Jack sighed as he woke up, rubbing his eyes. A dull ache throbbed in the back of his head as he slowly lumbered out of his bed, groaning unhappily as the angry rays of sunlight pierced his eyes. Slapping his face as he slowly woke up, Jack closed his eyes and inhaled, feeling the warm air inside of his house flood his lungs and escape with vigorous glee. Shivering slightly, Jack continued taking deep breaths, the dull pangs of fear echoing in his mind as he shook his head. He couldn’t remember what he had dreamed last night, but by the panic he was feeling it was probably a nightmare. Nightmare.... the word made him shudder as he flopped onto the soft bedding.
Tall creatures with elongated limbs, thick carapace like armor’s tinted a pitch black as light shimmered on their bodies. The narrow, pointed, reptilian fingers that we so often holding their races version of plasma rifles and other weapons. He could remember their eyes too, the small reddish-purple glows that emitted from the smooth sockets that were hidden behind their masks. Their mouth’s were filled with razor sharp teeth, the fang’s easily tearing though flesh and bone. Burying his head in his hands, he let the images drift though his mind. The cold battlefields, the lifeless bodies, the charred smoke that slowly rose off the corpses of soldiers and monster’s alike.
His psychologist told him it was normal to remember these things. That it was normal to be afraid every time he woke up, that it was normal to remember all the faces of the dead. However, he didn’t feel afraid. He didn’t remember all the faces. He didn’t feel normal. Apparently that was normal too. Jack snorted in disgust, he could hear the chucking voices of his squad in the back of his mind, ‘ah, it looks like the captain finally retired!’, ‘See Jacky-boy, I told you that you would be able to get back!’, ‘You don’t need to regret our death’s Sir, we chose them ourselves- leave us that honor.’. A small smile creeped up his face as he ‘listened’ to their voices, his eyes watering as he took a deep breath. He knew they were dead, he knew that they were never coming back. He knew it was his fault they died.... but he couldn’t help feeling guilty, despite how he knew they wouldn’t want him to regret how they fell in battle.
Closing his eyes, Jack prayed silently. He was never much of a religious man before the war. Then the war changed that.
Getting up and clearing his mind, Jack walked over to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from his refrigerator. Feeling the chilled water burn down his throat, Jack relaxed letting his thoughts drift away from the war. Even if it was for a short while- he wasn’t ready to remember. Looking around the kitchen, a small glint of light attracted his attention. Looking closer, Jack chuckled- he forgot about the capsule. Looking at the device, Jack paused. After leaving the Pod, he had put it into the back of his mind, and it was only now that he remembered that he had the device in the first place. Shrugging, Jack walked over to the smooth, silvery capsule, opening it with a smooth motion and moving to lay inside.
Jack was left in the darkness for a few moments as the capsule closed, the sounds of the outside world muted and subdued as he was left inside the darkness. Looking around Jack sighed, as he looked into the pitch black void around him. While he was gazing into the darkness, he noticed that he was missing a body, in fact when he ‘looked’ down he didn’t see his feet or anything else that would normally be associated with one’s physical form. Closing his ‘eye’s’ Jack forced himself to relax, quelling the feeling of disgust and panic that was seeping though his gut. This wasn’t the war, he was home, on Earth. Reminding himself of where and when he was a bright sound echoed in his ears ‘Ding!~’ and a text box appeared floating in front of him.
The scan on your biometrics has determined that you are an unregistered user.
Do you want to create a new account?
Pausing for a moment Jack spoke, his voice echoing strangely within the void around him, “Yes”. He tilted his head, or what would have been his head in real life, idly thinking about they system, ‘Why is there a calibration before actually registering? I wonder if its to test if the system is working?’ Another cheery ‘Ding!~’ interrupted him before he could continue that process of thought. With a sudden flash of light, the darkness around Jack contorted, the void shifting to a blank room as another popup appeared in front of him.
Welcome! Please select the name you want to be known as.
Jack winced and sighed, naming was never his forte. He was better at... well, anything other then naming. With a troubled expression he rubbed his chin, muttering quietly as he thought of something to call himself in this game. As he thought for a few moments another message appeared, Jack couldn’t help but think that there was a smug tone behind the words, seemingly amused by his lack of naming skills- but it was probably just him.
There is a random naming feature, do you want to use this?
