The straw training dummy inside of the Magic building is directly in front of me. The walls around the dummy are scored with burn marks, cracks in the wood, and other signs of damage. I have my right arm held above my head. From the center of my stomach I feel the pull of mana and start to direct it towards my raised arm, getting ready to push it out as fast as I can; as I swing my hand in a large arc, towards the dummy, I shout the words, "Wind Blade!”

From the force of my words I feel the mana I was pushing towards my arm get pulled out much faster than I could have done myself. It rushes to my hand, and in the middle of my swing a physical blade of wind comes out and manages to hit the dummy square in the head. I fist pump, happy that my aim is getting better while use these shortened incantations now.

I pick up the plaque of spells hanging on the back wall next to my shooting aisle and review some of the notes I've made there. Arinn, the magic instructor, had loaned me a quill and ink after I pestered him for one.

As my attempts at magic finally started to hit their mark, I had started to get curious about the feeling of mana as it moved through my body. It was such an odd sensation, something that couldn’t really be replicated in real life. As I thought about that feeling, the way the mana surged whenever I performed a spell, I noticed that without my saying anything the mana inside of my body started to move. Heck, it almost made me think I was sick at first somehow. But the more I focused and really thought about the mana, I noticed that I could actually feel a well of it inside of me.

And the more I tried, the more I was able to move that mana at will. It still feels a little sluggish to do so, but if I combine that sensation with certain physical actions it becomes easier to force the mana in the direction that I want.

Take the Fireball and the Waterball spells for example. For one, the fire mana and the water mana feel totally different – the fire mana feels hot when it flows through my body, while the water mana feels cooling. Also, and more specifically, the mana for a Fireball spell will always twist clockwise, no matter which arm I perform the spell with. The opposite is true for the Waterball spell: the mana always turns in a counterclockwise spiral. I found that if I twisted my hand in that respective direction just as I use the spell I am able to push the mana out more efficiently.

By doing that, I was able to unlock something: shortened incantations.

The way Arinn had demonstrated the Fireball spell to us originally — only saying the word, “Fireball,” instead of the full incantation — is an example about how experience and physically moving your mana allows you to perform a spell more efficiently, requiring less words to get the same result.

I was also able to figure out why using the Waterball spell with my right arm felt like it took a little bit longer than the fireball spell. It wasn't just that I was bad at magic — though I'm sure that was part of it — but it was that water mana comes out of a different place then fire mana. I had asked Arinn about it after I noticed that with each elemental spell, the sensation of the mana moving through my body felt different. Since he had time while in-between groups at that moment, he pulled out one of the many books on the bookshelves and showed me a chart of a human body.

“Here,” he had said, “what you're feeling is the placement of your elemental points. Essentially all of your mana exists as a large ball in your core, and depending on which way it leaves that core you will get a different type of mana. This kind of 8 pointed circle is the way your mana looks like inside of your body. Though these can stretch or shift depending on your class and what kind of mana you use all the time.”

He pointed at around the right shoulder of the figure and said, “As an exclusive fire mage, my fire point is much closer to my right arm. It basically means that I can pull off almost all of my spells much faster then a beginner with that change alone. There are other things that go into it, but this is one of the internal systems that dictates how you feel mana, and how mana acts for you.”

I was totally shocked by how deep the system for magic went, and I was really impressed by how much work was put into the physicality of it all. I had originally thought it would just be like, ‘you feel mana inside of you and it empties out with spells.’ Kind of like a battery. But the whole existence of elemental points and the fact that those points could shift around seems like it ties up character growth with the character’s physical body.

In short, the shape of the basic elemental points looks roughly like this:

The very top point is your wind point. The top right corner is your fire point, and the top left corner is your water point. The left most point is earth, the right most point is metal. The bottom left point is your light mana, and the bottom right point is your dark mana. And at the very bottom is your lightning mana point.

At least that’s what mine looks like since I’m a brand new player. Apparently those will shift around as I level up, and even when I pick my class in the future.

Arin had said that since the way these mana points work is pretty consistent, most experienced magic users can tell at a glance what kind of magic other mages use. He holds up his wooden fire staff with his right hand as an example; had he been a water mage, he probably would've held it with his left hand.

