“So what’s Ryan up to now, why isn’t he here?” Jacob asked.

“I don’t know. Last time we talked we fought. He’s recruiting our old guild members to do something similar to what I’m doing.” Darith replied.

“It’s messed up he didn’t tell me what happened.” Jacob sighed. “Was I at least good?”

“Yeah! You were really cool, you had a sword.” Liana smiled.

“Damn right I did, swords are the best weapon.” Jacob replied. Darith took a few minutes to tell Jacob about his character and what they had done, and when he noticed the other three stopped pressing their menu and were listening in, he turned back to them.

“You guys ready to continue?” He asked, and got three nods.

“Okay, I’m going to teach you my basic skills, remember that to make anything stronger in this game, you have to train it by using it. The ones I have are Kick, Sprint, Dash, Analyze, Cartography, Through the Pain, Evade and Conceal. I have another, but not all can be shared.” As he began the process of teaching them one by one, he began explaining.

“Cartography lets you see a map of the area around you. The more you map, the more it levels up. Higher levels give more detail. Mine is only Level 5 so far, but it shows me clear maps and different floors in buildings, ect. If it gets higher I bet it can show more stuff, maybe even hidden places.” He said as he taught it to all of them.

“Kick is a basic attack that uses 1 endurance. I haven’t used it much. Really, you just use it automatically whenever you kick something. The more you kick stuff, the better it gets.”

“Got it.” Jaese nodded as they all learned it.

“Sprint is the skill for running fast, it consumes energy, higher ranks mean you run faster. I’ve noticed that most of the energy based abilities don’t cost less no matter how you train them, so if you use a lot you’ll need to instead increase your endurance.” Darith said as he went through teaching it.

“Endurance is like our energy, right?” Elise asked.

“Right, think of it like your stamina in real life, like how long you can run or dance without getting tired, and how long it takes for you to recover and do it again.” Darith replied.

“Makes sense.” Gabriel shrugged.

“Dash is like sprint.” Darith continued. “Except instead of running, its like short jumps, to move suddenly, and quickly. It costs more energy than sprint. It’s what I used outside to protect Jacob. If you use it a lot, you’ll be able to dash faster and further distances at a time.”

“I’m definitely training this one.” Elise said as she was taught it.

“Analyze lets you gather information about someone or something. If you see something for the first time, make sure to use this skill on it. It only levels up when you use it on new things so it's hard to improve, but the higher it gets the more information you can get. Stops you from being caught off guard, and has saved me more than once. So don’t forget to use it when you can.” Darith said, and the three nodded.

“Evade is a passive ability, if you have high agility it’ll give a chance that you don’t take damage from some attacks, it's hard to improve the chance though. And lastly is Through the Pain, this is a last ditch effort ability that makes it so you can use unlimited amounts of energy for 1 minute, but once that minute is up you suffer a huge penalty until you sleep, so don’t use it unless you absolutely have to.” Darith finished explaining.

“That’s cool and all, but what about the spells? Teach ‘em the spells.” Jacob asked while eating pizza and leaning back, watching the random glowing lights appear and surround people.

“I can’t teach spells. You’ll have to learn those yourself. The beginner weapons usually teach a spell tied to that fighting style, so we’ll do some beginner tasks and you guys can start getting a feel for how you want to fight.” Darith said as he took a step back. “Any questions so far?”

“Nope, you’ve explained it clearly.” Jaese replied as he looked over the basic skills he had just learned.

“None.” Gabriel replied.

“I think I get it so far.” Elise said.

“Great! The only thing left is how to use the abilities.” Darith said as he looked to Liana. “Energy based abilities can be used by just doing the action, or using a command. For example, if I want to use the kick ability, I just kick!” Darith said as he kicked forward, and the force sent out a small gust of air towards the curtains on the back window. “If I want to do something like - Dash!” He shouted, and suddenly moved across the house to the front door, out of their view, causing everyone to gasp.

“Where’d he go?” Jaese asked as he stood up, looking around.

“Dash!” He shouted, and re-appeared in the living room. “I can say the skill’s name as a command to use it. But… can any of you tell me why that’s bad?” Darith asked as he looked over the three. Jacob shot his hand up.

