Chapter Two-Pinball Wizard
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A flash and sudden blinding white.
The young man finds himself floating within an abyss of white, nothing as far as the eye can see.
As he reels from the sudden difference in surroundings, there is a ding and a mostly transparent blue screen appears in front of him.
*Please select the name of your Avatar*
“Harold”
A name that he found regal, giving off a wise impression to his mind. It would definitely fit the character he wanted to create.
*Select the gender of your Avatar*
“Male”
He just thought it would be too strange and uncomfortable to play as a different gender.
*Royal Road has forty-nine player races in total. You may select your race from amongst the primary twenty races available at this time*
“Human”
The most balanced of the races, humans started with no inherent advantages, but in return they gained near limitless opportunities in how they may be played.
*You may alter the appearance of your Avatar*
“Show my body, just a couple inches taller”
With a flicker, a slightly see-through image of his body appeared floating in front of him. The only difference between the two being that the illusory body was but a few inches taller.
Rubbing his chin in thought, the man continues.
“Make it another inch and a half taller”
The man smiles as he observes the result in satisfaction.
“Now make my hair a slate gray, and my eyes a bright blue”
The image flickers for but a moment and as it reforms in that instant, what stands in front of Harold is a much taller, grey haired man with bright eyes.
“Hmm, looks good, now make it a bit thinner and sharpen the features to a more aristocratic look”
Within the span of a blink, the image changes once again. What stands before him now is a tall and gaunt man with a sharp face and piercing eyes..
Smiling, the man cannot help but emit a feeling of satisfaction.
‘Being taller certainly gives more presence. People say that those with strong personalities seem larger than they actually are, and having a taller base to work from can only help me stick out more to people as a person to take seriously and listen to’
Giving a small laugh, the man pays no mind to the new screen hanging in front of his face and loses himself in his plans.
‘With striking features combined with the height, I’ll have a good base to build on as a serious mage’
Happy with his concept having taken life before his eyes, the man pays attention to the screen he had been ignoring.
*Is this Avatar to your satisfaction?*
*Y/N*
“Yes, I’m satisfied with my character, continue”
*Your account has now been activated, your stats and skills will be determined throughout your experiences playing Royal Road*
*Please select the kingdom and city you wish to start in*
Having already decided beforehand through his research, the man felt relief that he wouldn’t have to scroll through the many different options or even choose at random and have a chance at a harder time in his chosen class.
“The Castle Town Barba within the Britten Alliance”
*Welcome to Royal Road!*
And with another flash of light, the young man disappears from the empty abyss.
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A flash of light.
With the blinding but quickly receding overwhelming light, the first thing the man known as Harold noticed had to be the sound.
A loud cacophony of voices, indistinct besides the occasional girlish shriek or boyish yelp.
As his vision returns his eyes are attacked by a violence of color and diversity. He finds himself with a large courtyard made of a bright white stone, in the middle of a large crowd of milling people of all shapes and sizes, colors and races.
Harold can only gawk at the sights before him, the hundreds of people just milling about in the large courtyard with many more coming and going through the side streets coming off of it or the main road that fades into the distance towards a large majestic castle.
“I knew that this game was widely anticipated as to be the best game to ever come out of Korea… But I never expected anything like this. How are they all paying such an exorbitant price? Do they really expect to win the prize, or just that excited over a new world?”
Mumbling under his breath, he could lose himself in though even in such a loud situation, such was his experience from being in a large city college.
As a new game from the Unicorn Corporation that had created the wonders of such an amazingly immersive Virtual Reality and their special capsule technology with which they changed the world of VR in totality. The capsule itself cost an amazing $9,000, as if that price was not enough, the game had a required subscription of $300 each month.
But, in a stroke of genius and to offset the downsides of the cost, the company announced a prize. The first player to conquer the game, to bring to heel the whole of the Virtual world of Royal Road under his rule, will be granted an unspecified but remarkable prize, sparking imagination over just what it could be as the creator and owner of Unicorn was widely acknowledged as an eccentric person.
This had caused a large surge of interest in the game, and many who would never give it the time of day, already used to disappointment from limited Virtual Reality games, suddenly started paying attention again.
And with this attention the anticipation for the game just grew and grew, to the point that even his parents with only past on their minds had heard about the wonders that would be made available through this technology and software.
