Book 2 Parts 1 & 2 FAQ, Q&A and announcement:

Hi guys! After deliberating with myself I’ve decided to create an FAQ page now that the first half of book 2 has been completed (Technically parts 1 & 2). This is because along with the longer release dates the fiction has been trending for a while and the influx of readers means that more questions have been asked and there has been a longer period of time for people to think of them before they are asked.

However before that; There is an announcement to make!:

I will no longer be answering or responding to questions which ask for spoilers.

This includes the entire comment, so even if only one part is a question asking for spoilers I will not be responding to any section of the comment. If someone comments with one question in one comment, and a spoiler question in another comment I will not answer either of the comments. Unfortunately, I think I’ve accidentally revealed too many mini-spoilers because I like keeping everyone pleased. This seems to have led to more and more people asking for spoilers, so I just wanted to clarify my official stance on this subject.

What does this mean?:

On one hand, this is going to lead to me not answering the question. However, on the other hand you will know that the answer to your question will be specifically addressed because I haven’t responded. This is because no response means it will inevitably turn up in the story. You will just have to wait for that chapter to be released.

How do I know if a question is a spoiler question?:

There is a specific explanation in the FAQ for what kinds of questions constitute a spoiler question (Under the question: ‘Why don’t the characters do X and not Y?’).

However, here is a very quick guide in how to determine if you question is a spoiler question. It involves asking three questions about the question you are posting.

One: Does the question involve a plothook or actions that have occurred to the character?

If no; It is probably not a spoiler question. Common questions which are perfectly fine like this are; How does Seven’s weight affect the way she moves in Zodiac Online? Or; Is there a money exchange system in Zodiac Online?

I love these kinds of questions because they allow me to elaborate on mechanics which Seven or the other characters might not encounter.

If yes; Ask yourself question two.

Two: Did the plothook or action have an explanation in the chapter it was presented?

If yes; It is not likely to be a spoiler question. Common questions which are perfectly fine include; You mentioned how there are spell slots, and creation skill slots, if you create and skill and then learn it in the library will a creation skill slot be freed up?

In the above case, the mechanics were explained when Third created a spell, and when Seven visited a library, but I missed out on explaining how they would interact when put together. This is a great question since it lets me clarify any confusion that may have resulted from a gap in the explanations.

If no; It is likely going to be explained in a future chapter because plot hooks tend to be explained. Common examples of this include; Why did the frogkin attack Seven? Or, why is it a good thing to be ranked last?

It is safe to assume that in both cases these questions are likely to be answered in a future chapter. And so are spoiler questions. If Seven was directly affected by being killed she would likely try to work out why she was killed. If it’s been mentioned a lot that Attracting’s team wants to be ranked last it is safe to assume that this is something which has a high chance of being addressed in future chapters. It is fine to ask the questions but I will no longer be able to respond personally in the discussion as there is nothing to discuss aside from spoilers.

If unsure, proceed to question three.

Three: Would the characters involved (not just the main characters) most likely want an answer to this question?

This is to be combined with the previous questions, not asked individually.

If no; It is not likely to be important enough to warrant explaining, or is probably inferred somewhere else.

If yes; It is safe to assume that if the characters want an answer to a question then they will look for it in future chapters. Any questions involving this kind of answer are clearly spoiler questions at this point and I will no longer be able to answer them.

FAQ (Spoiler-free):

Now onto the fun stuff!

FAQ: These are the questions you have asked and I have answered, now fully improved and updated!

You do not have to read these all! They are made big and bold so that you can navigate the page and find the answers to the questions you were curious about. :)

There are also some questions which haven’t been asked, but I’ve chosen to answer because I feel like they might be making some readers curious.

If I’ve forgotten any questions please feel free to repost them in the comments below!

How accurately does the cover portray Emily/Seven?:

The cover does not accurately portray Emily’s weight.

I envision her chubbier than the cover in the first book, as of the second book she's grown even chubbier due to eating more between the two. But when it comes to the cover I liked her as she was drawn so I asked the artist to keep her that way.

Considering the many comments I’ve been getting the next cover will definitely depict her weight more accurately.

How does Seven’s weight affect her ability to fight/play Zodiac Online?:

Actually, there are a lot of things being affected by Emily's weight here!

This is one of the more hidden aspects of the story only because it’s harder to write it in and make it flow, so I just leave it to be inferred and do it internally and in my notes. Keep in mind that everything written is canon and is the general way the system works.

One: It's mentioned early on that Emily has a specially fitted capsule due to her weight. If she gains even more weight she will have to purchase an even bigger capsule. This is a minor thing but it actually impacted the whole story a lot because I realised that Emily had to weigh enough to warrant a different capsule, so she should also be noticeable in the game as overweight / or chubby depending on when you read and who is thinking it.

Two: A more immediate impact in the story is actually that her weight affects the way people interact with her, both real and NPC. When it comes to real people there aren't that many that care at all, however, those players that have met Emily/Seven a lot in game have already noticed that she based the avatar on her own self. Other players that have been in VR gaming for a long time can also tell this at first glance, (e.g Jein can tell, she just doesn't care at all). NPC's also have different interactions with Seven based on several factors, of which weight is one. However most of these interactions are positive and not negative. There are two reasons for this, one, I see no reason for people to be a dick to Emily/Seven because of her weight. Two, the game creators wouldn’t allow their NPCs to uniformly discriminate against people of certain weight categories. Or even any categories involving physical appearance if they can help it.

