03

Welcome to school

Day 4 Default 5

The first thing she did was find a sign that told her what kind of school she might be looking at. It wasn’t hard to find.

WELCOME TO

THE SCHOOL OF

ELEMENTAL MAGIC

She studied the map underneath.

Mage’s Basix

Wizard University

The Cauldron

Mana Bar

The Robery

GEM (Gift Shop of Elemental Magic)

The Barbecue

The Freezer

The Pool

The Generator

The Windy House

The Valley

The Heavenly Oasis

The Midnight Mansion

The Longevity Research Lab

The Cemetery

MMA gymnasium

The Stadium

*As a note to the reader, Elemental Magic was found hard to define in opposites and polarities. The only real opposites being Light and Dark, Life and Death. As such, when you combine Fire and Water, you get steam; Earth and Electric do well together when used right. But when you combine Life and Death, you get a null, zero, or lots of flashy lights. These opposites can fight against each other while giving and taking damage, but not combining. Combinations are elsewhere defined.

That was all very helpful… wait. There’s something about these names. She wasn’t that stupid. They’re obviously all the school’s names for Elemental Magic. The only one that seemed strange was the MMA gym. She decided to go there first.

Before she had even taken three steps she was greeted. “Hello young girl!” An over friendly NPC ran up to her. “I am very happy that you have decided to enroll in classes here. I see you’re Level 9 and have… wait a minute. Is that? No…” he was utterly flabbergasted. “What a rare skill set you have! …The Phoenix!” He clapped his hands and jumped in joy. “Wow! And not too many other skills. … oh. You must be a Psychic. Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul. I know that special secret ability but probably nobody else knows it. We’ll have to just keep it a secret between you and me.” He winked. “And now, back to business. Your level is sufficient to go to any house you may wish to learn Elemental Magic.”

“Uhh, thanks?”

“You may not enroll in the Wizard’s University until you are level 10 or higher. Mage’s Basix will be able to assist you with that while you brush up on a few skills, spells and lessons in Magic.”

“Thanks. I was just heading off to the MMA gym.”

“The MMA Gymnasium is off limits until you have reached specific criteria.”

“Alright then, I guess I’ll go around and check it out.”

“Yay! Feel free to check out The Cauldron to stock up on all the potions you need for casting, and the Mana Bar to sit, relax and regen your mana…”

She walked off, not wanting to spoil the surprise of walking through each and every shop. She was already utterly annoyed with NPCs in immersive games. You want to talk to them like real people, but they’re so weird. The fact that they feel like real people is the worst.

She looked around, yes, the names, colors, and symbols matched on all of the buildings. The Barbecue was a bright red house with a sign on top and fire underneath a classic barbecue. The Windy House had white and blue wavy lines all over it and a sign that looked like a swash of toothpaste in blue and white.

All the buildings were there, she had tried talking to some of the host NPCs outside of the schools. All they said was, “Welcome to The Pool.” But she didn’t check it out any further, yet. She still had a few decisions to make.

She made it all the way back to The Stadium. It was open, but there weren’t any real games going on. Just a few free time spars going on.

She didn’t stop to watch and figured that talking to a few of the other students might help her make a decision. She entered the Mana Bar.

It was a tropical looking bar. Mostly everyone was drinking Blue Martinis and seemed to be enjoying themselves, talking hanging out or staring off into space.

She went up to some 90’s punk, analyzed him and started a conversation. His name was 00Linkin00 - level 15 - Mage.

“Hey, what’re you doing?”

He looked up after a long second. “Can I help you?” He said, annoyed.

“I’m just wondering what you’re doing, staring off into space.”

“Watching The Dungeon live feed,” he said, obviously not liking the fact that someone was disturbing him.

“What’s that?” She asked.

A link popped up in her face.

The Dungeon live •

She opened it and got a page about The Dungeon. From the guide she knew that this was where the one and only exit portal was located. And The Dungeon was the where there were high level monsters and a final dungeon boss that stood in the way of anyone trying to get out. Percentage of Default: 100%

She opened one of the most recent videos.

