FEROCIOUS

Ferocious was slumped as he walked away from the center of the city and tried to look for a passive NPC. He now knew, rather early, that it was better to be nice to the people rather than acting gruff to them. The difference between strengths was supposedly incredible if Ferocious had accurately seen the guard’s hit. The thin man’s body hadn’t really flown back at all and the guard’s punch had stopped very short. It was basically a tap, yet the strength was enough to cause considerable pain.

Ferocious’ head was down and he was slow as he walked through the growing crowd - NPCs were still nice so no one jostled him too hard and killed him accidentally. He reached an open street and even then he saw more people continuing to arrive. He didn’t want to be in their way and get trampled. Ferocious had lost 60 health just going through the crowd and he was starting to become increasingly horrified at the strength difference. Even the kids looked like muscle freaks to him.

Walking aimlessly for a while, Ferocious took in the sights of the city around him. Out of the game he mainly stayed home unless he went to work so he never really got a chance to see the sights in the city that he lived in. Still the strange shops with legible signs and the hollering shopkeepers put Ferocious at ease. There was something calming about a mercantile scene. Ferocious went up to a moderate looking stand.

The man behind the stand was tall but had a wide build. He didn’t look like a sleaze though and actually looked jolly in a rotund way. There were no other customers anywhere on the street so Ferocious decided there was no harm in asking questions.

“Excuse me, can you tell me a bit of information about Gaia? My name is Ferocious and I’m an...’Otherworlder’ so I don’t know very much at the moment.”

“Ah, of course! Business seems slow ever since Janira’s proclamation so I can help you.”

Ferocious had given his bow that he got from some random shows he had watched and spoke rather politely. Surprisingly the other man smiled greatly at his bow and gave one himself; left hand over the stomach and a 30° bow. Seeing the confusion, the man’s smile deepened.

“This is the standard formal bow between strangers of the same ranking. Even if you are new and your standing is low, it really can’t be helped so I guess a similar age would allow for this type of bowing too. Your deep bow is more suited for higher ranking or older folks. A noble wouldn’t bow to a commoner as well.”

Ferocious greedily absorbed the knowledge and thought back to the man a few minutes ago. ‘Good clothes, haughty manner, no bow. Definitely a Noble. And I got a gift from him so….Jackpot.’ The man in front of Ferocious was behind a polished dark red wooden counter and was situated to the side of a door; the building had a sign that had a bed and said ‘RAINBOW BED INN’ and showed a bed surrounded by color.

He didn’t have any wares to show but Ferocious did note the large chests behind the man. Each of them was about 3 feet tall and as wide as the man. A merchant...probably...was it alright to just put up a stand there though and take all of the good customers?

“Now what do you wish to know? Theres a lot of things about Gaia and I don’t really know what you need anyways.”

“Ah, I was told to seek out the...’Series’ I think? And also the Church of Information?”

Ferocious didn’t understand every single thing the Noble had said but those two points were the jist of it. Also the gravity rings he had were supposed to increase his stats in a passive manner. Speaking of stats…

“And also, how do you check stats and skills?”

The merchant nods in satisfaction of the questions.

“These are good things to know. The Series are the main ways a person can learn specific skills and gain the requirements for their class. The training is rather mundane so it really isn’t hard, but you ‘Otherworlders’ are supposed to be rather quick in training. The Church of Information is on the other side of town so you went in the wrong direction. Basically turn around and walk straight. For stats and skills? Just say ‘Show Status’ or ‘Show Skills’.”

“Which Series are the best?”

“Thats a difficult question to answer...Usually the Combat Series would help you the most. The section that that area is just down the street. You need to have the basic requirements for getting a class - I don’t think that has changed - so you can become a Warrior or Swordsmen, Warriors the the one that can wield a sword with an offhand while Swordsmen focus more on dual swords or two handed swords. Use of bows would be an Archer and there are even some Staffmasters I’ve heard about. Fist users or Monks are rather rare due to the high difficulty requires a large organisation so you need to go to one of the fighting Churches to learn. I have heard of an unarmed master in the city though. You can also become a Weapon-Master or some other specialty class and learn to use a variety of different weapons. Knights and Paladins are the hardest and longest to get but they are wanted everywhere. High demand, low supply.”

The description was short and sweet yet the information was quite good for the starting Ferocious. Since there was no tutorial and no restrictions in the beginning, people usually had to go through things slowly and apply the ancient art of trial and error.

A Knight actually seemed the best for Ferocious. They probably needed honor in some way so you needed to be nice to everyone and they also had a powerful array of attacks in order to defend a kingdom. For the passive part of Ferocious, the Honor was very useful. For the gamer part of Ferocious, the array of skills would be much needed in a fight.

“The Healing Series isn’t particularly good if you want power. Mainly people who want to help others would go there. You can become either a Cleric and worship one of the Healing gods and goddesses in order to get some Healing spells, or you can become an alchemist and herbalist and create potions that can recover health and mana or cure abnormalities. Each god and goddess can give a special class based on what they control. Paladins can worship whichever god/goddess they want but a healing deity gives the best sub skills. There are even some doctors or surgeons if you don’t have a taste for the other two.”

