“And here’s your share of the loot,” Andy said as the three men nodded numbly, staring at the three piles of meat, bones, and skins, “Do you need help carrying them to the shops?”
“Nah, we’re good,” Blake said, watching as Flame stared at his new great sword in awe, “I think Flame’s happy with his new toy as well.”
“This thing is awesome!” the Fighter shouted, “It has a life steal Ability! Only a couple of points per hit, but that’s huge!”
“Yeah, my guess is that if you farm that WB, the rest of the gear will be for a Barbarian type Class,” Andy chuckled, the Fighter starting slightly, before nodding happily, “This was fun, maybe we’ll do it again if you guys are up for it?”
“Oh, definitely,” Trent smiled, “I gained so many levels in [Healing Magic]! And with the money I’ll make off selling these mats, I’ll be able to afford any Spell I want!”
“Same!” Blake grinned, “Great meeting you guys!”
“It was nice to meet you too,” Jake nodded to the three as they left them in the Adventurers’ Guild, stepping out into the evening sun.
“You know, they only asked to join us because of you, right?” Andy chuckled as they left.
“Wait, really?” Jake asked, looking at his friend in confusion, “Why?”
“Because you’re the Firster,” Andy chuckled, only getting another confused look from Jake, “It’s what people have been calling you on the forums, Jakey. Think of it like an unofficial Title, it means you’re the person with the highest level.”
“I see,” Jake nodded, “So, what should we do now?”
“How about we go sell some of these mats you gathered, mostly the meat though, I’m sure Miri will be thrilled with all the hides and bones we have,” Andy hummed, “Then we can go get some food and relax a bit. Unless you want to go night hunting?”
“What’s night hunting?” Jake asked as they headed towards the market, the sounds of natives shouting quickly filling the air.
“Tougher and stronger mobs show up at night,” Andy explained, “It’s how most folks over level five gain levels, so it’s called night hunting. Though I doubt there’ll be any problems for you out there.”
“Probably not,” Jake laughed.
“But first off, let’s get some food,” Andy hummed, “Oh, and another thing I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
“Yeah?” Jake nodded to his friend.
“What was that whole ‘your lordship’ thing at the Temple?”
------
“Okay, so let me get this straight.”
Andy and Jake were sitting at their table in The Full Basket as they spoke, Jake having given Andy the rundown of how he’d gotten his Lord of the Dark Woods Title, and how the natives had started treating him differently since. The Defender had listened to the whole thing while eating a large plate of food, finally talking once he had finished.
“You bought a Title in the Fate Store at character creation with the extra Fate Points you somehow got. Then, when you handed over the Title of Mayor to this Merina person, you got another Title saying you were the Owner of this town? Then they combined and made you a Lord?”
“Apparently?” Jake sighed, “It’s…been quite an experience.”
“I’ll say,” Andy snorted, smiling at Jake as he picked at his food, “Come on, man! It’s pretty damn cool if you ask me! You’re a lord! That has to mean something to you.”
“Not really,” Jake shrugged, tossing a piece of meat to Eta under the table, the wolf snapping it up, “I just…didn’t expect all of this.”
“Well, it’s happened,” Andy nodded, slapping Jake on the shoulder, “And that’s that, so you might as well embrace it!”
“And if I don’t want to?” Jake asked, looking his friend in the eyes, Andy squeezing his lips together slightly, “What if I just wanted to have a normal experience in this game? Playing it with you and your friends?”
“Who’s to say you can’t?” Andy hummed, “I mean, sure, Neurotech hired you, both of us, really, and all that, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun like the rest of us, you just get to play for a little extra time. I mean, look at today, we had fun with those randos we partied with, right?”
“Yeah,” Jake chuckled, “I guess so. Though it all felt a little too easy.”
“I bet, with your levels,” Andy laughed, “Oh, hey, show me your Stats.”
“My Stats?” Jake blinked, “Haven’t you already seen them through the party interface?”