“Oh, I know, I know!” Jacob exclaimed. Gabriel briefly glanced at Jacob, then back at Darith.

“If you gotta call out what you’re doin’, won’t the person you’re fighting know what to expect?” Gabriel said.

“Exactly. There’s a few ways around this, since you can customize the command to use an ability. The first way is to change the name to something only you know. For example, that Ice guy,Thomas, he shot Ice bolts by shouting Kavricida, which is a made up word, I tried googling it. This is okay at first, but after one or two uses, your opponent would catch on unless its a monster or something. The better way to do it is like this.” Darith said, then quickly dashed away and dashed back.

“Wait, like what, what’d you do?” Elise asked confused.

“Commands can also be body movements. You can assign them in the menu, you can even make the body movements really subtle, suitable for fights where you need to be able to use your abilities really quickly. Like my Melt Ice spell, I can set it to a command where I - “ Darith stopped, opened his mouth wide, then bit down on his tongue. Once he did, the Melt Ice spell circle began forming, but he waved his hand to cancel it.

“The downside to casting like this with subtle movements is you might accidentally make the movement when you don’t mean to. So make sure you change around your commands and get comfortable with them, everyone understand?” Darith asked, and they all nodded.

“Dang that’s pretty cool, so you could cast spells by wiggling a toe or something?” Jacob asked.

“Y-yeah but if you accidentally wiggle your toe while walking then it’d be bad.” Darith replied.

“Darith, look!” Liana tugged on his shoulder, as a bright white light flashed through the backdoor, illuminating the entire room for a moment.

“What the hell is that?” Jaese said startled, as Elise and Gabriel stood up while Darith turned.

“What is what? I don’t see anything?” Kristen asked confused.

“Me either, what’s happening?” Jacob joined in. Darith watched as the light hit the ground in the backyard and slowly expanded outward and upward as it turned from light into stone. One by one, white stone bricks piled up on top of each other forming an archway with a closed wooden door.

Requirements Met: Play for 1 Week

Reward: Key to Avistion

Region Unlocked-

Avistion City, Level ~ (Safe Zone)(?)

Darith watched as a white key appeared in his hand, then disintegrated into light as it entered his inventory with his other two keys. The others saw it happen.

“Is that one of the doorways you were talking about?” Jaese asked, meanwhile Liana began hopping with excitement.

“A new area, it's that city that Mayiera mentioned!” She cheered excitedly.

“Yes, that’s a doorway... it looks like it’s a city.” Darith said as he hit the ?.

Player vs Player combat is disabled within a Safe Zone.

“We can probably buy equipment and learn more about the game. Let’s postpone training a bit and check out this city.” Darith said with a twinkle in his eye, he stopped looking like a party leader, and returned to looking like a kid, as his imagination ran wild with what they’d find on the other side of the door. “Make sure you guys stay close, alright?” Darith asked.

“We’re going? Into the game world?” Elise said in disbelief as Darith opened the backyard door and moved to the white gate.

“I still don’t see anything yo.” Jacob sounded disappointed.

“Let’s go.” Gabriel said as he moved to follow Darith.

“Bye Mom, we’ll be safe, no fighting can happen in this place.” Darith said back to her.

“O-okay. Take care, don’t let anyone get hurt, and don’t get into any trouble. And take care of Liana!” She replied nervously.

“I will!” He said, then stepped through. Gabriel walked through after him without hesitation. Liana followed, then Elise awkwardly poked her hand through the doorway and eventually stepped through.

“Thank you… for doing all this.” Jaese said to Kristen, She smiled back at him, and with that he moved through the doorway to follow the others.

To Jacob and Kristen, they had all stepped out into the backyard and simply vanished, and the two were left in the living room in silence, Jacob chewing the pizza loudly. Kristen let out a deep sigh, then looked to Jacob as he reached into the pizza box to grab another slice. He eventually noticed she was watching him.

“Oh, I guess I should probably get going.” Jacob said awkwardly, standing up. “Thanks for the pizza.”

