(TIII Reward I)Early MMORPG Web Novel Experiments (Patreon)

This honestly might be a reward that will only leave you depressed, because some of these I won't add on more to in the future. But if you want, they are here, and if you like any of the ideas in them, let me know.

I'll start with a short one: I think this was going to be about a wizard who made his own spells.

_________________________

 

Prologue

“It’s supposed to be a combination of a tutorial for the system and a chance to earn a few extra stats,” Terk had told me, his face settling into the smug grin he always had when speaking about Dein Online. He had gotten into the Beta and used every bit of knowledge he had gained to lord it over me, his best friend. “Tonight will let you earn some benefits, but really it’s for your benefit, so you don’t just jump into the game without any experience fighting. Haha, very noob friendly right? But you can only earn 5 points per stat, which is the same amount you earn to distribute every level. Plus, the Devs were saying that it was almost impossible to earn 5.”

‘As if he had ever really been in contact with the devs…’ I had thought in annoyance.

“...So what are the stats?” I had asked, hating that I was giving him another chance to show off pointlessly.

He answered with relish. “Vitality, Strength, Endurance, Stamina, Speed, Grace, Intelligence, Insight, Willpower, and Luck. Pretty straightforward, although a little bit of variance in naming sense. Vit primarily affects health and health regen, secondarily affects resistance to altered states. Str primarily affects the amount of weight you can lift and damage from physical attacks, and secondarily affects the amount of damage you can take.”

With eyes glowing with pride, he continued to answer in a formulaic manner, laying out everything. “End is damage you can take and how serious altered states you can endure, and also affects health regen. Sta is how long before you get tired and how long you can continued before succumbing to low satiety and affects how much weight you can carry. Spd is both physical and reaction speed, and affects your senses. Gra is the the smoothness of your movements and the fineness of your control, and affects your ability to learn new skills and spells. Int is the damage from spells and your ability to learn new spells, and affects mana regen. Ins is your mana pool size and mana regen, and affects your intuition. WP is your ability to resist altered states and illusions, also lets you fight beyond your limits, and affects your ability to learn new skills and spells. Luck… pretty self explanatory.

I had been almost drooling with boredom by the end. Yes, very self explanatory.

“Still,” Terk added in a faux-thoughtful manner, “According to the Devs, there are a lot of ways to get around stats. The people who are good at picking up new skills outside of the game will still be better, they just have a knack for it. Just like the people who are stronger in real life can likely still lift more. The subconscious is the ultimate source of your power, and stats are meant to just nudge your subconscious in predictable directions.”

He made it sound like that was his own conclusion, rather than a canned press release from the makers of the game. Although the Beta was a glorified hardware test more than anything, being a part of the world’s first VRMMORPG a bit early had inflated his ego far beyond what I could endure. Hopefully, after tonight it wouldn’t be such a chore to deal with him.

Tonight was the night that Dein Online went public.

But that didn’t quiet the strange question that emerged in my mind from Terk’s ranting: how could the subconscious be the ultimate source of your power…?

Shaking my head and returning to the present, I laid back in my VR unit and closed my eyes, the head piece sliding into place with a click. A vibration that seemed to come from the very air around me made me gasp, my eyes shooting open and my hands rising to hold my seizing chest, but it passed almost instantly.

In front of me was only white space and a text box with a simple question.

Name?

I typed in Trounce Oak and clicked enter.

Chapter 1

The company behind Dein Online, known only as “The Studio” had released the software to set up your avatar for a week, so after I entered my name, I immediately found myself standing in a strange hellscape. I was on a strange metal platform that was the size of a football field. Peering over the edge, I could see flakes of rust falling off the platform, and below warped and twisted horizon of black rock, veined with lava. As I looked back in forth, several of platforms similar to the one I was on hovered around.

Most of the ominous atmosphere by the very modern looking exercise equipment on the platform. Most people around me were decked out in drab shorts and shirts, but there was one bored looking man in robes that seemed to be overseeing the whole endeavor.

“Hey, uh… what’s going on here.” I asked, rubbing the grey wool shirt that I had spawned in. It was incredible how realistic it felt. And itchy. Maybe the beta was worth something after all.

