by Kyle Johnson
“Indeed, you detonated the spell very effectively,” Veronica nodded. “In fact, your problem was that you made it too effective; the medium couldn’t handle the power flows. So…boom.”
Jeff blinked. “So,” he said slowly, “all of those inefficiencies and redundancies…were deliberate?”
“Oh, yes,” Veronica confirmed. “They are what you might call fail-safes for mages. If a magic wielder tries to overcharge a spell with too much energy, most of it bleeds off through those inefficiencies, rather than detonating the unsuspecting mage.”
“Huh,” Jeff commented inanely. “I guess that makes sense.” He brushed himself off and rose to his feet. “So, is the testing done? How did I do?”
“The tests are complete,” she confirmed. “Based on your responses and aptitudes, I can offer you the following class choices.” Veronica gestured, and four images of Jeff appeared before him, each wearing different clothing and holding different weapons.
Jeff focused on the first, an image dressed in dark green leather, with a bow strapped to his back and a long knife hanging at his belt. Both the knife and bow were glowing faintly, and Jeff could barely see faint runes etched upon the dark leather of the image’s armor. As he reached toward the image, a translucent box appeared in the center of his vision:
“Cool,” Jeff murmured in surprise, reading through the text. He moved to swipe the box away, but it hung, unchanged, in the center of his vision. “How…?”
“Just will it away,” Veronica cut in. “Remember, the AI’s are connected to your thoughts; you can control everything mentally.”
Makes sense, Jeff agreed silently as he cleared the box from his view with a thought. The whole point is for the AI’s to learn and map my mental patterns. I suppose they would need to read my thoughts to do that. In fact, Jeff suddenly realized, just a while ago, Veronica had replied to one of his unspoken thoughts, and he didn’t even catch it. Gotta focus, here, he thought grimly.
“Okay, a few questions,” he began, turning to face the blonde woman. “What are strong and weak stats? And what are the ‘horrors of the darkness’?”
“That second one, you’ll have to wait to find out,” Veronica answered with a smile. “Don’t want to spoil anything for you. As for your first question, though, just think about pulling up your character screen.”
Jeff obediently concentrated, and a new screen popped up in his view:
“As you can see,” Veronica explained, gesturing to his screen, “there are 8 primary abilities: 4 physical, and 4 mental. Most of them are fairly self-explanatory. Strength determines your carrying capacity and adds to melee attack damage. Dexterity includes fine motor skills and coordination and is useful for ranged physical attacks. Agility is speed and gross motor skills and is useful for dodging or attacking with light, piercing weapons. Endurance is your toughness and ability to withstand damage; it also affects your LP and Stamina regeneration, which are both your Endurance Stat divided by 10.
“For the Mental Stats,” she went on, “Intelligence is your memory and cognitive abilities and can boost the power of spells. Wisdom measures your intuition and willpower and improves your SP total and regeneration. Perception is how attuned your senses are and helps you spot hidden objects or make critical attacks. Finally, Charisma includes both physical attractiveness and your social skills and is useful when dealing with others. Of course, you can focus on a Stat when viewing your character screen if you’d like to gain more information about how they function and what they do.
“Every class,” she continued, “has 3 Strong Stats and 2 Weak Stats. When you level up your class, you will automatically gain 1 or 2 points in each Strong Stat, plus anywhere from 2 to 5 free stat points, all depending on your class. Rarer and more powerful classes also receive larger stat bonuses but are much harder to get and often have unique or hidden conditions.
“Weak Stats are the stats that are least useful to a given class,” she finished. “They are more difficult for that class to level, increasing by only 0.5 per stat point you invest in them, although you can increase them normally by leveling Skills or through Perks or Titles you gain.”
“And what about the rest?” Jeff continued. “LP? Are those like hit points? Which would make SP…spell points, I guess? And Stamina is…stamina?”
