CHAPTER 1: THE FIRST STEP

Starting my Royal Road life, I looked at my surrounding with awe. I was in a plaza where there were lots other people walking around either user or npc. Not only that, there were some stalls for people selling their stuffs. The surrounding area of that plaza there were lots of building, medieval building for precise, and that was so awesome for me since I loved that kind of building. For the record, I live in one such building myself.

Right after that, I checked my body starting from bellow. I was looking at my feet then my belly and finally looked at both my arms.

“Oh my god,” it struck me seeing my left arm was there. Knowing that I have my lost arm even though just in this game made me happy. That was why I unconsciously start punching using both of my arms and did some shadow boxing. Well, that made me looked so dumb and gained some unwanted attention from my surrounding.

“Haah… He’s definitely a noob,” one of the people around my said those words, while the others laughed or just smiled seeing me.

Realizing that I quickly stopped my shadow boxing and started looking around. Then I saw a fountain not far from me so I quickly gone there and used the fountain water to clearly see my appearance. Since I done no customization to my appearance, I looked the same as my real world appearance but with different outfit. From what I could see, I wore an ancient light brown shirt and a dark brown trouser, “Looks like this is the normal clothes for beginner.”

Done with my curiosity about myself, I started walking around the city. I was trying to map the city and searching for some place I need for my stay in Serabourg. From what I knew from searching in the net for my preparation playing this game, I already knew the general location of those places. That was why it wasn’t difficult for me finding those places.

The first place I gone to is the library, it was a two floor building not far from the plaza. I really wanted to enter that place but because I knew that I needed to become a member first before I’m able to enter, and that cost some silver which I didn’t have at that time, I decided to just move to the next place.

The second place is the blacksmith guild where I will learn the skill later, just like what I was planned. Well, my plan was for me to learn some crafting skill such as repairing, smithing and cooking. Mentioning cooking, of course the next place is one of restaurant where I can learn the skill also the place where I would spend some of my time to gain money.

It’s not a big restaurant as it’s only a small building, two floors in which the second floor used as house. Knowing what to do from the info I gathered in the net, I quickly moved myself to the back door when I reached the restaurant. And just like the info, I found an old man with some muscle who looked trouble in front of some boxes in front of him.

“Hello there, can I help you with something? I need a job here,” I greeted that man and said my purpose to find a job right in one go.

“Hmmmm…. You really came at the right time lad. I need a hand to help me bringing these boxes inside,” the old man who’s actually the owner of the restaurant and also the chef there said to me.

Ding!

The Chef’s Lackey

The chef needs a help to bring ten boxes of his restaurant’s supplies inside. So, he hired you to help him finishing the task.

Difficulty: F

Reward: 5 Coppers

“I’ll gladly help sir,” I accepted the task without thinking for a second time.

You have accepted the quest

The boxes weren’t that heavy, so with just the basic strength of a newbie player it was enough to finish the job in 15 minutes.

Quest Complete!

The Chef’s Lackey

You have done the simple task from the chef to move supply boxes

Reward: Return to the chef to receive your reward

“I’m done sir,” I said that to the chef after I finished moving the tenth box.

“Hmmmm…. This is your rewards lad,” The chef gave me my 5 coppers and I gladly took those coppers. He then proposed me another job, “You can help me again if you want lad. I need to resupply some seasoning, so I need you to go buy some for me.”

Ding!

The Chef’s Lackey II

The chef needs your help to buy some seasoning he lacks at the moment.

Difficulty: F

Reward: 10 Coppers

Warning: If you run with the money given to you and not bringing back the requested item will make you unable to enter any restaurant in the city.

“Sure,” I took the money and the list of seasoning I need to buy from the chef and then left the place.

You have accepted the quest

Leaving the restaurant, I took my time to go to the nearby grocery store and buy all of the seasoning in the list. It took me 30 minutes to finish the job.

Quest Complete!

The Chef’s Lackey II

You have done shopping all the seasoning the chef needs.

Reward: Return to the chef to receive your reward

“Is that all you need me for?” I asked the chef when I delivered the seasoning and receiving my reward money.

“Yeah, that’s all for today. You can come here again tomorrow if you still need some work,” The chef told me and gone back to his work.

Leaving the restaurant, I decided that it was time for me to go to the Training Hall and to start training and gain some stats in the process. I learned, from the info I gathered, that I can gain stats when I train in the Training Hall. More over, when I’m done with the training, I can gain a sword, quite a good one for low levels newbie. That’s why I decided that I must do the training and finish it.