Jack winced and sighed, naming was never his forte. He was better at... well, anything other then naming. With a troubled expression he rubbed his chin, muttering quietly as he thought of something to call himself in this game. As he thought for a few moments another message appeared, Jack couldn’t help but think that there was a smug tone behind the words, seemingly amused by his lack of naming skills- but it was probably just him.
There is a random naming feature, do you want to use this?
Shrugging Jack nodded as he replied, “Sure...?” his reply was tinged with a hint of a question as he looked at the blue screen curiously. Watching the screen ripple, Jack raised an eyebrow as a list of names appeared before him.
Please choose a name from this list, or pick another option for more names.
-Aithe
-Crow
-Crimson
-Arlen
-Rain
-Aelfric
-More Names
Looking at the list Jack winced as he saw the name Rain. It was only letters away from his last name ‘Rayn’ and the pronunciation was the same too. Shaking his head Jack looked back at the list, he wanted to make a new persona, to be someone who wouldn’t be trapped by the fears of his past. Looking at the names on the list, Jack took a deep breath, “Alright.... My name will be Aelfric then.” With a cheery ‘Ding!’ another window appeared, the previous list of names showing the name Aelfric in glowing letters before fading.
Select your gender from male, female or neutral.
Without any hesitation this time Jack spoke “I’ll be a Male.” He didn’t feel comfortable trying to pretend to be another gender in a Virtual Reality game. In fact, the ability to be another gender was something that was only recently added to games. There was a large stigma about playing as another gender in a game where the world was as realistic as life. It was something to deal with ‘romance’ in games, but Jack never cared about such things, despite how it was taught technology classes in schools.
Acea has many Races to play as. As a donator to the game Tier 2 races have been unlocked. As a stock holder to the company, Tier 1 through 3 races have been revoked, and access to Tier 4 races are available.
Please note that the previous Tiers have been revoked due to the privileges given to Tier 4 races.
-Dragonkin
-Gryphonkin
-Demon King
-Lord Vampire
-True Elf
-Random
-More Options
Looking at the list curiously Jack spoke, “Can I see the appearances of the races?” In reply to his words, several figures appeared around him. In front of Jack was someone who looked like a Lizardkin from most other games, thick scales covering his skin and membraned wings folded tightly to his back. Loosing interest with the character Jack looked to the left, seeing what looked like a normal human labeled Gryphonkin, however there were a few notable differences. First, his legs were birdlike with only three toes, and the head of the being was covered in feathers rather then hair.
Shaking his head Jack looked to the left once more, seeing the ‘True Vampire’ who was dressed in over exaggerated clothes. The vampire had sharp canines in his mouth, and looked like a normal human, however his eyes were tight slits and his nails looked like sharp claws. Next to the Vampire was an Elf, long hair trailed back behind him, tied into a pony tail. The Elf was slim, with little muscle on him, however the cleaver gleam in his eyes made Jack curious, the character model seemed to grin mockingly at the world around it and Jack blinked- did it just wink at him!?
Looking next to the Elf, Jack saw the ‘Demon’ race. He stood tall and proud with a cloak behind him, the demon’s thick horn’s pointing back behind him as they raised from the crown of his head. The demon’s eyes were tight snake like slits’s as well, thin membranes of... something covering the iris’s of the eyes in strange runic symbols. on the back of the demon were thin runes, seemingly there for decoration. Not seeing any race that particularly called out to him, Jack lazily moved his hand and pressed on the ‘More Option’s’ tab on the screen.
Random Option has been chosen! Choosing a random Tier 4 race from 15 choices!
Groaning as he saw a wheel appear in front of him, Jack could only watch as it spun. “W-wait! Stop! I meant to choose More Options!” the wheel made a soft dinging sound as Jack yelled stop, the situation making him groan as he rubbed his face unhappily. Watching the wheel spin, it slowly started to stop, the spinner slowly came to a rest on the race ‘Demon’. Sighing in annoyance Jack could only watch as the room shifted, showing a version of his avatar as new popup appeared in front of him. He wasn’t upset about pressing random by accident, well, he was, however what annoyed him the most was that the race shown was something the he had already seen. Out of fifteen possible races it was one of the five he had seen already! Grumbling in annoyance, Jack sighed, reading the next popup that appeared in front of him.