“Get home safely.” Kristen smiled. He stumbled to the front door with the slice still in hand, slipped on his bag and shoes, then left the house. Kristen flopped down on the couch, glanced around the room, eyeing the broken chair, then grabbed a slice and the TV remote. “Tom Cruise, I need some good ol’ Cruise tonight.” She said as she flicked it on.

[All][The City of Avistion]

White cobblestone streets. Grey and white stone buildings all around them, some towering high above others as far as the eye could see. In the distance, a gigantic palace could be seen reaching up towards the clear blue sky that drew in Darith’s attention. As he looked up he saw flying creatures soaring around, some appeared to have riders on them, and mixed about were flying airships.

They appeared in a large plaza with a big fountain in the middle, Darith could see dozens of other gates opening and closing around the fountain all around them. The fountain itself was made of elegantly carved marble figures, one representing each race in the game, and the clear water shooting out of various parts reflected the light, making the fountain sparkle.

It was noisy, people talking and shouting while hammers clanged about, beasts of burden pulled along carts filled with crates, barrels, and other goods. The horses and donkeys were easy to recognize, but there were large bird like creatures, bull-like, and other sorts as well pulling the various vehicles through the streets. Stalls were set up on the outskirts of the plaza with merchants calling out to grab the attention of those passing by. Guards visibly stood idling around the plaza wearing heavy armor bearing the emblem of a blue eagle with its wings outstretched. Many of the shops also bore banners, most had the same design of a red circle with a red fist in the middle, but some varied.

“Wow.” Liana said in amazement.

“This is your first time here?” Jaese asked as he looked around with his jaw dropped.

“Is this place real?” Elise asked. Gabriel was silent but his eyes were open wide.

“Y-yeah, this is- this is what I call an MMORPG!” Darith shouted excitedly, unable to contain himself any longer.

“Welcome, welcome to Avistion city, you must be new here, right?” A voice spoke, as from behind them a tall Lizard-like creature approached. He was wearing advanced looking leather armor with a tabard bearing the red fist symbol on it. “You must be confused, it’s a lot to take in? Don’t worry, our guild will help you out. All you have to do is join, and we’ll answer all of your questions.” He said with a smile.

“Ah-ah-ah-ah, not so fast.” Another voice called out, as two familiar elves appeared from the crowd and approached. Darith recognized them both immediately, it was Aaron and Belle. The lizard turned to them annoyed.

“You don’t want to make the mistake of getting involved with the wrong sorts, now that you’re starting your new life in this world. Trust me. Join the New World Order and you’ll be set.” The lizard replied, pretending to ignore the two of them. The name immediately struck a nerve with half the people in Darith’s party, and the air got tense.

“We’re not interested.” Darith replied coldly.

“You’ll regret it… we control everything in this world. If you don’t join, you might as well quit on the spot.” He said with hostility now.

“Didn’t one of your high levels get taken out the other day? I wouldn’t spout lies to the newbies. Buzz off.” Aaron said to him.

“We’ll be fine.” Darith replied.

“Suit yourself.” The lizard-man hissed, then walked away, quickly spotting another group entering the city from a different gate wearing beginner armor, and running to approach them.

“Phew, we found you! Been waiting all day!” Aaron said as he smiled and reached his hand out to shake Darith’s.

“You’ve been waiting for me?” He asked confused.

“Yeah, not long after you saved us, we got the door to enter this city. Belle decided that to pay you back, we’d learn everything we could and then share it with you. We knew roughly when you’d get the gate because you said when you started when we met.” Aaron shrugged. “Looks like you filled out your party. Nice to meet you all, I’m Aaron. I’m actually a man, so don’t mind the female body.” He said as he reached to shake Liana’s hand, then moved through the others.

“I’m Jaese, nice to meet you.”

“Gabriel.”

“I’m Elise.” She smiled. Belle quickly did the same.

“This place is pretty incredible, huh? But wow, you got level 30!” Belle said in amazement, Darith noting that both of them were 21.

“Y-yeah, we did a bit more questing and grinding since then.” Darith replied.

“Come, follow us, let’s get out of this part of the city where it's safer to talk. This area’s controlled mostly by the New World guys.” Belle said as she lead them down a busy narrow street, the others following.

