Awaken Online: Ember (Tarot #1)

by Bagwell, Travis

  At least one good thing had come from his recent training.

  Finn cracked his knuckles. Speaking of which, now that he had no distractions, he could finally get back to work.

  “Language training,” Finn said aloud. His UI shifted, presenting him with multiple screens, a line of symbols now floating in front of him. However, Finn had no difficulty reading the patterns now. His studies had progressed quickly – especially since he had sunk more points into Intelligence and his Learning and Reading skills had advanced.

  At this stage, he only had to see a new symbol once, and it would “stick” in his brain.

  “Next lesson,” Finn ordered.

  Yet the UI didn’t change.

  His brow furrowed in confusion. He didn’t want to waste time digging through the program or the code to see what was wrong – not with less than a day left.

  “Daniel,” Finn said aloud. The AI popped into existence a moment later, a glowing ball of flame dancing in the air.

  “Yes, sir?” the AI asked.

  “What’s wrong with the training software? It won’t load the next lesson.”

  The ball of flame flashed, changing from orange to a dark red and then back again. A few seconds later, Daniel’s voice echoed through the training room. “You have completed all of the available lessons,” he explained.

  “Wait, what?” Finn asked. How was that even possible? He had been making better progress, but that was still much faster than he’d expected.

  “I double-checked, and you have completed all training courses available,” Daniel replied a moment later. “If you would like, I could prepare additional lessons.”

  “But I haven’t even gotten the language notification…” Finn murmured to himself.

  Then he hesitated.

  Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t gotten any notifications recently. It only took him a few seconds to realize why.

  “Wow, I’m an idiot,” he said, rubbing at his face. Or maybe he was more tired than he realized – although he shied away from that idea. That would mean Julia was right.

  Sighing, Finn pulled up his system UI, and with a flick of his wrist, he swiftly navigated the menus. A moment later, he turned his notifications back on—

  —and was promptly met with a barrage of blue windows.

  x10 Level Up!

  You have (50) undistributed stat points.

  Stat Increases:

  +21 Strength

  +32 Dexterity

  +40 Endurance

  x6 Spell Rank Up: Magma Armor

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 8

  Cost: 85 Mana

  Effect: Creates a damage shield capable of absorbing 240 damage (120 damage if water/ice).

  Channel Effect: Repairs the shield at a rate of 40 damage/second at a mana cost of 10 mana/second.

  x3 Skill Rank Up: Reading

  Skill Level: Intermediate Level 1

  Effect 1: 15% increased learning speed while reading.

  Effect 2: 5% increased memorization.

  x4 Skill Rank Up: Learning

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 9

  Effect: 13% increased learning speed for skills and spells.

  x3 Skill Rank Up: Mana Mastery

  Skill Level: Intermediate Level 4

  Effect 1: -7.5% to the mana cost of spells.

  Effect 2: 2.5% faster cast rate.

  x7 Skill Rank Up: Dodge

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 8

  Effect: 4.5% increased speed and reaction time.

  x4 Skill Rank Up: Small Blades

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 5

  Effect: 9% increased damage and accuracy with daggers and throwing knives.

  x3 Skill Rank Up: Toughness

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 4

  Effect: 2.5% reduced damage and increased pain tolerance.

  x5 Skill Rank Up: Concentration

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 6

  Effect: Ability to split your focus between [2] tasks.

  x7 Skill Rank Up: Multi-Casting

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 8

  Effect: -46.5% casting speed on second spell.

  x4 Skill Rank Up: Sprint

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 5

  Effect: 7% increased movement speed.

  Cost: 7.5 Stamina / Second

  “Holy shit,” Finn muttered. That was the only appropriate reaction to a week’s worth of notifications. Despite the barrage of windows, there was one final prompt that caught his attention, his heart skipping a beat as he saw the title.

  System Notice: Veridian Language Learned

  After extensive training, you have learned a new language: Veridian!

  You are currently considered [Fluent].

  You can now read, write, and speak Veridian at a high-school level, although further progress can still be made to master the language.

  Finn could only stare at the translucent blue screen for a moment.

  He had done it.

  He had learned Veridian – or at least enough to get by. And he had done it in two weeks! Finn almost couldn’t believe it.

  Although, that accomplishment had other implications. The last couple of weeks had highlighted that this game allowed him to pick up new skills and abilities at a frightening pace. Could this learning enhancement be applied to real-world applications? Learning calculus? Woodworking? Martial arts? Economics? A person could basically plug themselves in and learn anything in a fraction of the normal time – not even accounting for the time compression.

  Not for the first time, Finn was left marveling at what the developers and engineers had built here. He also expected he wouldn’t be the first person to start asking these questions. What would happen when other players discovered this? He wasn’t certain whether to be excited or terrified…

  His thoughts were interrupted as another notification flashed in front of Finn.

