Seven: level 9

Health: 24

Mana: 32

Vitality: 12

Strength:10

Intelligence: 17

Wisdom: 12

Elf racial trait: Gain 1 intelligence per 5 levels.

“Hmm.”

Thanks to her level 1 and 5 extra intelligence points she wouldn’t have to worry too much about mana for now. She’d gain another in one more level as well.

-You’re lacking in items so you’re squishy as hell-

TidalWave hadn’t cut around the bush when they were together. She had absolutely no items, armour or weapons that gave stat boosts. The wolves she’d killed hadn’t dropped a single thing outside of coppers, and the special wolf hadn’t re-appeared either.

They would just be wasting lesser potions if they used them to save her life because they healed for more health than she had.

‘Man, I have terrible luck when it comes to drops.’

Even TidalWave had armour equipped already, and he even had a couple of swords.

She was thinking about a solution to her problem as she absentmindedly slew the surrounding rabbits. She could see that both TidalWave and Attracting were online and sitting at level 10.

‘Hang on.’

-Hey- She sent a message to TidalWave, -Why are you still level 10?-

He replied almost immediately.

-Oh hey,- he sounded like he was out of breath, she figured he was probably just done fighting some tough mobs, -they defer your experience until you choose a class. I think you have to go meet the priest guy. I’ve just been killing mobs and trying to figure out more game mechanics. Apparently it’s not all about levels and what skills you have.-

-No wonder you’re so skilled if you’re still practicing before levelling.- She voiced her sincere admiration, -What do you recommend? Should I keep practicing or should I level up to 10 and get a class?-

-I’ll come over to the village and we can fight a few more wolves until you level up. Then we’ll both go get the class up.-

-Gotcha. See you here.-

She stopped messaging and walked back towards the village. Even if she wanted to summon a few more wolves, she was already out of rabbit meat.

Attracting was online too, but he’d been acting a little weird yesterday. She decided it was probably better to wait until she got her first class or Ana logged onto Zodiac.

She couldn’t wait to show her friends her class up.

****

‘How far away is she?’

TidalWave had already been waiting around the village for a couple of minutes, but he was sure he had been further away from the village than she was.

“Resting around instead of fighting? That’s the lazy attitude I’ve come to expect from you.”

A voice called out to him and TidalWave frowned, ‘Not this guy again.’

Attracting was standing nearby and smiling at him.

“I’m waiting for someone.”

“You don’t have time to wait.” Attracting waved his dagger around. “Didn’t you get it from our last fight? If you don’t practice hard then you’ll never beat me.”

“I don’t really car-”

Attracting cut in mid-sentence, “You think being lazy is still going to cut it? I mean it when I say you’ll have to take this game seriously if you want to beat me.”

“Hey listen,” TidalWave could feel his heartbeat rising as he grew angrier, “You’ve been trying to pick a fight with me since the first time we met. I’m not sure who you are but don’t go around talking like you know me.”

“I’m just telling it how it is. You might not believe me now, but you’ll regret it later if you don’t.”

TidalWave was going to retort but before he could bring any words to his mouth Attracting had already walked away.

“Well, that’s all I came to say. See you later.”

TidalWave sat there in confusion but quickly calmed down.

‘What a strange person. Besides, I am taking this game seriously.’ He watched the back of the man that had appeared and left so suddenly, ‘But not because of you.’

He didn’t care if Attracting had beaten him in that duel. He had lost fights before. Plenty of them. Attracting was definitely skilled, but he had been overwhelmed the entire fight and had only won because of TidalWave's lack of knowledge about his abilities. In fact, if they fought again TidalWave was sure he would win, even if the other player somehow had items which would cause him to be at a disadvantage in terms of stats.

But Seven was different. In the span of a few hours, while training against the wolves, he had seen her improve at a visible rate. She was monstrous, he could even feel the virtual sweat appearing in his hands as he saw her fight.

She made him want to take this game seriously.