You may alter your appearance. Also because you are one of the first thousand players a slight amount of variation will be added to your character after you begin.
Looking at the character Jack spoke, “Can I go back?” only to have another popup appear in front of him.
At the end of the Character creation phase one may choose to restart if they don’t like the avatar that has been developed. This was done to help inspire curiosity on the various races available.
Sighing with resignation, Jack looked at the blank avatar once more. “Alright. Lets use my real body as a base then.” With those words spoken, a copy of his body appeared in front of him.
Jack’s avatar shifted, his form twisting as it grew to about 6 feet tall. The figure had gained black hair and bright green eyes, he was lean and well muscled, his hair’s light curls hanging over his head giving him a sleepy appearance. Jack’s face wasn’t ugly, however it wasn’t handsome either. On his face were small pocket-marked scars that were scattered around his cheek’s and neck. A thick scar on his arm trailed over to his chest, and several plasma scars his back showed the harrowing experiences in combat that he had been witness to. Across his chest was a thick scar that was usually seen when someone had their chest opened for surgeries- only far larger, the scar was a fine plasma line that started at his collar bone and ended at his waist. Looking at the large horn’s on the demon’s head, Jack grumbled, playing with the options and blinking in surprise as he ended up shrinking the thick horns into smaller nubs that were hidden by his hair. Pausing as he looked at his avatar Jack sighed, more so seeing what he could do with the character creation menu as he would recycle the demon for a different race when he was done.
Jack was surprised by how far one could customize the races, for this particular model he could not only choose the runes, he could manipulate his scar’s, mess with his eyes, and affect his bones? He blinked, looking at the option again. He had removed a majority of the scar’s from his face, leaving some of the burns on his neck to remind him of his past. Looking at the option, Jack paused he he started messing with the sliders, chuckling as his avatar seemed to deform and reform as he slid them about. Settling on the default settings of bone size and density, Jack looked down the list of sliders, what he guessed was a racial specific checkbox for the Demon Race. It was labeled, “Internal Horns”. Looking at it curiously, Jack held his finger over the text, reading a small window of text that opened up in front of him. By the looks of things, he could affect the horns on his Avatar’s head, and instead of having them grow outwards, they would influence his bones to slowly be made of the same material. Blinking again Jack exhaled slowly though his nose, thinking about it. Shrugging he pressed the check-box and closed the slider. “Alright, I’m done now.”
‘Ding!~’
Your account has been activated. There is no class system in game, and no level system, nor a stat system.
The world of Acea is dominated by Skills and player skill. All skills are able to be used with complete freedom, and will only minimally assist in the development of combat experience.
Jack nodded as he read the text, feeling a wave of nausea as his body shifted- his formless existence changing into the very avatar he created over the last few hours. Groaning as he stood up, Jack winced coughing as he slowly got used to the violent sensation. The fact that he was going to have to feel this again made him grumble unhappily as he looked at the empty void around him.
Select a city and kingdom you want to start.
Reading the text Jack looked at the list of names available to him, and looking at the brief ‘photo’s’ of the areas, he shook his head unhappily. It seemed like all the spawn locations available were hellish landscapes. Glad that he was almost done, Jack spoke, “Make it Random.” Jumping in surprise with the smooth tone of his voice, Jack blinked, while it sounded like he did normally, the commanding tone in his voice was something that he didn’t expect to hear. Testing a few more random words Jack paused, realizing that the tone was just part of this character’s voice. Thinking about it, Jack chuckled, it might have been his voice if he didn’t have all the scars in the real world.
Seeing the window fade, Jack spoke up once more, breaking away from his thoughts “Can I restart character creation?” only to experience a pure moment of silence around him before a new window appeared.
With apologies from Zenix, the servers are experiencing slight problems due to a DDOS attempt, there might be some lag with replies for the next fifteen minutes of accelerated time, however it will not affect gameplay. We can delete this character and allow a new one to be made, it will take 7 days before we can allow you to remake a character.The normal wait time for players is 30 days, however as a donator, you have the privilege of a lesser wait time.
Do you wish to delete this character?
