton of reputation points today and have plans for tonight so can we just get started already?"
Nodding my head in annoyance I couldn't help but think it's not my fault I was shipped here with basically no knowledge of what's going on. But sometimes it's easier to just go with the flow. The appearance of a screen in front of me was a tad startling but it wasn't the first time so I was a bit more prepared.
It was asking if I wanted to create a new character. Reaching forward and pressing the yes button the glade around me shattered like a baseball hitting glass. Nothing but white could be seen as the shards fell out of view, not even sure what it is I'm standing on.
"Please state your name" came the voice of Nevea though I didn't see her anywhere.
"Uhh… Reginald"
"Please select a race" the screen flashed and brought up some kind of table.
Name Strength Dexterity Constitution Magic Wisdom Human 20 20 20 20 20 Elf 15 25 15 25 20 Goblin 20 30 10 15 25 Dwarf 30 10 30 20 20 Halfling 10 40 15 15 20 Gnome 10 20 10 30 30 Try your luck?
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Hesitantly I moved my finger towards the screen and pressed down on Human causing a picture projection of a normal looking Human to appear.
"Humans, the most average race on Te'luna. Contains the most sub-races of all the standard choices and comes with a bonus of 5 free stat points to spend after creation."
"Nevea, what does all of this mean?" I played a few games back in the day but this was all getting a bit over my head.
"You need to pick one of the standard six races, the pros and cons will be listed when you select one. Alternatively, you can choose to Try Your Luck, which will randomly choose a race for you but allows for the various sub-races to be picked."
"What are the sub-races?"
"Sub-races are variations of the main races for instance, should you Try Your Luck and the Human category be chosen you could find yourself as a Minotaur. These races are special and break past the starting limitations. They are classified as Uncommon or Rare which are always related to your base race and can break the starting limit by 10 and 20. Then there are Uniques that have no racial boundaries and can break the starting limit by 40."
"Alright, what about the stats?" the screen in front of me flashed again as a pop-up came into view.
Strength Physical Damage and Carry Weight Dexterity Speed and Chance to Dodge Constitution Maximum HP and Stamina Magic Maximum Mana and Magical Damage Wisdom Increases EXP Gain and Skill Leveling
After studying the stats for a bit I remembered something from back when I use to play these kinds of games.
"Nevea, isn't there normally a Charisma and Intelligence stat?"
"Charisma is subjective and therefore not one of the main stats, one person might find you charismatic and another deplorable no matter what. You can find who likes or dislikes you on your Relations tab once out of here. Intelligence is a hidden stat so to speak, one might associate it with magical ability but there are complete idiots who have an astronomical gift for Magic."
Easy enough to remember I suppose though I have no idea what to pick. It does sound exciting to become another race but what if I become something like a goblin? I browsed through each of the races and there wasn't anything new to be gleaned besides humans giving a few extra points, the stats really said it all. Ah, screw it we have a new chance at life and I should be thinking about it carefully but the itch to gamble and roll the dice is too strong.
"Here we go, bless me Lady Luck" placing my index and middle finger to my lips I gave them a brief kiss then aimed them upwards before bringing them down and pressing on the Try Your Luck button.
"There is no redo, are you sure you wish to Try Your Luck?"
"I'm sure"
The outline around Humans lit up and the light began to move down the line faster than I could see with a beeping noise going about as fast as a hummingbird. Gradually the light and sound began to slow down and I knew it was about to stop. Goblin as lit up and I began to sweat a bit and that feeling of disappointment started to rise.
Beep.
It moved! Dwarf isn't so bad just a shorter version of a human I can live wit..
Beep.
Hafling was now highlighted and flashing with little bits of confetti falling on my screen and the distant sounds of people cheering. While I liked the idea of a Dwarf better Halfling wasn't horrible either. Suddenly the screen began to shake and the words on the Halfling tab disappeared. The background of the tab began to change to a light purple and almost as if I was watching someone write on it new words started to appear along with a projection of a short, feral-looking midget.
Wyldling 25 40 25 0 30
"Wyldlings, a rare sub-race of nomadic Halflings who have been forsaken by the God of Magic Breim. Though every creature is born with mana the Wyldlings have had theirs sealed. Due to this, it has turned inwards, increasing their physical capabilities but prevents them from learning magic and most abilities."
Everything didn't sound too bad till I read that last part and now this sinking feeling in the pit of my gut is starting to surface.
"Nevea, what does it mean I'm prevented from learning magic and most abilities?"
"Though your body has mana you cannot outwardly use it, so things that would require mana such as spells and most abilities are unavailable to you"
I can feel a headache start to rise and can't believe this is happening. New world, a fresh start with amazing things and I'm getting shafted right off the get-go. I feel like a kid playing laser tag with others but given a rubber band gun. I wasn't a huge gamer but I do remember abilities like Super Duper Triple Slash being a key point when it comes to the strength of a character. Before I can bitch, complain or see what my options are the screen automatically slides to the right and new settings have appeared.
"Please select three traits, you can narrow down the results by asking to search via keywords or removing tags"
The list is enormous and though I'm still frustrated I did try to gamble and obtained a rare sub-race. May not be what I wanted but no point in crying over spilled milk now. As I'm randomly clicking on categories and browsing I can see that this is getting me nowhere.
"Nevea, are there recommended traits?"
The list shrinks to about ¼ of the size and there are a few categories with stars next to them. It didn't take long to pick out the three that I felt would be the most useful.
Perception Heightens your senses, raising your natural awareness Pinpoint You are able to located weak points on your target Ecologist You are quite knowledgeable when it comes to plants and animals of the wild Confirm?