That was why from the moment he woke up he had been practicing against mobs instead of getting his first class. He had gone against the wolves, then fought against level 9 giant crabs down by the beach, and he had faced off against higher and higher-level opponents in succession. Finally, he fought against the dryads and treants that inhabited the woods. Each one level 15 at the minimum, a couple of special ones were an even higher level.

He didn’t know how much experience he had deferred by now but in the last few hours he had vastly improved.

“Hey, TidalWave. Sorry, I stopped to buy some basic armour and Terhin is a total bitch to haggle with.”

Seven called out to him and he waved at her.

‘Time to get training.’ He thought to himself.

****

[Congratulations you’ve reached level 10]

“Huuaa.” Seven let out the breath she’d been holding in.

It turns out that she’d forgotten how to dodge in the day that she’d been offline. The moment the first wolf came at her she copped a hit straight to the stomach and TidalWave had laughed his ass off watching her flail about.

But she’d picked it up again pretty quickly. It was something that would require constant and continuous practice.

“Good job.” TidalWave nodded as he saw the light of the level up surrounding her, “We should go to the priest and get those classes now.”

“Hell yeah.” Seven agreed.

It looked like TidalWave had already worked out where the priest was beforehand because he began to walk without hesitation. As they walked towards around the outside of the village she checked her status menu and put her one point into vitality. She’d received another intelligence point at level 10 thanks to her racial trait so she was doing pretty well as a mage that could take a hit or two.

She shared her status window with TidalWave and he returned the favour.

Seven: level 10

Health: 29

Mana: 32

Vitality: 13

Strength:10

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 12

Elf racial trait: Gain 1 intelligence per 5 levels.

Basic Chestplate Armour: +3 HP.

TidalWave: level 10

Health: 35

Mana: 20

Vitality: 15

Strength:15

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

Merther racial trait: Use your inner magic to hone in on an enemy and throw your weapon at them to deal x2 piercing damage. Weapon thrown will not be usable until picked up again.

Basic Chestplate Armour: +3 HP.

Basic Boots: Movement speed +2.5%.

Basic Helmet: +2 HP.

“Not bad. It’ll all change when we get our classes,” he said.

‘Merther race?’ Seven hadn’t heard of it. ‘But then again it’s not like I know all the races.”

It wasn’t until she began to look into Zodiac Online that she realised just how big the game was. She didn’t just mean in the sense that many people were looking forward to the game, she meant that the actual game was literally huge. The two continents, the underworld and even more places left to discover that were almost the size of the planet earth, inside a virtual world.

The sheer size of the world was supplemented and expanded upon by its diverse scenery, different domains and even various weather patterns that could change on a dime. In the Zhalnor continent they were in she knew that they worshipped the god Verm and that this was good for priests but she hadn’t known exactly what that meant.

The church of Verm had over two million NPCs dedicated to running it. The pope and his over sixty arch-bishops, bishops and cardinals led a theocratic empire that spread across the continent fighting monsters. It supported an army of knights alongside the royal family and used their own paladins to maintain the peace and make sure that towns weren’t razed to the ground overnight whilst attempting to spread their god’s will.

Barnacle was probably the smallest cog in the entire wheel, a simple village priest that stayed here to defend the town against whatever would threaten it. But since they had hired him from within the town itself, he probably wasn’t even that strong.

But what the people were most excited about was the amount of customization available in the game.

Honestly, if she didn’t want to complete quests and become a mage, or warrior or other basic fighting class then Seven was more than welcome to go to one of the village NPCs and learn how to fish. She could also learn how to cook and specialise in that. Almost anything that a person could do as a specialisation in real life they could do here. Alchemists could make potions, blacksmiths could forge weapons and miners could mine for valuable minerals.

Of course, if she’d have known that then she wouldn’t have picked this area as her starting location. The game developers had released a lot of information beforehand, including the fact that blacksmiths and miners might have a better time in the underworld if they wanted to practice their craft, or that if you didn’t want to be a fisherman, then it probably wouldn’t be best to start near the ocean.

Torkay itself wasn’t that big of a deal. It was close to the capital but that was only relative to other villages, in fact, it was still a good one or two days run straight to the capital from here. But that was only if you went straight there and didn’t both to kill monsters or if you didn’t get stopped by bandits along the way.

