Robert didn’t log back into Elysium Online until he got home from work the following day. When he did, he materialized directly in front of the gate leading into the training ground of the Elven city. He could see various soldiers practicing sword forms, shooting arrows at distant targets, and grappling. Determined to learn as much as he could in the time left before launch, Robert opened the gate. He walked toward the main building where Vulmon was standing with his arms crossed.

As Robert approached, Vulmon said, “Welcome half-elf.”

As he got closer, Robert said, “Thank you. Please call me, Rob.” He had decided his in-game name was just going to be a shortened version of his actual name.

“Well met. I assume you are here to begin your training.” Rob nodded, and the Elf continued, “Excellent, first, it looks like you have chosen a class. What would that be?”

Rob almost forgot that other people in the game couldn’t identify his class or other attributes without specialized training. “I chose to be a ranger.”

Vulmon’s eye brightened. “Excellent choice. That is my base class as well. When you advance, you will be able to add to that or choose a second class, but now, let’s focus on making you the best ranger you can be. What do you know about the ranger class?”

“Not much, I’m afraid, but my skills seem to be suited to the work, and it appeals to me.”

“Well, let me tell you what you need to know.”

Over the next several minutes, Vulmon explained the ranger class in significant detail, giving his opinions of the best ways to train, weapons to specialize in, and skills to develop. There were primarily two base choices for Rob to make right away. Did he want to concentrate on ranged attacks or on melee attacks? From there, many other skills could be developed with animal taming, using shadows, and eventually teleporting.

Rob had taken a little time on break and during his commute to look at ranger descriptions in other games, including Excel. It looked like you typically had to pick a specific path if you were going to specialize. He wasn’t sure if that applied to Elysium, though. There was almost no information online about Elysium.

“So, when I learn some advanced skills, will I have to specialize in a certain area? Like being a beastmaster or something?”

Vulmon placed his hand on his chin as his brows came together and replied, “To a certain extent. There are skills that only a beastmaster can use, but there are also beastmaster skills that non-specialized rangers can use. For example, I have skills in communicating with animals, but I cannot train a companion. That is reserved for the beastmaster and other sub-classes. If you are looking for stealth, any ranger can become adept at that, but to truly melt into the shadows, you will need to specialize as a shadow strider. It will make more sense once you get to that point, but you can’t even pick one until level twenty. So, I guess the first question is if you want to focus on ranged or melee attacks?”

“I have a question. If I pick melee, does that mean I’m not proficient with arrows or throwing knives?”

“No, it just means that you cannot activate certain skills associated with those weapons. One of the significant advantages of being a ranger is your ability to use just about any weapon. Your proficiency with the weapon will come with practice.”

“Excellent, then I choose melee attacks.”

Vulmon smiled and asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, why did you choose that?”

“It’s mostly just a feeling, but I want to learn to be effective in a close-in fight. It’s probably true that I’m giving up the ability to do some serious damage from a distance. However, I will still be able to use a bow or crossbow. It just seemed like a better choice for me.”

He nodded thoughtfully and said, “That makes sense. How about we get to training then?”

Vulman spun on his heels and walked toward a group of men and women practicing with swords.

“Riniya, come here,” Vulman said to the group, and a youthful Elven woman stepped forward with a swagger.

“Yes, master Vulman.”

“I have a task for you. Rob here is a guest of the king and has been awarded the right to train. Can you show him the basic sword forms of defense?”

She stepped forward a little closer, appraising Rob. “As you wish. I will start with the basics.”

“Good, report back to me when you feel he has sufficiently learned those forms.”

She bowed her head, not saying anything, and Vulman turned back to his spot, watching everyone train. Riniya was nearly a foot shorter than Rob, but she has a lithe build that let anyone know her race at a glance. Her almond-shaped eyes scanned him for another moment before she turned away.

“Follow me.” Is all she said.

At the other end of the training yard, she stopped and turned to him. “Pick a sword from the rack.” She said, pointing to a collection of swords.

He raced over and chose one and returned. She walked up, taking the sword out of his hand. “Not this one. One more suited to your height and build.” She went to the rack and shuffled through one or two, testing them, and handed the one she picked to Rob.

“I can see you have no experience, so we will start at the beginning.”