“What’s with that guild?” Darith asked, and everyone in his party listened intently.

“They’re one of the majority ruling guilds in Avistion, and they’re literally insane, I heard the leader is a senator or something in the US. They have almost all the highest level players and control a lot of the resources, and kill anyone not a part of their guild that leaves the Avistion Safe zones. Makes it a nightmare for players to level up or get gear unless they join. And if you do join, they enforce taxes on you - the lot of them are nuts. I hear they’re doing similar things in the real world. So for now we just avoid them. They’ve been particularly pissed off lately because someone took out one of their high level members yesterday and they’ve been trying to figure out who did it and what guild they were from.” Belle replied. Darith and Liana looked at each other nervously.

“Good news is, most of their members are low levels and the guild taxes they enforce really hinders their progress, they funnel most of their resources to the highest level members who are always grinding away somewhere, so if you find a secret dungeon or area to grind, you’ll be fine. Most people form groups with other more friendly guilds to level safely. We haven’t joined one yet though. Haven’t even left the city for that matter.” Aaron said.

“As long as you don’t encounter one of their top players or officers, it’s fine. But those guys are really powered up so if you see one, run. Don’t know anything about how good they are as players, but they’ll be crazy high level with good gear. Which makes it even more impressive that someone took one of them out.” Belle added. “Here.” She pointed forward as the street went from narrow to open again, entering another Plaza.

“This here is Griffon Square, it’s controlled by the Friendly Fox guild, they allow all the merchants and crafters to do business here without taxes, and don’t allow the New World guys here.” Aaron said. He pointed at an even larger statue with a griffon standing on its hind legs, water spouting out of its beak. This area was much more crowded, and the shops lining the street were much more busy.

“When you survive a week in this game, you finally get a chance to learn about it in detail. And boy is there a lot to learn. Come, let’s get something to eat first, the food in this place is crazy.” Belle said with a smile, leading them into one of the buildings lining the main plaza that was bustling with customers.

Darith paused for a moment and looked to Liana and the others. All of them looked completely bewildered, staring in various directions at all of the many people walking around them of the varying races, all wearing different sets of armor and wielding different weapons and equipment. Some were shouting trade deals, some recruitment calls.

“Buy copper ore in bulk, level up your blacksmithing today!”

“Looking for some DPS for the Wolf Den, please be level 15 or higher!”

“Selling Wool robes, 25 gold pieces, great for aspiring spell casters!”

“Donkey and cart for sale, 200 gold pieces, good condition!”

“Can any crafters make me a new bow? A goblin stole mine! Please? I have materials!” Darith took a minute to take it in as well.

“This is so cool!” Liana said excitedly

“This is crazy!” Elise replied.

“Come on guys, stay close.” Darith said, grinning ear to ear as he led his party to follow Aaron and Belle. When they entered the restaurant Belle and Aaron found them a large table in the corner with enough chairs to accommodate 10 people, the chairs built sturdy enough for an orc. Before they had even all sat down, a female orc with long braided black hair and dark green skin appeared with small tusks appeared wearing plain clothes with an apron on top, Darith noted her name, Fumiko, level 11.

“Hello, may I take your order?” She asked.

“Are you a player?” Darith asked, noting her name.

“Y-yes,” She replied politely.

“Wow, you can work in the shops here?” Liana asked.

“Yes, it's a good way to earn gold to buy great starting gear and level up my cooking skills.” She smiled.

“Sorry, they’re all new to Avistion.” Aaron said.

“No problem, we get that a lot.” Fumiko replied.

“We’ll take 7 orders of Gorak Steak.” Belle grinned.

“Anything to drink?”

“Nemothyne style Coffee for each of us. That’ll be all.” Belle replied.

“Very well, your order should be done shortly!” Fumiko replied gleefully.

“You guys are gonna love this. Plus, she gets a ton of experience from preparing those dishes.” Belle shrugged.

“What the hell’s a Gorak?” Gabriel asked with a raised brow.

“Nasty creatures, high level monsters that look like bears, they hang out in the south western forest. Taste delicious though.” Belle replied. “Now, first thing is first, how much gold do you have?” She turned to Darith, as everyone turned to him.

