Chapter 2: Welcome, Player Yushin.

Yushin felt warmth on his body and wind softly swept his hair. Did he get out of the game? It wasn’t possible. He had just logged in!

Opening his eyes, he looked around. Large buildings with a fantasy style, wooden and battered. Some also made in stonework. The city went on and on as far as the eye could see, with huge fortress-like walls all around.

Built to stand sieges, with several internal walls and watchtowers. He felt amazed at the immersion and realism a VRMMO could provide.

Tales was not the first VRMMO, and it wasn’t even Yushin’s first, but the scale was completely different. His body was still there, yet somehow it felt unlike it at first. Feeling weird for a bit when trying to move around, his limbs were a bit shorter and waist slimmer. He could move as wanted but felt limits were much higher. As if it was his own body, and at the same time, it was not.

No wonder Tales made everyone excited.

For a writer like Yushin, he always lived immersed in adventures. He never left his country, but in his mind and books traveled to a thousand worlds. Now that Virtual Reality technology has advanced to this point, it would be hard not to be affected by it.

‘It takes a while to get used to, but it isn’t too hard.’ He stretched and jumped around a bit in the middle of Red Clay City. Fingers moved well. There were other players around, but no one was making fun of him. They were busy doing the same.

First thing Yushin noticed was the [User Interface (UI)]. With a simple thought, the interface changed fast and smoothly. Hiding HUD elements such as Health, Soul, and Mana bar for a minimal interface was easy. He was, after all, wearing a highly advanced helmet.

‘Hm, it seems very easy to navigate. I need to either shout or think of what I want to access. [Status Window.]’

As in one of those sci-fi movies, a transparent display popped up. Besides thought, hands can navigate, like a mobile touch interface in the air. That was much easier to do for some people. He looked at his character status:

[Player Yushin Class: Small-Time Captain (Hybrid Warrior-Magic Class) Level: 01 Race: Half-Human]

Title: None

Bounty: None

Fame/Infamy: 0

Strength: 03

Magic: 02

Defense 01 (Total 02)

Agility: 01

Intelligence: 02

Magic Defense: 02 (Total 02)

Dexterity: 02

Endurance: 03

Charisma: 01

Health Points: 1500/1500

Mana Points: 100/100

Soul: 120/120

Wealth: 10c

‘What? Half-Human? …Is this a bug or intentional? Half-human, half-what!? ...Well, whatever.”

“[Inventory].” A pop-up appeared again. Yushin saw he had 20/100 weight, with a wooden spear and some wooden armor. Above that value, he would be slowed down until not being able to move. There were several spaces for bags, armor, weapons, rings, other accessories, and mounts. Aside from that, there didn’t seem to be anything special so he moved on.

[Wooden Spear Lv1 Quality: One Star Condition: Normal]

Attack Power: 1-3

Speed:1.0

Range: Mid

[Wooden Armor Lv1 Quality: One Star Condition: Normal]

Defense: 01

Magic Defense: 00

Consulting the in-game help, Yushin saw equipment had several quality ranks. It ranged from one-star to ten stars. Ten stars were godly legendary artifacts and one-star crappy starting equipment. Also, weapon condition went from terrible, poor, normal, good, excellent and godly. Terrible meant the weapon was only a bit better than trash and was near the breaking point. Godly meant it was a nigh indestructible weapon. Only the rarest carried this condition.

Damage to an equipment would temporarily lower its condition until repair. Also, every time an equipment breaks its condition will drop by one tier. If a normal sword broke twice, its default condition will be terrible, making it always near breaking point. If a terrible equipment breaks it will be trash and can only serve as scrap for materials. Making things worse, there isn’t a number to estimate condition. One can never know when it's safe to stop using a great sword, except for visual clues, like chips and cracks.

Yushin knew that made blacksmiths even more valuable. Players would have to be careful with good equipment. Armor was especially vulnerable since no one would remove it during combat. He regretted a little not starting with blacksmithing skill.

‘Skill list.’

[Skill List]

[Physical Skills]

[Spear Thrust] Lvl 1. Atk 110%. Speed: 1.1. Soul cost: 5. Required: Spear.

Info: a simple attack with the spear.

[Strong Punch] Lvl 1. Atk 105%. Speed: 1.2. Soul Cost: 3. Required: Unarmed.

Info: a strong punch.

[Strong Kick] Lvl 1. Atk 110% Speed: 1.0 Soul cost: 4. Required: Unarmed.

Info: a strong kick.

Yushin stopped for a second to test out the skills. He waved the spear around, flowing from top to bottom. There was no big difference between real life and the game. Attacking was as simple as poking someone with it. Seems amount of strength and speed behind it varied according to his stats.

As far as Spears went, Yushin was quite proficient at it. Growing up he loved “[Romance of The Three Kingdoms]”. Zhao Zilong is his favorite character, so taking spear lessons was a given.

[Spear Thrust] is a direct short stab with the weapon, as simple as that. The range was ok because of the spear, but there is no other special movement behind it. [Strong Kick] and [Strong Punch] are also only a bit stronger versions of normal strikes.

‘It seems I can still use [Strong Kick] and [Strong Punch] with spear in hand, as long as I hold it one handed.’

Satisfied with his findings, he moved on to the next set of skills:

[Support Magic Skills]

[Analyze Dungeon Gates] Lvl 1. Mana: 0.

Info: gives information about [Dungeon Gates]. Data increases with skill level.

[Open Dungeon Gates] Lvl Max. Mana 0.

Info: common to all players.

[Unlock Dungeon Gates] Lvl 1. Mana 0.

