Chapter 2: Althiem
After entering Parallel, the darkness disappeared and was changed into a scenery of ancient ruins. From the center of the circle an old man dressed in long black cloak, a typical sagely appearance, stood.
“Welcome to Althiem warrior” The old man said, “I am Astrad, I will be your guide to your new life here in Althiem.”
I decided to keep quiet to let the game play itself.
“Do you remember anything about your past?” The man asked as he walked closer to me.
“Umm…” I was not sure of the correct response to this question. I did not read this from any forum that I visited.
“I see… It seems like you have no memories then.” From my expression the man concluded the answer by himself. Well, I’ll leave it to that then I thought.
“Your planet Framiz was taken over 2 years ago. This ruin houses one of the many space-seal that links your planet to our planet Althiem. Many of your people have already evacuated here in our planet, however we heard that many of the warriors stayed there to fight. So from time to time there are people like you who appear here.” Coughing a single time he sneakily looked at me. Thought I saw it I decided not to really think. “ However all those who are arrived after the evacuation 2 years ago all have the same problem, all of them knows only their name and race.”
“I see, umm so… I am in Althiem now?”
“Yes, Indeed you are. Specifically you are now within the Kingdom of Frozith.”
“Frozith”
“There are many trans-seals that your previous planet made here in Althiem so there are many places that a person from your world who evacuated can appear.”
“Um… I see… so basically our planet Framiz is already destroyed?”
“Something like that. Not really totally destroyed but it is already inhabitable. Demons have already taken over the entire planet. Maisma covered the whole planet. Living creatures can not live in places like that for long. Thought there are exceptions for powerful beings. That’s why people like you who came latter than the others might be more powerful than them.”
“Ok… but why do you think I lost my memory?”
“Well most of those who have arrived later had the same problem. Aside from their name and race they don’t remember their life when they where living in Framiz. Also all their levels became level 1. We believe this is because the trans-seals in your planet have already malfunctioned and this is the side effects of traveling from your planet to ours.”
“Where are the others like me?”
“Oh the other Dythrs, they are guided to the settlements provided for drifters in the city. Many Kingdoms here in Althiem assists many Dythrs.”
I can see the background story of the characters here in the game. The memory lost explains the lack of character information of the players. It is also a good cover up for our current level.
“Thank you for all the information you have provided me.”
“No problem lad, after leaving the ruins you will see a road going straight to the city of Thanatos. You won’t get lost. After arriving at the city, ask one of the guards the direction to the settlement.”
“City of Thanatos? I thought I was in the Kingdom of Frozith.”
“Kingdom of Frozith is large. The capital city Nacross is located in the Region of Whitegrass which is further south from here. City of Thanatos is one of the many cities under the rule of Frozith.”
“Ummm… I see, thanks for this additional information. It will definitely help me.” I bowed deeply after receiving his instruction as well as the information regarding my current location. I can’t help feel grateful to him thought he was just an NPC. He acts like a real person that makes me forget they are NPC. “Thank you for the guidance you offered and I am sorry that I was unable to give you my name earlier in our conversation. My name is Zeift.”
A small smile appeared in Astrads’ face and his eyes also warmed significantly. “Zeift, a good name. If you are free you can come and visit me at the city when I am finished with my shift.”
“Yes, thank you for inviting me. Knowing someone in unfamiliar world is really reassuring. I’ll surely drop by.”
“Then I’ll be expecting you.”
With a small wave I was about to walk towards the exit that Astrad showed when I suddenly tripped and fell down the floor hard. “uhmp!”
Astard assisted me to stand “Seems like your balance was also compromised by the trans-seal. If you like you can sit here for a while.” Astard continued as he guided me outside of the trans-seal circle to the far side of the ruins where a rock was.
“Thanks” I mumbled
Astard gave a small nod before hurriedly walking back at the center of the trans-seal as a new comer appeared.
Another gamer I thought as I watch Astard talk to a red head male.
Ok, enough about others I told myself as I looked at my hands. Suddenly I blanked out.
Wait, wait, wait.
Oh no, please no. I thought as I parted my hands which was resting in my lap and looked at the seemingly bulge between my thigh.