This was why my Waterball spell took longer, because the water mana literally had to travel further in my body than the fire mana did. Even with the improvements that I've made with magic, I can still only do a shortened Waterball spell with my left hand, and a shortened Fireball spell with my right hand.

I stare at the lopsided neck of the straw dummy and pull my mana down and out. I chant the words, “Lightning Arrow,” and thrust my hand out in a stabbing motion at the same time. The feeling of lightning mana always tingles as it moves through my body, and as soon as it reaches my fingertips there’s the sensation of getting a static shock before a bolt of lightning flies out.

Yes! I managed to actually hit where I aimed!

In terms of looks, most basic spells take on the form of a ball or a bolt. Though the basic metal spell, Metal Needle, literally shoots out a small needle, so that's pretty cool.

I put the plaque with the basic spells back onto the wall and pace along my shooting aisle. While I walk, I imagine reaching my hand into the center of my body and pulling straight up. The feeling of my mana exiting the wind point happens cleanly. The sensation is almost like having a soft breeze inside of my body; it's pretty refreshing honestly. I pull the mana towards my left shoulder, and then down my side and around my ribs, and then push it into my right leg, before bringing it all the way back up my arm and towards my fingertips. I don't know if it's a trait of wind mana in particular, but this one always feels the easiest to move.

Doing this has been a fun way to pass the time while I wait for my mana to recharge; just getting used to the feeling of grabbing hold of my mana and moving it wherever I want inside of my body. It's a shame that there's not too much more I can do with it than that.

I point my right hand towards the dummy, not doing any sort of specific movement. I imagine pooling all of the wind mana there, and then pushing it out of my hand. From all over my hand a little bit of wind blows out.

That's it. It’s pretty lame honestly.

None of the other elements generate a strong affect from this method either, not even when I add body movements to it. In fact nothing physical even happens when I push earth or metal mana out like this. Although the light element is kind of nice since it literally makes my hand glow softly when I do it.

“Hey D0n, buddy,” says Arinn, making his way back towards me from his seat by the door. “Look, our cloud is off shift for new players at the moment. So I was going to go, maybe eat some food, relax a little. I don't know if you maybe wanna go into the game yet or…”

“No I'm good,” I say, “there's a crazy amount of depth with this magic stuff. I want to play around with it a bit more first.”

“Right, right, but you see I kind of wanted to leave the building.” The two of us just stare at each other. “You know what, if we’re talking about getting used to the game, I’m sure you still aren't quite as comfortable moving around with your character as you’d want to be right? Why don't you stop by the Attack building then. The instructor there, he's a cool guy and usually just spends most of his time practicing stuff. He's got a Karate Alignment, so I'm sure he'll be a perfect partner for helping you move your character better. And you know with all those, big fancy movements you're using for these basic spells, I'm sure that'll help with your magic too, somehow?”

I’m still looking at Arinn as he speaks, but I’m already getting excited about the thought of learning martial arts. It's something I always thought of as really cool, but I realize I actually have the chance to try it myself now!

I thank Arinn and make my way out to the village square. I hope he gets a good lunch, he looked pretty drained back there.

I stretch as I make my way outside of the Magic building and take a look at the rest of the Tutorial Village. I don't really see many other players anymore, and those that I do see are making their way towards the big hole at the far end of the Village, which seems to be where you leave from.

Walking down the cobblestone path I try to figure out which one would be the Attack instructors building. A bit further down the road I see a sign with a sword on it. This seems as likely as anything so I open the door and go in.

The inside of this place seems huge. All of the walls are lined with a wide variety of weapons; swords, shields, axes, maces, anything you can think of. There's a couple rows of the same straw training dummies off to the side, with the center of the room dominated by a large dirt packed ring.

In the center of that ring is a player who I can only describe as a bundle of muscles in a Karate gi. He's definitely a good deal taller than me, with spiky, short black hair, a red headband, and has the sleeves of his white gi torn off. He’s slowly working through fighting forms by himself.

Looking at him, the only thought that goes through my mind is whether or not companies have the right to copyright strike someone inside of a game. Because there is no way his character looks like that on accident.

In the middle of one of his form he turns around, spotting me at the door.

“Oh hey, didn’t expect to see any new players here at this time. I thought i had just helped out the last group. I'm the Attack instructor. The name’s Riyu.”

