After his eyes had adjusted to the light, Gorlois could see that he was standing on a marketplace. He was in awe of the fact that everything around him seemed so real. The smells, the colours and the style of buildings and clothing made him feel like he had just used a time machine to transport him back to the middle ages.
He then noticed that some of the players around him had drawn their weapons and where staring at him, this was of course because the spirit race was so uncommon and the ominous red body colour he had chosen actually made him look like some kind of mob and although those usually don’t appear at the centre of a town, it could well be some kind of new event. But this Gorlois still felt kind of uncomfortable so he quickly went to one of the back streets close to the square. As he needed more information about his race, he mumbled,
“stat window”
[quart=Name,Level]Gorlois,1[/quart][quart=race,class]spirit,---[/quart][quart=Alignment,Reputation]---,0[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]100,150[/quart][quart=Strength,Agility]8,8[/quart][quart=Vitality,Stamina]10,9[/quart][quart=Intellect,Wisdom]12,14[/quart][quart=Luck,Leadership]0,0[/quart]
Stats
Title
---
[p=left]- Spirits in their true form are weak to all kinds of attack[/p][p=left]- Spirits cant affect the world physically by normal means in their true form[/p][p=left]- Spirits are not affected by hunger, thirst and fatigue in their true form[/p]
He could understand why most gamers would hate this class as the fact that spirits were weak to all kinds of attack and the fact that spirits seemed to not be able to do any physical activities were kind of the worst racial abilities you could have. Gorlois however wasn’t really discouraged by this because if the racial abilities were bad the racial skills might be good so he mumbled,
“skills”
Telekinesis (active) [beginner lvl 01]
[p=left]Allows you to move objects with your mind[/p][p=left]Can have the spell active 3 times simultaneously[/p][p=left]mana cost: varies[/p]
[p=left]active:[/p][p=left]on pants (cannot cancel) 1 mana/sec[/p][p=left]on shirt 1 mana/sec[/p][p=left]on bag 2 mana/sec[/p][p=left]total cost: 4 mana/sec[/p]
Posses (active) [beginner lvl 01]
[p=left]Allows you to posses a soulless body or object for 4 hours[/p][p=left]- Weaknesses of the possessed body are magnified[/p][p=left]- If the health of the body becomes zero you are expelled from it and stunned for 5 seconds[/p][p=left]Mana cost: 99% of max mana[/p]
Invisibility (active) [beginner lvl 01]
[p=left]Allows you to become a little bit more transparent[/p][p=left]Affects things in a 2cm range around your body as well[/p][p=left]Only available in your true form[/p][p=left]Mana cost: 3 mana/sec[/p]
Incorporeal (passive) [beginner lvl 01]
[p=left]You are not bound by the physical world in your true form[/p][p=left]- Allows you to pass through simple physical barriers and objects[/p]
These skills didn’t seem like they would make up for the disadvantage that the race gave. But Gorlois thought the character was good enough for him.
The telekinesis skill had activated automatically so he could wear the clothes and bag the game had given him, it seemed that if the skill wasn’t active those would just fall on the ground. The game didn’t allow him to cancel the skill on his pants however and this was probably to prevent nudity. Although the skill was active and had a mana cost of 4 per second, the mana in the bar didn’t decline so it seemed that the mana regeneration speed was 4 mana per second as well.
He wondered to what city he had teleported, because he had let the npc chose a random city for him. The air smelled kind of salty, like the city was located near a sea or something. The city seemed to be build on a light slope or a hill as the streets from the market place went down the slope in the east and up the slope in the west. In the west there was a castle towering out above the city and when he looked down the road to the east he also saw water at the end of the road. He didn’t recognize the city from any of the videos in the Hall of Fame, so he went to a NPC that looked like he was the town crier and said,
“I’ve just arrived in this city and I actually do not know the name of it so can you tell me that?”
The town crier seemed to think that Gorlois was a little mad, but he still was filled with a sense of pity because he knew of the hardships of the spirit race, and answered the question,
“You came to this city not knowing what the name was and now you are asking a busy man? Well as you really seem lost, I might as well tell you that you are in the beautiful city of Ran, the capital of the eastern kingdom Dôm”
Gorlois didn’t even know such a kingdom existed and almost laughed out loud, wondering if every player that said random was teleported to this city or if it was just coincidence that there was a city called Ran in a kingdom named Dôm and a even bigger coincidence that he was teleported to it. He also needed some directions to the training hall so he asked the town crier for those as well.
When he arrived at the training hall it was almost empty except 1 player in the back hitting a scarecrow and the instructor that sat lazily in a chair. He tried to grab one of the wooden training swords that hung on the wall, but his hand went right through the sword. He suddenly understood that spirits couldn’t use weapons in their true form, and thus that he couldn’t learn sword fighting. He was disappointed in his race once more, still when he looked at one of the scarecrows he got an idea. The scarecrow had the same form and proportions as a human body this was of course to make the training feel better.
