Chapter 5,

A bug? That would require quite a stretch of imagination. Dawn may be a new company but the one behind it isn’t. And a game at this scale would have been tested many times too.

What should I do?

“Contact Support.”

Would you like to contact customer support?

You have used voice commands for the first time.

Everything can be located through the menus but some things can also be used directly through saying them.

“Yes.”

You have been connected to customer support. You can converse through voice and also through typing it.

The gesture to bring up the virtual keyboard is to lift your hands as if you were going to type, you can choose to turn this feature off. It can also be brought up using voice commands and navigating through the menu and to accessibility sub-menu.

Just using my voice is more convenient.

Without waiting for long, a voice sounds out in my head. And a message box opens up in a corner of my vision.

“How could I help you, Sir?”

A sudden realization goes through my head. There was a voice and the message box had text. But that still doesn’t have to mean the one on the other side is a human. Speech synthesis has also come a long way. What if the one talking to me is a computer?

I need to test it to be certain. A Turing test it was if I remember what was mentioned in those books.

“Are you a computer?”

“No, of course not.”

“Can you see my figure?”

“Yes, your character is visible through the screen, talking to yourself.”

“On a scale of 1 to 10, how handsome am I?”

“100. Heaven defying.”

“Are you a computer?”

“Yes.”

Yup, definitely a human.

“I’ll get to the point then. I don’t understand what this class I got is about.”

“I’m sorry, sir. But we’re not allowed to give information about specific classes or class mechanics. Dawn wants the players to figure it out themselves.”

Hmm, an interesting choice. But I suppose it wouldn’t be as fun to just have the company tell the players about how everything works.

“But I think there’s some problem with mine. It doesn’t allow me to assign my stats? Also, call me ‘Lord’, rather than ‘sir’.”

“Doesn’t allow allocation of stats? Please wait, I’ll confirm it.”

There was a slight element of surprise in her voice. Could a computer mimic that?

…Yeah, it probably can.

“S… Lord, could it be that the class you acquired is ‘Enigmatic Killer’?”

“Yes. Something wrong with it?”

“It shouldn’t be a class possible to acquire on the first character.”

“So, it has some requirements of sorts?”

“Correct. It certain very steep requirements.”

“I’m curious.”

“I’m not exactly supposed to disclose this, but it should be okay if it’s Lord.”

Trying to act tsundere now?

“In no particular order,

The player must have participated in at least 7 different professions and their activities.

The player must have participated in at least 3 different classes and their activities.

Before the end of the tutorial that is.”

I didn’t realize that I unlocked so many classes and professions. So that wasn’t supposed to be normal?

“The player also needs to have played till level 50 at least once in the game, using any class, and then have started over.

I suspect this requirement was ignored since you are someone who got special permissions. The game must have mistaken those permissions for instead allowing you to meet this requirement.”

Hmm…

“And then possibly the hardest requirement, the player must complete the story for that starter town without participating in any previous quests.”

“That is supposed to be hard?”

“Yes, because this prevents the player from receiving any Exp, weapons or such quest items that are required for completing the quest.”

“Huh? Then you’re required to complete the quest without having the items required to complete the quest?”

“…Yes.”

Oh well.

“But then the main issue.”

“Yes, Lord. We could offer you a class reset and an item as compensation for the mistake. But you will have to do the starter town again.

We recommend you do that since the current class would be too unfair for a beginner.”

Not like that is a new thing to me. The world isn’t really known to be fair.

“The world may not be fair. But a game is. All classes are inherently balanced.”

It’s like she read my mind or something.

Anyways, resetting my class would also put me 1 day away from the rest of the players. Not really something I’d want to do. And I feel this class somehow just suits me.

“No. Then I have no intention to change my class.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll still take that item compensation though.”

“Understood, Lord. I’ll send the item right away. You will receive it through mail when you exit the starter town.”

I wonder what it is.

“It of course can’t be some legendary weapon. Just something that could come in handy.”

“Glad you cleared that up. Now get lost.”

“As you wish.”

The conversation with support is now closed.

I look at the surroundings. Still near those odd markings on the ground inside the dungeon. What was I going to do? Right.

The Skill activation tutorial-

You can use a skill by calling out its name, which is the most beginner friendly method.

A skill can also be used by selecting it through the menu or putting it on a quickbar which is always in vision. However, selecting it in the middle of combat might be hard.

The last way is to mimic the skill’s movements, which would automatically activate that skill, however it requires a certain familiarity with the skill, thus not easy to do.

It can also be activated by thinking about the skill, however that method might not work every time. (You have the option to turn this feature on. It is off by default.)

Seems fine enough. Let’s test the skill, but before that, I turn on the ‘activation by thinking’ method.

Okay then, Skill: “Not Weakness.”

My right hand moves up on its own. Fingers stretched out as if reaching for something beyond. And then suddenly it closes as if in a punch. Or as if I was squashing an imaginary tomato. Don’t know why that image popped up in my mind.

Psionic blast used. (MP -25)

However the attack did not hit anything as there was no enemy present.

Int has been raised by 6 for the next 5 seconds.

So, the attack used when Int is the lowest is, a psionic blast? A magic type attack I’d suppose. And the MP decreased by 25, if the attack is to be proportional to the MP used then it should be something powerful for sure, taking out half my MP in a single use.

Or wait, is it because Int is my weakest stat that I have low MP?

Nice to know that at least. I’ll try using it on the next unfortunate thing that attacks me.

