by Dakota Krout
Joe spent some time looking for data on the game, but it seemed there was still an information blackout. Drat, he had been hoping for some tips on advancing his skills. He tinkered around with the internet for a while until a beeping noise caught his attention. There was a countdown timer above a swirling darkness that was resolving into a portal. The portal stabilized as the timer ended, and Joe stepped through the opening directly to the town square of Ardania. The sun was already down, unsurprising as he had missed out on six hours of gameplay.
Joe found the nearest guard, and told him about Headshot making him fall off the cliff to his death. The guard, while polite and sympathetic, simply waved at Joe and shrugged. “What am I supposed to do here? You fell to your death, but here you stand. So…?”
Not knowing what else to do, Joe went into his guild’s tavern and temporary residence. A wall of noise almost threw his emaciated body back into the street as the door swung open. Someone noticed him and pointed him out. He was dragged to the front of the room and plopped in front of the guild leader. “Joe! Cleric, right?”
“Yes! What’s going on?” Joe looked around as the noise subsided; the gathered people seeming to anticipate something.
“We declared war on the Hardcores!” the man shouted, a roar of approval meeting his words. “They went around the city and wiped out six parties of our people. Then they started hunting field bosses and jumped in city reputation. They were ahead of our ranking all day, but about an hour ago, there was an announcement.”
“What was it? I just respawned.” Joe was looking around at all the once again expectant faces, but at his words, their faces sagged.
“Dang, I thought it would be you.” The guild leader ran a hand through his hair and grinned goofily. “Our guild just got a thousand reputation points with the city for having the first person to get an expert ranked skill! We are trying to figure out who it was because if they leave the guild, they take the reputation with them. Now we are the number one ranked guild in the city, and only a week or so from gaining ‘Friend’ status. We’d have had it sooner, but those Hardcores keep stealing kills then wiping us out. So, war.”
“War!” the guild members echoed the man.
“Where do I come in? They killed my whole team; I’m ready to get back at them.” Joe’s voice was cold. A roar of approval made him smile, but the slaps on the back were literally killing him. He needed to subtly heal himself to stay standing.
“That’s the spirit!” Joe was clapped on the back once again. “We need to heal up! They have more people, but if we can keep going after them, we will outpace them before they can understand what hit ‘em!”
“Works for me! Who needs healing?” Joe started going around the room, and soon everyone who had been injured in the last week was at maximum health. After that, well, they were all in a tavern. Drinks were supplied by the guild, and everyone got roaring drunk. The next day… the hunt would begin!
Joe woke up, clutching his head and groaning. He tried healing himself, but the healing water flowing over him did nothing for his dehydration. Inspired by a sudden thought and memories of this exact situation in the army, he punctured a vein on his arm and directed his healing ability into his body like an IV. He was rewarded by a quickly decreasing migraine and a message from the system.
Hangover debuff removed.
New skill gained: Cleanse! While others need to fight off the effects of poison, disease, or other detrimental effects, your patients will be able to ignore them entirely! Cost: 15n mana where ‘n’ equals skill level. Effect: Remove detrimental effects over time. There will be a mana cost per second until the patient is cured. Recovery speed increases by 1% per skill level!
Awesome. Joe decided that he would use cleanse a few times this morning to display and level the skill but would charge for it in the future. He started with the guild leader, who was squinting and grunting at an upset Tiona. As relief literally washed through him, the leader looked at Joe gratefully and was able to join in the conversation fully. Joe nodded and moved on to other severe patients. Soon the tavern was lively once more, and groups began moving out to hunt the Hardcores.
“Joe! I’d like you to stay in town all day today if at all possible.” The guild leader was ignoring Tiona as he said this, much to her displeasure. “If someone tries to attack you in town, the guard will blacklist them and kill them for a week whenever they show up again. This way, we can bring our injured to you, and you stay safe.”
Joe looked at Tiona but had to agree that the logic was good. “Sure thing. I was actually hoping to find a library and read for a while. Yesterday was a little… intense.” A memory of pain flitted across his face as he remembered splattering his body across the bottom of a cliff.
Tiona misinterpreted his expression. “Joe, I did the best I could! Don’t quit my team just because you died once! All of us have! The first death is the hardest; you get used to it!”
“Whoa, slow down! I’m not quitting your team, I’m just taking a day off.” Joe’s answer didn’t seem to satisfy the fighter. “Listen, Tiona, I got shoved off a cliff yesterday. I didn’t die right away when I hit the ground, so I got to experience the lovely feeling of a first-person look at my intestines. I’m taking a single day to myself to get over that and heal other people.”
Tiona looked him over carefully, as if she could ascertain the veracity of his words with a staring contest. “Fine. You’re coming along tomorrow though, even if I have to drag you!” She blew out of the door, nearly taking it off the hinges.
Joe was escorted to the city library and was politely ‘asked’ to remain in the area so that he would be available for the guild’s needs. Joe nodded and walked into the library, taking a deep breath of the slightly musty air. He had always loved books. When he was a teenager, he had volunteered at a library after school and on weekends just so that he could always be the first to check out the new books that came in. After he had been blown out of the sky, he hadn’t been able to turn the pages. Entertainment had become all television, all the time.