Sighing, he can only bow his head at the lengths his parents would go to. Though he felt that they owed him nothing and was completely satisfied and proud to have them as his parents, it was one facet that no matter his effort couldn't be changed. The situation was but a single thing he could possibly have a complaint over his upbringing.
Fed up with feeling pitiful, he raises his head to gaze out at the thronging mass of people, with more appearing every few moments in a flash, standing around and gawking at the sights just as he had after their bodies formed.
A sudden outbreak of yelling, and Harold sees a sudden shifting the milling mass as many hurriedly shoved their way away from a loud center.
Standing in the middle of the sudden clearing are two massive men. One is brown-haired and has a mustache, the other has black hair and a full beard.
"HAHA! YA WEAKLING AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON MA GLORIOUS STACHE!" The brown haired man announced.
"YA LIMP WRISTED PANSY, YOU CALL THAT TEENSY THING FACIAL HAIR! YOU AIN'T NO MAN WITHOUT A FULL FLEDGED BEARD!" Bellows the black haired man.
"THOSE SOUND LIKE FIGHTING WORDS YOU OLD FOOL!" Screams the brown haired giant.
"OH YEAH? THEN LETS SETTLE THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL!" Yells the black haired gargantuan man.
"I'VE BEEN WAITING YEARS TO BE ABLE TO BEAT YOUR FOOL BUTT LIKE A DRUM ALLAN!" The menacing brown haired man shouts right on back to his black haired fellow.
"WE NEVER EVEN NEEDED TO WAIT, JUST THAT THIS WAY YOUR FRAIL BODY WON'T DIE ON ME GETTING YA TO FINALLY SUBMIT, GERALD!" The man whose name was supposedly Allan announces.
And leaving the discussion at that, the two massive men rush at the other. And as they meet with fists raised there is an almighty smack. The two begin laying into each other with their fists alone, neither bothering to dodge and instead just stand there taking the hits and dishing them out.
Above their heads small zero’s show up constantly, because as people still within the first month users are unable to physically damage one another.
As the two begin their fight, the both of them began bellowing their humor. Laughing as they punch one another, the man notices the two even have some small tears falling down their smilling faces.
"Wow, they're really going at it huh?"
"I think it's kinda creepy how happy they look punching the hell out of each other..."
As they watch, many in the surrounding crowd began talking over the spectacle the two burly men were making over themselves.
And as the fight wore on, Harold noticed a man in armor coming towards the commotion with a stern look on his face and a hand on the sword at his side. Not wanting to get involved further than as a bystander Harold was quick to begin moving in the opposite direction as what was obviously a guard NPC of some sort.
'That was interesting to see and confirm that I'll be safe completely for the next month, but this place is getting much too loud and crowded for me'
Lost in thought and hurrying away from the scene behind him, a high pitched shriek that he had been completely unprepared for as well as the barrage that suddenly followed afterwards.
"Eeeeeee!"
"Oh My God!"
"It's so great to see everyone again!"
A group of young girls had converged to the left of Harold and were holding a reunion as loudly as could be.
As the three were in a tearful reunion, Harold was only able to wince at spiking pain their high pitched shrieking was giving him, quickly driving him away from the trio of young beauties.
Backing away quickly, he turned around to go in a different direction only to nearly run face first into the back of a suddenly appearing blonde young man.
"Alright! Finally out of the tutorial!" The blonde exclaims to the world, fist raised into the air.
"Now let's get this game started! Look out world, the greatest warrior is setting out now!" Giving a yell, the young man immediately starts running towards the city gates in front of him at one end of the plaza.
Heaving a sigh at stopping in time, Harold can only shake his head at the weird people the game seemed to have drawn out even on the day of launch.
Deciding he had enough of the crowds Harold quickly rushes off towards a side street coming off the courtyard.
As he makes his way he notices the two energetic and large men are happily talking with the guard that had split their fight up, the NPC maintaining a stoic expression even as he explains the rules of the city prohibiting fights within its walls.
The trio of overly loud and enthusiastic girls are walking with arms linked, heading up the main street towards the large and fairy tale esque castle that looms over the large town.
Reaching the mouth of the less crowded side street, Harold looks back over the large plaza.
Over at the city gate he can barely see the young man that had logged on right in front of him.
He can only laugh quietly under his breath as he sees the blonde on the ground, a guard keeping him there while another lectures at him seriously.
Satisfied with his fill of noise for the day, he turns back and enters the small street.