“Nope, that only lets me see stuff like your level, Health, Stamina and Mana, not your Stats,” Andy explained, “Just open your Character Screen and will me to be able to see it.”
“Okay,” Jake nodded, doing just that, reading over it himself as he did.
Character Profile
Name
Jake Grey
Class
Champion
Level
14
Reputation
Unknown
Health Points
280
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Mana Points
260
Stamina Points
340
Fate Points
5
Power
22 {+7}
Intellect
22 {+4}
Agility
28 {+6}
Wit
22 {+1}
Vitality
22 {+6}
Charisma
22 {+2}
Skills (17/20)
Titles
Combat
Evasion [6]
Hunting Bows [3]
Medium Armour [6]
Short Swords [4]
Utility
Aim [4]
Free Movement [8]
Inspect [8]
Observe [8]
Silent Movement [8]
Creation
Alchemy [5]
Butcher [8]
Cooking [3]
Crafting [7]
Gathering [8]
Skinning [8]
Magic
Nature Magic [2]
Shadow Magic [2]
Lord of the Dark Woods
Frontrunner
Giant Slayer V
Pioneer
World Breaker
Touched by Corruption
Champion of the Wilds
Persistent
“Hmmm,” Andy muttered as he looked over the screen, “Your Stats are way too even. Is that because you hit level eleven before you got a Class? What is this Class anyway? I haven’t heard of it before. Does it have any Stat or Skill restrictions?”
“Gaia said it was the ultimate free form Class,” Jake said, “That it has no restrictions, meaning I can level up any Skill I want.”
“Damn, that’s actually kind of cool,” Andy hummed, “My Defender Class auto allocates two points into Vitality when I level, so I only get four to spread out to my other Stats.”
“Auto allocates?” Jake asked.
“Yeah,” Andy nodded, “All players gain six points when they level up. Two are auto allocated by your Heritage, and two by your Class. Elves get Agility and Intellect, Beastkin get Vitality and Charisma, it’s like that for all the Heritages. Oh, except Humans, they don’t get auto allocations for their Heritage.”
“And there are also Skill restrictions?”
“Yep,” Andy continued, “Certain Classes can’t gain certain Skills. For example, my Defender Class can’t learn Magic Skills. Like, at all. In exchange, it gives me a bonus to heavy armour and shields. But if what you say is correct, then your Champion Class doesn’t restrict you at all, so you can really be a jack of all trades if you want to.”
“But a master of none,” Jake sighed, “Sort of like my Stats, right?”
“Right on the credits,” Andy nodded, sitting back in thought, “So, I think the best things we can do for you right now is get you acting more like a Ranger. That’s the Class you were going to be in the first place, and you’re already leaning that way with your higher Agility.”
“And how do we do that?” Jake asked.
“Simple,” Andy grinned, “Take you to the Ranger Class Trainer.”
------
“Weren’t we going to go see the Ranger Class Trainer?”
“At this time of night?” Andy chuckled, looking at Jake as they moved through the dark fields, “You’d be more likely to end up with an arrow in your neck if you woke them up or disturbed their off time. Trust me, I’ve heard stories.”
“Oh, okay,” Jake nodded as he followed after Andy, the pair quickly approaching the forest that surrounded the small fort town of Dusk Keep, “So we’re going to go night hunting until morning then?”
“Yep,” Andy nodded, “Actually, that reminds me, when was the last time you slept? In the game, I mean.”
“Slept? Uhm…the last session I think?” Jake muttered.
“So, you’ve been awake for four days now?” Andy sighed, “Right, bit of advice, don’t go without sleep for more than three ingame days at a time. Even if we’re in FD, you have to give you brain time to decompress and sort stuff out. I usually sleep every third night, just to be sure, and you should too.”
“That makes sense,” Jake nodded, “Is there any problem with sleeping more?”
