The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  “Right, you are, lass,” said the sergeant as he approached. “That there is for Bye-bye. I will get him started in a few minutes. The real question is, what can I do for a pair of ogres such as yourselves?”

  “David, these are my friends, Olaf and Micaela. I was hoping you’d be willing to give them some weapons training,” I explained, the man didn’t seem put out by their presence, but I was hoping he wouldn’t be prejudiced toward them due to their race.

  “Sergeant or Sergeant Butters while I am at work if you please,” he barked harshly. Then he turned to Olaf and Micaela, both of whom suddenly looked rather small next to the powerhouse former knight. “I do not see any weapons on either of you, so we might have something of a problem here,” snarled Sergeant Butters. The man finally took a calming breath. “I am not unwilling to train you both, but you need a weapon to learn a weapon skill.”

  “I’m an Ogre Artillery, my hand-cannons won’t be ready for a couple weeks,” explained Olaf without needing to be prompted.

  “Okay, I can help you with your weapons when you get them but for now there is not much I can do for you. Now what about you lass?” the sergeant asked.

  I was a little sad to see Olaf deflate, looking so small.

  “I’m a shaman,” said Micaela proudly.

  “Very nice, do you have a totem yet?” he asked.

  “Not yet,” answered Micaela sheepishly.

  “Right, so neither of you have weapons yet,” said David.

  “No sir,” they answered together.

  “But you can still teach them to move right?” I asked. I knew it was a long shot, but I couldn’t have just brought them here only to let them down.

  “Yeah, but it seems wasteful . . . then again, maybe it is not a bad idea. Alright, I will help them, but it will not be much.”

  Micaela and Olaf perked right back up again, seemingly much more excited.

  “But first, I need to get you started on your training,” he motioned for me to follow him.

  I followed him past most of the gymnastics equipment until we were standing before a large square metal frame with an equally large square of cloth suspended in the air by metal springs.

  “This here is a trampoline. It is where we are going to start training you in ‘Acrobatics’,” he explained.

  I knew what a trampoline was, but I’d only ever seen them in old circus vids, never in real life or digital life, not until now.

  “So, what do I do?”

  “Shoes and armor off, rack your weapon and shield then climb on. Then, just start jumping around to get a feel for it. I will be back in a few minutes, need to get Olaf and Micaela’s training started.”

  I walked back with him to rack my spear and shield with his gear before walking a back to the trampoline. I didn’t have much in the way of armor, just my vest and gloves which I set atop my sandals next to the trampoline.

  It wasn’t hard to climb up onto the surface of it, but it was odd to stand on. Every step I took sank in, like walking on sand, but then pushed back when I stepped off, causing my step to bounce. It was kind of fun, to be honest. Eventually, I jumped, surprised by how it caused me to jump to a great height and land in a way that allowed me to jump even higher still.

  Before I knew it, I was jumping two and three times my height straight into the air, it was awesome.

  “Good,” called the sergeant from the side of the trampoline. “Now, try to toss in a flip.”

  A flip, really? I’d never done anything like that before. But then again, with this kind of height in my jumps, why wouldn’t I be able to flip. So, this time when my feet hit the surface and pushed off, I added some forward rotation that turned into a flip, then another, and then half of another before I face planted on the springy surface.

  Sergeant Butters howling laughter, let me know what he thought. Personally, I was just happy not to be injured or hurt.

  I affixed the best glare I could and leveled it at the sergeant, who just waved it off.

  “Oh relax, you are fine. Now you know you can try anything you want on the trampoline and not worry about getting hurt so long as you do not go off the side,” he defended, still chuckling.

  He was right. I could already tell, I no longer had reason to fear the trampoline. I could experiment freely, I could flip and jump all I wanted, not getting hurt if I fell or mistimed the move.

