Congratulations on entering the Realm of Training.
Here you will learn to use your class core and your chosen weapon!
Congratulations on earning your first trait, your Class Core.
You have received the Tank Class Core!
By Unlocking the Class Core you have activated your first Trait.
Stalwart Defense (Uncommon, Requires Tank Class Core)
To look at the benefits of your Class Core and Trait, go to your Traits Page.
Atticus blinked in surprise as his vision faded from the dark helmet to a field divided by a gravel road way, wide enough for a single small cart to travel along. The words hung in the air in front of him. He said and thought Traits Page, wondering if he needed to say it aloud every time.
Welcome to your Traits Page
Unlocked Traits:
Tank Class:
You gain a percentage damage reduction equal to your level, max 10%.
You generate aggro equal to the amount of damage you mitigate.
Stalwart Defense (Passive):
The next time you would take damage that damage is reduced by 10%.
This effect can happen once every ten minutes.
While this effect is active your damage reduction can't be bypassed.
You have two empty subcore trait slots open: 0/2
Atticus whooped with joy, “Hell yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!” He remembered he was in a new place and probably shouldn’t be shouting, especially since he was a wolfkin in an unknown land. He was all too aware of how much trouble not being the accepted race in the world. His skin tone made others quick to judge him and accuse him of being a problem. He ducked his head down and inspected his interface. It was a clean and simple two bars HP/XP, a little row of icons for buffs, Stalwart Defense had an icon there, which was nice, that way he could check and see if it was procced quickly. There was an empty section on the opposite field of vision for debuffs and a section for cooldowns across the middle of his vision each thing had unique transparencies but he could make them opaque by focusing on them.
He remembered, once again, he was standing in the middle of the road when a mounted rider traveling at full sprint barreled past him knocking him to the ditch. “Clear the road, filthy beast,” was shouted down to him over the clatter of hooves on the gravel before the rider and mount were gone into the distance. He had never before been so mad, the primal instincts of his wolfkin race flared and he sped off in pursuit of the one who insulted him.
Congratulations on unlocking your first subcore!
You unlocked the subcore Barbarian’s Rage!
Check your Traits Page for more information on your new subcore!
The notifications meant little to him in his enraged state, pursuit and justice were the only thing that mattered. His high agility, strength and endurance along with his inherent ability to run on all fours had him closing the gap between him and his insulter. They both reached the gates of a small village, Atticus having launched himself upon the back of the horse raking the rider off and throwing him to the ground. The gate guard strode forward, unsure as to what just happened as he had been napping and was too young to have seen any combat, his weapon still in its scabbard and helm leaning against the wall where he had set it for his respite. “Ha-halt! State your business!” He said as his voice squeaked nervously.
Atticus ignored the guard and leapt down to the ground standing over the prone form of the rider, “Who did you call a dirty beast, you arrogant prick?”
“You dare attack a Blood Noble, you flea ridden werewolf? I should end you, but as it is I’m late for training. Don’t cross my path again,” The rider said, her voice more obviously feminine now that it was quiet.
“Call me a filthy or flea ridden beast or werewolf one more time and I’ll show you what it means to fight a wolfkin. You’re just begging me to end you here and now, but since you are already on the ground, I’ll accept an apology and we can forget this ever happened. You don’t speak to me ever again and I don’t speak to you. Deal?”
“You want to duel? I acce-,” the blood noble woman began before the guard interrupted them once again.
“Halt, in the name of the Lords of the Allied Realms, state your purpose in coming to the Training Village! Please?”
The woman rose from the ground and dusted herself off, “I’m Zari the Blood Noble ascended from the royal family of Shadow Elves and I am here to train.”
Atticus, who was still glaring at the woman, said “I am packleader Atticus, son of the wolfkin chief Sirius the III, known to all who defend those in need. And I, too, am here to train.”
He wasn’t going to let this woman intimidate him into subservience or treating him as a second class citizen so he made up some fancy backstory for his character as well. Two could play that game.
