Jeff woke abruptly, drenched in sweat. He was no longer in the bar.
Instead, he had somehow been transported to what appeared to be a vast chamber; the walls and ceilings all made of a dull grey metal. The room, if it was a room, was so large he could not make out the far side in the distance, shrouded in mist. Jeff could see no visible light source, but rather the walls, ceilings and floor of the room all seemed to glow with an even, dim luminescence. Resting in the palm of his hand was the hilt of a long scabbarded sword, with a silver pommel inset with a large sapphire, identical to the one he had seen in his dream.
Withdrawing it from the scabbard, he revealed a long blade of some dark, non reflective metal, engraved with unfamiliar runes along its length. Jeff marvelled at its lightness; he had assumed from its size that it would require two hands to comfortably swing. As soon as he unsheathed it, he felt an eldritch vibration emanating from the sword. A peculiar feeling of connection and belonging came over him, a sensation of rightness, familiarity, as if he had been waiting for this moment all his life.
Jeff’s mind was in a whirl, still slightly day-drunk from the beers he had downed that morning. His first thought was that someone had slipped him a powerful hallucinogen. But the whole thing felt too real, unlike any drug induced state he had encountered before.
He felt a sudden sensation, like the tingle you felt when someone was creeping up on you. Dropping to a crouch, Jeff looked around. Seeing no immediate threat, he straightened up…. Only to nearly jump out of his skin when a hissing, static filled noise filled his head. The noise did not come from any one direction, but instead was heard directly inside his head. Amongst the static, Jeff heard a voice, garbled and far away, reminiscent of the sound of an old long wave radio, rapidly being tuned to various channels across the dial.
Suddenly a voice spoke clearly, again inside his head, and simultaneously, a glowing yellow rectangle appeared in Jeff’s field of vision, directly in front of him. The voice was pleasant sounding, more female than male, but slightly too perfect to be real.
As the voice spoke, the same words were written on the rectangle of light. Jeff was unable to pinpoint where the voice was coming from; as he whirled around, so too did the text on the yellow panel, almost like an AR display which was augmenting his view of reality.
“Welcome to The Tournament! I am your personal assistant, assigned to guide you through these early levels and ensure you are able to compete to the best of your ability. Would you like to begin Class setup?”
The words were mirrored in the glowing yellow rectangle in Jeff’s mind’s eye. Below them was a simple dialog box:
Start Selection?
[Yes/No?]
Jeff digested this, thought for a second then said “Can I ask some questions before we start?”
“Yes certainly” replied the smooth toned voice.
“What is your name? How do I address you? Are you one of the aliens?”
“Why thank you for asking Jeff, I am not a Vogel, but I am a creation of theirs. I am happy for you to address me in anyway you please. Pick a name you are comfortable with.”
Jeff thought for a moment and then announced “I will call you Jinx then.” Jinx had been the family’s faithful old Bullmastiff dog, long dead now. Jeff had roamed the slopes of the Smokey Mountains in his youth with Jinx at his side. It was a name he was familiar with, single syllabled and tripped off the tongue easily.
Jinx’s hitherto neutral voice seemed to be slightly tinged with pleasure. “Why thank you Jeff, it is an honor to be named after your old, dead dog.”
Jeff was startled that Jinx knew so much about his family history, but guessed that with the tech at the aliens disposal no detail of his private life was out of their reach. Not sure if he had detected a note of sarcasm in Jinx’s response, Jeff shrugged and carried on with his questioning.
“Where am I? Am I on the space ship? Another question, where are the other players in this tournament? How long do I have before the tournament starts?”
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“You were never on the ship” Replied Jinx. “The moment you were selected you were transported via FTL portal to the nearest regional tournament centre on Selis 2. The other contestants are currently undergoing Class selection and proceeding through the System Tutorial. The first stage of the tournament is scheduled to commence 183 hours from now.”
“Selis 2? Where is that?”
“Selis 2 is located in the Helix Nebula, a distance of around 700 light years from Earth.”
Stunned, Jeff sat down heavily on the ground. 700 light years! All at once he felt lost, more alone than he had ever been in his life. Jeff sat like that for a while, head in hands, until he was shaken from his introspection by Jinx.
Start Selection?
[Yes/No?]
Jeff pulled himself together. Reaching up, he hovered his hand over the word ‘Yes’. Attempting to press the air did not yield any results. Jinx interrupted his attempts and explained “the system can be accessed by thought alone. You can minimize the feed anytime, you can alter the style and layout, add and remove content simply by willing it.”
Concentrating, Jeff focused on the Yes and mentally accepted. This seemed to do the trick as a new dialog box filled his inner vision.
