As I walked into the grassy field, the sun beat down on my neck. The grass was ankle deep, and was a dry yellowish colour. I could clearly see other players standing around in the field using their weapons to attack… the ground? As I approach closer, something rapidly runs past my feet in a blur. I jump back in surprise, looking for the thing that had passed me. I hear a whooping cheer from a nearby player, and as I glance over, I see him holding up a spear. On the end of the spear, an impaled rabbit dangles. The players nearby pat the boy on the back as they all go back to hunting.
So, the thing that ran past me was a rabbit? I pull out one of my daggers and loosely hold it in my hand. I watch the grass closely, looking for movement. I feel something brush past my ankles. I panic and jump away, falling to the ground. I hear some supressed, and some unsuppressed, laughs. I stand up and brush the dirt off. I try again, crouching down with a dagger in my hand. I see the grass moving several metres away. I patiently wait, trying to stay as still as possible like you see in those movies. As the movement nears, I jump at it, dagger pointed forward.
I crash into the ground, and quickly look at the dagger. There’s blood on it! I got it! I was about to shout out about my success when a message appears: You have taken 2 damage. I pause for a moment and glance at my hand. The dagger had sliced across my palm. The blood was mine. Then the pain hit. It wasn’t actually real pain, as no VR games incorporated real sensations of pain, but the feeling was extremely uncomfortable. I only had 10 health to start with, now I’m down to 8.
Suddenly, I was covered in a giant’s shadow, rolling off my stomach I see a large figure standing over me, “Haha, did you cut yourself?!” he exclaims between deep laughs. He must have seen something on my face because he quickly apologizes, “Sorry little missy, no offence meant, just don’t see that every day. Haha”
The man extends his left towards me. I grab onto it with my left hand, as my right was currently bleeding. He pulls me to my feet and I get a closer examination of him. This man, is not a human. He stands nearly eight feet tall. Close to three feet taller than me. His skin is a light grey, and he has a bush of black hair atop his head. The most notable of his already strange features, was the ivory tusks which extended out of his jaw.
“What?” he asks, “Never seen an elephant beastman?”
“Uh… no?” I lamely respond
“Haha” he laughs his bellowing laugh again “Don’t worry about it, name’s Jorven.” The giant elephant-man extends his hand out, and down. “Elli” I say as I take his hand.
“Ahh, you’re still bleeding. Don’t worry ‘bout that miss Elli, I got something good for that.” Jorven pulls a large pack off his back and fishes through it. After a moment, he pulls out a small vial of red fluid. “This is a lesser healing potion, it’ll fix your hand up real nice.”
He hands me the vial. I look at it for a moment. It has a clear red liquid inside, it kinda reminds me of red wine. I pop off the top of the vial, and sniff at it. I can’t smell anything coming off it. I once again look up at Jorven, he stands there smiling down at me. I think ‘why not’ and down the vial, it has a slightly bitter taste. You have regained 2 health. I smile for a moment as the pain fades. Then what happened finally hit me.
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“Wait! Did that just heal me? How does that work? Do you have a lot? How much can it heal? You said it was a lesser healing, does that mean there are greater healing?” I rapidly fire off multiple questions which plague my mind. This was amazing, I’ve hurt myself in the real world before, and I always hated the recovery, the days of scabbing and bleeding. Once I even got a cut infected and that was just an awful experience.
“Woah woah woah, slow down, slow down” Jorven says, raising his arms in a pleading expression “I don’t know how it works, I just use it”
I pause for a moment “Wait, healing sounds powerful, was that expensive? What do I owe you?”
“What, nah don’t worry about it, I got that potion in a trade a while back I got a couple more for myself anyways”
“Oh, okay…” after an awkward pause in the conversation I continue “So, uh, what are you doing right now? You don’t seem to be hunting rabbits”
“Well, I have the blacksmith class so I’m out here right now looking for some ore to mine” Jorven proudly states
“Blacksmith? I thought classes were used to fight?”
“Hmm, you’re new to RPGs aren’t you?” once again he must have seen something on my face because he laughs “ahh don’t feel bad about it, we all gotta start somewhere. As to why I have the blacksmith class, its because I’m a craftsman. While some players are out here to delve into some dungeon, or save some princess from a castle, I’m here because of the crafting system”
“The crafting system?”
“Yup yup. Terrane: Online uses a procedural generator. What that means to crafting, is there is no schematics prepared. I’ve personally created several sets of unique armour which I got to name myself, and I’m the only one who knows how to make them!” he excitedly tells me “But you wanna know the best part?”
“What?” I ask with anticipation.
“Most players don’t even consider playing a craftsman class, they all want to be some kind of fighters or mages. In most other games, these players could do both, but in Terrane: Online, people who subclass in craftsmanship can only make things that are already discovered. Because of this, I have lots of business already making and repairing armour for the adventures even though I’m only a level 7 blacksmith”
“That’s so cool!” Wow, this game is cool, I never would have thought that a MMORPG game would have so many options.
‘Well sorry to cut this short Elli, but I gotta go now, gotta find some ore, maybe level up my miner subclass.” Jorven, the elephant beastman, begins to walk off deeper into the field.
“Hey wait, before you go, where can I ask about the health potions?” I call out before he can get away from me.
“Oh, just go to the Adventurers Guild and ask the receptionist, other than that I’m not really sure, anyways good luck!”
“Okay, thank you!”
Jorven walks off out of my view before a little message appears: Player ‘Jorven’ has sent a friend request: Do you accept Y/N. After a moments hesitation, I think Yes, and smile in the direction he disappeared in. Jorven has successfully been added to your friends list
I decide to follow Jorven’s advice and head to the adventures guild. I don’t think I could catch one of those rabbits no matter how hard I tried. As I make it back to the gate, I look back at the plains. I use my hand to shield my eyes from the sun. This is the most fun I’ve had in years. I smile as I head inside.