But before I go to the training hall, there was something I needed to go first. I walked my way to the east side of Serabourg and finally reached the tomb of the late king. I needed to see the giant sculpture and gained a boost in my stats.

Ding!

You see a Statue of the Lion Monster.

Created by a Sculptor with excellent handicraft skills, and the solidification of his sweat and effort. His fame and reputation will be spread throughout the continent.

The statue of the Lion:?The statue of the Lion is made out of solid granite, and has a strong and courageous temperament. This statue, resembling King Theodarren, will bring prosperity to the Kingdom of Rosenheim.

Artistic value: 4,700.

Effects:

* Those who access the statue will gain the Lion’s Courage buff, increasing Health and Mana regeneration by 30% for a day.

* Movement speed increased by 15%.

* Magic resistance increased by 20%.

* Maximum health increased by 15%.

* Stamina increased by 20%.

* All stats increased by 16.

Lion’s Roar applied:

* All monsters in the surrounding area will receive a decrease in their abilities and will lose morale.

* Fighting spirit of players will increase when fighting near the statue

This effect does not overlap with other sculptures.

“Wow… It’s amazing that someone able to make this kind of building,” I couldn’t help but feel awe for anyone who built the tomb and made it as a pyramid. I really wanted to enter that tomb just like what I did back in Egypt. But seeing the soldier guarding the place made me realize that it was impossible to do, at least for now.

‘I’ll surely look for a way to enter this place,’ I left the place as I swore to myself to do anything possible to make me able to enter the pyramid. With that determination I then walked to the Training Hall. But I didn’t forget to fill my water can first in the plaza.

“Show item window,” reaching the fountain, I opened my item window and saw an empty canteen and ten dye breads in the list. I then took the canteen and filled it with the clear water. I also took a sip to appease my thirst then walked my way to the training hall.

Entering the training hall, I was greeted by the instructor. The instructor is a man in his 40th with a good body built and wearing a leather set of armor and trouser also having an iron sword hanging on his side.

“Young adventurer, I presume you have arrived at the Versailles continent very recently,” the instructor said.

“Yes Sir” I said shortly.

“You shall find sword training absolutely necessary when you come to confront monsters. Do you need my guidance? I tell you, take any unattended scarecrow and strike him in any way you want. A wooden sword is placed in front of a scarecrow, and it is all yours,” the instructor explained to me.

“Thank you, sir. Is there anything I need to know before I start,” I asked him if there’s something more to know before my training start.

“Nothing, work hard,” he said that and left me back to his place.

I then walked to the nearby scarecrow and then clutched the wooden sword. Then, I began beating it, “This is the time”.

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Starting hitting the scarecrow, I finally enjoyed it after 5 minutes had passed. I wield the wooden sword single handedly with my right hand. I mainly used that sword to stab the scarecrow and sometimes slashed the unmoving target. As the time goes on, my movement became better and better and I was able to accurately aimed my stabs to the chest, the belly and the head of the scarecrow.

Looking from other people perspective, what I did with my sword was different with the other people who were training in the same hall. As other people could see, almost everyone except me was slashing their scarecrow. The reason for that is I was a practitioner of fencing in my younger days.

A little bit about my past, I was a man who practicing two kind of martial arts or you can call sports. When I was in junior high and senior high, I was a boxer and quite good with that. I was an amateur boxer that even able to enter the national championship even though I just reached the quarterfinal. It’s means that I used to be a top eight in my high school days.

The other martial art I learned was fencing. I played it in my master degrees days for less than two years. So, even though I’m not that good in fencing, not as good as my boxing career, I’m still had a good basic in the area. And that was why I used my fencing experience in the training hall.

Because of me mainly used stab attacks which used less strength than slash attack, after five hours beating the scarecrow I finally gained my first increase in my stats.

Agility rises by 1

“Finally…,” I smiled seeing the popped out window and then stopped my training. After that I decided to look for my status window, “Show stats window.”

Status WindowNameLiangAlignmentNeutralProfessionNoneTitleNoneLevel1Fame0Health100+15Mana100Strength10+16Agility11+16Vitality10+16Wisdom10+16Intelligence10+16Luck0+16Leadership0+16Attack8Defense0Magic Resistance (All)20 %

Looking at my stats, it was somewhat impressive for someone who played the game for less than 8 hours. Even though more than half of it was because of the sphinx sculpture’s effects.