“Other than losing out on hunting and crafting time? Nope,” Andy chuckled, “You see folks just lazing about all the time in the fields and on benches in the keep. Some folks even just come into the game to sleep.”
“Really?” Jake blinked, “That seems…wasteful.”
“It is, why play when you aren’t going to actually play?” Andy laughed, quickly cutting himself off as they reached the edge of the woods, “Right, this is going to be dangerous, and not just for me. Even if you’re tougher than I am and have way better gear, getting your throat ripped out will still kill you.”
“Right,” Jake nodded, remembering the sensation of having his throat ripped out by the corrupted Shadow Wolves, “So, we be careful.”
“Hardly,” Andy chuckled, “We’re out here to test you, Jakey, so I’m going to be making a Monster Train and bringing it to you.”
“Monster…train?”
“Yep, I’ll run through the woods, aggroing all the mobs I can get, and then come running back to you and Eta,” Andy explained, “Then it’ll be up to the two of you to make sure I don’t die by killing them all!”
“That…doesn’t sound safe,” Jake said slowly.
“It’s not,” Andy laughed, “But it should be fun. You ready?”
Looking down at Eta, the wolf just shaking himself in preparation, Jake sighed.
“I guess?”
------
Howard Steele ran his hands over his face tiredly, sitting back in his chair as the several hours long meeting finally ended.
“Gods but I hate them,” he muttered to himself, thinking back on the meeting with the Board of Directors, “Credit hungry cretins, the lot of them.”
The first question out of their mouths had been “How will this affect the bottom line?”. Well, not in those words exactly, but damn near close enough. They hadn’t cared that the game itself had almost crashed because of one player, but rather that billions of credits had been at risk if the server for Cities Twelve, Fourteen and Fifteen had gone down.
“Fucking idiots,” he muttered, remembering all their faces as he tried to explain that everything had been taken care of, that the factor endangering Grande New World, and by extension their wallets, had been dealt with.
“They have been removed?” one of the Board had asked, “From the game or permanently?”
That question had infuriated Howard. How dare they dismiss his work, his effort, in such a crass way? He had had the last laugh though when the others had demanded an answer to the question.
“I cannot tell you who it was, because of the privacy clause,” he’d tried to explain, the board members scoffing.
“We’re the Board of Directors, such things don’t apply to us,” one woman had sneered, “Give us a name.”
“Fine,” Howard had growled right back, “Hart.”
That had shut them up quickly. Albert Benjamin Hart was the CEO and founder of Hart Industries, and the single greatest source of income and donations for the whole of Grande New World. That the dangerous factor was his estranged son didn’t really matter to Howard, just that the name got those trumped-up morons to be quiet. Of course, it hadn’t lasted long, the Board trying to find ways around the situation with clever words and thinly veiled threats. Howard had desperately wanted to respond in kind but had held himself back.
“Grande New World is the single greatest game in the world right now,” he’d explained to the simpletons, “It has more players than any MMO in history, than any game in history. And even if we were to lose ninety percent of players tomorrow, we would still have more than eight percent of the Earth’s population playing the game.”
“But how does that make us credits?” another had asked.
“By existing,” he’d replied, “We already have the credits of billions of people who bought the various packages for the games. Who’s to say that they won’t want to upgrade in the future? Who’s to say that they won’t invest everything they have once the Real Exchange System gets introduced?”
“We could change it to a subscription model,” yet another of the Board had mused, “Obviously at a later date, once the players are more entrenched in the game. Then we can offer benefits for those willing to pay more.”
“Of course, ma’am,” Howard had agreed, if only to let the Board feel like they were winning something, “That can be arranged.”
The meeting had gone on for hours after that, mostly just Howard deflecting questions, or answering the less brain-dead ones. And now, finally, it was over.
“I need a nap,” he sighed, looking out the window of his office, the sun having already set, the cup of coffee his secretary had brought him at the start of the meeting standing ice cold, “Actually, I just need sleep.”