While he walked towards the city, Ryan thought about what he should do. One of the first things he planned to do was go to the temple and talk to the head there.
Tim made it sound like going to the temple was an option. But before Tim thought Ryan was mind wiped he also explained about GM’s and how some of the GM’s would be the gods’ and goddess’ followers. This led Ryan to believe that if he didn’t go to the temple and ask for help, someone would start to look into the matter. And if someone were to look too deep into the matter then they’d find out that he still had his memories from his time at the school.
Ryan also realized that he would no longer have a stable job and would need to make money in this world. This issue could be solved easily. He could either become an enchanter, a tattoo artist, a skill producer, an adventurer, or even look for a job as a teacher. Heck, with his cloning ability he might even be able to do all of them at the same time. Except for adventuring, his clones had a range that they had to stay within and adventuring would be too far to do the other jobs at the same time. But before he starts a random job he needs to inspect the economy to make sure he doesn’t try to sell a stupid enchantment for too much or sell an op enchantment for dirt cheap.
As Ryan approached the 50 foot tall walls, he was stopped by two guards wearing armor. The entrance into the city was a pair of 15 foot tall and 5 foot wide wooden doors.
Left knight: “Halt. This gate has been ordered to remain close until the bug in the area has been fixed. State your name and purpose for coming to this gate.”
Ryan: “My name is Jeffery and I’ve come from this direction because of the bug.” Tim referred to him with his original name so Ryan thought it’d be better to use it till he talked to the head of the temple.
Right knight: “Ah, you should be the last one. Does this mean that they were able to fix the bug?”
Ryan: “Sorry, but I just got here and don’t know what’s going on. Tim said that I should talk to the head of the temple.”
Right knight: “That sounds like what we were told. To get to the temple take your first right and it’ll be on the right, you can’t miss it.”
Ryan: “Thanks.” Entered through the door the left knight opened.
Right knight: “Have a nice life.”
As Ryan entered through the gate what he saw shocked him. The city looked like a ghost town. There were buildings and roads but Ryan couldn’t see anyone. Before the gate closed again he turned back and addressed the knights.
Ryan: “Where is everyone?”
Left knight: “Ask the head.” Slams door in Ryan’s face.
Ryan: “… Rude.”
Ryan followed the right knight’s instructions and found the temple. He was surprised that even though the walk to the temple was short, he didn’t see anyone. The temple was surrounded by a stone wall that had an open space for people to enter through. After passing the wall it was a short walk up to the temple which had big wooden doors with huge brass knockers.
Ryan grabbed one of the knockers and knocked on the door. After a short wait, Ryan was greeted at the door by an unexpected site. The person who answered the door was a beautiful blonde woman with an abundant chest. This in itself wasn’t surprising, but she was wearing a business suit with glasses and had her hair up in a bun. This unexpected site left him stunned.
Business woman: “Hello and welcome. My name is Sarah and I’m the head of this temple how may I help you?”
Ryan: “…” Moves his mouth up and down but can’t find his voice.
Sarah: “Hmmm? Is there something on my face?” She then reaches up and touches her face. But instead, she hits her glasses. This startles her and causes her to jump back in surprise. She then seems to notice the glasses on her face. Her eyes widen in shock and she looks down at herself. “Eeek.” She then retreats into the temple and slams the door in Ryan’s face.
Ryan, not knowing how to respond, just stands there dumbfounded.
After a minute he shakes his head to clear his thoughts and knocks again.
Sarah: “Hello?” This time instead of opening the door all the way she just opened it a crack and peeped out.
Ryan: “Hello. My name is Jeffery. And Tim told me to talk to you if I have questions.”
Sarah’s eyes widen when she hears his name and she opens the door a little more.
Sarah: “Really?”
Ryan: “Yes, why would I lie?”
Sarah: “Ohhh thank you thank you thank you.” This time Sarah flung the door open and gave him a big hug.
Ryan was left dumbfounded again. Not only was he not expecting the hug but somehow Sarah had changed from her business suit in less than a minute. Sarah now had her hair down, no glasses, and was wearing a white robe.
Once Sarah had realized what she had done, she quickly pushed herself away from Ryan and looked at the ground while turning red.
Sarah: “Sorry.” She then motioned to the open door. “Um, won’t you please come in?”
Trying to suppress his confusion, Ryan simply smiled, nodded, and walked in.
Inside the temple stood 12 statues, 6 to left and right. Both sides had the statues separated by 2 pathways making the statues be separated into groups of 2. Straight ahead lead to a raised platform.
Sarah: “Follow me.”
She then walked down a hallway and into a room that lead to what appeared to be an office. After taking a seat behind a desk she gestured for Ryan to take a seat across from her, she made some gestures into the air indicating a touch screen. She then took a deep breath to compose herself and looked Ryan right in the eyes.
