Chapter 37_TheirWorld

Guin found Grimhai working at his desk as usual—awake this time— and he gave her a faint smile as she walked up to him.

“Well, well,” he said wryly. You took your time this time. Should I ask Qii or a progress report?”

Looking down, Guin shook her head. “I admit I have done wrong, teacher,” she told him, then looked back up. “It is a wrong that has been righted, however, and I have learned more during this lesson than one lesson than all the others combined!”

Grimhai chucked and stood. Walking over, he patted her on the head. “Very good! Now let’s see how you fared...” He waved his hands in the air and looked over her abilities list. She watched with concern as his smile faded into a troubled look. “You have been busy, haven’t you... [Fox Form] level 6, [Spirit Armor] level 5, [Backstab] level 4, [Trip] level 4... [Dance] level 2....”

Tilting her head, Guin asked, “Is there something wrong?”

“Not really,” Grimhai shrugged with a forced smile as he looked at her over his spectacles. “Where is it that you went to train? Surely there aren’t that many rats in the village—and if there are, the proper authorities should be notified.”

“E-Eh?” Guin gave a nervous laugh, relaxing a bit. “I-is that the point, teacher? I mean, I came back with abilities, didn’t I? Wasn’t that the requirement of the quest?”

“Yes,” he said hesitantly, then sighed. “Yes. I suppose. Still... It is curious indeed that—ah, never mind. You are young yet, and you have indeed done as I asked—if not in the way that I intended you to do it. Let’s take a look at what you have and analyze it. Come sit!”

With that, he went back around and sat at his desk.

What was all that about? She wondered as she watched him wearily and sat in the chair. Surely it wasn’t that uncommon for people to achieve higher levels of abilities in the tutorial. Was the AI just programmed to behave that way? He had had a peculiar reaction to the [Dance] ability that she had just learned from Qii and Connor. I haven’t even finished the spirits’ quest line or been around the village yet. I’m taking my time, but I haven’t been playing that long. I’m only a few days into the game...

“You have a good selection of abilities here at your disposal! Good!” Grimhai said, seeming to return to his usual self as he rubbed his hands together. “First, the basic attack skills. Everyone can pick up a weapon and attack in TheirWorld, but some are better at certain things than others—especially those who choose to specialize. Attack abilities go one step further, often adding bonuses to an attack or sometimes just causing status changes. [Trip] and [Backstab] are examples of this, but this also covers things like basic attack magic.

“Next, let’s cover Enchantment and Curse abilities,” Grimhai went on. “You don’t have a Curse ability, but Curses and Enchantments are very similar to one another. Enchantments, like your [Spirit Armor], are abilities that cause beneficial status changes to the physical entity of a person, place, or thing. Other examples might include the Warrior enchantment [Battle Ready], the Magician’s [Haste], and the Battle Mage’s [Flaming Blade]. Curses, on the other hand, are the opposite. They cause negative status changes to the physical entity of a person, place, or thing. Examples might include the Shaman’s [Haunt], the Warlock’s [Fear], and the Dream Seer’s [Nightmare].

“These three are the basic kinds of abilities,” Grimhai explained. “There are more advanced ones that don’t fit so neatly into these categories, but I will not address them all here. Let’s remain focused on the present you.”

“Shapeshifting abilities are rare and, if used properly, are extremely powerful,” he told her. “They are not without cost, however, and should be used with discretion. Depending on your skill at casting, you could harm yourself and your mental capacity. While TheirWorld has built-in protections to keep your real-world self safe, it is highly recommended that any and all shapeshifting abilities are used with great care. Practice them when you can, with great concentration and effort, so that you do not enter a state of shock mid-combat. Examples of Shapeshifting abilities are your [Fox Form], the Druid’s [Bear Shape], and the Keeper’s [Eagle Form].”

“Ritual abilities are not so rare but can be powerful if you can master them,” he said. “They are quite different from other abilities in that they do not have rank trees, and you use their levels to purchase new rituals. Rituals also have the ability to link those of the same kind together to create Grand Rituals, as well as the ability to link with other players who know the same or complementary rituals to perform collaborative rituals. Examples of these rituals are your [Dance], the Bard’s [Song], the Beast Master’s [Summon], and the Traveler’s [Portal].”

“In the case of all these abilities, save the Rituals, just what an ability is, can be changed as you become more experienced.”

“To explain, let’s take a look at [Trip]’s tooltip:

<<[Trip]>>

<< You are adept at tripping people. When you trip someone, you have a chance to knock them off balance. >>

<< 4% Chance to cause [Unbalance] for 10 Seconds. >>

<< Cast Time: Instant - Duration: Instant - Cooldown: 10 Seconds >>

“Here, you can see quite plainly. First, the name of the ability. Then, ‘Rank 1, Level 3’. This means that you have accrued enough experience using this ability to be at the third level of the most basic form of this attack. At Level 10, abilities Rank Up, allowing you to progress down an ability tree based on skill and class. Ranking Up an ability can do many things, but at the most basic, it replaces an old skill with a new one which it grows into.” Grimhai took out a paper and a quill and began drawing as he spoke, “There are basic branches, class branches, and special branches. Using [Trip]’s tree as an example, let’s look:

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<> --- <> --- <>

<> <> <>

“These are some branches of [Trip]. If you are a caster class, when you rank up, you will have the option to turn [Trip] into the spell [Raised Roots]. If you are not a caster, you will rank up to [Leg Swipe]. If you fall into a special category, however, you can acquire [Tail Swipe]. Bear in mind that acquiring a special branch skill is far more unpredictable than the others, and there are a vast number of requirements and exceptions that factor into their acquisition. Of course, the tree will only expand when you are taught or discover abilities.”

“Once an ability ranks up, you gain the new ability, which has its own rank tree, at level one, and your root ability goes back to level one, and the process is thus gone through again until the ability can no longer rank up.”

“Understood,” Guin acknowledged. Many of the special class abilities still applied to common sense—for example, in the case of [Tail Swipe], you had to actually have a tail in order to unlock it. While this was mostly applied to garule, it also could apply to shapeshifting abilities, though it was usually only limited to one form or another.

“If there are no other questions, let’s move on to the last of your tasks!” Grimhai rubbed his hands together, and a screen popped up:

Accept this quest to begin a series of quests on how to play the game.

You must fulfill the basic five lessons of the teacher Grimhai Kidalmar.

You have finished the fourth lesson:

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

UPDATE: The Fifth Requirement: Talk to Grimhai to Graduate from the tutorial when you are ready.

“Just kidding!” he smiled at her. “Well, almost. Your lessons here at the School of Good Books are complete. When you are ready to graduate and move onto the main game, all you must do is initiate a graduation ceremony where you will be gifted the rewards you earned before meeting with the Second of the Fates. You have done well, little Guin. For now, I suggest that you spend your tutorial tokens on training and finish any quests you may have. Be careful, though—the choices you make here will affect you the rest of your time in TheirWorld.”

His voice was stern, but Guin thought nothing of it. After she thanked him, she pulled up her notification window to clear it and see the state of things. She knew she had quite a few tokens to spend, and she might as well do it while she could.