Chapter 1: A new beginning
Derek, a normal person wearing glasses, in his early 20s, was working in his cabinet. It was a bleak and confined place. There were no windows since he was near the center of the room. It was, 5:30pm and almost time to leave
“Derek,” one of the managers came over and said, “there is some work left for this project, but the person responsible for it left early for an urgent meeting. Since, you are one of our better employees, would you minding finishing this up before you leave; there is only a bit left.
Derek wanted to decline since after saving for several month he finally managed to buy a Royal Road equipment set and after spending most of the evening setting up yesterday it was ready for the weekend.
*Pflop*
A stack of papers about 30 cm high was dropped off at the side of the table.
“Thanks for your help. We’ll make sure you are rewarded for your hard work” and promptly left
Derek didn’t have a choice; he never had one since he was one of new employees at the company everyone else has already been there for at least 3 years. As a full time employee, there was no overtime pay, yet if any of the work was leftover he was the first to receive the blame.
That was the political structure at his company.
It was 9:00pm when he finished all the work. It was 9:30 when he finally got home. Immediately, he put on the virtual reality equipment and logged in for the first time.
***
The moment it was switched on he was pulled down into a white room, and the character creation screen. He wanted to get started right away so he skipped the tutorial, and quickly selected the options.
In the end, he chose the human race; He looked exactly as how he would in real life, but with a bit more muscle tone.
“Select a location from where you want to start”
- Morata
- Citadel of Serabourg
- Kallamore Kingdom
…
He remembered from the TV shows that Morata was a great place to start off for new players since its creation and was even better after the war with the Northern Alliance. Without a doubt, this was the place he wanted to start off in, especially since Lord of Morata, Weed, was the top player from the game Continent of Magic. Victory against impossible odd from the northern alliance, and the benevolent war resolutions only further displayed the overwhelming power and good will of the ruler.
“Morata” Derek said
“As a new player what will be your name?”
“Derek Skylorn”
“You will be a human starting out in the city of Morata do you want to change anything?”
“No”
“Thank you and have a great time”
The moment the character was confirmed, Derek appear in the center of the city.
The center city was busy with activity. Checking his inventory he had a canteen and 10 pieces of rye bread. The amount was good enough for him to last one week in Royal road.
Based on some beginner guides he found online, everyone starts off by doing quests from NPCs around the town. He wanted to start questing right away but he had a strong desire to visit the Mage tower first.
The mage class was one of the most powerful classes in the game, with enough power to wipe out whole armies. It is a difficult class to start with but it has the most potential later on.
Derek quickly ran to the Mage Tower, just opening the door the first floor was filled with numerous bookshelves containing scrolls, books and tomes. The room was adequately filled with people dressed in robe and garments related to the mage profession.
He tried to walk through the door but collided heavily with an invisible wall
*Tring
By walking into a wall you are dealt 10 damage
What wall?
He felt the air in front of him and found something solid. He pushed against but it didn’t budge. there was no one else nearby
This isn’t possible. Everyone should have access to this building. Was there a quest that you need do to get in. No, this is one of the beginner classes.
He pushed against the invisible wall with more force but it didn’t budge. He punched the wall and a message appeared
You took 5 damage
Laughter can be heard from somewhere inside. Someone was intentionally denying his entrance to the tower and he was powerless to do it anything about it. This moment was reminiscent of all the time he just watched as another person was getting beaten up. No matter how much he wanted to help he never had the courage to do anything.
I won’t suffer the same thing again.
Derek took several steps backed and rushed at it. He collided heavily with the wall to no avail and was tossed back
You took 30 damage. You have 55 hp left.
A group of people inside was still laughing. In his rage he moved back and rushed again and was repelled
You took 30 damage. You have 25 hp left.
He felt weaker but rushed again
You took 10 damage. Your health is at 10
The laughing from the inside stop and there were murmurs of hesitation inside. Derek rushed again.
“Drop it” someone inside said with urgency, “You don’t want to get a murder mark do you?”
When Derek was about to hit the wall again, but the field disappeared and he stumbled through. He sat on the ground feeling weak and tried to look for the culprits responsible for the wall but everyone was facing the other way. A joke gone wrong.
Moments later the instructor, who wore light blue robes, appeared at the desk, finally noticing what transpired. She quickly walked toward the fallen figure.