Ferocious thought that the merchant was finished but he continued on...

“For the Crafting Class you won’t really level fast either. You mainly focus on creating items and equipment so they sell their stuff to the Combat and Stealth Series and then buy the stuff the two Series acquire through battles. Not a very strong group but they usually make the most money. For Merchant wannabes you would need to have a recommendation by an actual merchant before being accepted into the Merchant Guild and being offered the class. Its the hardest class to get but its also the most lucrative.”

Ferocious was politely nodding throughout the explanation and taking mental notes when needed. He didn’t actually need all of the information that didn’t include combat and leveling but the extras would help in his grinding.

“You can also look around in the new dungeons and the like for some secret classes or quests or something. Rumors say that a boy of 13 went on a training run through a small dungeon a few months ago. He managed to unlock a secret area and obtain a hidden class. Unfortunately he died after provoking a Bandit Camp soon after he told everyone about it. Something about showing off his skills by taking down all of the bounties or something.

“Anyways, here’s my card. Since you’re just starting off you should get some contacts among the NPCs. The more contacts, the greater the advantage. Ah, new customers. I have the finest wares in -”

Receiving a small silver card from the merchant, Ferocious took a few steps to the side to allow for the group behind him to do their business. He decided to walk towards the Combat Series section and check out the Church at a later date. As he walked, Ferocious studied the card.

Not much information on the card but he was still new to the game. He can ask more questions later.

Walking past several merchants, Ferocious did some non-window window shopping of the stuff being sold. Unlike Wilhelm’s stand, these merchants displayed their wares and even called out to him as he passed. Ferocious didn’t really hear them but he did feel that his body twisted slightly to the stands. Frowning, Ferocious pulled himself away and continued his slow walk. Then a slight surprise came upon him.

You have gained +1 Strength

‘Wow...quick’.

As soon as Ferocious read it, the box shimmered and disappeared and Ferocious had a smile on his face as he avoided a march of soldiers. They fortunately didn’t seem to think anything strange about it and some of them even nodded in his direction and smiled back. Not that he really saw since they were all men. He did note that they were heading towards the center of the city. Maybe someone caused a bigger disturbance?

Ferocious turned his mind back to his walk and the stat he had gotten. Then he decided to check what he had.

“Show Status.”

StatusNameFerociousLevel1ClassNoneFame0Infamy0TitleNoneWorld Rankingn/aGuildNoneFree Stat Points0Health100Mana100Stamina100Strength11Dexterity10Vitality10Intelligence10Wisdom10Luck10Agility10

There seemed to be some gaps in the stats but Ferocious was rather glad that the command worked. He had some thoughts that maybe it was only an NPC command or something.

“Show Skills.”

SkillsAPC. Max. Passive skill.

‘APC? What the hell was APC?’ Ferocious had thought he wouldn’t have any skills at all but this was rather random. He decided to try something out.

“Show APC.”

APC. Max. Passive Skill[p=left]As an ‘Abnormal Piece of the Continent’ you affect the world in a rather strange way. Skills and techniques are easier to obtain for you but the ‘Normal Pieces of the Continent’ have a strained relationship with you.

You cannot lose skill levels due to negligence. Skills are 15% faster in training

Stats are 15% faster to gain.

Levels are 10% faster to gain during the day and 30% faster at Night.

Pain has been reduced to 25% due to being a player.

Pain has been risen to 50% due to being a Human.

No negative affinities due to being Human.

Small antagonism with Evil races due to being Human.

It is very easy to acquire a negative relationship with NPCs.

Dying will not be permanent under normal circumstances. You will revive later (5 days ingame or 1 day IRL).

You will lose some skill proficiencies when you die and you will lose a level that is 1% of your own level rounded up. (So from level 1-100 you will always lose 1 level when leveling). At level 1, deaths will take off 2 of each stat point. *This part of the message will disappear when you hit level 2*

Requires:

Being a player and not an indigenous person of Gaia.

Race will change some qualities of the skill.[/p]

‘...Basically telling me I was a player and pretty much have an advantage. Plus the information about ‘NPCs’...Guess they had their own way of calling themselves.’

Dismissing most of the information, Ferocious mind went back to the walk and search and he sped up. Why did he not care about the pretty useful information? Well 1: Ferocious was focused more on leveling than stat gain anyways, and 2: he really had nothing to compare the information with since ‘Gaia’ was the first VRMMORPG to ever come out.

Finally Ferocious saw a good sign. A large sword, bow and arrow, shield, and even a fist was displayed on a large sign with the words ‘Combat Series Official Building’ on it. How was the sign big enough to do so? Well the size was about 2 metres by 4 metres and it was placed right over the large 5 metre arched door with 2 fully decked out warriors on the sides. The building itself was maybe 3 stories tall and every floor was the same height as the first. So about 15 metres of an awesome building. It took up the same amount of space as 6 normal side by side buildings and that was just what Ferocious could see. It looked rather impressive with its dark red bricks and displayed weapons and the clack clack clack coming from inside gave Ferocious’ blood a slight boil.

