by Lucas Dunn
Congratulations! By running tiredly through the streets of a deserted town you have been given +1 to Stamina!
Well that at least brightened the journey up. But it did make me realize how hard it would be to get experience quests or money if there were no NPC’s around to offer quests. Thinking I’d work on the problem later I continued on through the courtyard until I reached two wooden double doors that led into the fort. Pushing the door open led into a large room with many hallways and corridors leading off. I decided to choose the middle largest hallway ending in another set of double doors. Opening them revealed a long table adjourned with silverware, plates, and goblets untouched and ready to be served to guests. The table on the other hand was rotting and old, along with the tapestries on the high walls and long windows. Deciding there was nothing of use I back tracked and went down another hallway leading to a set of stairs. Climbing the stairs for what seemed like forever I finally reached a single dark wooden door engraved with sigils and runes. With my high IQ, I determined it was definitely warded with magic, but my common sense score being much lower I decided to open it anyway. As I pushed against the door It started to glow a deep fiery red and heat up getting brighter and brighter. Thinking I screwed the pooch I was about to turn and run when the door itself burst into flames and collapsed into ash. Laughing nervously at the close call, I berated myself for being so risky in the beginning. Cautiously walking through the doorway, it led to a massive library. Well I say library, but it was really a bunch of empty broken shelves that seemed purposely smashed and raided. From what I could see from the formerly massive library there was about four books on the shelf that were left. I went to the closest two that were next to each other to examine them hoping for a magic book and my prayers were definitely answered…sort of.
Received magic book: orb of air - A small gust of air unable to harm.
Received magic book: Flame orb - A small orb of fire that lies stationary.
Though they were magic spells they were also very weak and had a limited use, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers. Going to the other books I picked them up and studied them.
Received magic book: Minor healing – Heal oneself or target for 15 hit points.
Received mundane book: The Theory of spell craft and runes. (Hidden)
Very pleased with the healing book but disappointed with just the regular book I collected them and decided to head downstairs to the main hall to see what I could accomplish with them. Upon reaching the feasting table I sat on the floor rather than trusting the rotting chairs and went over my books this time with a prompt appearing asking if I would like to read them. Mentally clicking yes for the flame orb spell, a rush of translucent runes rushed to my head and suddenly I could see it clearly in my head but I had no idea how to activate the spell. There was no menu and no inscription for me to write so I went on to the rest of them clicking yes and then trying to perform the spell until I had just the mundane book left and the other books crumpled to ash with the knowledge spent. With nothing left to lose I opened the mundane book and started studying it. It began with a dictionary of runes and their meanings and went on to discuss how to cast spells and even how to create your own spells by aligning certain runes in your mind! After finishing the book, I received a couple messages
After studying the magical arts, you have received plus one intelligence!
Congratulations, besides the arch mage at the Light mages college, you have discovered spell creation which has been deemed a Hidden art! +100 fame, +1 point to intelligence, +1 point to wisdom
New skill learned Spell creation.
Spell creation has risen to level three! You can now create more advanced spells
Attention! You have found a skill that has been purposely hidden from the public by The Light One’s mages. Do what you will with this knowledge.
I couldn’t believe no one else besides the arch mage and I knew about this. I was definitely already at an advantage. Shaking with anticipation I thought of the flame orb spell and instantly three runes lined up in my mind. After going through hundreds of runes in the book, I found out the first was form, the second was fire, and the third was still. The book explained these runes had to be filled with mana so I imagined a dam holding back the flow of my mana. Slowly I released mana in a small stream and suddenly a tiny ball of fire floated in front of me. Ecstatic I lost concentration and the orb disappeared. This skill was endless. If I could create any spell I wanted, I couldn’t see the need for any spell books. Though this luck didn’t seem to be a coincidence, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of self-accomplishment as well. As a spell caster I could definitely see that even though I had the ability to be very powerful I was also held back by the time it would take me to learn all the runes as well as be able to form them in my head and fill them with mana. In battle I could lose concentration at any given moment and the bigger the spell the more time and concentration it would take. Focusing back on my present situation I realized I needed a plan. First, I needed something to eat and drink, second I needed to find a way to level up. Third, I needed some gear and weapons. I could tell I had been in the game for about 2 hours, the walk here taking part of the time and exploring this place the rest. I decided my first plan of action was to find food and maybe It would help me kill two birds with one stone because in order to do this I’d have to kill something and hopefully level up. Heading out of the fort I started jogging down what appeared to be the main road heading West with my mundane book in hand. I reached a battered gate with half of it torn off its hinges and walked through to the outside to see what greeted me.