Note: These different interactions can absolutely be manipulated. I haven't described it but in the background of the first book chapters 1-6 Andrew/Attracting was actually using Ana/IEatTortillas' bigger frame to get the NPCs to think of her as a hero while they did quests, which gave her the option to get the class she did.

Three: Seven's weight (as with all players) affects her hitbox. A bigger avatar means a bigger hitbox. It's not mentioned as much mainly because in my world its just accepted as the way that virtual reality games have developed, but certain actions such as Jacob grabbing Seven's wrist her taking a hit due to it hitting the outermost part of her body are affected by how she looks. Some players don't care about this e.g Third is comically large and others know but ignore the minor downside for a chance at a fun character (e.g Ana/IEatTortillas).

Note: This is the largest thing I can see readers having an issue with so I'd like to clarify something here. The reason the players are willing to accept such risks are because they don't plan to play professionally. Please remember TidalWave, Third, Emily/Seven and the others are casual players just having fun in a game. They don't really feel the need to min/max stuff such as making their hitbox a bit smaller by making their character skinnier. They prefer to have the characters they want to play as, and so feel the trade off of a bigger hitbox is worth it to them personally. Examples include; Third, Emily, Ana.

Note 2: However most of the pros you will see have gone for a more skinnier look or are already skinny, and that is because they purposefully avoid the bigger hitbox. The most extreme example of this is Colt from Colt's Crew. He's actually very skinny (typical creepy assassin look) for this reason.

Four: Basic movement! How does this work? I don't really want to restrict your imaginations of the scenarios listed or seen inside the story so I'll just list the basic facts of how her weight and movement game mechanics work inside Zodiac Online:

- Inside the game people's stats and items will affect how they move. Certain features (such as Third's or Emily's weight) do not affect the way they move or how agile they are, only their stats do. The reason for this is simple, the company making the game definitely would never discriminate against a certain group of people by making it so much harder for them to play in that way. This maintains an even playing field for movement among all weight and size classes, skinny or chubby, tall or short. They can all move just as agile-y as each other.

- This is probably most obvious in Spark Joy's character and her defense stat (It lets her move more fluidly in armour). She has a giant shield and heavy armour that cause her to weigh much more than any other character but moves as lightly and swiftly as TidalWave or non-buffed Archy. The stat affects this. Not her real-life attributes such as how strong she is IRL. That was also why I made certain to show that during the battle she had with Andrew/Attracting.

Five: IRL her weight does affect her as well. However most of that will be covered in later chapters so I won't go into it too deeply now. Just remember that Emily is still a real person and her weight will affect her health in various ways just like weight normally does, whether positively or negatively.

So is Emily still dodging stuff while being chubby/fat?

Yup, its Emily doing that, with her weight and all. That being said, that is also a testament to her skill and I can't emphasize that enough. As noted above she has a bigger hitbox that can be hit by enemies but she continues to improve despite that.

Not all characters follow this method of dodging.

How about Third?

Third is bigger than Emily but he has clearly altered his character since he's comically rotund. Third himself can't imagine his character moving the way that Emily does so he doesn't really try to dodge epically in the game. When I've written his movements it is almost always him sidestepping or running to one side to dodge, and not bending over or epically dodging on the spot.

This has been quite a motivating factor for him because instead of learning to dodge like Seven does, he decided his best action was to create the spell ‘rift destruction’ which prevents people from coming near him in the first place. I did that because I felt like it suited his character’s personality. After all, why learn to dodge when you can stop anyone from getting near enough so that you don’t need to. Whether this will change or not in the future we’ll just have to see!

When will second class advancements become available?

This is unknown as of the current chapter (Book 2 Chapter 13) but we will know soon!

Will Seven be disadvantaged at all due to her lower-ranked rare class?

She will not be limited or at a disadvantage.

The class system is weighed by a few factors but the two most important are quests completed and how skilled the system determines you are (further explained below in the question: ‘how do some players have insane skills?’). Other factors such as NPCs you meet and interact with are also considered.

So even if Emily/Seven has a lower ranked rare class now, that will not impact how the system determines her available class advancements later. The only exception to this is that she will still be a magic user. So even if she turns into a wizard, or magi, or other, that’s fine. She cannot become a warrior class or archer however.

She will also not be burdened to keep semi-useless abilities. For example; If she doesn’t want to keep wind blast or even stone shift she does not have to. The way spells are transferred from first to second class or even completely changed allow the player to decide how they wish to play and so even if Seven doesn’t have OP abilities in her first class that won’t matter for the second.

That being said…

It is still very nice nice for the other players if they have a rarer class in their first class change because they may have abilities they wish to keep. The way it works is pretty much spoiler territory outside of that but we’ll see it soon enough!

Emily/Seven is going to be limited by whatever spells she chooses to create by herself or learn in the library before, during or after her second class advancement in terms of pvp. This is the case because she is limited in how many she can learn. These are separate from class changes and class spells.

How are items ranked?:

Other than the ordinary colour rankings this is the template I follow for rarity and power of items;

Boss drop gear>ordinary monster drop gear>store bought gear

You will always find that a higher level creature drops a stronger item. For example; A level 45 corruptor will drop a stronger weapon than a level 20 corruptor. A level 55 wolf will always drop a higher stat item than a level 5 wolf, etc.

This is the case even if both items are of the same colour rarity.

How do yellow-ranked items work?:

This is more of a catch-all question to deal with the mechanics that have been revealed about yellow-ranked weapons and items.

