John Green had been an avid gamer for quite a few years at this point. He absolutely loved MMORPGs so when he heard they had developed full immersion pod and were in the beta stages of developing a MMORPG as the first game to be released on it. The game was called Warlords Conquest and was a mix between heavily PVP and PVE orientated depending on certain things happening at the time. For most the game year they would focus on grinding levels and loot but for one month a year there was a massive event the game was based around giving the different competing guilds a bonus for where they placed. This was a massive PVP event that was last man standing. This was 3 months away when John got the game and thought he would have no hope of competing.
Booting up the game for the first time he was shocked by the detail of the title screen. It was a 360 degree view of a massive battle, Split into what looked like 5 different armies from the banners scattered around the edges while Warlords Conquest was superimposed over it at the top of his vision wherever he looked with a loading bar at the bottom. However this wasn’t just a stagnant image like in most loading screens. The people were battling the whole time killing, healing and spell slinging while war machines rampaged across the battlefield in the different factions colours.
John was awed by this and watched everything happening in amazement while it loaded which took him to the character creation screen. While it had been loading it also did a body scan and showed a true to life 3D image as his default for his character that he could adjust. He was an average height and was slightly overweight from gaming too much. He was blond with blue eyes and a generally friendly looking face. He decided to first look through the different race options before adjusting his character knowing it would significantly alter the look of it.
There were the generic races available – Human, Orc, Elf, Dwarf and Undead. There were also some more uncommon races and even rare ones for video games which were – Troll, Gnome, various Beastkin, Drow, Halfling, Nymph, Elementals, incubus, succubus and many others including a few monster races like goblins and many, many mixtures of half races. The list took an hour of going through and looking at the positives and negatives of each race that looked reasonable and was available for his gender, he decided to stay as a male, before finally cutting it down to a few different races. These races were – Human, Elf, one of the four primary Elementals or a Gnome. The half races tended to have more benefits although overall slightly weaker than pure races however he disregarded these as most people would start with a negative reputation due to the mix of races.
The deciding factor in the end was the knowledge that the race you select will limit your classes significantly in some cases with human having almost twice as many as any other race. The class you could choose from would be either some select ones for the race or you could take a test for the chance to get rare classes but also could lose access to some classes at the same time. These tests were never the same meaning no matter how much it was tried people couldn’t give the responses to each situation to unlock a specific class
.Now he decided it was time to make his character how he wanted it, very few changes were made in the end after messing about with it for a while. He decided to take some fat off and add some muscle tone as well as making himself a few inches taller.
Would you like to take the test?
Yes/No
John didn’t even have to think about it, he selected yes. He knew it was a risk but he also knew with him starting so much later than everyone else he would need every advantage he could get as well as knowing there were a few classes, especially the ‘blue’ classes, were practically begged for by warlords no matter guild leaders. Warlords were the people that led ‘empires’ which were a starting city they built up with various guilds within them and in some cases they had started a second city, these were few and far between though.
His vision went black briefly before appearing in a tavern with a guy up in his face, finger against his chest. He had heard if you said analyse, even very quietly, while looking at the person you wanted to you would see varying amounts of information depending on the level of your Analyse skill. John decided now would be a good time to test it and said as quiet as he could ‘Analyse’.
Jimmy Stonefist
CL: 4
Brawler
Profession: None
Alignment: Aggressive
“Combat Level 4! This is just the first test!” he thought. During the test you were a combat level 2 (Shortened to CL) and there was a significant difference in combat levels. “Well are you gonna pay up?” Jimmy practically shouted in his face, the whole tavern virtually silent to watch the exchange. “I don’t know what you’re on about” he replied. How could he owe me money already, he hadn’t spawned in till just!
“Don’t try and lie your way outta this, you owe me 13 coppers and you’re gonna give me it now or I’ll be takin them from you”
“I don’t have a single copper never mind 13” he replied backing up quickly.
Persuasion check ……… Failed!
“That doesn’t sound good…” John mumbled to himself just before the brawler howled and charged at him swinging wildly. The brawlers wild punch came faster and harder than john had expected, launching him backwards into a pair of tables. He saw his HP bar flash and drop down.
Jimmy Stonefist hit you for 6 points of damage, 14/20 HP remaining
He hadn’t noticed his hub much up until now due to the brawler being in his face since spawning. He also noticed a red bar above the Brawlers head.
30/30 HP
John looked at the stance the Brawler had taken and tried to mimic it and then tries to throw a punch the same as the brawler threw at him. This was his first time fighting himself, normally games were point and click and he hadn’t ever had a fight at school. His punch manged to graze the brawler as he tried to dodge it and knocked his HP down slightly.
