Chapter 3

Questing with Class

I led us to the benches in the central plaza. “Okay take a seat, now that we have done all 6 quests we can think about your class. I’ll also teach you about professions.”

Sitting down I waited for Katnip to join me. “So what do you want to be in this world? What do you want to do? Those are the most important questions to ask yourself when thinking about a class. The next most important thing to consider is growth potential. If you pull up your possible classes you will see the basic six ones that were unlocked upon completing the class quests, those are all safe options, they can continue to grow and evolve into better and better classes. They are also fairly limiting, versatility is a great thing, there is no way you can fill all roles but being able to fight and patch yourself up afterward is very important. That is something that pure rogues, warriors, and mages can’t do well. So to take advantage of the strengths of other classes we have a second class slot, the other way to do so is hybrid classes.”

“Hybrid classes?” Kate asked.

“Yes, things like a Battlemage, Paladin, Ranger, or Bard. Those are each hybrids of the 2 of the basic six paths. To become a Paladin for example you would unlock both warrior and priest classes then train your skills with the warriors and learn holy magic from the priests. Once you progress your skills past a certain point you will unlock a class that uses both, that would be a Paladin class. Now classes give different stats per level, and they also give Class Skills. Class Skills are important to consider, many class skills are nearly impossible to get without the class, some classes can give the same skills though. An example of this is elemental conjuring, many mage classes get access to some elemental conjuring skill, and that massively decreased the amount of mana you need to create an element while making it a permanent conjuration that won't fade away in a few minutes. I have such a skill so if I want to wrap one of those boars from the fields in stone and then walk away and eat a sandwich it will still be there when I get back. Although the boar might be better as part of the sandwich…Anyway if you jump into a class that is a direct evolution of another one that you have access to you may miss some important skills, usually the very first skill is the most important for future use but not always. With me so far?”

“Yes, this is fascinating. This game is so much more complicated than any of the others I have played before.” Kate said.

“Well, the class system seems to be intended to grow with a person as they develop skills and abilities, explore the world, and do great deeds. I have classified the power of these classes into tiers based on the number of stat points they award. One to 10 is tier 1, 11 to 20 is tier 2, and so on. I have no idea how high tiers will go but I figure it’s a good system to keep track of how powerful a class is. Now as far as I know there is almost no tier 1 class that has any skill you can’t develop on your own, the mage ones will give things like mana manipulation and meditation, which you learned in under an hour in a graveyard. So to get the most out of your levels you would likely want to start as a tier 2 class, of course, these are harder to unlock since they have more requirements. Your class list doesn’t list the requirements for each class by default, but you can ask for that info for a specific class if you have it unlocked so you know how you did it.” I can see her looking through her class list as I speak. While I can’t actually see her list unless she shows it to me it’s easy to tell when someone is reading their screens from the way they look like they are reading something in mid-air.

“Now I could go on about the most powerful classes I can think of, but they wouldn’t really be a fit for you unless they are what you want. I rushed us through the rogue quest because it would take a long time to teach you to sneak well on that course, I also have a feeling that rogue-type classes aren’t what you want. Now if I’m wrong then by all mean’s I’ll teach you what I know of being a sneaky bastard but only if you feel that’s what you want. Now which of the basic class groups interests you the most?”

Katenip looked at me, and at her list. “I always loved the idea of magic, in stories, and in games. Magic is so cool, it lets you solve all sorts of problems through knowledge and skill that are impossible in real life. That’s what I want.”

“Well then let's take a look at these classes of yours. Push your window towards me and say ‘share’.”

With a word she sends me a copy of her class list, she had the normal ones and one or two interesting ones, at the bottom though was something special. I checked the requirements as well.

Class Act

One who seeks knowledge of Classes, the very paths of power all may walk. The Class Act is one that seeks to understand Classes in their entirety. The farther you walk this road the more you will understand.

Grants a third Class Slot as long as this Class is held

+ 8 Free Stats per Level

Requirements: Take all 6 class quests without taking a class, seek knowledge of classes

Holy shit this class is amazing. A tier 1 class that gives you another slot, that’s unheard of. Getting another slot at all is unheard of even 20 years from now. What’s more is this is an entirely unexplored path, the class skills this thing could give, screw what I said about tier 1 skills being obtainable I could feel that wouldn’t be the case with this. With that extra slot it's an entire class of free stats and no real downsides!

