“We start questing. Weapon and armor skills are next right?”

Drexis looked at Luke and nodded, “Yeah basically. The first quests are all inside the city though. The system is designed so that we can’t leave the city without a tier one class equipped. Sara, you wanted to go healer right? You want to go do jobs around one of the temples or the city hospital. Paul, you want the library.”

“Does everyone know what to do? Yes? Good. Let’s add each other to our friends lists and be on our way.” Lucy said this and started running for the city market.

“I’m going to turn on the bots now, See ya.” Having said that Luke logged out. Once he was finished he would log back in and join Lucy in the market.

“I’m off too, don’t forget to practice your skills when you can.”

The plan for Drexis was to be the generalist. Unlike Megan or James, William only had to work part time to pay his bills while Gabby and Tom had to spend time In school. The younger pair would have a couple months to focus on building their characters in the beginning but in the end Drexis was the only member of the group who could devote his time to developing his skills.

While Drexis was deciding what to do first, the bots began logging in. Arcane Unlimited was designed in such a way that monsters could overrun the cities if they were ignored by the players, In order to avoid that James designer and would run a cadre of two hundred bot players who would handle quests and monsters around the city until the group could increase the player population to safe levels, at that point the bots would spread out and extend that same protection to nearby settlements until the home islands were safely being policed by the bots. Drexis wasn’t sure that the bots would be able to do a good job but they didn’t have much alternative.

Eventually Drexis found himself in front of a nearby temple. He hadn’t seen anyone mention the breathing Technique skill in any of the AU wikis and it seemed like something a Monk type class would use. This particular temple was dedicated to some warrior god so it seemed like a good choice.

“Hello child, how may I help you?” Drexis was greeted by an older man who had clearly trained for fighting most of his life and while he was beginning to lose his physique due to his age it was clear he was still training in order to maintain it.

“I came for advice, I am looking to leave the city but I currently have no way of defending myself.”

“I see. What sorts of skills do you have and how do you wish to fight?”

“I have the Sprint and Fitness skills as well as Meditation, Focus and Breathing Technique.”

Stolen story; please report.

“Unequip your Sprint skill and follow me. There is a traveler's stone just inside the temple doors.”

While AU is a mostly classless system it requires players to find traveler’s stone to change their equiped class and skills. The idea being that players would not be able to complete challenges meant for groups by skillfully changing their skills and classes around.

Once Drexis us removed sprint he followed the old man through the temple and into a catacomb. “Restless spirits occasionally animate skeletons down here. The temple has to come down here to curb the number of skeletons on occasion.”

You have been asked to aid the temple of Korin in removing undead from their catacombs.

Fight the skeletons unarmed until you have gained the skill Unarmed Combat.

Quest reward: Continued Instruction from Brother Ignis, War priest of Korin.

“I will be here lending you a hand, Just keep going until I tell you to stop.”

Drexis began looking for skeletons to fight and the ones he found were awkward and uncoordinated. Without any other instruction Drexis began to meditate while he fought the undead. When he judged his stamina was running low he stopped to take a break.

You were meditating for 20 Minutes.

Meditating in an area rich with power made your meditation more effective.

Your Passive Mana Regeneration Rate has increased to 2 14/24 points per hour.

Your Active Mana Regeneration Rate has increased to 1 2/60 points per minute.

Through Meditation you have increased you Mana Pool by 3.

Combat has increased the effectiveness of your fitness training.

You have increased your Stamina pool by 25.

You Passive Stamina Regeneration has increased to 10 Points per hour.

Your Active Stamina Regeneration has increased to 10 Points per minute.

You are beginning to approach peak fitness. Further training will be less effective.

You have learned the skill Unarmed combat.

Unarmed Combat Rank 1

You understand the basic ideas behind fighting with your hands.

Equipping this Skill reduces SP consumption while fighting unarmed.

Using this skill may unlock additional skill features.

The old man, Ignis, slapped Drexis on the back. “Good work. Let's head back up top and keep going.” Drexis followed the old man to a training arena. “Alright, now, you are still just a baby fighter. I’m going to beat a proper fighting style into you. First watch me move through these basic combat forms.”

The old man moved Drexis through a number of exercises before moving on to basic sparring and after several hours a message popped up.

You have gained insight into the skill Unarmed Combat.

Insight “Korin Style Unarmed Combat” unlocked. Training this skill with this insight in mind may unlock and advanced form of this skill.

“Good, you seem to be getting it, head back down to the catacombs and keep working on your form until my training sinks in.” Ignis looked up the sky then turned to Drexis, “You had better get something to eat before that.”