A television flickered to life in the dark as a man watched the screen, a pile of papers on his desk showing various graphs and charts. Hearing the newscaster, a tall blond woman, speak the man’s attention was drawn from his paperwork as he paused in his work. “Today there was a recall for the game ‘ACEA’. In the space of twenty four hours over five million people have been locked in their capsules. Reports say that there was a case of hacking in the POD’s that were used with the game, locking players inside as the external world was considered a ‘hazardous’ environment. Experts in Virtual technologies are voicing complaints and many are testing POD technology to see if they can find a way to forcibly eject the million’s of stranded players. Furthermore Zenix has declared bankruptcy and all employees have arrest warrants. If you see any Xenix Employee, please report them to the local Police station. The following is a link to all known Employees from the company....” The man exhaled slowly though his nose, waving a hand as he changed to a conference call. The screen twisted, showing static as another voice spilled out of the speakers, “So far all is going as planned. We are enacting the Ascension, for the survival of Humanity we will do what we must.” With those words the room was left in darkness once more, the shadow covered man sighed, shaking his head silently.
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It was the early hours of the morning, small birds flew outside and the sun was just peeking over the tree covered horizon. The moons were setting behind the large mountain range behind the village, and the large shadows created by the many buildings were steadily shortening. One moon was a deep blue in color, and the other was a soft green, their light fading as the sun illuminated the world. It was inside a strange building Aelfric resided, it was a tall and twisted structure, build with a firm foundation yet somehow looking twisted, the building was home to an elderly magician who was looking for a worthy successor to his magics, and it also served as the town library. The base of the building itself was similar to a large library, many rooms inside filled with bookshelves and books all gathered by various travelers and the elder who lived within the town. In the main hall of the building a staircase wond upwards into the air, reaching to the sky as it opened ip into a pavilion where the cold cobblestone made firm footholds for those looking to observe the stars at night. The main room of the building was rather large in design and served as the ‘library’, it held thousands of books, each stacked and placed on every surface and had an arching celling that reached big enough to make one think that the building was in fact two floors tall. This place was known as the Grand Library within the town, residents called it such not because the building deserved the title but because it was the only library in town, and often the only library they would ever see. Inside the building's main room something similar to a couch, a table, and a person resided. It was here that the person, an old man with wispy white hair and a pair of spectacles, was sleeping with a book resting on his chest.
Slowly getting up and grumbling Verdai muttered. "Curse time and how it ages these old bones. How I wish I was young again, at least I found a promising student.... Actually..." as he trailed off the elder chuckled darkly as he groaned getting out of his chair, his bones creaking softly. He was allowed to humor himself from time to time, he reasoned to himself as he walked. Casually and deftly the magician moved through the ocean of knowledge round him and walked into the open hallway, a blissful silence filled the hall almost filled with regret knowing the event that was about to occur. Smiling lightheartedly the old man walked into the room he lent Aelfric and pointed above his head. It was there that water gathered and congealed into a spherical mass the size of an apple. With a snap the water cooled rapidly, the air shimmering as it chilled, and following a downward motion of Verdai's finger in a theatrical motion, the water dropped onto Aelfric's face.
'COLD'. That was the first thought Aelfric had when he woke with a startled screech, the shadowy clouds of his dreams quickly escaping his thoughts as he shivered. Sitting up, Aelfric gasped rubbing his wet face and blindly swinging into the air with a punch before stopping. He was dreaming about something, he just couldn't remember what it was... and maybe that was a good thing, it didn’t feel like much of a good dream judging by the queasy feeling in his gut. "ah, it brings joy to an old man to see faces like that every once in a while." Verdai laughed deeply and smiled at the startled face Aelfric was wearing. Looking at he elder Aelfric spluttered, "Wai- what?" his voice a mix of confusion, sleepyness, rage, and more confusion, the syllables of his words shifting as his emotions changed. Chuckling Verdai walked out of the room and spoke, "Aelfric follow me. Dry your face off as well, the books don't do well with water. ” Wiping his face on an arm Aelfric stood up grumbling softly before the reality of the situation took root within his thoughts. His mind started racing as he remembered that he couldn't log out. Thoughts of what happened to cause him to get stuck in game echoed though his mind, some darker then others. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head. He didn’t know what was happening, however he was alive. If he was able to be playing the game, then he was still breathing. Now it was a matter of being rescued by authorities. Most if not all VRMMORPG games tended to lock the user out for a specified time if they were inside too long as well, it was a health rule established to prevent starvation deaths while playing these games. So at most he would have to wait five days in game before he would be kicked out... hopefully. Deciding to push that thought off Aelfric followed Verdai out of the room and walked down the hall, forcing himself to calm down. Entering a large open room Aelfric gasped, the amount of books inside was absurd, and ladders led up the bookshelves into a seemingly infinite space, it was here that he vaguely remembered that the buildings largest part was here and couldn't be taller then two stories high... well, save the observation tower, but that didn’t count. Looking at Verdai he saw a book fall into the old man's hands from the shelves far above him, "It's nice seeing an amazed look like that when someone gets a peek at my library. It's a pity I can't see such faces as often now." With a bright and happy face Verdai walked over to Aelfric and placed the book in his hands, and grinned watching him almost fall over due to the weight. Looking at the book Aelfric opened his mouth, "It's heavy."