Are yellow-ranked items rare? Yes. They are extremely rare for this part of the game. Don’t be fooled by Attracting and IEatTortillas being filled with them, other players do not have that luxury.

How do players get yellow-ranked items? Each yellow-ranked item can and do drop in any situation. Whether it be as part of a quest or when killing a common mob. They simply have a very low chance of dropping and the quests which contain yellow-ranked items as rewards will always be difficult. E.g a level 20 player will find it very, very difficult to complete a level 20 quest with a yellow-ranked item as a reward. In the game the level of the quest isn’t usually stated, but a quest given by an NPC in a level 20 area can be assumed to be a level 20 quest.

How do conditions to unseal yellow-ranked items work? Each yellow-ranked item requires certain conditions to be achieved in order to unseal it. E.g complete a quest and you may be given an unsealed yellow-ranked item, or if a frogkin drops a yellow-ranked item to a very lucky player then it may require the player to kill 20 frogkin to unseal it.

The condition’s difficulty is proportional to how strong the weapon is. Generally the conditions will not be difficult to fulfil, after all, it is only a yellow-ranked item. Seven and co have actually gotten one of the most difficult conditions possible by being tasked with killing a dragon to unseal their items.

Why does the team consent to giving stat and skill details away?:

During certain chapters (particularly Book 1 chapter 10, and in Book 2 chapter 12) the team has either explicitly given away details of their skills online or simply revealed any potential tactics they may use in battle. This can be seen to be a little confusing, after all, if Seven and co are trying to win or at least avoid having their weaknesses exploited why would they do this? Let’s take a look at it from the perspectives of the players in both chapters.

Book 1 Chapter 10: Seven and co post their entire stat and skill set online, opening them to potentially revealing all their weaknesses to enemies.

Answer: At this point in the book the team actually doesn’t have any enemies. Even in the current part of the story they don’t have any enemies, as I will explain below. The reason they have posted everything online is because absolutely none of them are actually important enough to have people aim for them to try and kill them and as far as they know they will never become the kind of players where this situation will occur. None of them have the intention of going professional.

They are all purely playing the game to have fun and for no other reason. Even characters such as Archy, Roxxy and Spark Joy are playing to have fun, and taking in their blogs or content videos as a secondary motive.

To further elaborate on this let’s look at their motivations and importance:

Anita/Archy: Let’s start with the person that is most likely to be targeted. Despite being a semi-major celebrity online Anita hasn’t actually revealed their character yet by this chapter. Not to her team and not to her fans online. But she is smart enough to know that once she does that people may come after her. Taking that into consideration; She decided she didn’t care at all. Her personality has always been one of challenging people, being distinctly blunt and definitely not thinking things through. That isn’t to say she is dumb, but she doesn’t care if people know her stats online because she is confident she will beat any challengers.

TidalWave: At the time this chapter was written only the readers and the team know TidalWave exists and only the readers know he will be popular/strong. So when he consents to posting his entire skill set online it is simply because he didn’t even consider the possibility that it could one day be used against him. He has no intention of going pro, he had no mortal enemies in the game to defend against and more importantly if he had known he would become popular he still would have posted his skills anyway.

Why won’t he go pro? The answer is fairly simple; He doesn’t care at all about the professional scene. He does care about getting stronger, but he wants to do that through duels. IF he joins the professional scene it will not because he cares about rankings at all, it will be because he wants to fight the best of the best and the professional scene just happens to be the way to do that.

So why would he still post his skills if he had known he would be famous? The answer is because he wants people to know his weaknesses. If they fight him and he loses, he doesn’t care at all about it. But if they fight him and they manage to exploit a fundamental weakness in his fighting style or use of skills he will know for next time and improve until he can overcome that weakness. Essentially, he doesn’t care about losing even if he dies a thousand times as long as he can improve once.

Roxxy & Spark Joy: The fact that they run a blog is actually quite hidden to all but their friends, some of whom happen to be professional players. Yes, the blog is popular, but no, they don’t think they will be PK’d for it. Both girls don’t mind their skills being posted online because they have no intention of becoming professionals. They have and always will play the game to gain knowledge, a goal which does not actually require them to do much fighting if they watch matches carefully. The Roxxy and Spark Joy in book 1 chapter 10 are also not important at all. It’s unknown to anyone but the readers and Attracting whether they will become important figures in the future, but at the time they are just ordinary players. Nobody would care about their skills even if they did post them except as a passing interest in someone with a strong class.

Third & Seven: Both of these players are not important at all in the game and have no enemies they would want to hide from. Both have no intention on going professional either because Third is seeking knowledge and fun and the thought never even crosses Seven’s mind as being possible.

Book 2 Chapter 12:

Seven: Seven gives away many skills and actions in this chapter. She reveals her wind blast, her aura step, and her ability to shift the directions of her attacks with her focus points. However the reason she does this is simply; She wants to have fun and win.

She doesn’t think of the future consequences because as far as she is concerned this is her final competition and the final match of it. Yes, she had been asked by the team not to reveal her skills but she personally believes that to be more for Nastin’s sake because he is a professional player, she doesn’t think she’s important enough that it will matter.

Essentially -even this far into the story- she is not important enough to need to hide her skills. She is in the game to have fun and play, and hiding her skills when she wants to prove herself as a worthy opponent to her enemies is not the way she would have fun, so she doesn't do it.

If you learn a spell in the library after creating it do you get your skill creation slot back?:

Short answer: Yup absolutely.