Sarah: “First things first, welcome to Gaia. As a new resident of Gaia, you had the option to change your name. You may have forgotten this part due to the bug but your name has already been changed to Ryan and you have yet to choose a surname. Would you like to choose one now?”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Ryan: “Sure, let’s make it Tenzin.” Ryan had spent a good deal of time looking through textbooks with information about words and their means because he couldn’t think of a good surname when he first entered and got crazy board with nothing to do. What he found was that Tenzin means ‘upholder of teachings’. At this point he’s forgotten the meaning but remembered the name he wanted.
After typing the air in front of her Sarah responded.
Sarah: “Nice to meet you Ryan Tenzin. So what is your first question about the world of Gaia?”
Ryan: “I’d first like to know why you hugged me.”
This caused Sarah to turn red and find the surface of her desk interesting to look at.
Sarah: “T-that’s… Um… I just… When I…” Deep breath in, deep breath out. “When you saw me in my business attire I thought I was going to be in trouble. But because you aren’t registered as an official citizen yet, I felt relieved that I wouldn’t get in trouble and… hugged you.” Although she was able to calm her voice enough to say what she needed to, she was fidgeting and staring at her desk the whole time.
Ryan decided to be polite and change the subject.
Ryan: “So where is everyone, the city was empty?”
Sarah: “Ah.” Sarah lifted her head and looked at Ryan. She stopped fidgeting but there’s still some hints of red in her cheeks. “That’s because of the end of the beta phase. 3 days ago it was officially announced that the beta phase has ended and that the official release will happen in 8 real world days. With the conversion ratio, that gives us 32 days.”
Ryan concluded that if the school had gone through, it would use this time to give the NPC’s a slight lead over the players
Sarah: “We were then told that during our first 2 weeks alone, all monsters are going to be frozen. The reason for this is to give the NPC’s a chance to get legendary resources so that there can be higher quality items among the more common ones. So everyone in the city has left to see if they’re lucky enough to find a dragon or something.” She said with a shrug.
After taking a minute to process this information, Ryan continued with his questions.
Ryan: “If all the monsters are frozen, then why were there guards at the gate that I entered?”
Sarah: “They were there because of the bug. Once the last person effected by the bug, that’s you, entered the city, they were released from duty and able to go help the others.”
Ryan: “You said that I’m not registered as a citizen yet. How do I register?”
Sarah: “Because the game is still in its’ starting phase the city hasn’t gotten to the part where it’ll collect taxes or charge you for property. So if you want to register all you need to do is claim property somewhere in the city. If you wander around the city and see a place you like all you need to do is say ‘I wish to claim this property’ and a message box should guide you through the rest. Or you could choose a specialized building such as the smithy or training grounds. If you choose a specialized building you’ll be given different pros and cons.”
Ryan: “I think that’s all the questions I have for now. I want to explore the world and see how it works for myself for a while. If I have any more questions is it okay if I return?”
Sarah: “That’s fine. Don’t forget to return here if you’re hurt.”
Ryan: “Huh? Isn’t there magic for healing?”
Sarah: “There is but only followers of the church can use it for now. The current known magic only consists of the 4 elements water, fire, earth, and air. With enough time players should be able to figure out how to use the healing spells.”
Ryan is shocked. For the past 6 months, he’s been studying 145 mixtures with 12 different elements. And now he’s told that everyone else only knows 4 elements. On top of that he knows for a fact that one of the mixtures he learned specializes in healing.
Ryan can’t tell if he should be mad at the people who refused this knowledge, happy that he was still able to remember, or sad that he can’t use his full power in fear of being found by the GM’s. In the end he was only able to stare at Sarah in shock and whisper
Ryan: “Only 4?”
Sarah: “Don’t worry, there’s more than the 4 elements. The beta testers were also able to discover that you could combine some of them to make more magic. In total there are 12 different types of magic discovered.”
Ryan got up and started to leave.
Sarah: “Ah, wait.”
Ryan was walking through the doorway on his way out of the office. He’s still in a bit of a daze but stops none the less.
Sarah: “The inventory system in this world is a bit different so you might want to play around with it. To access it simply say ‘inventory’. Also due to the bug you may have been rewarded items as an apology, so don’t be surprised if your inventory is full.”
Ryan: “Thanks.” So that’s how they explain the items I ‘forgot’ about.
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This is where I need direction. I'm not sure what I want Ryan to do next. I mean he could:
* Seek revenge against the GM's
* Pretend to be a player
* Strive to master all the magic
* Open a school of his own to teach remedial magic
* Open a shop that sells skills, enchantments, or tattoos
* Forget all about the GM's and look for love and happiness
* Or just become the crazy homeless man
I write in Word then just copy and paste into here, so there might be some errors that I missed.
Please leave your opinions, suggestions, and comments below. Thanks.
Dropped due to lack of response.