Mark woke up at 4am as was his habit. He felt hungover, with a pounding headache after just 2 hours of fitful sleep. Sleep interrupted a couple of times with disturbing nightmares filled with terrible imagery, memories from the front lines. Shaken he swallowed a handful of ibuprofen, made his way to his bathroom, showered, shaved then made breakfast. Since moving to Phoenix his early morning walk had to be shoved back in the schedule as the city was locked down at 4am in the morning under a curfew. After eating a light breakfast of toast and a hardboiled egg, he browsed the forums and net for news about Underworld.

The official region forums for Tenochtitlan were filled with random nonsense, though there was a thread in the forums with over a million views expressing their SHOCK and DISMAY at the blood sacrifice rituals occurring at the central pyramid on a daily basis. The author complained about the “negative stereotypes and white European lies, which perpetuated the myth that the Aztec performed human sacrifice.” Mark rolled his eyes, he had fought on and around some of those very temples in southern and central Mexico, and remembered seeing the obsidian knives used for the human sacrifice. There were people like this is most regions of course, for example atheists were currently taking offense in Italy at the prayers to Christ being performed in the Vatican by priests being answered.

Once 6am rolled around Mark did a little light stretching and took a three mile jog around the neighborhood, returning home at about 6:35. Not a great pace for a 3 mile jog, but to with a low end cybernetic it wasn’t particularly bad, at least it got his blood flowing. He took a second shower, this one longer after getting home then logged into the capsule, he took 10 minutes writing up the details of the Find old man Guatemoc quest in the LM_STARS private forums for Underworld, then sent off a quick message to Holly with a link to his post.

He then mentally braced himself and logged back in. The “child” portion of “classless” character would consist of completing 3 quests at 10 years old which would give your character some basic flavor and abilities, then you’d get one more quest at age 17, this one would let you gain your first skill tree (or if you’re lucky, 2 skill trees) it also would give the character the chance to return to the “template” character option in the event the player changed their mind about playing classless.

The first thing he did after logging back in was check the bonus skill “Cannibalism” he got rewarded with last night. This was a skill he never had in Underworld, the skill he gained with the Iroquois which he accidently performed during the sacrifice ritual was called “Ritual Heart Eating”.

BONUS SKILLS:

CANIBALLISM (Ritual) – When eating a part of a human (heart/brain/eyes) gain some aspect of their power. Skill can only be used on one part of the body per sacrifice. The sacrifice victim (in the case of players) can only be cannibalized one time, ever. The part ingested cannot be cooked or prepared in any way whatsoever. When eating the heart, the player has a small chance to gain 10% of the victim’s largest stat to the maximum of that stat (meaning if the victim has a Intelligence stat of 110, and the cannibal has an intelligence of 109, the cannibal will gain just 1 point in intelligence, not 11 which would be 10%). When ingesting the Brain a small % chance to gain one of the victims skills or a larger chance to gain proficiency in a shared skill. When ingesting the eyes, gain a chance to gain a permanent boost to perception (only if the victims perception skills are higher tier). Note skill will only trigger if performed as part of a ritual. In most regions, performing cannibalism is a taboo and will make you permanently “Red” to the player base in that region if witnessed.

He vaguely remembered Cannibalism was a moderately popular skill for PvPer’s in the early and mid-games prior to level 500, however he had little to no recollection of Cannibalism (Ritual) version. The basic cannibalism worked similar to this version only the bonus was capped at 10% of the user’s base skills and the PVP implications were far worse than this one. This was different then the Ritual Heart Eating skill he wanted to learn from the Iroquois, however it looked like something conditionally powerful depending on how he used it; though it’s condition of requiring a “ritual sacrifice” did make it a bit tricky to use.

Deciding it was time to get this childhood phase over quickly, he started wandering the streets looking for gold names on NPCs, since his mother didn’t seem to be giving quests today. Eventually he came across Guatemoc, and noted his name was gold today. Saying hi and hoping the higher than usual affinity would help him get a good quest he asked him if there was anything he could do for him.

“Oh Eztli, yes there is something for you to do. I want you to go and get my rituals from the main temple. Talk to the temple boss to get them.”

QUEST: Find old man Guatemoc’s rituals

Quest succeed: Locate Guatemoc rituals in the main temple at the top of the large pyramid, +10 affinity with blood magic, +10 affinity with Guatemoc, +2 intimidation skill

Quest fail: Don’t locate Guatemoc’s rituals, -20 affinity with Guatemoc, locate Guatemoc’s rituals and keep them for yourself, +20 affinity with blood magic, -100 affinity with Guatemoc

Accept? Y/N

He double checked the quest fail punishments, and had to suppress the desire to fail this quest. While another +20 affinity for blood magic would put him well ahead of most of the rest of the world, he had to admit this felt like a trap. The quest felt like a chain quest and he suspected finishing it will land him a lot bigger rewards then 20 affinity for blood magic.

With this in mind, he noted no time constraints on this quest, which meant the system felt the issue here wasn’t getting the rituals, nor was it returning with them, the real quest was whether or not you kept them for yourself. He still had a pretty good feeling for how quests were put together in Underworld, and it looked like this release of the title kept the basic of the prior game. What Mark feared most however was the changes. He suspected they were there, he just didn’t know where or when they’d pop up.

