After selecting his name, Jaden…. now Alder, left the sudo single-minded mode he was in when setting up his character and started to observe his surroundings and more importantly himself.

The thing about the random race selection is with the traditional race selection you get to see how your character looks from a third-person perspective, but with random Alder was never given that opportunity.

Alder figured this probably had to do with the type of people who would pick a random race. They would probably be the ones likely to want to learn about their race themselves.

He was interrupted from this contemplation by a gruff “ehem” from behind him. Turning around Alder was greeted by the same NPC who had instructed him about the ‘Status’ previously.

The, now identified, Dwarf NPC started to speak slightly excitedly “I reckon you’d be want’n a look in one of these” he said while rolling over a decently sized mirror.

Alder stood transfixed for a moment in the pure craftsmanship of the mirror. The etched gold borders and the literally glowing edge made him very hopeful for what he may be able to do in this game.

Figuring he had spent enough time ogling the mirror Alder started to observe himself. He was only a bit taller than the NPC but the biggest difference was his gleaming metal skin. In fact looking more closely his entire form was completely metal. His mouth falling open in amazement revealed to him even his tongue was a course dark metal. Tapping himself on the arm a pinging metal on metal sound echoed back.

He noticed that his limbs felt just the same weight as they normally did, not reflecting the fact that he was basically entirely made of steel.

At this point the NPC Dwarf began speaking quickly again, “As Obligatory from every guide we must offer you the opportunity to adjust your physical appearance, would you like to do so?”

Looking at the Dwarf his eyes were screaming ‘say yes’ at Alder. It was a complete 180° from his uninterested attitude when Alder first appeared in his workshop.

“Sure” Alder responded.

“We can do this one of two ways, technically my only requirement is to ensure you are able to change your appearance right now. That means normally I would just open a menu for you, but your race opens up some interesting options. Would you like to go the regular path, or try a different way?” said the Dwarf, once again seriously hinting at one of the two options.

Taking his hints Alder responded, “I’d like to try a different way.”

“Ok, your made of metal and you have a ability called metal magics, so all you got to do is activate ***** ******** ****** ******** ***** ****.”

When the Dwarf finished and saw the face Alder was giving him he looked stumped, then angry when Alder finished what he said next.

“What was that at the end? I couldn’t quite hear what you said.”

The Dwarf proceed to start an impassioned rant about game system censors (half of which was also intelligible) before closing it out with “common kid, you’re smart. Look at your magics, look at your race. You got this.”

Alder was now very confused, however, he started to think about what the Dwarf had said. Firstly he thought about the first thing he was told. Metal magic and being made of metal, the fact that he was in fact steel. Living Steel.

Deciding to test his first hypothesis he first needed to figure out how to use metal magics. He tried stuff that he had been told worked in other games, calling out the name of the magic, thinking it, all sorts of stuff. Eventually, he decided to try some weird methods, straight up attempting to mess with a bar of metal that the NPC Dwarf had conveniently left on the table next to him. After about an hour of messing around, he started to rethink the way he was going about the whole idea. Alder knew Pool was likely needed to use magic, it seemed to be what ‘mana’ would be in other games.

With this in mind, Alder decided to figure out how to access his Pool first.

He tried the stereotypical meditation method first and actually had some success. He could feel something in his center that felt sorta warm but he couldn’t actually do anything with it. After about thirty minutes of looking at this ‘orb’ of warmth Alder had some success. It came when he imagined the ‘orb’ like a glass ball of liquid, the mental image of that actually solidified into a literal glass ball of warmth at in his center to his ‘ mind's eye’. Taking it a step further Alder imagined a tap on one of the sides of the ball. Once he had succeeded in making this tap he poured some of the warmth out of the ball. Once in his body, he seemed to have total control of the warmth. Taking a moment to consider what to do with the energy he first tried to imagine it being used to fuel metal magic, for some reason though it just felt... wrong almost like he was trying to put gas in a diesel engine.

Opening his eyes he was met with a notification popup.

Pool Solidified:

Pool Form: {Glass Orb}

Access method: 'Taps'

Current 'Taps': Pure

Looking at the notification several of his questions were answered, one it seemed he was on the right track in general. Two the ‘Current Taps’ section actually answered why he felt like he was using the wrong fuel. Presumably, the ‘Tap’ he had currently could only allow Pure mana… energy whatever was in the orb, out. Thinking on this he closed his eyes again. This time he imagined adding another tap this time for metal energy. A gray tap solidified on the side of the ‘orb’. This time pulling from the gray tap the energy in the ball turned gray and flowed from the tap. Leading it down his arm, and past his fingers, he was pleased to feel it effortlessly slide into the bar of metal he was playing with earlier.

Opening his eyes again he saw an addition to the popup from earlier.

Pool Solidified:

Pool Form: {Glass Orb}

Access method: 'Taps'

Current 'Taps': Pure, Metal

Focusing back on the ingot Alder could still feel the energy inside it. In only a few minutes he had about figured out how his metal magic worked. Midway through messing around with the now liquified bar of metal that he was forming into all types of weapons and other stuff for practice the Dwarf NPC who had quietly been observing him in slight awe finally interrupted him.

“With the metal you can make yourself some new facial features,” he said.

Alder acknowledged his statement and then looking in the mirror began to make some metal facial hair and change the shape of his face slightly. He noticed that wherever he left metal on his face it quickly became a part of his face, indistinguishable from what was there before.

With a nice full beard and changed features, Alder looked over at the Dwarf and said “thank you for the hints.”

“No problem kid, you are one of the most promising Alphas I’ve seen. Looks like its about time I sent you on your way.” the Dwarf said.

One thing was bothering Alder still though. So he looked at the dwarf and asked his final question…

“What happened to your accent....”