The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?
“Yes”
-- Select the name of your avatar –
“Rion.” The word came up in Jae Hwa’s mind all of a sudden and she blurted it out.
-- Select your gender from male, female or neutral –
“Female”
-- Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine –
“Human”
-- You may alter your appearance –
“I’ll stay the way I am”
-- Your account has-
“Pass.” Rion was already accustomed to tutorials after playing many Virtual Reality games.
-- Select a city and kingdom you want to start –
“The Citadel of Serabourg, Rosenheim Kingdom”
-- Welcome to Royal Road! –
With a flash of light, Rion appeared in the Citadel of Serabourg, Rosenheim.
Even though Rion played countless Virtual Reality games, she was still stunned when she joined the game. This was nothing like the rest. Whenever she played another game, it had a very tiny, limited world, and she usually joined the game when the game was in beta. Royal Road already had millions of users, something she was not accustomed to.
Rion’s friends popped up right next to her, Eun Sun as Minix and Soo Min as Plase. They began chatting and planning on their future in the game. Her friends heard that you could make money by playing the game.
“Where am I? Unbelievable!” Rion heard someone say. She turned around and saw a boy, perhaps around her age, looking around in awe.
“Look at him. I’m sure he’s a newbie.” Minix laughed, pointing at the boy.
“It looks like he’s never played a virtual reality game before.” Scoffed Plase.
Rion told her friends to quiet down, remembering the first time she experienced Virtual Reality. Everyone has to start somewhere Rion thought.
After questioning a few players, Rion learned that newbies were forbidden from leaving the city for a week, or four weeks in the game. The best way to progress through those weeks were to do small quests and learn craft skills. Rion, Minix, and Plase parted ways to find their own skills. Rion was determined to become a wielder of swords, regardless of class. She always did. The best way to start would be to learn to increase her repair skill and went to find a place to improve her repair skill. She checked her inventory to find ten rye bread and a canteen to hold water.
Rion walked around Rosenheim Kingdom and located 23 blacksmitheries. Most of them denied her, stating that they were not lending weapons to repair. Others said they would think about it. They probably wanted her to know the blacksmithing skill before they would lend a hand.
The last blacksmith looked like a rundown shack, but Rion didn't care. Repairing weapons would help her in the long run. Increasing the repair tool as fast as possible was important, not only to learn the blacksmithing skill, which requires an intermediate repair skill, but also so her swords would last longer. She remembered playing the Continent of Magic and dying to an important boss during a raid because her sword broke. Since then, she never forgot to level up her repair skill and fix her weapons when dull.
Rion entered the shack and noticed how empty the place was. The only thing in the room was a fireplace, an anvil, and an NPC hammering away, forging a sword. The sword gleamed black and looked extremely sharp.
"I'm not selling any weapons"
"I want to improve my repair skill."
"Why don't you just repair weapons then?"
"I just started today but I want to improve my repairing quickly, and you seem like a really good mentor." Rion learned the skill of flattery from attending many parties.
"You have good eyes. However, I do not take anyone with less than 25 strength. That is my policy."
"Stats window!"
Character NameRionAlignmentNoneLevel1ProfessionNoneTitleNoneReputation0Health100Mana100Strength10Agility10Stamina10Wisdom10Intellect10Luck0Leadership0Attack0Defense0Magic ResistanceNone
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
To gain five stat points, one would have to level up. For Rion to have 25 strength, she would have to level up three times. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to level due to the four week restriction from leaving the city. She wanted to learn blacksmithing as soon as possible.
"But I can't leave the city."
"So?"
"I can't gain strength without leveling"
"Just go to the Training Hall."
"What do you mean?"
"You can gain strength by hitting the scarecrows."
Rion had heard about something like this. One could train their strength without leveling up by doing basic training. However, not many players do it, as it is extremely tedious. It would be better as a newbie to do as many quests as possible to gain favor points and some money to start. Rion did not care about any of that.
"Thank you Mr. Blacksmith."
"No problem."
Rion hurried to the training hall. As she got near, she noticed that there was a crowd. Pushing through the crowd, she noticed that the crowd was watching the boy who her friends made fun of earlier. Judging by the sweat, the boy must have been here for hours, and likely doing the same thing she was just about to begin.
Rion walked to the furthest scarecrow. As soon as she approached the scarecrow, the instructor appeared.
"Would you like to practice sword training as well?"
"If it allows me to hit the scarecrow, yes."
"Very well. Take the wooden sword in front of the scarecrow, it is all yours."
After a while of hitting the scarecrow, Rion heard good news.
Strength increased by 1 point. (+1 STR)
Great, only fourteen more to go. Rion thought.
"The new players must all be crazy."
"A girl this time, no less."
Rion ignored the comments, she did not care. The only thing going through her mind was how nice it was to train with a sword.
Seven hours later three messages came up.
Strength increased by 1 point. (+1 STR)
Agility increased by 1 point. (+1 AGI)
Stamina increased by 1 point. (+1 STA)
Rion was exhausted. Famished and parched, she filled up her canteen and a fountain and ate a piece of bread.
"Yuck" blurted Rion. The rye bread tasted horrible.
In Royal Road, everything is extremely realistic. Pain will be painful, and bad food will taste bad. Compared to what Rion usually ate, rye bread was like eating garbage. If she learned how to cook, then perhaps the food would taste better.
But who cares how food tastes.
Rion swallowed the rest of the rye bread and drank from the canteen. When she finished, the continued on hitting the scarecrow. She had never done this much work before in a game, but reasoned it would be worth it in the end, and that it was very good stress relief.
A week later of playing Royal Road, Rion figured out she would run out of bread soon. She only had six pieces left after a week, so she needed at least ten more pieces for it to last until she could leave the city.
Letting go of the wooden sword, Rion went to the General Store to scout the price for bread. After learning that each piece was three coppers, she went out to look for some quests to earn a bit of money.
"Could you help me sent this letter to my friend?"
"I need assistance in moving these crates."
"Could you help me manage my shop? I can teach you the Cooking Skill if you do."
After doing about fourteen quests, Rion earned 34 coppers and the Cooking Skill. The NPCs also became slightly friendlier with her. She used 30 of the coppers she earned to buy ten rye bread.
I don't need this Cooking Skill.
Rion hurried back to the scarecrows.