Bibliomancer

by James Hunter

  Whenever he finished one section, it simply disappeared, whisking his answers away with it, until the booklet stared at him with empty pages. There were a few sections of the test he’d struggled through, but overall, he felt more confident about this portion of the trial than any other he’d slogged his way through. Which made sense, considering he’d died in two out of three trials so far. Finally, after what felt like ages—his mind foggy, his back sore, his stomach grumbling even more—the next prompt appeared.

  Time is up! Select ‘Proceed’ to begin the next test.

  He didn’t know what would be next, but as long as it was better than the jungle-blob-survival-marathon, he’d do alright. Sam reached out and tapped ‘proceed.’ In an eyeblink, the world shifted around him as he was whisked away to the next area. This time, the room didn’t change, only his location in it. Instead of being in a seat near the back of the auditorium-style classroom, he was now front and center, standing behind the wooden podium with a sheaf of notes neatly arrayed before him. Though the room itself hadn’t changed, there was one rather disconcerting addition—the seats were now filled with people.

  A sea of eager faces stared at him expectantly. The notes in front of him wriggled on the edges, dark, bold text appearing on the page with his next set of instructions.

  Explain the Fundamentals of Trigonometry.

  Of all the sections on the test, the mathematics portions had easily been his worst area; naturally, that was the thing he had to explain. The fact that he was borderline terrified of public speaking certainly didn’t help the situation any. If Sam were honest with himself, this might actually have been worse than the Jungle Slime, though for very different reasons.

  He hadn’t given up then, and despite the fact that he was rapidly losing patience with this process—this was a game and one that was supposed to be fun—he wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. Not quite. So, against every instinct in his body, he carefully straightened the papers on his lectern, cleared his throat, and spent the next hour muddling his way through the single worst lecture ever given on trig. By the end, he felt like a train wreck—his voice hoarse, his palms sweaty, his nerves shot. Yep, he was definitely not having fun. Not even remotely. He’d rarely experienced a bigger surge of relief than when that trial lapsed and the auditorium dissolved, reforming into…

  The same stony passageway from the very first trial. The same rough-hewn walls. The same gritty sand underfoot. The scent of salt and seawater tickling at his nose. Except, now the hallway had a fork. Down one path were his mom and dad, both of them smiling as they waved encouragingly. Down the other path was his sister, hands planted on hips, a scowl on her goth-black lips. Sitting beside her was their German Shepard, Max, his doggy tongue lolling out from the side of his mouth. In front of Sam was a lever, and hanging from it was a sign that read:

  Save One.

  There was a thud and a crunch as the Indiana Jones boulder dropped from the air, rattling the ground with its landing. Sam glanced down at the lever, horror dawning on him as he realized just what this test wanted from him. This time around, the boulder wasn’t going to crush him; it was going to obliterate either his parents or his sister and dog. The lever in front of him was essentially a railway track switch, and he was the one who got to decide who lived and who died.

  “No,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Nope. I’ve done enough, and I’m not doing anymore.”

  Without a second thought, he broke into a headlong sprint toward the boulder, which was now rolling toward his parents. He zipped between his mom and dad, long legs eating up the distance in no time. The boulder hit him like a wrecking ball, accompanied by a brief flash of pain, and then he was back. Respawned right where he’d started a moment before. The cavernous hallway with its switch and sign, parents smiling at him while his sister scowled and Max wagged his fluffy tail.

  The game was going to make him choose; it was testing his moral limits. Instinctively, he knew there was no way to move forward, not without pulling that lever and cosigning one of the groups to death. That just wasn’t something he was prepared to do.

  “I’m done!” he yelled at the air around him. “I want to end the trials. This isn’t what I came for. This isn’t fun anymore. This whole thing was never fun, but this? This is too much. Please take me back.”

  The boulder dropped with a *thud* and crunched across the sandy gravel on the floor. For a second, Sam envisioned a superhero confronting a great evil in a time loop over and over again, suffering a horrific death each time. He just hoped that wasn’t what he’d signed up for. He grimaced, bracing himself to die again, and took off for the boulder once more.

  Chapter Five

  Sam didn’t die as he expected. It was a strange feeling, being alive when you weren't supposed to be. Something that was very hard to describe, but he felt that most people would somehow understand. The whole world had stopped, frozen, the boulder mere inches away from crushing him beneath its immense weight and apparently-not-unstoppable momentum.

  His parents were still there, as was his sister and doggo, but someone had pressed the pause button on everyone but Sam. There was a sharp *ding-ding-ding* followed immediately by a message appearing in the air like a mirage in the deep desert.