He accepted the quest and quickly made his way toward the great pyramid at the center of the city. He kept his eyes open for other questing opportunities along the way, and got rewarded with learning another language when he overheard some arguing in a large market

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 to Inca Language, +1 Wisdom, +1 Intelligence

Eventually he reached the base of the 60 meter tall pyramid, and started to climb up the back steps, on the side of the pyramid away from the sacrifices which were ongoing at this time of the day. The 60 meter pyramid was a serious challenge for this 10yo body to climb. And as he mounted the steps small notifications continued to pop up

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Constitution, +1 Will Power

He felt his limbs burning, and it was getting difficult to continue on, despite gasping for breath and the constant red tint to his view he continued to force the small avatar to mount the steps one at a time without a break.

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Will Power

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Constitution, +1 Will Power

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Will Power

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Constitution, +1 Will Power

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Will Power

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Constitution, +1 Strength, +1 Will Power

ACCOLADE GAINED: Top of the World (Tenochtitlan) – reach the top of the tallest man-made landmark in your region. +5% Constitution

A triumphant feeling much like he felt when pushing his limits when exercising entered his heart as he reached the summit of the pyramid. He was amazed at the shaking hands and limbs of the small child avatar, the sweat dripping from his brow, and getting in his eyes, the way his clothing got damp from perspiration, it all felt exactly how it might have felt in real life to exhaust yourself to the limits, even his head was swimming a bit as he felt a little unsteady on his feet. On the whole Mark found the experience amazing. The accolade was just a cherry on top.

He looked around and had to admit to himself the view was amazing from up here. He then walked to the temple of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of War, the Sun and Human Sacrifice and presented himself to the priests.

“Excuse me but I was asked by priest Guatemoc to bring his copy of the scriptures back to him. He’s grown old and cannot climb the stairs to this temple anymore.” Eztli spoke quickly.

An old priest with his arms covered to his elbow in drying blood nodded then gestured to the side, the path the priest wanted Eztli to talk brought him past the sacrificial alter on the top of the temple, a child this time was held down on the alter and a line of people were backed up behind the child waiting their turn. Huge Jaguar warriors kept the line orderly, and another priest was conducting the latest sacrifice.

Eztli started to walk past the sacrifice but then thought twice about it and instead bowed and prayed as the sacrifice was done and the boy’s heart was torn out, forcing himself to watch the whole sacrifice from start to finish

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Religious knowledge (Huitzilopochtli), +1 Affinity with Blood Magic

Mark sighed at the prompt, he sacrificed a girl and didn’t get religious knowledge because he didn’t watch the priest sacrifice her, now he learned religious knowledge because he watched another sacrifice. The system seemed about as inflexible as it always was. At least the “increased” learning speed of the child version still was benefitting him. Had he come here as an adult, he probably wouldn’t have gained anything except for the accolade for climbing the pyramid, and he might have had to watch the sacrifices all afternoon or even days to gain any religious knowledge or affinity for blood magic from it. Knowing this was a chance to power level both, he pretended to be enraptured over the religious ceremony, and continued to watch, or at least he had the avatar for Eztli watch, he had actually pulled up the in-game forums and chat menus and was using those to distract him from the sacrifices going on.

He paused at the trending topic in the general forums

[YOU GOT TO WATCH THIS SICK VIDEO]

-guys LM-STARS just put out a video of THE LION in UNDERWORLD. IT IS SO SICK!!!!!!!!

https://lm_stars/underworld_the_game/the_lion/video_7_26_2144

Out of curiosity Mark clicked the link, the video was lovely cut promo with clips that looked like something from live wuxia movie, Leo’s avatar a huge man wearing yellow Daoist robes and wielding a green jade longsword was jumping through tree tops, and fighting a horde of bandits singlehandedly to rescue a lovely maiden. Mark started laughing recognizing the scenes from one of the form quests to get accepted into one of the Daoist sects that Leo was aiming for. But he had to admit the professional editing of the video made it look like a Hollywood movie promo, and the rising music in the background certainly got the blood pumping. It made all the videos Mark and Leo had painstakingly put together 30 years ago look like dog poop.

The reception to the video was insanely explosive. At a time, most players were trying to figure out up from down and left from right in Underworld Leo’s video was definitely mind blowing. Heck Mark figured it would be a week before he could have anything like it cut for his video. It looked like Leo hadn’t stopped playing since the game came out.

-Leo’s Amazing!

-Its almost like he’s playing a different game from me, all I am doing is running fetch quests for my mom

-Guy’s I’m in Beijing and there are Daoists flying around like that all the time. I thought you had to be level 500 to do that stuff though ☹ How did he do it?

-Maybe you need to learn how to play the game

-fuck you this user was banned for abusive language

-Guy’s do you think LM_STARS will sell a guide to Leo’s build?

-Last time they did that it was for a lot of GC, besides do you think you could PLAY like LEO? Stop dreaming

-Looks like LM_STARS will dominate this game too, wonder who’s on their A team in here

-I heard Holly is retiring

-Fuck you, where?