“You take this class right now, this is possibly the most important thing there is right now and there are no downsides. This is the class that could make you a legend.”

Looking back through her mage options I froze, Bubble Mage, fuck I remember hearing about a bubble mage, it wasn’t a nice story. What I heard about was a young girl that found a class she thought was fun, got pretty good with it too, but she was constantly mocked for her bubbles. She was mocked so much that she eventually caved and sundered the class and got a more standard water mage one. She did this right before the respawns disappeared, poor girl died shortly after when she didn’t have the strength to fight back a sudden attack by monsters. Her story circulated as a cautionary tale for why sundering your class is such a bad idea. No one knew or cared about the poor girl who was the only known bubble mage. I know in my heart that girl was this shy energetic kid beside me, the odd stalker that had the guts to ask a total stranger for training. No matter how things went with this second chance my goal was to change things. I would protect this girl and make her the best fucking Bubble Mage the world would ever know.

“I bet you were leaning towards this Bubble Mage Class weren’t you?” She gave another one of her shy nods. “that is actually a good idea, variant mage classes have a lot of potential since they make you think outside the box. Your other good option was this salamander one” I pull it up.

Salamander Heart

Learning from the salamander, this Class embraces the animal. Physicality and elemental aptitude combined, the Salamander Heart is the first step on the path to a meld of mana and beast.

+4 Str, +2 Con, +8 Dex, +4 Int, +5 Wis per Level

“This class is impressive, but it won’t lead you to magic like you want. Bubble Mage on the other hand is weaker at first but is more in line with what you want.

Bubble Mage

Learning the magic of bubbles, this class holds a soft strength. Bubbles are often underestimated for their beauty, but they hold a quiet strength. This mage is beginning their journey upon the path of magic and knowledge, the path is long but rewarding.

+8 Int, +8 Wis

“At the start it’s not as powerful, but it will give you a good foundation to learn and grow. Since it starts you as a mage it will set you on the way to that magic and wonder you wanted.” At this, I give her a smile. “So, what do you say? Take Class Act and then Bubble Mage?”

Kate gave me a small smile, “I think I’d like that.”

I could see the change that came over her as she accepted the classes. A change in posture, the look of wonder on her face. It was something that most people that took a knowledge enhancing or mage class for the first time had in common. The rush of that connection with mana, the heady feeling of sudden understanding, both were incredible.

“So what did you get for skills from Class Act?”

Shaking her head a bit to refocus Kate said, “well I got a skill called Classically Trained which lets me get a feeling for what skills would be needed to advance any class, and I got a skill called Book Smart that gives a small boost to learning speed and a small bonus to all exp earned. I got that at level 5 in Class Act, that experience stockpile gave me a big boost. I now have 45 free points, what should I do with them?”

“Well personally I would save most of them for a bit until you get levels in Bubble Mage, but it wouldn’t be bad to sink 10 in both con and dex. Let you have some fun and increase survivability. Int and Wis will take care of themselves for now. Especially once we get to farming.”

“Now how about I give you that lesson on professions you wanted?” With another nod, she signals me to go on. “So Professions are important, they help to bridge the gaps or provide a focus to classes. I mean they are also important for crafters and people that just want a job but that’s not that important to us. A Profession can be earned when you get a skill pertinent to it and raise it to a high enough level. Take smithing, for example, to get the smith profession you need to learn smithing to at least level 5 to first get apprentice smith, to get the true smith profession you need to get to 25. In other words, in this game you actually need to learn the skills to have them. What a profession gives you though is abilities that let you be much better at whatever it is you do, for a smith you can smith harder materials, improve the quality of the product, and much more. A master smith can bang out a greatsword in a couple minutes. Now if someone with the mage class who has learned enchanting has the smith profession they could upgrade it to Magic Smith with some work. Or if you go the other way then they could evolve their class into a Forge Mage. You can also switch out professions and the only loss is the abilities they grant until you reequip them, unlike classes. Ya, with classes you lose all the stats and skills that went into them, including a hit to your overall level. Sundering a class is not something to be done lightly.”

I look Katenip in the eyes, “Promise me you will talk to me before ever thinking about sundering a class.”

