*****
"Name? Of course, how could I forget?" Milya uttered as she continued to type on the floating keyboard. "Like usual, I'll use the name Vermouth! Ma's favorite wine."
After finishing setting up her account, the system sent a confirmation, which she could access even through the headset, and completed her account registration.
The screen then changed and immediately she understood what it was.
"A character customization screen, now we're talking!" Milya squealed with glee.
That was until she saw the note at the bottom of the screen.
----------------------------------------
[Developers' Note: Players are highly discouraged from changing their height and weight to not cause any physiological issues.]
----------------------------------------
She's always been insecure about her height and wanted to change her height of 145 centimeters for even a bit. Given, that she's still a growing girl, that doesn't mean she can't become conscious of it! And she only grew to 157 centimeters before she died! The average female height of Masen ranges from 160 centimeters to 170! That's huge!
"Whatever…" Milya grumbled, ignoring the height slider, and shifted her focus on the other things.
"But aside from my height, I don't really have anything else I want to change…" Milya uttered to herself. "But I can't just leave it as is, can I? What do, what do…"
"Oh, I know!" Milya fiddled with the color schemes and changed the most notable parts of her body. Her hair and eye colors! She swapped them back to how they were before.
"I know I'll miss adoring ma's hair color, so with this, I'll at least be able to have them for two hours."
Hitting the [Create Character] button at the corner of the interface, Milya watched in fascination as her hair color changed from silver to Cyan, making her wonder if that's how it happened when her hair in reality changed.
Milya's thoughts were cut off by a blinding light. Opening her eyes, Milya was met with the moldy cobblestone walls of what seemed to be a house in the medieval ages.
In the middle of the room near the wooden ceiling floated a lantern, illuminating even the far corners. Under it floated a set of radiant silver weapons. The set of weapons included a long sword with a wide guard, a tall bow with arrows floating near it, a pair of sharp daggers, a staff with a gem on its tip, and a staff in the shape of a cross. In front of each weapon were description boxes.
"Finally time to choose my weapon, huh?" Milya approached the most enticing of them all, the silver staff. With magic, she can do all kinds of convenient things in the real world, which should make living easier.
She read the description.
----------------------------------------
[Mage Class: Weild powerful magic to defeat your foes. High offensive power but low survivability.]
----------------------------------------
"Oh, it's not weapon but class. I guessed wrong. In any case, I'm choosing this." Milya pressed the interface and was met with another.
----------------------------------------
[Confirm to choose Mage as your class? There will be no going back.]
[Yes/No]
----------------------------------------
Milya immediately pressed the yes button, her future self had already given it thought. Mages were in high demand after the gaming boom due to their ability to lift things and construct structures with the use of magic. Additionally, mages were always involved in experiments that required protecting the researchers with barriers that no modern technology could match. With the research involving the applications of magic cores, explosions and the like happened quite usually.
In short, mages are valuable and they have a lot of applications in the real world.
----------------------------------------
[You have chosen the class mage! Proceeding to the tutorial area.]
----------------------------------------
With the same bright light from earlier, Milya was transported to what seemed to be a floating island with nothing but patches of grass all around. Milya could feel the wind flow over her skin, the warmth of the fake sun in the sky, and the clouds that flowed with the wind.
"Now that's realistic!" Milya giggled to herself. "Now then!"
Milya looked at the interface in front of her. It was a list of things that the menu consisted of.
"Note: Reciting these words in your mind will open its respective interface… that's how you open the menu, huh?" Milya read the instructions out loud.
Quickly trying it out, Milya recited the word 'skills' in her mind, prompting a white interface to slide into her vision. Five skills greeted her upon opening its interface.
----------------------------------------
Passive Skills
[Casting I (1%)]Tier 1 skill - Decreases the chance of failing a spell by 1%, increases by 1% every level. Shortens the casting time by 3.5%. Allows movement while casting at maximum level. The default spell fail chance is 15%. Failing to cast a spell will cancel its effects while still consuming the mana used.
[Mana Boost I (1%)]
Tier 1 skill - Increases mana by 10%.
[Magic Mastery I (1%)]Tier 1 Skill - Increases m.atk by 20%
[Chain Cast I (1%)]Tier 2 Skill - Successfully casting a spell shortens the cast time of the next spell by 1.5% and increases m.atk by 2%. Stacks 5 times. All stacks are lost after 15 seconds of not casting a spell. Increases the chance of failing a spell by 5% for every three spells successfully cast.