My train of thought was this, as a Wyldling I'm nomadic which means lots of time outdoors right? So being able to sense things before you get ambushed is a plus. Then because I won't be able to use most if any abilities Pinpoint will give me that extra edge and last but not least knowledge is always power. Pressing the confirm button I'm once again met with the whole shaking screen thing as another trait fades into view below Ecologist.
Mask of the Wyld Gives you +1 to your Sneak/Hide Rank when in cover. Even when lightly obscured by things such as rain, snow, foliage, sandstorms or other natural phenomena.
"What are ranks?"
"Ranks are the different breakpoints for the various skills. Every skill starts out at Novice, once you have reached the required amount of levels it will advance to the next rank. Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Master and Grandmaster."
"So with this last trait if I had the Master Rank and entered cover it would be raised to Grandmaster?"
"That is correct"
Not bad at all, if I could use mana and learn abilities I would be godlike. Another flash of my screen and there were three big buttons labeled Warrior, Thief and Mage with the word Main Skills in bold above them. Clicking on each dropped down a list of skills related to each and those with stars had additional options.
Main Skills 5/10 Warrior Thief Mage *Weapon *Knives *Weapon Staves/Wands *Armor Light Armor *Primary Magic Branch Shield Dodge *Secondary Magic Branch Athletics Sneak/Hide *Elemental Focus Parry Lock Picking Scroll Scribe Craft Skills 3/5 *Gathering *Herbalism *Gathering *Gathering *Hunting *Gathering *Profession *Alchemy *Profession
Selecting the Thief option I went ahead and filled in the starred boxes with Knives for my weapon because I don't foresee myself running around with normal weapons the same size as me as I appear rather short. And for the Gatherings, I chose Herbalism and Hunting with Alchemy as my Profession. I figure I'll be out in the wild a lot so herbs should also be plenty, making Herbalism an easy choice. There will also be lots of wild game so Hunting will come in handy for pelts, meats and components for a source of income. With those two and Alchemy I should be able to become self-sufficient. Though I hoped this wasn't some kind of class choosing as well because I don't exactly want to be a Thief.
"When I choose this I'm not going to be given a Thief Class am I?"
"Classes are only available once you are on Te'luna, the selections here are just a group of general skills for the more popular Classes. All skills can be changed with others as you explore the world but only 10 active Main Skills and 5 active Craft Skills are allowed. Once you remove a skill you lose all ranks in it."
"You have completed the character creation process, please quickly look over your Status Card to check for any mistakes."
Name: Reginald Race: Wyldling Level: 1 Class: None Title: None Wealth: 0 Health: 50/50 Stamina: 50/50 Mana: 0/0 Exp TNL: 500 Strength: 25 Dexterity: 40 Constitution: 25 Magic: 0 Wisdom: 30 Fame: 0 Traits: Perception Pinpoint Ecologist Racial Traits: Mask of the Wyld *Sealed *Sealed
Main Skills Knives: Novice 1/10 Light Armor: Novice 1/10 Dodge: Novice 1/10 Sneak/Hide: Novice 1/10 Pick Lock: Novice 1/10 Empty Empty Empty Empty Empty
Crafting Skills Herbalism: Novice 1/10 Hunting: Novice 1/10 Alchemy: Novice 1/10 Empty Empty
"Everything looks correct on my end"
"Great, a few things to update you on so you're not totally weirded out. First and foremost your Status Card will remain a secret once you leave here, the knowledge is wiped from my mind by System once I leave this place. So unless you show it to someone the information will always remain private, I suggest you never reveal it except when prompted by System but that is your own choice."
"Secondly any friends or family could be out there, all souls that were 'alive' so to speak before entering Purgatory have slowly been reborn on Te'luna. A few of the cities have begun to create lists of names and old locations from Earth but it's a hit or miss at this early of exploration. You won't find any glorious castles or major cities yet, most of what's out there are small, barely fortified towns but things are growing and quick."
"And last but not least anyone from the Old World that was over the age of 16 has been brought back to the age of 16, physically at least. This is when the Adventurer Class is handed out by System, a Coming of Age ordeal you could call it. Once you level-up to 10 you are free to accept any Class change from a Master, Quest or Special Event. The exception to this rule are those who wish for a non-combat class. They can request a change from System during the Coming of Age Ceremony."
"So there you have it, any questions? No? Good luck!" the sound of a creaky old door opening then slamming shut filled the area.
I actually did have a few questions but I was given the basics and I did take up a ton of her time I guess… even if it wasn't exactly my fault. My screen beeped as I put the questions to the back of my mind and a giant map appeared with tons locations marked red. Pressing one of them brought up a closer view of what looked to be a small rural medieval town.
Haven Oaks Village - Tiny - Elected Leader - Craft Classes in Demand A small starting Village in the Stapleton Duchy, Temperate Rainforest Biome.
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Population: 27 Age: 15 Days Morale: Good Level Range: 1 - 25 Resources: High Woodcutting: Very High Farming: High Herbalism: High Hunting: High Fishing: Medium Mining: Medium Mana Stones: Low Start Here?
Doesn't seem to be too bad of a place to start, high Herbalism and Hunting which is perfect for me. Seems to be a bit smaller than the other choices and is a ways out in the woods but it's new and has a good location near the border between Stapleton and the Hawthorn Duchy. So a possible place for a trading hub between the two. A quick prayer to whoever is listening and I let my fingers drop down to the Start Here. The screen disappears from my view and a bright blue vortex begins to swirl and glow beneath me. As I slowly start to sink it occurs to me that I should be panicking right now but for some reason, I'm as calm as can be.