  Quest Complete: Cramming

  Through intensive training, you managed to learn Veridian and the basic mechanics of spellcasting! Although, we don’t exactly have a reward for you. Isn’t the accomplishment reward enough, though? It’s the intangible “achievement” that matters, that shiny notification that will be forever hidden in the depths of your account profile and no one will ever see…

  Uh, anyway, congratulations!

  Finn barked out a laugh as he read the quest completion prompt. To be fair, he’d never been a fan of “completionists” – who just strove after in-game achievements for no reward. What was the point of bragging rights in a game? It was nice for the AI to acknowledge that this was a silly way to motivate people. In Finn’s case, the rewards of his training were much more tangible. He could easily quantify and measure his progress.

  Speaking of which, the other notifications still flashed in Finn’s peripheral vision, reminding him that he needed to review the rest of his progress.

  As his eyes skimmed down the list of skill notifications, Finn noticed that he had ranked skills that he didn’t remember acquiring – likely because he had the notifications turned off. For example, Sprint and Toughness seemed like an obvious result of running Brutus’ insane obstacle course and letting both the fire mage and Julia beat the hell out of him in the training room.

  Finn could see that some skills were slowing down. For example, Mana Mastery had been much more difficult to rank since hitting Intermediate. He had also gained far less experience for his skill training than at first. To top it all off, as he looked back over his feed carefully, he realized that his stat gains from Brutus’ training had dwindled.

  He supposed that made sense. There was a limit to how far a player could progress with training alone. The game seemed to be pushing people toward interacting with the world instead of spending all their time sitting in a library.

  Or in a hidden, condemned training room…

  Finn swept the skill notifications aside and turned his attention to the additional stat points he had earned. Brutus had urged him to allocate h
is original points toward Intelligence – which had given him more mana and regeneration, as well as further increasing his skill learning speed. Presumably. His other stats all seemed respectable at this point, apart from Vitality and Willpower.

  However, Willpower seemed a bit redundant with Intelligence – at least for how he was building his character. On the other hand, a few more hit points might be helpful with the upcoming duels. When combined with his Magma Armor, he could have a respectable amount of health for a mage.

  Finn chewed on his lip for a moment and then abruptly made a decision. He stuck another twenty points into Intelligence and placed the remaining thirty into Vitality. Then he pulled up his Character Status.

  Character Status

  Name:

  Finn

  Gender:

  Male

  Level:

  25

  Class:

  Race:

  Human

  Alignment:

  Lawful-Neutral

  Fame:

  465

  Infamy:

  0

  Health:

  520

  H-Regen/Sec:

  1.80

  Mana:

  745

  M-Regen/Sec:

  15.50

  Stamina:

  820

  S-Regen/Sec:

  7.00

  Strength:

  42

  Dexterity:

  59

  Vitality:

  40

  Endurance:

  70

  Intelligence:

  105

  Willpower:

  15

  Affinities

  Dark:

  2%

  Light:

  8%

  Fire:

  39%

  Water:

  5%

  Air:

  3%

  Earth:

  10%

  Finn had grown considerably.

  With his damage shields, he could get close to 1,000 effective health – assuming he took hits on his arms. The points in Vitality also helped increase his natural health regeneration, which might come in handy. If he also considered his ability to channel more mana into the shields with Multi-Casting, he would be pretty resilient.

  The only remaining problem was his offensive abilities. Right now, it looked like he was bringing a knife to some sort of magical gunfight. He could still vividly recall the Frozen Orb and Stone Spikes that Vanessa and Zane had used during that first encounter with Brutus, and it was unlikely that they had spent the last week goofing off.

  However, despite his shortcomings, a part of Finn was excited to find out how far his peers had come along in such a short time. How would he measure up against the other novices in a one-on-one fight?

  Finn’s thoughts were interrupted as he let out an inadvertent yawn, blinking his eyes blearily.

  “Sir, it has been approximately 7.5 hours real-world time since you last logged out,” Daniel interjected in a worried voice. “You really should take Julia’s advice and consider returning to your world.”

  Finn glared at the glowing orange ball of light. Now even the AI was nagging him? After Julia’s teasing about building a “parent protocol” for Daniel, he idly wondered if she had already hacked his system again. But that seemed unlikely. The AI was probably just picking up obvious behavioral cues for fatigue.

  “Fine, fine,” Finn muttered. Now that he wasn’t frantically training, he could finally feel just how tired he was – his eyes drooping and his limbs feeling stiff and heavy.

  He swept aside his screens and brought up the system menu. Perhaps he should take everyone’s advice. Tomorrow would be a big day.

  The duels were coming, after all.

  With that final thought, Finn hit the “log out” button and vanished in a flash of multi-colored light.

  Chapter 20 - Pivotal

  It feels strange to be standing here, Finn thought.