Ferocious approached the door only to stop when a man burst through. He was followed by four others and then an assortment of weapons flew at them. Some even pierced the fallen men but they didn’t even seem to notice. ‘High level?’ Ferocious had started to attribute every weird thing as ‘part of the game’ and ‘the power of levels’.

“YOU BLASTED TRAITOR! YOU’RE AN IDIOT FOR TRYING TO COME BACK! If you didn’t have the backing of Sir Orwell then I would have killed you...LEAVE! AND NEVER SET FOOT IN ANY CITY EVER AGAIN.”

The raging shout was from a tall man, still shorter than Ferocious but with a significantly greater muscle mass. If Ferocious was a wooden strong building then the man was the forest that was used to make it. In other words, he was big. He had exited the large doors and the two guards automatically accompanied him when he charged the thrown group. ‘Important.’

The man that was the first to be thrown out just looked up in disgust. Ferocious was even sure he saw a small glint of madness in his eyes. This man wasn’t big but he was still rather beefed up. His thicker neck and cheeks told that it was probably due to training though and not a natural growth. He probably would have been rather chubby if not for the training. Ferocious also noted that the man had a spear sticking out of his gut yet he gave no notice. ‘Monsters’.

“I have a right to enter! You have no reason to kick me out Len! NO RIGHT!”

“I HAVE EVERY RIGHT. YOU KILLED MY BROTHER IN LAW JUST BECAUSE OF YOUR SELFISH DREAMS. I SHOULD JUST KILL -”

At this time the commotion had created a large gathering of people. Taking a glance, Ferocious saw that they were all decked out in strong armor or leathers and some had hard looks. None looked at all sympathetic with the five men.

The large man, Len, was being held back by the two guards. Ferocious had thought that they were just decoration for the building but the fact was that one was able to use only a hand to hold Len back while the other was between them and keeping the peace. Tt seemed the position was given to rather powerful people. The restraining guard whispered a few words to Len and he visibly calmed. Still...

“Your brother in-law? Sir Cliff was weak stupid man who didn’t even deserve his Knight title. He trained me for 10 years and in the end he dumped me saying I was the weak one. HA! I KILLED HIM EASILY IN HIS SLEEP! WHO WAS THE WEAK ONE NOW!?!”

‘Definitely crazy.’

Even the new Ferocious could feel the change in the air. Every single person there had stilled at the words and hands had gone towards weapons. The tension in the air was filled with blood and Len was red with rage. Only the two guards were quiet and neutral. A single glance by the peacekeeping guard followed by his hand going to his sword and the crowd calmed quickly. Len was also calmed by the restraining guard.

“Gag him and throw him out. Take his weapons and armors and send them to the crafters to be smelted. Sell them for a few coppers or something.”

Len disgustingly turned back after these words and several groups of men walked out of the crowd holding strong rope. The fallen group was very verbose in their treatment but obviously the crowd didn’t care. Tied up and gagged, each of the five were hauled off somewhere distant. The city was actually rather large it seemed but the Combat Series section was rather close to a gate. Hence the distance Ferocious had to make from the center of the city.

‘What...an awesome game.’

Ferocious was incredibly impressed with the realism of the city. First he met a random noble in the beginning and managed to get some random items, all of which are probably unique and awesome for a beginner, and now he had just seen a dramatic conflict within a large organisation. Was this some kind of unique event for the first watcher? Thoughts like that went across Ferocious’ head.

Of course this had nothing to do with Ferocious the Player. Instead it was just a major case of Coincidence with a dash of Luck and a side of Timing.

Ferocious watched the receding crowd until there were only a few stragglers and the guards were back in position. Gathering his courage, Ferocious approached the grand doors.

Immediately he was stopped by the two guards. Both of them were decked in heavy plate mail but their movements were not encumbered in the least. They were both holding a glave and were also equipped with a sheathed sword at the waist and a large shield on their back. They did not wear a helmet so Ferocious was confronted with strong faces and sharp glares. Both of them had shaved weathered faces and some scars but they were not ugly.

“State your business.”

The guard on the left, the one that was holding Len, had spoken first. The one on the right had gone back to his vigilant guarding and let his partner do the speaking. The words were not very offensive so Ferocious gave his waist bow and spoke clearly.

“I am an ‘Otherworlder’ and I would like to see if the Combat Series would be able to help me in getting stronger. I was told this was the best way if I wished to survive in this world.”

A short nod from the man and Ferocious continued towards the door. He pushed at the door but…

“Ummm, excuse me. Since I just started I can’t seem to open it…”

This caused anyone within earshot to smile. 11 strength was very weak so this large door was an obstacle.

The humiliation didn’t last long as the right guard lightly pushed the door and allowed him in. Ferocious had a frown on his face but he decided to quickly get stronger instead of complaining. He entered the building.

The inside of the building had a sort of dojo feeling as there were countless mats and training equipment in the large space. The large space was divided into three distinct areas. The center area was the smallest and consisted of a stone flooring. At the end of this ‘corridor’ was a set of stairs that led to the upper floors or the lower ones.