Over the next hour, Riniya showed Rob the basic forms of defense. This included blocking strikes to the legs, midsection, upper body, and head. There were variations of each depending on what you did after the block, but she didn’t expand further. After the explanation, she stepped back and started calling out numbers that corresponded to the different blocking techniques. The practice went on like this for some time. When Riniya finally called a halt to the training, Rob was drenched in sweat, and his muscles felt fatigued.

She said, “Stay here and recover while I report in.”

She walked away, and he pulled up his character interface. He’d been so focused on learning more about the ranger class that he’d completely forgotten to look at the interface instructions now that he had access. When he pulled up the menu, it showed his base stats.

Unlike other games, this one didn’t require him to assign the base level of points but assigned them based on his performance during the character creation scenario. He looked over the list of attributes.

Exp: 0

HP: 100 (5/1)

Mana: 100 (5/1)

Stamina: 87 (5/2)

Dexterity: 16

Strength: 15

Constitution: 14

Wisdom: 13

Intelligence: 12

Endurance: 10

Charisma: 7

Luck: 1

From what Rob could tell, each category started out of a beginning maximum of twenty except for the luck statistic, which would max out at ten. He would have to set up a forum account once the game went live to see what other people had gotten. He’d seen some ideal ranger builds in other games, and this one seemed to be good, but he didn’t really know much. The consensus was dexterity was vital, so he at least had that.

He looked deeper into the HP, Mana, and Stamina stats by tapping on each in turn. Each one had an empty box next to them that, when checked, put them on display in the top right corner of his vision. That was handy.

He also figured out that the numbers directly to the right of the total amount indicated regeneration rates. When he was not in combat, he would regenerate his health and mana stats five points per minute and one point per minute in battle. Stamina recovered at a faster rate of two points per second when out of combat and one point per second while in a fight. Not great, but he was sure that could be improved through training. At that rate, it would take him fifty seconds to recover if he dropped to zero outside of combat, and his in combat recovery was even worse.

As he finished looking at his base stats, he got a notification popup at the corner of his vision. He opened it and saw:

Congratulations, you’ve learned a new skill!

Skill Learned: Short Sword Proficiency (One-Handed)

Level: 1 Beginner

Now you can swing a sword with one hand like you almost know what you’re doing! Weeds and other small plants will cower in fear!

While Rob felt a slight amount of pride at his accomplishment, he instantly wondered at the work it would take to move up in proficiency. If practicing for nearly two hours had only developed a single point of proficiency, it would take forever. He was also slightly amused at the last piece of information. As he was closing out his menus and dismissing the notification, Riniya returned.

She didn’t waste any time and said, “Now that you’ve learned the basic defensive movements of single short swords, let’s move onto basic strikes. Follow me.”

He trailed after her to a spot next to the main building where several six foot tall, thick posts stood. There were scratches and gouges all over the surface. Most of the damage was in a painted circle at the top that Rob assumed represented a head and a large patch that probably represented the chest.

“These are striking dummies. We use them to teach the basic slashes and thrusts you will use. Stand back while I show you the basic patterns, and then we’ll continue by having you try. Pay special attention to my feet and hips. A lot of sword work is in the hips and feet. For now, do not aim to hit the wood. Let’s get the basic form down and then add resistance.”

She drew a gleaming silver sword and began slowly going through a series of strikes that flowed together. She started with an upward diagonal attack that would cut from hip to shoulder, then she reversed the direction going from shoulder to hip. The next was a vertical strike and then a reverse upward and downward stroke. She finished with a series of overhand, straight slashes and thrusts. After going through the pattern a few times, she had Rob try.

He felt his first attempts were not wrong, but the clicking of Riniya’s tongue and short criticisms told him differently. She corrected his form and walked him through each step until she felt he could do the movements on his own. She instructed him to continue at a steady pace, focusing on accuracy over speed. Once he learned the movements at a slow pace, he could increase the speed.

At least another hour passed while going through the forms. Then Riniya announced that he could take a break while she talked to Vulmon once again. He received another notification telling him that he gained an additional level in Short Sword Proficiency. He also found a new announcement:

Congratulations, you’ve improved your Endurance!

Base Stat Points: 11

Look out small staircases! This adventurer might conquer you without losing his breath!

Rob pulled up his game clock to check how long he’d been in the game, and his in-game time was a little over three hours. That meant he’d been in the game for around forty-five real-world minutes. He’d planned on staying online for about two hours before taking a break to eat.