Active Skills
[Mana Charge I (1%)]
Tier 1 Skill - Restores 9% of mana.
Charging time: 3.5 secs
Magic Spells
[No Spells Learned]
----------------------------------------
"Ooh, neat. But no spell?" Milya uttered. "I guess that's a given since I just started."
Closing the interface with a thought, another interface popped up in front of Milya.
"Hm? Now what's this?"
----------------------------------------
[Tutorial quest: Kill the Goblin (0/1)]
[Rewards: x1 level, x2 Random Spell Scroll, x1 Random Tier Skill Scroll]
[Proceed? Y/N]
----------------------------------------
"Oh, tutorial. That's what I'm here for, I forgot." Milya scratched her forehead before opening the next interface. "For now, let me have a look at my stats!"
Milya tugged at the mental prompt and another interface popped up in front of her. On its right was her character, a small carbon copy of herself, surrounded by nine slots with greyed-out images of the equipment they represent. A staff for the main weapon, and another for off-hand, wizard's hat, shirt, robe, pants, boots, and two slots for accessories.
On its right was her stats.
----------------------------------------
[Vermouth] [Mage] [Level: 0]
[Base Stats]
[HP 1500/1500 | MP 1210/1210 ]
[ p.atk 150 | m.atk 110(+22) ]
[ p.def 60 | m.def 40 ]
[Status Points: 0]
[STR 10 | AGI 10 | DEX 10 | END 10 | WIS 10]
----------------------------------------
"I start at level 0, huh? Alright, fair." Milya closed the interface.
'Next up, Inventory!'
With the mental prompt, an interface filled with empty slots appeared in front of Milya. At the top-right corner was a wooden staff with a spiraling tip, right beside it was a scroll.
Upon seeing the staff, Milya quickly tapped on it and equipped it. In her right hand appeared the staff. Upon equipping it, her p.atk increased by ten points, m.atk by a whopping 20 points, and her WIS by a massive boost of 3 points!
"As expected of a starter weapon, it's so trashy!" Milya laughed at the staff in her hand, swinging it playfully. "Anyways, was that other item a spell scroll?"
Milya took out the scroll from her inventory, its icon disappeared from the interface before a rolled-up scroll fell from in front of her. Milya caught the scroll before she unrolled it.
"Let's see let's see…" Milya uttered as she read its contents.
----------------------------------------
[Spell Scroll - Magic Arrow]
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
A scroll left behind by a Magic Scholar to his disciple.
Tear this scroll apart to learn the spell imbued in it.
----------------------------------------
"Well, that's easy to understand…" Milya uttered before brutally ripping the scroll, watching with fascination as it burned into ashes and the flames entered her chest. "Huh. Fancy."
Right after those words left her mouth, her skill interface automatically opened, with the only notable change being the new [Magic Arrow] spell in the Magic Spells section.
----------------------------------------
Magic Spells
[Magic Arrow]Fire five bolts of homing arrows and deal 200% of m.atk as magic damage. Casting Time: 1 second. MP cost: 100
----------------------------------------
"Neat! I got my attack spell now!" Milya jumped in glee before opening the quest interface and activating the tutorial quest.
On the ground before her, a white smoke spawned a goblin wielding a twig from somewhere. Growling after spotting her, it swung its twig manically as it charged toward Milya.
"Wait, already!?" And Milya replied in kind, swinging her staff at the charging green runt, hitting it cleanly in the forehead and making it faint.
Critical! -526 hp
Silence ensued as Milya stared at the passed-out goblin.
"Wait, it's dead? Or not? But that's it?" Milya wondered out loud. "Well! An easy kill is an easy kill! Prepare yourself! Time to try my first spell! Magic Arrow!" Upon shouting the spell name, a magic circle rose from the tip of Milya's staff.
The symbols spun along with the circle as the casting time finished, growing brightly before separating and transforming into five glowing blue arrows floating in midair. The arrows flew the goblin's way, hitting its body. Before all the arrows could hit their target, the first arrow made the goblin disappear in a puff of white smoke.
-240 hp
[Level +1!]
Along with the goblin's death, the quest interface opened in front of Milya.
----------------------------------------
[Tutorial quest: Kill the Goblin (1/1)]
[Rewards have been transferred to your inventory!]
----------------------------------------
"Yahoo! My first monster kill! It's just the tutorial but-yahoo!" Milya jumped in glee, celebrating the first of her soon-to-be hundreds of thousands of kills.
As Milya celebrated a job well done, another interface popped up.