Seven looked at TidalWave curiously.

She hadn’t heard of the Merher Race, and she had thought he was a human until now.

There were a lot of races, but they each came with advantages and disadvantages. Honestly, she had gone with and Elf because she was comfortable with the race, however, it was also possible to pick a powerful race and be penalised for it in some way. Just like being a full-blooded lion beast-man would cause NPCs to be fearful of you, you could pick underworld races and have NPCs refuse to work with you if you tried to play in a continent outside of the underworld.

Soon a small shack slightly outside the village appeared on her map and in her vision. It was the same as any other wooden hut except that it was slightly bigger and the wood was a bright white colour. It made the house look idyllic surrounded by grass and rabbits.

“Welcome, heroes.”

Barnacle was waiting for them outside the hut with his arms outstretched.

“It’s good to see that you’re finally strong enough to take the test.” Barnacle smiled at them. “Not quite what I thought would happen but here you are.”

He opened the door to his hut and motioned to them, “Come in, come in. I’ve just prepared all that crap you’ll need.”

They strode in after Barnacle and into the hut...

… And she was back at the stone platform from the tutorial.

‘No,’ she looked around. ‘This is different.’

The stone platform looked a lot worse for wear compared to when she’d been here yesterday. There was a giant crack running straight through the middle of it, and the etchings of the four gods had disappeared, replaced by a single large etching depicting the god of light, Verm. The surroundings around the platform were shrouded in darkness and the carving itself had already faded and been chipped at until it was barely visible against the stone surface.

“TidalWave?” She turned around and realised her companion was missing.

“Your friend is not here miss Seven. Each hero must undertake their tests on their own. A way to show and consolidate your powers properly without interference. Do not worry. Your friend is strong.”

Barnacle appeared in the middle of the platform in a blaze of light, his white priest robes billowing despite the lack of a breeze.

“Don’t I know it.” She squinted as the light surrounding Barnacle became brighter. “You’re a lot more formal than usual.”

Barnacle smiled and gestured with his hands. Six pillars sprouted from the ground surrounding her.

“Warriors. Magi. Priests. Archers. Summoners. These are the five classes of fighters whose powers you have the potential to unlock. Each one will come with a test, and in time you may even specialise further in your field. From a brilliant warrior may spawn a paladin of light, and to the magi ferocious in her craft, life may open up the path of a fire magi. But we should not get ahead of ourselves. Please take your time and choose which of these classes you would like to live your life by. You cannot undo the decision that you make, but any path will bring forth a power much greater than you have ever experienced.”

“And the sixth?”

Barnacle tilted his head at her in confusion and followed her gaze towards the sixth pillar that he hadn’t mentioned.

“Ah,” She could see his eyes widen a fraction but then his expression immediately turned calm again, “Different paths may appear for those that have shown exceptional talent. There have been geniuses that have brought forth a hundred pillars and those that have only seen one in their entire lives. But beware, simply because a choice is different doesn't mean it will be more powerful. The hardship that comes with battle will remain.”

“This is the path of the Nimble Magi. You have shown great ability in your fights. Possessing the power to dodge enemies as though you were an experienced warrior. It is not a common path to place yourself directly in harm’s way as a magi; I would even call it a foolish endeavour. This is a path fraught with danger as the Nimble Magi learns to dance with death from a distance that their peers would deem foolish. Should you take this path and continue your dance, you will find that not even the most experienced Arch-Mage could tell you where it will lead you. But should you dedicate yourself fully to the path of the magi then you will always be welcome back into their ranks.”

‘oho, ‘ Seven looked at the pillars with interest.

She walked up to one under Barnacle's steady gaze and a screen appeared in front of her.

[The path of the Magi. Through their studies spanning millennia, they have harnessed the power of nature to use against the forces of evil. Through intelligence and wisdom, the magi seeks to obtain control over that which is controlled by no mortal. The world itself will aid you in battle as you call forth the elements to do your whim.]

[The Apprentice Magi class will grant a boost of 3 intelligence per 5 levels to your character. Apprentice Magi will gain immediate access to the skills- Fireball, Ice Bolt, and Stone Throw.]

