G glanced at the class on his character sheet: "Artificer, Wild Magic."
What did that entail? He focused on the entry for a moment, and a class description appeared.
Wild Magic Artificer
While some enchanters require rigorous training and lengthy study sessions to create enchantments, the Wild Magic Artificer revels in harnessing the untamed mana that surrounds them. These Artificers excel in crafting totems, shaman staves, and bone necklaces.
Traditional enchanters may scoff at their wild counterparts' unorthodox methods, but the Wild Magic Artificer understands that true power lies in connecting with the world around them, allowing them to create enchantments that harmonize with their magical source. This path may be longer and more arduous than that of a formally trained enchanter, but a Wild Magic Artificer's perseverance can lead to results equal to, or even surpassing, those of any enchanter found in any world—be they wizards, smiths, or masons.
Wild Magic Artificers are often found in untamed lands, where they can attune themselves to the magic without the distractions of civilization. They possess the unique ability to deconstruct enchanted items into their basic components, then rearrange or reassemble them into new magical items and enchantments. As the Artificer grows in strength, so too do their creations.
Since this class combines two distinct fields of magic, it is considered multi-class. The experience required to level up is doubled.
The prospect of needing twice the effort to level up didn't bode well. Gaining experience was crucial in most games, and the system had just informed him that progress would be more difficult. However, the idea of potentially surpassing other enchanters appealed to him. Beneath the class description, he noticed a skill chart and a spell chart. What caught his attention was the known spells list. There were two separate lists—one for druids and one for wizards—each empty with a blinking line at the top. He must have missed this prompt during his hasty exit from the Virtual Reality capsule. At least he could choose his spells now.
G mentally opened the first blinking field, revealing a selection of level 1 spells. They were all grayed out, but when he thought about the spells, a popup appeared.
Notice:
Spell choices are unavailable until all stat points are assigned.
Stat points? Where were those? G returned to the character screen but saw nothing other than his current stats. He closed the screen and noticed blinking icons along the right side of his vision.
"Tocai, can you see this?" asked G. He had designed the AI to help him game and stream. Tocai stood for Total Online Combat AI. Initially intended to assist him in fights during games, Tocai had evolved into an online game management tool. It would be online all night, buying and selling items in the games he played, allowing G to focus on engaging activities like battling foes during his streams. Few viewers wanted to watch a streamer micromanage markets in a game. The AI had started as a college project, and G had improved it during an internship at an investment company in New York City that used AI to navigate the stock markets.
"Yes, I can see all your prompts and pop-ups. Would you like me to optimize them for you?" asked Tocai.
Whaaaaat? "Yeah, of course, do it." Suddenly, G's vision filled with pop-up screens opening and closing so quickly he couldn't read the text or comprehend their content. He waited. A few moments later, the screens stopped, and a page appeared.
Welcome to Planarverse Online Beta!
Please follow the instructions and brief tutorial on your character creation. If you have any questions about a subject, focus on the item you want more information on, and a tooltip will appear with all relevant details.
Enjoy!
The next screen displayed his character name, which he had already entered, followed by race selection with dozens of races—all grayed out except for Aardsylvian, which was at the top of the list. His class had also been chosen. Then, his stats page appeared.
Stat points, 21 of 21 remaining.
He noticed that his racial bonuses had already been applied. He thought about his mana and saw that wisdom and intelligence granted an additional 10 mana per point. He allocated several points to endurance and observed only two hit points per endurance point gain. He wondered if this was an accumulative bonus per level. His hit points had seemed quite low, in his opinion.
He finished it by dropping one point in charisma to get it back to 10 and then put two points in strength and agility. He had thought about dropping all the points in wisdom and intelligence, but that would have made him more of a glass cannon, and with 8 hitpoints, that was not a good idea. Also those other stats would also be handy if he needed to lift or run. He looked one last time at the stats before pushing accept.
Name
G
Class Level
1
Gender
Male
Race
Aardsylvian
Class
Wild Magic Artificer
Strength
12
Agility
12
Wisdom
16
Intelligence
18
Endurance
16
Charisma
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10
Mana Pool
240
Max Hit Points
11
G accepted the distribution of points, and the next pop-up displayed his available spells, beginning with cantrips, each costing 20 mana. The druid spell list was extensive and diverse, ranging from creating food to accelerating tree growth. He focused on three aspects: offense, defense, and healing, all rooted in nature-based spells.