Yeah… his character design is definitely on purpose. Up close and personal it’s clear just how big this guy is. But that only makes it more confusing with how high pitched his voice is.

“Hi, my name’s D0n. I've actually been in the tutorial village for a bit but I just kept messing around in the Magic building longer then most. Arinn, the magic instructor, actually recommended that I come over here next.”

“Are you serious? That ever high and mighty mage actually recommended somebody to talk to a fighting class like me? Well color me surprised.”

“Well he did say that he knew you.”

“Oh we know each other all right. We ended up in the same starting city on the plains continent, and always argued about whose class was better. You know, the whole magic versus sword argument. Though I'm more of a fist user myself.”

Clearly. I clear my throat to muffle a chuckle. “I mean, this game seems like it has enough flexibility for you to just use both though?”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Where's the fun in that?! Where’s the creativity?! All magic does is automate stuff way too much! I'm playing a Full VR game so that I can be in control. Which means I don't want to just chant some words and blow up a Wolf. if that's all I wanted I'd be playing a much cheaper game than this! If I’m in Golden Age, I wanna see a wolf with my own two eyes, go right up to that wolf, and punch it in the jaw myself!”

I have no words. I just stare at Riyu.

… I like this guy.

“Ahem,” he coughs into his hand, as if realizing he had gotten a little too impassioned in his speech. “Anyway, if you want to learn how to fight in this game you came to the right place. Is there anything that you're interested in, like in particular? You can see we have pretty much any choice of weapon you can think of and our own training dummies to try them out on. I suppose if you have anything super specific in mind, we can always ask the blacksmith to see if he can whip something up.”

“I’m definitely going to take my time trying stuff out, that's for sure,” I say as I look around, almost salivating at how many choices there are, “but at the moment I was told I could come here to get used to moving around in Full VR. I’m in a wheelchair in the real world actually, so it took me a good amount of time just to get to the point that I can walk around without tripping.”

“I see, that makes sense now why Arinn would recommend you come to me. I can definitely help with that, I'm a Karate Alignment after all. Come on in to the ring with me. And take off your shoes!”

I do as Riyu told me, placing my leather shoes off to the side by the doorway, and go back over to the dirt ring. I can feel the texture of the matted dirt on the soles of my feet. That's another new sensation I would probably get lost in if left to myself.

“Okay, so I'm going to teach you some basic Karate forms. Some punches and kicks, some blocks. And I want you to just try and replicate those movies as I do them.”

I nod my head. Riyu walks me through how to get into a horse stance, how to do a karate punch, and tries to teach me how to do a couple of kicks. But any time I try to kick I immediately fall.

“No, no, I want you to only look at me as you do it, stop looking down. If you've ever seen a kung fu movie try imagining one of those actors. Okay, on three now.

“One. Two. Three!”

I keep my eyes locked on Riyu, while imagining a martial artist that I've seen in movies like he told me, and this time I snap into a kick without losing my balance.

“See, there you go! That's the trick to moving in Full VR. At the end of the day, this is still a game. Yeah it feels like you're walking or you're moving your body or you’re throwing a punch, but all of that is only being done inside your head. Which means if you wanna move in the game you just have to think about moving in the game, and let the rest happen. The better the image in your head, the more confidently you take that step, the easier it is to make that movement. I'm sure that's why walking in this game is so hard for you, while it's something that most people in game don't even think about.

“Because in real life you don't really think about mechanically walking somewhere. You just think, ‘I wanna go over there.’ It's that same thing in Full VR. Just think, ‘I want to go over there,’ ‘I want to do this,’ and then apply that to everything. So if you want to throw a punch don’t think, ‘I have to make a fist, I have to push my arm forward, apply the rotation of my hips.’ No! Just think, ‘I’m gonna hit him in the face, he’s a big fat jerk who can’t keep his mouth shut, so he totally deserves it,’ and then do it! Punch him in the face!”

There was a bit of an extra rant there at the end that didn't feel like it applied to me, but his overall point makes sense. This is still a game. So I just have to commit.

I close my eyes and imagine that I'm lightly bouncing on the balls of my feet. And just let myself feel.

