( ... ) - Inner thoughts
" ... " - Speech/Conversation etc..
*... * - Sound effects etc...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking around, he could see the boundless sea spreading beyond the horizons with the endless sky above. His virtual body felt surprisingly normal as if his real body was in the game. The voice in the sky continued the questioning for his set up.
"What race do you wish to become?"
(I wonder how I would look like in the various races...)
As if responding to my thoughts, various bodies appeared in front of me, showing off their features and builds.
The human boy looked exactly the same as me, the male elf with long smooth flowing blond hair, taller stature and sharper face was indisputably more handsome than my human one, although not by a very far margin. The dwarf had a very large beard and short stature, somewhat chubby though and finally the orc was brutish, with razor sharp teeth, no hair and grey skin.
(Now that is a hard question... Hmm.. According to the company's website, humans are the most versatile race, while elves generally look better and have stronger affinity for magic... Argh... I'm still single after so many years.. Maybe if I choose the better looking elf....)
"Elf."
"You will not be able to change your race after you finalise your choice unless you unlock a special race, is elf your final choice?"
(Hahaha I'm just choosing elves for their higher magic affinity, yes that's right, not because it looks better...)
I tried to convince myself that but it made me feel so shameless.
"No, I wish to be human."
"Is human your final choice?"
"Yes."
"Your attributes and magic affinity will be based on luck and rolled when you enter one of the beginner towns, Teris of Davrain Kingdom, Hails Port of the Yoldart Empire and Zenrith of the Holy Union which beginner town do you wish to go to?"
(No point thinking too much about where to go, let luck decide for me!)
"Random."
"You will be given 1 silver, 10 loafs of bread and a 1 litre water canteen to start your adventure, all the best adventurer."
"Thank you!"
(Wait.. Why did I even say thanks to an A.I )
Light illuminated brightly in front of me, causing me to forcibly shut my eyes and all of a sudden I start hearing a myriad of sounds, from common folk NPCs [Non-Player Characters] advertising their wares to other human players chatting amongst themselves. With a quick turn of my head, I can see plenty others just like me, stunned at the first sight of this surrealism.
System:
You have arrived at Teris of Davrain Kingdom.
Teris was a small square town, where one can see the town gates at both the north and south ends as long as they stood near the fountain at the center of the town.
It was quite easy to distinguish the players from the NPCs considering most of us are still wearing the basic leather shirt and pants with basic boots, given that it has only been merely 3 hours since the game first started, I doubt anyone could achieve a feat fast enough to blend in with the common folk.
The sight of the lines of shops filled with both players and NPCs as well as the huge forest in the distance beyond the town gates made me clench my fists in excitement, I am finally going to start my adventure!
(First things first, I need to check my stats, hopefully I have enough luck to get good stats and affinity, sigh)
"Status"
Name: Ripple
Race: Human
Level: 1
Class: None
Affiliation: Neutral
Family: None
Title: None
FAME: 0
Money: 0G 1S 0C
HP: 100/100
MP: 100/100
Attack: 5
Defense: 10
STR: 5
DEX: 5
LUK: 20
INT: 10
Affinity: 0%
(Argh, why is my STR and DEX stat so low, does the game want me to be a weakling?...WOW my LUK is superb! ... INT is average.. EHHH!? 0% AFFINITY?!)
(According to the company website, the average affinity should be 50% of a specific element with the lowest roughly at 20%, how am I breaking the lowest barrier and achieving this "glorious" feat of having 0%... Such great LUK indeed... Tsk, I spent so much money just to basically be given the middle finger by the game, without any affinity I can't cast any spells at all, I still have to find ways to earn money too... Maybe I should auction this headgear up...)
Sighing inwardly, I decided to check out the game further before doing anything rash. As I walked past the fountain at the center of the city and past a few rows of stalls, I heard a sniffle from a side valley between two rows of stalls.
Seeing as it could be a quest, the curiosity and greed found the better of me as I head straight into the valley to find a young girl, roughly the age of 12, with blue hair, in tatters leaning against the wall crying. Pieces of her shirt had been torn off and her pants has multiple holes in them, with dirt and mud on her face, clothes as well as her disheveled hair.
(Hmm, should I talk normally or would I need to talk politely to raise intimacy with this NPC.. Oh well..)
"Hi there, do you need any help?"
She looked at me with her pretty deep blue eyes and answered: "Wehh, *sniffle* Terrence and the other boys bullied me and stole my money."
(Wow, NPCs going around bullying, this is even more realistic than I thought. Kind of brings up some bitter memories of the past though...)
"How about I bring you back home to your parents? Are you able to walk?"
"Can you really? But I can't go home without getting groceries, I shouldn't have tried to go buy them by myself."
And with that she starts crying again.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
(I wonder how much she lost, maybe I can give her some money, though I'm not sure how much would be enough for her to buy some groceries..)
