Chapter Two: Cynical Hero
Sarah Revox
The lights, the sounds, the aromas; this world was intoxicating in a way I could not describe. Lanterns hung about the market, and my sense urged me to plunge deeper into the market and see what treasures I would find. But I had to hold my curiosity at bay for obvious reasons. I wasn’t here for fun, my lively hood was at stake here. In game at least.
The full-virtual-reality videogame True Fantasy had been released many years ago based off its predecessor High Fantasy a videogame from the early twenty-first century. The game had become prevalent during the space project a couple years back and had been used to prevent astronauts from suffering mental attrition on journeys taking many hundreds of years. The realism and depth of the game was incredible and was currently supported by the government. An international project linking all earth-wide powers through a single company that with a single word could shatter the world… I was probably exaggerating though.
“Don’t you think it’s time to change out of those clothes?” A petite woman called from her stand waving frantically at passers by. A few young women gave her a strange look before passing on. They were probably only here for there own self-gratification and to feel like they were important indulging in the latest trends. I meanwhile had a goal: to become the world’s greatest hero!
I approached the stall the young woman perking up. I looked over her merchandise for a second then back up to the woman. The clothes were cheap and of a good quality, but they were made for functionality rather than appearance the colours muted and lacking any finery. Probably why the girls from earlier had ignored the woman. Speaking of which the woman was abnormally beautiful for such a beginner town. You could usually find one exceedingly beautiful or handsome person in every town and they were usually only meant to add to the scenery or some minor quest line. This woman was either one such character or had an important quest line that extended beyond the little village. It would be beneficial to get on her good side. “So what would you recommend?” I questioned looking over the different pieces. The woman smiled at me and began to point out a series of warm weather leather jerkins, light tunics, skirts and trousers. I looked over them all. If I bought the jerkin it would double up as light armour and no matter what class I eventually picked possessing light armour right now would be extremely helpful. I selected a small outfit in a brown colour scheme and handed over four silvers to the woman.
“Much obliged.” she laughed almost sinisterly. Before I could question my purchases a thunderous voice began to shout from the centre of the square. “Come now heroes, come. Recently the gods have declared that natives of the continent of Keland may now join the heroes on their journeys permanently as ‘companions’ allowing them to share in your benefits. I assure you now every one of our fine young citizens would be more than happy to aid you in your quest to slay the black lord!” the voice came from a man of gargantuan proportions (at least horizontally) only a thin black cane keeping him stable and upright “now young men and women please ascend to the stage and form a line”
This was it I’d been registered in the True Fantasy database for over a week waiting for this event to take place. ‘Companions’ across the entire mid-race continent of Keland people would start looking and recruiting NPCs to aid them in their quests. It likely wouldn’t be easy. Every NPC was an individual person with their own back-stories and preferences they were incredibly hard to negotiate with unless you had a high amount of fame. I expected a mad scramble for the NPCs here to begin.
Then they began to display the stats of every NPC that was currently on the market. It had become abundantly clear to me that these NPCs would become incredibly important. This was a game event; so special items and characters were available at the moment, but only for a limited time. But out off all of them one stood out just going by appearances the one at the very end was the most interesting: Strong, intelligent eyes, a handsome face, yet strong and unmoving in its features, he would be my aim.
It seemed to me that those around him were arguing over something: A strange looking man, and a beautiful woman. The woman had beige hair, which while abnormal was nothing compared to the unlucky players given bizarre colours of hair and eyes like purple or burgundy all because the AI randomly generating them was being lazy. The man on the other hand had black eyes and hair, he looked somewhat sickly, his features incredibly average though he appeared to have a cut under his right eye.
My assumption was proven right from the first NPC and onwards, each and every one of them exceeded the mark in terms of their base stats, and roughly fifty percent had a rare class or better. I began to lose focus around half way through and began talking to the woman. She seemed fairly unfocused herself constantly drifting off topic, though I couldn’t help but get a sense her eyes were fixed on something else.