Cantrips:
Druidcraft, Magic Weapon, and Whip of Thorns.
The first one enhanced his druid skills for a few minutes. The second one worked only on existing weapons, imbuing them with a magical subclass. In most games, this would enable him to strike creatures like werewolves or those with magical skin. Otherwise, his attacks would be ineffective. Useful, but G didn't possess more than a knife, and with his low hit points, the last thing he wanted was to confront a monster like another giant spider. The final cantrip appeared quite promising. It summoned a thorny vine whip, which was a magical weapon.
The Whip of Thorns dealt 2-6 damage and would grow more powerful as G leveled up. Its range was two meters, which increased with the spell's rank and class level, up to a maximum of twenty meters. This seemed quite impressive for a 20 mana cost spell. The mana requirements might increase as its skill level rose, but it was worth it at the moment. The spell lasted one minute, and since G could recast it in one second, it seemed like the perfect choice for him. He glanced at the list again, noting that it didn't contain many spells. Surely, druids had access to more spells than this. He would need to find someone to teach him or discover a tome, like in other games he had played. G chose Whip of Thorns and proceeded to his level one druid spells.
Spells level one:
Healing Petals, Nature's Roots, and Grow Plant.
The first spell summoned a single flower with twenty petals. Consuming each petal restored one hit point, and the flower lasted for twenty-four hours. The second spell summoned roots and weeds to trip and slow anyone walking through them. With an area of effect of two meters, it didn't seem very powerful at level one. The spell received some bonuses at higher skill levels, but at level one, it wasn't what he needed, as it had a 50% save chance, making it too risky to rely on. Grow Plant allowed him to accelerate a plant's growth by six months in just a few minutes, provided it had water and sunlight. This didn't seem very useful at the moment. Considering his low hit points and Crewton's fight, he selected Healing Petals.
Healing Petals, Mana Type: Life
Summons a flower with twenty petals once every hour. Consuming the petals will heal the eater of the flower. The flower will fade away after twenty-four hours.
Range: 0
Healing: 1 hit point per petal
Mana cost: 60 mana
Duration: 24 hours
The second spell screen appeared this time for wizard spells.
Cantrips:
Ice Ball, Wizard's Helping Hand, and Acid Blob.
G read through the options twice. The first one allowed him to create a snowball, the second one summoned a magical hand that could remotely manipulate or pick up lightweight items, and the last one summoned a small blob of acid that would break if he hit someone with it or threw it. G found all of these appealing. Ice balls could be used for water, and some creatures took significant damage from ice or acid. Both scaled with the whip, but the issue was that he had to throw them physically, which didn't seem practical in a fight. He decided on the Wizard's Helping Hand, as it had a range of 10 meters, and both the range and effect leveled with skill in the spell and his class level. It appeared to be one of those versatile spells that he couldn't pass up. Once again, he wished the list was larger. He needed to find a magic bookstore or someone who could teach him more spells.
He accepted this choice, and a wizard's level one spell list appeared.
Spells level one:
Elemental Absorption, Mana Bolt, and Hog Tie.
The first spell cast a shield that would absorb up to twenty points of elemental damage of your choice, such as fire, ice, lightning, or mana. It seemed nice, but it only worked against other casters or creatures that cast spells. He didn't plan on walking through fire anytime soon and didn't know if it would work with regular fire.
The second spell, Mana Bolt, looked better. It was a magic spell with raw damage listed as its damage type, which must be the mana type listed in the first spell, Elemental Absorption. It didn't have a throwing requirement and shot directly from the caster once cast. It definitely looked appealing, with a range of 10 meters plus a bonus for skill and class level.
The last spell, Hog Tie, was also quite nice. It summoned a magic rope that tangled the target's legs for 10 seconds, slowing them and possibly making them fall. G took a deep breath and selected Mana Bolt. The ranged magic direct damage was too good to pass up. He didn't know if he would get a chance to select any of these spells again, but if he did, he wanted Hog Tie as well.
Mana Bolt, Mana type: Law
Range: 10 meters plus skill bonus
Damage: 4-28 Type: Raw Mana
Mana cost: 60 mana
He accepted his choice, and a congratulatory box appeared, big, blue, and sparkling around the edges. No more screens popped up. G noticed a couple more flashing icons on the side of his screen and asked Tocai, "Is that it?"
