As all the now free workers started to leave the mine Hammer turned to Alder and told him to wait for a second while he grabbed some stuff from his office.

Alder used this time to pull up his status screen and distribute his points,

STATUS

Name: Alder Starstrider

Race: Living Steel Dwarf (L)

Level: 1

Pool: 400

Unused Skill Points: 10

Unused Stat Points: 0

Titles:

The Advance Wave (L) - One of the first into the game.

The Last Of Us (U) - Play a forgotten race.

Stats:

(+) Attack: 20

(+) Defense: 10

(+) Speed: 11

(+) Dexterity: 40

(+) Source: 40

Skills:

Spells/Abilities:

Metal Magics (Race), Fire Magics (Race), Life Magics (Race), Perfect Percentage (Race), Analyze (Common)

Core Skill/Abilities:

Dwarf Hands (Race) - 10% increase to the growth of crafting skills.

Quintessential Cog (L) - At the cost of a variable amount of Pool summon a single part to be added to a creation. The creation will be changed by the part in ways determined by the caster, but will now cost a base amount of Pool to use. if the creation already cost pool it will now require more Pool than before.

Alder was slightly confused to see that he had received 11 points to distribute until he remembered the text for the random skill point distribution, ‘Randomize Free Stat Point Distribution? 10% increase to points if used!’ at first glance it appeared that it would only apply to the randomly distributed stats but the same wording could imply you received 10% extra stat points when you gained them in the future.

This made Alder very happy to have picked the random distribution as it basically meant he got a free level up every ten levels.

Deciding to use these free points to bolster his lowest stats Alder stuck the one extra point in speed. With the rest going straight into his pool. Although Alder had yet to exhaust all of his energy he figured that if he was going to be experimenting with magic further he would at some point need more energy than he had.

A few seconds later Hammer returned from his office this time armed with a rather large hammer on his back and a canvas looking bag.

Hammer called out to Alder, “let’s get going, ill show you to where you can register first. It’s a pretty simple process and shouldn’t take long.”

With that statement, Hammer began walking towards the entrance with Alder following closely behind. Upon reaching the mine entrance Alder looked out upon a vibrant forest with a dirt pathway cut through it. He could vaguely hear the workers from before bantering as they made their way along the path.

Following Hammer, the smaller dirt path eventually opened up onto a larger more well-maintained road. Not long after hitting the road, Alder saw his first sign of civilization in the form of a man pulling along a cart full of what looked to be wheat.

Not long after that he first saw the walls of the town, or rather city, they were heading too, the walls were made of sturdy-looking stone and stereotypically circled what looked to be a mountain entrance. Hammer began to talk confirming his observations.

“Were approaching the public trade and commerce hub of this city. This is where everyone is allowed, the city proper is under the mountain,” Hammer said.

As the two got closer to the walls Alder could see a line at the main entrance, each person passing into the city displayed some form of what appeared to be identification. Alder even saw a group of the now free mine workers displaying the paperwork that Hammer had given them to a guard.

Alder was slightly worried now as he most certainly did not have any identification but he figured that Hammer would not have brought him to the city if he would need it to enter.

True to his thoughts when he and Hammer approached the entrance they were beckoned over by an older looking dwarf guard who was sitting on a wooden stool slightly behind the huge gates.

As they approached the dwarf called out in a strained shout to Hammer.

“Does your hanger-on have a card Hammer? Judging by the fact that you were working all day today and his typing im gonna guess no.” said the guard.

“You would be right sir, bringing him to get one right now,” replied Hammer briskly.

“Aye, see to it lad.” finished the guard as he waved them on.

Alder now looked at Hammer inquisitively. He was mainly interested at why Hammer seemed rather subordinate to the old guard.

Seeing his look Hammer began to explain the relationship, “He’s the old guard captain, I served under him for a time. When captains retire they are often given trainer or supervisor positions, he, for example, was watching over the gate guards today. He was also good friends with my father so I have a rather good relationship with him.”

Curiosity sated Alder continued to follow Hammer as they walked along a medieval-looking town street. Traditional cobblestone paths and packed houses. He even witnessed a woman pouring what looked to be a chamberpot out of a window into a hole that sat in front of the building. As the two passed by the hole Alder could hear the sound of running water so he figured it was probably some form of a sewer system. That explained why the streets were clean for one.

As he walked Alder started to for the first time really feel how real the world felt. It was nearly indistinguishable from real life. Everything was just so real, people with real stories and all the exploration he could ever want.

Alder truly became aware that this was going to revolutionize the world. Who would want to work a boring office job when there was this much waiting to explore and discover. Not to mention that making a job out of the game would be a possibility according to what he read on the forums. Apparently when the game servers launched there would be a developer backed partnership with Amagone the world’s biggest good distribution website to allow players to spend in-game currency to buy products or convert it to real-world currencies.

Alder knew this game was going to be a hit.