After coughing into his hand, the man in the robe began speaking in a bored tone. “Welcome to NA instance 331. For the next two hours, users will have the ability to try their hand at several games designed to build familiarity with sensation and exertion in VR. Secrets may also be hidden within these trials. You are currently at the strength trial proceed to the teleporter in the center if you want to switch trials. See the trainer at each trial for further hints.”

Seemingly done with his duty, he yawned and looked out over the horizon with a strange boredom. Nodding uncertainly, I walked towards the exercise machines. They were pretty basic: a pull up bar, and bench press, and a squat rack. I talked a bit with some of the people to the side and learned something interesting.

Even professional body builders who were playing Dein Online were only to lift enough weight to earn +2 towards their Str stat when the game started.

Curious, I haltingly brought up my menu, against my better judgement going to Terk to ask what he knew of these challenges. He had said they would be difficult, but…

Almost to my relief, I discovered that the friends tab of the menu was currently grayed out. There was only a picture of me, in my grey shorts and shirt, and my stats.

Trounce Oak

Lvl: 1

Health:  30/30

Mana:   10/10

Energy:  10/10

Vit:   5

End:  5

Str:  5

Sta:  5

Spd:  5

Gra:  5

Int:  5

Ins  5

WP:  5

Luck:  5

Skills:  

Known Spells: 

After briefly glancing over the surprisingly uninteresting stats, I looked at the picture of my avatar. Dirty blonde hair, grey eyes, taller than average, but not extremely so, and slender. I smiled ruefully at myself, one end of my mouth pulling higher than the other, a twisted grin that I couldn’t help but show. It honestly made me embarrassed, but I guess this was just the way I learned to smile.

Honestly, I usually played tanks in most games but… with this build… I suppose rogue or mage would be more realistic…? Perhaps a dual wielder of some sort…

Then I considered ACTUALLY learned to dual wield, and I chuckled to myself. Using your physical body to do the actions would require some… adjustments.

Still…

I scanned the exercise equipment, seeing dozen of people struggling to lift more weight than I would have considered possible. The disappointed expression on their faces after they read the notification from their results seemed to indicate they couldn’t get any stat improvements. I even overheard a discussion from two furious players about how there must be a trick, because it wasn’t possible to accomplish the goals set for earning +3 Str before the game, let alone 5. A group of the split off to examine the platform in more detail.

I went back to the man in the robe. “Excuse me-”

Before I could get any further, and without even glancing at me, he said. “Welcome to NA instance 331. For the next two hours-”

“No, no,” I interrupted hastily. “You already said that to me. I wanted to ask you who the trainer was.”

The robbed man blinked, and then his entire face transformed; he began to laugh. “Hahaha! Sorry, sorry. I’m just so used to you all listening to my speech and then ignoring me, I forgot to treat you like people. Oh, I’m the trainer.”

“Oh,” I said, slightly surprised, both by his reaction and his identity. Did that mean he was an employee and not an NPC…? But I thought Terk said that everyone who wasn’t a player was an NPC, and that there wouldn’t be any GMs ingame.

Shrugging inwardly, I asked, “So can you give me some hints to accomplish the challenge and get the extra stats? It doesn’t seem like anyone has done well so far.”

The trainer shook his head sorrowfully. “I kept trying to tell the first people, but they wouldn’t listen. They lift with their bodies, but they do not feel The Way…”

I remained silent, but his tone made it clear that “The Way” was capitalized.

He scanned me critically, then said after a moment. “...you don’t know what that is, do you…?”

I shook my head. He sighed.

“Gods above, where did you all come from. I knew you were foreigners, but to not even know The Way… okay listen. Focus, and pull your attention inward. Gather all of your consciousness and pull it together into one spot. When you’ve gathered it all, pull it together even more tightly, binding it onto one small point. If it is condensed tightly enough, the core of your Way will form. Go on, try it.”

He looked at me expectantly.

I scratched my ear and offered him my lopsided smile. Yes, I understood there was backstory to the moves or whatever in the game, but that didn’t suddenly mean that magic was real…

Perhaps reading my response, he turned away, snorting his derision.