It is very difficult for players to naturally create the spells that are in the library. But if they do manage to, and then later find out they can learn it in the library, then they will exchange the created skill slot for a learned spell slot. Allowing them to creative another ability later on.

There will also be NPCs later in the game that can free up these spell slots and creation slots if the player wishes to erase their magic. There are also a couple of other little surprises planned.

Will knockback be nerfed? How does it work exactly?:

There have been a couple of questions and comments on the potential exploitability of knock back effects. E.g When Azeroth was knocked off of his platform by Seven.

I have thought long and hard about this and have put together a definite explanation for the mechanics and implementation of knockback in Zodiac Online.

Please note: This is the explanation. It is not a negotiable one. I enjoy the story and players working around the system as it is so any readers can assume in future that this is how the knockback works.

Knockback has several factors which are considered when it is being used by a player or NPC:

Size: Perhaps the single most important factor behind knockback is the target’s size. Small creatures? Easily knocked back. A really big dinosaur monster? Not knocked back.

This is of course subjective based on how big the knock back spell is. E.g Jein’s wave can knock back enemies but was stopped by Claire’s titan. This is because Claire’s titan was physically strong enough to resist the knockback. But if we were to consider Seven vs the Corruptor, Seven’s small knockback would have been completely useless even if the corruptor hadn’t fought back. Because Azeroth was still the size of a human, Seven easily knocked him back with her spell.

Stability: How stable the target is affects knockback greatly. Is the target teetering off the edge of a cliff? It is definitely more susceptible to knockback. If it stands on two feet or isn’t held down it is going to be more easily knocked back.

But if it is a tree, with roots digging into the ground that can be considered to be an extremely stable object. If a knockback is used against the tree it is unlikely to be uprooted or moved unless the knockback is particularly strong.

Power: How powerful is the knockback spell? Is it being cast as a gale storm that can wipe out entire cities or as a puff of air? The system takes this into account when determining if size and stability will be affected.

Wording: How is the skill worded? If it states that it will knock back objects or creatures only a certain amount, then it will only go to that amount. It will not go a few centimetres further. The only time this is changed is when the target is rooted or bigger in size.

Can knockbacks therefore be chained?

Yup. They can be chained. Honestly the idea amuses me. But there is one important exception;

Knockbacks cannot be multiplied infinitely: This means that if you apply two knockbacks at the exact same time, it will not simply multiply the power and range of the knockback. E.g if two people summoned winds the knock back players, they could increase the radius of the knockback because the two separate spells have their own area of effect, but the affected players will not be double knocked back. They will simply be knocked back according to the first ability to hit them.

So the easiest and best ways to chain a knockback is to have them occur one by one.

Is there equipment or spells that stop knockback effects?

Yes. Most abilities and debilitating spells have armours or spells which have a corresponding resistance. E.g Claire's titan spell stopped Jein's ice wave which would have knocked Claire back. And killed her.

Will this be exploitable? Possibly. We’ll have to see how the story pans out. That is a question that can only be answered by stating ‘please continue reading further chapters’.

How does the selling and buying things using real world currency work in this world?:

This hasn't been mentioned at all but only because Seven and her friends don't do it. However there is a currency exchange system in place in Zodiac Online, although it is in constant fluctuation. The basics work just as any game would; You can buy a certain amount of gold coins in exchange for real life currency but this amount is changing as the market floods with more and less gold at different times.

Fun fact: This is how Andrew/Attracting is making most of his gold.

The gold can also be exchanged with other players for cash on certain websites which track the price of gold against the currency of the person searching the website. Attracting has used this to sell when he knows he'll profit and has been expertly manipulating the market in the first few weeks of the game.

Some of these websites also support item to cash conversions (more on that in another question/answer below). The virtual reality market in my world is developed enough that this is a legal and safe practice, although you may get ripped off if you pay too much for an item compared to what it’s worth.

How did Attracting get such a huge advantage?:

Surprisingly, using his future world knowledge to get good items and find gold caches is not how Attracting made most of his gold.

Attracting has been doing three things to maintain his amazing progress.

One: He has actually been buying more gold as it fluctuates to a price lower than he knows it will usually go. So when the price of gold dips he buys a lot of it, and then because it inevitably rises he instantly sells online for a big profit. He mainly did this during the first two weeks but continues to do it even past then because he knows the unprecedented amount of players entering the game will keep the gold supply fluctuating in his favour. This method is going to grow obsolete as the currency stabilises but that won't be for a while in-story time.

He has earned the majority of his money doing this.

Two: He has raided several gold caches with both IEatTortillas and Violet + his team. Most of the weapons and items he gained he is keeping for future profit but he has acquired items which can be sold on the item exchange websites for real cash. Honestly the dragon's hoard had 200k gold coins and that was only one of his potential targets. The rest are not as big but are more easily accessed.

Three: He secured the aid of the three bishops in Lum and activated a little known secret; Purchases of property. This is a feature most players either would not have discovered yet or do not have the gold to take advantage of. He is hoarding property in Lum and a city in the Underground city called Taehra. There is a limit to how many properties he has purchased but he made sure to acquire the prime locations and will sell them off at a later date.

This is how he will earn more money in the future according to his plans.

Is there an official market designated for people to sell whatever they want?