“Let’s keep the good work,” happy from the increase of stat, I continued my training and started stabbing the scarecrow once more with some slashes added of course. And as the time goes on, the slash type of attack was increasing in quantity. Then after another few hours, there were some other stats that rising.

With the increase of vitality and stamina from the sphinx sculpture, I was able to train a little bit longer before the needed to rest arise. Of course I also stopped for a while to appease my hunger and satisfaction by eating the dye bread and drinking the water from my canteen.

I finally stopped my training after knowing that the next day, in game day, already changed. It was already more than 20 in game hours spent since I started playing the game. That’s why I logged off for a while and spent my time going to bathroom and also eating a real food. After that I logged back in.

My second in game day was goes on with me did some work in the same restaurant, same shopping time and another work added, then gone to the tomb to see the sphinx and after that continuing with my training in the training hall. The same happened in my third in game day, but one thing was different in the training hall.

This time there was something interesting happening in the training hall. There was a female elf user, a very beautiful one, trained not that far from my training location. Even though I wasn’t very good with women, but I’m still man. I‘m still happy to see someone beautiful and not just me but the others too. With the other user trained closer to the beautiful elf, I continued my training and gained few more stats.

In my fourth in game day, I was finally able to collect the right amount of money to pay the library member’s fee. With that accomplished I entered the library and started reading the books there. Of course the first book I chose is a history book. It was a book about Rosenheim Kingdom.

In about four hours, I finally done reading that book and gained a stat.

Intellect rises by 1

After that I took another history book and gained another stat after finished reading it in the next three hours.

Wisdom rises by 1

Finished reading that book, I decided that it was time for me to train again and moved myself to the training hall. Of course I didn’t forget to see the sphinx first.

For your information, I learned that we could gain some stats by training in the training hall and reading books in the library from the net. And because I decided to became a paladin, after some thinking, which able to heal and buff myself, meaning that I can play solo quite well for that skill, I decided to get as much stats possible both in physical and magical so that I’m able to maximize the paladin job as much as possible. With that plan in mind, I continued that kind of playing style till I was ready to start my adventure. By the way, I also finally gained my sword mastery in that day.

In my 15th in game playing time, I got myself quite a difficult job from the chef where I worked my ass to get some money. By the way the name of that chef is Reuben, sorry it took me a while to introduce that man’s name. Back to the job, it’s started when I reached the restaurant in the morning like the previous days.

“Ah, there you are Liang,” Chef Reuben looked glad seeing me, then he said, “I need a help from you. It’s an urgent matter.” He looked desperate enough when he said those words.

“What can I help you chef,” I said that as I came closer to him.

“I get myself an urgent order from my loyal customer. I need to bake a hundred of my special bread, but I lack the material for those breads. Can you buy those things for me,” Reuben begged me.

Ding!

The Chef’s Request

The chef needs your help to buy some material for him to be able to finish the order from his loyal customer. He need the materials as soon as possible.

Difficulty: E

Reward: Differ depend on your achievement.

Requirement: Reuben trust

Warning: If you run with the money given to you and not bringing back the requested item will make you unable to enter any restaurant in the city. You also need to finish the job in an hour, unable to do this job in the time limit will make Reuben angry and won’t hire you again in the future. Refusing the quest will result the same.

Reading the quest window that popped out made me wondering what’s so special with this quest that gave a higher difficulty than the previous quest. It also made me quite curious about the penalty. But since I can’t refuse the quest, I decided to accept it, “Sure, let me take care of it.”

Taking the purse and the paper where listed all the materials needed, I walked my way out from the restaurant and walked to the usual grocery store where I bought all of the groceries for Reuben before.

“Hello old man,” I greeted the shopkeeper when I reached the store after walking for a ten minutes.

“Hello there, what can I help you today?” the shopkeeper greeted me back and asked what I wanted to buy from him.

“Here’s the list,” I gave him the paper

“Hmmmm…. It’s quite a lot you need today. Luckily I just get myself supplied. Wait for a bit,” He told me and then prepared all the things listed in the paper. After five minutes passed, he finally done, “Here you go. All is for 3 gold and 20 silvers.”

Hearing the cost, I checked my purse and shocked knowing that I had less than needed, “What the….”

Author's Note:

Finally, the first chapter is done. I hope it's not too boring since it just tell about some unimportant stuff like training and working. Hopefully I will post the next chapter in a week.

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