  “Now, you’ve played around and gotten a feel for the trampoline, we can start the actual training part. ‘Acrobatics’ is a way of moving that incorporates jumping, flipping, rolling and diving. It is also one of the most difficult skills the learn, unless you’re a ranger, archer, rogue or thief, and even they struggle to learn this. Why this is so important for them to learn? Because, it is far and away the best way to train Dexterity and Stamina with a little Strength training on top,” the sergeant explained.

  That sounded so awesome to me.

  “I will have to tell you up front, do not expect to learn this in a day. Do not be discouraged if you have not learned it in a week. Do not panic even when you do not learn it after two or even three weeks. You need to have patience and learn all of this,” he paused, motioning to all of the new equipment he’d added to the training area. “One step at a time. We start with the trampoline where you will find your center of balance.”

  “How do I start?” I asked, trying to sound determined. If this was such a difficult and rare skill, then it was one I was definitely going to learn.

  “Good then. You started out with jumping up and down, trying to get higher and higher. Do not do that. This skill is not about jumping as high as you can. It is about jumping to dodge an attack or hurdling an obstacle in your path as you run. You will do yourself a favor if you start with the mindset of the ‘Shift’ skill.”

  I nodded. I had to remember, this skill was about combat and training. Not just a way to make fancy moves and look cool . . . at least not entirely.

  “First, you are going to work on a simple front flip,” said the sergeant.

  I started to bounce to get some height before I was pelted in the forehead with a pebble, compliments of Sergeant Butters.

  “No bouncing. You will not be able to bounce once you are on solid ground. A trampoline is a training tool, but it only works, if you do. Now, flip forward, try not to use the trampoline too much.”

  And here I thought this first step was going to be easy. I tried again. This time, I bent slightly at the knees and pushed off. Still aided slightly by the trampoline, I got a little extra height, rolled forward in the air, but came down too soon. I landed on my butt and bounced back up to my feet.

  “Better, but you need to get your flip motion faster. You should be starting your flip as soon as your feet leave the trampoline,” instructed the sergeant.

  For the next hour I flipped and flipped and flipped some more, and even when I successfully flipped once or even twice in a row I flipped again.

  “Take a breather, get some water then get back to it. I should probably spend some time with the new victims you brought me.”

  I jumped down from the trampoline expecting the ground to absorb my impact, similar to the trampoline but was met with disappointment and pain in my legs and bare feet. I walked for the water barrel with my legs making odd movements with every step, certain that if I’d seen myself, I’d have laughed. The laughter from Olaf, Micaela, and Sergeant Butters as they watched me was all the proof I needed.

  Sergeant Butters said something to Olaf and Micaela I couldn’t hear, but seeing them walking toward me, it must have been instructions to get a drink.

  “You okay there Bye-bye?” asked Micaela, snickering.

  “I’ll be fine, eventually. My legs feel weird from that trampoline,” I explained, knowing there was nothing I could do about their laughing at me.

  “Good to know,” said Olaf, trying to stop his laughter.

  “So, what has he had you two doing?” I asked as I put the canteen to my lips to drink.

  “
Leaping,” answered Micaela.

  “Leaping?” I asked, stopping drinking for a moment.

  “He said that as a caster and a gunner, range was always going to be important to us, so we need to learn to create range. The idea being to leap back away from a closing enemy to be able to keep fighting and even keep firing while leaping backward. He also said something about teaching us a dodge-roll technique next time, but for today this was more important,” Olaf clarified, which made much more sense.

  “Are you learning gymnastics?” asked Micaela.

  “Sergeant Butters called it ‘Acrobatics’,” I answered, but as soon as I did I felt it may have been a mistake if the widening of their eyes was anything to go by.

  “Why are you learning a Dexterity skill? I thought you were a priest?” Olaf asked, surprise evident in his voice.

  “I am a priest,” I answered, though I was still faced with a dilemma. These two people were my friends, but I honestly hadn’t known them very long. How could I trust other gamers with my secret? How could I be sure it wouldn’t end up all over the internet? “I want to tell you both more but . . .”

