April 10, 2039

Mack had been working on the tablet in Aaron’s basement rec room. He had pulled up the Arella Everlasting’s website and filled out a good portion of Aaron’s info to get him started. “OK, come over here and finish all the personal info. Then, put in a card number. Only the first 30 days are free after all.” After punching in all his information, the screen shifted over and showed a fantasy scene of human warriors, elven archers, a snake person that Mack said was a naga, and an ax wielding dwarf fighting a horde of zombies. Horns played from the speakers of the tablet.

“Fire up the helmet and we can sync it up with the tablet. I’ve already synced it up to that monitor. That way Marie doesn’t think you’ve lost it when you’re swinging the control sticks around and screaming like a little girl.”

“You are going to want to level up some at least in order to advance very far in your trade skills, like blacksmithing. The cap is 5 skill levels per 1 character level. Most people don’t actually get caught up with that, but you probably will. First however, you need to start up a character. Any thoughts on what you want to select?”

Aaron pushed the begin adventure button under the battle scene and a character select option came up. There were two spaces for characters and a bank icon. Out of curiosity, he clicked on the bank icon. It opened up showing his balance in game currency. It looked like they stuck to the platinum, gold, silver, and copper that was such a classic in the fantasy genre. “This is where you can transfer money into and out of the game. Each coin is made up of 10 of the lesser types. 10 copper for a silver, etc. As for taking money out of the game, a silver is $1 and there is a 10% fee to the developer. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's” and all that.

Marie glanced at Mack. “Have you ever put money into the game?” Mack glanced up the stairs. “Only once, there was quite a bit involved in my quest to get my dog Siri. At that time, my guild didn’t have the manpower for a specific raid boss. I needed to hire a few mercenary players. I pulled an afternoon of special duty and figure that was enough to divert a bit of that into gold. It ended up being about $150. He’s worth it though, pretty much acts like a tank and lets me solo quite a bit. Such a good dog.”

“I’ll let you know when I pull money out and we’ll talk about it before I put anything in.” Aaron said. Marie patted him on the cheek. “Such a good husband. Unlike some I could think of.” She said as she punched Mack on the shoulder.

Mack cleared his throat. “So traditional character stats. Strength for melee damage. Intelligence for spell caster mana pool, how much mana you have, and the ability to create something new. Dexterity for precise movements and ranged damage. Wisdom is spirit based mana pool, how fast the mana regenerates, and general street smarts. Constitution is your endurance and your hit point total. Charisma is your charms. Obviously, black smithing is a LOT of strength and constitution.”

Aaron cracked his knuckles and sat down in front of the tablet. “Alright, time to make up a blacksmithing tank!” Aaron reached out and tapped on the icon of a wand crossed over a shield in the bottom left corner to start the game. The screen changed and showed a tall human male with a muscular chest. His shirt partially open showing off a lot of his tanned skin. Val came downstairs with a two liter of fruit punch and a stack full of plastic cups. She poured one and handed it over to her mother. Looking at the monitor connected to the tablet, she shook her head. “No. No Dad. Just No. You are not going to be a boring human. Jen said that everyone is a human or an elf. If you are going to stand out in this job and get us to Hawaii, you need to have some style.”

Mack looked at her with mock offense. “Hey, I’m playing as a human. Though, she does have a point. Making amazing armor and weapons is a big part of it, but you have to be able to sell it too. If I’m out looking for a merchant to buy from, you may want to be different than all of the other human and dwarf smiths to stand out a bit.” Aaron tapped on the human male. A window popped up underneath the human with different bonuses that he would get.

Strength of man: 5% one handed sword skill learning speed.

Well balanced: 10% increase to dodge.

Chemist’s delight: 5% alchemy skill learning speed.

Tapping the arrow to the left, the human turned on his heels and walked off the screen to the left. A short dwarf male walked in with greyish skin and a beard long enough to be tucked into his belt. Tapping on the dwarf, the window came up with the dwarf’s bonuses.

Dwarf’s best friend: 5% one handed ax skill learning speed.

Stone skin: natural armor of 5.

One with the stone: 5% increase to crafting skills when using stone.

“So, why would a lot of people us a human or a dwarf to be a blacksmith? It doesn’t seem like either one would be significantly better at it than anyone else?” Aaron looked over to Mack. “Well, to be honest, it’s mostly just looks. I think the stats that I read said that about half of the people that roll up a new character choose a human. The human starting city is really nice and it’s got a good playpen.” Seeing the confused look on Marie’s face, Mack clarified himself. “All of the races start in their own city. There are a few other random outposts, but it’s primarily the six major cities. A playpen is where all the baby characters first start playing like Aaron’s level 1 blacksmith. As for why a lot of the smiths that are not human choose dwarf is just respect for the fantasy classics. When you think of a forge most people think of a dwarf.”

With a tap, the dwarf tromped off to the left. From the right side, an elven male strolled in. He had the traditional pointed ears and shoulder length hair. Marie whistled, “He is a pretty boy. Wouldn’t it be fun be him and run your fingers through your hair when you’re not fighting. Oh! You could put it up in a man bun!” Val started laughing as her mother teased her father. Rolling his eyes, Aaron tapped on the male elf bringing up the racial bonuses.