“Um okay, I promise.”

“Great let's get some food I’m starving.” I hop to my feet and start walking in the direction of a restaurant I remember being pretty good. Kate hopped up to follow then stopped.

“Wait, you have money?” She asked. I stopped cold. Shit, I haven’t had to worry about money in so long I actually forgot about it. I take a hard right and start heading for the gate out of the city. “Nope, so we’re going to get some!”

“Wait we still have rations from the guild right?”

I stopped again, wow I really had to get myself out of this mindset. First, I assume I still have everything then I think I’m back to square one, okay rations aren’t great but some bread and cheese with jerky will make a fine lunch. I walked right back to the bench and started to take out some food feeling like an idiot. “That’s why I need you Kate, I can teach you about the game and you can keep me from getting lost in my head.”

After a nice lunch, I decided we needed to address our next concern, money. While it turned out we didn’t need it for food we would need it for gear and other things later. Time was funny in AoA, the system compressed time so only an hour would pass for each 2 in-game. People in the game would feel hungry but it would be out of synch with how their real body would get hungry. Standard practice would eventually become eating one meal out of the game for every two you had in-game, it wasn’t a perfect system but it worked well enough until the merge, then it stopped mattering.

Money was also an interesting thing in AoA, loot, in general, was really. Unlike other games monsters don’t drop loot, you have to take it from them. You hunt and gather for things to sell to others. The only way you get money from killing directly is from creatures or foes that carry it on them, either because they have use for it, or because they find it shiny. AoA ran on the old copper, silver, gold, and platinum system. There were a few higher denominations like mithril and adamant but they are so rarely used that they scarcely matter. The progression went 100 to 1 in an upward fashion, 100 copper to a silver, 100 silver to a gold, and so on. Most new players would get their first class and then head to the adventures guild to get some quests to do for cash, herb gathering, hunting nuisance critters, doing odd jobs for town folks, all kinds of things were available that needed doing.

Luckily, we can knock out a few of them at once. I led us to the guild and popped in to grab some posters off the wall. Three should do it. They won't take us that far from the city either. Should make good training quests.

A half an hour later found us outside the city on the edge of the forest, an area locally known as Greenbeach since it was the start of the sea of trees. The three quests I grabbed were all available in this area. Gathering Scarlet Lace, a plant used in healing potions, killing Fungals, a local mushroom monster, and patrolling the area for signs of goblins.

Quest: Gathering Lace Accepted!

Quest: Fungal Problems Accepted!

Quest: Greenbeach Patrol Accepted!

This would be a good training spot for Kate, with nice xp and a way to earn coin. We searched around looking for Fungals. Fungals are the weakest form of Myconid monsters, about three feet tall and slow. They have a spore attack that is fairly dangerous since it will both paralyze and poison you, they also pack a mean punch if you get close to them. The shitty bastards are best killed at range since they have a limited reach with their spores.

“Okay, now that you have the mana control you should be able to create a basic mana bolt or water bolt spell. I’d stick with a mana bolt for the first couple kills until you get a few levels in Bubble Mage.”

I managed to find our first victim shortly after that. Green and brown with wrinkled spongy flesh and a large mushroom cap on its head the thing was as ugly as it was mean. “Now this is the correct method of dispatching these fuckers.” I conjure a small ball of fire and launch it right into the charging monster’s face. It lets out a screech and stumbles, 2 more hits and it dies. “Never let them get within 5 feet or they will release some nasty spores. Running around is a good strategy since as you saw speed is not a strength of these shits.”

Level 5 Fungal Sporeling Killed!

+200 EXP

“That should have gotten you a level in your Bubble Mage class, what skill did you get?” I asked my apprentice.

“Yeah, that was just enough to get to level 1, I got a skill called Bubble Maker that lets me combine water mana and soap mana into bubbles, it says it boosts the strength of the bubbles based on Int and decreases the cost of Bubble Magic based on Wisdom.”

That’s sort of what I was expecting. “Okay I will harvest the cap as proof of the kill, you form a mana bolt and then change it into a bubble skill, should be nearly instinctual with that skill.” I form an ice blade to chop up the burnt mushroom thing. While I butcher the plant I can hear popping sounds and muttered cursing from Kate. What makes me jump is the small explosion of a tree a few feet to my left followed by a cheer.