You Hit Jimmy Stonefist for 2 points of damage, 28/30 HP remaining
Then the Brawler swung again and this time it was a straight forward punch which he tried to dodge as the brawler tried but he also took a glancing hit.
Jimmy Stonefist hit you for 4 points of damage, 10/20 HP remaining
Again he tried to mimic the brawlers punch and got in 3 solid hits before the brawler dodged the fourth.
You Hit Jimmy Stonefist for 4 points of damage, 24/30 HP remaining
You Hit Jimmy Stonefist for 4 points of damage, 20/30 HP remaining
You Hit Jimmy Stonefist for 4 points of damage, 16/30 HP remaining
Jimmy then did a powerful uppercut to the jaw as a retaliatory strike, just after his HP regen knocks him up 1 point saving him!
You healed 1 point of damage passively, 11/20 HP remaining
You Hit Jimmy Stonefist for 10 points of damage, 1/20 HP remaining
After he recovers from the daze debuff it put on him for a second he retaliates with a quick yet clumsy uppercut of his own followed by 3 more straight forward punches. The Brawlers own regen not being enough to save him.
Jimmy Stonefist healed 1 point of damage passively, 17/30 HP remaining
You Hit Jimmy Stonefist for 6 points of damage, 11/30 HP remaining
You Hit Jimmy Stonefist for 4 points of damage, 7/30 HP remaining
You Hit Jimmy Stonefist for 4 points of damage, 3/30 HP remaining
You Hit Jimmy Stonefist for 4 points of damage, 0/30 HP remaining
Enemy is knocked unconscious. Bar fights means the loser is knocked unconscious for a period of time and can't retaliate against the winner until the next day unless provoked.
Now that the fight was over a combat log appeared detailing the attacks performed and the damage they had done then the next notification that popped up automatically when he dismissed that one was his gains from that fight.
Enemy Defeated!
Loot:
None (Testing mode)
Stat Bonus:
+1 Constitution (After testing mode)
+1 Strength (After testing mode)
New Skills:
Straight Forward Punch
Skills Levelled Up:
None (Testing mode)
John looked through and was disappointed yet unsurprised that he got no XP or loot from that fight due to it being a test but was surprised he got two stat bonuses as well as learning three new skills so easy especially since one of them had levelled up. As soon as he dismissed it his view went black
Loading next test……………
All of a sudden he is blinded by light and voices. When he could see clearly he was in the middle of a gladiatorial arena with what looked like a mage opposite him due to him being in a robe and holding a spell book and wand, which looking at himself he was also wearing and holding. He decided to look in his inventory at the items quickly to see what he was wearing.
Head:
Mage’s cowl
Torso:
Mage’s Robe
Upper Arms:
Mage’s Robe
Lower Arms:
Mage’s Robe
Hands:
None
Upper Legs:
Mage’s Robe
Lower Legs:
Mage’s robe
Feet:
Sandals
Main hand:
Novice mage wand
Off hand:
Novice mage spell book
Accessories:
Novice minor ring of intelligence
He realised he could look more in depth at what he was wearing by clicking them although only those in bold, the ones that aren’t did nothing when he tried to look at them like the sandals he was wearing. He also noticed some items could take up more than one slot like how his Mage’s robe took up chest, legs and arms slots.
Mage’s Cowl
Wisdom +2
Quality: Standard
Mage’s Robe
Intelligence +1
Wisdom +1
Quality: Standard
Novice minor ring of intelligence
Intelligence +2
Quality: Standard
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Novice mage wand
Cast: Fireball
Cast: Lightning
Quality: Standard
Novice mage spell book
Fireball cast time -25%
Fireball damage +25%
Quality: Standard
“Not a bad setup for a CL five mage” John thought to himself “especially with several boosts to intelligence and wisdom to increase my mana pool and my magical damage, now let’s see who we are facing he seems to be in the same gear as me”.
Name: Cain England (Traveller)
CL: 2
Class: Mage
Profession: None
‘Traveller! That means he’s another player! He must have just started too and decided to take the test” John thought to himself shocked. Players were referred to as travellers in game by the system and NPC’s to explain the reason they could come and leave as they pleased and respawn upon death. They were explained to have come from another world where their real bodies stayed so that they didn’t die. He also was classed as a beginner which starting players got until they passed combat level 5 which caused them to lose it. This meant that players couldn’t attack them unless they were attacked first, there was no death penalty and pain levels were reduced from 80% real pain to 40% real pain however it would still last until they healed or slowly reduced as their health went up. They also couldn’t be killed without a killing wound or something else that could kill them for example bleeding out.
“Contestants prepare to duel for the novice round first prize!” an announcer called from the stadium. As he called this Cain looked at him in surprise, “he must have realised I’m a player too” John thought “good that may give me a slight advantage if he hasn’t recovered fully from the surprise”.