Automatically I touch my breast and when I became aware of the hard muscles I could not help myself from gasping aloud and Oh my god the abs…
I stood up and started to touch my whole body, well except the one between my thighs and with a thud, I sat down again.
Astard walked towards me. It seems like he finished guiding the player that arrived awhile ago.
“What is the matter Zeift?”
“Umm… I know this is a weird question but… Am I a male?”
Astard looked at me like I grew another head after I asked the question, however the look disappeared faster and was replaced by warm light. “Yes you are Zeift. Have you also forgotten about that.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Not to worry you can take it slow. No need to hurry learning things again.”
“Thanks”, after a let out a gush of breath I looked up at the worried old man and offered a wobbly smile. “I think I better go to the city now. I have taken much of your time already.” I decided to file this information for later assessment but for now I decided to just forget about this.
With a pat in my left shoulder Astard offered a knowing smile and with a cheerful voice said, “No problem lad! It’s good to help others in need.”
As the tension in my body left because of his good-naturedly laugh I looked at him and said my goodbye. “K, Goodbye… See you at the city.”
“May Azule be with you lad”
* ~ * ~ *
Minuets of walking at the dark damp passage I finally saw the light which I am very sure is the exit.
The minuets I spent at this passage were not the best time I can think of. Since the realism of the game was shockingly similar to real life, walking at a dimly lit corridor was really no fun.
I had to reach out my hand at the side of the wall to make sure I don’t trip since the bricked floor had been greatly damage due to age and with occasional tree roots protruding here and there. Add moss that grew around the passage and you have a very dangerous corridor.
I have never experienced playing VR games since this is the very first of its kind but I have never expected this level of realism when I was reading about VR games online.
As I exited out of the ruins I was greeted by the gentle breeze. I cannot help taking a deep breath as I looked at the scenery in front of me. The entrance of the ruins was located at the top of the structure, because of that I can see the whole view of the forest surrounding the ruins.
Oh my god~! I gasped as I was overwhelmed by everything I experienced. The smell of the trees is so strong, so fresh. The gentle touch of the wind as it played with my hair, the warm glow of the early morning sun. The sound of the birds and the rustle of the tree leaves as it sway with the wind.
All my senses are functioning. I can hear, see, feel, smell and taste! Well taste because I can still remember the taste of my blood when I cut my lips during the tripping incident with Astard.
If I did not know better I will think I am teleported to another dimension! I thought as I greedily looked at the breathtaking scenery before me. After looking at the scenery for a long time I finally pulled myself together and started to asses my situation.
In front of me was a very long stairs leading down. Seems like the walk from the ruins to the city I can see from my location was far for my standards.
As I reached the base of the ruins I decided to check my status first.
“Call Menu” After I used the Call system, the Menu window appeared. It was almost sky-blue transparent in color.
The Call System was used here in the game as one post in the forum I visited said. The Call System was used in many ways and it is the most important.
There were many Information tabs that can be seen from the main menu. After looking I finally saw what I was looking for. I selected
I checked the character sub-menu first.
Character
Character Name: Zeift
Level: 1
Race: Azarin
Gender: Male
History:
One of the warriors who stayed in Framiz after the civilians evacuated 2 years ago. Aside from knowing that he came from Framiz, Name and Race other information is unknown.
Ok, from the
Selecting random was a bad idea after all. I should have chosen one of the four; at least I know what they are good at. Azarin, I have to check information about this Race after I log out from the game.
Gender, well this clears everything. I am having a hard time dealing with the fact that my gender here in the game is Male. Huh… How will I… ahem, No need to go that far I think.
History did not really give anything useful. Anyway I have to check my Attributes. I selected Attributes and new information was shown.
Attributes
Health: 100
Mana: 100
Attributes
Stats that can be increase with the use of AP
Strength: 1
Constitution: 2
Stamina: 3
Intellect: 3
Soul: 1
Luck: 1
Dexterity: 3
Agility: 3
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-
-
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Natural Stats
Stats that automatically increase due to Attributes, Equipment and other means
Info: Stats under
Attack Power: 2
Magic Power: 6
Defense: 4
Evade: 6
Hit: 6
Critical: 0
Recast Time: 6
Speed Casting: 6
Not bad, my attributes are not really that great but I can start with this. Maybe If I level up I can choose my build up. Thought not knowing my Race can affect it. I must look for information about my Race in the city.
