April 10, 2039

A tap on the tablet sent the Naga off to the right of the screen and brought back the Dragonkin. This time it came out with golden colored scales. Aaron tapped on the scales option on the character creation. He counted ten different varieties as he cycled through. Five shades of different colors and five types of metals. When he stopped on one the description of the breath weapon would change. The red scales that he was currently changed the breath weapon to fire and the face had a vicious looking glare. The Green Dragonkin’s breath weapon was poisonous gas and his face looked cunning and cruel.

“So these are the evil dragons.” Aaron mentioned to Mack? “Exactly. Like you saw, each one has it’s own flavor of breath weapon. The metallic dragons are good and they all have a breath weapon that corresponds with the chromatic ones. Gold with Red. Silver with White. Copper with Black. Bronze with Blue. Brass with Green.” Aaron tapped over from the Green scales to the Brass scales. Sure enough, the breath weapon remained at a cloud of poison, but the Dragonkin seemed to lose the cruel aspect and simply looked cunning.

The Bronze Dragonkin looked pretty interesting. He had the look of one of the ancient statues that was found from the early civilizations and the body was lean and athletic looking. The entire body seemed like it was designed for speed. The breath weapon on the screen had changed to lightning.

The Copper Dragonkin was also on the lean side, but it seemed to be the lean of an intellectual rather than an athlete. The copper scales were that deep reddish color and looked pretty impressive. The breath weapon for this Dragonkin was a spray of acid.

The Silver Dragonkin made Aaron pause. He was more powerfully built than the others were and had an air of authority in the way the Dragonkin swayed on the screen. He seemed like he should be in charge of a corporation or something the way he seemed to survey area. The scales shown as a freshly polished silver. The breath weapon had changed to a cone of subzero air.

The last of the metallic Dragonkin was the Gold. The scales were the shiny yellowish color that matched the ring on Aaron’s finger. This Dragonkin was built like Aaron imagined a warrior should be. It had huge muscular arms and a barrel of a chest. He also had the look of a ruler about him, but where the Silver looked like a business tycoon, the Gold looked like a Viking Chief. The breath weapon was now a blast of fire.

Val rolled her eyes “Dad. You are not thinking about being a fire-breathing dragon are you? We’re going for originality remember?” Aaron glanced over at her. “Actually, that’s exactly what I’m going for. This guy already looks like a great warrior. He’s built like a brick house! Not to mention, I have a plan for that fire breath.”

Moving down to the facial sliders, he played with options for a few minutes giving him a slight ridge of little spikes above the eyes and larger spikes along the back of the head. He played with the shading along the neck and it turned a darker shade of gold. “There. Now, I’ll fit in with all the bearded dwarfs at the forge.”

The class select tab opened up to warrior. When the warrior icon, a sword against a shield, was present, it showed an additional attack option called kick. With a huge smile on his face, Aaron quickly switched over to the Naga race and brought up a warrior. Sure enough, it had the kick attack. He turned back to his brother. “They have finally done it! They taught a snake to kick!” This inside joke got a laugh from Mack and a blank stare from everyone else.

As Aaron went back to the Dragonkin and reset the parameters for the Gold Dragonkin he was working on, Mack explained that the kick is just a tail strike. “It’s still a kick though.” Aaron concluded with a shrug.

Back at the class select tab, he went past warrior to cleric, then druid, then rogue, then wizard, then back to warrior. “Five classes? I thought you said that there were ten.” Mack nodded. “More game mechanics it is than. Everyone starts with one of the five base classes. Then at level 5, you can keep the base class and get even more advanced with that or you can branch off into another class. I play as a ranger. That’s a cross between a druid and a warrior. I started off as a warrior and branched towards druid. That way, I have pretty high martial skills and some nature based magic and skills. However, I could have done it the other way around and started as a druid and branched towards warrior. That way I would have some martial skills and more nature magic.”

“So are they both rangers?” Aaron asked. “Yeah, it’s just a different focus. My play style is heavy on melee and ranged attacks with magic back up. Siri is essential too of course. Most of the other classes are a base class mixed with a warrior. That’s how you get rangers, paladins and arcane knights. Wizards and rogues get a side class instead of a combo. That makes bards and summoners. You could go down memory lane with a summoner and focus on the undead.”

Aaron shook his head. “Nah. That was fun and all, but this is a new character. Plus, you said that I need to focus on strength and endurance. Not exactly helpful if you want an intelligence based caster. I know all the rest of them, but what is an arcane knight?”

Mack nodded understandingly. “That one is pretty cool. That is a combo of a warrior and a wizard. They are pretty much a martial class that can charge their weapons. Instead of shooting a fireball, they light their swords on fire. They also have ice, lightning, and a few other ways to charge their weapons. They can do a few other things like invisibility. Pretty neat class. A few of the people in my guild are arcane knights and they say that it’s a fun class to play. Same thing, you can start as a warrior or a wizard and end up with a more or less magical version of the arcane knight.”

Aaron decided to start his character as a warrior. He could always go to an arcane knight or something at level five if he wanted. He pulled up the name field and typed in his go to character name. Mack looked over his shoulder and started grumbling when the system took it on his first try. “That is so not fair! I had to change mine!”