The guard looked between them and said, “Well met adventurers, welcome to training village. Here is a list of the generalized rules of the village. You should note,” his voice was getting squeaky again, “that unauthorized dueling and fighting is prohibited within the sight of the village walls and within the village walls. Adventurers who disregard this rule are faced wi-with fines gold and, um, XP along with jail time.”
Atticus immediately cooled off. He couldn’t afford to lose any XP and he saw Zari turn a dusky lavender, in an obvious blush. She turned to him, “I may have misjudged you, wolf. I don’t like you, and I don’t think you should cross my path outside of the walls, but within the village I’m willing to call a truce. I apologize for speaking the truth when I called you a filthy beast and my accusation of you being a flea-ridden werewolf.”
“What kind of shit apology is that? You would be lucky if I didn’t catch your scent while I hunt, but in the village for the sake of the peace of this Training Village I’m willing to agree to a truce you vile vampire.”
“You know, for a mangy wolf I think we might be able to get along after all,” She said with a deadpan smile.
Atticus chuffed and rolled his eyes, “Oh, you’re one of those. I’m not sure about that. I’m not one to react well to the friendships that needle and poke vulnerable places. It would dishonor my ancestors to allow such insults stand. But, let there be clean wind between us and our prey never smell us approach, so that there may be peace here.”
He walked in the gate leaving the guard and the woman standing in shock. To be fair, he was really getting into character. That one semester of improv he took to impress women might finally be coming in handy after all. The gate opened up to a bustling avenue lined with shops and inns each designed to catch the eyes of a weary adventurer. On the inside of the gate was a much more aware and attentive of his surroundings, “A moment of your time adventurer. As this is your first time in Training Village allow me to assist you in finding where you should be headed. It looks like you have the Tank Core and your weapon is a kursari-gama. Oh, and would you look at that you have already unlocked a subcore. You can confirm it at any time, but it is inactive until you confirm it and once you confirm it you can’t change it. The later rule only applies after you have left the Realm of Training, here you can unlock multiple subcores and their various subtraits to see if you can find a combination you like best. Now, let’s see about finding your trainer. Hmm, there are a couple of options, some of which might be too far out of your element, but we won’t know unless I suggest them! There’s Alice the Agility based tank trainer at The White Hare Inn; Miss Elizabeth Rey the Endurance based tank trainer at the Pain Emporium though there are probably more appropriate and certainly easier places to get the same type of training-- Malagak at the Labyrinth, for example, is another highly regarded Endurance tank trainer, but he might have trouble teaching you to wield that weapon still he is likely the safest bet for your training; lastly are the Siblings Voska who teach Strength based tank skills. Each one might be able to teach you something, you never know what you need to learn until you learn it! So check in with all of them. Here is a map of the Training Village to help guide you. Oh, and whenever you decide to begin your true adventure place your hand upon the stone in the center of the village say ‘transport’ and you will be teleported to a dungeon town or city at random in the Allied Realms that is in need of assistance, but be warned only do this if you feel you have nothing more that you wish to learn here in the village because you will never be able to return. Also, don’t think you can dawdle and slouch around getting trained forever because once you hit level 15 you won’t be able to gain any more levels while at the training village nor will the villagers teach you any new skills, traits, or subcores.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Another part of Atticus’s user interface came into being, a minimap showing his location and with way markers pointing to each of the trainers. So far the game was holding his hand just enough to let him get used to the world. Soon, he figured he would be able to navigate on his own from memory and intuition.
***
Phen sat at their desk, dusk was settling over the office and still they had stacks of paperwork to fill out for the annual budget report. Their phone screen lit up, one text message from an unknown number ‘Is your life stuck in a rut? Tired of your same career? Exciting opportunities await at Allied Realms Interactive, call back to see if you qualify to interview for a position now!’
As far as scams went, this one was pretty well targeted-- almost as if destiny or fate were calling out to Phoenix telling them to leave the stacks of papers on their desk. But Phen, while on the fence about leaving their work, they decided to humor whatever spammer had tracked down their number. They called the number, fully intent to let the other party dig an inescapable hole of flawed scam logic until whomever they were speaking to got so frustrated they hung up the phone. The phone rang three times before it was answered by a voice that presented on the feminie side, “ARI, how may I direct your call?”