….Well, what could it hurt…? I had two hours to kill anyway…

I closed my eyes. I felt every bit of my consciousness and will. Slowly, almost lazily, I pulled them all together, gathering them into one spot in my chest. As it was occurring I started imagining it, glowing tentacles and motes of light that were me flowing towards my heart, where they gathered and spun, compacting.

Smaller and smaller…

Tighter and tighter…

Brighter and brighter…

Then something popped, and there was a glowing orb, conjured by my imagination, floating before me. I blinked and laughed, surprised my own imagination had scared me, but then froze.

The orb was still there. It was actually there. I could see it inside of me when I looked, eyes closed or open.

A notification popped up.

Quest: <Find the Way> has been completed! +1 to energy and mana. For being one of the first 1000 in the world to accomplish this quest, you have earned the skill -Heightened Senses-. The Way is the extra muscle that you have gained in Dein Online that allows you to exceed the limits of a normal human. By learning to utilize this, anything is possible.

Incredulous, I opened up my status screen, and sure enough, there were changes.

Trounce Oak

Lvl: 1

Health:  30/30

Mana:   10/11

Energy:  10/11

Vit:   5

End:  5

Str:  5

Sta:  5

Spd:  5

Gra:  5

Int:  5

Ins  5

WP:  5

Luck:  5

Quests: 

Skills:  -Heightened Senses-

Known Spells: 

The trainer slapped me on the back, guffawing. “See was that-”

But he was interrupted by the arrival of a group of new people, and he dutifully  stepped forward and repeated his speech to them. When it became clear he was being ignored, he harrumphed and walked back over to me. 

A grin stretched across his face. “Not so hard, huh?”

Smiling uncertainly, I nodded.

He pointed to the equipment. “Now try the exercises with that. When you move. Move with your Way, let it be your strength to push you forward.”

After scanning around, I found an open machine: it was a pull up bar. I walked up to it hesitantly, and then read the sign by it. Pretty simply, it was a test of how many pull ups you could do in 100 seconds. Based on your results, you would receive a score between 1 and 200. You could receive 3 scores, one from each of the exercise machines. Each 100 you got was +1 stats, and from conversations I overheard it seemed like people expected the top results would also be rewarded.

Still, it was somewhat disheartening that the top aggregate score from the 3 exercises, in NA instance 331 at least, was 271.

I hopped up, my hands gripping the smooth wood of the bar. The first time, I did it without the Way, simply doing pull ups with my physical body. I wasn’t very strong, but I thought I was in reasonable shape, but 100 seconds doing pullups quickly disabused me of that notion. By the end, I had finished 59 pull ups, and received a score of 59. 

I was slightly pleased, because that meant if I could maintain this pace, I would be able to get a score of 180. Almost +2 to strength. Being 2/3s as strong as a professional athlete or bodybuilder was somewhat impressive, I supposed.

After my breathing had calmed, I set up once more, but this time focused my attention inward, seeing my glowing Way after a second and settling it into my arms and back, willing them stronger. After a moment of hesitation, I started.

The difference was obvious; my body felt light, my arms strength, every part of me responsive. This was-

In my joy, my focus wavered, and my arms spasmed as they suddenly grew much weaker. I fell off the bar, my grip loosening.

Several nearby people chuckled, and then continued their own exercises.

“This is why I hate gyms…” I muttered to myself, straightening up and brushing myself off. The feeling of falling in VR was surprisingly uncomfortable. But I did learn that I had to focus.

This time more concerned with remaining focused than speed, I calmly performed, losing myself in the feeling of feeling the Way in my body as I moved. I was more machine than conscious thought at that point, and I entered a weird mental zone where all I was aware of was my breathing. 

Breathe.

Breathe.

But then I heard a soft ding, and I let myself drop, calmly withdrawing my Way from my arms. I winced, abruptly finding that they were extremely sore from the exertion. I guess I should workout more…

Then I froze, looking at my score.

168.

Wasn’t this…. Too much of a change?!?

Doesn’t this mean...I was on pace to score 404 from this challenge?!?!