[Do you wish to become an Apprentice Magi? Yes / No]

Seven shook her head and clicked on the ‘no’ option. She would completely ignore all the other classes and become a magi, however, she now had another option which she could check out.

[The path of the Magi. Through their studies spanning millennia, they have harnessed the power of nature to use against the forces of evil. Through intelligence and wisdom, the magi seeks to obtain control over that which is controlled by no mortal. The world itself will aid you in battle as you call forth the elements to do your whim.]

[The Nimble Magi class will grant a boost of 1 intelligence and 2 dodge per 5 levels to your character. Nimble Magi will gain immediate access to the skills- Wind blast, Ice Bolt, and Stone Shift.]

[Do you wish to become a Nimble Magi? Yes / No]

“Oh.” Seven shifted through the abilities.

There were two different skills compared to normal magi.

[Wind Blast: The Nimble Magi must brave death with every movement. To escape their enemies and move into a favourable position they have learned to manipulate the element of wind to their advantage. Effect: Deal 5+(Intelligence) as damage and push away a targeted enemy 1 foot (Enemy must be within 5 feet of you).]

[Stone shift: The Nimble Magi does not solely rely on their feet to position themselves. The very earth may be moved so that the Nimble Magi will be placed in a favourable position. Effect: The ground below will move you according to the predetermined path you think of up to a radius of 2 feet.]

Because she had focused so much on dodging and training with TidalWave she had gained access to this path. There was one less skill that dealt damage compared to the apprentice magi, and her main attack skill was wind blast which dealt less damage than fireball and had less range but had a great knockback.

[Ice Bolt: By harnessing the element of ice the ancient magi realised that there was more to fighting monsters than destruction. Effect: Deal 3+(Intelligence) as damage and slow the movement of enemies hit by 15%]

Seven hesitated between the two pillars. On the one hand, she knew that the ordinary magi class would help her deal a lot more damage than normal. However, this was the chance to become a class that not everyone had access to. The skills were also decent as well.

Now that she knew she would face this kind of choice, she wished TidalWave had come in with her. He seemed more knowledgeable about these things. Unfortunately, private messages were cut off in this area.

“But you know what?” She said.

“Excuse me?” Barnacle replied.

“Oh um, never mind.” Seven waved her hand at him.

She had completely forgotten the priest was there.

‘You know what,’ she continued the conversation in her mind. ‘This is the class that’s come about because of my hard work.’

She went back to the Nimble Mage pillar. The only reason the game had given her this class as a choice was because of her decision to learn how to become more skilled. Would she really ignore this class that was the unexpected reward that had come about because of her hard work?

“Yes,” she said to the pillar.

“The choice has been made.” Barnacle gestured with his hand and the Nimble Mage pillar lit up with a brilliant light. “And cannot undo it. But do not worry, even the most difficult of paths will lead to rewards beyond imagination if we follow them through.”

[Consumables have been disabled in this map.]

The pillar opened up in front of her and filled her vision with a white light. When it receded she could see she was alone at the stone platform.

No. Not alone.

A single dark figure was standing in the middle of the platform. It stared at her hatefully then moved in to attack.

[Prove that you are worthy to be a Nimble Magi. Defeat the dark spectre. 0/1 Defeated.]

Without even glancing at the message Seven was already jumping back and gauging her opponent. The spectre hesitated as she moved back and started to walk parallel to her. They circled each other carefully, mirroring their calm strides.

The spectre didn’t look like a mage, rather, it was holding a dagger in both hands.

‘A close combat opponent.’

It was the best opponent to fight to prove that you were worthy of being a mage that specialised in close combat.

Seven walked calmly towards the spectre and it stayed still as it watched her. When she got within a few feet of it the spectre jumped forward with its dagger pointed at her head.

She sidestepped it but as soon as she dodged the attack she felt a dagger stab into her side. The spectre had used the second dagger to damage her.

-10

She lost more than a third of her health from that one attack.

She grimaced. She couldn’t win this fight without dodging. But to dodge the first attack meant opening herself up to the second attack, and so she’d need to dodge that too.