As Rob dismissed his display, Riniya returned and continued instructing him on the basic swings and eventually added the wooden dummies into the practice. The first time Rob hit one, his hand went numb from the impact, and he found it difficult to hold on to the blade.

When this happened, Riniya noticed and showed him the proper way to hold the blade. He’d been so tense during most of the practice that he’d been squeezing too tightly. His hands had become tired, and when he hit the wood, the grip slipped.

There were a variety of ways to hold the blade. Some using the thumb to increase the speed, some rotating the blade for blocking and shifting the cut, and other positions applied more power to the sword. The critical lesson she taught him was to be relaxed until there was a cut or block. This would allow him to be more fluid with his movements and to preserve his strength.

Rob continued practicing, striking the wooden dummy repeatedly. After a while, the shock of the impact lessened, and he could move more smoothly from one striking form to another.

Eventually, Riniya approached him and said, “So far, you have done well half-elf. I have to report for duty now, so you are welcome to continue practicing what I have taught you. I will not be back until tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you for your help today. I look forward to working with you again.”

With a curt nod, she turned away. “Very good. You should report to Master Vulmon when you are able.”

Rob wondered why she was so standoffish with him, but figured it was something personal or something related to a limitation in the training environment. Looking around the yard, he still saw a few pairs practicing and a few archers shooting downrange. Vulmon was now seated on a bench next to the building.

As Rob approached, he said, “Master Vulmon. Riniya had to leave. So, I’m on my own.”

Vulmon set his steaming mug down on the bench next to him and said, “She has patrol this evening. Show me what she taught you.”

“Sure. Do you want me to go back to the dummy or just right here?”

“Here should be fine. I saw that she was teaching you how to hold a sword, so I assume you know why that is important.”

Rob blushed slightly at his ignorance. “Yes.”

“Very good. Now go through the forms.”

Rob began with the defensive forms and then moved to the attacking forms. He did this over and over again until Vulmon told him to stop.

“Very good, Rob. You’ve made great progress so far.” He stood from the bench and took the sword from Rob’s hand so smoothly that Rob didn’t notice until it was already gone.

“Now, let us work on combining the forms. Here, let me show you.”

Vulmon went through the basic blocking form for a moment while Rob watched. He flowed from one position to another with almost no effort. It made Rob understand the gap between himself and the Elf in front of him. After going through the defensive and attack forms, he stopped.

“So, watching me do both forms, what stands out to you? How to they look alike?”

Rob thought about it for a moment, going over the movements in his mind and answered, “Well, it looks like the blocking positions are very close to the beginning of the striking positions. If I block a strike that is aimed at my head, it’s a small movement from the block to the beginning of the downward diagonal strike.”

Vulmon spun the blade around, stopping with the hilt facing Rob. “Very good. That is exactly what I wanted to hear. Take the blade.”

Rob reached out and took the blade back from Vulmon as the Elf continued, “It would be rather pointless to learn forms that could not flow into one another. Once you master these and any other forms, you should be able to flow from one to another at any point in the form. Going from a block to a strike and back to a block again should be effortless, eventually. At least when you become proficient enough.”

Rob nodded and said, “That makes sense. So, the more forms I master, the more options I’ll have in combat.”

“That is correct. Well, I will be leaving for the evening meal. You are welcome to train here all you want, but there will not be another instructor around until the morning.”

Rob was a little disappointed, but it made sense to him. “Thank you very much for what you have taught me so far. I will see you in the morning then. When do you usually arrive, so I can make the most of my day?”

Vulmon turned towards the training ground gate, motioning for Rob to follow. “I will be here at seven in the morning.”

“Excellent, I’ll see you in the morning then. Have a pleasant evening.”

With a wave, Vulmon continued down the path leading towards the Mother Tree’s trunk, and Rob turned back to the training grounds. He pulled up his display and saw that it was a little after seven in the evening in the real world. For every one real-world hour four passed in the game world. Quantumsoft had offset the real-world clock to the in-game clock to make it possible for players to log in during useful times. It was six in the evening real-world when he logged in and four in the afternoon in the game. He spent a little over four game-hours training, or until a little after eight in the evening.

That meant it was now after seven in the real world. If he logged out now, got some food, and took a break, he could log in at nine tonight and have two-and-a-half hours of practice before a trainer showed up. He wanted to work on combining the defensive and offensive for a bit. Then maybe he could get some additional training.