According to one forum I visited, the 20 bonus Attribute Points in the start of the game is automatically distributed. However, it still dependents on the Race that was chosen.
As I checked my attributes, the descriptions of the attributes hovered before my eyes.
Strength (STR): increases attack power
Agility (AGI): Agility, affects the evasion, characters with higher AGI can dodge attacks more often. Increases skill execution and speeds casting
Dexterity (DEX): Dexterity, affects the HIT (accuracy or hit rate). Measures how often you can successfully hit an enemy
Constitution (CON): affects the defense. Less damage is taken when CON is high.
Stamina (STM): Attacking, moving, casting spells will all waste energy, ability to increase and replenish energy reserve. Increase Life and Mana recovery.
Soul (SOL): increases Life and Mana (1soul point = 10 life/Mana points) and increase special skills and Soul type equipment’s effects
Intellect (INT): increases the character’s ability to learn magic skills and strengthen magic base skills, increases recast time
Luck (LUC): Improves evasion and chances to score a critical hit in physical and magic attacks also increases chances to block and parry
As I look down I noticed that there was a section below called
Attack Power: combined value of a character's Strength and the equipped weapon's power.
Magic Power: the Intellect value of character plus any magic bonus associated to equipped armor or weapon.
Defense Power: the combined value of a character's Constitution and every single piece of equipped armor's defense power
Accuracy/Hit Rate: the character's Dexterity value plus additional attributes gain from equipment.
Evade: the Agility value plus any Agility bonus from item.
Critical: The chance of a critical blow
Recast Time: Lessens the time in casting the same Spell
Speed Casting: Lessens the time used in casting spells
Unlike Attributes, the stats under Natural Stats are Stats that can not be increased by using AP points. There were so much to learn about this but it is better to learn it along the way. For now I’ll leave this as is.
Now I have to check my Resistance, seems like there are two kinds of Resistance. First is the Status Resistance from attacks that changes character status like Poison and Confuse Status, the second is Magic Resistance from magic attacks like Fire and Water attacks.
Skills, I can see that there are General Skills, Special Skills and Learned Skills. Under General Skills are Passive and Active skills.
In my Passive Skills I have 2 skills; first one is
For my Special and Learned Skills, I also have no skills yet. I have no clue about these two skills and how to get those, another addition to my ‘must know’ list.
Moving onward, I checked my equipment. Looking at the equipment slots, it seems possible to equip 11 items. Each slot is assigned to certain items. The slots were
Tilting my head at the side I smiled. Wow, one character can certainly equip a lot of items.Hmm... however I am currently only equipped with
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Really, why can’t they just give us at least decent equipment?
I continued to check my character info and saw that under Status I can see the Title, Fame, Kingdom Affiliation and Guild Information. As for now, I have no Title, Kingdom Affiliation and Guild Information. I also have zero fame.
There is no information under Profession as well.
After checking all the information from my
“This is enough for now.” I whispered as I stood from sitting at the steps of the ruins.
Stretching I looked at the road in front of me and only then I noticed the game interface. At the left side of my view point I can see the semi-transparent Health and Mana bar which is colored red and blue respectively. Above bar was where my level is indicated. On the other hand, at the far right side I can see a compass like figure. The figure was circular and the outer side of the circle was the compass needle with the sign of N,E,W and S. Inside the circle where the compass was moving about was a clock. Looking at the time in-game, it is already 8:30 in the morning. Aside from that there were no other icons to be found.
“huff!!!” After letting out a breath I decided to start my journey towards the city. “Here I come!”
* ~ * ~ *
2 hours, I have been walking towards the city for two hours but I can’t see any city yet! I am starting to feel tired as well when an alert window popped up:
Your Satiety levels dropped by 10%
Info: Every activity done by character uses energy if energy lowers in certain degree, the characters’ attributes decrease as penalty. The ability to do any activity also lessens.