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The first thing to notice about the street had to be how isolated it was from the courtyard even just a few feet away from the entrance.
Though it was much less crowded and quiet, there are still quite a few people coming and going, though in comparison there are quite a bit more NPCs here, easily able to be told apart at this time due to the plain starter clothes that every play begins with equipped in comparison to the variety of styles the NPCs owned.
Just walking down the street, Harold could not help but marvel at how life like their programming was. They would stop and chat, haggle over a street vendors wares, pine after items kept within windows of the front shops. There were even children running to and fro playing happily with one another.
As he strolls down the street taking in the sites, a door is suddenly slammed open to let an old man out of a shop.
“Damn NPCs don’t know who they’re talking to, so arrogant! I have half a mind to call Unicorn and getting a refund!” The old man in starter equipment grumbles loudly to himself and shoves his way past anyone in his way.
Getting out of the mans way, Harold finds himself feeling curious over what could have set the fellow off.
Walking over to the shop, he takes a peek into the display window.
What greets his curious gaze are a variety of obviously magical items. A staff on prominent display, a large blue cloak hung up to the side on a wooden coat rack. A set of cauldron and various ingredients and measuring tools. But what catches his attention the quickest are the large and overfilled bookshelves lining the walls past the display case.
Excited over finding such a good place to start so quickly Harold impatiently opens the door to and enters into the shop in one quick movement, having already completely forgotten what had drawn him to it in the first place.
The front room is covered in books, having shelves filled with them lining each wall of the shop, he makes a beeline for the closest case and ignoring everything else.
‘This is just what I needed! There have to be books giving various explanations for how the magic system is in the game’
As he is busy absorbed within his excited skimming of the titles of various books, a tall man in a dark blue robe appears from out of the back of the shop. Bald at the top of his head and wearing spectacles, he looks every bit the scholar or magician.
Not paying attention, Harold doesn’t notice the man taking his place at the counter and begin observing him with a frown on his face.
Taking down ‘General Herbalist Workbook’ to have a look. Replacing just as quickly when it is discovered to be on mundane gardening and gathering techniques.
‘So many different books here. I’ll have to come back after I have a better idea of the knowledge base available to the average character’
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
The one manning the counter seems perturbed at the quick handling of one of his wares.
‘Days Of Yore’ seemed interesting at first glance, but just taking it out and skimming for a moment let him see it would require more than a quick look to get anything useful out of, being much too stuffy a tome,
‘Not as good of a choice outside of a deep reading, I bet it has all sorts of clues hidden inside it as to the history of this world beyond what was already published on the sites’
HIs frown deepens as Harold takes his merchandise out just to skim and replace quickly.
For this newest one in ‘Natural Husbandry’ Harold hadn’t expected much, but at the very least had thought it would be a basic bestiary instead of the farmer’s aide that it appeared to be.
‘Damn, lucked out, what is this book doing inside a magic store?’
Clenching the counter with his hands the shopkeeper just seems to get more annoyed and angry with having Harold in his shop, seemingly not respecting the books that he handled, nor appearing to have intentions to buy the wares that he did handle.
‘Signs of the Mystic’ was the most promising yet!
Harold reaches out and slides his fingers up the spine reverently, grabbing the top corner to slide the book out.
-Slam!-
The owners’ hand booms out on meeting his counter.
“Stop just staring at my books! This isn’t a library so either buy, or get lost!”
Startled at the noise, the book drops from Harold’s light hold.
As the book smacks onto the floor, the face of the store owners face grows a bright red and he starts stomping his way over to where Harold is standing.
“Be more careful, you buffoon! Do you have any idea how much that volume cost me?”
Gesturing wildly and nearly spitting in his anger, he stares the taller Harold down.
“Hey, I’m sorry but not only is the book fine…” Picking the book up and dusting it off to place it back.
“It was your own damn fault that it fell, yelling out like that so suddenly!”
Slamming the book back into place to emphasize his point, he ends in a yell back at the mage.
‘What kind of programming is this? I know they wanted them to be realistic, but did they have make them so needlessly antagonistic as well!’
“What did you say? Blaming me for the damage you could have caused to a priceless piece of my own collection!”
Biting out each word of his sermon, he makes sure to punctuate each point by trying his damndest to puncture Harolds shoulder with an outstretched finger.
“You have some nerve boy. I can’t have a no name like you destroying my shop! Now either buy something quickly or leave!”