  He stood amid a mass of other students in the courtyard. There had to be at least a hundred students in their initial novice class. It occurred to Finn that these were likely some of the first players to start AO, be inducted into the guild, and make it through the initial training. A sort of excited tension hung in the air, reminding him of a high school graduation. That sense that the students were pushing at the gates, just waiting to be set free.

  And yet they hadn’t graduated from anything.

  They had barely passed the tutorial.

  “Geez, there are a lot of people here,” Kyyle said, coming up behind Finn.

  “Yeah, I didn’t realize there were this many students,” Finn murmured.

  If this represented just their novice class, how many mages attended the guild? The number felt hard to pin down with so many players in attendance, especially since the playerbase varied based on who was logged in at that moment. Although, judging from the throng of players ringing the terrace, Finn guessed that there were quite a few.

  “Or teachers,” Kyyle observed, pointing at the stone platform in the center of the courtyard. “I don’t recognize most of those people.”

  Finn could see that Kyyle was right. He could pick out Brutus’ massive form and Lamia’s stern glare, but the rest of the faculty were just nameless faces lined up behind Nefreet.

  “By the way, how have you been?” Finn asked, turning back to Kyyle. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in days, Brutus’ stupid obstacle course aside…” The fire mage’s training regime hadn’t left room for much conversation, and Finn had been rather distracted.

  Kyyle shrugged. “Studying just like everyone else, I suppose.” He side-eyed Finn. “How have the extra special training sessions been going?”

  Finn grimaced. “About how you would expect. Brutus is… well, Brutus.”

  A laugh. “You feeling nervous about the duels?”

  A few students immediately glanced at Kyyle when he mentioned that word, and even Finn had to resist the urge to flinch. Everything they had been doing over the last few weeks was leading to that competition. And the stakes were still real – Nefreet holding an axe over the heads of the bottom 10%. Just mentioning the duels had almost become taboo among the novices.

  Finn glanced at Kyyle. “I’d like to lie and say no, but I’m not cool enough to pull that off. Yeah, it’s going to be difficult. I can’t imagine what it will be like to fight another player for real.”

  He just had to hope his training was enough.

  “Hello,” Nefreet said, his voice carrying across the field. The crowd of students immediately stilled, a hushed silence filling the air.

  “Congratulations are in order. You have all made it this far, your first step along the path. Hopefully, one of many.”

  Nefreet paused, his eyes skimming the crowd. “From this point forward, you all are full-fledged members of the guild. This comes with a few advantages: the award of your mage class, access to the guild requisition officer, greater access to our library, and more advanced instructions.” The students murmured among themselves at the mention of possible rewards.

  “However, while exciting, this also represents a pivotal turning point. Guild membership comes with a cost. We ask for none other than complete excellence. It is that prestige and accomplishment that has allowed the guild to flourish for over a hundred years and to become the gem of Lahab.

  “And the cornerstone of that accomplishment is the duels.”

  At this statement, the silence returned abruptly, as though Abbad had just cast a Suppression spell on the crowd.

  “As I mentioned when you were first inducted into the guild,” Nefreet continued, “these duels pit mage against mage, allowing the best of us to rise and to shed the dead weight of those that cannot keep up. Our motto is simple:

  “Victory or death.”

  Nefreet let this statement echo through the air, pausing to take in the crowd.

  “In keeping with this tradition, we have an important announcement to make.” Nefre
et turned to look at the students ringing the terraces. “This is a message that affects not just this novice class, but the guild as a whole.” Finn noticed that many of the faculty behind Nefreet shuffled nervously at this introduction, more than one glaring at the man’s back with an accusing expression.

  Yet the headmaster seemed unaffected by the faculty’s judgment. He continued in an even voice, “Within the seclusion of these walls, you all may not be aware that our Emir has grown sick. He also has no offspring or natural successor, which has created a question regarding who shall be appointed as the next Emir.”

  He paused as the students and faculty listened in anticipation, more than one brow furrowed in confusion. “Within the last 48 hours, the Emir passed a royal decree to each of the three guilds. He has declared a competition the likes of which our great city has never seen.

  “Each of the three great guilds has been ordered to host a tournament to choose a single competitor to represent their guild. This person must be selected from among the guild novices and may either be a resident of Lahab or a traveler. These three champions will then be given the opportunity to compete to become the next Emir.”

  Nefreet looked across the crowd of students. “Which means one of our novices may qualify to rule our great city.”

  Holy shit. Finn could see that same thought echoed across the face of every student in the courtyard and could hear the nervous murmurs from the balcony ringing the courtyard. The sour expression on the faces of many of the faculty also made sense now. Finn saw Lamia glaring daggers at Nefreet. The prospect of an uneducated student given the opportunity to rise above them in power couldn’t be easy to accept.