An Omnicorp inc. rep was talking to player: 77Lucky1133 - Level 31 - Sharpshooter.

“Would you like to enter The Dungeon?”

“Yes.”

“Be warned, no players have been able to kill the final boss, much less reach it.”

“Let me in.”

“Alright! Would you like to enter from the basement or make your way through the building?”

“I’ll go through the building.”

“Sure thing!” The doors of the building opened and he walked into the lobby. Everything looked perfectly nice and pretty, no demons or monsters here.

He walked through cautiously. The attendant at the front desk greeted him. “Sir, this is your last chance to head back.”

“I’m okay. I’m going.”

“Ok then. Do you have any baggage to claim or check in?”

Lucky hesitated before he unloaded a few item from his inventory and gave it to the attendant.

“Thank you,” the NPC said. “You will be able to retrieve these items at any time, at this location.”

“Thanks,” he said, his voice had a little quaver.

He carried on and went to the elevator. He pressed the button but the light didn’t stay on, the indicator above the door said, “in-op”.

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He knew it would happen, but he tried anyways. Stairs it is.

Lucky walked up the first flight of stairs. His path was blocked from going up any further. He had to enter the building from here, second floor, and figure how to move on from there. Hopefully this isn’t going to be so much of a huge maze. Hopefully, it’ll just be room after room until the final boss.

He took out his gun and opened the door.

The lights were off, something flickered in the distance. A rat scuttled underneath a table.

Lucky took his dagger in one hand and walked in. He had a light at the end of his gun in his other hand.

KillPrinsX was curious about his stats, she didn’t have to wonder any longer, a tag popped up, Bio, and she pressed it.

77Lucky1133

Level 31

Class: Sharpshooter

Height: 5’ 9”

Weight: 154lbs.

Body Type: Normal

Hair Color: Shaved (Brown)

Eye Color: Light Gray (Brown)

Stats

Health: 1846

Stamina: 1634

Mana: 489

Attributes

(Scaled out of 20)

Strength: 17

Agility: 21

Dexterity: 35

Endurance: 29

Solidity: 11

Wisdom: 10

Intelligence: 21

Charisma: 18

Luck: 25

She was satisfied with his stats, but even then, it could be better, even level 31 is hard to get to. He probably did nearly a hundred quests.

She kept watching. He walked through the floor. It looked like an abandoned office space; portable walls and partitions were everywhere, some tipped over, but nonetheless, obscuring his view for the most part.

He rounded a corner and shined his light down the hallway. Someone was there!

The person ran and attacked with a blunt object.

Lucky didn’t stand there, he dodged the attack and shot, laying waste to the… “Mad Accountant”.

The gun shots didn’t help, more office workers came running around corners, there was a horde in less than ten seconds.

Lucky did what he knew best. He put a bullet through each and every one of them.

The combat was exciting! He rolled under tables, came up on the other side, shot with one hand, and sliced with his other, normally doing one-hit kills. Time slowed for nearly every shot. It was epic!

He reloaded in the blink of an eye, while slashing out with his knife, and kept backing up. Shooting, turn, shoot, look back, shoot, slice, turn, shoot.

He made it look easy, just as any good player does.

The mad office workers stopped coming and he got a prompt as soon as he killed the last one telling him that the Boss was coming.

He looked down the hallway, a giant fat man in a suit waddled down the hallway, and he looked pissed.

The light shone on his face and you could see his scowl from a mile away.

Lucky switch guns and just started shooting, covering the boss in bullets. He took out a grenade and chucked it. The Boss felt that, tumbling to the ground and trying to get back up.

The bullets weren’t doing much damage. And Lucky tried something new. He ran up close to the boss, who had finally managed to get back up, pulled out his dagger and swung into his face.

The Boss didn’t like that. He stopped the knife, grabbed him by the hands and shook him back and forth like a rag doll, finalizing it by tossing him across the room.

Lucky didn’t take too much damage, but any low leveler like KillPrinsX would have been defaulted. At least he now knew what not to do.