“I-” He hesitated, not sure if it was good to disclose it.

“Have you got at least 250 gold yet? I know its a lot.” Belle asked.

“Y-yeah.” Darith replied, relieved to hear that. He had gotten 1106 gold from all the hunting thus far, most of it coming from the bounties of the PKers in the desert.

“Great! That lady over there is a high level member of the Friendly Fox guild, she’s leveled up Scholar Mastery.” She pointed across the way to a Nemothyne with fancy detailed robes on sitting at a bar, drinking from a mug and chatting with others. “Normally it costs a lot of gold to upgrade your spellbook to show scholar level information, and you have to pay per ability to do it, but she’ll do it all for 250 gold pieces.” Belle said.

“Scholar level information?” Darith asked.

“The information you get at the start is like the beginner info, it leaves out a lot of details, I think to prevent new players from getting overwhelmed. If you let a scholar upgrade it, it’ll explain to you in more detail how everything is working. Makes it way easier to level things up. It's easier for you to buy her services and check out what it does to your spells then to have me explain.” Belle replied.

“But what about my other party members?” Darith asked as he looked to them.

“Well… it's 250g each. You should start with yourself. Trust me though, it’s the best deal you’ll get, the NPC’s in Avistion charge 50g per ability to give you scholar information on it, and what she does is permanent. I’ll go get her, okay?” She said, then stood up and walked across the restaurant to talk to her.

“It’s crazy what you’ll learn. I found out that the spells I was making up with my multishot were already skills that could be learned separately.” Aaron said as they watched Belle across the restaurant, but it was too noisy to hear her talking to the Nemothyne.

“What do you mean, be learned separately?” Darith asked confused.

“You can make up abilities using what you know, but they can’t level up on their own until you normalize them. Until you do that, they’ll always be based off of the - you know what, Belle’s right, talk to the scholar first, then it’ll be easier to explain.” Aaron said as he fumbled around his words a bit. A few seconds later Belle returned with the Nemothyne beside her.

It was a young female Nemothyne, level 58, named Vanessa. She smiled and looked over the bunch.

“Bella tells me you’re all new to Avistion. Which one of you would like me to Scholarize your abilities?” She smiled with a squeaky mouse-like voice.

“Me, but I was wondering if I could make a deal?” Darith asked, as all eyes turned to him, but as Vanessa looked at him her eyes went wide with shock.

“Seal Fate!” She shouted, raising her hand as a purple spell circle formed in front of her, and a beam shot out of it at Darith’s forehead, everyone at the table stood up.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Darith asked. “It’s not PvP related, right?”

“It can’t be, this is a safe zone. What are you doing Vanessa?” Belle asked as the spell continued to cast.

“Saving this boy's life.” She said in a serious tone.

“S-saving his life? From what?” Liana asked. And a few seconds later, the purple circle disappeared and the beam vanished.

“You too, little one. Seal Fate!” She called out, then a similar light went to Liana’s head. “This spell will seal away an action you did related to the game, so that other high level scholars or telepathic spells cannot read them. It deletes it from the knowledge of the game world, sort of like ripping a page out of a book. You’ll still remember it happened, but no one else will be able to read that page, does that make sense?” Vanessa said, and with her words, both Darith and Liana knew what she was talking about. Once the spell finished casting, she let out a sigh of relief.

“Did any other high level players talk to you since you arrived?” She asked.

“I don’t think so.” Darith replied.

“What is she talking about, Darith?” Elise asked, confused.

“You mustn’t speak of it, or brag, or anything of the sort, you will get in more trouble than you know. Understand?” Vanessa said, locking eyes with the two of them. They both nodded apprehensively.

“You either did something really bad, or really good…” Belle commented as she watched the exchange.

“Sorry about being so abrupt. It was for your own good. Now, you were asking about a deal?” She returned to her normal, happy, squeaky voice.

“Y-yeah…” Darith replied nervously. “I was wondering if you could Scholarize my entire party for 1000 gold.” He said.

“Whoa Darith, you got 1000 gold already?” Aaron said surprised.