Derek was barely breathing. She walked toward him and quickly restored his health. She looked around for the culprits but they were long gone.
“Are you okay?” She asked
After regaining some control over his breathing he said ‘Yes’
“It was very reckless for you to try and break that wall at your level what were you thinking?”
“Not much, just reliving a similar moment in the past and neglecting the truth before me. I’m sorry if I caused any trouble.”
She was taken back by the humble response. “No, it is my fault for not paying attention. By the way, my name is Tera.”
“Derek, thank you for saving me”
*Ting
Your familiarity with Instructor Tera has went up by 10
Tera helped Derek to his feet and they proceeded to her desk
“You must have been very desperate to get into the tower. Especially since this is the first place that you visited. Do you want to become a mage?”
*Ting
You have been given the option to change your class to a Mage
As a mage you’ll be able to learn spells from scrolls, tomes, and books scattered through the world as long as you have the required intelligence and wisdom.
You gain +5 to Wisdom and Intelligence. These stats will increase more than your other stats as you level.
You will gain the stat Willpower, this will determine the spells you can cast, the damage you can do, and reduces the magic damage you take.
You will learn the spells: Firebolt, and Icebolt
It was the class Derek is going for but something was missing. Taking this class means he will be almost useless without mana. Also from online sources the investment to purchase spellbooks and so forth becomes higher and higher as he levels which forces him to specialize in one type of magic. Derek wanted to master every magic while saving as much money as possible.
“No thanks, I am looking for something more” Derek said
You have declined the class change option
“Hmm, what kind of class are you looking for?” She said, “I was sure with your enthusiasm, you would choose this class.”
“My ideal class is along those lines, but don’t you feel that reusing the spells that others have made before you is sort of boring? Even though higher spells do more damage and easier to use, would it not be much more interesting if you can do the same thing but with something completely original? I feel that magic should be able to do a lot more than doing damage. I want to do everything possible with magic.”
“I like your passion. I know something that can help you along the path. However, it will not be easy. Even if you obtain that role, it will be a while before you can even use the most basic spells offered to you as a mage. Do you still want to walk along this path?”
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
*Tring
The Great wizards of the Nifelheim Empire
In the ancient days of the Nifelheim Empire, there were great wizards who had everything within their power, they could control every physical thing before their eyes at will. However, how they did it was never revealed. When the Empire fell, all their works were scattered throughout the continent in the form of books and scrolls and even monsters. To this day their works have never been recovered. Magic was soon replaced by written and spoken phrases. The origin of those phrases were lost.
Difficulty level E
Quest requirements: Find out about the Great Wizards of the Nifelheim Empire
Quest Rewards: Unknown
“Yes, I will walk down that path no matter what”
You have accepted the quest
To Derek, the quest was very ambiguous. The Nifelheim Empire is new since the North only accessible recently. Even Morata was no older than a year. As all investigation start off, Derek started asking NPCs about the Great Wizards of the Nifelheim. As expected many of the younger NPCs knew nothing about.
He then turned to the books at the Mage Tower. There were millions of book in the library, over half of them were incomprehensible and was no use to him. The ones he can read mentioned nothing about the Great Wizards.
One day, past midnight in Royal Road, while sitting near the fairy pond and thinking about other sources of information within the city, he caught a glimpse of light moving toward the pond. It danced around the pond for a bit and proceeded to where he was sitting.
It looped around his head for a moment. There was no sound so Derek didn’t know what to next. The ball of light started moving towards a direction, it looked back and paused as if it was trying to tell Derek to follow. Still uncertain, but without a clear lead at the moment, Derek followed the ball of light.
It lead him through a series of building and finally vanished at the astronomy building.
So this must be where I could find the information about the Great Wizards.
The building was newly constructed but it first appeared in during the Ahreupen Empire, which Derek assumed the Great Wizard lived in before.
He went inside but found nothing out of the ordinary. He looked around and felt more any hidden mechanism inside the building. It was a big building so it took him 2 days to search the whole thing. Yet, he didn’t find anything. Whenever he got tired of searching, during the evening, he would look at the sky through the telescope.
One day, during a full moon, he decided to see if he can use the telescope to make out the details on the moon. It was a beautiful sight but nothing else came about. Leaving the telescope pointed at the moon her continued searching. At the beginning of dawn, he heard a click nearby and at that instant something moved.