He went to the scarecrow and tried using posses on it, suddenly his point of view changed and he saw his bag and shirt fall in the space in front of him. He tried moving but as a scarecrow doesn’t have any joints in it’s body, he couldn’t. furthermore he didn’t even know how to dispel his posses spell so he was trapped in the scarecrow. The instructor that had seen it happening was actually laughing.
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Gorlois passed the next four hours doing nothing as he couldn't even log out because he couldn't talk (the scarecrow didn't have a mouth) and the system was mostly voice controlled. So the only thing he could do was think and after a while he didn't even do that as he was just too bored. When the three hours were over he was expelled from the scarecrow and couldn't move for five more seconds as he was stunned. Gorlois was still very lucky that his bag and shirt weren't stolen in the period that he was locked up in the scarecrow, well NPCs never steal and the guy in the back had kept hitting the scarecrow like he hated the thing the whole time and this training centre didn't seem to be much visited anyways. After that he noticed two windows.
New stat: Concentration
[p=left]Allows you to focus easier. Your spell casting is less likely to be interrupted. Affects effectiveness of meditation. You can’t distribute points to this stat. It raises spontaneously, depending on your characters actions.[/p]
New skill: Meditation (active) [beginner lvl 01]
[p=left]when your mind is absolutely empty, your recovery and mana regeneration rates are greatly increased.[/p]
He now knew that the training centre actually never had something to teach him because even if he used his telekinesis spell to swing a sword on the scarecrow it wouldn't give him more experience in telekinesis then just using telekinesis on his clothes and bag, which he had to do anyway. He started to believe that the whole city might not have a thing to teach him. So he started to just wander through the city doing some simple jobs that he could handle with telekinesis, of course he had to cancel telekinesis his bag and if necessary his shirt to actually have his third and sometimes second casts of telekinesis free to use for the job. In this way he got some pocket change with jobs like dish washing, and cleaning shops. Of course he didn't like doing the tasks that his cook and maid in real life would normally do but he also needed money in game so he just had to bear with it.
In the end after playing the game for 12 hours real life time and almost two days in game time, it had gotten 3 AM and he felt sleepy so he just fell asleep in the capsule. The next day the maid woke him up at 8 AM for breakfast after she had found him in the capsule. It was Saturday so he immediately went back in the capsule after breakfast.
It was a around noon in game when Gorlois came back online, he decided to go back to the town square. He had gotten a bit more confident that the players wouldn't just kill him just because his race was so uncommon that they thought he could be a mob like they had thought earlier. With the small jobs he had done earlier he had earned 10 silver in total and although it's common knowledge that, that isn't much. He actually thought he could buy good things with it as he had worked so hard for it in his opinion at least. He entered a weapon shop while walking to the town square although he couldn't even wear the weapons in his spirit form. Inside the shop he was surprised because even the weapons that were for his lvl had prices ranging from 1 to 10 gold. That would theoretically mean that he had to work 9 times as much to actually afford one of those.
When he arrived at the town square he saw that there were some puppeteers doing a puppet show with string puppets in a corner of the square for a few children. Next to the stage there was a sign stating help wanted. Gorlois certainly didn't want to repeat his previous jobs for the next 4 weeks so he went to the head of the puppeteer troupe after the play was over and said,
“What kind of jobs do you offer me and what will I get paid for it?”
“One of the puppeteers became really ill and we need a replacement for him, you will get 2 silver pieces for each performance. Can you control a puppet?”
“No but still I would like to help here”
“Well you seem to be the only one who wants this job so I might as well teach you.”
The head of the troupe seemed desperate and what he could earn seemed pretty good so Gorlois decided that he would help them.
New skill: Puppetry (active) [beginner lvl 01]
[p=left]You can control a puppet, might divert monsters attentions from you and onto the puppet[/p]
Of course Gorlois still couldn't use his hands to hold the control bar of the string doll so he had to use telekinesis to do that. Soon he got the hang of controlling the string puppet and he used the rest of the time to the next performance to learn the scripts that the puppeteers used in their stories. The stories were about the religion, history and hero legends of the continent, there where some references to some of the more influential persons in history such as a certain sculptor. By reading and remembering the scripts he gained a few stat points in intellect and wisdom and by performing he gained points in a new stat:
New stat: Charisma
[p=left]Influences how NPCs sees you, NPCs become more likely to do what you ask of them[/p]
After four weeks of in game time, he had gained 25 stat points in both wisdom and intellect, 15 stat points in charisma and 10 fame points, his telekinesis skill had risen to beginner lvl 7 and his puppetry to beginner lvl 5 and last but not least Gorlois had also gotten as much as 1 gold and 20 silver by performing just because the head of the troupe actually gave him quite a bit more than he had initially planned. After getting telekinesis to beginner 5 he could now move 4 objects simultaneously and lvling his puppetry seemed to give a bit of bonus charisma stat points and an increase of his mana pool. The ill puppeteer had become better however and so that evening would be Gorlois’ last performance with the troupe.
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author's note
1. Well in answer to the comments of the previous chapter: yes it isn't that smart to say random starting city
2. I really hate those bbcodes or whatever you call them
3. Well if you see a horrible grammar mistake please point it out and suggestions and opinions are always welcome