Chapter 2

I looked around, checking to see if anyone notice my results: No one had.

The giant score screen displayed only aggregate scores, so anything under 200 wouldn’t make a difference. Even though it was 168 from a single exercise machine…

I considered moving onto another machine, but decided against it. If my scores were too shocking, with my rather thin body, somebody might ask some questions about how I had accomplished that, and begin to take the trainer’s talk of The Way seriously. Although it was just a few stat points, I was playing to have fun, and winning was a lot of fun. No need to help the competition.

Instead I decided to move on, coming back later to finish out Str when there was less time remaining.

There was the also the matter of when the quest was accomplished, it had said I was one of the first 1000. That meant there were others who knew of The Way. I needed to stay competitive.

Thoughtfully, I wandered towards the portal, considering my next move.

****

Concentrating, I felt my Way flow down into my fingertips, concentrating in the die within my hands. Then abruptly I twisted my wrist, flinging it across the table.

“Ah no!” Another player said ruefully, shaking his head. “5 this time, not a 6. Oh well. You still got 7 6’s in a row, that’s 1 short of the record. And it nabs you +3 luck. Nice job man.”

I nodded, annoyed at myself. I had felt my concentration waiver, right when I threw the dice, which was probably why the outcome I wanted didn’t come up again. The luck game was simple. You just needed to call a number and have it come up twice in a row on a 6 sided dice. 

After considering trying again, I decided against it and got up away from the table. Luck was unique in that once you started another run, you lost your previous best. It acted something like an ante for the chance to get a higher bonus. I had already failed early twice as I stumbled in the execution of the technique, and I was fine with +3 luck anyway. I didn’t really think I would use it much in the future. I returned to the portal

*****

Vitality was a strange game where you stood between three gongs and they took turns lighting up. Using the heavy pole in your arms, you smashed the bright gong, then the next, etc. This continued on until the time between smashes was slower that some number, which progressively got lower as the game went on.

Sweat dripped down my brow as my body whipped back and forth, heaving the heavy pole to smash into the gongs, creating a huge ruckus. But I ignored it, focusing on which gong would glow next, which I would swing-

“He broke the record.” Someone said with awe in her voice. I froze for a split second, my concentration slipping. By the time I regained it, the light came back on and my tired body was too slow to hit it.

A score of 231 popped up, shooting up to first place on the leaderboard for this instance. A smattering of applause greeted me as I turned around, a few dozen people watching me.

“How did you do that?” A girl exclaimed, walking up to me. She was tall with beautiful brown hair, but I just offered her my lopsided smile and shrugged.

Better not to gather too much attention yet. I hurried to the teleporter without looking back at the muttering crowd.

****

The speed challenge was extremely annoying. It only measured top speed, not long you could sustain it. I was starting to realize that my Way was about maintaining high levels of activity for a long period of time, and not really very useful for bursts.

I wasn’t sure if it was just me, or The Way was always like that, it was how I felt. So it was extremely disappointing to score 199 6 times in a row on the speed test.

Feeling disgruntled, I asked the trainer, a man with a bushy mustache, but he just gave me a long look. 

“Where does your Way lead, I wonder…” He said enigmatically, staring into my eyes.

I left without a word.

****

The endurance test was simply holding a deep lunge, either leg, for an extended period of time. Grateful for an exercise that suited my tastes, I sank into the lunge and proceeded to do the first 30ish seconds without my Way, feeling my straining muscles start to knot. Then, only when it became close to unbearable, I used my Way, filling my legs with strength.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I briefly considered how long I should go on for. I didn’t want to attract too much attention….

That was when a voice spoke from the sky. It was young and male.

“Hello world! Welcome to the Dein Online trials! Having fun with VR yet? Ahaha, or did you forget it wasn’t real already? Either way, it’s time to check in with who has the most extra stats at the halfway point tonight, before the servers open for real at noon tomorrow.

“So without further adieu… let’s look at rankings by instance!”

Chapter 3

“Now,” the young voice continued. “We don’t want to punish those who are doing well, so identities are hidden. You should see a notification with your identity, but your name should also always be glowing on the rankings table above.”

