The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  “He was always a complete bastard. Always favored my older brother, the more cunning one. I do not have proof, but I would bet he is the one that pushed my father to shutter me into service. Does not matter anymore, the lot of them are a complete waste of life,” David hissed angrily even remembering the event.

  “You would not have believed the way David leaped to my defense, tearing down his father the way he did. Belittling the old man’s lack of honor or service to the crown. It was impressive to watch, David let loose every last bit of feeling and emotion he had ever felt. He let him have it for all the things this father had done to him. Then at the end, he said, and I will never forget this. ‘I would rather choose her every day for the rest of my life than have anything to do with you or this family.’ It was so romantic and such a powerful proclamation of love and his desire to marry me. His father disowned him outright, and despite his service as a knight in the incursion and all he had achieved, the king had no choice, but to strip him of his knighthood. Rumors at the time said his father and brother put pressure on the court, but once again there was no proof. Still, the king did not forget about him, or me, for that matter. The king personally talked to the pair of us in private after the official proclamation. The king had said it was not much, but he could at least offer him a billet as a sergeant in this quiet little hamlet and me this church. David and I married a week later and moved here together. We’ve been together ever since,” she ended her story looking content and happy, a dusting of blush on her cheeks.

  David leaned over and whispered to me, “When she invited me to a church that day, I thought we were going to pray together for a safe journey or something. Mind you, this was before the adventurers and the portals on the World Tree opened up. Anyway, I had no idea we were getting married until she said, ‘I do’ and gave me a look, I felt it in my bones, warning me I had better say the same thing, or else.”

  “So perfect,” said the woman. She was suddenly giggling in a way that would make any little girl proud, her cheeks aflame with a deeper, redder blush.

  “Right, so you have heard her version of our story . . .” he looked like he had more to say but chose to just let it lie, lest he ends up in trouble with the woman. “Now, I believe you owe me a story about you, young priest,” the man prompted me.

  Ugh! Why did they share their story with me? It was romantic, and David’s interjections were hilarious, and I couldn’t help feeling as if I knew these two people, and now, I had to talk to them straight. “I am a priest,” I started.

  “Such a waste of talent,” complained David.

  “Let me finish,” I insisted, forestalling the man’s grumblings. “I am not a normal priest. I was granted a unique class by the Goddess Issara.” Even as I said it, I could have sworn a light shone down on me from above.

  “Great blessings be, he is a chosen of the gods,” gasped Trinico, suddenly kneeling and bowing in reverence to me.

  “Please, don’t do that,” I said, looking to the sergeant for help only to see him take a knee as well. “Stop it, both of you get up. You don’t have to do that.”

  I didn’t notice it at first, but both were mumbling rapidly under their breaths, seemingly in prayer. It was another minute before they both retook their seats.

  “What was that all about?” I asked, not sure if I wanted the answer.

  “I do not know much but I will tell you what I can,” started Trinico. I was once again preparing for a long story. “When the first adventurer appeared just over 3 moons ago, the citizens of the World Tree rejoiced. The opening of portals throughout the land to join us all together. It was supposed to be a great and wondrous event, heralding a time of light and hope for all of us. We had no idea of the diversity that would come . . . or of the evil, some adventurers would unleash. The adventurers were supposed to be heroes made real. Immortal and powerful, they certainly were. Heroes many . . . most were not. In fact, I would say most were more villain than hero. We had little to no defense against them, entire settlements were slaughtered. Other adventurers tried to help, but even they would be killed as well. Despite being able to reincarnate, they could not stop them. Those adventurers just seemed to give up trying to stop the evil and moved on to other adventures. Thousands of citizens and adventurers alike were killed, but nothing was done to stop the suffering . . . the murders. Eventually, the holy orders came together to pray to all the gods and goddesses for help, and the prayers were answered. Every priest throughout the World Tree was told, Adventurers will come who will hear the call of justice, and by their words promise justice to the gods and goddess, above and below. And in service to the gods and goddesses of justice, they would bring us hope.”

  “So, you see, you are an answer to our prayer,” added David.

  “Okay, I understand this is important, and honestly, pretty freaking awesome, but I’m missing something. First, why wouldn’t the other priests in service to the gods and goddesses of justice already be doing this? Second, why would it matter which god or goddess you serve if it’s to grant justice to the people of the World Tree?”

  “You are the only priest of the Goddess Issara,” answered Trinico, smiling at my apparent naivete.

  “Eh?” I asked, not quite believing what I was just told. “What do you mean the only priest?”

  “The gods and goddesses of justice are the few gods capable of influencing the world, as such they are forbidden priests and paladins to serve as their will in the World Tree,” Trinico explained.

  “I don’t understand, paladins are all about justice. Why wouldn’t a god or goddess of justice be able to have a paladin or many paladins in their service?” I asked.

  “It is old knowledge, but in exchange for Law and Order to be used to rule over the people of the World Tree, the one thing they can still influence, the gods and goddesses of justice had to give up the ability to give their blessings to such men and women. As such, there are no priests or paladins in their service,” she answered.