Still smiling Verdai spoke, "Of course it is. Bet you thought a book as thick as your arm would weigh as much as a cat ehh? What you're experiencing is known as 'The weight of knowledge'. Now I want you to read the book and learn the basic magics from it, don't worry it was hand written by me when I was younger so it's something you should get an easy grasp on. If you have an issue on a particular subject ask me, I can demonstrate it to you and you can take a look at how the magic works with your True Sight. Now go on~, I have to clean up this place. A new shipment of books needs to be organized.” As Aelfric turned Verdai spoke up, as if remembering an afterthought, "OH yeah! One more thing, here. This should make it easy for you to remember what your doing and how far you're progressing. "
Quest: Learn the basic magics The elder Wizard Verdai has decided that he wan't to teach you magic. Having received a book written by him you are tasked to gain some sort of understanding of magic.
Difficulty: G Conditions for failure:
-None... You can't fail this. He won’t let you.
Conditions for completion:
- Gain an understanding of the following magics.
-Earth 0%
-Wind 0%
-Fire 0%
-Water 0%
-Light 0%
-Dark 0%
-Healing 0% Rewards: Be (openly) acknolaged as Verdai's student
Looking at the window Aelfric grinned slightly, the game like screen relaxing his sight nervousness, 'So they have do have quests...' his thoughts were interrupted by Verdai's energetic voice, "Aelfric, as you have only received Information magic the other day I thought it would be a good idea to show you one of the most common uses for it. This Magic can give you entries that will track and manage what you do as you complete them, this is something that is similar to an insurance policy. It shows that the deed you have agreed to do was actually done, not lied about. Also it will update based on your knowledge and adjust itself accordingly." Takeing a breath the old man paused, smiling eagerly, "The ranks for tasks vary, however they normally follow this line, G, F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, X and so on. On some occasions you may have a plus next to the quest indicating it to be above its rank difficulty, but bellow the next rank in difficulty."Pausing to make sure that Aelfric understood Verdai continued, "This is a rather useful magic, however it does have limits. A normal person can only carry about 3 tasks at a time, while there are some exceptions to this rule, generally you can only have three ‘normal’ tasks. This was made so that people don't accept more tasks then they can accomplish and get overwhelmed by the amount of work they must do. Now go! I have work to do.” With that Verdai disappeared into a mass of books. Shaking his head Jack couldn't help but be amazed by how energetic the old man was. He looked as if he was well over a hundred, however he was running about and held as much energy as a toddler! Returning his attention to the screen in front of him, Aelfric nodded, "Alright then. Lets get started."
You have accepted the quest.
You have 2 task slots open, this message will not appear again.
Walking into his room Aelfric set the heavy book down on the desk near the window and sat in the chair. Looking up he sighed, Well, the logout thing was probably a glitch so a GM would fix it and force everyone to log out... assuming it was a problem with everyone. If it was a problem with just him, then he would have to wait as he didn’t see a contact GM option when he was looking for the logout button earlier- something that acted as a slight nagging worry in Jack's mind. Taking a deep breath, Aelfric opened the book to see walls of unidentifiable symbols, forcing him to stare at the page blankly. It wasn't in any language he knew. Closing his eyes Aelfric looked closer at the page and noticed the symbols start to shift and change on areas he wasn't directly looking at, it was these areas of the page he could actually read. With a sigh Aelfric started working, rubbing his eyes as he already felt the ache that he would be feeling in a few hours, it was going to be a long day.