Suddenly the sky filled with a huge list of names. A small box in front of me told me that my identity was #330NA330. 

So I was the 330th person in the 330th instance…? In my area, at least.

I squinted up at the board above, looking at the rankings. It displayed names and then the total amount of extra stats gained. Blood drained from my face. The person in second, 330NA782, had +4 stats so far.

I, the person in first, had +7. 

Wincing, I was glad my name was hidden. I didn’t like attracting attention…

Then the board shifted.

“Now look at how you rank within your geographic area,” the voice announced cheerfully. The label at the top of the board shifted to NA.

The shock from seeing the number next to my name now was even worse : 4092nd. It was a big drop from #1 in the instance, but I supposed in most other places everyone knew about the Way. The average amount of extra stats appeared to be around 10, with the top player NA with +17.

“Now the world,” the boy whispered gleefully. “Hopefully this serves as motivation for those who aren’t getting it yet.”

Seeing the number had jumped into the 30,000s, I looked at the floor and felt my Way. I held, I held, I held.

The young male voice continued talking, but I ignored it. I was a fool. I had forgotten that even if the people here didn’t understand how to use the Way, others would find it. Was I the type of person who was satisfied being the big fish in a small pond?

I needed to be stronger. Anything I did now wouldn’t stand out nearly as much as the shocking truth that on the world scale, anything less than +15 was outside the top 1000. Anything less than my 7…. Well, it wasn’t worth speaking of.

My legs were trembling, but I would endure, I gritted my teeth and focused. I would hold. I would stand.

I needed to. I needed this.

My life…

My heart fluttered. My heart was a story you’ve walked past a million times, but never noticed. Unfulfilled potential. Intelligent, modestly attractive, average. Stuck. Waiting.

I wanted that to change. I wanted it now.

Here, in this fake world, with this second chance…. With my own hands…

I wanted to be a name worth remembering.

Trounce Oak. My dumb pseudonym.

“Kid.” 

I blinked, falling over. The voice had caught me completely by surprise and broke my focus on my Way, caught my body to collapse.

To my surprise, my eyes began to fill with tears. I wanted it. I wanted it so bad….

Why now…

“You already finished. Anything more would just be wasted effort.” The old man who was the trainer spoke amicably enough, but he seemed rather unconcerned.

Abruptly furious, I leapt to my feet and glared at him. 

“No effort is ever wasted.” I hissed at him, then stalked off to the teleporter.

Hmph, fucking old man, I wish I…

Huh, wait…

I blinked, faltering in my steps. My name jumped up quite a few spots. 

I… I got +5 from the endurance trial….? After pausing for a bit, I reconsidered my stance, turned back to the old man, who was still gazing at me with his bushy eyebrows. Feeling awkward, I bowed, then fled to the teleporter.

****

Stamina was surprisingly difficult, even though I thought it would be similar to endurance. It was a machine similar to a mechanical bull, you had to hold on for dear life. Ultimately, I forced my Way into my hands and had a deathgrip on the thing, barely holding on. On the 9th try, when I barely got +3 to stamina, I gave up and moved on.

Glancing up at the scoreboard, I noticed that someone had gotten to +21 in NA. I was sitting at +15 now.

*****

I chose WP next, because I thought I was on a roll, and I was a little bit concerned that the more mind based tests wouldn’t be so easy to pass. Much to my surprise, this one involved exposure to pain. There was a strange room on that platform where sound waves bounced back and forth, causing extreme discomfort. Each step took you deeper, and doubled the pain

I was only a few feet from +4, and was preparing to take another step forward when I heard a strange pop, a flash of pain, and then the discomfort was gone.

My vision went white, then I appeared next to the trainer, a middle aged woman who looked at me with sympathy.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Ear drums popped. Sorry, looks like your body just can’t take you farther than that, no matter how much you will it,” she said with a shrug.

Opening my mouth to retort proved useless, because I couldn’t think of where to start. Whether it was her statement, or the fact I appeared out here within a second…. Ultimately, I closed my mouth and walked away.