I can feel the tension in my ankles as they flex to push up. I can feel my clothes rustle as I move up and down. The lightest motion of my arms as they bounce with me.

I open my eyes and imagine jogging in a circle around the ring. And then I just let myself go. I end the loop in a backflip and land square on my feet, simple.

The less I try to focus on the individual mechanics, the easier it is to do.

“There you go, that's it! You just gotta trust it and let yourself do it.” Riyu gives me a high five. “Now then, you are in the Attack building, so we might as well run through the basic intro. You ready?”

I nod, excited at all the possibilities of things I can learn in this building.

“Well… honestly the overall jist is pretty much what I've told you. If you wanna attack something you attack. If you gotta dodge, dodge. Everything else is just the nitty-gritty details, depending on your class. The Attack category is pretty broad after all.” I immediately deflate. With as exciting as this game has been so far, I thought there would be more to do here.

Riyu puts his hand to his chin and holds the elbow of that arm, thinking. “Hmm… oh! There is one thing that I do think all new players should get used to. Hitting someone, and getting hit.”

I stare at this man with muscles bigger than my head, and who looks like he would do just fine in a video game with fatalities. I take a big step back.

“Wait, wait!” Riyu holds up his hands, “It's not as bad as it sounds. Look, this is still a fantasy action game at its core. So even if it's not another player, sometimes you're going to have to fight a mob that you see. And I'm told that not everybody gets to experience what a fight is like in real life. The last thing you need is to get put into a situation where you have to fight and just freeze up. The whole point of this Tutorial Village is to let you get used to what the game is going to be like, before you get put in the real situation. That's all we're doing here. And it's not like I'm gonna just outright hit you. We’re gonna spar. Sparrings a thing.“

“Well… I guess that's true. I'd be lying if I said I knew what to do in a fight. All right then, how are we going to do this?”

Riyu smiles and lets out a little squeal while clapping his hands really fast, before taking a step back and getting into a fighting stance.

“For now let's just start with getting used to the idea of hitting someone. I know what I'm doing, and I’m a much, much higher level than you. So just go all out and I'll take the hits.”

I get into the basic fighting stance I was taught earlier. At the same time I imagine performing a kick to his side, I commit to doing it. My foot is blocked by the instructors forearm and that, combined with the force from actually hitting something, makes me lose my balance. I have to use a hand to stabilize myself, but I manage to not fall down completely. Riyu just gives me a smile and I get back into my stance without bothering to think about it.

This time I plant my feet and go for a roundhouse punch to the head. Again Riyu has his guard is up and blocks it. Now that I know what to expect though, I quickly pull my fist back and punch again, this time aiming at his chest. Riyu’s hand darts out so that I end up punching square in his palm. I just keep punching like this, now almost looking like mitt training for a boxer.

I’m reminded again that Riyu’s advice — that imagination is key — really works. Because as soon as the image of boxing pops into my head I notice that my punches start getting sharper and faster, as I use the videos I've seen of boxing for reference.

“Good, good. That's the kind of rhythm we want. You can be as creative as you want here, so hit me with all you have. Experiment and see what feels natural to you.”

I step back for a breath, clench my hands, and then dash forward, jumping into a flying knee. There’s enough force in the hit that Riyu has to use both hands to block it.

“That's exactly what I'm talking about! Now let’s let you see what it's like to be on the receiving end.” Riyu says, balling his hands into a fist.

“Wait what —“

Bam!

Before I can finish speaking Riyu’s fist slams into my chest. I'm knocked off my feet and crash into the ground flat on my back. All I can focus on is the sensation in my chest — it feels like it wants to cave in from the impact. But just before the pain can settle in, it disappears, replaced by a dull ache in the same spot. Not enough to really hurt anymore, but present enough to tell me I took damage to my chest. In the right hand corner of my eye I can see that a chunk of my green health bar is missing.

“Sorry to take you by surprise like that, but no one's ever really prepared to take a hit the first time, it just happens. How are you holding up? The pain sensors can be surprisingly realistic but they're not really that bad.” Riyu says, offering me a hand to get back on my feet. While I'm catching my breath, he motions with his hands for me to start jabbing into his palms again.

“You're right, the pain wasn't that bad. Just not used to feeling it like that.”