“Hmm.. for what you did, a service to all who play this game - I’ll agree to that.” Vanessa said while putting her finger on her chin, followed by a nod. “Gold first.” She said. Darith navigated through his inventory and clicked on his gold, then withdrew 1000, and it appeared in his hand in a small brown pouch. He quickly handed it to her, and she took it. Moments later it dissipated into her hand as light.

“Hold out your hand, each of you.” Vanessa squeaked. Darith did so, then Liana and Elise, and finally Gabriel and Jaese. One by one she held their hands tight, and a purple light went from her hand and swirled around theirs. Darith immediately noticed the shift in his interface layout.

Name: Darith

Title: Spider Slayer

Race: Nemothyne

Gender: Male (Male)

Level: 31

Health: 625/625 (0/m)

Mana: 1300/1300 (132/m)

Endurance: 690 (45/m)

Armor: 7

Strength: 36

Agility: 30

Intelligence: 81 + 4.0 (5%)

Spirit: 21 + 1 (5%)

Endurance: 43

Vitality: 39

Charisma: 5

Luck: 2

Unused: 0

0 Party Invites Remaining

Bonuses:

+5 Spider Damage (Title)

-5% Cast Speed (Item)

Basic Skills:

Gamer’s Mind* (Panic Immune, +1 Int, +1 Spr)

Evade* (2.6% Chance to Avoid Damage)

Kick - Rank 10 (Dmg: 11 + Str)

Conceal - Rank 3 (97.5%)

Sprint - Rank 10 (Cost: 5e/s)

Cartography - Rank 5

Through the Pain - Rank 2 (5e = 5x Exhaust, 61s Delay)

Dash - Rank 14 (Cost: 15e)

Analyze - Rank 6 (Cost: 50mana)

Masteries:

Staff Mastery: - Rank 71 (Dmg: Weapon + 75, +81mp/m)

Spell Mastery - Rank 54

Rank 15: Able to move while casting beginner spells

Rank 30: Able to choose the casting point of beginner spells

Rank 50: Able to completely control the movement beginner spells

Rank 50: Able to learn intermediate spells

Spells - Beginner:

Firebolt - Rank 99 (Max)(?) (Dmg: 475 + Int, 1mp, 0.5s cast)

Waterbolt - Rank 3 (Dmg: 3 + 50% of Int, 5mp, 2s cast)

Multicast - Rank 99 (Max)(?) (2% Less dmg)

Fire Enchant - Rank 58 (Bonus: 290 + 10% of Int, 25mp, Instant, 5min Duration)

Spells - Custom(?):

(N)Scald: Made Using Multicast, Firebolt, Waterbolt (Can be Normalized(?))

Chain Fire: Made using Multicast, Firebolt, Spell Mastery Rank 15+

Firestorm: Made using Multicast, Firebolt, Spell Mastery Rank 30+

(N)Melt Ice: Made using Multicast, Firebolt, Waterbolt (Can be Normalized(?))

Fire Nova: Made using Multicast, Firebolt

(N)(A)Meteor: Made using Multicast, Firebolt (Spell Mastery too low to Normalize(?))

(N)(I)Mass Fire Enchant: Made using Multicast, Firebolt (Can be Normalized(?))

Equipped:

Head: Cooling Headband of the Mind (Common)(Bound)

Type: Cloth

Armor: 1

+2 Intelligence

Special: Prevents damage from Overheat

Hands: Silk Grips of the Frozen Queen (Rare)

Type: Cloth

Armor: 3

+2 Intelligence

+2 Spirit

Special: Reduces casting time by 5%

Weapon: Beginner’s Staff (Common)(Bound)

Damage: 1~1

Speed: Slow

Special: Teaches Firebolt

Finger: Beginners Ring of Meditation (Common)(Bound)

Special: Increases mana regeneration by 2

Feet: Beginner Nemothyne Shoes (Common)(Bound)

Armor: 1

Chest: Beginner Nemothyne Chest (Common)(Bound)

Armor: 1

Legs: Beginner Nemothyne Legs (Common)(Bound)

Armor: 1

Inventory:

Gold: 106gp

Frozen Silk: 7 (Crafting: Tailoring, Leatherworking, Woodworking, Blacksmithing)

Frostberry: 13 (Crafting: Alchemy, Cooking)

Frostberry Leaf: 34 (Crafting: Alchemy, Cooking)

Turtle Shell Fragment: 5 (Crafting: Leatherworking, Blacksmithing

Desert Bat Wing: 8 (Crafting: Alchemy, Leatherworking)

Cursed Stone Fragment: 3 (Crafting: Jewelcrafting, Blacksmithing)

“Beginner? Normalize? What is all that?” Darith asked.