To the right was probably a training area. Stacks of wooden weapons and uniforms, the area had large groups of children that were doing repetitions under teachers and small groups of young men doing spars. To the left was a large area that had metal weapons and armor and a sign loaded with sewing needles, hammers, paint brushes, and small knives. The writing underneath said ‘Crafting Series Selling Area’. A large counter took up almost the entire area and prices could be seen on the items. Several people were lined up and it didn’t seem that the area never had customers as several people came and went.

‘A practise area and a weapons shop?’ Best to know these things now rather than try to find them later.’

On a side note, the door that Ferocious had come through is only the main entrance. To the back of the building there were several doors that opened out towards a vast courtyard that had rows upon rows of training dummies. There were also targets for archers and rings for matches. Ferocious could not see any of this.

Right in front of the doorway was a reception area that was rather small and dingy. The wooden counter looked to have been damaged by thrown rocks or weapons slices or blunt impacts. Dents and cuts and missing pieces made it look like a mess. Ferocious was pretty sure he even saw a few dozen broken arrows in it. Behind the counter was a boy about 12-14 years old and very tall for his age.

Ferocious approached the boy and the boy looked up from his half dazed dream.

“Yea? You need something?”

The boy was definitely half sleeping since he was slumped on an arm and the eyes under his half closed eyelids were only raised to Ferocious’ chest. The boy had no watcher and Ferocious didn’t see ayone else close enough to help so he decided to just ask the boy first.

“I am an ‘Otherworlder’ and I wish to know how to become strong.”

Not very eloquent but simple seems best for the kid. The boy’s eyes widened a bit at the ‘Otherworlder’ term but a yawn brought back the sleepy look. He nodded and took out a large stick with a wrapped cloth at the end. Then he whipped around and smacked a large gong. Where the gong was before and how Ferocious missed it, he would never know.

A loud noise rang around the building but everyone else ignored it. Ferocious actually quivered due to the noise and his vision wabbled.

Your body cannot take the effects of the loud sound. You are under the effects of ‘Dizziness’. Your hearing is disabled - only a long ringing will be heard for the next 10 seconds. Your vision will be impaired for 10 seconds. You cannot move your body for 10 seconds. Health and Mana regeneration has stopped for 10 seconds. You took 20 damage.

‘Just for a little NOISE?!’

Ferocious again renewed his determination to build up his character. When the ringing stopped and his sight finally stabilized Ferocious noticed a few men around him. All of them had the trademark muscular size but none had any weapons on them. They were all at least double Ferocious’ age so their glares had the impact of age, experience, strength, and training.

Ferocious was about to bow when a man stepped forward. A slight man, the course muscles that were displayed through the tight shirt gave off a sense of strength. He was the only one with a long white beard and no hair and his face had some wrinkles on it. He was the probably the oldest one there.

“Welcome newcomer. I am the grandmaster of Bellen’s Combat Series. These three are some of the other masters. What do you need?”

The man’s voice belied his wiry look as a deep rumbling assaulted Ferocious and caused him to stagger.

You have been hit with ‘Leader’s Voice’. All stats decrease by 80%. You have been inflicted with the fear debuff.

‘Monster!!!’

“I-I am one of the ‘Otherworlders’ that have come today. I wish to train here and become strong enough for the world outside.”

Ferocious barely got the words out as his teeth were clattering. His body was shaking like a leaf and he could feel the sweat rolling down his face. The three masters were confused by Ferocious’ actions but the old man was nodding a bit. The old man turned and nodded towards the youngest master there.

“Kern, you should speak with him. My ‘Leader’s Voice’ is giving some unwanted effects on the lad. I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

With those words the old man left, but Ferocious was under the increased effects of the skill. He couldn’t even speak now and he almost fell over due to weakness.

“I’ll wait a few moments until the effects wear off. Honestly the skill wasn’t even used properly and even a kid could shake it off…”

What was left unsaid was ‘So weak’ and that angered Ferocious. That anger bubbled as he was still affected by ‘Leader’s Voice’ and couldn’t do anything. Ferocious’ face reddened and his shaking started to increase as he got angrier and angrier.

The three masters noticed this and gave different reactions. The youngest was the largest - almost a head taller than Ferocious and had bulging muscles - and he was frowning at the display.

The other two were around Ferocious’ size and the oldest one was expressionless. No. He was asleep! The old man was standing asleep! Ferocious’ anger increased. Then the middle man walked up with a smile and laughed.

“Ah, don’t worry boy, we’ll train you properly and you’ll be able to lift up your head and walk with pride.”

Then he gave Ferocious a slap on the shoulder.

Now, the slap was a fairly normal one. The kind of slap you give a peer that gave off a friendly air. Like the kind of slap a teammate would give to another after a game or practice. Ferocious had never gotten one before, but he had watched some school games and was envious of the interactions.

This slap was from an officially master NPC with a probably high level and high stats. The receiver was a new ‘Otherworlder’ that was under the effects of the stat reducing ‘Leader’s Voice’ and had stats that would lose out to a newborn NPC.