There is an official market for selling whatever items you want to! There are two methods of doing this, the official Zodiac Online exchange which can be accessed in every major town and city. There players can sell items for gold. There are only as many items as the players put up for sale so it is very dependant on player interaction. And the second method is the unofficial websites which have made items exchangeable for real life cash. They are deemed safe but not as stable in terms of prices (Aka you can get ripped off when selling or buying your items there). People do not have limits to what can be bought and sold, and someone that is incredibly rich can indeed go and buy all the best gear. The reason for it being safe is mainly to make it easier for me to write it since I don't intend to have subplots about people getting ripped off in the novel.

Theoretically both could have the best equipment being sold in their respective stores. However they rely on player interaction (the players have to physically find the items in-game and then put them up for sale) so the chances of a single player hoarding all the good items from the sites is unlikely. This is because players would likely keep the best items for themselves or someone else would snatch the item before any single person could grab them all.

Do people have limits to what can be bought and sold or can someone incredibly rich just go and buy all the best gear?

There are no limits!

This is how Attracting survived in the higher rankings in his past life (briefly mentioned in Ana's side story). He bought items and used the stats to make up for his lack of skill.

That being said, skill over equipment is a very important aspect of this game as it adds weight to how the game determines you should be given certain classes.

But theoretically a rich person could definitely have an unlimited cap on the equipment they could buy.

There are a few restrictions to using this method: Some of the best equipment however would have its stats locked (e.g TidalWave's previous armour in an early chapter had the 'Defense stat' but that stat was locked because TidalWave didn't have the class to unlock it.) So the more expensive equipment would have lots of stats, but the player might not necessarily be able to use all the stats as they would be locked to unskilled players.

Against a player like Seven or TidalWave a completely normal player with tons of equipment would have a struggle and lose 99/100 times. They can forget about beating someone like Nastin. Classes determine a lot more than equipment does. Both together are a very deadly combination.

The other restriction is that every item the rich person buys has to be put on the market in the first place. It is possible that players will keep the really good items to themselves until they outlive their usefulness or the player finds something better. So although theoretically the rich player could buy whatever they want, in reality the items actually have to be available to buy them.

On top of this it is unlikely that one single rich person could hoard all the good items. The reason for this being that many players would be looking out for these items or whatever they require, and so the chances of one player getting the item are slim. There are a lot of rich people in the world and there are usually only limited items.

How does the dodge stat work?

The dodge stat works in two ways! One is where the attack goes through the person and it triggers an automatic;

-Dodged!

notification. This has a higher chance of proc-ing against lower levelled enemies and enemies that have a low dexterity or attack stat. This is the dodge stats normal intended function and honestly it's fairly self-explanatory; Each stat added to dodge gives a slightly higher chance of the player dodging incoming attacks. It is measured against other player stats so if a player with more stats than Seven fights her, even if she has a lot in her ‘dodge’ stat, she will likely still be hit.

The second way the stat works is that the attacks are more likely to be dodged when Seven is physically trying to dodge them. So if she's stone shifting away from an attack made by an enemy the system will detect this and she will gain a slightly higher chance of activating the dodge;

-Dodged!

notification because she is actively trying to use the stat in battle. This is important because it also works the other way around as well. For example, TidalWave is constantly aiming at Seven's weak spots and adjusting to match her speed and movements perfectly. The system detects this and does the reverse of the dodge stat, causing Seven's dodge to be less likely to be activated because TidalWave is too skilled to have missed. This does not reduce the chance to 0% to dodge, but it does decrease it by quite a bit.

So against a skilled opponent she will actually come out fairly even unless her dodge stat is so high that even skilled players can't reduce it enough to prevent it from proc-ing.

Ordinary players will not have this kind of ability and so she is actually a lot stronger than we realise when it comes to dodging.

Why don't the characters do X and not Y?:

This is becoming a more prevalent question as more readers join in on the fun. There are three types of this question that I’ve noticed so I will approach this from all angles.

The Min/Max question: Example; Why doesn’t Seven catalogue all the spells in the library? Why do the team reveal their skills when it will show their weaknesses? Why doesn’t Seven pump IEatTortillas for all the information she gained while playing with Attracting?

This type of question is probably the type of question that is easiest to answer; The players are not the same as readers. They do not know they will be important just because they are characters in a book. To them this is all real life.

The reason the characters don’t try to min/max life is because they aren’t attempting to ‘win’ the game, or even to ‘win’ in every action, they are simply ordinary people placed in a virtual reality game. Seven’s main goal in her case is to have fun, she does that by playing the game with her team and friends rather than spending several days in the library making a record of every single spell she can. She would also not interrogate her friend about Attracting because she doesn’t really care about Attracting and what he did when playing. People in real life don’t usually go and interrogate their best friends for potentially hours on something they don’t care about. The team reveals their weaknesses (as answered above) because they don’t care about other players trying to fight them. They either don’t believe they are important enough for people to care, or they would reveal them anyway because they consider it their own personal ‘win’ if players actively kill them and they learn from that.

The omniscient reader’s point of view question: Example; Why doesn’t Seven just dump Attracting’s ass as a friend instead of continuing to try and be friends with him? Why doesn’t Zodiac simply ban Attracting?

Most of these questions seem to come from a point of common sense, but are actually only common sense to us as readers because we have (for the most part) a fuller view of events and also a stronger emotional attachment to each character. In other words; The reason we think it is just natural that the characters should be doing these things is because we know the full story and are emotionally invested in it. Whereas the characters may not be invested in certain actions or may not know the full story.