“3 … 2 … 1 … DUEL!!!” The Announcer yelled across the stadium, using a voice amplification spell from a mage nearby to be heard over the crowd.
Instantly both players chucked a fireball at each other, with the bonus from the book they had a 0.75 second cast time for the spell making it very hard to prepare to dodge at the range they were at causing both to get hit full on by the spell
Cain England hit you with Fireball for 5 points of damage, 15/20 HP remaining
You Hit Cain England with Fireball for 5 points of damage, 15/20 HP remaining
Both had scored a direct hit although barely, seeing how close it was John decided to switch to lightning knowing it normally was faster cast time and harder to dodge even if it did slightly less damage in most cases. As Cain chucked a fireball at him he cast lightning twice at him due to the cast time being 0.375 second cast time and dived out the way and only taking a little splash damage from the spell however Cain got hit full on with the first bolt of lightning and glanced with the second causing him to get a 2 second stun!
You took Splash damage from Cain England’s Fireball for 2 points of damage, 13/20 HP remaining
You hit Cain England with Lightning for 3 points of damage, 12/20 HP remaining
You glanced Cain England with Lightning for 1 point of damage, 11/20 HP remaining
Your Lightning stunned Cain England for 2 seconds
John decided to quickly throw 2 fireballs at his opponent which both hit directly then get ready for his opponent s retaliation when his stun finished.
You hit Cain England with Fireball for 5 points of damage, 6/20 HP remaining
You healed 1 point of damage passively, 14/20 HP remaining
Cain England healed 1 point of damage passively, 7/20 HP remaining
You hit Cain England with Fireball for 5 points of damage, 2/20 HP remaining
His opponent straight away cast a different spell then he used. It was an ice spell! In his shock John forgot to dodge it and got hit full on freezing him for 1 second! In which time he got hit by a fireball as well.
Cain England hit you with Ice Spike for 3 points of damage, 11/20 HP remaining
Cain England’s Ice Spike froze you for 1 second
Cain England hit you with Fireball for 5 points of damage, 6/20 HP remaining
You healed 1 point of damage passively, 7/20 HP remaining
Cain England healed 1 point of damage passively, 3/20 HP remaining
As he unfroze he dived to the side avoiding another fireball coming his way but got hit by splash damage again.
You took splash damage from Cain England’s Fireball for 2 points of damage, 5/10 HP remaining
John remembered earlier that trying to imitate the brawler had earned him new skills and decided to try it again here without his wand though as it didn’t have his opponents ice spike spell. He watched the movement his opponents wand did when it cast it and dodged the spell before dropping his book and imitating the movement using his hand and successfully casting a lesser ice spike! This shocked his opponent and hit him squarely. Which he followed up by a fireball he was already preparing with his wand.
You hit Cain England with Lesser Ice Spike for 2 points of damage, 1/20 HP remaining
Your Lesser Ice Spike froze Cain England for 0.5 seconds
Cain England healed 1 point of damage passively, 2/20 HP remaining
You healed 1 point of damage passively, 6/10 HP remaining
You hit Cain England with Fireball for 5 points of damage, 0/20 HP remaining
Your Fireball unfroze Cain England
Cain England Is defeated. Tournament arena means he is knocked down and beaten but will not die.
After that John was glad the test was over as the pain limiter being at 40% real pain was horrible for being hit by fire and ice and he dreaded what hitting level 5 and it going up to 80% real pain would be like for the same.
Enemy Defeated!
Loot:
None (Testing mode)
Stat Bonus:
+1 Intelligence (After testing mode)
+1 Wisdom (After testing mode)
New Skills:
Lesser Ice Spike
Skills Levelled Up:
None (Testing mode)
Loading next test……………
Again his vision went black however this time it didn’t blind him like before because of the bright sun as he was in an enclosed room lit by torch light. It looked like the interior of a temple and presumably was a sort of puzzle to solve.
Looking around he saw what looked to be 3 large pressure plates which he presumed linked to 3 stone beams going horizontally across a giant door in front of him that he would have to find a way to activate before he could go through the door.
Turning around slowly he saw three paths out of the room in a semi-circle behind him and figured they must get something for the pressure plates to be activated with.