“Correct,” Veronica affirmed. “LP stands for ‘Life Points’ and are basically an indicator of how close you are to death. Whenever you are wounded, your body will spend life points – basically an internal reserve of magical life energy – to try and stabilize and heal the injury. If you run out of LP, your body can no longer sustain itself and…you die. Your LP regenerates based on your Endurance, as I said before.
“SP are spell points,” she went one, “or Mana, if you prefer the term. Unlike LP, spell points are not an internal reserve: they represent your mind’s ability to continue using magic. Casting spells puts a strain on your mental faculties and willpower, and you’ll need to rest to regain those faculties. If you run out of SP, you won’t die, but you will be incapacitated until you regenerate at least 5% of your maximum SP. Wisdom determines your Max SP and how fast it regenerates.
“Stamina is required for most Martial Skills,” she finished. “It determines how long you can keep up sustained physical exertion. If you run out of Stamina, you can move no faster than a walk and are unable to perform great acts of exertion until it regenerates over 5%. All your Physical Stats can affect Stamina, so it is determined by summing your Physical Stats and multiplying by 2. It regenerates based on your Endurance alone, though.”
“Okay, that all seems pretty logical,” Jeff agreed. “And, it looks like my LP and Stamina are kind of low compared to my SP. I’ll guess that’s because my physical stats are lower than my mental ones?”
“Precisely,” Veronica nodded. “Each point of Endurance above or below 10 adds or subtracts 5 points of LP, plus 1 point per level, from the base of 100. You also gain 10 LP per level, regardless of Endurance. SP is calculated from your Wisdom score in much the same manner; however, only magical classes gain SP per level. Full magical classes gain 10 SP each level, while hybrid classes like Warden gain 5 SP each level. A non-magical class like Warrior or Rogue only gains SP by raising their Wisdom.”
“Got it,” Jeff nodded. So far, it was all pretty simple, although he could see how the math could get tangled as one got higher in levels. Especially if… “Wait, can you have more than one class?” Jeff said as the idea occurred to him. “Could you, say, be a Warrior and a Mage at the same time?”
“Not exactly,” Veronica shook her head. “You can only have one primary class. However, as you advance in levels and skills, you can evolve that class into other things. So, a Warrior could, if they wanted to, learn certain skills that are typically used by magical classes and advance them to a level where they could evolve their Warrior class into something that uses magic, as well. I can’t tell you many details about that, though: evolving your class is something you’ll need to discover how you do on your own as part of the game.”
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Jeff waved off her explanation. “It’ll be more fun that way, anyways.” He turned back and looked at the image of the Warden once more. With this new information in hand, the class description became a bit clearer:
Okay, so this is some sort of magical archer or hunter, he thought. It looks pretty cool, but it also seems to be more of a solo class. I’m guessing I’d get some enhancing spells, some basic healing magic, maybe some concealment and tracking spells. Maybe not the best for being in a party…
Jeff turned to the next image, which showed him dressed head to toe in black cloth, with only his eyes visible, holding a wickedly serrated dagger in each hand. Ooh, is that a ninja? he wondered excitedly. In a moment, the blue box popped up and answered his question:
So, kind of a ninja, Jeff thought gleefully. But, with Int as a weak stat, it must be seriously lacking in damaging magic. Probably all utility and concealment, maybe some movement skills and sp
ells. Sneak in, hit hard, and try to get out before you get stuck in combat. Kind of a one-trick pony…but a fun one!
Jeff’s gaze moved on to the next image of him dressed in a robe, holding a book in one hand. Focusing on the image, he saw the now-familiar blue box pop up in his vision:
Basically, a vanilla mage, Jeff thought dismissively. Lots of flexibility but no real focus. Still, Veronica said that you can evolve classes over time; maybe I could turn this into a more specialized caster with a little effort.
Finally, Jeff turned to the last image. This one seemed much simpler than the others: he stood in regular tunic and trousers, gripping a staff in one hand, but over the other hand floated a glowing ball of blue light. Intrigued, Jeff willed the description to come:
That’s…really interesting, Jeff mused, reading over the class description a second time. “Veronica,” he spoke up, addressing the woman without turning away, “can you tell me more about the Sorcerer class?”