Tocai quietly responded, "Yes, you already selected everything else when you hit accept all those times. Skills are already done. I don't think your choices were the worst there since the system gave a list of ones it thought you should pick first based on race, class, and past personal experiences. The list is huge. It has almost a thousand skills on it. Do you want to see the list of what you chose?"
G frowned, "Just the ones I chose, please." Almost a thousand skills?
Skills:
Identify a magic item - +5
Shelter creation - +5
Crossbows - +5
Jousting - +5
Gambling - +5
Table Dancing - +5
G examined the list and almost choked, "What, that can't be right? Table dancing?"
Tocai responded in a serious tone, "You should have read the descriptions."
"No kidding, I've already heard that." At least there were a couple of useful skills in there if he ever found a crossbow.
"Sorry, Tocai, I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that this is all so overwhelming." G felt bad about the outburst. The last thing he needed was for his AI-turned-magical creature to be upset with him.
G looked at the Junk Collecting skill to get a description, then he froze. Crewton had started a low growl. G paused, looking around. He didn't see anything, but then he heard something. Oh no. He pushed Crewton off his lap and stood up. He heard skittering and a soft tapping in the hallway. He had a good view of the opening, and Crewton had taken a low, ready-to-pounce stance. G searched for a weapon as the spider entered the doorway, skittering towards him, its front two legs raised high in the air, coming right at him.
He glanced at the dagger and then at the basketball-sized spider. Yeah, that didn't seem safe. He observed it. G felt a tingle when he looked, and a box appeared.
Would you like to use your Familiar's Analyze Monster skill?
G spoke quickly and quietly while watching Crewton bark at the spider and back up further, "Tocai, can you analyze monsters?"
"Yes, would you like me to analyze?" asked Tocai.
"Yes, analyze, always analyze!" said G, slightly exasperated.
Magically enhanced Black Widow spider.
Level 2
Hit points 12.
Mana 0.
This creature is a magically enhanced black widow spider. These creatures can be found in dark places, they are predominately web-spinning spiders. There have been stories of them attacking sleeping creatures if they are near the spider's nest.
Although these creatures should not be disturbed in their webs, on the ground, they tend to move slowly and have poor eyesight.
Special attack: Poison 1-4 damage per round for twenty rounds. This poison damage is accumulative, and damage from multiple bites will each have its own timer.
G didn't like the information about the poison. He scanned for anything to use as a weapon and gritted his teeth, thinking about his spells. Specifically, Mana Bolt. He paused for a second, glancing at his mana bar, which read 48 out of 260 mana. Mana Bolt required 60 mana, so he turned to his cantrip list and saw Whip of Thorns. The spell dealt 2-6 damage and cost 20 mana.
He focused on the spell, and as his fingers moved and he whispered a strange word, a thick, green vine materialized in his right hand. The whip was two meters long and adorned with nasty three-centimeter-long thorns spaced unevenly along its stem. G watched as the spider chased Crewton to the left. He stepped forward, swung his hand, and the vine of thorns snapped like a whip, striking the spider's side. One of its legs broke free, and a long gash appeared where the thorns had ripped through its soft abdomen. The spider turned and hissed, trying to back away from G. A health bar appeared above it, immediately dropping to half red. G barely had to exert any effort; he merely thought and moved his wrist. He swung again, but this time missed, as the spider continued to skitter backward, stopping to hiss near the door and raising its front two legs as a warning.
G mentally commanded the whip to lash out again, extending his hand. The whip struck upward, then downward through the doorway, landing another hit, this time near the spider's many eyes. The creature's health bar fell to a quarter as it disappeared around the edge of the doorway.
G cursed a few times, looking down at Crewton, who had stopped barking at the door when he lost sight of the spider. "Crewton, let's get this thing. We don't want it attacking us in our sleep." G started towards the door but realized he hadn't put on the boots. He turned back, picked them up, and hopped around as he put them on just as the timer on his whip spell expired. He checked his mana, recast the spell, and approached the doorway, listening carefully. He couldn't hear the spider. It struck him how much better his hearing was compared to when he was on Earth. He doubted he could have heard the spider if he were still human. Being an elf had its perks, and seeing in the darkness was another advantage.
G sighed and moved out through the doorway, looking for a spider with seven legs and a red health bar.