****

Insight was a strange test, involving hidden objects and fast moving coverings. Ultimately, I only got +2, but I felt lucky to even get that much, and quickly departed.

Grace was much more successful. During that challenge, you stood on a platform sliding back and forth, mimicking the movement of a boat. While maintaining your balance, colored balls were tossed at you. There were an elaborate series of rules regarding which could be caught for points, which could be deflected, and which had to be dodged. So much so that I broke them down into simpler rules: Catch gold and red balls. Dodge everything else.

Although earning points was much slower this way, it still worked. By holding my Way in my center of gravity, I quickly had the knack of maintaining my balance and shifting unexpectedly to dodge out of the way. It took almost 15 minutes, but I got a full +5 from this one too. Grinning, I hopped down off the platform, but a quick glance at the timer ruined my mood

Only a half hour remaining. My +25 stats was currently enough to enter the top 100 of NA. But on the world stage, someone was at +36

*****

“Fail,” The wizened old woman told me in a gleeful tone.

I threw my hands up in the air, glancing at the time. Only10 minutes remaining, and I hadn’t made any progress in the Intelligence trial. I briefly considered skipping it, but ultimately couldn’t give up. Honestly, it was the most interesting thus far.

It was simple, according to the old woman. Take any of the 100s of cards scattered around the platform, and reproduce it, shaping it with your way. On the card were strange sigils, which I began to suspect would be related to magic in the actual game. There was one problem: the symbols kept shifting.

My card was not the simplest, but it had a strange curving beauty that caught my eye.

Sighing, I leaned back. What was I looking at…

I had tried showing the initial symbol, and what I believed the final symbol was. I had even tried showing the initial symbol and then moved my Way to form the final symbol. But the old bat had simply said “Fail.” each time.

A strange scratching noise caught my attention, and I turned around, grateful for a break from staring at the strange sigils. A guy with orange hair was crouching near a table, using his nails to carve something into the table. I sidled closer. 

33 somethings. 33 sigils.

Then he sat back, studying them, muttering to himself. To my shock, I recognized both the initial and final sigil from my own card among the 33. So there were only 33 symbols…?

More annoyingly, his sigil drawings, although done with his nail, were much more detailed than my own done with manipulating the Way. It appeared I needed finer control, if even he couldn’t pass.

But if it wasn’t detail, then…

Gasping, I scrambled over to the orange haired guy and the table, where he had stacked 80 or so cards. Aside from us, most people had abandoned the Intelligence challenge, likely giving up after repeated failure. 

I glanced at one card, then another, then another. I rapidly knocked over a pile of 20, quickly scanning them all. The orange haired guy glanced at me strangely.

Then, I gathered all of them back up again, and began to sort them.

“What are you doing?” His voice was surprisingly deep, considering he was just as skinny as me. I considered not telling him my discovery, but… I likely wouldn’t have figured it out if not for his drawings, so I said it.

“It’s the transition too. It’s not just the symbols. We’ve thought we were displaying a picture, but-”

“But we are translating a sentence…” He breathed, his eyes unfocusing.

“Here,” I pushed 4 cards his way. “I think there are only 4 transitions. These are the examples. So this one sorta… squishes… Then this one.”

“Indeed,” He took my comments surprisingly seriously, leaning closer.

“The squishy one seems… chaotic. Now this is more like a spinning rubix cube, but do you see…? I thought it was that vertical lines remained along the horizontal line shifts, but now look at this one…”

“Hahaha, it’s truly wondrous… Perhaps it’s by density… no…. Pure connectivity…?”

“And this one, I can only describe as seeping into itself. The final is the vortex. I think the seeping one would be the easiest to replicate, but… this card…” I held the card I had originally chosen  up, giving it a long look.

The orange haired guy nodded. “I… concur. On both statements. I feel a bond with this sigil. I wish it to be the one I master.”

I hesitated, then offered my hand. “Trounce Oak.”

“David Roup.” His handshake was warm and firm. Then we spent the next 5 minutes hurriedly scanning cards and whispering back and forth, theorizing about the transitions. Finally, with only a few minutes remaining, we rushed over to the old woman.