The slap from the man slammed Ferocious to the ground. His legs buckled under the force and there was a snap as his arms - he tried to land on his arms - bent beneath him. Then ground met face and Ferocious almost blacked out from the pain. He actually wanted to black out and forget the pain that was hitting him now.

Ferocious’ head felt like his skull had cracked open and his brains were trying to breathe. His arms were fire and acid as they were in positions that defied what was natural and proper. The rest of his body had some impact from the fall but not enough to compare.

You have been severely damaged. You have taken 89 damage and are under the effects of ‘Bleeding’ and ‘Bone Displacement’. You are losing 3% health per second.

Ferocious couldn’t see anything but the information boxes, but he could hear the voices.

“CRAP! I forgot that they were weaker than usual. Ilan!!”

Ferocious heard the running of feet before the words were even out.

“May you feel my Goddess and recover, Ket’s Touch! May you fall for my Goddess and shine, Ket’s Kiss!

You are under the effects of ‘Ket’s Touch’. ‘Leader’s Voice’ effect has decreased. Bleeding effect is taken care of. Bones have been repaired. Internal Organs have been repaired. Health has recovered by 500 points.

You are under the effects of ‘Ket’s Kiss’. Health has started recovery. Health recovery at 250%.

The effect was near instantaneous as Ferocious’ face was repaired and healed and all of his broken bones were fixed. His arms were re-set and straight and his body ache was gone. His health was only at 100 so it should have been healed as well. Ferocious felt better than he ever had before. He gave a long gasp of fresh bloodless air.

“T- *cough cough* Th-Thank you.”

Ferocious was on all fours, on the ground, and trying to clear the blood in his throat. The game was entirely too realistic if it even included internal damage.

“Ah, haha. Sorry about that. Guess I don’t know my own strength.”

“*groan* No, its more like no one knows my own strength. The ‘Leader’s Voice’ decreased my stats by 80% or something so I only had 2-3 of all stats. Really bad.”

“Ah haha…”

Ferocious finally got over his ‘beating’ and stood up from his position. The master had an embarrassed face as he started scratching the back of his head and was avoiding eye contact with Ferocious. The other two were also avoiding eye contact and were also doubling over and trying to hold in their laughter. Ferocious got a little angry but his embarrassment overrode it.

A fourth man stood close to Ferocious and didn’t have an amused look. He was hard faced and had a few scars across his face and over a missing eye. He wore a purple and grey tunic over some leathers and he was equipped with a wooden sword. Ferocious recognized him as one of the teachers and probably as ‘Ilan’.

“This isn’t something to laugh at. This boy could have died. If hes an ‘Otherworlder’ like we heard, then his stats are abysmal. I’ve been to a birthing before and seen the stats. 100 health and 10 vitality. I’m surprised he doesn’t die just walking down a street.”

The gravel voice matched the man’s look but his words were rather kind. At least he managed to get the masters to become serious again.

“Yes, yes Ilan, we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Was the hierarchy here different? Or was Ilan just that mean looking? Ilan just nodded at Kern’s words and walked back to his training. His class hadn’t given up their repetitions while he was gone. ‘So obedient…’

“Well then, guess we should continue. What class do you figure would be best for you? Or do you need an explanation as well? An explanation would take a long while as well so if you have a path you with to go down…”

Ferocious’ face was probably read by the young Kern so he didn’t need to speak much. Ferocious slowly tried to figure out what would be best. A large explanation would be good, but he probably wouldn’t be able to absorb all of the information or take notes. Plus direct information on classes he wanted would probably be best anyways.

“Hmmmm I would like to know about the Knight Class or Paladin Class.”

Those two classes were directed at helping people so Ferocious could practice his social skills that way. The skills he would obtain from two powerful warrior classes would probably be good for fighting as well.

“Ah, I guess Ilan left some sort of impact on you. Ah, was I wrong? Ilan is a Paladin of Ket so he healed you using those skills. You would need to be very fervent in your faith if you wish to take up the class of Paladin or Priest. For a Knight you would need to gain the favour of the people of the city. Anyways for the explanation…

Knights are the most wanted class in Gaia. They wield a combination of Sword and Shield and other weapons and they are very powerful when mounted. To become a Knight you would need to have the respect of the people in order to accumulate Honor. Honor is gained when you perform a service without any ulterior motives. Since this stat is given based on personality, most Knights are extremely respected and desired by Cities. You cannot have a bad personality and become a Knight.

For Paladins you would first need to choose a deity to worship. Afterwards you need to train yourself in the warrior arts and strengthen your belief in your god. Paladins can choose whichever weapon they want but most choose a large shield and some kind of blunt weapon. This allows them to cripple their target without a high chance of death or limb loss. Paladins are mainly used to spread beliefs and guard others. They are required to be selfless and good, at least for the Good aligned churches. Dark Knights are the opposite of Paladins and Knights and we do not have much information on them.”