  “Then how do Law and Order get enforced?”

  “And this was the trick of the other gods and goddesses. In order to uphold the law and establish order, the responsibility was turned over to all the other gods and goddesses. They were to charge their paladins and priests to enforce the Law and Order but as you can imagine . . .” she paused.

  “Each God or Goddess only encourages the enforcement of Law and Order according to whatever will serve them better. In other words, the paladins and priests are weapons to see who can gather more power,” I finished her statement.

  “Correct,” said Trinico sadly. “But to know our prayers have been answered. That a priest of a goddess of justice has appeared in the World Tree. And best of all, it is truly a blessing this priest has been placed with us, to be able to host you in our little town. Wait until word spreads, there will be such celebrations.”

  “Woah, hold it right there. This doesn’t go beyond this room. I trusted you with this knowledge because you trusted me with your story. I know the knowledge of my existence gives you hope, but as soon as other adventurers find out, they will come hunting for me. Do you truly think I have the power to defend myself, while my own adventure in the World Tree has only just begun?” I protested, hopefully, given them both pause.

  Trinico deflated slightly, bringing her hands to her mouth. The idea had apparently not even crossed her mind.

  “He is right,” said David, though he looked rather sad to say it. “He is growing stronger every day, but he still has a long road ahead of him.”

  “He is our hope for the future, we cannot let hope be extinguished,” said Trinico. A fire seemed to have suddenly lit inside her. “Then we must do everything in our power to prepare him for the long road ahead.”

  “Hmm, true. But I have to say, it makes me a little sad. I was enjoying working with him, but as a priest, his time is better served working with you,” said David.

  Double ugh! Why did I keep getting forced into a corner at every turn? First, it
was my class quest, then the moonshine quest chain, and now the murder investigation, not to mention all of the other quests that kept popping up. Now, I was risking losing valuable training if I didn’t fully trust these two. So troublesome! I sort of just sagged back in my chair sighing loudly. Eventually, I spoke, I couldn’t hold back from these two if I want to keep up my training. “Stop jumping to conclusions, Sergeant. Didn’t you listen to your wife’s story? The Goddess Issara isn’t allowed to have either a priest or a paladin.”

  “But you just said you are a priest . . . you are not just a priest, are you?” asked David, suddenly looking excited.

  My own grin may have grown in anticipation. “I am a Novice Warrior Priest of the Goddess Issara,” I answered, feeling smug and maybe a little happy to see the infectious grin split the sergeant’s grizzled mug.

  “Oh, you sneaky, wonderful Goddess,” said David, his eyes shining happily.

  “Yeah, she’s pretty awesome,” I replied, trying but failing to keep a straight face.

  “If I was not already devoted to service of all gods and goddesses, I would have this temple converted tomorrow and swear my loyalty and service to her for the rest of my days. As it is, I will just have to give extra offerings in her name,” said Trinico, grinning similarly to David.

  “But boy, if you do not have your work cut out for you, you poor sod,” said David. His grin turning slightly mischievous, which I really didn’t care for at all.

  “Why?” I asked hesitantly. What did I miss? He clearly knew something I didn’t, but what?

  “Do you know what the main stat attributes of a warrior are?” asked David., His grin threatening to turn into a full-blown smile from ear to ear.

  “Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, and Endurance,” I replied, caution in my voice and feeling a sense of dread, he was about to drop a giant bomb on me.

  “And a priest?” asked Trinico.

  “Intellect and Wisdom,” I answered.

  “And Charisma,” she added.

  My thought process halted on that. Why would charisma be important for a priest? I gave it only the slightest bit of thought when I realized why it was important for priests. Part of being a priest meant attracting followers to your god’s cause. It was also necessary to get people to trust you enough to ask for help.

  “Now, if you put all of that together,” prompted David.

  Warrior and Priest classes. Warrior Priest class. I wanted to curse my goddess just then. Curse her loudly and for all time.

  “I think he gets it dear,” said Trinico, the amusement in her voice was easy to hear.

  “Not yet, but he is close,” said David, actually smiling now. He was definitely amused.

  I hate my life sometimes. This was one of those times. As I’ve mentioned before most players are strongly encouraged to hit at least the level 5 stat cap for all stats. This is done intentionally to give all players a solid base and the ability to select from a wide range of classes. Once you hit the level five cap for a stat, the experience gained for that stat drops to 10%. As such, prior to the level five if you received +100-Experience for a stat by doing a specific action, after level five, +100-Experience turns into +10-Experience. The only exceptions to this reduction are racial bonuses. Let’s say for me if I didn’t already have a class, everything would drop to 10% except for Intellect and Charisma which would only drop to 50% because I am a half-high elf, half-human, but everything would remain low until I chose a class.

  As to how that affects your class selection? Say I choose to become an archer. My primary stat as an archer would be dexterity, which would probably give me 100% or higher experience gains to that stat. Secondary would be stamina which would be used for most, if not all of my abilities, which would probably give me around 75% or higher experience. Tertiary would be Strength and Intellect. I would need strength to draw my bow, and some special shots, may use mana instead of, or along with, stamina, which I would guess, you’d get 50% or so experience for those stats.