Taking further offense, Harold is quick to counter while slapping the fools outstretched hand down.
“You don’t even know me, how the hell do you get off for calling me a nobody!”
‘What it in the world was this NPCs’ programmer thinking when he made it like this!’
Surprisingly, the owner grows an even brighter shade of red, hands clenched to his sides.
“Then you better have something to back your claim up! I’ve already dealt with an arrogant foreigner once today and I have half a mind to never deal with one ever again!”
“Oh yeah? Then name your challenge you scrooge of a merchant!” He can’t help but further argue.
“That is it! I have had it with arrogant foreigners coming into my shop like they own the place! Until you have a name equal to Darius the Knowing, don’t you dare enter one of our buildings!”
Suddenly, the newly announced Darius wrenches his clenched hands from his side, a glow beginning to form within his palms.
“What?”
Before he could properly register exactly what has happened he is already sitting on his butt outside a slammed door.
-Ttrring-
*The Quest Darius’ Blacklisting has been created!*
“The hell it did! Show Quest information!”
[You have been barred from the Mages Guild by Darius the Knowing!]
[Description: Darius is fed up with know-nothing, no-name foreigners coming into his store and acting arrogantly. He has blacklisted you from all Mages Guild establishments and affiliates until you gain a name as well known as his.]
[Difficulty Level: F]
[Requirements: Gain a level of Fame in excess of 100 before returning to Darius’ shop.]
[Rewards: Given the book ‘Signs of the Mystic’
Allowed access to Guild libraries up to the same level as Darius the Knowing]
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After the surprising and spontaneous quest generation, Harold figured it would be best to go on a walk and cool down his head before properly thinking over the implications.
Fighting back the urge to make a rude gesture, Harold gets himself up, brushes loose dirt from his person, and heads off after giving one last stern glance at the window.
As he prepares to head out, some of the boys that had been playing stand off to the side laughing,
"Wow, what did he do to get such rude treatment from the old magic guy!" One of the children asks of his friends in obvious humor.
"Hahaha, did you see that?" One child is bent over, nearly unable to breath through his mirth.
"Yeah! That foreigner just got totally thrown out by that old geezer!" Shouts one particular boy as loud as he could, drawing a reproachful gaze from an older, nearby girl who is busy shopping. The two bear a close resemblance.
"Psst, hey, keep it down, you know how irritable that guy can get..." The girl warns.
Doing his best to ignore the group of young kids nattering on as well as the offended and upturned noses of the older lady shoppers, Harold moves quickly to reach the end of the alley to a connecting street.
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Time passes and the scenery changes beyond Harolds notice. By the time he had calmed down, he finds himself in the middle of a small and enclosed park next to a large and pure white cathedral.
Heaving a sigh, he takes a seat against the large tree right in the center of the park.
Staring up at the sky through the branches of the tree Harold finally begins to feel at peace.
“Damn, I guess the noise was really getting to me again…”
Bringing his head back down, folding his arms, he closes his eyes to focus on his thinking.
‘I really should have expected that, huh? I’ve always had trouble keeping calm and thinking things through when surrounded by people’
“Gah, I really messed up in just jumping right in this” Grumbling under his breath, he continues on his train of thought.
‘There really are a lot more people on this than I had thought there would be. I was expecting a bit more time to relax before being tossed back into a big city kind of atmosphere like that’
Giving off a snort in wry amusement.
‘Still, why was that NPC so freaking irritated like that? I barely did anything before he just snapped’
Grumbling to himself and mulling it over in his mind.
‘Did that pissed off old man that left before I came in have anything to do with it? I didn’t think the AI would be so advanced as to be able to transfer grudges and annoyance like that..’
“Maybe…”
He mutters, before trailing off into silence.
‘Guess I’ll need to pay more attention and try and keep my cool in the future. May not matter since they’re not real, but that just means what they say shouldn’t matter to me to begin with!’
Happy to come to a good conclusion, his eyes snap open.
“Now that I think of it, that may even have been a good thing!”
Sudden outburst, a bird that had taken to resting within the branches above startled and fluttered off.
‘I mean, I got a quest out of it, and the rewards looked pretty good, a book I was interested in to begin with and a way to enter the Mages Guild member libraries! I don’t really know the difference that could make yet, but just having such a contrived way of starting this quest must mean it’ll be pretty good’
Starting to get fired up, he is quick to stand.