----------------------------------------
[Leaving Tutorial Island in 998 seconds]
----------------------------------------
Ignoring the interface, Milya opened up her inventory with excitement.
"What am I gonna get, I wonder~?" She sang with glee and took out the three new additions to her inventory, the items plopping to the ground due to Milya's decision to not catch them. Milya sat on the ground and picked up the first two.
"Save the best for the last! Here we go!" Overlapping the two Spell Scrolls, Milya ripped them apart at the same time. After the flames from the spell scrolls completely disappeared into her chest, Milya hurriedly opened her Skills interface, her eyes traveling to the bottom of the interface where the Magic Spells section was.
----------------------------------------
Magic Spells
[Magic Arrow]
Fire five bolts of homing arrows and deal 200% of m.atk as magic damage.
Casting Time: 1 second. MP cost: 100
[Living Sword]
Summon two living swords that will automatically slash at your enemies in a 3-meter radius of the caster, dealing 500% of m.atk. Prioritizes the closest enemy. Five minutes sword duration.
Cast Time: 8.5 seconds. MP cost: 650
[Magic Missile]
Rapidly conjure ten mana balls from the tip of your staff, homing on your chosen enemy and dealing 150% of m.atk. The path of the mana balls can be controlled by the caster's mind.
Cast Time: 0.5 seconds. MP cost: 150
----------------------------------------
"Ooh! That's really good! That will let me breeze through the low levels! Lucky!" Milya giggled excitedly. "Now! Onto the best thing!"
Milya picked up the spell scroll and read through its description.
----------------------------------------
[Random Skill Scroll]
Tearing this scroll apart will give the user a random skill from all tiers with the exception of Tier 10.
----------------------------------------
"Just the same, huh? I thought it would be different from the Spell Scrolls. Good thing it's the same, I almost did it without reading the description." Milya giggled to herself before she pulled the scroll apart, watching as the flames entered her chest once more.
[You obtained the Tier 9 skill, Totemist! Congratulations!]
Milya's eyes widened in utter shock, she couldn't believe what she was seeing! Although she has no idea of, having a skill from such a high tier must be amazing, she could feel it! Milya's fingers trembled as she opened the description, excitement evident on her face.
----------------------------------------
Passive Skills
[Casting I (51%)]Tier 1 skill - Decreases the chance of failing a spell by 1%, increases by 1% every level. Shortens the casting time by 3.5%. Allows movement while casting at maximum level. The default spell fail chance is 15%. Failing to cast a spell will cancel its effects while still consuming the mana used.
[Mana Boost I (21%)]
Tier 1 skill - Increases mana by 10%
[Magic Mastery I (61%)]
Tier 1 Skill - Increases m.atk by 20%
[Chain Cast I (1%)]
Tier 2 Skill - Successfully casting a spell shortens the cast time of the next spell by 1.5% and increases m.atk by 2%. Stacks 5 times. All stacks are lost after 15 seconds of not casting a spell. Increases the chance of failing a spell by 5% for every three spells successfully cast.
[Totemist I (1%)]
Tier 9 Skill - Allows the user to assign spells on crafted totems, removing the need to cast. Reduces the mana cost of all spells by 75%. Additionally, using materials with high mana conductivity and related elements will increase the effectiveness of the spell assigned to the totem. Totems are unbreakable and only the user can interact with them. Placing down totems with continuous spells will make the totem continuously absorb mana from the surrounding area and keep the spell running. Totems can be indefinitely attached to the main weapon as long as it is a staff. The number of totems that can be attached to the main weapon will depend on the weapon's rank. The number of spells that could be assigned on a single totem is directly proportionate to the skill level.
Grants the spells [Totem Creation] [Assign Totem] [Totemist - One with Mana]
----------------------------------------
Milya jumped high up in happiness and glee, stomping all over the grass. "I hit the jackpot, woooo! Wahahaha! I can't believe it!"
She truly did. Milya does not know yet, but Tier 9 skills and above are unique to only one account. Meaning that only she has this skill. Many would empty their entire in-game treasuries just for a single tier 9 skill scroll, even going so far as to sell their beloved pieces of equipment.
The only publicly known tier 9 skill owners were Guild leaders of the top 12 Guilds in all of RCO. It is unknown if there are more players out there hiding their skills, but it is easily deducible that the owners of these skills will be powerhouses that will topple all over the weaker players.