“What the hell?” I look at Kate and she looks embarrassed.

“Sorry, I just got it figured out and used the tree as a target. I didn’t know it would do that.”

“It’s fine.” I store the cap in my inventory, brush off burn plant parts, and head over to her practice area.

“Okay show me your skill.”

Kate holds out her hand towards another tree and a shining bubble about 3 inches across forms in front of her palm. The bubble fires off so fast it distorts into a pointed oval and digs into the tree before detonating, blowing off a chunk the size of a grapefruit. “Damn…not bad at all, how much mana did that take and what’s it called?”

“The new spell is Bubble Bolt at level 3 and it costs 10 mana for that.” She smiled proudly. She had a right to, that was really good for a beginner spell, one of the more powerful starting level spells I had heard of actually.

“Cheap, fast, accurate, and effective. I like it.” I told her. Guess I should show off a bit to cement my role as a teacher though. “Here is my 10 mana spell.” I carefully use only 10 mana to spin a disk of heated stone into existence above my palm, getting it up to speed. I send it into the same tree Kate targeted. As it hit the tree the structure of the disk cracked enough to no longer be able to contain the pressure from the air pockets I seeded it with and exploded, sending burning shards flying. That was also the end for that particular tree as it came crashing down on top of the remains of the Fungal.

“Wow, that’s amazing Lazarus!” Kate started clapping and I gave a small bow.

Spell Created: Erupting Disk Level 6

“Okay enough playing around, time to hunt some mushrooms with delusions of grandeur, keep an eye out for a red frilly plant as well.”

After walking around for a bit, we came upon another Fungal. “This one is all yours Kid. Fire away and don’t die.” I step away from Kate to give her space as the fungal starts its slow charge. Raising her mop as a staff and fired a Bubble Bolt at the angry shroom. The first shot blew one of its stubby legs right off making it fall flat on its already smashed face. The next shot blew off an arm and two more finished it off.

“Well done, you are officially a mage able to protect yourself. Oh yeah, save your points till we are done questing. That’ll give you a better feel for how the spell grows in power as it and you level.”

We spent the next couple hours killing Fungals and collecting Scarlet Lace, a funny wispy little plant that was bright red, stem, leaves, the whole thing was shades of red, it liked to grow near the base of trees all over the Vale. As common as the Lace was it was always needed for more healing potions so it never really dropped in price. This part of the forest wasn’t good for finding the mana potion equivalent Bluecaps. They were generally found near water.

Fungals were fairly common so we managed to kill a lot as we explored the area for the patrol quest. Whenever you were going to a new area it was best to pick up the appropriate patrol quest, if you were going to be there anyway you might as well get paid twice. I managed to get all the way to level 2 from our killing spree. Kate was now up to level 9 in Class Act and 5 in Bubble Mage. Hell with the lower experience requirements for her classes she was keeping up with my stats pretty well. If she assigned her free points then she would be kicking my ass in the stat department. Katenip could now fell a standard tree in one shot, I generally had to go looking for the fungal caps after she blew them up as well.

We were nearly done with the patrol route when we saw the first sign of goblins, the remains of a small cook fire and bones strewn around. The stench was a clue as well.

“Oh my god, what is that smell?!” Katenip asked. Holding her cloak to her face to try and block it out.

“That would be goblins, sneaky, unclean, deceptively tough, and unrepentantly evil little shits. They will kill, eat, and fuck, just about anything, sometimes all at the same time. They will take at least 3 of your bolts to take down, you won't be able to blow limbs off so easily with them either. We need to hunt down this group before they become a problem, it looks like just a small band though so it shouldn’t be that hard. Now if this was just you this is where you would hightail it back to the guild to report this. Since you have me though, we will eliminate the threat before it grows.” I growl, I fucking hate goblins.

I look around and try to discern their numbers from the tracks. Not meeting with much success, I instead figure out what direction they are heading, this is not hard. Goblins are stupid even if they have a fair bit of animal cunning. They leave tracks and break branches as they travel. If I remember right there’s an old mine shaft that way, it would make a good base for goblins, the sort of base that would let them grow into a horde if not culled soon. “I have the trail, I think they are heading for an abandoned mine.”