Then sound broke out from the heroes. The entire crowd began to mutter their voices muffled by one another into an indecipherable mess. I turned my attention from them towards the gigantic red crystal on the platform…
No class that was impossible. It was probably some kind of error in the code or maybe a flat in the crystal, The sickly boy was currently walking of stage, it seemed by guess about him was correct. It didn’t really matter anyway the boy’s stats were all garbage set at ten the lowest possible stat for a grown man. Comparable in all regards to a ten year old child’s. I shook my head.
“What a shame.” I mumbled beneath my breath. Well with all of the over powered characters available it was to be expected that there would be a few that would fall below expectations.
“I guess they don’t call him a loafer for nothing.” The woman sighed leaning back against the stall. “What did I expect?”
Of course that error didn’t intrigue me as much as the man currently standing before the crystal. He had an overly serious look on his face, concentrating on the stone before him. His stats appeared to the awe of all.
Name:
Caulder Kivali
Age:
15
Race:
Human
Level:
Lv1
Class:
Hero
Strength:
40
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Speed:
40
Dexterity:
40
Intelligence:
40
Endurance:
40
Affinity:
Light
Deity:
Amark
Alignment:
(Charitable) +45
Fame:
0
I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing the limit for most base stats were thirty! This man had imposed a new standard for excellence. Not to mention his affinity and alignment. The God of Justice and peace along with light magic, a powerful healer and self buffer affinity. These factors would usually make someone a paladin or similar class but no this man had gone one step further. Hero; it was the starting class for all players before they gained a class of there own class through a trainer or other method. This man was an NPC with the privileges of a player: increased rate of levelling, discounts on weapons or armour, the ability to revive. Well that last one couldn’t be confirmed yet but it was likely.
“That’s my son for you!” the woman laughed behind me. My eyes bulged out of my head.
“What, He’s your son! How old are you?” I stared at the woman if I were to guess her age I’d have said early twenties but that boy was fifteen - and I did not intend for my mind to roam into the gutters on this one.
“Oh I’m forty-three.” She laughed smiling. I stared at her, face blank “One of the advantages of being a mage.” she explained with a smile. “By the way my name’s Danna Kivali!”
“Oh, uh” I struggled to remember the name I’d been randomly assigned. “Felvi Xover.” the woman nodded.
“Tell you what if you pop by my house tomorrow and do me a little favour I’ll agree to tell you where all the good deals are around here, agreed?” she questioned leaning forwards. It didn’t take a genius to pick out the plot thread, if I followed this through there was the chance I would get her son as my companion, quick easy and simple. I could already feel the cogs of my mind turning.
“You have yourself a deal!”
----------------------------------------
I sat upon a low wall smiling at my haul. I’d managed to squeeze out a couple of bargains from the vendors. I had even been able to resell a couple of my items for a profit, which meant I could buy even more equipment. I already had all my gear and had even picked up two skill-books (enchanted tomes that could instantly teach you any skill, but unfortunately they were a consumables) they were fairly generic: the wind foot movement and Aura Builder. The first was a magical skill that could boost speed while quieting footsteps, the latter a simple technique where one surrounded themselves in mana to the point they had an aura. This aura allowing for minor physical or magical attack nullification as well as being incredibly useful to train with.
I had already learnt both of those skills and with a bit of levelling they’d be incredibly useful in the future.
Skills:
Wind Foot Movement – Lv1
A skill that allows you to move faster and with reduced sound, invaluable for assassins, scouts and thieves.
Current Stats:
Speed + 5%
Sound reduction +3%
Stamina cost -5
Aura Builder – Lv1
A technique which is the basis for all magic users, not limited to casters but any class that is capable of using magic. The effects of this spell depend on concentration and proficiency.
Current Stats:
Magic defence +2
Mana cost -10
Not a bad job, especially when thrown in together with a pair of steel hunting knives I now wore at my hip, a heavy rain-proof cloak, a pair of oversized boots and some basic health and mana potions. Still that left me with but one silver coin and twenty-three coppers. Pocket change really.
Now was the time: to finally check my stats. I’d been able to do it after the official ceremony was over, except while everyone else was looking at his or her stats I took the initiative and began bargain hunting. I couldn’t wait to see my stats, this was thrilling!