Let’s take Seven’s treatment of Attracting for most of book one. He is rude to her on several occasions but she still continues to consider him a friend. The reason for this is simple; He has been her friend for several years with no issue, it seems stranger to have her simply dump him as a friend immediately rather than try to figure out why he’s acting this way. We know he’s being rude because he’s a reincarnator and an ass but to her it seems like an ordinary week where he has suddenly undergone a change. This was a good friend and now he’s acting weird and slightly rude, but that’s not a reason to completely ditch him.

It is important to remember that these are characters in a story that have their own points of view and feelings. As such they are flawed, do not do the most plot-specific and plot-winning thing and do not act in the best interest of resolving the issues they either do or do not know are happening.

The spoiler questions: Example; Why didn’t the announcer state the rules of the new competition? Why did the frogkin attack Seven, aren’t they mobs? Why is Attracting able to know everything he does? Why doesn’t the Zodiac A.I punish Attracting?

This is perhaps the most common type of question I’ve encountered. It doesn’t always follow the ‘why doesn’t a character do X instead of Y’ format but it comes close. The simple answer here is to keep reading. As stated above, I will no longer be answering these types of questions because although they look like they are searching for information, they are actually just asking for future plot points and hooks. It is simple to think about them for a few seconds and realise that each and every single one of these questions will most likely be answered in future chapters. Most times they are answered directly in the chapter after the one the question was presented.

E.g: Why didn’t the announcer state the rules of the new competition? When thinking over this a few factors should be considered. One: are Seven and co going to be affected by these rules and the competition? Yes, it is safe to assume that. Two: Are Seven and co going to be in a plot which would make heavy use of the rules? If yes, okay. If no, they wouldn’t need to know the rules anyway.

Answer: This is probably something that will definitely be answered in a future chapter.

E.g: Why did the frogkin attack Seven? Let’s consider two factors again. One: Was Seven directly affected by being killed by the frogkin? Yes. Two: Would Seven likely want to know why she was killed suddenly? Also yes.

Answer: This is probably something that will definitely be answered in a future chapter.

But let’s put a current and relevant question to the test under the spoiler questions listed at the top of the post:

Why doesn’t the Zodiac A.I punish or ban Attracting?:

First of all; Please go back and read the FAQ for book 1 as it does answer this question as well.

However;

This is a question I’m simply unable to answer due to spoilers, but let’s put it through the test;

One: Does the question involve a plothook or actions that have occurred to the character?

In this case, yes. The characters involved are Attracting and the Zodiac A.I. It even extends to the rest of the cast. The action itself is Attracting time travelling and/or Zodiac punishing him for it. The main action is that the Zodiac A.I is trying to figure out how Attracting is doing what he does.

Since this is the case; Let’s go to question 2.

Two: Did the plothook or action have an explanation in the chapter it was presented?

In this case, no. The actions of the Zodiac A.I did not have an explanation. We see it confront Attracting but we don’t know anything else that it might know. We have not been given an explanation as to why it has or has not punished Attracting. We most definitely have not been given an explanation as to why it is taking the time it is, or even what it plans to do if it has any plans. Essentially, we know that the Zodiac A.I is there but not what it has done or is doing. We don’t know what it knows or does not know, other than the fact that it has not worked out he is a time traveller. We don’t know it’s thought process or what factors it could be considering in order to figure out whether to punish/ban Attracting or not.

If there are this many questions then the obvious question we have to ask is;

Would the author have put in place a character like this without intending to resolve its plot line eventually? The answer is most likely no.

At this point it is safe to assume that all these things will be addressed in later chapters. Especially since the Zodiac A.I is specifically shown to be interacting with many characters about the very issue it is having.

However if unsure if the question is still a spoiler question;

Three: Would the characters involved (not just the main characters) most likely want an answer to this question?

Would the Zodiac A.I most likely want an answer to Attracting’s strange actions? There is no way to answer no to this question as it is actively shown to be looking for the answer to this question.

At this point you can assume that since the Zodiac A.I clearly wants an answer to its question, the plot point of whether it will find out the answer is something that will show up in later chapters.

It is also safe to assume that it will determine what it will do at that time. Which will be revealed in a later chapter. If it has not done something yet the reason is to be revealed in later chapters. It is not something I can reveal in the comments.

So it is safe to assume this is a spoiler question. Any answers you may not like are probably stemming from the fact that I really can’t give a comprehensive answer to this question.

Do I have the actions planned out? Yes of course. I’ve had the first three books already outlined with plot developments and endings since before I posted the first one.

Is it likely that this is going to be dealt with? I wouldn’t have added it so much if it wasn’t going to be resolved.

Will it get resolved straight away? Most likely not.

Please remember: Just because I am not telling you how things are being resolved doesn’t mean they aren’t being dealt with. We don’t see everything that the Zodiac A.I or even other players are doing. I’m just not able to answer because it would involve spoilers.

Explanations for unasked questions (no spoilers):

Does the number of focus points a player can control influence what skills they gain?:

Yes! Jein received her skill; Ice Wave, from the system specifically because she can flood the area with focus points like a wave.

Claire and Third also similarly were gifted their abilities due to both how many focus points they could make and how they used their focus points.

Why can some players create more focus points than others?:

This is a fun one to answer. Essentially the way focus points work is twofold. On the one hand the control stat makes it much easier to create more and more focus points without taxing your mind. It also allows players to move the focus points strategically. On the other hand if you have natural talent you can create many focus points until you are up to the point of collapsing at which time the system will stop you from creating more. Focus points created this way are at risk of collapsing if the creator loses concentration due to exhaustion.