  “We haven’t known each other long, right?” asked Olaf. “I get the feeling you’ve got a big secret. The kind gamers of all kinds covet. Kind of like the knowledge of how I became an Ogre Artillery at level 3 is a big bloody secret. One I trust you won’t share with anyone else.”

  Ouch, dude totally had me there. “Okay, but this is big. Just to warn you, it's huge . . . like . . . bigger than you can possibly imagine big.”

  “Oh, now you have to tell us,” said Micaela excitedly.

  “I have a unique class,” I said, barely a whisper, but both Micaela and Olaf exploded in a combination of excitement and curiosity, both bombarding me with questions.

  “There were so many rumors, but to actually know someone with one,” jabbered Micaela before she finally made an ‘Eeeee’ sound in excitement, nearly shattering my eardrums.

  “So, what are you then, if not a priest?” asked Olaf.

  “I didn’t lie about being a priest. That part is true. I’m just a different kind of priest. I’m a Warrior Priest,” I answered. I didn’t want to say more. Luckily, it seemed to have at least pacified the pair for now.

  “Then why the training?” asked Micaela.

  “He’s a Warrior and a Priest,” answered Olaf, seeming to have fully understood. “You poor blighter,” he eventually added.

  I sighed, knowing exactly what he meant. “Yeah, pretty much.”

  Micaela though frowned. “It can’t be that bad. So, what, you have to train more stats up, big deal.”

  “Babe, it’s not some stats, it’s all stats,” explained Olaf. “Warrior and priest hit all stat categories between them.

  “Oh . . . Ooooh,” she said finally understanding. “I agree with my husband’s sentiment. You poor blighter.”

  “Thanks,” I said agreeing with both of their sentiment. “Anyway, there is a little more to it, but that is basically the reason Sergeant Butters built the training equipment for me. I think it’s some kind of special award for my class. A way to make it not so grindy. I won’t know until I actually learn the skill and do all the training.”

  “That would actually make sense,” said Olaf, rubbing his chin in thought. “But let me say up front. Your secret is completely safe with me. You helped me get a huge edge in leveling, even helping me get the class I wanted super early. You’ve helped us both break barriers previously thought unbreakable. We owe you, nothing else to it.”

  “I appreciate that, but I’d rather just continue being friends. I like you two, you’re fun and you both have gotten me out of my anti-social shell. So, no owing anyone anything. We’re friends. I help you, you help me, right?” I stated.

  “Now, aren’t you glad I made friends with him outside of Ned’s shop?” asked Micaela, she seemed to be blinking back tears and grinning from ear to ear.

  Leave it to Micaela to break the tension.

  “Alright, enough gossiping, get back to work,” ordered Sergeant Butters. “I have got about an hour left before my fat and lazy guards show up so let us get back to it. Then all three of you can head over to see Trini at the temple for training with her.”

  “Back to the grind, we go,” I grumbled.

  As promised, an hour later Sergeant Butters was kicking the three of us out of his training area.

  I was happily rewarded with an unexpected quest completion.

  Class Quest Alert: Training with Sergeant Butters 1 - Completed

  Having put your trust in Trinico and David Butters, they have offered you training to develop your stats as quickly and efficiently as possible.

  Reward: +100 Experience, Acrobatics 6/100

  That was different. I’d never seen a skill show any kind of progress notification before. My mind jarred to a halt because I had seen something similar before. The charm I’d gotten from the Boar Spirit. I’d actually forgotten about the thing. I opened my inventory and looked at the charm.

  Boar Charge Charm (Unique) - +10 Stamina, +10 Endurance – Equipping will teach skill ‘Boar Charge’ 25/100

  I was saddened to see I had only gained 25 out of 100. On the other hand, I haven’t been doing much fighting or questing, so maybe it wasn’t getting experience. I’d have to experiment some later to find out what gives it experience.