“Yeah, the devs found a really good balance with making sure that getting hit still freaking hurts, but it's nothing that will really stop you in the middle of a fight. Just enough to let you know that you messed up.”

“Still, if that's what getting hit by a punch felt like, I can't even imagine how freaky getting cut by a sword would feel.” I say as I look at the rows of different weapons along the walls.

“Eh, I’ve been hit by a sword before. And I mean it does suck. The whole bleeding and bruising thing afterwards can be pretty gnarly to look at, but since they don’t allow you to lose your limbs in this game it’s not that bad.” Riyu squints his eyes at me while talking, “But don’t go thinking that what I hit you with is all there is to punching. That was only a basic punch. A martial artist’s punch in this game can go toe-to-toe with any weapon.”

As soon as Riyu finishes talking, he slaps away a punch I was throwing and pushes his fist right into my chest. I completely tense up, closing my eyes and bracing myself for the feeling of getting hit again, but all I feel are his knuckles against my chest. When I open my eyes, Riyu is grinning madly at me; he shouts, and a pulse wave of energy bursts out, flinging me to the ground even further away than the first punched had. I'm trying to get my bearings and figure out what on earth just happened as I hear Riyu laughing.

“Hahahaha, that's what’s called Mana Expulsion. Though the way I used it there is a bit more unique to a martial artist. But that technique is present across all of the Attack classes. As much as I rag on Arinn about it, this is still a world of magic and monsters. Ain't no way that a man with his fist, or even a sword, could stand up to a dragon normally.”

I get up into a half sitting position, rubbing my chest. “What exactly is Mana Expulsion?”

“That's the fancy term for it, but basically it’s what allows all of our skills to work. Just like a mage’s spells, it uses mana. But instead of just saying fancy words and letting magic happen, we force the mana out of our body and let it take shape to boost all of our attacks. Though some of those skills can get pretty crazy; like slashes flying from swords swings or having a big fiery energy surround your body while you fight. If you go down the attack class route you'll experience them.”

The dull ache in my chest is completely forgotten about as my brain makes a connection with the words that were just said. I stand up and quickly ask how he does Mana Expulsion.

“Oh, I don’t know. You just get the mana out like you would for a spell maybe? As long as you use a skill it'll happen naturally.”

“So that thing you just did to me was a skill?”

“Well, there is one like it, but that was my own technique. See I used to love playing old fighting games, so I wanted to fight just like that myself. And while there are some cool options for defending and attacking in Golden Age, it’s obviously not the same. But I figured out that if you expel mana really sharply out of your body manually, you can essentially shock someone in the middle of an attack, like a parry in a fighting game, giving you a free chance to punch them back. It's my own ‘special timing defense technique.’”

I can feel my eyes lighting up as the connection I thought might be there looks more and more like it'll work.

“Okay, so how do you get the mana out like that?! What exactly does it feel like?”

“Um, I’m not sure. Kind of like you're yelling at the mana to get out your body really fast? Or, or like the sensation of when your blood’s pumping in the middle of a fight.”

I stare at Riyu, desperately hoping to see if he can come up with a better example.

“Wait, I know!” Riyu goes over to a corner where there's a bunch of boxes, paperwork, and what looks like trash shoved into it. He rummages around for a bit and pulls out the same kind of plaque that had the beginner spells written on it in the Magic building.

“I nearly forgot about this thing. But if you try out the Raise Fighting Spirit skill this might work to explain it.”

I take the plaque and just give Riyu a look. Sighing, I ask how it works or if there’s anything specific I need to do to use the skills.

“No. While you're in the Tutorial Village you’ll automatically learn basic skills. In the real game, you'll have to meet some criteria or experience in order to learn a skill and have the game help out, but here you can try anything immediately. Just read out what the skill says and imagine doing it, and the game will put it into your skill slots while you’re here.”

That's a pretty neat solution. It makes sense since this is the Tutorial Village. When I find the skill that Riyu was talking about it reads, ‘Charge Fighting Spirit: Push your energy to the brink! To prepare yourself to attack at a moments notice, take a stable stance and push your mana outward.’