Let’s go through some characters:

Third: Naturally a genius and easily creates up to at least fifteen focus points. He is an example of someone who partially uses the control stat to help him but does not focus on it, as he has lots of natural ability.

Jein: A naturally monstrous monster of epically monstrous proportions. She had never known what a weak will is and through her natural abilities she was able to create a literal wave of focus points to unleash upon her enemies. She does not need the control stat to help her, and as such does not actually use her focus points in a complicated manner like Third or Clair do. She simply sends them out in bunches or moves them around.

Claire: On the opposite spectrum is Claire. She has clearly utilised her control stat to its fullest as she makes use of focus points to create complicated spells in positions which are strategically advantageous to her. It is unknown in the story how many focus points she could create at once but she is definitely focused more on tactical deployment of her abilities rather than Jein’s -slap a bunch of crap over stuff and hope it works- approach.

Seven: Seven can create around six focus points before becoming tired, though she can push her limits to make a couple more. She has been shown to grow tired and almost lose her focus points if she loses her concentration. However when she uses her natural talent she can move her focus points around and use them to defend her. If she uses her control stat she can make the directions of her magic blasts shift into different angles.

How do some players have insane skills?:

Nobody has asked this question yet but I still feel it is important enough to warrant an explanation in this FAQ. There have been a lot of varying characters with a variety of skills that seem to defy the logical nature of the game. Some in the future will be gained in the libraries scattered around the world, but the players shown so far haven’t had the time or knowledge to access these libraries and gain their spells.

Examples include Jein’s blizzard spell, as well as her ice wave spell (explained above), Claire’s orbs that fire automatically homing bullets of light & her titan summon, and Ji-Woo’s ability to literally emit lightning from his body.

Honestly writing these skills has been one of the best aspects of the story for me. Very fun to do. But I’m here to answer the question of how did these players possible obtain these skills.

The answer is actually fairly simply; Each one was impacted more by quest completions rather than their individual skills.

Make no mistake. Individually each of these players is at the top of the game and they are absolutely top tier, guaranteed to get their pick of amazing classes based solely on talent and ability. But the abilities they did get are all a result of the system gifting it to them due to the quests they have completed, with their abilities also being taken into account.

Ji-Woo: This is the only story/character background I am sure will not be included in the main story, so it is not a spoiler. But if you do not want to read Ji-Woo’s backstory as to how he obtained his class then please do not read any further.

Skip to the bottom if you want to see the mechanics of how the game determined his class throughout this quest.

Ji-Woo’s abilities so far have been revealed as expert sword skills and a passive skill that can emit lightning from his body which destroys the people it touches. For all intents and purposes it seems difficult to see how he could have obtained this skill since focus points do not appear to work this way, and it is his first class so he hadn’t entered a library yet to obtain lightning spells of that power.

He actually obtained the lightning skill from a quest, the details of which I will elaborate upon now.

Ji-Woo’s Journey: Near Ji-Woo’s starting village there is a giant crack in the earth that is unfathomably deep and guaranteed to kill you if you jump down into it. Nobody knows how deep it goes and an eerie wind seems to flow out of it. Players soon discovered by talking to NPCs that this wind actually cancels any and all magic and willpower abilities. Focus points would be obliterated if they were formed inside. Even communication between players was shut off. So the only way to traverse down the crack would be to jump down and somehow survive. A task considered impossible.

So of course Ji-Woo jumped down immediately.

Ji-Woo’s natural abilities cannot be underestimated. Showing his determination and skill he expertly grabbed onto the wall of the several hundred foot drop and began his descent. Jumping from loose crevice to a crack in the wall, grabbing a foothold or forcing himself to make one with his sword. It was a journey that lasted him five days inside the game. Each and every second he faced death. As a low-level character without a single class he was guaranteed to die if he slipped for even one second and fell into the dark chasm below. Soon he was swamped in darkness and could rely only on his senses and natural abilities to climb down further.

Meanwhile Jein was panicking.

It took him another two days climbing down in complete darkness, but Ji-Woo finally began to notice a faint light emanating from below him. It appeared that he was finally nearing the end of his journey. Using the remainder of his energy he drew close enough that he could see the ground, and then he jumped down. Dozens of skeletal remains cushioned his fall as he found himself falling into a dimly lit room.

Without another word he walked forward towards the lone door that he could see in the room, and was startled to see electricity arcing through the air. A lightning elemental appeared before him and with the politest expression he could muster he greeted it.

But it didn’t care about him.

It walked through the door and with a flash of light the scenery around Ji-Woo transformed into a beautiful outdoor sky. Sitting atop silver clouds and covered in lightning was a beautiful palace, the likes of which Ji-Woo had never seen before. A single radiant bridge, more magic than physical, greeted him and he walked towards the palace.

As he made his journey the lightning around him began to tease him. A bolt here, a sudden attack there. He was too weak to fight back, but luckily he found that merely dodging the quick attacks allowed him to pass by them.

By the time he was almost at the end of the bridge the lightning was firing down at him like rain. Not a single split second could be spared for rest as his body was pushed to the maximum limits that it could be. A single touch from a stray electric spark would obliterate him and his low level character.

He was having the time of his life.

Crashing through what seemed like the apocalypse he finally saw the end of his journey. The moment he stepped past the bridge the lightning disappeared as though it had never existed. The sky was clear and before him lay a gigantic palace that seemed to be made of opaque air. Ji-Woo could tell this was the end of journey, a trek that had taken days and had been deadlier than anything he had encountered before.