“I received a text about a potential position within your organization, I just wanted to get more details.”
“Oh sure, let me pass you over to Henry in recruiting and hiring. Hold on one moment please.”
Soft music started to come over the phone, and Phen could’ve sworn they had heard this song in the trailer for a new fantasy movie or game, but they couldn’t quite place it.
“Hey, this is Henry. What can I do for you?”
“Like I told the first person I spoke to, I received a text message saying I might qualify for a position in your organization, exciting opportunities to be specific.”
“Cool, do you mind if I get your name?”
“I’m Phen, spelled p as in pardon, h as in hotel, e as in endangered, and n as in nope.”
“Cool, thanks Phen. Do you play many table-top or video games?”
“Sure, I’ve played a few. Not many really appeal to me though, unfortunately.”
“What is your take on the role-playing game genre?”
“I prefer to play table-top RPGs because I can make my character a more accurate representation of who I am.”
“Cool, do you have any free time this week to do a group interview? Also do you have a way to take down the address and time?”
“Sure, I can create an event on my phone. I don’t have any availability until Friday afternoon, does that work for you? I don’t want to keep you late on the start of the weekend.”
“No, my schedule is pretty flexible at the moment. Do you think you can make it to Burbank by 4 pm on Friday?”
“Sure thing, just give me the address.”
Friday was here before Phen knew it and they were nervous. They had finished the annual reports in record time to be able to make the interview and left before their boss could add more work to their plate, as he often did.
Arriving with minutes to spare, Phen was ushered into a white room with several chairs facing a single stool, they grabbed a spot on the comfy looking couch and waited for the rest of the ‘interviewees’ or ‘candidates’ or whatever the multilevel marketing scheme wanted to name the suckers who ended up signing up for the bullshit. The whole thing was still incredibly shady, but a wide variety of people started filtering in, most exchanging strange looks as they sat down. Once the remaining seats had been filled the presenter finally sauntered in, he glanced around the room, before his eyes landed on Phen. The man shrugged and took the stool.
“Hi, my name is Henry. Wait, no I can’t do this properly. Phen will you switch places with me please?”
When none of the other candidates stood, Phen realized that Henry meant them and promptly stood. Once they were settled back in their chairs, did Phen come to the understanding that they had misinterpreted when Henry said group interview. They had to readjust their approach to the interview. Maybe this was an actual promising lead, maybe, just maybe, their luck was finally changing.
“We’ve gone over the basics, on the phone but I just want the rest of the team,who you can just ignore unless they speak to you, get a feel for you. Let’s start back at the top shall we? Can I get your first name?”
“I’m Phen or Phoenix. Either is fine, and to avoid any confusion or issues down the road, please use they/them pronouns when talking about or to me please.”
“Excellent, thank you Phen. Now, as we discussed over the phone you prefer table-top RPGs correct?”
“Yeah, I can make them an adequate representation of who I am, a reflection that often is overlooked or under-respected in the real world.”
“What kind of characters do you like to play?”
“I prefer casting spells and being far, so very far away from combat.”
“Because if your characters were in the middle they would be squishy, correct?”
“Yeah, I like being far away, because I recognize that death loves being in the middle of the action.”
“When playing a spellcaster what roles do you play, are you a DPS, a healer, someone who does crowd control?”
“Honestly I love having life and death in my hands, to distribute as I see fit. I like being able to heal and harm equally. The current game I am playing in is a gestalt game and I’m a holy scion of knowledge and a sorcerer descended from the Goddess of Knowledge herself. I have arcane spells to blast my foes and I have healing spells to heal my allies. Plus, since they are both charisma based I get wicked bonus spells per day. It is my favorite game I have ever played.”
Several more people left the room and the two remaining non-interviewers had moved to the couch and were whispering furiously to each other.
“Interesting, is there a particular reason you went with charisma based classes?”