“Good morning, traveler. What can we help you with today?” An older gentleman waved at him from behind a laden desk.
“Oh, good morning. I am here to read and explore the history of the world if possible. How did you know that I was a traveler?” Joe was curious; it was almost impossible to tell a player from an NPC unless it was specifically stated or they offered you a quest.
“We don’t often see new faces here.” The librarian arched a brow at him over half-moon spectacles. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but access to the library is restricted. Not to be rude, but travelers tend to be rather… destructive.”
Joe’s shoulders slumped a bit. He had really hoped to make some progress finding ‘hidden’ knowledge. “What would I need to do in order to gain admittance?” He could always sneak in but would rather not be sent to jail or attacked on sight.
“You will need a recommendation from a city official. Anyone employed by the city in a high enough position of power will do,” the librarian nodded as he thought aloud. “If you manage that, I will grant you access to a few sections. More will be available if you do some work for us here.”
There was no quest alert, so Joe knew that this was a personal ‘social’ quest. It was likely that he would get a reward beyond access to the books, but it wouldn’t be explicitly stated, unlike the zombit killing quest. He thought a moment and asked, “Would the city guard captain be a worthy reference? I feel that he would be willing to do so.”
“The captain?” The librarian seemed startled as he looked up from the paper he had gone back to reading; apparently no one else had continued to ask questions or put effort into entering the library. “Uhm, yes, he would be just fine. In fact, I have a communication crystal that connects to his office. Are you sure you would like to ask him? If he says no, I will assume you were lying to me. It won’t go well for you.”
“Please give him a call then!” Joe flashed a brilliant
smile at the man, trying to project an innocent vibe.
“Alright then.” The librarian shrugged and touched a crystal on his desk. When the captain answered a moment later, the librarian explained the situation. A glowing reference came pouring out of the communication crystal, to the point that when the librarian cut off the call. He stared at Joe incredulously. “How in the world did you get him to like you? He doesn’t like anyone! He doesn’t like me! I apologize, but I instantly thought you were lying to me. The only reason I actually called him was so that he could arrest you for attempting to use his name for access.”
“That seems a little excessive…” Joe muttered softly. Not softly enough.
“Excessive! Ha! The first traveler to come into the library set a first edition dungeon guide on fire! I’ve had these rules in place ever since, and guess how many books have started on fire after that? Zero!” He suddenly turned suspicious. “You can’t create fire, can you?”
“I’m a cleric. I can create water. No fire, yet.” Joe thought it best to humor this angry individual. “Could I ask your name?”
“I am Boris, the head librarian. You had better not get my books wet; water can be as damaging as fire, if on a smaller scale,” Boris threatened while squinting at Joe. “After that recommendation from such an esteemed member of my fair city, you will have access to the entirety of the first floor. Even if my heart tells me to keep you away from my precious literature.”
“Many thanks, Sir Boris.” Joe inclined his head a bit. “I hope that my time here will help me along my path to becoming a scholar when I have gained enough knowledge.” He started to walk into the book stacks, but Boris stopped him once again.
“A scholar? You want to become a scholar? Not a great and powerful warrior, a vanquisher of beasts? You want to study dusty tombs and the written word?” Boris’s eyes seemed to gleam.
“Of sorts, yes. I want to do all of that. The beasts included.” Joe returned a half-smile to the frail-looking man. “I want to learn more than is stored in safe and secure locations such as this lovely library. I want to seek out lost histories, find eons-old formulae painted on cave walls, and seek out powerful magic hidden by ancient mages. Alas, my strength is lacking for adventure as of yet and so my journey begins here.”
Boris was now smiling at him. “I think I can see why the captain is so enamored with you! Well, if it is physical strength you need, you are on your own. But… there are a few things you could do for me that could hurry along your search for knowledge. Also, as the head librarian, I am the man who will set you on the path of the scholar when you are strong enough. If you’d like, I can allow you to do some of the tasks beginners must complete and simply hold your reward until you are ready. Would this be acceptable?”
Quest alert: Footsteps through history I. Head librarian Boris is offering tasks to you which all scholars need to complete. Your rewards will be held until you are ready for them, but this could be a great way to get ahead of the competition. Accept / Reject
Joe chose ‘accept’ and reached out for a handshake. “I would love to work with you. Thank you for this opportunity!”
Boris’s smile seemed to become sinister as he assigned Joe his first task. Three hours later, Joe was cursing his name as he attempted to sort another shelf. “Sort the books on the first floor? Is this a sick joke? No title, no author… how the heck am I supposed to do this? By color?”
So far, he had found that the only method that would work was to read at least the first few chapters and try to understand what the book was all about. Then he would place similar books in piles and hope that he could find enough of them to fill a shelf. “There has to be a better way of doing this. Maybe it is a skill given by the scholar job? They can see where the books should be? Is this some kind of torture?” Joe did find a small benefit in the work as a notification popped up.