  However, I’ve already selected my class. I’m a warrior priest, what does that mean exactly? I get the bonuses for a warrior of Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, and Endurance with Dexterity probably on the low end at 50%, cause, after all, you can’t kill what you can’t hit, which impacts both hit rating, dodge rating and even parry rating. And I get the priests bonus experience for Intellect, Wisdom, and Charisma where Charisma is probably the lowest, around 50%, simply because it’s hard to help the people who need your help if they don’t trust you.

  I’m sure you’re thinking, why is that a bad thing? Why is it bad to be able to increase all of your stats more easily than other players?

  The answer is simply time. It takes time to level stats. It takes even more time as you get to higher levels and higher stat points because each successive level requires additional experience, so too do stat points.

  I simply leaned forward tucking my head between my knee and tried to breathe deeply and tried to will nausea away.

  “Now he gets it,” said David. The man sounded way too pleased with himself.

  I got an awesome, overpowered class and it is going to be the death of me. I’m not a grinder. I hate grinding. I know early on, player characters require a good amount of grinding to build up skills and abilities and even the base level 5 stat caps. I accepted that coming into this game and was mentally prepared for it. What was a little grinding at the start? But what is being asked of me now is just not fair. Part of me wished I could just drop my class and pick something more my speed, but I didn’t want that either. I loved dishing out justice to Pwn Star69. I accomplished something when I caught those trolls. If I were to become a paladin for another god or goddess, then I’d be serving justice best suited to them and not what I felt was justice. I don’t believe in absolute justice or that justice should be blind. I guess I’m more of a moral justice kind of guy, following what I believe to be right or wrong with my heart. Trusting my gut as my grandpa used to say.

  I suppose that was the moment, I understood I had chosen my path when I first said ‘Yes’ to the Goddess’ offer. But I hadn’t truly accepted my path until that moment.

  “And there is acceptance,” commented Trinico as I sat back up.

  “Good,” said David, his hand giving my shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

  “So, how do I do this? How do I build my stats across the board?” I asked.

  “Okay, so there are a few skills I can teach you, one, in particular, is very useful and can be used as a stat building exercise. That should cover Dexterity and Stamina completely and give a little to Strength too. I have a plan for Strength too, but . . . well, just wait for tomorrow. Endurance you can earn out in the world fighting beasts and monsters to your heart’s content,” stated David thoughtfully.

  “I will teach you a more difficult skill, hopefully, it will cover all three, but you will need to read this tonight,” she opened a desk drawer and rummaged for a minute before producing a book.

  “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” I read the cover. It sounded familiar to me, but I just couldn’t place it.

  “It probably will not give you a skill, but it will give you some ideas for the exercise I am going to be teaching you,” she said, a little caution in her voice.

  “Okay, anything else? I think my brain is going to melt if you make me realize anything else today,” I said, roughly rubbing my hands through my hair.

  “I think we have tormented you enough for today, come to see me early tomorrow and we will get you started,” said David.

  Class Quest Alert: Training with Sergeant Butters 1

  Having put your trust in Trinico and David Butters, they have offered you training to develop your stats as quickly and efficiently as possible.

  Reward: Experience, Skill

  Do you accept this Quest?

  Yes

  No

  “And come to see me when you finish with David,” said Trinico with a kind smile on her face.

  Class
Quest Alert: Training with Priestess Trinico 1

  Having put your trust in Trinico and David Butters, they have offered you training to develop your stats as quickly and efficiently as possible.

  Reward: Experience, Skill

  Do you accept this Quest?

  Yes

  No

  “Okay, see you both tomorrow.” I accepted both quests, partly excited, partly terrified of what was to come.

  For now, I needed to get back to the inn and read this new book.

  The return to the inn was slow and quiet. I had a great deal of information to digest. Specifically, regarding my class. I was unique. I would be the only Warrior Priest in service to the Goddess Issara. There would be no others. That was more responsibility than I probably wanted. It also made me wonder, was I unique as a Warrior Priest or was I unique in service to the Goddess? If I was the only Warrior Priest, then the workload to keep up justice would be beyond me. However, if I was simply unique to the Goddess, then there would be others for the other gods and goddesses of justice. That also made me wonder how many other gods and goddesses of justice were there?

  Eventually, I returned to the inn as planned, but rather than hide in my room like I should have, and wanted to, I took a seat next to the fireplace in the lounge area, taking one of the big squishy chairs. I popped open the book and started to read, trying to ignore all the other noise still running around in my noggin. I had a task to complete before the next day. Thankfully, the book wasn’t thick. Less thankfully, it was more than a little complex. Parts of it seemed to be outright manipulation to me, but it also gave so many ways to improve relations with the people around me. I couldn’t not see the benefit. I wasn’t sure how this was going to help me with boosting my Intellect and Wisdom, but it would definitely help with my Charisma. Maybe that was the point. I’d find out the next day when I met with Trinico for training.