Name:
Felvi Xover
Age:
16
Race:
Human
Level:
Lv1
Class:
Hero
Strength:
10
Speed:
10
Dexterity:
10
Intelligence:
10
Endurance:
10
Affinity:
Wind
Deity:
Golgar
Alignment:
(Neutral) 0
Fame:
0
Just like every other player I started off with the basics; I guess it wasn’t right to criticise that guy from earlier. Not that it mattered, He still had no skill and I’d never heard of his God so there was no way I was saddling myself with that guy not to mention he had the fire affinity which had such a high cost on its spells it was never worth training. I yawned, it was getting late so I decided to log out, as the morning would bring with it a fresh set of surprises.
----------------------------------------
My Goal was simple, within a year reach level thirty, For all heroes there were three main hurdles, at least during the beginning; level thirty, level fifty and level seventy. After this it was smooth sailing you were practically guaranteed success as a higher-ranking player though the secret to braking into level one hundred was not released to the public. Why were these levels so difficult to reach? Simple because to break into them one had to not just gain experience but be involved in worthy battle, something that pushed you to your limits and brought you closer to success. That is why my first goal was to gain Caulder as my companion, he was clearly an axis for future events with the hero class, and so I would be assured a place at the top if I stuck with him.
I clenched my fist as I approached the little house. It stood quite the way from the town nestled between the lake and the forest. A small garden sat out front a birch tree standing in the gardens far corner. Beyond that as the little house was a single story with what I assumed were three rooms and a small chimney sticking out of a thatch roof.
I was about to enter when I heard what sounded like a falling tree. I walked around the back of the building to view Caulder and classless boy from yesterday sparring. Each carried a wooden training sword and lashed out at the other. It was clear who was winning. Caulder was beating the boy back relentlessly, his strikes to powerful for the young man to evade or block.
“Stop holding back, I need to get stronger!” The classless boy yelled. Caulder grunted pushing his attack until he landed a crushing blow against the boy’s sword with enough force to swat it from his wrist, for a second I thought the battle was over until the boy struck out towards Caulder’s throat with his bare hands. Still the movement was slow and easily halted in its tracks by a savage punch to the stomach. I decided to take this opportunity to sneak away as Caulder tried to get the boy back on his feet.
Turning around I saw Caulder’s mother sitting on a bench in the garden drinking from a mug. “Those two are always like that.” she explained.
“They’re friends?” I questioned looking back at them. She nodded smiling at me. “I guess that’s true, I always end up having to punish them for getting in trouble; a bond forged through mutual suffering you could say.” she chuckled at that taking a sip from the mug. “Listen about the favour I need you to do…”
This was it, what I’d been waiting for a quest to start out my adventure, it would be hard with only the two skills I had learnt so far, though with my basic knowledge of the game, careful planning and a small amount of luck I was sure I could pull it off and receive great benefits. “This could likely be dangerous, my sons are idiots and they wouldn’t last five minutes in the wider world so, please protect them on their Journey.”
This was perfect! I would be able to leave the beginner town early. Thank god because it was already cramped with all the new players who had arrived for the event so resources were low now I could… Wait she said ‘sons’ as in plural?
“Mother.” Caulder called the other boy following him. “Who is this?”
“She’s a hero that will be going with you to Lordig city!” Mrs Kivali laughed, I’d been duped! “So you two had best behave and treat her properly.” The other boy was glaring at me with a deep-seated loathing.
“Droga what is that look for, Are you getting any ideas? If you are I could always cast a curse on the two of you.” Both of them blanched at her words “Good then behave and stop glaring!” The boy sighed walking inside.
“We’ll leave tomorrow morning then.” he muttered, “I need to check over everything I’ve packed.” He walked inside the house.
So they were brothers? I looked from one to the other, this was impossible, it had to be some kind of farce. The two looked nothing alike and there abilities were so far removed you could say they couldn’t be any more different if they had been born different species.
Gaining a companion would start getting that much harder.