Growling softly in the back of his throat Jack sighed, shaking his head in defeat. He wanted to play the game, and while he could wait, it wasn’t the end of the world if he didn’t get to see all the races the he could have played as. “No. I’ll try this character out and see where I end up.” At the very least he could always remake a new character if he didn’t like his current one. Waiting a moment before the next reply Jack paused wondering why someone would bother attacking the... no, he shook his head. People did things because they could, so trying to hack into the game wasn’t that much of a surprise. jumping in surprise as a new window appeared, Jack reflexively punched into the air in front of him, seeing a popup as he relaxed.
Before we begin please answer the following question. “ What do you want to do in this world, what is it you desire?”
Jack's face wrinkled and he thought for a moment, thinking about his life. He had fame, and it was more annoying then anything else. He was rich too, so he constantly had to deal with people trying to use his fame for some propaganda, and he never knew if he was being used for his money as his face was so well known. “Fame and Money always get’s in the way. I would rather live at my own pace and relax, there is a whole world to explore. I can see things never seen by others, fight monsters people have never heard whispers of... I think that is what I want.”
So your desire is to Adventure is this correct?
Jack nodded, “Yes.” chuckling mentally at the simplified version of what he said.
Fantastic! The Gods of this world are pleased to hear that. Few of the Travelers in our world want to actually see it. Before we send you on your way, as a Demon, you will be assigned a certain level of power and a domain. Your domain will be gained as you grow, however, your level of power will be randomly assigned to you.
Good Luck!
Pausing in surprise, Jack looked at a familiar wheel of fortune that appeared in front of him. Each option had the same space of the wheel, so there was an even chance to get any of them. Looking at the words, Jack tried to read them as the wheel spun. Words such as ‘Commoner’, ‘King’, ‘Prince’, ‘Noble’, ‘Baron’ ‘Hero’ and several others spun past his vision. Watching the wheel spin, the words form the popup sunk into his mind. The ‘Gods’ or rather the AI governing the game were monitoring new players? While he understood that they could, he couldn’t help but wonder why they bothered to message him.... well then again, it was a game, and he was playing a rare race. So some attention would be given to him, Jack supposed, however he doubted it would amount to anything greater then what he already saw. Looking at the spinning blur of the wheel Jack finally spoke, “Stop.” the Wheel starting to slow down as different words passed by. ‘Farmer’, ‘Woodsman’, ‘General’, ‘Commoner’. Watching the text move by, Jack cringed inwardly as he saw the word General, his vision shifting as he took deep breaths and closed his eyes, hearing the sounds of screams in the background, knowing full well what was coming as he fought against it.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
He was in a forest. Tall trees reached to the sky, brushing the clouds. The gentle light of the sun filtered though the leaves as the warm wind caressed his cheek. There were old stone ruins around him as he sat on a bench, the soft sounds of birds chirping calming him down.
Opening his eyes Jack was relieved to still be standing in front of the wheel. He knew he had some deep Trauma, however his psychologist had given him a way out. He could create a place where he could not be drawn into the void of his memories. He could spend time creating every detail of his own ‘place’ and in turn change his focus from the memories that threatened to overwhelm him. Looking at the wheel, Jack only managed to see the last fragments of it fade out of existence, leaving him without any idea as to what he had received. Looking around the darkness, Aelfric covered his eyes as the world twisted, another violent wave of nausea washing over him.
A bright flash of light surrounded Aelfric as the feeling of nausea faded, the feeling of a gentle wind brushed across his body as he inhaled warm summer air. He opened his eyes, not realizing that they closed as he looked about startled by the sudden change in scenery. He was in a small town by the looks of things, there was a large smithy by the name of "The Wayward Sword" in the center of town across from the local church. Several stores were around him, and directly in front of his was a well reaching deep into the ground. Pausing as he looked at the blue sky, Aelfric smiled slightly at his luck. From what he saw about the places he could spawn in, all of them were in a place named the ‘Realm of Purgatory’. Relaxing Aelfric noticed people walking down the streets talking amongst each other avidly, as he looked at them there was nothing to identify wether they were players or NPC’s. Sighing as he shook his head Aelfric sat down on the edge of the well and let himself breath the fresh air, looking at the bright blue sky with the sun shining directly overhead he smiled. Wondering what the ended up rolling on the ‘wheel of fortune’ Aelfric paused, speaking softly, “Status menu”
Nothing appeared.