  Well, you didn’t finish all the trials, but hey, you know what you want and you’re sticking to your guns—good for you! Plus, you really tried. You were pretty close. Farther than anyone else has made it… though this is day one, so that’s not a super huge achievement. But hey, take your wins where you can get them! Based on the results of your trials, new starting classes have been unlocked! Your basic stats will be adjusted based on the result of each test after you choose a class!

  Title unlocked: High Five, I Tried! This title will cause NPCs to have pity on you because dang it, you’re a good person and you tried! Effect: Randomly, an NPC might gift you with a small trinket. It could be a crust of bread, a tidbit of information, or even an invaluable object. -5% prices at good or neutral aligned shops.

  Please note that all title effects are active at the same time, but the title you have equipped will be the only one that others can see without analysis abilities. The maximum number of titles you can have at any given time is ten.

  The world swam around him, blurring on the edges as he was transported to a new room, absolutely packed with people. Not any ol’ people but him. Fifty iterations of Sam in various attire and poses, all standing in neat, orderly rows. As he moved, they moved, mimicking his every motion. He lifted an arm, and so did they. When he smiled, a clone army of himself beamed back in return. Alright! Now this was what he’d come for!

  Slowly, Sam moved into the rows, examining the uncanny doppelgangers.

  There were versions of him with bulging muscles, heavy armor, and all manner of weapons. Versions with him in leathers, others where he held beakers and flasks. Class names hung above each head like faint storm clouds, colored with ghostly light. He ignored the Barbarians and heavy-hitting melee warriors. The thing was, classes like those would have a huge advantage in early gameplay. Chances were, a Ranger or a Warrior class would go in, ready to kick butt and take names—immediately effective.

  But he was going to be in a DIVE pod for three freaking months, and with the time compression, that would feel like six months. Six months of near constant play, in the game for twenty-four hours a day. Although math was his worst suit by far, he’d just given a lecture on trig, so it wasn’t hard to come up with a roughly estimated projection of the amount of time he’d be in Eternium. Two-thousand one-hundred sixty real-life hours or four-thousand three-hundred twenty hours if he were accounting for compression. That was a metric butt-ton of game time.

  If he played things right, he could end up being one of the most powerful players in the meta, especially if some of these options were restricted or rare classes. A magic class would be as weak as single-ply toilet paper early on, but later… later, he would have a tremendous edge. So, he ignored the brawl
ers, bypassing them without a second thought, focusing instead on the glowing versions of himself, most of them clad in robes. He examined one that might have been a generic priest but passed it over. He was here to adventure, to quest and had no desire to play a pure support class.

  At least not exclusively. He had no problem laying down some team buffs, but he wanted to slay. Healing was for people who were afraid to make other people bleed! He ordered the group of… himself, “Combat magic classes.”

  The figures shifted and whirled, the columns and rows rearranging themselves until only five figures stood before him, all highlighted with an ethereal glow. One looked like a druid build—decked out in furs and soft leathers—another was clearly a summoner, what with the stately black robes sown with mystic sigils and a trio of little gremlin-looking creatures marching around him in a circle.

  That might be an interesting option, though the idea of lurking at the rear behind a wall of puppets waiting for his minions to do the heavy lifting didn’t sound all that fun. Sam looked over each before moving on to a class called Aeolus Sorcerer, which was a subclass of the Mage branch. This, now… this looked promising. Using the Tool Tips icon loitering in the corner of his vision, he pulled up more info.

  Aeolus Sorcerer. A subclass of Mage that has mastery over the forces of wind and air. The Aeolus Sorcerer intuitively understands magic—it is a part of him that is as natural as breathing. Those choosing this class have Mana pools unlocked by default. They also naturally learn new class-compatible spells every third level without any training from an outside source. Although they have some defensive capabilities, Aeolus Sorcerers tend to lean toward combat-oriented spellcraft; making excellent field Mages.

  Overall, their spells are less powerful than those of a basic Mage at the same level, but the spells can cost less than half the Mana. The Aeolus Sorcerer gains four characteristic points to spend per three levels and one point of intelligence and wisdom on every even level. They gain two free skill points to spend per level. Intelligence, wisdom, and dexterity are the suggested characteristics for this class. Do you want to start the ‘game’ as an Aeolus Sorcerer?