This information was easy to understand and Ferocious nodded in appreciation. A Paladin seemed rather bothersome to obtain since it required some religious knowledge and Ferocious was blatantly Atheist - he tried to be Christian but nothing came out of it and he is became socially crippled. A Knight though would be rather easy...maybe. If it was all about helping, then Ferocious had some community service experience from school. If it was about something else though…

“I’ll go for being a Knight.”

Ferocious forced himself to not bow all the time. He also forced himself to make some sort of eye contact. Wilhelm the merchant didn’t seem to mind if there was no eye contact, but these large three men probably wouldn’t like the disrespect of a lack of eye contact. As much as he didn’t want to, Ferocious stood straight, made eye contact, and spoke clearly.

The three men gave a slight approval at Ferocious’ stand and Kern nodded towards the doors on the other side of the room.

“You can start your training in the yard there. Lopen here will pay off his accidental abuse with some legitimate abuse.”

Kern waved to the middle man and gave a broad smile to the pair. Ferocious felt like he had been invited to hell and found out that the main course and guest of honor was himself. Lopen just gave a smile back as he stopped himself from patting Ferocious’ back again.

For the next few weeks Ferocious went through an extremely fast training camp. The first thing they did was attach a few weights to his arms and legs and waist and then started some hand-to-hand combat. A few days of this and he managed to create the ‘Unarmed Combat Mastery’ skill which surprised Lopen and Kern. Ferocious was given off to Kern to train next.

Ferocious needed to choose a weapon along with his shield so he was taken to the training armory and told to choose something. He didn’t decide quickly and took his time with each weapon before deciding on a Sword with his Shield and a long Spear. The selection was perfectly mundane but practical too. Trying to use some secret weapon would take far too long.

Ferocious was told about the different types of classes and their jobs. Kern was a Weapon-Master so he had some knowledge of almost every weapon. Any new weapons can also be tested in a special way and he was also allowed to create new techniques and teach them to other people. He was basically a researcher and a teacher. Lopen was also a Weapon-Master but he focused more on the deadly techniques used in battle and was also one of the few with any sort of unarmed combat skills. A warrior through and through but he gave good unarmed classes. The last master was an old man named Skeer who was a retired Knight and taught classes that included tactics, strategies, logistics, and theory. A full time teacher.

A Knight can have a variety of classes but most usually go for the more important ones - at least the ones that give the most pay. Under this rule of ‘Pay is proportional to Importance’ Ferocious was slowly taught a list as he went through different motions with the sword.

A commander. Knights who were taught extensively in the art of command were highly favoured as commanders. Earning renown by doing so, a high quality Knight commander can instill fear in their enemies if news got out that they were hired. Becoming a good commander though, required years of being taught the art of war or years of experience. A combination of the two was greatly desired.

A soldier. As a soldier, the skills a Knight has can greatly turn the tides of skirmishes. Knights are known for the battle cries and shouts as the positive boosts from them can help comrades and disable the enemy. The combat skills they wield can also pack a considerable punch and duels between Knights are the stuff of legends.

A teacher. An injury, old age, or psychological damage can cripple the offensive power of a Knight so most would go on to teach the next generation or for the rich nobility. Since it is impossible for a Knight to have a negative personality, the teacher only has to take care to teach skills and lessons proportional to how much Honor the disciple has. Ferocious is being taught only the basics for now.

The other jobs were rather low in comparison but included things like ‘Hired Help’ as the main category name. Knight Mercenaries were also well received since they were backed by the Honor stat.

Ferocious managed to complete his quick training a single real life day so he was told to raise the honor stat and kill some monsters to level. Ferocious decided to log off since he had been playing for the better part of a day.

Dante rose out of the console and blinked his weary eyes. He didn’t feel tired in game since he was required to sleep a few hours each in-game day but being out of the console and experiencing a tired body caused some considerable tension in his body. Dante rose sluggardly and did some stretches he had done before in school as he made his way to the washroom.

Dante didn’t have any work at the moment and the living expenses were rather small if you only ate enough to function a day. Dante had eaten some of the food inside the game and they tasted exactly the same as the ones in reality. Upon entering the game, you didn’t get any food or water or anything but you did get 50 copper coins. Dante was given a water skin from Lopen and his meals were provided by the Combat Series as well. Pretty good deal if you asked him.

While cooking his meal, Dante remembered an incident during the second day of training. The courtyard was filled with new students like him being taught under a few teachers and sparring matches between men and women so there was no lack of activity. Unlike the other students, Dante was being taught by the masters instead of the teachers so it looked a little like favoritism. The students didn’t seem to mind though so there were no problems on that end. The actual problem was..

“HEY! IS THERE ANYONE IN THE HOUSE?”

Ferocious and his partner Levi, another ‘Otherworlder’ who was a tanned pretty boy, looked up from their training and stared at the entrance along with 20 other students and teachers. Levi had entered the Combat Series building a few hours after Ferocious and was given the chance to train in nearly the same way Ferocious was allowed. The only difference was a lack of being beaten to a pulp. The two were paired off sometimes in order to spar and learn teamed fights.