Raising an eyebrow Aelfric sighed, and shrugged. He would figure out how things worked eventually, the game said that he was going to be stuck in town for the next three weeks, so there was no rush. Looking around he noticed a person look at a shimmering blue screen and walked over to the man. The man was an inch shorter then Aelfric was and had bright coffee-bean colored eyes, a large robe hung loosely over his body as clothing, and a tight shirt was underneath the robe. The man was an elderly figure using a staff to help him walk, he had wrinkles on his face with liver spots on his nose, and a wispy white beard on his face. Stepping next to the elder Aelfric spoke, “Excuse me sir, I am a foreigner in these lands and I have to ask, what was that blue screen I saw in from of you earlier?"
With a good natured chuckle the elderly man spoke, his voice a warm rasp, "Ah, that's a common piece of magic in these parts. Its called 'Self Identification', usually you need to awaken your magic talent to get it to show itself. However there are occasions I've heard about were warriors without a speck of magic talent manage to get the magic to activate." Pausing a moment the man looked Aelfric over, “Since you’re new in these lands, let me teach you a few things. You seem to have a healthy pool of magic already although it is latent. Come with me, I live in the library in town, so we can talk on the way there. My name is Verdai by the way." The man, Verdai turned and gestured for Aelfric to follow him as they walked through the towns alleyways, "My name is Aelfric sir." Smiling Verdai looked back, mischief in his eyes, "Aelfric Sir? A strange family name that is." Pausing to laugh at his joke Verdai smiled, "I joke of course, no need to call me sir all the time, Verdai is fine. I'll explain about that magic you noticed back there as we walk."
"That magic is rather useful to say the least. Normally everyone receives it on their coming of age ceremony, there are many exceptions though. This magic was originally made a wizard who was tired of having incapable assistants in his work, so he made it to view the ability of his students and see how much they knew and what they were able to do. Over time it was adjusted to be able o tell how healthy a person is, how much mana they have, and what skills they have learned. There used to be a numerical representation of a person’s body, however that was thrown out after being proven to be wildly inaccurate. How can you put ‘Wisdom’ in a numerical form? it’s nonsense! The only thing that can be measured with numbers now is the mana pool of a person, as International Researchers have developed a unit to measure magic- an ‘Ideal’. It is a theoretical term for how much energy it costs to fill a small, 6 centimerter marble with magic energy. This magic is now what is known as Self-Identification, and while the screen of it can be seen, as you noticed, the contents can't. Also it takes almost no magic power to use. There are several more magics on this tree, most used by monks to look into their bodies and identify poisons and illnesses." Walking up the increasingly steep incline with ease before arriving at a wall the mage casually pushed in a stone opening a large passage disappearing from view as Aelfric tried to catch up. Following Verdai, Aelfric walked up the incline slightly out of breath as he arrived at the top, and entered the now open passage into a large room and stopped inside the chamber, seeing the mage smiling as he waited, "Well, not fast, but quick enough, you should head over to train your stamina young man! You can’t let an old man manage to outpace you.” Chuckling at Aelfric, Verdai smiled letting him catch his breath before continuing, “Now then, when you gain access to Information magic you will have all things formatted in front of you in easy to read text, retrievable at any time. However, first you must activate your latent magic." Verdai took a deep breath and a blue wisp appeared, circling around his staff.
"Magic itself is a tad bit unpredictable, so I made this place to practice in when I was younger, it's actually under my house, but I made an entrance in the ally back there to make it easier to leave in case something went wrong in my magic experiments.” Verdai chuckled with a soft smile of his face as he remembered the past, grinning as he continued, “Now then, your lucky you know that? I'm surprised you never received this magic as a youth, it's fairly widespread in the world. Luckily cases like yours are not so uncommon that they can't be fixed. Just focus on the energy of the world around you and you should get the hang of it. You will know when a small panel will appear in front of you saying something like 'Magic Mastery' or the like. Information magic has already been imprinted on your body as soon as you came in contact with it, so you should learn Self-Identification as soon as you activate your mana pool. Of course, you can choose not to, and nobody will be able to identify you as you reject the magic, but that leads to it’s own problems.”
Nodding Aelfric took a seat as the magician left moving upstairs. "Just come on up when you get it, I'll start teaching you some important things about magic, after all it would be a sin to let another in the search for knowledge starve. Just try to meditate, you’ll be able to find where to start from there.” Verdai grinned as he started walking up the stairs, his voice echoing down from above, “I’ll get some tea going while you work. Maybe read a book” Aelfric nodded, thinking about the strange old man and mentally thanking him as he wondered what other players would be experiencing. Looking around the room, Aelfric let his eyes wander over the runic markings on the walls, various circles of runes on the ground and ceiling shimmering softly as they illuminated the area.