  Bingo. This was the one; he could feel it. Since Eternium was so new and a tightly guarded secret, there was really nothing out about the gameplay or overall mechanics, but based on Sam’s past experience with MMOs, this looked exactly like the kind of class he wanted. Adventure-oriented, action-based, good gameplay up front with the potential for high power later on. Most importantly of all? It looked like it would be fun! He had no intention of being a pro-gamer or making his living as a live streamer; eventually, he would return to the real world and help his dad and mom run the family business.

  But until then? He just wanted to have a blast. This was it. The trials had been terrible, but this was definitely worth the pain.

  Congrats! You have accepted the subclass Aeolus Sorcerer. 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.

  With a thought, Sam pulled up his character sheet. There were ten stats to choose from: strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, charisma, luck, karmic luck, and perception. As a former gamer, most of those terms seemed pretty self-explanatory; in a game this new, strange, and immersive, however, he didn’t want to take anything for granted and run the risk of being wrong. After all, most people didn’t know that D&D Sorcerers used charisma instead of intelligence as their primary trait for spellcasting. What if this turned out to be similar? So, instead of simply bypassing those details, he used the Tool Tips feature again to get a bead on what everything did.

  Strength, it seemed, 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, and how well he could do complicated tasks like picking locks, crafting goods, or using ranged weapons—a trait that would likely come in handy as a ranged spellcaster.

  Constitution determined how healthy he was, how much stamina he had, and his overall resistances to poison and disease. It also determined his physical appearance and made it harder to be knocked around at higher levels. Good for tanks and warriors especially. That was probably the least important trait for Sam, considering he planned to hit hard at range. A little extra health probably wouldn’t hurt, though. No point in being unnecessarily squishy if he could avoid it, especially if he was going to play solo for any length of time.

  As expected, 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 most interesting Tool Tip was the entry for wisdom. Apparently, 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.

  The problem was, he couldn’t really get his mind around that notion. How in the world would having an altered wisdom score help him to understand whether he should do something? It wasn’t like the game could actually make him wiser, yet that seemed to be the implication.

  Only time would tell how that mechanic actually worked.

  Charisma, as in various MMOs he’d played, determined how people would interact with him and his ability to get good prices buying or selling. It would also impact his ability to lead or convince others to do things with or for him. As a social outcast, he expected to have a low charisma score but was pleasantly surprised to find he had a thirteen, which wasn’t too shabby at all considering his highest score, intelligence, was at a seventeen. He wasn’t sure that made sense, but he’d take any edge he could get.

  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. As in real life, he seemed to be abnormally lucky with a base score of fifteen. Karmic luck wasn’t explained even a little bit, but if Sam had to gamble, he’d say was probably how a player’s alignment was tracked. He’d played games where a single good or bad decision could have a drastic outcome on almost any given storyline, so maybe this was similar.

  Finally, perception was the ability to spot details. This was everything that came from sensory input and would increase how well he experienced and interacted with the world. He noted that he had somehow scored an incredibly low five in perception, which seemed even more shocking than that his charisma score was so high. People had accused him once or twice of being absent-minded, but a five? Really? He wasn’t that absent-minded and unobservant, was he? Couldn’t be. But there it was, staring him right in the face like an accusatory finger.

  Right below the perception was a note on the side that caught his attention.

  *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!

  On the plus side, you have the perception of a burnt piece of toast, so you shouldn’t have too much to worry about! I would watch out for rotten food and poison if I were you, though. Also, steer clear of those Rogue classes, because a Mage-based class with a perception of five will be a bigger mark than Big Mark—a robust Innkeeper who happens to be named Mark, and guess what? Big Mark has way~y~y higher perception than you.

  Well. That was super insulting. Guess it was just part of the flavor of the game. Dismissing the message, Sam surveyed his current stats, mulling over just which scores he should increase.

  Characteristic: Raw score (Modifier)

  Strength: 12 (1.12)

  Dexterity: 13 (1.13)

  Constitution: 11 (1.11)

  Intelligence: 17 (1.17)

>   Wisdom: 16 (1.16)

  Charisma: 13 (1.13)

  Perception: 5 (0.05)

  Luck: 15 (1.15)

  Karmic Luck: 2

  The whole system seemed a little wonky to him, especially the raw score versus the modified score and what practical effects that had, but after spending a little more time pouring over the Tool Tips, examining the stats and their relationships to each other, he earned another pop up that seemed to lay everything out nice and neat:

  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. Because you’re a book-smart, brain-dead college kid with a pampered upbringing and no real-world experience, your perception score has been negatively impacted 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 similar 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!