“Of course,” Veronica replied brightly. “Most magic-wielders cast spells through formulae, similar to what you were shown in the tests. They can learn any spell they have the Intelligence to understand, but they have no ability to modify those spells to suit their needs: you saw what happened when you changed the spell form in the test.
“Sorcerers, on the other hand,” she continued, “forge magic instinctually. If a sorcerer wants to create an effect and has the necessary will and imagination, they can eventually do so, although more potent effects may take significant time to create. This means that they usually have fewer spells than wizards, but those spells are more powerful and personally tailored.”
“Okay,” Jeff said slowly, considering. “So, as a Sorcerer, I could basically create any spell I wanted, given enough time? I could create a spell that could, say, destroy an entire city, right? That seems…unbalanced.”
“Theoretically,” Veronica hedged. “You have to remember, though, that like all magic-wielders, sorcerers are limited by their SP. Even if you could craft such a spell, it would require a truly staggering number of spell points to execute.”
“Oh, right,” Jeff nodded, understanding. “I forgot about SP. Okay, that makes more sense.” He turned back to study the images before him, lost in thought.
Wizard is out, he thought decisively. I’m not interested in being some generic glass cannon. I think I’m going to have to pass on Warden, as well: I want to party up with Phil, and it’s more of a solo class. So, Shadewalker or Sorcerer…
The more he thought about it, the more attractive Sorcerer was becoming to him, though. The idea of creating spells limited only by his imagination spoke to him at a deep level. It reminded him of why he went into Computer Science in the first place: he loved creating things. So much of his job was monotonous – scanning through lines of code, searching for bugs and making small corrections to streamline processes – but at the beginning of a project, when he first started creating? That was his favorite feeling in the world.
Shadewalker had some interesting abilities, but he realized that if he really wanted, he could probably recreate them with the Sorcerer class. If his spells were limited only by his will and imagination, surely he could craft a spell that allowed him to walk through the shadows and another that did a huge burst of damage in an instant, likely burning SP in the process. Certainly, an assassin-type character would be better in that role, but if his only limit was his imagination? He could literally fill any role needed in a party!
“I’ll choose Sorcerer,” he stated at last, reaching out to touch the image in front of him. Instantly, the image flowed up his outstretched hand and swirled around him, engulfing him in a weird, gray light. He felt the energy of the image slide into him, filling him with a strange power. For a moment, he felt enormously potent, as if he could do anything, be anywhere, create anything he wanted… An instant later, the feeling passed, but he still felt a strange energy buzzing inside of him. A new box filled his vision as the moment passed:
The moment Jeff dismissed that screen, another popped into view, this one with a minor fanfare of music:
“Whoa,” Jeff exclaimed, reading through both messages. “Hey, I got a World First! That’s awesome! But, wait, what does it mean about trained skills? And what are Perks?”
“Generally, anyone can learn any skill,” Veronica explained. “Even skills that are race or class restricted can be learned by others; it’s just very difficult to do so, or to find a Trainer in that skill. When you pick up a skill by doing something in the world, it is generally Untrained: you are trying to teach yourself how to use this skill, which is obviously less effective than being trained by someone. Untrained skills are 50% less effective than trained ones: an Untrained weapons skill, for example, might give a 5% bonus to damage instead of 10%.
“However, it is possible to train an Untrained skill,” Veronica continued. “Skills have rankings: Novice, Student, Adept, Expert, Master, and Grandmaster, with 10 sublevels in each ranking. Once you have raised an Untrained skill to the Adept level, it automatically becomes Trained. You can also seek Training in the skill from someone who is Expert-ranked or higher.”
“Perks, on the other hand,” Veronica continued, “are not available to those outside of their class or race. Every class earns a class-related Perk every 5 levels, although these are usually the weakest Perks. Beyond that, you cannot learn a Perk or train to earn a Perk: they are awarded for completing rare quests, performing unique actions, or, more rarely, using combinations of skills and class abilities in specific ways. It’s impossible to tell what will give you a Perk: two players can complete the same quest and while one of them might gain a Perk, the other will not. Perks are fairly powerful and can give you potent abilities.”