As for tier 10 skills, there are no known owners due to how rare it is. The developers have explicitly stated that there are only three tier 10 skill scrolls and they're hidden behind the most difficult challenges. It is speculated to be the reward for a global-scale quest, or in the deepest floor of the hardest dungeons, but no one can ever confirm this aside from the very elusive developers.
"I can't wait to try this out! I can already imagine how powerful I will be with this skill! Now the spells! What are they for!?" Milya shouted in excitement as she looked at the bottom of the interface, tapping on the new spells to reveal their descriptions.
----------------------------------------
Magic Spells
[Magic Arrow]
Fire five bolts of homing arrows and deal 200% of m.atk as magic damage.
Cast Time: 1 second. MP cost: 10
[Living Sword]
Summon two living swords that will automatically slash at your enemies in a 3-meter radius of the caster, dealing 500% of m.atk. Prioritizes the closest enemy. Five minutes sword duration.
Cast Time: 8.5 seconds. MP cost: 650
[Magic Missile]
Rapidly conjure ten mana balls from the tip of your staff, homing on your chosen enemy and dealing 150% of m.atk. The path of the mana balls can be controlled by the caster's mind.
Cast Time: 0.5 seconds. MP cost: 150
[Totem Creation]
Create or fuse totems from any materials and bind them to yourself. The quality, effectiveness, elemental affinity, and appearance of the totem will depend on the materials used.
Cast time: 120 seconds. MP cost: 1500
[Assign Totem]
Assign a spell on a totem created using the spell [Totem Creation]. Allows totems to be attached to a staff.
Cast time: 60 seconds. MP cost: 750
[Totemist - One with Mana]
One With Mana. Combines HP and Mp points and turns the user's body into intangible mana that will not be affected by any physical or magical means, making the totems act as the user's tangible body. The user will receive 50% of the damage done to the totems. Hitting multiple totems at once will not increase the damage received. Letting go of the totems or staff with totems attached will cancel this state.
Spell Duration: Indefinite. Cast time: 300 seconds. Mana Cost: 0
----------------------------------------
Milya's clenched hands and pursed lips trembled as she stared at the last spell that she received, before she rolled back and forth in the grass, squealing in utter joy.
"Hehehe! Hahaha!" She manically laughed as the grass clung to her garb(provided by the game system), rolling like a playful cat in a bed of catnip.
"Overpowered! That's overpowered! That spell is not fair, and I'm more than happy to exploit it! WAHAHAHA~!"
Milya continued laughing to herself while rolling on the grass before she was blinded by a bright light and was transported to the first city, still giggling like a maniac. It seems that she has spent the entire 800 seconds just laughing like a lunatic and was forcibly thrown out of the tutorial island after the timer finished counting down.
*****
MUST READ!
Vermouth's status page will only be updated every ten levels, cause calculating ain't fun. On that note, I'll be omitting some parts so I won't have to deal with calculations. Casting time and experience points, for example.
If anything is unbalanced, well, sue me. I'm not a game developer nor am I a mathematician, I'm a beginner writer writing on a whim.
* Charging time is not affected by casting time reduction effects. Unlike casting time where movement and use of other spells are restricted, players can move and use other skills/spells while in charging state.
* Base stats like m.atk could only be gained from status points like WIS. If the number is excluded using parentheses, then that's from a skill or equipment. This applies to both Base Stats and Status Points.Confusing, right? Too bad, I don't have any idea what to call the two to differentiate them.
* Spells or active skills will only compute the base stats, never the status points
* Critical hits double the damage dealt and will ignore all defenses. Critical hits are dealt in vital points such as the head, the heart, the neck, etc.
* Spells cannot be upgraded but can be amplified by skills or other spells
* Most skills do not cost mp
* Examples of continuous spells are barrier spells or buff spells
* Stats = Starter Stats: All 10 Starting HP 500, Starting MP 500
* Strength: 1 pts = + 7 P.atk power
* Physical Attack Power, lifting strength
* Agility: 1 pts = +2 p.atk power, 2% additional movement speed
* Movement Speed, Reflexes
* Dexterity: 1 pts = +5 p.atk & +3 m.atk power, -0.3% to casting speed, +0.3% success rate
* Casting Speed, Crafting Success rate, flexibility
* Endurance: 1 pts = +1 p.atk power, +4 M.def, +6 P.def, 0.2% Damage reduction, 100 hp
* Magical and Physical Defense, Health Points
* Wisdom: 1 pts = +8 m.atk power, 60 mana points
* Magical Attack Power, Mana Points