Levi had a rather easy going personality and was aiming to be a Weapon-Master since he said it would be cool to carry around 20 different weapons and use them like an expert. Ferocious had the regular reaction of ‘What about carry weight’ before he gave up trying to convince Levi. Watching his antics when he tried to equip so many weapons and train in them was rather refreshing.

Anyways back to the loudmouths.

The grand doors of the dojo had been left open after Ferocious and Levi were seen to struggle just to open it. Ferocious had 23 strength now due to leveling from the caught monsters the building kept - they had a sort of monster zoo for training - and from a combination of gravity rings and training. At level 7 he had distributed his stats in strength, agility, and vitality at a ratio of 3:1:1. His stats were progressing slowly but properly, at least thats what he thought. He could open the doors properly now and take the abuse of Lopen’s pats.

The seven intruders were crowding the large doors and openly acting antagonistic to the group. Ferocious saw their clothing and judged them to be Players like him and Levi. They were each carrying a wooden weapon of some kind and each of them stared at any female trainee that they saw. They were completely oblivious to the tension being caused from their lewd stares.

Ferocious had eyes the women on the first day as well and probably had the exact same kind of stare as them. He stopped that bad habit when he saw a 12 year old girl lift a 14 year old over her head and slam him into the ground with a huge slam. Out in the streets Ferocious had seen countless Players with broken bones after they tried to pick up the girls they saw on the streets. It was a sobering scene.

The men at the doors were arrogantly entering the building and eyeing everything. They headed straight in before turning to the side and towards the reception desk. The tired boy was still there and stood up to take a good look at the people before sitting back down in boredom. The boy was actually 16 years old but pretty short for his age. At exactly 5 feet he had next to no muscle mass at all and no air of strength. Ferocious hadn’t seen the boy train the last two days so he assumed the boy was just a part-time clerk or something.

“Yea? How may I help you.”

Without even raising his head the boy eyed the group and politely asked the group their business. The polite tone was entirely ruined by his posture but there was really no reason to point that out. The lead man was probably the most good looking and he sneered down at the boy.

“I hear this place is the one place to train. Where do we sign up?”

“Hrm give me a sec.”

The boy took out that familiar gong stick and struck that familiar gong. The loud ring didn’t shake Ferocious anymore since his vitality could somewhat take it so his body just shook a bit. Levi had a lower level and vitality stat than Ferocious so he visibly shook but didn’t do anything else. The group of men were happily clutching their heads and obviously loving their dizziness.

“Grrrrrrrrrrrr What the urgggh was that?”

The men were shaking and stumbling into each other as they were under the effect of the sound. The masters came down the stairs and positioned themselves in front of the dizzy men and smiled at the display. Until one of the men fell down.

The man in the center of the group had been jostled constantly by the men and his own dizziness probably did not help him in any way. He fell with a shout but the other men either ignored it or didn’t notice. The man that fell was promptly trampled by his group and hit by the two who were swinging their weapons at whatever they stepped in. He died in a flash of grey but not before he cursed his luck.

The masters were shocked and tried to get to the man before he died but were too late after they pulled away the group to reach him. They watched with shock as he turned grey and the only thing that was left behind was a shirt and a wooden bat. Like a true warrior though they got over the death and separated the recovering men. Each of them grabbed two men and held them by the neck until they stopped shaking.

The two swinging men were still going at it and both of them were being held by Kern. They slapped the weapons and fists on Kern but Kern didn’t even budge and the weapons snapped after a few hits. He was hit by fists and feet until they finally got too tired and calmed down. Their red faces were glaring at Kern in red rage and Kern sighed at what he saw. He waited till they stopped shaking before carrying them towards the door, whispering a few words, and throwing the two out.

The two were on the ground for a bit but they picked themselves up and shouted unintelligibly. Both of them rushed towards Kern who had got back inside the building and was approaching the four left over men who had been released by Lopen and Skeer. Ferocious was about the cry out and warn Kern about the angry duo but stopped in amazement. The two men had rushed to the entrance only to bounce off of an invisible wall and land a few metres back. They were not moving so Ferocious assumed they had been knocked out.

Ferocious and Levi both had shocked faces so a close student whispered what had happened.

“Master Kern had kicked them out of the building and forbidden them entry. He needed to have them in his hands in order to use the command so it was very easy. The command can be overturned by the other masters and the Grandmaster as well.”

Ferocious nodded his appreciation and eyed Levi. He gave a silent look that asked to continue their training while paying attention to what was being said. Levi returned it and they both picked up their heavy wooden weapons and started their individual repetitions.

“Well that was unfortunate. What do you four need with us? I am Master Kern and these two are Master Skeer and Master Lopen.”

“Ah, haha, we heard that this place and its renown for training so we wish to be taught in any way.”

The leader had erased the sneer from his face and made a smile replace it. He had also seen what had happened to trouble makers so he was smart enough to change his attitude.

Kern looked at Ferocious and Levi and gave a look. Ferocious understood and shook his head in denial. That group wouldn’t be a good match for Levi and Ferocious. Better to have seperate training groups.