Skill gained: Reading. While others run around and get injured, you only strain your eyes! +2% reading speed per skill level!
Joe felt that that prompt had been a bit… snarky, but the skill itself was excellent, giving a better percentage than any other skill he had gained. Was it because this wasn’t a combat skill? He needed to find more information on leveling skills. Joe groaned as he looked over the vast collection of books. The first floor had all the common books of the Kingdom, books that were available to anyone if they could find them. The higher floors had uncommon, rare, unique, and even a few legendary books somewhere. Earning access was the only way to get at them, as they were highly valued and thus highly protected.
“I need to find a faster way… maybe I could pray about it?” Deciding that he may as well try, since he was only doing this all day, Joe activated pray and prayed aloud for guidance in his tasks. Nothing seemed to happen, so he sighed and continued sorting. Maybe he needed to be more specific? He turned his head to look at all the books he needed to sort through, and his eyes jumped to a specific book on a specific shelf. A fairly large chunk of mana vanished as one of his new skills was used.
Divine intervention! Successful Perception check (perception plus ‘jump around’ modifier)!
Joe climbed a short ladder, trying to keep his eyes on the book. When his hands grasped it, he realized that he had needed to push other books out of the way to get to this one. It was on a shelf he hadn’t intended to get to today, hidden in a place he couldn’t see from the ground. Was this all because he could add his jump score to skills? Or was it only because he had prayed? Joe decided that he needed to test his skills much more thoroughly. He turned the book over, looking at it carefully and trying to determine why it would be useful. He needed to hold the book carefully, as it was old and in poor shape. Walking over and sitting at a table, he gently opened the book and read through the first pages. Right away he found something interesting; unlike most of the other books he had read… this one had a title.
“Seriously? Novice Ritual Magic for the Vastly Uninformed? So… ritual magic for dummies?” Joe felt all of his hope deflate. “At least it seems to be for my class. Let’s see, chapter one… ‘Rituals are spells that can affect a large area or a small individual target. While rituals have existed since time untold and can be used by anyone, they are a foolish waste of time and money and the brunt of jokes for their inefficient and expensive requirements.’ What a wonderful class I have gained. At least my ritual magic skill might finally become useful.”
Looking through the various information on rituals available in the book, he nearly choked at the required components. Gold thread? Diamond dust? Sacrifices of unbound level twenty beasts… on an altar… during a full moon? No wonder ritual magic was laughed at! Some of these things were simply impossible to acquire unless you were incredibly rich or powerful! This was a novice set of rituals? Or was it just a book to lead idiots astray? How did his ritualist effect come into play here? Did he need to use less components, or could he get away with using material that cost half as much? Could he use silver wire instead of gold, for instance? He needed to try one; he needed to know what to expect.
Shaking himself out of his shock, he remembered how he had found this book. He had prayed for it, and his deity wouldn’t lead him astray… right? He had been looking for a way to organize the shelves; perhaps that was included in this book somewhere? Joe paged through the grimoire, taking note of the myriad of spells it contained. Quite an impressive collection for this early in the game. Realistically though, the amount of rituals contained in this book simply didn’t matter. Unless he had a city’s worth of resources to play with, it would be a long time until he could use most of these. About halfway through the tome, he found what he was looking for.
“‘Little sister’s cleaning service’. Odd name. Does it summon spectral maids to clean?” Joe read over the requirements, trying to determine if it was feasible to attempt this ritual. “One low grade monster Core to empower the ritual. Why is core capitalized? One foot of silver wire per two meters of effect, one zombie brain to perform the monotonou
s task, and an initial requirement of eight hundred mana?” Joe gagged a bit at the requirements. Sure he had the money now, but he had grown up in the lower-middle class. He wanted to save his money for when he needed it badly.
He cut off that train of thought and looked back at the ritual. “It seems to be a permanent spell… at least, there is no ending time shown in the formula. So I need to cut the needed shape, the… ritual diagram… into something to act as a focus? I should probably bring something with me so I don’t damage the libraries property. Pretty sure Boris would either kill me or have me arrested.”
Joe looked at the required material then glanced around at the thousands of books waiting to be sorted. Pay to win was a valid strategy, right? “Guess I’m running to the bank.”
~ Chapter Ten ~
Stepping out of the library, Joe winced as the bright sun washed over his highly perceptive eyes. Yet another reason not to stay indoors and read tiny writing with poor lighting. No one from the guild had shown up for healing yet, so he felt secure in running to the market for a short while. Before that, he needed to retrieve some funds from his account. Taking the time to ask for directions to the building, Joe made his way to the capital’s bank. There was a small crowd, but luckily the lines were fairly short. After waiting behind a man that smelled like he owned a half-dozen cats, Joe got to the desk and asked the teller to access his account. His damaged cloak and beginner’s clothes were looked at by the–apparently judgmental–teller with a wry grin of disdain. Upon pulling up Joe’s information, the man paled, coughed, and began assisting him very professionally.