As Ji-Woo approached the palace its massive doors opened for him and he walked through, unable to touch his surroundings for fear that simply coming into contact with anything but the ground would kill him. Soon he found himself inside a massive hall, in the middle of which was a throne.

And sitting on the throne was a being wreathed in lightning.

[Lightning God: Indra]

A god lay before him. Not one he had heard of. Not Verm whose continent he walked in, or any of the other three. This was a self-proclaimed god. A mortal that dared to be divine.

You are not the one I am searching for.

The god’s words shook the palace and brought Ji-Woo to his knees. He didn’t know what level this mighty creature was, but it was something so far above him that he knew he had no chance of fighting it. His skills couldn’t make up for such a difference.

But he had traveled a long way to complete this journey, and he was unwilling to give up. Beyond power, beyond fame and beyond gameplay he had pride in himself and his plans. He refused to bow to the god, he refused to submit to the inevitable loss he would face. And so he did the only thing he knew he could in this situation.

“No. I think I’m exactly the person you’re looking for.”

He decided to bargain.

A great charade of posturing, acting and truth. Ji-Woo conversed with the god as it readied to strike him down at the slightest failure. Slowly and steadily Ji-Woo convinced the god that he was someone worthy of knowing what the god was seeking. He swore that although he was weak in power, his skills and potential to grow made him an equal to Indra. He did not bow, he did not stutter and he did not sweat.

He truly considered himself to be equal with the god.

Indra was convinced that Ji-Woo was his equal, and so he told him about the person he was seeking, and the goal he wished to obtain.

I seek a worthy opponent. An equal with whom I can fight with all my might.

And Ji-Woo grinned.

“I am that opponent. Not now, perhaps not even in a year. But you have seen me surpass your challenges. You have viewed me as I crossed great storms and scaled an impossible descent into the earth. I am the person you are searching for.”

This was the thing he was searching for. Not power, not glory, but instead a worthy opponent to fight. He didn’t care that he had no chance to win, he only cared that he could try. And Indra agreed wholeheartedly. Ji-Woo had shown tenacity beyond anyone else had seen, the player had overcome what should be possible for someone of his level and kept his pride and dignity even when faced by the lightning god himself.

So he agreed to spare Ji-Woo, until the player could become his equal.

They agreed that once Ji-Woo had grown properly that he would come back and challenge the lightning god. At that time it would not be a low leveled player facing an impossible wall, but an equal that would present a break in the god’s endless boredom.

Indra teleported Ji-Woo out of his domain and the player found himself lying above the area where he had first climbed down into the earth. Only now the crack was gone, sealed shut by forces unknown. And Ji-Woo’s body crackled with lighting as he viewed the gift the lightning god had given his future opponent.

[Class option unlocked: Avatar of Lightning.]

So how did the system determine this OP class to give to Ji-Woo?

If you skipped the story then that’s okay. I’ll explain the mechanics now. :)

Essentially the game took two things into account. Ji-Woo’s natural abilities and the environment he was in when he received his class.

Natural Ability: Ji-Woo completed several arduous tasks on his way that the system had -until that point- considered physically impossible for someone of his level. Taking his climbing and his dodging of a literal rain of lightning as he made his way into the palace the system determined instantly that he was one of the greatest players currently inside the game. This led it to activate several class options relating to his sword-skills, noting that he used a sword throughout his journey. This alone was enough to earn Ji-Woo the highest level of rare class, with several options relating to dodging, mountains and lightning. He did not have the option to use lightning, but he would be offered a class with lightning resistance. He had also unlocked a class utilising skills similar to Seven’s ‘Stone shift’

Environment/Quest: The system was incredibly surprised that Ji-Woo survived. Indra, like most NPCs, is left to do his own thing when alone and when conversing with players. Usually however, Indra’s personality meant that he would simply kill intruders. Ji-Woo was both lucky that Indra was bored after being alone for so long, and quick witted enough to not annoy the god.

Until he proceeded to challenge the god to a fight. At this the system watched his actions closely, seeing if he was serious, checking if he could win and ultimately leaving him to his fate. However, it would determine his potential class options based on how his interaction with Indra went.

Ultimately he gained the god’s favour, and so taking into consideration Ji-Woo’s extreme display of skills, his attitude which seemed to make him equal to a god and his future potential, it decided to award him the class; Avatar of Lightning.

Did Ji-Woo have other options?

Absolutely. Ji-Woo had several class options to choose from. However this class was specifically gifted to him by the lightning god. He then had the option to choose it as a path when he finally levelled to 10 and went to his local priest to begin the class obtaining process.

Did he have a class test?

Unlike other players, Ji-Woo was gifted this class by a being with enough power to interfere with the class obtaining process. As such, he was given the option to not complete a test. After all, he had already proven himself and the system itself had designed the test to be the most difficult in the game so far. It informed him that if he took the optional test and failed, he would never receive the option to obtain the class again.

He chose to take the test anyway.

Why are Korean and French players the best?:

This is actually a personal choice I made. On the one hand I feel that Koreans are probably the best as a nation in modern video game professional scenes. This is just my personal opinion. And I transcribed that into my story. I also wanted them to have rivals and I was interested in learning French so I picked the French. It’s been quite a fun addition and world building hook for me to work from.

If you read down to this part of the post I am writing this to let you know I'm extremely grateful for your interest in this story!