It’s just lucky that the spectre wasn’t as fast as the wolves.

She lifted her wand and blasted the spectre twice. The first smacked into it but it dodged the second as the spectre ducked and barrelled forward towards her.

As soon as it reached her again it spun with both daggers outstretched in a wide circle attack. She dodged backwards and blasted it with magic, causing the figure to stop and lunge at her again. She dodged the first attack...

-10

...but the second hit her barely. She had almost dodged it in time.

‘Damn it.’ She tried to use a potion but then remembered the message stating that they had disabled consumables on the map.

She had one more chance to defeat this opponent or she would lose. But it would still take five or six more hits until it died. There was always a small gap between attacks that allowed her to get a hit in.

She walked backwards and fired magic blasts at the spectre, but it dodged most of them, taking only a single hit before it moved towards her again.

Four hits left.

The spectre let out its whirlwind attack again and she dodged it easily, firing another shot into.

Three hits.

The spectre stabbed towards her again.

“Ah hell.”

She dodged the first attack earlier than she had the last one, and then she shuddered as she felt the breeze caused by the movement of the second dagger. It was close enough that she could almost feel it slicing across her. She blasted it with magic and jumped back.

Two hits until it was down.

‘That whirlwind attack should come next.’ She eyed the spectre warily; She had its attack patterns down pat now.

She should be able to win.

As expected, the spectre did its spinning attack and then tried to stab her when she blasted it.

Dodge. Dodge. Hit.

The magic blast hit the spectre and Seven let out the breath she’d been holding in as the thing dissolved into darkness and vanished.

[You have defeated the dark spectre. You have obtained the class: Nimble Mage. You have obtained the dodge stat. You have obtained the skills; Wind Blast, Ice bolt and Stone Shift. All deferred experience will be added to your experience bar.]

[Dodge: Makes movement during battle easier. Provides a small possibility that enemy attacks will miss.]

Seven could see four extra dodge stats had been added to her base 10 due to her previous levels, and 2 more intelligence as well. She didn’t know how big of a chance she had for the passive ability to dodge enemy attacks to activate but she didn’t think it would be high at this stage of the game. She would have to look up online more about this new stat.

“Congratulations, Seven. You have become the first Nimble Mage hero out of all those that have arrived on the continent. But do not fret, there will be many more, and we will need all of you to help us stem the dark tides that threaten to consume this world.”

Barnacle had reappeared and was smiling down at her.

“Thank you.” She replied.

“Your friend has also finished his trial, although far quicker than you did.” Barnacle said with a twinkle in his eyes, “Let us return.”

Another white light filled her vision and suddenly she was standing outside the white hut with a bemused TidalWave sitting nearby.

“Fun, wasn’t it? What’d you get?”

She shared her new stats with him.

Seven: level 10

Health: 29 (+3)

Mana: 40

Vitality: 13

Strength:10

Intelligence: 20

Wisdom: 11

Dodge: 4

Elf racial trait: Gain 1 intelligence per 5 levels.

Nimble Mage passive: Gain 1 intelligence and 2 dodge per 5 levels.

Dodge: Makes movement during battle easier. Provides a small possibility that enemy attacks will miss.

Basic Chestplate Armour: +3 HP.

She had grown even stronger just by having the class added to her.

TidalWave grunted, “Impressive. I had a hunch that you’d get offered a different class as well.”

“As well? Show me yours.”

TidalWave: level 10

Health: 39

Mana: 20

Vitality: 17

Strength: 21

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

Merther racial trait: Use your inner magic to hone in on an enemy and throw your weapon at them to deal x2 piercing damage. Weapon thrown will not be usable until picked up again.

Reaper passive: For each successive uninterrupted attack deal x1.1 the damage of the previous (cap at x5 damage). Gain 3 strength and 1 vitality per 5 levels.

Basic Chestplate Armour: +3 HP.

Basic Boots: Movement speed +2.5%.

Basic Helmet: +2 HP.

Skills:

[Don’t fear the reaper: When suffering fatal damage survive the killing blow with 1 health point. 30-minute cooldown.]