After several hours of reading Aelfric was finished with the first of the 7 chapters in the book, his mind spinning as he processed the information. The ‘introduction’ (which wasn’t even a chapter), introduced magic as an energy that one could manipulate with a foci, most people had a foci inside their bodies, however staves and wands helped alleviate the strain and would often work for people who lacked an internal Foci. The first real chapter in the book was about light magic and how it reacted with other substances, making it capable of casting illusion magic that was peerless to the illusions that other magics could make. It was mentioned that magic types such as Alteration, Illusion, and Conjuration were not limited to certain elements, however they were easier to use with certain elements. For example, a magician specializing in healing magic could still hurt people with their magic, they could ‘over-heal’ a person, and in turn cause tumors and other growths from the body, or make the body think it was normal to only have one arm- effectively removing an entire limb from a person and making it useless to try and heal. Stretching his arms Aelfric looked off the page for the first time in hours and a screen formed in front of him.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experience: Focus Passive N/A N/A Due to your consistent and unwavering concentration on your work, you have gained the skill to focus with ease. This skill will allow you to learn things faster with a 5% bonus to skill experience and allow you to read at a faster pace.
Waving the window away Aelfric smiled slightly, that was an unexpected surprise- and a good one at that. The skill would at the very least assist in his learning. Even though he had no idea how it worked, Aelfric figrued he could read into it later and ask Verdai. Having finished learning about light magic from the first seven chapters, Aelfric focused on the air willing Light Mote's to form in front of him. Small white motes gathered and formed a small orb the size of a pool ball in front of Aelfric's finger, each mote dancing to his will, attracted by the raw mana that he had emited above his finger. grinning Aelfric made a quiet fist pump at his success. Who needed torches when you can conjure your own light?
Looking to his side he noticed a small basket of bread and looked behind him at the shut door. Verdai must have slipped in and gave him some food when he didn't notice grabbign the bread, Aelfric bit into it and mucnched on the cheese next to it in the basket. For the next 5 days Aelfric studied the book and gained an understanding of each element, it was rudimentary, but was more of a starting point then most mages got. Verdai slipped into his room and told him about how a majority of Magicians thought reading books were beneath them, and that they should only reasearch their own magics- wighout bothering to see if it was already looked into by another mage. Not that Aelfric particularly cared, he was going to live his life how he wanted, and he was going to enjoy it. Having learned some of the magics that the book had taught, Aelfric had gained several spells, the list was shown in a tab when he pulled out his status window.
Aelfric's Spells Incude -Light orb
-Shadow cloak
-fire
-earth ball
-water ball
-gust
-healing touch
It was a short list, but the spells were all useful in their own way. Besides that, each spell was the basic spell any mage would have. Now they would evolve based on his reasearch and effort in creating them. Also, while he was learning from the book, Aelfric learned just how magic worked. A single spell would cost a single Ideal to summon. Most mages only had about 50 ideal's worth of magic power in their bodies before they started training.
Aelfric had 300 Ideals worth of magic residing within his body. The thought of such power startled him, and made him nervous as he thought about what he could do with so much energy was at his disposal. It was uncomfortable knowing that you were able to launch such powerful magics at any moment- and that he might end up blowing himself up if he messes up on a spell. While most would say that having a large mana pool was a powerful tool -and it was- it was also just as dangerous to the caster.
And this wasn’t even touching on the diseases that applied only to those with high mana densities.
Having studied for five days straight Aelfric was dead tired, his eyes bloodshot as he struggled to stay awake. Walking out of his room with black circles under his eyes Aelfric entered the main library where Verdai was sitting. "I finished the book. Please give me something in normal language next time."
Smiling Verdai looked at Aelfric, "Well, I didn't expect you to stay up for five nights to read that book. Honestly, you could have slept. I wasn’t expecting you to read it all at once! And you were able to read it right? So don’t complain about that, mages tend to code their knowledge.... something of an old habit form the past.” shaking his head Verdai continued, "Get some sleep you did well. I was expecting you to finish next week, but as you decided to speed ahead of things, I’m going to have to do some work and make an exam for you tomorow.”
Turning back to the hallway Aelfric lumbered into his room and collapsed on the bed. He fell asleep on the spot and failed to notice the 3 messages floating above him.
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experience: Speed Reading Amateur 5 5% You can now read books 150% faster.
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experience: Multilingual Amateur 4 26% Due to your efforts you now have an easier time learning languages.
Languages known:
Common 100%
Abyssal 100%
Runic 100%
Skill Name: Skill Rank: Skill Level: Skill Experience: Basic Understanding of Magic Passive Passive Passive Because of your research into magic and its nature you may now combine elements and create new types of magic. Be aware that this is a basic requirement for all who want to forge their own path in the world of magic. Also You have a 5% chance to activate this skill that will allow you to cast a spell without any cost of Mana.