He tried another grenade, causing the Boss to tumble down once more. He kept shooting, now lining up his shots and making them count, giving criticals nearly every shot. He made it!

The Boss died, slowly at first, heaving and coughing up blood. And finally, with his head hitting the floor, a fair amount of XP bolstered Lucky’s level, but no level up yet.

He got a prompt telling him the floor was now cleared.

The next task was only finding out where the exit might be.

KillPrinsX stopped watching. Bringing her back to the lovely tropical bar she was in.

She ordered a Mana Margarita and went to chat to some other students.

She found a cheerful group.

iChelsea69 - Level 5 - Psychic

TheWARlock1000 - Level 7 - Mage

Nimbus2001+ - Level 5 - Commoner

This is someone she was looking for! Another Psychic.

She greeted iChelsea69 “What classes are you taking?” KillPrinsX asked.

“Mage’s Magix,” they all said in unison. Though they didn’t seem too happy.

“What’s that all about. You don’t like it?”

“No, it’s not that, exactly,” iChelsea69 said. “It’s frickin’ expensive! We have to do stupid mini-quests all the time to get money, which usually involves cleaning dishes or sweeping. All we get is high ranking skills in housekeeping. At least our dexterity and health are higher.”

“That’s not too bad. But, why don’t you go out and do some real quests or kill some monsters?”

All of their faces contorted into fear. “What? Go out and die? We’re not that good yet.”

“You’ve never played any other kind of game before?” KillPrinsX asked, somewhat surprised at their noobish behavior.

“No, we have. But we’re low level and going anywhere wouldn’t really be a good idea yet.”

KillPrinsX rolled her eyes. “So, you’re taking classes in Mage’s Magix, what do you do?”

“It’s usually just a class on how to cast magic, starting with a couple of basic skills and then going to practice with the dummy monsters they have upstairs. That’s how we’ve gotten to the level we have. A whole week and I’m Level 5. TheWARlock1000 has been here longer than I have.”

KillPrinsX had an idea. “Come with me.” She pulled iChelsea69 off to a quiet corner of the room. “You’re a Psychic. Did you ever try any of your abilities?”

“Yeah, I do Analyze all the time. And Confuse works good on people I want to shut up.”

“What about Nap Time?”

Her face wilted in disgust. “Never! I tried it once and defaulted instantly. The little video I watched was terrible acting and they didn’t even know how to fight.”

KillPrinsX nodded her head in agreement. “I know they usually suck. But I got one that didn’t. I got to Level 9 instantly, got a load of gold and even quite a number of great skills.”

Now iChelsea69 looked at KillPrinsX like she might be on to something. “But why?”

“I don’t know. That’s how it works. I just kept hitting Nap Time until I got something good. I also got to experience the game a bit more and see things I wouldn’t have seen this early on. I’ve barely been playing Default for more than two days.”

“But how?”

“Well, I’m not saying you should go and do it now. But I suggest, if you’ve just defaulted, try it until you get a good one.”

“Okay. Maybe I will.” She said reluctantly, but hope shining through her eyes.

“But, I do have a few more questions.” KillPrinsX said. “First, how long have you been playing Default?”

“A week or so.”

“And what was your highest level?”

“8.”

“How did you manage that?”

“I went to the hills and killed some animals, spent a night in a tree and the got killed halfway through the day. Some ass holes came by and just shot me down, no fight, just a kill.”

“So, you have things to learn. That’s why you’re at school.”

“That right! I’ll learn to be a powerful Mage someday.”

“Exactly… someday. But for now, you need money…”

“Right.”

“Besides that,” KillPrinsX now asked what she really wanted to know, a poll type question, “after finishing Mage’s Magix classes, what’s your plan? What kind of Elemental Magic will you choose to learn?”

“I guess fire magic. But it seems a little cliché.”

“Yeah, it does, but it does work, most of the time.”

“Just, not at all against fire creatures.”

They left it at that and iChelsea69 went back to her table to chat with her friends.

KillPrinsX went around Analyzed some more players relaxing in the Mana Bar.