[Reaper’s fury: Deal 7 and double your (Strength) as damage in a cone 5 feet in diameter. There is a chance the skill may pass through enemies to also hit those behind them.]

[Shadow Dance: Passively doubles base movement speed. When activated the skill is activated the bonus doubles for 5 seconds and the target becomes untouchable by physical damage for one second. May still be targeted and damaged by magic. 1-minute cooldown. 20-second cooldown.]

She found it hard not to let out a gasp as TidalWave showed her his status window and his skills.

“That’s insane!” She felt slighted.

She thought she’d be amazing with her new class because it differed from the normal. But here was a person who had an overpowered class from the get-go. It didn’t even have the word ‘Warrior’ attached to it, just the word ‘Reaper.

“It’s an offshoot of the warrior and thief classes apparently. The game saw how I fight and gave me this. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow me to keep my deferred experience. But I think it was worth it in return for this class. Man, that test was hard.”

He divulged that he had to fight three shadow spectres. From his description, they were the same as her dark spectre except faster and wielding a mixture of daggers and swords.

“Damn it. I sort of want your class, but being a warrior isn’t that fun for me, also I definitely would have lost in the test.”

“I bet they would have let you take it again. It’s only the first class.”

They talked a bit more as they moved back towards the village. Barnacle had disappeared after giving them their classes but she knew he’d pop up again sometime. The main thing she got out of their talk was their actions and choices impacted their class choices in-game. TidalWave guessed that if the game decided you would have more fun playing with a particular style, then it would custom create a class. Either that or the game had classes that they could unlock by fulfilling certain conditions.

-Hey, Milly you there?-

-Ana!- Seven messaged her friend back excitedly, -Did you just log in? I’ll come join up with you guys straight away.-

-A couple of minutes ago, yeah. I couldn’t message you. I’m about to meet up with Attracting in the village center, he said he’s gotten all the clues about the woods and he ended up with a quest he wants to share. Let’s go kick some quest monster butt!-

‘I didn’t get a message from him.’ Seven frowned, but then she shook her head and dispelled the thought.

-I’ll meet up with you guys now. I’m only a minute away.-

TidalWave saw her pausing as she was messaging IEatTortillas and he guessed what was happening.

“You’re going to meet that Attracting guy, right? The one that challenged me to a fight?”

An expression of annoyance crossed over TidalWave’s face, but he got rid of it a second later.

“You should learn from him,” he said truthfully, “Personally I think I'm better at fighting than him but he was definitely more skilled than you are now.”

She gave him a look that told him she was going to wind blast him.

He faked a cough as he realised what he’d just said, “No offense. I just mean that it’s good you guys are going to play together and you’re a fast learner.”

“You saved yourself, barely.” She smiled to show she was joshing him.

“Ha. Well, I’m going to test out my new class skills. I won’t lie.” He could barely keep the smile off his face. “I am loving how amazing they are.”

“Humble aren’t you.” She walked away towards the village. “Have fun.”

He walked off to fight monsters outside of the village and soon was out of sight. Inside the village she peeked at Terhin’s stall but with two potions she figured she wouldn’t need more just yet. She was lucky the breastplate gave her some extra health or else she’d be completely wasting the lesser potions.

She soon saw her friend in her big, round and tall male avatar.

‘Or should I say his avatar now? Damn gender-bending in games.’ Seven rolled her eyes.

“Milly.” IEatTortillas waved and Attracting’s head popped out from behind him.

“Good, you’re here.” Attracting moved forward and with a wave of his hand invited her to the party, “Close one. We might have had to leave without you.”

[You have been invited to join Attracting’s party. Yes/No]

She accepted and found that a new quest [Investigate the mysterious cave in the woods] had been added to her display.

They talked for a bit before heading off. They’d already purchased the armour and potion supplies that they needed, and soon they found themselves going into the woods. There was a hidden path located there that could only be found by people doing the quest.

‘Here we go.’ Seven thought to herself as the foliage and trees choked the light of the sun.

‘Straight into the belly of the beast.’