So here's my second chapter. Procrastination is the inspiration of all things.
I hope someone reads this. And if not, well it was still fun.
But if someone out there is reading this.
Please tell me what you think! (: ... Not sure If I am doing this right.
Chapter 1.2: You think I'm an Addict?
-- The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?
When Aphrodite was connected to Royal Road, the first sound that reached her ears was a feminine voice. She looked around, but there was no one there. It was a bit confusing being somewhere – when she knew she was still in the library. She had never been in a game that was this immersive. She took a while to look around. All she could see was white. Very disorienting.
--Do you want to create a new account?
The voice repeated.
“Yes.”
--Select the name of your avatar.
She thought about this for a while and responded with.
“Mist.”
The novel from yesterday was still sharp in her mind – and she was not going to name herself ‘Aphrodite’ if she had the choice.
'Athena – maybe. Who decided to give their daughter the name of the Greek Godess of love and beauty of all things? No thank you. Mist it is! Uncomplicated. Ambiguous. Anonymous.'
---
Aphrodite’s parents had met on a cruise. Her mother was an heiress on vacation – spending money. She had always wanted to visit Greece, the location the cruise was taking off from. Her father had signed on as a barkeeper for some easy money. He was a computer science major barely scraping by and sorely needed the money.
Each had the typical ‘textbook’ appearance. Her mother having an elite upbringing was of petite stature with red brown hair. She wore it short but with constantly changing styles. Currently she was rocking the pixie cut. She was gorgeous.
Her father was Greek. He looked, as Aphrodite’s mother would put it in one of her novels, like a Greek God. Tall. Silky black hair. Penetrating green eyes. He was the epitome of male beauty. Her mother had been instantly infatuated with him. Elias Demopoulos. Soon there was a pregnancy on the way… which also explains the unfortunate Greek name. Aphrodite Korina Demopoulos.
‘I mean really? I would have been happier with Mary Jane. Or Sally. Or Paddy even!’
Alas, it was not to be. Aphrodite inherited the name and an, for a girl who does not have a runway career in the short- or long-term future, unwelcome height of 5’11. (As a side note: when people say tall people can wear the weight well… not true in this case.)
So in the end, the outcome of this unholy matrimony, for as we know, it did result in matrimony… was an overly tall, inaptly named fat girl. And so the story continues…
---
--Select your gender from male, female or neutral.
‘Neutral… wtf does that even mean? No boobs? No junk? No nothing? Ughh.. that kind of gives me the creeps… paaass.’
“Female please.”
--Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine. These races include, human, dwarf, elf…
“Elf!”
-- The elf race has subclasses. Please choose from: dark elf, high elf, wood elf, blood elf, midnight elf…
“That one.”
‘Gosh, how many elf kinds are there? I could be here all day. Isn’t this going a bit overboard with the options?’
--You may alter your appearance to a certain degree, at least 25% of your original appearance must be maintained. Racial traits will change you according to the features of the race you chose. As a Midnight elf you will have pointy ears, your eyes will be further apart, you will have less of a nose bridge…”
“I understand, I want to be skinnier… and shorter.”
‘No need to continue being an overly fat, overly large Amazon in the game when you don’t have to.’
-- Your appearance has been modified in accordance to your instructions. However as Midnight elves are known for their height. Your height has been altered to it's minimum given your body statistics. This has resulted in you being 5'11. Do you wish to make any more changes?
An image of a tall elf appeared before her. It looked nothing like her. Pointy ears – big forehead. But most of all: not fat. The elf was not pretty, but it wasn't as hideous as she was. She was satisfied. It looked nothing like her. It still had her green eyes which she had inherited from her father, possibly her only attractive attribute. The face was broad in the forehead but narrowed sharply at her cheekbones, giving her a delicate chin. It had a long nose and thin lips. Maybe it did have some of her in it, the eyes and the lips. She liked it.
“No this is good.”
-- Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road¬. You will now be guided through the introductory guide. Which will include all the information you need to survive and thrive in Royal Road.
“Alright.”
--Select the city and kingdom in which you want to start.
“Something in a forest. Deep in the woods. Is there some elf kingdom that is hidden from others, hard to get to? That kind of thing?”
--Is the Hidden Village of Amirav of the Siradin Kingdom satisfactory? It is hidden deep in the forest of Amirav. It is not however recommended as a starting point due to the high level of the beasts that call this village their home. In addition…
“This is fine!”
She didn't really care. She was just playing this for a little bit anyways.
*Flash*
With a flash of light she appeared in front of a large tree.
“What the hell!?”
She looked around in disbelief. Everything looked so real! And it felt real. Even the air smelled of forests and felt moist.
‘So weird!’
At first she thought she was just teleported into the middle of a random forest. But then she began to notice people… or elves. There were no houses that she could see, until she looked up and saw that the houses were built into the trees somehow. Or more like – the trees were built into houses… if that made sense. So the trees around her were houses. She briefly wondered if all trees were houses but then saw that some weren’t.
It was very disorienting for her, especially because of the realness of it all.
She was still gaping and looking around like a newborn calf (assuming that’s what newborn calves do…) when one kind looking elf walked up to her. He looked like Dumbledore without the glasses – add pointy ears and bingo! She was a fan of fantasy, and Harry Potter was a must-read… even if it was kind of retro. Most kids didn't even know who Harry Potter was anymore. ‘Strange to think there was a time when he was all the hype.’