He quickly located the sound and found a crevice underneath the chair where he sat. He reached into it and felt a scroll. He picked it up and unrolled it right away.
With countless observations it clear that the stars are at least billions years. Compared to that we are no older than a few thousand, ten thousand if we stretch it beyond belief.
From our nearest star it gives us near unlimited energy to grow and learn. What are such thing made out of, what gives them such power? I believe they are made out of everything that we can see fire, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness they are the core of our world and from them anything can be made.
One day, I hope to make something as great as the sun. I’ll harness the origins and create the uncreatable.
- Apprentice Maphis
From the other sources, Maphis was a renowned water mage able to bend water completely to his will with the ability to cause massive whirlpools, and tsunamis. But these days, any water mage can perform those things as long as he or she has enough mana to cast it and gold to buy it.
To think that Maphis started off as an apprentice astronomer was unbelievable.
You completed “The Great Wizards of the Nifelheim Empire”
Right after the scroll disintegrated in his hand.
Derek was shocked for a moment as it dissipated but as long as the quest was complete it was fine.
He quickly ran to the mage tower to turn in the quest. Even before he arrived, instructor Tera was right beside the door waiting for him.
“I see you have finished the quest.” She said.
“How did you know?” Derek said
“When I felt a possession of my great great grandfather disappear, I knew someone found it”
“Your great great grandfather was the Mage Maphis?”
“Yes, but these day standing out too much isn’t a good idea, there still hundreds of descendants who want to take revenge on what he did. Come in to my room and we can discuss it in detail.”
Tera ted Derek into her study. Once there Derek asked.
“He was notorious?”
“No, everyone feared him for what he was capable even his own allies turned on him so they can be rid of his threat. Those that went against him all died and proceeded to fuel generation of people who wanted his head. So one day, he faked his death and disappeared from the continent. He was a very gentle person, he never wanted to kill anyone using his powers, but everyone was trying to kill him so he had no choice. Water manipulation is only a small fraction of what he was capable of. If he wanted he could tear the continent apart himself.”
Derek was astonished about what even one of the Great Wizards can do.
“The origin of his abilities were passed onto me by my mother. Even now after decades of practice, I’ve barely able to do much with it and settle for something more stable. But I want to you to carry on my dream of becoming a great wizard. Do you accept?”
*Tring
You have been given the option to become a Spellweaver. This secret class is the foundations of all the great wizards in history and often the origin of many spells in spellbooks today.
“I accept!”
*Tring
You’ve changed your class to Spellweaver
You learned the skill “Spellweaving”
You learned the skill “Essence of fire”
You learned the skill “Essence of water”
You learned the skill “Essence of earth”
You learned the skill “Essence of wind”
You learned the skill “Essence of light”
You learned the skill “Essence of darkness”
You learned the skill “Mimic”
You’ve are able to learn all crafts and skills related to the use of magic to the master level.
You’ve gained 10 wisdom and 10 intellect.
“Just a warning though, there are still many descendent and rivals in the world today who will do anything to get at what you have right now. If enough people find out about it your life could get pretty difficult, furthermore there will be people who will do anything to get you to work for them. Be careful. I have great hopes for you. Maybe one day you’ll be able to find my great great grandfather and tell me how he is doing. He will be able to complete your training”
He is still alive but he should be thousands of years old by now
*Tring
Find the Great Wizard Maphis
The Great Wizard Maphis, due to his astounding skill, and power is still alive today and finding him will allow you to complete your training, and become a Great Wizard yourself.
Difficulty level A
Quest requirements: Find the Great Wizard Maphis
Quest Rewards: Unknown
An A level quest with an opportunity to become even more powerful. Exactly what Derek was looking for.
“I will try my best, ” Derek said, “Maybe I can even get him to send you a letter.”
Tera smiled and said, “I look forward to it, you are free to come anytime if you need any help.”
Your familiarity with Tera increased by 100.
“Thanks, I hope to see you again, and share my progress”
Derek waved goodbye and proceeded to the training hall soon after.
The real hard work starts now, four weeks of hitting the scarecrow to raise my stats. I’ll need to make it eight since I will also be practicing spellweaving, half and half, this should be a great way to prepare before heading out.
Derek knows that it will be difficult but he is determined to do everything necessary so he will be powerful enough to do anything he want.