"I can spare you some money and I promise to protect you the best I can, have no worries, I will return you safe and sound."
(Wow, I sound like those typical white knight guys.. Makes me feel like punching myself.)
I tried to give her a warm smile as I replied to help her calm down and trust in me and for some reason she blushed slightly.
(Wait, no no no no.. That was not intentional, I am not a pedophile.) I tried to reassure myself.
*DING*
Quest:
Julia's Plight
Difficulty: F-
Details: Julia has been bullied in the alleyway and the money she was given to buy groceries with, you are tasked to spare her 50 coppers to buy groceries and to bring her home to seek treatment and rest.
Rewards: Unknown
Upon Failure: Fame -1, Intimacy with Julia -15, Intimacy with Teris Residents -10
(EHHHHHH, that's more like my plight, what are these absurd "rewards" for failure... Oh well it shouldn't be too hard since it is ranked F- which is the lowest possible rank. There shouldn't be any problems bringing her home since I am in town so there aren't any monsters around and I have 1 silver, more than enough to let her buy some groceries.)
{100 coppers = 1 silver, 100silver = 1 gold}
Granting a hand for her to lift herself up, she continued to blush and hurriedly brushed off the dust with her free hand and continued to grip my hand tightly as I passed her 50 coppers and asked for her to show me the way to the store for groceries..
*Ding*
System:
+1 Intimacy with Julia
(Eh, now it just looks as if I am doing this on purpose. Hmm..Looks like it was pretty bad for her to be scared enough to hold on to me so tightly though... What kind of rascals will do such a thing to such a cute little girl..)
As if reading my mind, three young boys approximately the age of 12 to 14 appeared before me and blocked the way out of the valley.
"Oh still here are you? Guess we haven't taught you well enough to stop appearing near us, filth. I will definitely beat this discipline into you today, if not, my name isn't Terrence." Says the tallest one in the center.
(Well that's a bit cliché...)
The three of them all had brown hair and black eyes, with the Terrence looking like a tub of blubber where I can barely just put my arms around his waist if I tried to, the other two chubs are also pretty much what you can label as fat.
"Get out of the way old man!" says Terrence.
(Ugh...)
That dealt a heavy mental blow to me as I was always minding my age.
Something ticked inside my head and anger surged forth as veins popped out across my forehead.
"Oi fatstuffs, stop picking on her. Are you sadists? Go lose some weight instead of bullying people, get your priorities straight."
Calming down after thrash talking them, I was surprised by my own words, to think I would resort to verbally abusing kids.
I think I hit the mark as all three start to fume mad, I could have sworn I saw steam coming out from their red faces. A weird thought struck me, I had a weird feeling that their fats were boiling inside them and could start deep-frying their insides.
*Ding*
System:
By enjoying the sorrows of others you have gained a new attribute: Sadism.
Sadism +1
(WAIT WAIT!!! WHY AM I THE SADIST NOW,SINCE WHEN DID I ENJOY THAT? BESIDES, NONE OF IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED. IS THIS GAME REALLY TRYING TO MAKE ME MAD?)
Afterwards, well to say the least, the matter was handled pretty easily. The boys were much too slow given how fat they were, however it helped ease part of their pain acting like a layer of armor. They still pack quite a punch when it lands though. Still, learning that my already weak punches with my low strength were even less effective, I chose the next best form of attack, pinching. I dodge their flat flobs of meat they call arms and proceeded to pinch the living day lights out of their faces and bodies. By the end of the fight, they were begging me not to pinch them any further and apologised, agreeing never to disturb the girl ever again. I just stood there laughing as I continued pinching while they cried, before I decided that they really learnt their lesson and reluctantly stopped.
*DING*
System:
Sadism +1
Title obtained: (Master Pincher)
DEX +2
Damage +5 (when pinching)
(EHHHHHH, my god, I am becoming more sadistic and why is my first title so ridiculous ... I want to cry... The game is making fun of me for sure.. Sigh, at least the damage increase is good, disregarding the name..)
*DING*
System:
For being the third to obtain a title, FAME +1, ALL BASE STATS +5.
(Wow, someone managed to get a title earlier than me? It's only been a few hours. Oh well, the stat increase is fantastic, I wonder how much the first to obtain a title gained.)
"Status"
Name: Ripple
Race: Human
Level: 1
Class: None
Affiliation: Neutral
Family: None
Title: Master Pincher
FAME: 1
Money: 0G 0S 50C
HP: 100/100
MP: 100/100
Attack: 10 (+2 when pinching)
Defense: 10
STR: 5 (+5)
DEX: 5 (+7)
LUK: 20 (+5)
INT: 10 (+5)
Sadism: 2
Affinity: 0%
----------------------------------------
I have yet to learn how to use tables so currently everything will be in text, but if anyone thinks that it is messy, I will try to change it.