Warrior
Magician
“Please select one of the class levels that best suits your personality type. You may request additional information on each class before proceeding.” Said Jinx.
Jeff noticed that as he focused on the word Warrior, another sidebar opened up with further choices, much like the mouse hover effect used on computers on Earth.
Concentrating on ‘Warrior’ revealed the following selections:
Berserker
A fierce fighter who can enter a battle rage. What you lack in sophistication, you make up for with sheer unstoppability. Inflict heavy damage on your enemies, whilst being resistant to most physical attacks. As you level up, your brute strength increases accordingly.Level 1 Skills: Red Mist, Juggernaut
Fighter
A master of the fighting arts, skilled in a selection of weapons and armor. As you progress, you become increasingly more proficient in your chosen fighting style.Level 1 Skills: Battlefield Stalwart
Adept
Harness the mystical power of chi, the life blood of the universe. Through meditation and practice, progress from a basic iron body to the pinnacle of cultivation: diamond level. Level 1 Skills: Cultivate, Unarmed Combat
Scout
You are skilled in camouflage, subterfuge and espionage. Hiding in plain sight, you are the perfect fifth columnist, striking your enemies from the shadows. Level 1 Skills: Tracking, Hunting, Stealth
And the ‘Magician’ choice revealed the following:
Animal Charmer
Be at one with nature. You can talk to the animals, even become an animal in later levels with the Therianthropy skill.Level 1 Skills: Animal Familiar.
Steel Mage
Dithering between warrior and magical classes? Then this is the perfect choice for you - the best of both worlds. Combine weapon wielding with spell casting to deadly effect.
Level 1 Skills: Path of Arcana & Blade. Unlock Necromancer Skill at Level 2.
BardThrough the medium of music, unleash powerful magical cantrips on your enemies. You will become expert in the use of an instrument from level one, more skills will be unlocked at later levels. Heal your allies with soothing charms. Level 1 Skills: Siren Song, Banshee Wail
Wizard
Cast spells learnt along the way to form powerful magical effects; perform alchemical rituals to create potions to both harm and heal.Level 1 Skills: Incantation, Spell Casting
Jeff read through the class descriptions with a growing feeling of disbelief. “Magic? You’ve gotta be kidding me…” he murmured.
Jinx, assuming Jeff had posited a question, replied. “I’m not kidding you Jeff. In the world of The Tournament, magic is a reality. Why I believe one of your sages on Earth opined that any sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic. You could say that the elder races of the galaxy, with the supreme Vogels at their head, have reached the apex of technological development; our tech allows thought to be made reality. There is no limit to what can be achieved now. Besides, the wise and mighty Vogel have deemed that in order for The Tournament to be sufficiently challenging, a purely physical competition based on primitive violence would not be sufficient.”
Jinx continued, obviously warming to the subject. “As well as winnowing out inferior species before they can pollute the life-blood of the galaxy, The Tournament also provides entertainment - entertainment being the only currency remaining of any value in the universe, now that all material wants and needs can be supplied with a thought.”
“So you would have us fight and die in your tournament to keep you amused?” Jeff said in disgust.
“Exactly! I’m glad to see you are figuring things out so quickly Jeff. I was worried at first that I had been allocated a lesser intellect.” Jinx actually chortled, a happy tone creeping into its hitherto emotionless voice.
Jeff mentally shelved any further objections and decided to concentrate on the task at hand.
“OK, I notice from some of the class descriptions that I may be fighting as part of a group. Is that so?”
“Yes Jeff, you will shortly meet the other contestants and the forming of Parties is actively encouraged.”
So there were two ways to win, it seemed. Either be the last one standing at the end of the tournament, or complete all the challenges, whatever they may be.
“Do you have any recommendations for me, or any more relevant information before I choose my class?”
Jinx hesitated slightly before answering. “It is against my core code to actively attempt to influence the class selection process. However, I will say one thing on the subject. You are carrying an extraordinary weapon, one that has elicited considerable excitement amongst tournament commentators. I would suggest a class that takes full advantage of your skills and possessions.”
Jeff studied the Class selection table once again. Whilst playing RPGs back on Earth with friends, Jeff usually selected some variant of wizard as his class. This was mostly due to the fact that he resented being stereotyped as a fighter due to his burly physique in the real world.
Now that Jeff was being asked to select a class ‘ITRW’ for the first time, he was reluctant to put all his eggs in the wizardry basket, so to speak. The Bard Class sounded vaguely ridiculous, and the Scout and Berserker Classes seemed too specialized. Without any further consideration, he mentally selected the Steel Mage class.