The forest in the distance, I estimated it to be at least 2 miles away. From the gate to the forest there was at least twenty rabbits I could see in sight to help me begin my leveling process in a wide-open field. That’s when it hit me. I had no attack spells. My orb of air admitted it, and my flame orb spell was stationary. Opening my spell book I decided to turn my flame spell into something of use. I knew the spell came with three runes already so I decided to change the last one from “still” to “Motion”. Focusing on a rabbit twenty yards away I pictured the runes in my mind and released enough mana to fill them. A fireball the size of my fist rushed at the rabbit striking it head on as it flopped to the ground blackened.
New spell learned! Weak fire orb: Creates a small orb of fire that sails directly at enemy.
-50 mana
15 of 15 damage dealt to puny level one rabbit
Puny level one rabbit killed +5% experience to next level
Reading over the messages I felt pretty proud until it mentioned that it was a “Puny” rabbit. I felt that was kind of unnecessary and maybe a little derogatory towards my accomplishments. I also noted that I had used fifty mana for that fireball which meant I would only be able to create two fireballs before I ran out of mana. This made finding a weapon a pretty high priority so I could have a fighting chance to finish off prey if I ran out of mana. I walked up to the rabbit’s body and in its place, was the option to automatically collect any part of the rabbit. Collecting the meat and pelt I moved on and found three similar rabbits and quickly finished them off adding 15% more experience to my previous five. As I was walking towards another rabbit I noticed this one to be at least twice the size of the first one with a seemingly bone plated head. I know enough not to take this too lightly even if it is still a rabbit. I would prefer to kill it unembarrassed rather than emerge from my capsule with a story explaining how I let some stupid rabbit get the better of me. I assumed this rabbit to have twice as much health so I prepared my fireball ready to shoot two in a quick succession. I launched my first fireball and didn’t take time to read the damage indicator before I launched my second one as it turned and started running at me. When it kept running I decided to check my messages to see what I screwed up on.
-50 mana
15 of 40 damage dealt to not as puny level three rabbit
-50 mana
15 of 25 damage dealt to not as
puny level three rabbit
It was ten yards away running at me with its head down so I did the only thing I had left in my arsenal. I took a couple steps back and as it got closer I ran forward and punted the little shit as hard as I could. I instantly regretted it as I felt three toes on my right foot instantly go numb, I could see the rabbit sail through the air before flopping to the ground and staying there.
-15 damage taken from not as puny level three rabbit
Right foot crippled -10% dexterity for 10 minutes
5 of 10 damage dealt to not as puny level three rabbit
Wait a second… I thought as I read it. 5/10 oh crap, I thought glancing back up just in time to see the rabbit only 5 yards away sprinting at me with his head down. I hardly had time to get ready before I punted him for a second time with my left foot. Now with a twenty percent decrease in dexterity I checked my messages just to make sure I killed him for good this time and saw that he’d given me a tidy sum of 20% experience to the next level which put me at 40% until the next level. Walking over to him I picked up his “x2 Rabbit meat” and decided to eat him for dinner tonight. I was already halfway to the woods so I decided to go a pick up some firewood from the edge of the forest while I was there. I waited for my mana to replenish before casting minor healing on myself to remove the debuffs. On the way to the forest, I was able to kill two more level one rabbits. When I got there, I stayed at least ten yards from the edge of the forest and was able to grab enough firewood, a hefty tree branch, along with a sharp rock to carry back to the wall. By the time it got dark, I also managed another level one rabbit bringing me to 55% experience to the next level. I placed my firewood and lit it with my fire orb spell while I placed the rabbit meat over it. After cooking and eating the “Charred rabbit” I was thinking about what spells I might be able to create when I heard a bone chilling howl coming from the edge of the forest quickly accompanied by many more. Realizing my predicament, I shot up, picked up my big branch, book, and stone while I ran like hell into the town. Trying to hide in any of the houses would have been pointless with how ruined they were. I needed to make it into the fort before they reached me which seemed hopeless. From what I could tell they were about two and a half miles away. I had about 45 minutes before I reached the fort. Coming to a stop I quickly opened my mundane book and formed a spell in my head “Self”, “Scent”, “Hide”. I quickly filled it with mana and watched as my mana bar almost completely emptied. For my next spell I was going to need full mana so I continued sprinting until my stamina was almost empty and my mana was full and formed another spell after looking up one rune “Self”, “Scent”, “Orb”, “Movement”. Nothing happened
Spell too advanced. Raise spell creation to level 4 in order to add more runes.