Tracking Skill Level 3 Gained

“Oh good, do you mind if I clean this place? I didn’t want to disturb your tracking but now it will be fine right?” Kate asked.

“Sure go ahead.”

She held her mop above her head and then slammed it handle first into the ground. A thin bubble grew around her and expanded to fill the whole clearing before popping. It left behind a clean scent of pine and all the muck, the stench, and the blood from the goblins was gone. It felt somewhat tingly as it passed over me.

“What was that?” I asked.

“I got a new spell last level instead of a skill, Scrubbing Bubble, it lets me clean the area around me based on how much mana I put into it. The efficiency and potency go up with the spell level. Oh hey, I got two levels in Maid for that! Is Maid useful for anything Laz? Um, can I call you Laz? Do you mind?” Kate asked, speaking rapidly again, I have learned that she does that whenever she gets excited.

“Sure, that’s fine. Congrats on the spell, that’s a useful one that really does match your profession well, that should let you level it quickly. As for Maid there really aren’t any bad professions, just ones that don’t lead in a direction you want to go. In the case of Maid, it should actually be pretty useful, Maid can lead to various cleansing effects in classes and that is never a bad thing.” I remember getting hit by a fairly nasty withering curse once, we had no priest types around that day but there was a high-level maid who just threw a bucket of water over me and washed the curse away. That woman later became an immensely powerful healer.

I led us along the path the pack of goblins took, thankfully these weren’t high-level goblins, if they were, I wouldn’t be able to track them. High-level goblins also manage to keep order among themselves, generally, the best weapon the commoner has against goblins is the goblins themselves. They can’t help fighting each other and the lack of organization really slows them down in doing anything. When a leader emerges though, that’s when things get bad.

The stealth skill came in handy when we found the camp, around 20 goblins set up in front of the mines, I couldn’t see any cages, so they hadn’t started capturing travelers yet. Stopping at the edge I whispered to Katenip, “Think you can cast your Bubble Bolt spell really fast? Just hose the camp while aiming for groups, I’ll take care of the rest.” Kate nodded and her face set like a stone. I had told her a bit more about goblins as we hunted them, she now wanted them gone almost as much as I did. “On my signal.”

I started creating a large Erupting Disk, and then kept it in check as I made another, and another. Once I had a dozen hot spinning disks of death straining at the leash I poured an extra 50 mana into the spell and sent the whole group at the goblins in their camp. The goblins in tents, sitting around the fire, sleeping in the open, and sharpening spears, didn’t know what hit them. The disks hit the camp like a bombing run, the extra mana I had added enhancing the explosions. Tents were shredded, goblins were bisected, and pretty much everything in the camp was struck with burning shrapnel. I only got 5 kills from the barrage but most of the goblins were down or trying to put out fires. In the chaos following my barrage Katenip started sending in her Bubbles, she targeted the wounds and heads of goblins if she could, the ground at their feet if she couldn’t. Limbs that were barely hanging on got severed, one that had an opened stomach from shrapnel got a Bubble Bolt right in the wound and was blown in two. While she was firing I dashed in with an ice blade on each hand, my new physical stats finally able to be put to use as I flitted between the survivors hacking and slashing. I flipped over a goblin with a hatchet and beheaded him mid-air. I wasn’t holding back here, I may be weakened but even without magic, I could solo this group with an iron sword. I picked up a spear from a corpse as I ran by and tossed it through a goblin trying to put on armor. It didn’t kill him but it took him out of action for a while. A couple Erupting Disks tossed around as I dueled a particularly tall goblin with an actual sword, I flowed around his blade and slammed my hand on his face, with a grunt I sent 20 mana worth of fire and ice mana into his head, the expansion of the ice mana as it turned to steam in a flash popped his head like a grape. By that point, all the goblins were either dead or down. I made the rounds and finished off any that were still alive.

“Um, ah… that was a lot more than I expected, a lot more realistic. I thought that was a feature of this game, now I’m not so sure.” Kate said softly. She looked ready to puke again.

