Chapter 3 Basic Training Center
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Note:
Base mana is [10 x Wisdom] + [bonus according to level], to that is added the bonus from proficiencies, class, or items. Stamina and Health follow the same rule, but with the Vitality stat and Stamina is 5 x Vitality, not 10.
Also there could be special states that modify the base health, stamina or mana on their own.
Finally in this chapter I plan on introducing the training centers. They are a part of the Royal Road universe that I really liked so I plan to introduce it to my story (with some modifications).
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Yukiro couldn’t see anything. He couldn’t hear anything. Intellectually he knew he must be back in his hospital room, but he couldn’t even feel the fabric of the VR pod on his skin.
In the nurse station at the end of the corridor, the nurse on duty saw the heart rate of the patient in room 405 raise dramatically. She rushed to the room to see that Yukiro was no longer hooked on his VR pod. It was a special pod, made without the customary lid to allow the nurses and doctor to monitor his body’s condition at all times.
The nurse tried to calm him down, but whatever she tried, he couldn’t feel.
Eventually his heart rate slowed, and the nurse exited the room. Then after 8 hours, he was automatically logged back in to the antechamber.
It took him a while to calm down. He wanted to immediately log back into New World but decided that he needed to plan things a little more before that.
“Okay, resolution number one: don’t die, dying is bad.” He knew that normally he would have been sent back to the antechamber way sooner when he died, not after 8h, and that he was forced out like he was just now because he had been extremely stupid, but he didn’t want to chance it. So no more dying moronically.
“Second, I should start getting stronger.” He hadn’t even started acquiring any type of fighting skills. If he continued like this, he would keep on being one-shoted by monsters and dying, just like before.
“And next is, of course, the end goal. Before the last day of the beta test, I will definitely kill that stupid carp.” Giving himself a goal always helped him focus. And that carp was the whole reason he started to die like crazy in the first place. It was fitting to give it a little payback.
But he would have to get much stronger. Because that carp killed him in a single blow every time he confronted it.
With these resolutions made, he once more logged into New World.
This time, as he was once more summoned back to the reviving ground, he saw that there were a lot more players in the surroundings. They were running around, some carrying various items for some quest probably, while others were already equipped with beginner swords or bows and were off to hunt monsters for the first time.
Indeed, far away in the field, Kiro could see groups of players attacking various small monsters. All of them had some basic equipment. He even though he saw someone using something that looked suspiciously like a fireball to attack a monster.
Okay, he decided, first I also have to find myself a weapon.
He started walking around town. He could have asked a guard, but the look of pity they gave him dissuaded him.
It only took a little while before he spotted a building with the crest of a sword on top of the door. Thinking it was some kind of weapons shop, he entered.
Inside was just a big, empty room. There was a clean wooden floor, and a row of manikins placed next to the side wall. In the back there was a huge map on the wall. It was probably a map of this world.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
There was a bench placed against the other side wall, and on it was sitting a large man polishing a sword. He looked at Kiro and asked: “Yes? What is it?”
It was obvious that this wasn’t a weapons shop. But the look of this place reminded him a little of the dojo he used to train in, so he asked: “Excuse me sir, what is this place?”
“Ah, another stranger. There are quite a lot of you these days. This is Astelam’s Basic Training Center.”
He went back to polishing his sword, probably expecting Kiro to leave. But Kiro was still curious.
“What is a Basic Training Center?”
The man glanced back at him.
“The Basic Training Center, or rather the Training Centers in general, is the place where warriors come to polish their abilities. We teach warriors what they need to know to triumph over any enemy they face.”
“For that, don’t they just need to increase their level?”
“Levels, hah! Listen lad, this world is filled with monsters of unimaginable strength and power, which no amount of levels will ever overcome. What you need, lad, is ability.”
“Ability?”
“Yes. Just as the best sword is like a kitchen knife in the hands of a novice, a dagger can have the power of the sharpest broadsword in the hands of the expert. With ability you can show strength far beyond that of levels!”
He had given this entire speech in a passionate voice, but now he looked towards his feet, looking depressed.
“Ah, but I’m wasting my breath. You strangers have no concept of what it is to be a warrior.”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you looked outside these walls? I have. Your kind run around in groups, hunting lone rabbits and foxes. They laugh in joy after slaying one hundred of these in six on one battles, because they finally gained one of your precious levels. That is not how a true warrior behaves. A true warrior, lad, always tries to fight monsters that are stronger than themselves. By fighting a monster that is stronger than you, you learn far, far more than you do killing 100 weaker monsters.”
The man’s words lit a fire in Kiro’s eyes. His words, and the conviction he had spoken them with, resonated with Kiro’s already established conviction that proficiencies and skills were the most important, not levels. Without thinking too much he asked:
“Please, sir, could you train me?”
The man was astonished: “You wish to take the Basic Training Course?”
“Yes sir, I do.”
“It’s not for the faint hearted. To pass the Basic Training Course you must continuously strike one of the manikins for 200 hours. You can only take a break if I decide to give you one. Despite knowing this, do you still want to take the Basic Training Course?”
“Yes sir!”
“Haha! Good. I like your attitude. Call me Master Roderick.”
******
In the headquarters of Future V, Andrew Durnal was staring at his computer screen. He was looking at footage from the beta test. Suddenly he laughed out loud loud, startling everyone in the office. “Master of Death, huh”, he murmured. “What a convenient exploit you found, Kiro.”
“What was that, director?” An employee asked.
“Nothing, nothing.” He replied with a small smile, his eyes still glued on the screen.
Chapter 4