I've been playing with my mana all day, so I'm not sure how this will be much different but I do what the plaque says. I get into the horse stance I was just taught and reach into my core. I try to pull the mana out while thinking of the skill name to myself. However nstead of the usual result, this time the mana exits out of all of the elemental mana points at once, and then spreads out as if to fill up my whole body. Instead of the mana residing in my core, it's like I can feel the mana pushed up against my skin. But it doesn't feel like any of the elemental mana that I've tried. It feels neutral, almost like pure energy. It’s as though all of the mana coming out at once caused them to neutralize each other and go into a more basic state.

“Looks like you've got it. I can tell just from the feel around you. I'll read out the Mana Expulsion technique; it should work now if you give it a try. The plaque reads ‘Mana Expulsion: To strengthen your attacks seek the point of contact in the mind and push the mana out.’”

I stick my fist straight out in the air the same way Riyu did and imagine the front of my knuckles, and imagine the mana going out while saying the words Mana Expulsion in my head. All of a sudden the mana underneath the skin of my knuckles feels as if it’s shaking and bubbling before ripping out in front of me. I see what looks like a colorless shockwave burst out as my hand flies back.

“There you go, now you got it,” Riyu says, as he slaps me on the back (nearly knocking me over), “that's the basics of the technique, and you'll apply it for most of the Attack classes. When you get real good at it you can try doing it from different places on your body, if you want to replicate my parry technique. Though most skills will automatically do that part for you. And don't worry by the way, when you let yourself relax the mana will go back to its natural state.”

He's right. As soon as I release the tension around the mana I pulled out, I can feel it flow back into a tight ball at my core. But I can barely focus on what Riyu is saying. I'm staring at my hands as I try to wrap my head around the feeling of Mana Expulsion. It wasn't just about moving the mana, it was about changing the state the mana was in. Like I had to get it ready to leave the body.

I open my hand and stretch my arm forward, palm out. Just like I was doing in the magic instruction building, I reach into my core of mana and pull it up through the wind point and then curve it through my arm into my hand. When I feel like I’ve pooled enough there, so that it's throughout my whole hand, I focus. I first imagine the mana in my hand expanding, like a gas spreads. There it is! I can feel the wind mana’s cool breeze pressed just underneath my skin. Then I imagine the mana getting agitated, the way molecules move faster when they get hot, and as soon as that buzzing tension rises in my hand I imagine pushing that tension out through my palm. My hand absolutely rockets back, nearly taking me off my feet, as what looks to be a small column of air flies out of my hand and smacks harmlessly against the wall, sending up a trail of dust in it’s wake.

I immediately start laughing as I realize that I just did magic without saying a word.

Riyu looks at me in shock and asks, “What on earth did you just do?”

I turn to him with a crazy wide smile and say, “I mixed fighting with magic.”

I go to walk over towards the wall that I hit, to see if there was any damage other than just wind being blown. But I can't make it more than three steps without feeling absolutely winded, so much so that I start to fall forward. Riyu catches me and lets me brace against him. Heh, getting this tired this fast feels kind of nostalgic.

“Whoah there, you're still a beginner. And stamina is a stat that you have to grow. Why don't you go out and see if you can get some water by the well and rest up before moving on?”

Even though my mind is racing with all the new things that I want to try, I'm too tired to really do any of them at the moment. So I just nod my head, and hope that like the damage effects, this fatigue will go away quickly.

As I make my way out the door, Riyu waves and says, “Keep experimenting with that weird wind push thingy you did. That seems like it could end up being really cool.”

I give a thumbs up before taking a deep breath and make my way over towards the well.

The well has a pulley bucket attached to it and everything, even though there's no use for it. The water is all the way at the top and easy to reach. There's even a handy set of cups just resting there.

I take a drink and look out over the village, trying to decide what to do now. All the way behind me is the portal where new players spawn. There are other class instructors’ buildings around me. All the way to my right is the hole to leave the tutorial village, and all the way to my left is that big library. My body still feels too tired to go do stuff at the other buildings, so I make my way towards the library.

I wave at Arinn on my way there. He starts to wave back. Then he looks at me, and then over at the portal, and then over at the library. He then slumps against his doorway, sighing.

I stand in front of the double doors of the library, the most ornate one in this little village, and push against it.

I don't know how demanding the workload is for an instructor, but I hope they let them take naps. Arinn still looked real tired back there.