Elven eyes: 5% increase to ranged damage.

Mystic defense: 15% damage resistance against magic.

One with nature: 5% increase to crafting skills using natural components.

Val shrugged, “An elf could be cool. A lot of the old stories have famous swords made by elves.” Aaron rocked his head side to side noncommittally. “It’s an option, but let see what else is out there.” With a push of a button, he sent the elf walking off to the left. A very large orc walked in next. The orc was built like a champion from the bodybuilder competitions. His dusky grey skin was covered in black tattoos. Marie glanced at Aaron. “It looks like strength and endurance wouldn’t be an issue with that guy. Looks like he could lug around his own anvil if you want to smith on the road.” Aaron nodded and tapped on the orc. The racial bonuses came up in the display window.

Overpower: 5% increase with damage for any two handed melee weapons.

Grit: 5% more hit points.

Nothing is wasted: 5% increase to crafting when using components harvested from animals or monsters.

Aaron shook his head. “I can see this guy being a powerhouse, but I’m going to be working on crafting more than anything. This guy will be tearing through enemies and making armor out of their bones.” Mack shook his head. “Not necessarily. That bonus gives them a bonus on leather working as well. A third of all classes use leathers. I do.”

Marie looked slyly at Mack. “I had no idea that you and Ann were into that kind of thing.” Val’s eyes widened. “Mom!” Mack just smiled and made a sound effect like a whip as he snapped his hand forward. Aaron drank from his cup to hide his grin and pushed the button to send the orc walking after the elf.

A dragonkin walked in next. A dragonkin was a large humanoid reptile. He was covered in green scales, head to toe. The head was elongated and kind of reminded Aaron of a turtle’s head. It stood on two legs and had a long thick tail. He rotated the model around. “I kind of thought it would have wings.” “Nah.” Mack commented. “Could you imagine how it would throw off the game balance if one of the races could fly? There are a few levitation type spells, but there is no flight yet.” Aaron tapped one of the other tabs on the screen and the dragonkin changed. His face and head structure seemed to sharpen. The scales changed colors from green to a red. A few more clicks changed the scale colors from red to black to silver to gold to white. “It follows the old pen and paper set ups. The colors are the evil dragons and the metallic are good. The scales of the dragonkin are based off of the dragon that formed them. Game lore says that the dragons formed an egg out their blood and clay. Then out hatches the dragonkin. For everything from slaves to soldiers to simple companions.” A click on the white dragonkin brought up the racial bonuses.

Dragon’s breath: breath weapon based on dragon heritage type. Damage increased with quest rewards.

Dragon scales: natural armor of 5.

Dragon’s horde: 5% increase to crafting skills when using metals.

Pointing at the last bonus, Aaron looked back over his shoulder to Mack. “Look at that! There is no way that everyone wanting to do blacksmithing isn’t choosing one of these guys. It literally gives them a bonus to using metal.”

Mack sighed. “Ok, I guess we’ll get into some of the deeper game mechanics here on the character creation page. Each tradeskill has it’s main skill and a racial version of it. Since we’re talking about blacksmithing, let’s just go with that. All of your normal hammer and anvil stuff is the main blacksmithing skill. Then, you get a racial twist to it. You saw how the humans get bonuses to alchemy. I saw a guy’s dagger in auction that has a poisoning status to it because he quenched it a specialized poisoned oil during the smithing process. Orcs can make weapons out of bones that are just as hard as steel. Same with dwarven stone and elven woods. Do you know how embarrassing it is to be beaten down by an elf with a wooden sword? Besides, you still have another one to choose from.”

A tap on the computer tablet sent the Dragonkin off to left. In slithered the next choice from the right. All of the others had been humanoid. This one, not so much. He pretty much looked like an anaconda that had arms towards his head. The head itself was actually more human than the dragonkin’s had been. There were very fine scales covering his face and normal snake scales covering the entire body. There were mesh nettings along the length of his body. Val looked to her uncle. “Why is the snake man wearing fishnet stockings?”

Mack corrected her with a grin. “Stockings would be two of them. Since there is only one, I’d say it’s a fishnet stocking. Pretty much though they using those as a way to justify an armor slot. If I could choose a human that gets to wear pants with armor and stat and magic bonuses or this guy who can’t wear anything in that slot, not many people are going to play as a Naga. So they have these nettings that are magically as strong as steel. Yes, that plays into the racial bonuses. Go ahead and bring those up.”

Snake’s scales: natural armor of 5

Constrict: A crushing and stun attack. Damage increased with quest rewards.

Serpent’s weave: 5% increase to crafting when using weaves or knots.

That means that they can weave and knot metals, ropes, and stuff into weapons and armor. So yeah, one of these guys with a net and trident are super annoying. They wrap you up with their net and tail and then poke you full of holes. Meanwhile, you are stunned and wrapped up twice.”

Aaron spun his chair around to look at Mack. “So, I’m not allowed to be a human or dwarf. Marie will never stop teasing me if I’m an elf. So, I’m down to the reptiles and the orc. Snakes kind of creep me out, so I’ll drop the naga. Both of other options sound pretty cool, but I don’t think you can beat that bonus that the dragonkin have. I know you said bone weapons and all that, but I think the dragonkin is the winner!”