Author’s Corner: Alright folks! I know I said I was waiting for 100 votes on the poll before, but since Druid had a large majority with 51 votes before we even reached the 100 requirement, I decided to go ahead and write!

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You have selected the base class 'Druid'.+10 Wisdom, +5 Intelligence.

You have received a class questThe Ways of the World

Rank ★ Druid Class Quest

Look for someone to teach you the ways of the druids.

Time Limit: None

Reward: Druid Class Skills

Failure: None

Having made my choice, I noticed that choosing the class gave a set of stat points, which seemed to indicate wisdom being the most important stat to a druid. As such, I poured my five points from leveling up into the stat as well. Simply selecting a class was equivalent to gaining three levels, so I was rather happy with it.

Looking up, the sun had yet to go down, so my sleep effect likely hadn’t lasted for very long. Picking myself up, I dusted off my clothes and made my way back towards the mage’s tower. While she wasn’t exactly a druid, the shaman instructor should be able to show me to someone who was.

Once I arrived there, I made my way over to see her. “Excuse me, may I have a moment?” It looked like she had just gotten out of a ‘class’ with another group of players, so I tried my best to be polite.

After she looked over to me, she suddenly smiled for some reason. “Oh, sure. You seem to have grown quite a bit since last time.”

We walked a fair distance away from the others before I decided to ask. “Do you know where I can find a druid?”

She smirked knowingly at my comment. “Chose your class, did you?” I blinked, having not expected her to know about how players choose classes, before she continued. “Everyone gets one chance to decide which of the nine paths in life they face once they reach a certain level of strength. For those of this world, we go to a temple and pray to the god or goddess of our chosen path, but we were told that you travelers would not need to do so thanks to your connections to the gods.”’

“I see. But yes, I decided to follow the path of a druid, and need to find someone that will be able to teach me.” I tried my best to remain calm. The NPCs in this game were a lot more realistic and knowledgeable about players than most games allowed.

“Well, that won’t be too hard. He’s a bit outside of town, in order to not be disturbed, but I can take you to him. First, though, we need to get you your companion AI.” She raised the sleeve of her robe to reveal a metallic wristband with a blue display screen. Now that I think about it, don’t all of the NPCs have their wrists covered?

I hadn’t given much thought to it before, as it was just local fashion, but this made me piece it together. “So, what is it?” I could guess a bit from what she had called it, but I didn’t know what all it was for.

“The companion AI is a device to help anyone that seeks to gain strength and travel the worlds. Alliance policy is to wait to hand them out to people until they have chosen their class with the gods, to stop them from charging off without the ability to survive.” As she spoke, she signalled to someone else that she was going to be leaving for a while, and escorted me out of the building. “They are simple devices that help display information for you, and record your adventures. For instance, if you had chosen to be a mage, you could download a rune database into your companion, and save a list of customized spells. Since you learned alchemy, you can also save your notes on that into it.”

I nodded my head slightly at her explanation. “So that’s what Lisara meant when she said I’d be getting a device to replace my journal soon.”

“Right. But one of the most important things about the companion AI is that it can evolve. Not in the physical sense, but it will develop a personality over time, and certain items will be able to grant it upgrades. Since it accompanies you everywhere in your adventure, and automatically records any new information, you can ask it questions about things you don’t understand or have forgotten. Since this is your first companion, it’ll be free. But if it gets broken you’ll need to pay to repair it or get a new one.” With that done, we arrived in front of a building. From the sign, it seemed to be the general store for this village, which I had for some reason never thought to visit.

...Seriously, why was I still wearing level 1 clothes? And damaged ones, at that! I let out a small sigh as I realized I probably could have been wearing actual armor by now, or at least robes enchanted with a bit of defense. As we entered the store, there was an elven man with long black hair wiping down the counter. “Greetings, Her Tinyness.” The man smirked to the loli teacher, who started to clench her fists and gave off a rather terrifying aura. “Sorry, sorry, you know your company is always appreciated, Rita.”

I really need to start asking for people’s names… I shook my head at how forgetful I was about it, and was going to remedy it immediately when Rita spoke up. “Yeah, can it, Harlan. This guy is just ready for his first companion.” She pointed a thumb at me, causing him to raise a curious eyebrow.

“Really? He managed to get the gods’ approval wearing just that?” He looked questioningly at me.

“Yeah… don’t remind me… Forgot to get new equipment.” I sighed helplessly, making him chuckle a bit.

“Well, no matter. As they say, the gods work in mysterious ways.” He then reached into a hidden compartment behind the counter and pulled out a wristband similar to the one that Rita was wearing. “Here you go, your first companion. Do you want to purchase any additional software for it?”

I tilted my head, considering it. “Is there an alchemy guide that I could get?” To which he nodded, getting my hopes up. I should know better by now, really.