H00ligan$$ - Level 7 - Commoner

Tabletop503 - Level 8 - Mage

99$Miami - Level - 13 Psychic

!Geeky?Nerd!007 - Level 30 - Mage

There’s someone who might know the answers to her questions.

She went up to the player named !Geeky?Nerd!007 and greeted him. She came across a little shy, but got his attention.

“Hi, I’m trying to learn the ropes here and I have a few questions. Do you mind if I take a seat?”

“Sure,” he said, putting his Blue Margarita down and keeping his calm, cool face. “How can I help you?”

“Well, this is my first day at school and I’m just trying to find out what classes I should take. I’m really quite lost.”

“Alright, let me explain it to you. But, first of all, KillPrinsX, you seem to be doing alright for your second day, and have done well on getting a very rare skill set on top of that. I still haven’t figured that out with you Psychics, but sometimes you have the most alarming…discoveries.”

He knew her name and almost everything about her! Is he an NPC? Maybe he just got the skill from somehwere…. Scary. But I guess it pays off after getting to level 30.

“Yeah,” KillPrinsX said, “us Psychics have our ways.” She said with false cheer and gave a fake little laugh. “And I’m not that much of a noob. I’ve played tons of games and I’m just trying to wrap my head around Default before I default again.”

“Alright, so here’s how it goes. Mage’s Magix class is for beginners and you normally just do that for days on end until you meet the requirements to learn any type of Elemental Magic. The requirement being: having the ability to cast magic, and being able to learn a tier 1 skill. After that you keep going to level 10, when you can enter the Wizard’s University. Then you get some real tips and skills that you wouldn’t find most other places. And once you reach level 20, you can learn any tier level magic of the elemental schools. Makes sense.”

“Yeah, so I know how to cast and I’m already familiar with tier 3 magic, somewhat. But that was before I defaulted. So I should just level up to be able to learn some Elemental Magic?”

“That’s right,” !Geeky?Nerd!007 said. “Really, the best way to level up is to go out on quests, or fight beasts other players. Oh, and enter tournaments, but that takes real skill. They match you up with Mages of similar level, but even then, the tournaments last until default. That means 7 defaults and one winner, sometimes more, depending on the size of the tournament, but still, one winner. I’ve managed two since my last default, that explains the level 30.”

That answered a lot of her questions. This whole schooling thing was starting to make sense. You don’t just go to school to learn some magic. You go to level up and gain skills to be able to fight like a champion, and then become one, winning the tournament.

KillPrinsX asked her next question the one itching the back of her mind. “What’s the best Elemental Magic?”

“Well… I couldn’t really answer you that. But, what to learn as the first isn’t really the question. One can always specialize and become a Fire Mage, but even then you would be extinguished by Water, weakened by Ice and smoldered by Earth. You’d do better specializing using a few. But even then, there’s different thoughts and tactics to everything.”

“Alright, so you’re just saying that I should go and learn something and not be picky.”

“Bingo.”

“Then, there’s one thing I still haven’t gotten answered, what’s the MMA Gymnasium?”

!Geeky?Nerd!007 laughed. “I wasn’t planning on telling you that too! it’s a big surprise for everyone. First of all it’s restricted to everyone under level 20, probably because you need to know at least two elements, and of which both are tier 5.”

KillPrinsX didn’t let him stop. “So what is it?”

“It’s Mixed Magical Arts. And that’s all I can tell you.”

Oh no! That’s all? The name doesn’t really explain it, but she could guess that you mix elements together somehow… ugh! What is it?

KillPrinsX shrugged off the frustration. “Well, it’ll be as big as a surprise for me as everyone else.”

!Geeky?Nerd!007 smiled and raised his margarita.

KillPrinsX got up and was just walking away. “KillPrinsX, would you like to see the tournament? I’ll be going for my third win.”

“Now?”

“Actually… yes. It starts in half an hour and I need to be there early to register.”

“I guess I’ll have to go.” And she said in her best Padawan voice, “I have much to learn in the ways of the Elements.”