Heading first to the left hand tunnel from the door he walked through a short tunnel and saw what looked like a puzzle in front of him. There was a small table with cubes which was encased in glass with metal rods sticking out that seemed to be used to push them and a larger version of the same thing in a pit in front of him. There was a sign in front of it saying:
‘Get to the other side and pull the lever, once pulled the first challenge is complete’
“That seems easy enough” John thought to himself. Walking up to the table he saw it was a lot more complicated than he originally thought. There were different coloured ends to the metal rods which matched the colours of different cubes. Slowly he started moving different cubes in the glass which as expected moved the large ones in the pit for him, he had already tried to just jump from cube to cube and realised there was a barrier around the edges that weren’t connected so he couldn’t cheat the puzzle. They seemingly had no pattern and when pushed they moved until they hit another cube or the edge, it was a slow process of trial and error with moving the cubes around before he finally managed to slowly make a path to the other side using the knowledge he gained from his failed attempts. When he crossed the path he made and pulled the lever he heard a loud rumble then a crash before the slow grinding sound of stone moving against stone. Heading back to the main room he saw the top bar had retracted from in front of the door and was now to the side of it.
Next he headed into the middle room which held a balance course mixed with an agility course of sorts that seemed rather basic. It held simple narrow beams that changed direction and jumps that would be a bit of a push for a normal person but not too difficult. This course he completed rather easily as he was young and so still fairly fit from doing sport at school. He then pulled the lever and heard the same rumble, crash and then grinding as before and walking back into the room saw that the middle bar had also retracted.
Finally he headed into the right hand room there he saw what seemed to be a simple strength test, a bolder at the base of a slope with a pressure plate at the top on almost flat ground. The bolder wasn’t too heavy so he slowly pushed it up the hill heading for the pressure plate and pushed it onto it. However it didn’t work and when he took pressure off thinking it would stay it rolled towards him and he dived aside so it didn’t crush him. He tried again with the same result after spending several minutes trying to balance it before it slipped and fell again. This time he decided to look carefully at the bolder that ended up in the same spot each time and looked for something that might give him a hint about it, doing this he uncovered a thin seam in the rock which after several minutes of work he managed to open and a section popped open to uncover a flat section of the rock! Before going again he checked the rest of the rock and uncovered nothing else so tried rolling it before realising it will end on the flat side if he goes straight forward up and ended up having to push it off the flat surface which was very difficult. After this he slowly worked it up the slope in a zig zag which meant he had to balance it from two directions to keep it going up and made it a lot harder however it worked and put the flat part on the pressure plate after a few times of having to lower it to move the flat surface and push it up the slope a bit again. This retracted a section of the wall at the back which revealed an alcove with a lever inside. Pulling the lever gave the same result of the others.
Heading back to the main room he saw the door was uncovered and had opened so he walked through which turned his vision black and brought a notification up.
Puzzle Room Complete!
Loot:
None
Stat Bonus:
+1 Dexterity (After testing mode)
+1 Intelligence (After testing mode)
New Skills:
None
Skills Levelled Up:
None
Closing this brought up another one… His Class selector! He straight away opened special classes knowing if there was any unlocked it was pointless going for any normal ones unless he hated how they were played.
Classes Unlocked
• Standard Human Classes >
• Rare Human Classes >
• Special Human Classes:
o Blue Mageblade
o Blue Mage
o Beginner Magus
o Dodger
4 Special Classes! It was uncommon to get more than two special classes if you got any at all which only about three quarters of challenge takers did. Getting 4 however was considered rare and the only people who got more than that were people who unlocked warlord and they normally got 5. The highest anyone had got before was 6 special classes to choose from and he was considered the best player at the game, managing to get a different type of warlord class called a battlelord. This gave him good combat capabilities whereas a standard warlord only tended to get average battle capabilities.
The first was probably the most powerful in his opinion. It was a hybrid character that used both magic and weapons effectively however the best part was that he could learn skills through watching and copying people perform them. Spells were also classed as skills through being a subcategory, the subcategories were spells, melee, profession, general and abilities, so this was a very powerful ability and meant he could gain anything he watched. He however couldn’t unlock skills through meeting their normal requirements unless they came with/from the profession he chose or his race.
The blue mage was the same as the blue Mageblade however it only worked for spells or magical abilities that could be converted to spells. The beginner magus was a lesser form of the magus they could level into which was just a powerful mage capable of learning multiple full schools of magic rather than one and some basic spells from others. And finally the dodger was a unique form of tank in the game. Instead of focusing on their defence and health they focused on dexterity and avoided attacks while keeping agro and had abilities to help with AOE attacks. This tended to make them the best kind of tanks however it was very difficult to play and needed amazing reaction time and good reflexes to begin with.
John decided out of all the options he would like the blue mageblade the best as it was the most flexible and in turn one of the most powerful classes. The others were all good however either didn’t equal it or were too difficult for him. After selecting blue mageblade he then got to distribute his 5 bonus stat points he started with. He had a 2 in each of strength, constitution, dexterity and willpower, a 3 in intelligence and a 1 in charisma. He decided he would need a fairly balanced build between the melee and magic stats which would make it hard to distribute these initially. He decided to raise strength and willpower to 3, charisma to 2 and constitution to 3. Once selected he submitted his selection.