‘Now what did I need to do to complete this quest again? I was too mad and astonished to pay too much attention’
“Show quest requirements”
Having given the command, a transparent blue screen appears in front of him.
[Requirements: Gain a level of Fame in excess of 100 before returning to Darius’ shop.]
“Wait a minute..”
Displaying a confused face, he continues.
“How in the world am I going to get 100 fame!” Shouting this out.
“From what everywhere I looked said, you need to work your butt off to even get a couple points of fame from each quest! How am I supposed to get that much just from doing quests stuck in a city like this!”
Suddenly catching himself becoming annoyed and on the way to angry yet again, Harold is quick to force calm back over himself again.
“Damn, I’ll have to leave this for after I get passed the month long ban then”
He can only release a sigh in exasperation.
“Nothing to do about it, I’ll just have to check with other stores for information on magic and ask after becoming a mage first. After that I can get to work on gathering the needed fame”
Saying such, Harold had his course decided and heads out to find a different magic shop than the one owned by Darius.
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Being as he had chosen the Britten Alliance for the prevalence of magic users and mages, it did not take long before he found what he was looking for.
[You have been barred from the Mages Guild by Darius the Knowing!]
But as soon as he tried to open the door, a screen popped up in front of his face and his hand slipped from the handle no matter how much pressure he applied.
“What in the…?”
Startled, Harold keeps trying to open the door, failing each time.
“That couldn’t possibly mean” A horrifying realisation just begins to dawn upon him.
Spinning around, he rushes past a person on their way to the door he had just vacated.
“Watch it, fool!”
Harold ignores the harsh rebuke and continues on with an intense focus.
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A grey haired man sits slumped on a bench outside of a large wooden hall as the sun begins to set.
Looking haggard and holding his face with his hand, he gives off an aura of depression.
‘How could they all be part of the Mages Guild…..’
Heaving out a breath, Harold raises his hand and intones.
“Show Quest Log”
*Quests Undertaken*
*-Darius’ Blacklisting*
‘I guess I know why it’s called a blacklisting now… Not a one of them would let me in’
As Harold wallows in pity, there is a clattering of steps as someone rushes down the street.
“Haaaaah!”
Giving out an echoing yell, a young blonde haired man in beginners garb appears from further down the lane.
“You better be where you said you would Old Man!”
Shouting out, the young man sprints the last bit up to the large wood doors of the hall.
“I made it here before sundown! Now get out here and train me you miserable old coot!”
And immediately giving off rude commands, he begins pounding on the doors.
Just as he is about to strike one of the doors once more, the opposite one slams open.
“You Fool!”
A grizzled looking old war dog pounces out and smacks the young blonde down to the ground.
“Keep it down you idiot! Some people are trying to rest in peace!”
Rubbing his head the young man climbs back onto his feet.
“Ouch… You didn’t need to hit me so hard!”
And immediately sets in with childish complaints.
“‘Sides, you told me to come here you senile old fart! I got it all done and made back before sunset!”
Just as he had said, the sun was indeed barely still above the horizon.
“Hmph, so you did”
Moving to the side he holds the door open.
“What are you waiting for, an engraved invitation? Get in there and begin!”
Giving a shout of excitement, the young man rushes past and into the building.
Snorting, the older is about to turn around and enter after him as well when he notices the gloomy existence haunting the front of his hall.
“Oi, Kid”
Surprised to be addressed, Harold raises his head.
“Yeah I’m talking about you, what the hell you doing moping around like that, the young should be energetic like that fool”
The scarred old man speaks down, before breaking off into barely audible grumbles over moping around in front of a place like the hall.
“Oh, sorry about this, I’ll leave properly now”
Quickly standing, he moves to leave.
“Now who the hell said anything about you needing to leave! Get over here and tell me what the hell got you so damn depressed”
Growing somewhat angry, the man moves surprisingly quickly in order to keep Harold from leaving.
Heaving a sigh, Harold gives up on just leaving, preferring not to have a confrontation in his state.
“Alright, alright, I’ll talk with you, can I come in to speak? I’d rather not give a whole explanation in the middle of the street and you won’t let me leave…”
Satisfied, the older fellow leads Harold into the building. and as he closes the door the last ray of sun disappears as the sun finally sets.
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AN: Hope everyone likes this, I'm kinda proud.
If you have any suggestions or just feedback in general please feel free to leave it here.