Info: attempts to open locked [DG]. Depends on lock creator level or [Dungeon Level].

[Lock Dungeon Gate] Lvl 1. Mana 5.

Info: locks a [DG]. Lock efficiency depends on skill level.

‘[Dungeon Gates]? Are those the mystical dungeons mentioned in the opening? … Info: [Dungeon Gates].’

Info: [Dungeon Gates] are entrances opened from rifts in the fabric of the world. The result of [Ancient Magic] utilized by [The Nameless Mage] to stop [The Endless Demons]. They can link to places in this world or another. Despite being called ‘gates’, the entrances are rifts caused by unstable mana flow and space magic. Upon leaving the beginner’s area, a tutorial on [Dungeon Gates] will start.

‘I see. They are entrances, not the dungeon itself. Seems after I walk from this place the tutorial will start, so let’s move on.’

[Crafting Skills]

[Engineering]

[Design Blueprint] Lvl 1.

Info: Creates a blueprint used for crafting a tool or artifact. Use the [Designing Interface, D.I.] on workbenches to make designs.

[Craft Blueprint] Lvl 1.

Info: Crafts the corresponding tool or artifact from the blueprint. Needs a Workshop and materials. Get materials from dungeons, places in the world or crafted by other professions.

[Use item] Lvl 1.

Info: Able to use several kinds of items without proficiency, such as unidentified, bound and unmet requirements. Higher leveled and quality items need higher skill levels.

‘Tools and artifacts. I can either sell finished products or blueprints… and [Use Item] seems good too. I can do a lot with it. Info: [Designing Interface].’

Info: [Designing Interface] is available to Engineers on a workbench. Utilized to create [Blueprints]. Blueprints can be:

[Original]: No other blueprint used in the process. Raw materials only. This is the simplest kind of blueprint. Example: [Simple Trap].

[Derived]: Other blueprints and advanced materials used in the process. It is a complex type of blueprint made from several other sources. Example: [Ballista].

Blueprints are a trade secret. Formulas are only known to the creator, but can be taught or sold (with restrictions or freely).

‘This system seems quite complex. I need to experiment with it later. Moving on.’

[Hunting Skills]

[Track] Lvl 1.

Info: Able to follow clues to track individuals. They will automatically appear on the minimap.

[Skinning (Passive)]

Info: Increases the drop chance of certain items by a small percentage.

‘These are pretty standard though. No surprises here.’

[Leadership Skills]

[Raise Morale (Passive) ] Lvl 1.

Info: Allies (Friends, Party, Guild or similar, not recognized as a foe) on close distance receive several small bonuses. Current: +1% HP, Mana and Soul. The skill raises based on time and the number of people affected.

‘Only a single skill, and passive at that. Seems tough to level up. Also, a solo player would not be able to raise it fast. Those are all my skills for now. No point in dwelling on them until I learn a bit more about the game.’

One thing Kingdom Corp did on Tales was limiting the amount of data available to players. There is no info on attributes effects on damage, on what each attribute does and on future skills.

There is no way for players to focus on pre-planning builds based on that information. Tales design takes this in mind:

[Information is worth more than anything.]

In short, players need to experience, analyze and choose data according to it if they wanted to go the ‘min-max’ way. While it’s possible there will be optimal builds, Kingdom Corp will do everything in their power to make sure things are not that simple. Strategy and complexity should play a big part in this game.

While playing, it is possible to upload data to a social media of choice. Editing videos, taking screenshots in-game and even doing live broadcasts are simple. There is a lot of marketing going on around the game.

Chat could be text or voice based. Text is old school, but many players still loved it. Voice-to-text program is in the code and capable of translating text from almost every existing language. The player could either speak directly, text using virtual keyboard or use voice-to-text. While using voice-to-text they could mute outgoing sounds, so no one else could hear their whispers.

Aside from that, there are many other functions, but Yushin is not in a hurry. Learning as he progressed is simpler.

Yushin trained for a bit using thoughts to navigate through the menus. To avoid mistakes, commands had ‘Info:’ or something else before. If he wanted to learn about something, all he had to do was think ‘[Info: Dungeons]’.

Also, as soon as something became known to him, it is added to the info label. That was one of the tooltips on the skill page, but how it worked he didn’t know exactly. It seems if he learned new things about one of his skills or items the system automatically added that info. There was no need for notes.

After understanding these concepts, next was combat. The basic combat was waving your weapon of choice around. Higher skill levels had a little bit of help from the system to target. Dodging was also the same way. Parrying had a bit more complexity. Yushin wanted to learn about it, but the system said it would explain in the Dungeon Gates tutorial.

Traits, Skills, Advantages, Disadvantages, and powers affected everything. Traits are a sort of “Awakening” system on the character's race and class. Meeting some hidden conditions the respective trait activates. Advantages and disadvantages are gained during gameplay. There is no precise info. Powers are not explained at all.

‘They really are hiding a lot of info... I’ll play my way. [Start: Dungeon Gates Tutorial].’

A blue arrow popped in front of him, pointing to a side door inside the beginner’s area. Yushin knew it was an [Instanced Room], typical from MMO’s. It meant he would be the only one inside. Reaching his hand a prompt appeared:

[Enter Dungeon Gates Tutorial Room?]

[>>>Yes.<<<]

A light flashed and he was in a small room without windows or doors. A pure black room with a white light right in the middle. The light looked unstable and every few seconds trembled. Small thundering sounds echoed. A clear voice spread:

“Welcome, Player Yushin. To your first [Dungeon].”