Well that’s just great I thought as the howls brought me back to reality. I needed a way to make a scent disguised as me run a go a different direction but I only had the ability to use three runes. I quickly went into the house next to me while focusing on “Self”, “Scent”, “Orb” and placing it in the center of the room. Waiting a couple minutes for my mana to recharge I added two more orbs, one a couple feet away from the doorway and one right next to it. The first of which was “Sense”, “Motion”, “Electric”. While the second was “Sense”, “Motion”, “Fire”. The wolves howled again notifying me they had picked up my scent again so I carefully backed out of the room not filling the runes with the final bit of mana till I left. Completely out of mana I started a fast-paced jog towards the fort assuming I was about an 20 minutes away and the wolves were about a half mile behind me. Ten minutes after I had set the trap I got the messages
50 of 50 damage done to level one wolf pup
Congratulations! You killed a level one wolf. +45% experience to level 2 and 3% experience to level three.
Congratulations! You have reached level two, you have five unallocated skill points to spend,
Congratulations! You have reached level four in Spell creation and are now able to create even more advanced spells!
5 of 750 damage done to level ten wolf
5 of 750 damage done to level ten wolf
While I was excited about the level up, it was overshadowed by the fact that I was being followed by such strong opponents that felt comfortable hunting me enough to send their weakest after me. Not to mention they were only ten minutes away! I needed another distraction and seeing as I’d leveled up in spell creation, I decided to test out my new ability. “Self”, “Scent”, “Orb”, “Movement”. I filled it with mana and sent the orb slowly drifting down the street to my left. With my scent hidden and a new trail I was hoping it would be enough to keep them off my tracks. Another ten minutes filled with endless howling and I heard a change in their tone which signified the end of my ruse. With the drawbridge in sight I knew they wouldn’t be able to catch me so I decided to set up another nice surprise in one of the houses before heading into the fort and shutting the wooded doors with a sigh of relief. As I waited for the messages from my trap to appear it never came. Assuming they figured out my ruse I pulled up my stat screen to see what had changed since I last looked, and to allocate my points. I had already decided more mana would be invaluable so I would put four into that and one into stamina because I had needed to run so much. As I started to use more spells and allocate different stats I could see my skills and spells with a lot more detailed explanations
Name
Lucian
Race
Human/???
Class
None
Level
2(Percent towards next level: 15%)
Fame
200(Your name was James, right?)
Health
60
Mana
270
Intelligence (1 point = 30 towards mana)
9
Constitution (1 point = 20 towards health)
3
Wisdom (1 point = +1 mana per second)
5
Strength
3
Stamina
4
Dexterity
3
Luck
3
Abilities
Dark Sight: See with 100% proficiency in darkness. (Non-Passive)
Dark Shroud: Unable to be heard or detected by the followers of light through divine or mundane magic. (Passive)
Skills
Water Magic: 0% towards next level. 0% resistance. [Level one]
Earth Magic: 0% towards next level. 0% resistance. [Level one]
Fire Magic: 5% towards next level. 0% resistance. [Level one]
Air Magic: 2% towards next level. 0% resistance. [Level one]
Dark Magic: 0% towards next level. 0% resistance. [Level one]
Light Magic: 0% towards next level. 0% resistance. [Level one]
Lightning Magic: 2% towards next level. 0% resistance. [Level one]
Mana Manipulation: Process of correctly envisioning spell and speed. 15% towards next level. Cast speed and success +0% effective. [Level one]
Spell Creation: You have the ability to create your own spell. Current limit of four runes. (Non-Passive) [Level Four]
Quests
Search and restore lost religion.
Chapter 5
Now that I was back in the main hall and relatively safe I decided I had been on long enough and needed to eat back in the real world before continuing. Logging out I went to the kitchen and pulled out a quick thing of instant noodles and grabbed an apple. While munching on the apple I grabbed my phone to see if Jake had said anything else. Seeing it empty I finished my apple and noodles before deciding how I was going to spend the next couple days. I didn’t have work since today was Friday and I had Saturday and Sunday off. The capsule automatically allowed you to sleep in it while you played so I decided why not immerse myself as much as possible before Monday. Shooting Jake a quick text, I told him that I started the game but probably wouldn’t be able to meet soon and for him to send me hi
s username so I could send a friend request. After I took care of that business I decided to hop back in the capsule and see what could be done about my situation.