Sitting down, Aelfric closed his eyes, took a breath, and started to meditate. He sat there and listened, observant to the world and the flow of the air around him as he emptied his mind of thoughts. After a few hours of being in this in-between state Aelfric found himself falling asleep and shook himself trying to keep his body awake. As he opened his drowsy eyes, he was surprised to see a number of small multicolored motes of light floating around him. However as Aelfric focused on one it would disappear entirely and the others would brighten slightly. With a sudden ‘Ping’ sound, a blue screen popped up in front of him, startling him. With a yelp Aelfric fell backwards and looked at the message hovering in front of his face.
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experiance: Meditation Amature 5 5%
*Due to your efforts you have managed to maintain a being of calm. You will regenerate magic and heal 50% faster in this state and hunger will decrease 50% slower, as you practice more Meditation will become more effective.
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experiance: Magic Manipulation Amature 1 2%
*Through your efforts of meditation you have noticed magic energy in the world! Thanks to this you may now manipulate magic and gain affinity to the elements. You may now access the self-information magic 'Status Window'! This magic will keep up with the changes that occur over time and permanent bonus effects will be shown in this window as well.
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experiance: True Sight Amature 2 3%
*You can see magic itself. You can not turn off this skill and as you become more proficient in it you will be able to copy spells by seeing how they are organized. Be careful, seeing magic too high above your capabilities may leave you stunned and blinded if you look at it too long- it can even drive someone inexperienced insane.
Smiling at the windows in front of him Aelfric groaned sleepily, “ugh... I wish Verdai told me that this would make me so groggy....” Standing up Aelfric stretched, slapping his cheeks as he woke himself up idly thinking to himself. ‘I wonder how the warrior classes will be able to see their abilities.... or do they not need to?’ Pausing at the thought he shrugged, more interested in what he could see about himself. Speaking in a soft tone, Aelfric activated his Status Window, feeling a bit silly if he was going to need to chant every spells name. "Status Window”, in a glimmer of light another screen appeared in front of him, it was only now that he noticed that the other windows were still opened. With his vision crowded by all the screens Aelfric pushed at the windows and dismissed them by touch leaving only his Status Window open.
Status Window Name: Aelfric Alignment: Neutral Race: Demon (Human) Gender: Male Titles: "He Who is a King" Fame: 0 Infamy: 0 Health and Mana Health: Perfect Mana: 300/300 Affinities Light 0% Fire 0% Earth 0% Dark 0% Water 0% Wind 0%
Looking at his stats Aelfric paused, unable to figure out if they were any good or not. His health was in ‘perfect’ condition, which meant that he was feeling fine without any injuries. He did have a mana pool of 300... ideals? he paused, thinking back to Verdai’s lecture. Nodding, Aelfric remembered the term, Ideals. He seemed to have no particular affinity, but that meant little to him. The only particular part of his status that stood out was the Title that he had. Looking at the title, ’He who is a King’ Aelfric almost laughed. Shaking his head he tapped on the title, curious as to what is meant, only to have nothing occur. With a heavy sigh he shrugged his shoulders, Jack leaning against the wall as he thought about his character and if it was a good idea to keep playing as Aelfric. He had what seemed to be a good start, and besides that he was in the library, so he could at the very least get some information about the world and where to head next.