David went first, displaying impeccable control over his way as he materialize the sigil and slowly shifted it to the next.

The old woman sighed. “....it’s a pass, but barely.”

Her words made me jump slightly. If that was barely a pass…

But I tried not to let it bother me. My heart was pounding as she looked expectantly at me. My heart was pounding. My blood felt hot in my veins. I formed the initial sigil, My Way trembling slightly in sync with my heart beat. Then, as I slowly breathed in and out, holding it there, I calmed, the lines folding and twisting, disappearing.

If there was one thing I prided myself on, it was my level head. I would not panic here. I would be cool. I would be cold.

The last breath hissed out through my teeth, and the sigil seemed to freeze, becoming completely still on the final symbol. Then I let my Way fade, the light of it disappearing.

But I couldn’t get that symbol out of my head. I felt it, pulsing, within me. I was about to do it again, when the old woman spoke.

“Heh, rough, but a pass. Congrats, runts.” 

The notification appeared before me, indicating I received +5 to Int. Grinning, I looked at Dave. He had a wide smile as well.

“As a service,” The woman continued, her eyes glittering. “I’ll tell you what your symbols mean.

“You” She looked at Dave. “You spell phrase means “Life supports order” or “Plants support order”. Sorta depends on the dealer which direction you take it. Meanwhile you are “winter becomes fire” or “ice imitates heat” or….”

She hesitated. “Honestly, they are both weird. Orangy, yours is archaic, while blondie, yours is an ambiguous contradiction. Both are strange spell phrases.”

Dave leaned forward. “What is a spell phrase?”

“Humph, you have 2 minutes remaining, do you really think magic is so simple it can be understood in such a short amount of time?” The old woman folded her arms, suddenly transformed from the bothersome figure I had seen her as previously to an unexpectedly knowledgeable individual. 

“Ha, I suppose not…” David grimaced slightly, then turned to me. “Well, I am going to tidy up a few extra stat points. Trounce Oak. I will not forget that name. If we are near each other, let’s meet up.”

I grinned. “Yea.”

I was surprised that I had made a friend this quickly, but I was happy. David was obviously intelligent, and if I ever had any trouble with spells, he would be a great resource. At least I thought so. Not that I knew anything about how spells would work…

David departed, but I waited, staring at the woman.

She finally sighed. “Heh, unlike your friend, you can’t let it go, can you? You want magic.”

And I did. When she said that, my whole being tensed, wound tightly around this possibility. I wanted it more than I had realize. 

“Then let me give you a hint,” She said, leaning forward. “It’s all about feeling it. That’s why your spell phrase is further along than your friends. Although you had it backwards, I felt the heat, and then I felt the cold. Hold onto that image, know that feeling.”

Then the woman disappeared, and I was in white space again. Several notifications appeared in front of me.

Congratulations! You have ended up with +30 extra stats. Due to being ranked within the top 5000 in the world, +5 to maximum health. Due to being ranked within the top 500 of NA, +5 to maximum health.

Congratulations! You have been recognized by the regional trainer for Grace. You have learned the skill -Dodge Lvl 1-. You may dodge more quickly and gracefully.

Congratulations! You have been recognized by the national trainer for Endurance. You have learned the skill -Endure Lvl 1-. Endure through pain and adversity, sometimes past your limits.

Congratulations! You have been recognized by the wold trainer for Intelligence. You have learned the skill -Transcendental Meditation Lvl 1-. During meditation, satiety will decrease more slowly 500% increase in mana regen, 200% increase in Energy regen, 50% increase in health regen.

Congratulations! You have been chosen as the most promising individual by the world trainer for intelligence. Maximum mana +20. You have learned the skill -Arcanist Lvl 1-. The study of magic will come more easily to you. Learning new spells and leveling your current spells will happy more quickly. Spells will cost slightly less mana and have slightly greater effects.

Blinking, I looked at my new stats. This… this was pretty good, right…?