“Beginner spells are the basic ones you learn starting out. They help determine what class you can become, or what affinity you will obtain. They’re always tied to a specific mastery though. For example, sword spells and abilities will be tied to Sword Mastery. Healing spells are generally tied to healing spheres, offensive magic will be tied to spell mastery typically.” Vanessa answered, as everyone listened.

“Beginner spells are easy to use and level up, but they cannot level beyond 99. As a scholar I can read lower level players skills and levels easily and I must say, for someone so low level as yourself, to have maxed out two beginner skills already is very impressive. Even more is that your mastery is high enough to learn intermediate spells now, even though you yourself are not even level 50 yet. There aren’t more than 1000 players I know of that are working on training their intermediate abilities already.” Vanessa said while looking at Darith.

“You’ll have to visit the Avistion Magic Academy to upgrade your beginner spells, but when you do it’ll revert back to level 1. Albeit more powerful. Intermediate can go up to level 500, and then they can be upgraded to advanced. No one knows how high advanced goes though. Only a few players are known to have reached that point, and they haven’t shared that information.” Belle said.

“It’s hard for scholars to get information from high level players like that.” Vanessa commented.

“So what's that got to do with normalizing?” Liana asked, noting some of her skills had that option as well.

“The Broken Realm lets you create custom abilities by combining the ones you know, the downside is that the custom abilities will always gain their power from the skill you base them off of. For example, you made the spell meteor using your beginner Firebolt skill, so meteor will always do damage based off of Firebolt.” Vanessa said while talking to Darith. “If a custom ability says it can be normalized, it means that a spell exists in the game world that does exactly what yours does. That means it's possible to learn that spell and make it its own, allowing it to deal its own damage and level up by itself. 9 times out of 10, normalizing will improve the spell. And its cheaper to normalize a spell then to buy the original outright. I can give you one easy example in your spell list - you created an ability called ‘Melt Ice’, right?” Vanessa asked, and Darith nodded.

“I have the real version of that spell, it’s called Thaw. Once you rank up Thaw it can be casted much faster than yours, and for less mana. On the other hand, because your Meteor custom skill is marked with an A beside it, that means that its normalized version requires you to be able to learn Advanced level magic, so you can’t learn that one yet.”

“I’m getting a headache from all this.” Gabriel said, just then arrived Fumiko and began putting plates down on the table, while Vanessa made room for her. After several trips, they all had steak and coffee, and the aroma from it was hypnotizing.

“Well, Belle and Aaron can probably fill in the rest. I’ll let you to it. Be safe, and don’t tell anyone what you did.” Vanessa squeaked, then turned and walked away. Aaron grabbed a knife and fork and dug in, while Jaese took a sip of the coffee while browsing through his interface once more.

“That means all the leveling I did for my beginner spells were a waste?” Darith asked Belle, looking disappointed.

“N-no, the experience carries over a bit.” Belle replied. “Still though, 99? What the heck were you guys doing this last week?”

“Grinding!” Liana said with enthusiasm. “This is great news isn’t it Darith? It should be a lot easier now to learn new spells and power them up instead of just having to make them all up, right?”

“Yeah, I guess… that’s one way to look at it. So where’s the Magic Academy in Avistion?”

“We’ll take you there after the meal. Try it, it's great!” Aaron exclaimed.

“Hey Leader.” Gabriel turned to Darith. “You’re gonna handle all this, and just tell me how to get strong right?” Gabriel asked.

“I’ll figure it all out for us.” Darith replied with a nod.

“Good.” Gabriel and Elise both sighed with relief, though it was apparent Jaese was intent on figuring it all out for himself as he listened intently.