Mack tapped a few more keys on the tablet and laughed. “I know that I said that I researched it to be sure, but I’m still surprised that they will take your old helmet. It is synced and ready to play. Just so you know though, you are about fifteen years behind with this model and you are going to be getting old graphics, lags, and sub-par sound. The control sticks should still be ok. Those things haven’t changed much at all. If you like Arella Everlasting, you really should get an upgrade. At least you kept up on the tablets though. If you had a tablet to match, you wouldn’t be able to run it at all.”

Aaron pulled on the helmet and started adjusting the volume knob on the control sticks. “Marie, talk a bit for me please.”Aaron, dinner is done. Stop playing with the goblins and get up here. Don’t forget to pack a lunch for the dungeon.”

Mack glanced from Marie to his brother. “Did you get the volume up enough to tune her out?” Then, he dodged back as she took another swing at this shoulder. Aaron nodded. “Enough to hear the game over the TV, but not loud enough to end up sleeping on the couch. Perfect. So, where do I end up when I hit start?”

Mack looked a bit embarrassed. “Their city is called Tarakoa, but I’ve only run through it once. I was actually planning on just going home. Then, I’ll log in, hook you up with some gear, and get you over to Makazi. That’s the outpost on a pretty sizable island where Brok works out of. He’s not online on Sunday, but we can get you acclimated and maybe get a level or two. It’s got a decent playpen are too actually. Wait till you see the first area.”

Aaron shook his head. “Thanks, but I think I’ll check out my starting city for a bit. I always enjoyed the first few levels of starting with nothing and it being a big deal when you get anything at all to fill an empty slot. Just pumped that it has a point or two of armor, let alone stats. Besides, I’m no Twink.”

Mack gave him a strange look before he remembered that Aaron couldn’t see it while in his helmet. “Yeah, no one actually says that anymore. That’s fine though. They usually have newbie armor quests now. Hit start so you can set up your stats.”

After pressing the continue option, his Dragonkin came up with the statistics page. All six of his stats were showing at 5 with 10 points that he can assign to what he would like. Mack turned and started talking to Marie. “Here is where Aaron can give himself a nice boost, make himse boringly flat, or shoot himself in the foot. Will he toss all 10 in strength and constitution like a good meat shield? Will he go super charismatic to charm people into buying an extra sword? How about intelligence and learn all the ins and outs of blacksmithing.”

Aaron laughed to himself and put 3 points into strength and 3 points into constitution. He thought for a little bit and then put 2 points into intelligence. Mack made a mocking gasp. “It looks like Aaron might be looking into the arcane knight path.” Finally, Aaron put 1 point each into Wisdom and Dexterity. “Poor Charisma, always ignored by the tanks. Well, except for paladins. If you are sure, push the finish button and you are good.” Aaron pushed finish and his new Dragonkin came up.

Name: Lexen

Race: Gold Dragonkin

Class: Warrior

Gender: Male

Armor: 5

Hit Points: 40

Mana: 35

Strength: 8

Intelligence: 7

Wisdom: 6

Dexterity: 6

Constitution: 8

Charisma: 5

Abilities

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.

Skills

Kick: 6 damage. Chance to interrupt spells or stun.

Equipment

Honors

Looking over her uncle’s shoulder at the tablet, Val sighed. “Dad, kicking is your only skill.” After a good laugh at his brother’s expense, Mack shook his head. “That certainly is true. AE wise however, that will all come with time. First time he starts bashing some critter over the head with that chunk of rusty metal, he will get one hand slashing. Then light armor, when it bashes back. Well, if he were wearing armor. Right now, he’s pretty much going to be running around in a towel. Brok is usually off on Sundays, so you actually get to play today instead of work.I’m going to head home to make sure that the yard trash doesn’t give you too much trouble. Val, would you mind being copilot for your old man?”

Val was texting back and forth with her friends, but she shrugged. Mack pulled up a site on the tablet and ran a quick search. “Ok here you go. These eight links here are the quests for the newbie armor. Help him find the person who issues the quest, what he needs for the quest, and where to find it. I’ll be on in about an hour. See you soon.” He grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her head. Mack gave Marie a hug and smacked Aaron on the back. “See you in there.” Then he ran up the stairs. A few minutes later, Ann yelled her goodbyes down the stairs. Then the door upstairs closed and Mack and Ann were on their way home.

Marie pulled up a chair and sat down next to Val. “Aaron. If you hit me with one of those control sticks, I’ll beat you.” Aaron laughed about it, but still took a few steps back. Pushing the start option, his screen filled with a large cityscape.

The city of the Dragonkin was filled with large and majestic buildings. Each one seemed to have different metals incorporated into the buildings. They were used for everything from structural supports to accents. What really impressed Aaron was the people. Seeing and designing a Dragonkin on the character creation screen was one thing, but to see computer controlled NPC Dragonkin standing around or walking on patrols was something else entirely. Then, there was the players. It was mostly other Dragonkin running around from shop to shop, out the front gates, and in from the front gates. Each person had their name floating above their head. A lot of them had a guild name immediately after that. There were a few Humans running around as well and even a Naga slithered by.

The scene changed as if moved through the streets filled with Dragonkin and moved into a large building. It went down a flight of stairs and into a hatchery. There were large alcoves filled with eggs the size of watermelons and pits full of sand with the newly hatched Dragonkin children moving around. Passing this area, the scene settled on an elderly looking Silver Dragonkin.

“You have done well in your training. You are now ready to go and survive on your skills. You have the potential to make your heritage proud. Lexen, as a warrior of Tarakoa you should report to the Steelscale barracks. They will help you start your journey. Bring us honor hatchling.”