“Sweet!” Jeff crowed, pumping his arms to the sky. “So, how do I choose my Perk?”
“Pull up your character sheet,” she instructed. Jeff obligingly did so:
“Now, simply concentrate on where it tells you that you have a skill or Perk to select, and you will be presented with a list from which to choose,” Veronica explained. A moment of focus pulled up a list, one somewhat shorter than Jeff was hoping for:
Hmm, interesting choices, Jeff mused silently. I think I’ll pass on the elemental ones; I don’t want to specialize this early in the game. Mana in the Blood sounds like it would be useful for healing, although the 2:1 loss is rough. Indomitable Mana is a cool name, but it feels like a PvP skill for fighting other mages. I guess that leaves…
Jeff selected Mana Well as his Perk and felt the tingling sensation in his body heighten as his SP pool instantly doubled. Veronica had mentioned that a Sorcerer was limited by their SP, but Jeff quickly calculated that by the time he reached level 20, he should have at least 1,700 SP, more like 2,200 if he put a stat point into Wisdom every other level. He wasn’t sure, but it felt like having more than 20 times the base amount was a significant SP pool!
Next, he pulled up his list of available Sorcerer skills. This list was much longer, but he quickly narrowed it down to 3 skills: Meditation, Mana Manipulation, and Mana Insight. “Veronica, what can you tell me about these skills?”
“Two of them are fundamental Sorcerer skills,” she responded. “Meditation is honestly a vital skill for any magical class: it allows you to increase your SP regeneration rate when you are calm and quiet by 10% at the Novice level, and the rate increases dramatically as you advance. Mana Manipulation is a Sorcerer-only skill: it allows you to more easily shape new spells, decreasing the research time and SP cost of creating a new spell by 1% per level of the skill. Mana Insight is a much rarer skill, to be honest. With it, your connection to Mana deepens, so that spells you create are 1% more powerful than normal per level of the skill.”
“Okay, wow, all good choices, then,” Jeff replied, thinking. “Still, if Mana Insight is so rare…it makes the most sense for me to grab that one, right? It seems like it could be really, really powerful down the road, and if the others are more common, I’m
betting I can find a class trainer to teach them to me.”
“I can’t advise you on this,” Veronica shook her head. “The decision must be wholly up to you.”
“Okay, Mana Insight it is,” Jeff said firmly, making his choice. “So, what’s next?”
“For your last step,” Veronica smiled, “you must choose a race. There are many races, all with their own unique advantages and disadvantages, and you can choose any of them, although choosing certain races may dictate where you start in the game.” She gestured, and the walls of the room disappeared, replaced by a vast, dark space filled with statue-like images.
“Wow,” Jeff muttered, overwhelmed. “That’s a lot of choices. Is there…is there any way to filter them?”
“Of course,” Veronica assured him. “Simply say or think of your criteria, and I will remove the ones that are least fit.”
Okay, gotta narrow this down a bit, Jeff thought. “Well, first, let’s choose races that are compatible with my class. Any race with a penalty to Wisdom or Intelligence, we can get rid of,” he spoke thoughtfully, noticing that perhaps a third of the figures suddenly vanishing. “Also, any race that isn’t humanoid or mammalian…in fact, I’m not really into playing beast races, so let’s get rid of those, too.” Those filters were more effective, and now only about 25% of the figures were left. “Oh, and get rid of any race that can’t start in or near Human lands; I’m hoping to meet up with a friend, and he always picks human as his race.”
Only a dozen or so statues remained, standing about Jeff in an impassive ring. He immediately discarded the half-orc, half-giant, and half-goblin races: they all had significant Charisma penalties, and his Charisma was abysmal enough as it was. He similarly passed on dwarves, halflings, and gnomes: he had a feeling that this world would be difficult enough to navigate without the disadvantage of being abnormally short. After a bit of consideration, he had narrowed his choices down to three:
