Ritualist (The Completionist Chronicles Book 1)

by Dakota Krout

  The deity nodded at the respect in Joey’s voice. “I know that you are coming into the game with the intention to become a perma. A permanent player that is. Before anyone else gets a chance, I want to make you an offer. I want you to become my follower.”

  “What? That’s it? That seems rather… anticlimactic. No grand quest to throw down the other gods, find magical artifacts, save the world?” Joey babbled in a rush before remembering who he was talking to.

  The god looked uncomfortable and coughed into a raised fist. “No, nothing like that for now. The problem is… I’m the Hidden God. It’s just that I’m too well hidden. I am the god of hidden and forbidden knowledge, my elements being water and darkness. Not of evil!” he exclaimed at the look Joey gave him. “Just like all things, knowledge is only evil if it is used as such, and darkness is as much a part of reality as is the light.”

  “So… why me?” Joey queried the pleading god.

  “Well, you will always be here. That means I will - at a minimum - always have at least one follower no matter how out of favor I am. Big plus in your favor, as it will be to my benefit to keep you happy. Also, the way that you finished all of the tasks allows me to offer you a ‘hidden’ class, one of the necessities for me to be able to speak to you in person.” The god sounded strangely desperate. “Deities gain power based on the quantity and works of their followers, which is why they offer quests to so many people, so often. I have no one, so my power begins to wane even in these early stages. If I become too weak, the world will stagnate, as no hidden knowledge will ever be found again. No high-level secret quests, no forgotten weapons of power.”

  It was starting to come together. “I hate to ask, but what do I get out of this? You just said the other gods are stronger and more able to give rewards to their followers, and I get the feeling that being associated with you will reduce how happy people are to know me.”

  The god nodded briskly, happy that they were moving into the transactional portion of this discussion. “That is a serious and valid concern, as people incorrectly associate darkness with evil regularly. I am actually considered a neutral god, one of the very few. I won’t lie to you, the followers of the gods of good will see you as too evil to fully trust, and those following gods of evil will see you as too weak to make a firm commitment to being terrible. As a starting benefit, where most people start with a positive reputation with those they follow and negative with the opposing side, you will start with neutral across the board.”

  Joey thought for a moment, the neutrality may actually come in handy. He wouldn’t be attacked by either the good or evil side in conflicts if he didn’t start anything. “Well, can you tell me about the class first?”

  The deity nodded, “It is called a ritualist. Everyone else will see you as a cleric unless you tell them your true nature or a very high level inspection spell is cast upon you. You will also have access to a unique profession, called an occultist. Again, this is hidden and considered a scholar when others steal a peek at your stat sheet.”

  “What are the class benefits?” Joey asked, very intrigued by the names of the class and profession.

  “As a ritualist, you will be able to mimic the abilities of other classes when you get strong enough. Like an enchanter, you will be able to create magical items or other effects that give magical benefits. If you have the mana and mental fortitude, you will be able to use any type of magic you find or create, where others are restricted to their area of expertise. As a ritualist, your main unique ability will allow you to cast large scale magics that require multiple participants… if you can find or create those rituals. That is where the occultist class comes into play.”

  “Go on…” Joey grinned, already knowing that he would be accepting this class.

  “That profession will let you find knowledge hidden in books, runes, and pictures that others–even high level scholars–will dismiss as irrelevant or simply lore of the world. As your skill levels progress, you will be able to read highlighted sections of information that appear to you and only you.”

  Joey realized something as the god was talking. “What are the downsides? A class this powerful must have some serious flaws…”

  “Yes, there are a few… basically, you will forevermore be the most frail character type. You have heard the term glass cannon? Think tissue paper cannon instead. Perhaps paper bow and arrow until you are able to destroy enemies on your own–many, many, levels down the road. Think of yourself as the sickly lad who never ate, got exercise, or left the library. Training and items can help to correct this, but you will never be as strong, be as charismatic, or have as much endurance as others who specialize in those areas. Even typical mages will be able to leave you wheezing in the dust if they decide to run away from a fight. Of course, all of that is at the lowest levels.” The god smiled nervously as Joey considered this unfortunate effect.

  “How do I get stronger? Will I be useful?” Joey finally spoke his thoughts aloud.

  “There are several main ways to get stronger; fighting monsters and other people is usually the fastest, of course. Otherwise, the second way you will gain experience is following your professions, and you will be able to have more than one. Oh, and I’ll give you bonuses if you are able to hide your class and play as… whatever you pretend to be. Third, and most important for you, I will be able to grant you lots of bonus experience and boons for finding hidden knowledge, secrets, or completing hidden quests. So following your profession will be much more beneficial over time than fighting,” the deity promised empathetically. “Eventually, you could attain power that the filthy casuals in the world can only dream of, and you won’t even need to leave safe areas too often if you don’t want to.” Joey thought the last bit was an awkward attempt at a joke.

  “I will want to be able to explore though, otherwise what was the point of all this?” Joey gestured to his body. “Also, I read in the wiki, what was allowed to remain anyway,” the company had put incredibly strict rules on sharing information, wikis and info sites were usually deleted the day they were created, “that there were class trainers that could direct you to quests or other beneficial areas. Will I get that?”

  A disheartened shake of the head was the answer he got.

  “Good! So I’ll actually be able to make my own way in the world and be rewarded for it?” Joey’s pleased voice startled the god, bringing a real smile to his face for the first time.

  “Yes, and if you do well, you may be able to recruit people to your cause, whatever it may be. You could actually become a class trainer for ritualists if you choose to do so.” This statement caused a prompt to appear in front of Joey.

  You have been offered the chance to earn a god’s favor. This is a multi-part quest. Step one: Choose Ritualist as your class. Step two: Glean enough hidden knowledge to increase favor with the Hidden God to ‘Friendly’. Reward: Hidden, variable. Based on knowledge accrued.

  Oh look, the reward was hidden. Everything was hidden! Joey thought he now knew how this deity had gotten his moniker. At least the quest seemed fairly typical for this style of quest chain, not to mention the one offering it. “So, how do I start?”

  “I would suggest you offer your services as a cleric if you insist that you want to hunt monsters. Healers are very rare in the world, especially magical ones. Actually, all magic is very hard to acquire, as you will soon find out. So few people went far enough in the trials–or did well enough in them–to start with magic, so they will either need to get into a Mage’s College or find artifacts that transfer power to them directly,” the god shot Joey a meaningful look. In the distance, thunder rolled. He nervously looked around. “I need to go; we are only allowed minimal time with players. I’ve already said too much. Do great works and I will be able to visit again. Last thing: Try your very best not to draw the Certified Altruistic Lexicon’s attention. No one wants to be exposed to his puns, and making him angry would be even worse.”

  The god vanished as Joe fully mate
rialized in the room, leaving him blinking in a world that motion had suddenly returned to. Stepping forward, he saw that the room was packed full of people standing quietly in rows. Wait, all of them had his face! He walked closer to them, and their class appeared above them. There were men holding huge weapons and wearing armor that glowed, men that wore very little but were bound with muscle, and men that had spirits or magical lights floating around them. In total, there were nearly a hundred of himself all demonstrating different classes he had unlocked.

  He moved, and all of them moved with him. Joey smiled, and the room lit up with the hundreds of teeth that were now showing. He danced around–playing with his new body–and for the first time wasn’t told that he should never, ever, dance in public. He liked this crowd; they understood his sweet moves.

  “I must have done well in the trials to have access to all of this,” Joey pondered aloud. “Now, how do I find the ritualist in all of this?” Saying the words out loud caused all but one of the men to become insubstantial, so he walked to that one and inspected him. It was indeed the ritualist. As he stepped closer, a prompt appeared in front of him.

  The Ritualist. A hidden (conditionally unique) class that has the ability to work with almost any type of magic, provided they can gain access to it and take the time to understand it. At level one, they have the same abilities as a cleric. As they level up their hidden selves, the ritualist automatically gains several cleric abilities at no cost. The ritualist class gains skill in their chosen pursuits at four times the speed of an average class due to their vast thirst for power. The ritualist gains five characteristic points to spend per three levels, and one point of wisdom and perception automatically on every even level. This is important and specifically stated because they have a massive penalty to their constitution, dexterity, and strength. Perception, wisdom, and intelligence are the suggested characteristics for this class. Do you want to start the ‘game’ as a Ritualist?

  Joey thought about the extra points; he was not sure how much of an effect each individual point would have, but at level one hundred–without allocating or gaining any extra points–he would have fifty perception and wisdom, plus whatever he started the game with. As far as he knew, there was no level cap but each new level was as difficult to attain as the game could make it and have people still want to play. Point in fact, you needed the experience of the previous level plus one thousand times the current level. So, if he started at level one, he needed one thousand points to get to level two. From two to three, he needed two thousand plus the one thousand points of level one; three thousand points in total, and so forth. Joe would need to do some research to see how best to allocate any points he might gain.

  He accepted the class, making another prompt appear. Know this! You are the first player to take this class. Set an example for others, and watch them flock to your cause for instruction! Intelligence +1 per two levels! Professions unlock at level five. You have four characteristic points to spend. Please note, your starting characteristics have already been modified due to your trials, real life capabilities, and class selection. Please allocate your remaining points now.

  Joey looked at his character sheet which appeared in front of him, filling his vision. There were several stats to choose from. Strength, agility, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, charisma, luck, karmic luck, and perception. The tooltips informed him that strength was the stat which determined how much he could carry and how hard he could hit with weapons or his fists. Dexterity was the explosive speed he could muster, his ability to contort his body, how well he could do complicated tasks like picking locks, crafting goods, or using ranged weapons. Yikes! Dexterity seemed to be a stat that was needed by most classes, and he had serious penalties to it...

  Constitution determined how healthy he was, how much stamina he had, and his resistances to poison and disease. It also determined his body appearance and made it harder to be knocked around at higher levels. Good for tanks and warriors especially.

  Intelligence determined how much mana he had at any given time, in addition to how well he could understand complicated concepts like spells or engineering.

  The tooltip for wisdom explained that wisdom determined how fast his mana regenerated, as well as an esoteric statement that wisdom would help determine if he should do something. It would also let him combine various concepts, working with his intelligence to make new and improved things.

  Charisma determined how people would interact with him, and his ability to get good prices buying or selling. It would impact his ability to lead or convince others to do things with or for him.

  Luck was something that affected all the other stats on an unstated level as well as his chances of finding rare items or loot without specifically looking for them. Karmic luck wasn’t explained, but it likely was how your alignment was tracked.

  Finally, perception was his ability to spot details. This was everything that came from sensory input and would increase how well he experienced and interacted with the world. There was a note on the side that caught his attention though. *Be warned! Increasing perception will enhance how much pain players actually feel, as well as all other sensations! Eternium is not responsible for damage to player’s mental state. For more information please read the capsule handbook included in your order!

  Well, that was disturbing. Hopefully there was a maximum threshold on the pain a person could feel; or else in the higher levels a strong wind may be too much to handle.

  He thought about the stats in a way appropriate for a non-gamer. Tomatoes. Why tomatoes? Think of it like this: Strength was how hard you could throw a tomato. Dexterity was how fast you could get to a tomato and allowed you to slice the fruit without hurting yourself. Constitution let you eat rotten tomatoes without getting sick. Intelligence let you know that a tomato was a fruit, while wisdom let you know not to put it in a fruit salad. Charisma allowed you to sell a tomato-based fruit salad. Perception let you spot tomatoes among strawberries. Luck was your likelihood of finding a tomato in a place that only grew potatoes. Karmic luck? No idea how it related, but it sounded dangerous.

  He looked at his current stat sheet to determine what he should increase.

  Characteristic: Raw score (Modifier)

  Strength: 6 (0.06)

  Dexterity: 6 (0.06)

  Constitution: 4 (0.04)

  Intelligence: 16 (1.16)

  Wisdom: 16 (1.16)

  Charisma: 8 (0.08)

  Perception: 16 (1.16)

  Luck: 12 (1.12)

  Karmic Luck: 0

  It seemed to be an odd ratio system, but he understood it better after reading the very informative tooltips that popped up as he looked over the various stats. It read like this: Growth in Eternium is difficult when you are doing nothing! Unlike other systems, each day will be a struggle to survive, especially at the start of your journey. Because of the difficulty, the rewards will certainly be worth your effort! Since this system is somewhat unorthodox, please note that a modifier of ‘one’ is considered a normal, healthy adult human. Your real-life capabilities have negatively impacted constitution to a high degree!

  Each point allocated will increase your modifier by one one-hundredth of a point. An exception to this is when you gain your first ten points in any category. At this point, your score will increase to ‘one point one’ in that category. Moving forward, each time a category increases to the next multiple of fifty, the base score will increase by ‘one’. At fifty points, your modifier will be plus ‘two’. At one hundred points, the modifier will be plus ‘three’. For example, a character with forty-nine points in a category will have a modifier of 1.49, which is forty-nine percent stronger than an average human! Then, if they reach fifty points in the category, they will jump to a modifier of 2.0!

  The discrepancy in strength is intended to push you to develop as fast as possible. Skill in the areas you focus on will quickly allow you to reach higher than others of the same level, even if you have simi
lar stats! You can earn skill points and characteristic points through your actions, so work hard! You will need to be as powerful as possible when the first major update comes into effect. That is… if you want to survive!

  Ominous ending, but seriously, ouch! Forget the high stats, those low scores made his character barely playable! A negative modifier like this could destroy his gameplay! What would a point zero four modifier do to him? If he read the information correctly, a modifier of ‘one’ was considered standard for a person, and was about the equivalent of a fit teenaged human in the real world. Anything below one could seriously impact almost all areas of his new life, and his strength modifier would leave him too weak to do almost anything!

  By the looks of his constitution, a stray splinter may actually kill him. He began with only four points to spend, so he put two in constitution and two in charisma, reasoning that social interactions would be a huge part of gameplay. He shuddered to think about how people would react to a person that much less charismatic than the average human. What was the sample size for that rating? Joey had the disturbing feeling that it was somehow everyone in the real world.

  After the points were distributed, he was asked to input a name. Since he could never start a new one, and would be around a long time, he chose ‘Joe’ as his screen name. Somehow that hadn’t been chosen yet, most likely because there were going to be a thousand versions of ‘Shadow’ or ‘slayer’ out there. He didn’t get to put in a last name, but his title appeared automatically with the option to change or hide it. He accepted the changes, and looked at the details that described his new and permanent self.

  Name: Joe ‘Try me with Trials’ Class: Cleric (Actual: Ritualist) Profession: Locked

  Level: 1 Exp: 0 Exp to next level: 1000

  Hit Points: 50/50 (50+(0)*)

  Mana: 400/400 (12.5 per point of intelligence, +100% from deity)