Warning: As Energy drops, Satiety levels decreases. Character will start to feel hungry, thirsty, and sleepy or starts to need rest in order to regain the energy lost from activity. Satiety level is your gauge for energy.
Haaa… What a complicated game. I still need to eat and rest. It seems like this system is similar with the real world. Humans need energy to do everything they do. Without it one cannot concentrate or even do anything. We compensate the lost of energy we use by eating, sleeping or resting.
The reason I got tired easily is because my Energy is still low but I believe it will increase when I get stronger. Since that is the case I decided to go off the road and rest under the nice shade of a tree.
As I sat I saw a branch which can be used as a stick besides me. I decided to pick it up when a window suddenly popped up.
You picked up < branch >
Would you like to add it to your inventory?
Hmmm… it seems like I can pick up any item and put it in my inventory.
As the item disappeared from my hands I tried it again by picking a rock near me. The same window popped again.
You picked up < stone >
Would you like to add it to your inventory?
“Call Menu”, I checked the items I added in my inventory. I can see the icon of the branch and the stone in it. I selected the branch and a small window popped up besides the icon.
< Branch > (Unsellable, Untradeable)
Description: an old tree branch, can be equipped
Type: Ordinary
Class: Common
Rank: None
Durability: 3/3
Effect: + 1 attack
Requirements: None
I selected the other item and the same pop up appeared.
< Stone > (Unsellable, Untradeable)
Description: a common stone seen at the side of the road. Can be equipped,
deals damage when thrown to an enemy.
Type: Ordinary
Class: Common
Rank: None
Durability: None. Used once.
Effect: +1 point to base attack
Requirements: None
I can definitely use this for attack. Smiling I started to collect stones of all sizes. I noticed that even if they have different sizes or color when I add it to my inventory it is still recognized as a stone so it is bulked together. A bulked item can only have 20 of the same item after that it will take up a new box as a new set of bulk. So for 40 stones I used up 2 box spaces from my inventory. The same goes with the branch.
While gathering branches and stones a pop-up window appeared.
Congratulations! You've learned a skill :
Gathering
Gathering
Description: A Learned Skill, Enables character to gather resources easier. + 5% increase in speed when gathering and 5% lesser energy used when gathering.
Hahaha… A new skill! What a lucky day. Who would have thought that gathering branches and stones will reap a reward like this? I got my first learned skill!
I continued to gather with ease because of the skill. Before I realized it I have already moved away from the road, see what excitement can do I totally forgot where I am. I know that I already have items I can use as a weapon but I am not sure of how strong the enemies here outside of the road.
After much consideration I decided to go back to the road and go to the city first. Better be prepared than sorry. I don’t want to die on the first day!
I am already near the road when a monster appeared. It was white in color and oblong in shape. It is as wide as my whole fore arm. It was like bun in appearance. Above its head was its life and mana bar, the name was , and so was the level, it only shows
I am really not sure if I should attack it or leave it. But somehow my excitement and curiosity won over my rational thought.
"
You have attacked
Target: damaged by 5 points
Ok, I damaged the monster by only 5 points. Really! Imagine that, 5 points!
As another stone appeared in my hands, I threw another stone but the monster was able to evade and bounced towards me. I tried to evade but the small one was fast.
You were attacked by
Damage: 6 points
Oh owh… That hurt. It was like someone threw with force a soft pillow at me. I can endure a pain like this. No problem.
As I attacked once again, I noticed that the Health bar of the monster. 5 point damage did not really remove a lot of life from the monster however it is really helpful to know that I did some damage. Thought the monsters’ damage was higher by 1 point.
I continued to fight the
Minuets of throwing the first and second bulk of stones a pop-up window appeared again.
Congratulations! You've learned a skill: Throw
Throw
Description: A Learned Skill, Enables character to throw anything with an additional + 5% increase accuracy.
Wow! Another skill! Thought this is something to celebrate, I was too busy attacking the monster. This time since I already finished using all the stones I picked up, I equipped the stick and started to swing it to attack the monster.