Dismissing the window Aelfric walked to the elegantly carved wooden stairs and moved up them, each step making them creak softly under his weight. Grumbling at the sound, Aelfric shook his head, trying to ignore it as he entered the main room of Verdai’s library. Looking around he could see small motes of light moving around the room thanks to his True Sight, the motes shifting about in complex formations, the depth of such formations almost dragging Aelfric into them. He pulled his gaze away, while they looked beautiful and had such depth to them, they had no use for someone who had no idea what he was looking at. Continuing with his idle observation’s, Aelfric noticed that he entered what looked to be a library. Looking at the tall walls of books, his gaze was soon drawn to the mage sitting down reading a book with a bowl of bread in front of him, and a pair of hot cups of what looked like Tea next to him. Peering over his book the old man's face wrinkled in a genuine smile, "3 hours. Either you gave up or you're done.” Pausing to look closer at Aelfric’s wide eyes Verdai chuckled, “By the amazed look on your face I assume its the latter. So tell me, what did you learn? I forgot to mention to you that you will learn another two skills besides Magic Manipulation. One should be Meditation, which is the foundation of all magic, even magic manipulation originates from meditation... but I didn’t tell you that.” Chuckling softly Verdai sat up eagerly, closing his book and looking at Aelfric, “So, what was the third skill you learned then? I’m rather curious as it tends to be unique from person to person.” Verdai eagerly waved Aelfric over, motioning to a chair "Don't be slow now! Have some tea while you’re at it too!” Sitting next to the old wizard Aelfric looked at the book Verdai was reading, the thick text labled "The Nature of Magic". Opening his mouth to ask about the book, a loud rumble escaped from his stomach. Laughing Verdai passed Aelfric a loaf of bread, "Learning new things makes one hungry doesn't it? Eat your fill and then you can satisfy an old mans curiosity." Nodding Aelfric hungrily bit into the small loaf of bread, it was about the size of his hand but as he devoured it he noticed it was surprisingly filling. With a final gulp the last of that loaf disappeared from his hands and Aelfric spoke, "I received a skill named True sight. It lets me see magic, wether I want to or not apparently."
With a happy smile Virdai chuckled, "That's a nice skill to have as an early magician like yourself. So before we continue, let me tell you about how the ’levels of Magic’ are in this land. Well, more so what the titles associated with a person’s skills would be. Anyone who uses magic is a magician in general. From there terms start to become much more specialized depending on what one choses to research and learn. For example a Pries would focus on Holy and Light magics, dealing more with healing and exorcising spirits then elemental magics. Other titles would be names like Wizard, Sage, and Bard for example. There are many, many more, but you will learn about that later when you start reading. All these titles are just names to be honest. Real practitioners of magic use everything available, from music to weapons, so don’t let yourself be categorized within your own mind. Try to keep yourself open to new concepts of magic.” Pausing, Verdai took a sip of his tea, dipping his bread into it and eating it before continuing, “The skill you have, True Sight that is, is something that will be make teaching you much easier." Aelfric looked at Verdai startled, "Teach me?" Still smiling the magician fiddled with his book, "Of course! You just started to learn magic, the last thing I want is for you to blow yourself up- or the town for that matter! So I will teach you the basics, and you can grow from there. If you do well enough, I might even make you my apprentice!” Verdai laughed as he grinned mischievously at Aelfric, “I'm giving you a free pass to learn some magic, normally this is a few gold, but you are definitely intelligent enough to understand what I want to teach, and even if you’re not, your eyes will let you learn anyways. Besides that, your young and probably someone who will want travel the world, so you can share any interesting things you discover with me when you come back to town and rest.” Smiling the elder stood up motioning for Aelfric to follow. The two moved down the library like room, and it was only now that Aelfric realized it was a hallway. Opening a door into a moderately sized room Verdai spoke,"This will be your room while you are learning under me, I don't particularly care for honorifics so call me by my name if you have a question. I'll teach you tomorrow morning, so relax. It takes a bit out of a person when they first access their magic pool.” Closing the door after ushering Aelfric inside, Verdai chuckled as he left, his bright smile changing to a more worried and curious expression, “Otherworlders huh...?”
Sitting on the bed Aelfric sighed, He did feel a bit sore from his experience today. Verdai was right, now that he thought about it, activating his mana pool felt as if he lit a fire within him, and his body had to suddenly adjust to the influx of energy that it provided. If he had to think of an analogy, he would think of it as similar to when exercising you will gain a burst of energy, however after this burst your body gets incredibly sore. It was something similar to this, only the soreness came with the energy, and made him want to sleep more then anything else. laying back on the bed Aelfric closed his eyes, pulling up the status screen and opening the options menu, deciding now was a good time to log out and and take a shower. Yawning as he opened his mouth, he spoke the words "Log out”.
We apologize for the inconvenience, however it is unsafe to open the capsule for the next UNKNOWN period of time. Your body is being cared for, and this option will be temporarily disabled until UNKOWN time passes, and it is safe to exit the capsule.
Opening his eyes, Aelfric looked at the message, too shocked to make heads or tails out of it.