Trounce Oak

Lvl: 1

Health:  40/40

Mana:   31/31

Energy:  11/11

Vit:   7

End:  10

Str:  6

Sta:  8

Spd:  6

Gra:  10

Int:  10

Ins  7

WP:  8

Luck:  8

Quests: 

Skills:  -Heightened Senses Lvl 1--Dodge Lvl 1--Endure Lvl 1--Transcendental Meditation Lvl 1--Arcanist Lvl 1-

Known Spells: 

Chapter 4

At work the next morning, I listened to Terk talk all about his experienced using the Way. How it wasn’t like that at all in beta. How strong he felt, how natural  it was. He was raving about the VR experience. Not that I disagreed, just that the first thing he said when he saw me was “Let’s not talk about the results I don’t want you to be discouraged.”

Inwardly, I was slightly worried. Could he have gotten even better than me? It seemed unlikely top 5000 in the world, top 500 in NA…. especially the top 500 part made me suspicious that he got a better score than me. Even then… did he get recognized by any of the trainers? I was beginning to suspect that the stats weren’t the real goal, it was the skills. Those were the secrets talked about by the trainers.

Still, his attitude made me slightly withdrawn, and I did my best to ignore his arrogance. We had both come in for half days, needing that extra bit of money before we spent the next week playing Dein Online every hour we could. There was a time distortion in game apparently, but the details were kept intentionally fuzzy. Still, this would be the first vacation I had in over a year and 8 months. I needed it.

After hurrying home, laying down in the pod, and once more experiencing that strange tremor, I opened my mind to find myself sitting in a small wooden chair.

A small, thick body with a huge mahogany beard sat across the table from me. A small window to the right allowed light into the room.

“So,” The man, who I began to suspect was a dwarf, spoke while looking at a piece of parchment in front of him. “You want to be an adventurer. Do you… have any idea what you want to do?”

...honestly, it seemed like the dwarf was decidedly skeptical about whether or not I could handle it. I wondered briefly what an adventurer was, but I figured asking now wouldn’t help my case. And based on the scenario, it seemed like I was being pushed towards being an adventurer.

But his question gave me a half second of pause. However, an answer quickly surfaced.

“I want to be a mage.” I announced, remembering the shifting symbols, the strange transitions, and the camaraderie with David.

The dwarf sighed as if his worst suspicions were confirmed. “Well… setting that aside, the deal is simple. You will gain access to the adventurers’ guild here in Ross, as well as in any city in the country of Shia. There will be discounts at certain affiliated shops, and you can obtain quests from the guild based on your ranking. In addition, should you… perish, you will respawn here, incurring a very large debt that you will need to pay off.”

Ah. The “adventurer” system was a way to explain why we players wouldn’t stay dead permanently in game. A little clever.

“In exchange,” He continued. “You will answer the senate's call in times of catastrophe or war. In addition, the guild itself may issue decrees that you are expected to respect. Do I make myself clear?”

I nodded.

Shrugging, the dwarf stood. “Well congratulations, you are now a Z rank adventurer. Downstairs you can talk to Tilda to obtain some basic necessities. There are also a few starter quests that you can choose from. Good day, future mage.”

As he walked towards the door, I asked. “Z rank adventurer?” But the dwarf simply waved his hand and left.

Hopefully I didn’t have to level my way up through the entire alphabet…

I followed him out to find myself in a hallway. Several other individuals who were dressed in similar drab clothes were making there way out of identical doors, looking around with curiosity. I reached over and touched the wall, marveling in the cool wood. It really felt like I was actually in this world…

All at once, we all realized that we were playing a game, and rushed towards the stairs. Luckily my door was quite close, and I was one of the first to make it, reveling in the feeling of bounding down the hall and down the stairs in this virtual body.

The sound of people behind me just drove me forward faster, and my heart was pumping, rushing me onwards. But as I reached the bottom, the sounds abruptly cut off. Of the people in front of me, only 1 remained, and she looked around curiously, also noticing the abrupt lack of pursuers.

Ah, instancing again. Well, that worked out well.

Now in a much more relaxed manner, the few of us that remained walked over to the woman sitting at a large desk in the center of the room. Standing around chatting were about a dozen individuals, some in armor, others in furs, who seemed to be adventurers already. I wondered if that meant they would also be revived after death.