  Class Quest Alert: Training with Sergeant Butters 2

  Having put your trust in Trinico and David Butters, they have offered you training to develop your stats as quickly and efficiently as possible. Return to Sergeant Butters to continue your development of the skill ‘Acrobatics’.

  Reward: Experience, Skill

  Do you accept this Quest?

  Yes

  No

  Of course, I accepted the next quest in the chain, this was basically free experience for me.

  “That was awesome,” cheered Micaela excitedly, as started our walk toward the temple and more training. She then looked at her husband with a serious expression. “Why was there never a mention of skill trainers on the forums?”

  Olaf was silent for a moment before answering. “I honestly have no idea. The game is new, only three months old, not everyone can afford to buy a pod either. Even the financing options are limited right now. Still, I would have thought people would have started figuring all this out by now.”

  “Or people know an edge when they find one, and know to keep their mouths shut about it. I mean think about it, there is considerable money to be made from being the first to accomplish anything new or finding some secret or other. You mentioned the rumor about an ogre mage before, he clearly figured out how to raise his intellect, but he never shared the knowledge, why? Because it made him more powerful. Got himself attention and acclaim too. Of course, that’s just what I think,” I said, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the pair staring at me. I really did believe it to be true and would be even truer in the future as more and more people started to play the game. Eventually, someone would figure out about the skill books and trainers in the starting villages and post it to the forums. Whoever did so, would become hated by anyone that knew the secret, and loved by everyone who didn’t. Either way, that person would become a target. Having the unique class I did, meant I had more than enough reason to keep my mouth shut about it.

  “He may be right,” said Olaf. “Just consider how limited the information is on becoming an Ogre Artillery. I get the feeling that people who have gotten the class have been spreading false information, trying to deter others from trying to get the class.”

  It was Micaela’s turn to frown. “I don’t like all these secrets. I guess some people never learned to share in primary.”

  “Gamers are greedy and selfish by nature. Every gamer always wants the best gear, the best quests, the best guild or clan. One of the best ways to accomplish that is to limit or reduce the competition. Create a rumor about Ogre Artillery, saying you need to have a ton of Strength stat and you c
an only get it at level 30, because of that requirement, suddenly the class doesn’t feel as appealing anymore. Or the rumor that you have to enslave engineers to work as your artillery crew, even attempting it would cause you to be hated by several races, limiting you even worse,” Olaf responded.

  “Yeah, gamers can be . . . difficult at times. The question becomes, what are you going to do about it? I appreciate you promising the keep my secret, I’m not comfortable spreading it around and becoming a target. But that doesn’t stop you from sharing your own secrets, telling the truth about how to become an Ogre Artillery class. You could tell others about the skill books and skill trainers. Though personally, I’d prefer to keep it secret a while longer or we’ll suddenly find ourselves overrun with high-level players after skills. Which also means more PK’ers.” I know I sounded selfish myself there, but we do have an edge and right now it is a big deal. I want to be able to make use of our edge a little bit longer.

  “I know you don’t like it Mic, but Bye-bye has a point. I want to share this too, but let’s wait until we’re completely set to leave this province behind,” said Olaf.

  “What about just sharing with the people already in this province?” asked Micaela.

  Olaf and I both cringed a little.

  “Let’s take it on a case by case basis,” I suggested. “I am not against sharing, you two are proof of that. But I also got to know the both of you before I shared. We built up a friendship and trust between us first.”

  Micaela seemed to be thinking it over, a frown marring her usually happy face. “I suppose I see your point. I don’t necessarily like it, but I get it. I guess I can see where you’re both coming from. If we share the information with the wrong person, it could cause the province to be flooded with high-level players and PK’ers. I suppose it could even bring a whole PK guild down on the province, which would wipe out all the NPC’s, which would, in turn, wipe out any quest chains we’re working on. Bloody hell, now I’m a greedy cuss.”