“The Basic Alchemy Handbook, complete with listings of all lesser herbs and their known effects, as well as several recipes, is available for thirty silver.” He smiled as if that was already a discount, shattering what little hopes I had left. My mere one silver couldn’t afford anything…

“I’ll… I’ll pass, thanks…” I tried not to sound as if I had been run over by a truck, I really did. The giggle that sounded up next to me made me realize I failed miserably.

“Alright then, just strap this on, and choose the basic settings.” I stepped forward at his invitation, accepting the wristband, and put it on. A moment later, a message appeared on the screen of the device.

New user detected. Retrieving mana sample…

Mana sample acquired. Insert user name.

A holographic keyboard appeared above the wristband, which I used to type out my name. Without realizing it, I had typed out my character name, rather than my player name. That’s really going to get annoying..

Falenel registered as owner. Please assign companion gender designation.

I blinked at that, looking up to Rita. She grinned wryly, nodding her head. “After it develops a bit, it’ll have its own electronic voice. The gender assignment helps you determine the path the personality and voice will take. Though, most of the personality is based on how you act and speak with it.”

I nodded back to her, and immediately chose female. If I’m going to have someone to talk to whenever I play the game, I’d rather it at least sound like a beautiful woman, rather than a gruff man.

This unit registered as female. Do you wish to assign a name to this companion?

This option didn’t surprise me as much as the last one. I could see some people viewing the AI as merely a tool to use, and not bother naming it. However, I quickly typed in a name I was rather fond of, someone I had dated for a time in the real world.

This unit shall now identify as Celeste.

“So, what is a basic AI able to do?” I asked out loud, curiously. Before Rita had a chance to explain, my wristband displayed another screen with text on it.

A first level companion AI is capable of observing, recording, and reviewing. I may notice aspects of your environment that you fail to, or more quickly make a connection between a situation and relevant information. As I have tapped into your mana flow, I can see whatever you see, though I do not have the power to alter your perceptions or change the flow of mana in any way without prior upgrades.

After reading the message, I glanced over to Rita with a curious expression. She smiled and explained. “I said before that they could be upgraded. Some upgrades improve mana efficiency or increase recovery. Some allow them to modify your field of vision to form a sort of heads up display. I’ve even heard that there was an upgrade that allowed you to have full 360 degree vision for a short while.”

“Ahh… I would probably like the display one, since it would be more handy than reading from a display screen.”

This time it was the shopkeeper who explained. “Just give it a little bit until she can form her own voice. I’ve never seen it take more than a day for an AI to be able to start speaking verbally to its owner. And for that time, I’d suggest against fighting monsters. Remember, it records all of your experiences to establish its base personality. If its first day is filled with violence, it will in turn have a violent personality.”

Okay… so no more mass murdering bunnies until it is able to talk, gotcha. I nodded my head slightly at that. For the most part, I had already gotten rid of my grudge against the horned rabbits, so that wasn’t too much of a problem. Looking over to Rita, I figured I was done here. “You were going to take me to see the druid instructor?”

Rita nodded her head for a moment, and then opened her eyes as if suddenly remembering. “Oh, right! Sorry, forgot about it. First time helping someone with their companion. Later, Harlan!” She turned around and quickly left the store. Following behind her, I decided to pull out my book of plants to quickly flip through it while we walked. If Celeste records everything I see, then I shouldn’t need to spend more than a few seconds on each page for her to acquire all the information on it. And this way, she should be able to help identify plants that I overlook. It didn’t take more than a couple minutes to finish the book and put it away again, and by that time we were just leaving the village..

...

I forgot to get armor again!

Our walk through the woods was actually fairly easy, with not a single animal attacking us. Although the rabbits we passed sent me mean glares(which didn’t look so mean with their adorable faces), none of them acted while I was with Rita. Even the wolves backed away as we walked by.

“Are you using magic to stop them..?” I asked as we passed by a mother wolf who was using her body to shield her pups from view.

“Hmm? No, I’ve just been out here a few times, so they know better. Animals are more sensitive to energies, so they can feel your aura to determine your strength.”

Ahh… so it’s a matter of level, then. I nodded my head in understanding, and my wrist vibrated slightly. Well, Celeste vibrated, and I had to look down to her. On her holographic display was a blue arrow, and when I followed it I saw the black mushroom I had been looking for previously. Thank you, Celeste!

I grinned happily, nodding my thanks, and quickly retrieved the mushroom before continuing on. It took us about twenty minutes of walking before we found a small lake in the forest. At the edge of the lake was a young man, sitting there with a gnarled staff in one hand, and petting a wolf with the other. His robes were long and green, such that if he stood up I might have trouble figuring out where the grass ended and he began. “Jarl, we have a student for you.” Rita spoke up with a smile as we drew closer.

The man’s head lifted up and he looked at me, slowly a smile spread across his lips. “Ah, looks like things are about to get exciting again.”

You have completed a class quest!

The Ways of the World

Rank ★ Druid Class Quest

Look for someone to teach you the ways of the druids.

Time Limit: None

Reward: Druid Class Skills

Failure: None