The next morning Aelfric woke up from a dreamless sleep, he didn't even bother trying to log out. Five days had passed, and he was still in the game. Reality hit home for Jack as he relaxed, a strange feeling of relief spreading over him. This was nothing considered to when he was in the military fight against Those Things. He was alive and breathing, that was all that mattered- in fact, if anything he didn’t want to go back, a part of him felt like it was cowardly to think such a thing, however this was much better then sitting around his house all the time. Slowly getting up Aelfric looked at the messages clustering his vision and read them before curtly nodding his head. "ughng... I need Slllleepp...” With a casual gesture he waved the screens away and left his room and picked up the book Verdai lent him. Walking down the hallway sluggishly Aelfric idly wondered what Verdai was planning, he didn’t know much about the old man, other then that he was strangely generous. As such, a deep rooted, more suspicious part of Jack couldn’t help but think that the elder was up to something. Entering the Main library Aelfric stopped stunned, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
The Library had a floor.
The books that were normally strew about were placed wherever they were supposed to be and the room was spotless. On the leather couch was Verdai, the old man looked at Aelfric and smiled warmly, “Congratulations on learning the basic’s of magic, although I do admit, I expected you to take a month or so before you got the basics down.” Pausing Verdai chuckled lightly, “Well, who am I to be complaining about a good student. Your path is your own, and how you develop will be up to you after your final test from me- think of it as a good bye present.” Standing up Verdai looked at Aelfric and the book that had been glued to his hand the last few days, "So, your final test is to put the book on the table over there. That's all. Good Luck!" Verdai smiled as he pointed tot he table next to him and gestured impatiently for Aelfric act. Looking suspiciously at the small night-table Aelfric narrowed his eyes, his True Sight looking at the many blinding magic formations in the room and glancing over them as he wrinkled his brow. With all the magic running around in the library it was impossible for him to see anything specific, it was like trying to see when you first stepped into sunlight after being in the dark for a long time. With a deep breath, Jack gathered non-elemental motes and formed a light sphere around himself, the shield acting erratic and flickering at times as he moved closer to the table. It was an idea he got when he looked at Verdai a moment ago. The old man had a fine shield around him composed of similar motes, only the way they moved was far more complex. While he doubted he would get a skill for making this partially completed version, Aelfric hoped that the old man didn’t put anything dangerous to prevent him from finishing this ‘test’. Moving to the table, Aelfric felt something shift around him, as if he entered a bubble of magic. Preparing himself, he felt his pathetic excuse for a shield flicker out of existence as the book was placed on the table, a wave of Anti-Magic canceling his spell. Looking down at the table, Aelfric felt a thrumming in his chest and jumped back, hearing the stifled sounds of Verdai chuckling behind him. Feeling the thrum ebb and fade away, Jack paused.
Nothing happened.
It was rather anticlimactic to say the least. Looking at Verdai in confusion, the crisp sound of the elders laugh echoed in the room, a thick grin of amusement on his face. "Anticlimactic isn’t it? I put up some slight effects and a tiny wave of Ani-magic and you get all terrified over nothing!” Aelfric looked at Verdai even more confused as the old man continued, trying to stifle the laughter that was escapign in bursts now, "I would like to tell you that there was some meaning in doing that. But there isn't. That was your graduation exam- don't misunderstand, it's something I do to anyone I take as a student. It's mainly to just surprise you, but that was the best expression I've seen in a long time." Regaining composure Aelfric looked at Verdai, "So thats all?" Nodding solemnly as he finally stopped laughing the old man nodded, a smile creeping up over his face and breaking the expression, "Yes you are now a 'magician' not that the name means much. Its up to you to grow and gain new knowledge. Now go, practice your magic, learn some swordplay or something. There is a training hall by the smithy- you can’t miss it.” Nodding Aelfric nodded, smiling kindly at Verdai, speaking a few words before moving on "Thanks Verdai, I'll come back with some nice books for you as repayment for teaching me."
Inside Verdai smiled, “Five days huh. I wonder if this really was his first time using magic.” taking a breath the old mage paused, a thought corssing his mind, “ I wonder if he will find any of my legacies... that will be a nice surprise for everyone, now then...” His old face wrinkling Verdai smiled, "Ahh, I think I'll visit my old friend in the South. That should keep things interesting!”