“I feel like if I had as much charisma in real life as my character does in game, I would be unstoppable.”
One of the two other interviewers looked up and asked, “If, say for example, you were offered the choice between healing an ally and killing an enemy, which would you choose?”
“Hopefully, I’d have a way to do handle both at once. A life transference spell to siphon the enemy’s life and use it to heal my ally.”
The interviewer went back to whispering with his companion. The began gesticulating furiously and finally tapped Henry on the shoulder.
“One second please Phen,” he said.
They began whispering furiously, fingers pointed at each other, though no sound other than a dull indiscernible murmur escaped the trio. Finally, Henry had enough and silenced them with a wave. His back was to Phen and they weren’t sure what he was saying, but the looks of outrage one their faces slowly faded into actual consideration for a moment before the two unnamed interviewers shook hands and nodded.
Henry turned back to Phen and the pair left the room, “Sorry about that Phen. I think you are a solid candidate. Does two weeks from Monday sound good for a start date?”
Phen could only nod, unsure if any coherent thoughts could be spoken aloud. They left the building in a daze. What a weird company. It wasn’t until they got back to their car that Phen realized no job responsibilities or pay had ever been discussed, the scam alarm bells started ringing again. Maybe this was an illegal gold farming operation that needed legitimate looking members. Phen shrugged the thought off, too curious to let anything hold them down.
***
Atticus had been training for the better part of a week with the bull headed minotaur Malagak. He had unlocked a plethora of traits, but only two really called to him: Bloodstained Blades and Barbarian’s Cleave. A combo that was sure to come in handy, especially if he could build it up from lower-level enemies and carry them over. They were a solid pair of skills for damaging and drawing aggro on multiple targets. He had only barely reached level three when he flopped to the ground exhausted.
Malagak approached and towered over Atticus’s prone form. “There is one last skill I would teach you, but I do not believe you are ready yet. Go seek other trainers and if you haven’t found a path you like, come back and see me.” With that the minotaur turned and left Atticus on the ground. Probably another barbarian or berserker style skill.
That was his last night in the Labyrinth, He bought a round of beers for the folk gathered in the inn. It was strange, the inns were more like communal housing for like minded villagers. Sure there were innkeepers and barmaids, but they were also helping run the training center, even Malagak tended the bar once.
The next morning a hangover the likes of which all the gods-- past, present, and future --wouldn’t have gotten out of bed with found Atticus, by his will alone, getting up and heading to the next site for training. The Pain Emporium was nestled in the richer side of Training Village, or at least the more well constructed side. He staggered inside and found a plush booth to collapse into.
“I don’t recall giving you permission to sit there,” a firm commanding woman’s voice said far too loudly at a normal indoor volume.
“Speak softer.”
“You come into my establishment and sit at a reserved table reeking of booze and sweat and have the audacity to tell me to speak softer?”
“Yeah, that about sums it up. I’ve got a hangover and I’m here for training. This place is the Pain Emporium, right?”
“Yes. Now, remove yourself from that booth or I will have you thrown out.”
“Listen, I just got done training with ol’ horns in the labyrinth. You’re not scary and I won’t give you an inch of power over me until proper introductions are made. And before you try to twist this into being my fault, keep in mind I drank Malagak under the table last night so, I’ve earned some leeway.”
“Well now, this I have to hear. Let me help you to one of our rooms upstairs and you can tell me about it while we arrange a more,” she paused, “hospitable stay.”
“I can work with that, by the way. I’m looking for Miss Elizabeth Rey.”
“You can call me either Mistress or Misery, I’ve earned both.”
“Misery, listen lady. I’m already miserable. That’s why I’m here.”
The Pain Emporium was much more lavishly furnished, it even had a fancy magical elevator that Atticus in no way threw up in. Over the side, that is possible, but there was no vomit in the elevator.
“Well, if you want to learn to fight past the suffering, the nausea, and the inability to form whole thoughts, you’ve come to the right place. If, that is, you are willing to endure. I’m sure you know the mantra. No pain…” she trailed off.
“No gain,” Atticus said trying not to retch again.