“Alright then. You and your friends can work under Skeer here and take a few lessons before training under Lopen. In a few days I’ll come back and handle your weapons training. Fine?”

“Ah...Yes. Alright.”

Logging back in, Ferocious started his trek through the city in order to increase his Honor stat. The stat was generated from a ‘Stat book’ which was common enough in Combat Series areas so it didn’t cost much. The actual work will have to be properly done by Ferocious so his goal of a Knight was still far away.

HonorA partner of the people, this value is reflective of the relation between people and the user. This stat increases as you acquire respectability with the people. Cannot add stat points to this.

Helping citizens and increasing relationship with the populace will increase this stat.

Cannot increase this stat if you are filled with devious and greedy thoughts. Must have an amiable personality.

Doing evil and negative actions will lower the value if people see it.

This stat will have an impact on Fame.

He slept for 12 hours so he missed almost 3 days of the game.

The first thing Ferocious did was volunteer for whatever he could. He wandered into the Crafting Series area - he obtained a map of Bellen from Skeer - and into a few busy shops. Most had frantic workers but they didn’t seem distressed that much so Ferocious entered and exited quite quickly.

The eighth building was what he was looking for.

“Georgie! After you’re finished go and sharpen those tools! Rick! You need to get more fresh water!”

“I can’t! I need to go and buy some extra hides and then visit the woodmakers afterwards!

“You can’t add more stuff to my burden! I need to pay attention to the fires else it will take forever to build it back up!”

“Excuse me!! Is there any clerk here!?”

“Give us a second sir! Leo go and take care of it!”

“Leo isn’t here, he went out to visit the market and get some lunch for us! Margaret isn’t even the town so don’t bother asking about her.”

“Excuse me?”

The three men in the building were extremely agitated as they each hurried at their jobs and shouted at one another. There was a small line of customers as well and they seemed to find the situation amusing as they relaxed in their lines and watched the frustrated workers. The oldest man took a short break from his work and approached Ferocious. His look gave a promise of retribution if Ferocious just wasted his time.

“What do you want boy?”

Ferocious was dressed in the casual workout clothing of the Combat Series so he was received as a member of the group instead of as an ‘Otherworlder’. Ferocious had been quick frightened at the feelings the NPC population had towards ‘Otherworlders’. He had seen constant hopeless ‘Otherworlders’ with drabby clothing or ‘Otherworlders’ who took it too far and died. The influx of new ‘Otherworlders’ had stagnated since all of the buyers of ‘Gaia’ had already logged on and made their account.

“Ah, I wish to become a Knight so I need to increase Honor. I would li-”

“GOOD! Rick! Give take this boy under your wing and put him to work. NOW!!”

Ferocious was grabbed and thrown into the arms of a large but much younger worker. Rick still looked 10 years older than Ferocious and he easily grabbed Ferocious and put him behind a station.

“Shovel once from the pile of coal and then press the bellows 8 times. Repeat until I come back.”

The big man left Ferocious to his work and Ferocious acted quickly. He didn’t mind the monotonous work since he had worked in a factory before so he quickly followed the instructions and played some memorized music in his head. His strength was just barely enough to press the bellows and he was pleased to see an increase in stats from time to time.

For the next few weeks Ferocious volunteered in different parts of the town and went to hunt some rabbits outside the city at night. Word of mouth spread the tale of the Knight in training and he was exploited to the max. Still, he was paid, he was fed free food, and he got the stats he needed in the end. Ferocious was never working long enough to generate a skill for his work so that was one downside to everything.

“Show Status.”

StatusNameFerociousLevel12ClassNoneFame104Infamy0TitleNoneWorld Ranking1000+GuildNoneFree Stat Points0Health280Mana100Stamina195Strength54Dexterity18Vitality28Intelligence10Wisdom12Honor50Luck10Agility23

50 strength and 50 honor. All of the prerequisite stats needed for the Knight class. Ferocious headed towards the Church of Information that he had ignored for the last few weeks.

So this is my SS of Ferocious and his start in Gaia. Its rather long but the information is waaaay too little. I apologize for running on for so long.

The group of 5 in the beginning that were being thrown out? Yea that was the same group that got beaten up by Michael during his training years. Surprisingly the big boys were the same age as Michael.

Levi will be a future companion for Ferocious. He may or may not be referenced in chapter 16.

Ferocious will be the leader of a specific mercenary guild that aims to eliminate the conflict between Otherworlders and NPCs.

I need help on what guild Ferocious will lead. He is a Knight obviously so as the Leader the name of the guild should reflect that somewhat. The guild is also supposed to be an intermediary between Otherworlders and NPCs so it needs a ‘Good’ name. Lastly the guild will need to be referenced in the story a few times so the name needs to be...good sounding...

For the questioners, Ferocious is not OP. He is a regular player. He will work for his own stuff and not exploit the game like Bardray does in LMS (is it Bradley? I heard that before...) where bardray had his team leave last kill to him and all that.

Ferocious is still docile. No real fight scenes. Going berserk when he was rabbit training would sound cool but look dumb. Even he wouldn't try that.