I sighed, “Yeah, a lot of people that like the idea of warriors and mages are going to be very surprised when they face the reality of cutting a humanoid monster's throat or burning them to death. The HP mechanic won't help either, even seemingly fatal wounds can be shrugged off by monsters.” I gestured towards one of the goblins that had been bisected by my disks, the last one still living, it was trying to pull its torso towards me with its sword. A disk to the head finished it. “The game is realistic, the good and the bad, you don’t want to know what would have happened if a player had been captured by these things, you can only respawn by dying, and I guarantee that player would not die nearly fast enough.” I turn to look at her, “Do you still think you can do this? Live the life of an adventurer? You can always stay in the cities and take up a trade or something. This was the trial by fire. Nothing I could have said to you would prepare you, nothing would have made it better.” I gesture around the slightly burning camp, the crackle of the flames the only sounds now. “It’s tough, it’s painful, and a lot of the time it just sucks, but you save people from the monsters in the dark, keep them safe at home, and making pretty jewelry or something. It may be tough at times but along the way you get to see wonders, uncover secrets, and have some fun while you’re at it. So, what do you say?” I walk over to her as I speak, she has gotten her stomach under control it seems.

My steps falter as I realize that the level of danger wasn’t nearly as bad as I had made it out to be. This was Pre-Merge, so the Player Protections were still in place. I hadn’t thought about those in so long that they slipped my mind. Players couldn’t be raped and if you were being tortured the game would auto-kill you before it got bad, although you did get a choice to accept the kill or not. After the Merge it would be totally different though, the already very realistic ‘game’ would become fully real, and the Protections would disappear. Since the need for intro class quests also vanished this would lead to a lot of people in bad situations getting some very nasty classes to get themselves out. Way too many people died to the harsh realities of the new world before they could figure anything out though.

“I get what you’re saying, from what you told me these things needed killing. I just didn’t expect it to be so…messy and gross. I still want to learn from you, and I want to protect people and see the wonders of this world. Please show me?” she asked while trying to put on a serious face. It was adorable. I ruffled her hair with a hand soaked in blood. She freaked out. It put a smile on my face.

“You’ll do just fine kid with an attitude like that. By the way, did you forget something?”

She pauses for a moment and then explodes in a soapy froth, I nearly fall to the ground laughing but valiantly remain on my feet.

“I guess I can’t manage the spell without using the mop as a staff yet.” She grumbles raising the mop and sending out her Scrubbing Bubble spell. She must have put the rest of her mana into it, I think she even cleaned my teeth.

Quest: Goblins in the Woods Completed!

+5000 EXP

+1 Gold

Not bad exp, the goblins themselves were level 8 and gave 500 apiece. In total that’s 10k xp for me from exterminating this band. That puts me at level 4 now. With the exp boost Kate gets from Class Act she likely gained a bunch of levels.

Pulling up my sheet it looks much better than a few hours ago.

Lazarus

Level 5

Classes

Hand of the Primordial [4] (1250/6000)

-

Professions

Teacher [18] (1783/1900)

-

HP:420

MP:1100 (110/min)

Strength

17

Constitution

21

Dexterity

17

Intellect

55

Wisdom

55

Charisma

5

Free

20

Hmm, maybe I should think about taking another class soon. I got some nice skills from my level-ups.

Prime Body

Passive: Doubles HP gain and regen from Constitution.

A body that harkens back to days of old, tougher, denser, stronger, faster.

Increases the effect of physical Stats slightly.

Old Soul

Passive: Double MP gain and regen from Wisdom

A mind and soul touched by time. The aether marks this one to those that can see.

Affinities are easier to gain and strengthen

Okay, not gonna lie that Old Soul skill freaks me out a bit, it’s a great skill but it hits way too close to home for my comfort. My last skill was interesting though, Blurred Lines.

Blurred Lines

In ancient times the lines between elements were not set in stone, they blurred.

Allows for combining elements and loosens restrictions on affinities.

Using this I should be able to explore some of the more interesting affinities, ones that are usually locked behind classes or lucky circumstances. Hell, I have heard about skills like this from some Archmage classes that let you explore all the various branches of magic in search of true mastery. This was going to change things a bit. I mixed earth and fire mana in the air above my hand. I could feel the potential, just needing a final push. I focused on the mana, imagining stone so hot it flowed like water, the blazing heart of the volcano, the incredible pressure before an eruption, the ash and fumes as they spread death and block out the sun. With that, the mana finally combined into a new type, Lava. Oh, this was gonna be fun.