He asked her if she needed help readjusting… which she did. He led her through the basics. It took upwards of two hours for him to give her a tutorial but she eventually got the hang of it. Dumbledore… who had introduced himself as Moark, told her that Amirav was unique and that she needed to gain familiarity with the houses (aka trees) to be permitted access. Only elves had access… at least no problem there…
He introduced her to the main house. ‘Village capital I guess.’
After being granted access, vines grabbed her by the stomach and she was whipped up into the trees.
“Whoa!!”
After being set on her feet. She stumbled a little.
“Warn a person next time! Would ya!?”
She re-oriented herself. She was on a broad branch that twined itself around the tree to give it some sort of walkway. As she looked out to the other trees she saw they had similar walkways made of branches that twisted around the trunks. More branches connected the trees to each other.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
‘Preeetty neat. Too bad I won’t acquire any Tarzan skills though.’
She looked down to what must be at least 100ft of falling space.
‘Well… Good thing I’m not afraid of heights. They should warn people though! Hey… by the way, we do not recommend this village as a starting point if you fear heights.”
She looked around the house. There weren’t many people in it. She kind of liked it that way. She didn't know that this was one of the unpublished starting centers. Most people who had started playing the game on its first day 3 days ago – were game enthusiasts and knew all about the game. There were only 20,000 new players so far – most of which had started on the first day.
Most players had chosen one of the cities that were offered. This was a hidden village though, that had to be asked for. Which was hard – since players didn't know to ask for it. She was only the 12th user that had started in Amirav. Which was why the village was so empty.
It was the only starting point of its kind. Most starting points were at least mid-sized cities, this was one of Royal Roads hidden secrets. Other than asking for it, Amirav had other requirements. One had to be a Midnight Elf and one had to be among the first 50 people that asked for a hidden village in the elfdom. It was a limit imposed by the game so even if the village became public – it could still be categorized as ‘hidden’.
The village itself was never going to show up on any maps. Even if someone did find it, Amirav was un-map-able. The forest of the Siradin Kingdom was vast and wanderers would often find themselves thrown from one place to another by wormholes or some other form of teleportation. Knowing one’s location within it was basically impossible.
Aphrodite walked around the house that burrowed into the tree. Most rooms had an odd half-pie-slice shape veering off from a central circular room. One of the rooms she walked into had a collection of bows on the wall, another a collection of herbs, each seemed to have some sort of purpose. Eventually she found one that looked like someone’s office, it was the only room with books in it. Books were something she always noticed. The books were all on a shelf that grew out of one of the room’s walls. There weren’t many of them, maybe 50 or so. She opened one and was surprised that it was an actual book, with actual pages that she could leaf through… with actual stuff written in it. ‘Everything in this game was just so damn real!’
She sat down in one of the couches and began reading.
It was exactly her type of book. Fantasy. In Royal Road though, that fantasy was often synonymous to fact. This book contained the history of some painter. It was a great book and she promptly lost herself in it.
Hours passed and when she finished the book something happened.
Wisdom rises by 1. (+1 WIS)
She had completely forgotten about the game. She had been so immersed in reading. ‘This game… so frickin real!’
Remembering what Dumble… Moark had said about the stats, she opened her stats window.
Character NameMistAlignmentNeutralLevel1ProfessionNoneTitleNoneFame0Health95Mana110Strength10Agility10Vitality10Wisdom11Intellect10Luck0Leadership0Attack1Defense0Magic ResistanceNone
‘… Interesting.’
She put the book back and decided to read another. This time the book was about the life of an elf-warrior. It centered on the fight between the two ancient tribes of Siradin, Kolfin and Paramore.
‘Very detailed stuff.’
Again. She lost herself in the book. And again – a couple of hours later she finished it.
Intellect rises by 1. (+1 INT)
‘I guess it’s not just wisdom that rises when you read.’
She continued reading other books. After reading two more, about famous elfs, none of her stats had gone up.
‘I guess it gets harder to gain stats. Same as dad’s other games… I have to keep reminding myself that I am in a game.’
She wasn't particularly concerned about the situation of her stats though and picked up another book. Halfway through the next book she was warned about her depleting satisfaction levels.
‘Right. Food.’
She remembered what the elder had said about keeping the body nourished. Obviously she had forgotten about it while she was reading.
She opened her ‘Inventory Window’ and ate another of the barley breads given to her as a new user. She now had 8 left. She had eaten one during Moark’s tutorial. The satisfaction factor was full again.
‘Ugh, sometimes this game is too realistic. This bread sucks.’
She got back to reading. After finishing this book, something else happened.
Book Mastery has increased by 1.
Book Mastery: Gives you the ability to read more quickly and comprehensively. Allows you to read books of any language or condition.
Your Book Mastery was increased to level 2.
Increases reading speed by 30%. (+30% AGT)
Increases stamina regeneration by 10%. (+10% STM)
And so, Mist continued to read. Biographies of famous elves, histories of certain bloodlines, famous battles and other depictions of historic events of the Siradin Kingdom. Books which introduced her to the world of Royal Road and its history. At some point she decided to log out because she had to go to the bathroom in real life.
Aphrodite was shocked to realize it was only 8pm. She had spent a little over seven hours in the game, but it had felt like so much more. She checked and realized she had logged 30 game hours.
‘I can live so much more in so little time! But more importantly, I can read all I want!’
Her priorities shifted. She quickly went to the bathroom, took a shower grabbed some food and logged back onto Royal Road.
Chapter 1.3