Would you like to exit the dungeon?

Yes/ No

I select ‘Yes’ and the surroundings go dark for a moment before slowly coming into view once again.

I’m back beside the pond which has now returned to its natural, half-transparent half-bluish color. And the sun is rising on the horizon.

And I’m freezing because I’m practically not wearing any clothes at all.

I put my clothes back on, which were lying untouched on a tree’s branch. Slightly warmer now but still quite cold.

Wasn’t this near the equator? Why are the mornings cold then?

I start moving towards where I remember the town being. I suppose I need to talk to the mayor or something to leave the starter town.

Or I could just continue in some random direction and try to exit the forest from that way, but somehow, I don’t feel that’s a good idea.

I walk down the ‘path’ through the forest which I somehow remember.

My spear is still in the inventory, and I take out the bone spike, holding it in my left hand casually.

But even after carefully looking for everything, I wasn’t able to find any creature to test my skill on. Unfortunate.

The minimap says the town is just within reach. And it seems the quest NPC or rather the priest is standing outside the temple.

I calmly walk out of the trees and into the clearing, about 20 meters away from the temple’s entrance.

The priest spots me and I could make out his expression turning a little happy now that he saw me. I walk towards him.

The priest waves towards me and I wave back towards him.

The bone spike suddenly flies through the air, straight towards the priest’s face. But it hits an invisible barrier, which shines golden as soon as the spike hits it and then goes back to being transparent. It lands in front of him.

Attack deflected by holy shield. No damage caused.

*cough*“My hand just slipped.”

“I understand. It could happen sometimes.” He replies with a gentle smile.

I didn’t really mean to do it. Just the thought popped in my mind for a split second.

He continues,

“Apologies we’re having our introductions this way. I’m Doran, the priest of the temple in this small town. It’s good to meet you properly at last, hero.”

“What do you mean?”

“As expected of the hero. So humble that even a priest like myself can’t help but be impressed.”

No, really. I’m not sure what did I do?

“Thanks to you that vile demonic creature that was summoned, was repelled successfully.”

Ah, so it must be that thing in the underwater cave. But I’m fairly certain that it wasn’t actually summoned properly. I mean I don’t remember fighting it.

“I have no clue how we could possibly reward such an accomplishment. But still, I and the mayor would like to convey our sincerest gratitude.”

“The mayor?”

“Ah, yes. You must want to meet him. Come, I’ll lead the way.”

So, the priest was labelled as a quest NPC because he’s my key to getting outside and completing the tutorial then.

I pick up the spike as the priest starts heading away from the temple. Even if this might not be as useful now, it still has some value to me.

“I couldn’t leave the town. If I did, then the town would be left unprotected for those evil spirits to attack.”

Minor Priest: Doran.

(Estimated level 30+)

You do not have enough of a discerning ability to find out more information.

I’m not able to look at the surroundings properly as the priest practically rushes through the place and towards a large building that seems to be the city hall. The guards salute him or some other gesture like that as he passes through.

We head inside without a problem, directly through the hallway and towards the room at the end. He opens the door, gesturing me to walk in first.

There’s a middle-aged man in suit like clothing sitting at a desk, engrossed in some paperwork. That suit seems really old fashioned, but judging which era this world is in would be hard just from his clothing.

He looks up as he hears the priest close the door. His pupils dilate a bit as he looks at me.

As if realizing his savior has just arrived, he gets up from his chair in haste and walks up to me cheerfully and holds my hand with both of his, shaking it up and down in a one-sided handshake.

“Hero, it’s great that you finally arrived here. I was dying of worry when Doran told me that you disappeared off into the forest.”

“The summoned evil was already repelled by him as soon as he went there.” The priest says.

“That’s great… I just can’t put it in words how thankful I feel right now. It was a great problem plaguing the town. The citizens didn’t know, but I and the council were worried sick over the possibility of an invasion of this town.”

He continues on,

“This small town wouldn’t have survived against such an onslaught. So many innocents would have been …”

And he drones on, the words stopped registering in my head as I get bored of them. I look around a bit.

It’s not a bad office. Well, not bad from the pictures that I judge it using. Then by that standards it should be quite an above-average office.

With the things labelled and kept in their proper place. All files labelled an in a shelf by the side. A few small figurines(?) or small statue replicas of some sort on the desk. A potted plant by the corner. And quite clean surroundings, however incomparable that may be to the hospital which was kept squeaky clean. Not bad at all.

And quite clean surroundings, however incomparable that may be to the hospital which was kept squeaky clean. Not bad at all.

“So that is why I would like it if you head to the capital.” The mayor finally finishes.

The capital? What?

Quest obtained.

Story quest: (Kingdom)

Go to the capital to find out more about this possible large scale demonic invasion.

The capital also has lots of resources and facilities which would be quite useful to you.

Quest reward: None.

No time limit on quest, Yet.

At least someone was paying attention.

If the system counts as ‘someone’ that is.

That’s all I need to know really.

I walk backwards a bit, as if telling the mayor that it’s time I leave.

“Ah, yes. Of course, I couldn’t possibly keep the hero waiting.”

And on his cue, I exit the mayor’s office.

Starter town tutorial completed.

You can now head outside the starter town.

And interact with other players.

Or you can go into passive mode by selecting it in the menu.

Hints have now been turned off. You can turn them back on through the menus.

Great. Now to head outside and see how many other players there really are in this town.

But before doing that. I open the menu and then turn the hints back on.

These have been quite handy after all.