Mark closed the forum page and thought about the promo video and thought to himself he’d have to catch up to Leo to not let him down and get them enough video for something impressive as well. Leo had mentioned this as well; however, he didn’t think there could be anything which would be as impressive as what was in that promo anytime soon. His play build just wasn’t that dynamic. If anything, it should be mostly dull to watch.

He then looked at the system notifications

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Religious knowledge (Huitzilopochtli), +1 Affinity with Blood Magic

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Religious knowledge (Huitzilopochtli), +1 Affinity with Blood Magic

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Religious knowledge (Huitzilopochtli), +1 Affinity with Blood Magic

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Religious knowledge (Huitzilopochtli), +1 Affinity with Blood Magic

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Religious knowledge (Huitzilopochtli), +1 Affinity with Blood Magic

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Religious knowledge (Huitzilopochtli), +1 Affinity with Blood Magic

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Religious knowledge (Huitzilopochtli), +1 Affinity with Blood Magic

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Religious knowledge (Huitzilopochtli), +1 Affinity with Blood Magic

SYSTEM PROMPT: +1 Religious knowledge (Huitzilopochtli), +1 Affinity with Blood Magic

SYSTEM PROMPT: Religious knowledge (Huitzilopochtli MAX), +10 Affinity with Blood Magic

The last prompt had come in almost 10 minutes ago, it appeared he had little else to gain from standing here. The head priest was waiting by the side patiently, Eztli then moved over to the side the priest had prompted him to go to initially, not bothering to look at the human carnage going on by the alter any longer.

Getting the Religious scripts was simple, it was just a bundled-up cloth with woven pictographs on it, so it was small and light. Leaving was easy, as was delivering it to Guatemoc. Overall, he was already satisfied with his rewards just from climbing the temple and watching the sacrifice.

QUEST COMPLETE: Find old man Guatemoc’s rituals

Completion percentage: 100%

Standard Reward: +10 affinity with blood magic, +10 affinity with Guatemoc, +2 intimidation skill

Old man Guatemoc smiled at Eztli, “Child, would you like to learn about the gods?”

QUEST: Learn about the Aztec Gods – Education is invaluable to children with a plan to make it big in this world, Guatemoc has taken a liking to Eztli and offers to give Eztli an education available only to noble children. This is a huge chance to change Eztli’s social status!

Quest succeed: +10 affinity with blood magic, +20 intimidation skill, caste change from commoner to “noble”, +10 Wisdom, +10 Intelligence, Religious Knowledge: Huitzilopochtli (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Xipe Totec (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Centeōtl (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Mictlāntēcutli (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Tlaloc (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Tezcatlipoca (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Quetzalcoatl (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Ōmeteōtl (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Tonatiuh (MAX)…

The prompts continued as dozens of gods of the Aztec pantheon were listed. This was a bonus Mark hadn’t achieved in his first play through. He knew it existed if you got close to a religious figure but his goal last time around was to be an archer/ranged DPS so he avoided the religious tasks as a child 30 years ago.

Mark had no reason to turn it down, when playing a Shamanic type character your power came from the gods and one of the most laborious tasks was maximizing your religious knowledge of the gods of the pantheon for the skill/spell trees you were using, as different levels of religious knowledge were needed to unlock different levels of the spell trees.

Eztli nodded to Guatemoc, “Of course!”

Guatemoc, lead Eztli to his hut and started a long dull lecture on the myriad of Aztec gods. Several hours later Mark received a prompt.

QUEST COMPLETE: Learn about the Aztec Gods

Completion percentage: 100%

Standard Reward: +10 affinity with blood magic, +20 intimidation skill, caste change from commoner to “noble”, +10 Wisdom, +10 Intelligence, Religious Knowledge: Huitzilopochtli (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Xipe Totec (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Centeōtl (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Mictlāntēcutli (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Tlaloc (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Tezcatlipoca (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Quetzalcoatl (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Ōmeteōtl (MAX), Religious Knowledge: Tonatiuh (MAX)…

A prompt appeared in Mark’s eyes, “progressing from childhood” then the world faded to black

Character: Eztli

Age: 10

Social Status: Aztec Noble

Level: --

Hit Points: 1

Magic Points: 1

Strength: 11 (5%) = 11.6

Agility: 10 (5%) = 10.5

Constitution: 13 (10%) = 14.3

Wisdom: 32 (5%) = 33.6

Intelligence: 22 (5%) = 23.1

Charisma: 10 (5%) = 10.5

Willpower: +6

Poison/Disease Resistance: 0

Pain Resistance: 0

Reflexes: 0

Skill Trees: 0/8

Skills: 0/10

Bonus Skills: Cannibalism, Intimidation (+22)

Language: Aztec (10/10), Mayan (1/10), Inca (1/10)

Knowledge: Religion: Aztec Gods (Max)

Affinities: Blood Magic (+71)

Items: Sacrificial Knife (Obsidian)

Relations:

Mother: +62

Guatemoc: +41

Accolades:

Perfect Clear: 5% to all attributes

Top of the World (Tenochtitlan): 5% to Constitution