You have attacked
Target: - 7 points
Good, higher than the damage from the stone. I swing my stick, on the third strike, the stick broke into pieces and a pop-up window appeared.
Due to durability hitting 0, the item is destroyed.
I can hit the monster 3 times before the stick disappears and another stick automatically appears in my hand. Seems like if you equip an item as a weapon and this item is in bulk, when the item disappears the next will automatically appear however if the bulk is already used up you have to use Call System to equip the new bulk.
Four more sticks and the monster was finally defeated.
Victory!
You have defeated
50 exp. received
Ha! Finally won! Looking at my health, 40/100 was all that was left. Wow, I nearly died. The
I was still looking at my health when I noticed a green gauge below my mana. It seems like this green color was the experience I received. Defeating one
I also noticed that my health started to regenerate little by little while I was resting after my battle. Realizing this I decided to check how long it will take for my health to fully recover. I found out that every 30 seconds I gain 5 points back in my health till it fully recovers.
With this observation, I decided to look for the same monster to level up. I planned to also rest after defeating each monster since I do not have any items to heal myself.
I was about to roam and look for another monster when I saw a brown pouch like thing lying where the monster died. Taking the item and opening it I saw a marble like shape made with copper. It has intricate carvings which made in really beautiful. As I touched the marbles made of copper a window pop-up.
You received 50 copper nuts!
What is a copper nut? Hmm? Well, whatever… I’ll learn it when I arrive at the city.
I continued roaming further from the road when I encountered the same monster but there was a difference now. Instead of seeing the name and level with question mark, I can now see the name of the monster and the level.
20 minuets later I finally reached Lv. 2 and an alert window appeared before me.
Congratulations! You have Level Up!
Received 5 AP points
Received 10 SP points
Info: Every level-up, you will receive Attribute Points and Skill Points.
Congratulations! You've learned a skill: Smash
Smash
Description: A Learned Skill, Add 5pts to each attack when using any kind of weapon.
Ha! Finally I am level two and I also got a new skill. It seems like I can deal a higher damage even if I am using a stick as a weapon. It will be really helpful since I am not sure yet what Profession I will choose. I read from one of the forum I visited that Profession can be chosen at level 5.
After level up I also got 5 AP points and 10 SP points but I prefer not to use it until I reach level 5 and decide on my Profession so that I can use my AP and SP properly to build my character. I read that it is best if the race and profession coincide to build a stronger character.
So I also got some new information while fighting.
First, while fighting the monster I can move freely. Any actions I can think of to avoid the enemy are possible. It is like fighting in the real world. I was also faster and stronger than I am in the real world was because of my attributes.
The downside of fighting like in the real world was that I am not yet familiar with my default body. Thought I can not see what I look like for now I am sure that my current body is taller, much taller than my height of 5’11. My body was also heavier not because of fats but because of solid muscles. If I picture it in my mind the body was like that of a well toned swimmer.
Even if I can’t believe that I am using a body of a male, I believe this body was well suited for fighting. It was hard maneuvering it but I got used to moving it enough to fight decently thought not fluidly. I still need time to fully become accustomed to this body. Well I hope it be sooner than later.
Second, fighting monster takes up large reserve of my energy. As I fought I can start to feel the effects of losing energy. I start to slow down that made it harder to evade the attacks. Even after fighting as I sat to rest the hunger was still there. My health recovery also slowed down.
I can conclude that food and water was needed even in fighting, resting and sleeping won’t recover much of the energy used. Thought I do not know if the healing potions that I read from the net will also recover energy, another addition to my ‘must know’ list.
Third, it appears like monster information will only be available after defeating the monster. Succeeding monster will show the name and level information as well as the life and mana points in numerical value will appear besides the life and mana bar.
All in all during the battle, aside from the information I gathered I got two learned skills which are Gathering and Throw. I also got a total of 1 silver nut and 50 copper nuts. I think the nuts thing was the currency of this world.
Taking mental note of the information I learned, after reaching Lv. 2 I decided to go to town instead of leveling up further since from my experience I am unequipped with the necessary information and items needed to continue fighting. Deciding this, I started to go towards the city.
30 minutes later I finally arrived in the City of Thanatos.
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