Waking up in the morning Dan laid in bed for a while. He still had a few hours until work and he didn’t quite feel like getting ready. Sighing he turned over to look at the headset awkwardly hanging off the edge of his chair and knew that he deserved to die right there. Feeling like a complete moron he had only done the absolute minimal preparation, not even bothering to learn more about his magic, and died as a result.

Maybe if he were a warrior class he could have taken out a rabbit like that but he wasn’t just that. He was something more. He was a mage. Yet he didn’t embrace that side of himself and fell in battle. Mind made up Dan got up and put his headset back on. Closing his eyes until Eternium was in view once again.

When his eyes opened once again he was standing in an oddly empty room. A couch sitting by the side of one of the walls. Going over to the couch he sat back down and began to read to the notifications.

You have died. Calculating: Tried to fight rabbits with no training and died from falling over several rabbits. Maximum respawn time of twelve hours. You have no experience so you have lost none.

Still a bit salty about that Dan ignored it and continued to read.

Despite dying a humiliating death you have come back, showing your resolve to the world. You will not be beat down and left in the dirt. Constitution +1

You have earned the title: Fool’s Frontline - You feel 20% less pain in fights but will deal 15% less damage.

Note: You may only have one active title at a time but all title effects are active even while not equipped. You may also only have a maximum of 10 titles. If you gain more than 10 then one title will automatically be deleted.

Despite the humiliating name of the title it really went well with the build he planned to do. While he would be dealing less damage it was his team and whatever revived minions that needed to do the damage while he tanked it. And feeling less pain would make him far more adept at handling the stresses of frontline combat. A glowing portal had appeared in the corner as soon as he had walked in, and his assumption was that it would bring him to the main game world. Deciding to test his theory he stepped through and was back to where he had first spawned in the game world.

Deciding not to waste the little bit of time he had before work he set off briskly. And with a quick question found directions to the mages guild. He would make sure to be far more prepared next time he left. With at least one more spell and some more armor. A team would be preferred but he needed to know how people felt about necromancy before letting others in on his secret.

Finally he arrived and gawked at the majestic towers above him. The colors were changing every few seconds from red to purple to blue. There didn’t seem to be any discernible pattern as far as Dan could tell though. When he stopped gawking he looked up and there was a small group of mages in front of him. Dan let out an inarticulate cry of surprise and jumped back as the leader of the group smirked at him and began to speak.

“Commoners such as yourself are not allowed within the prestigious walls of this fine school. Shoo before I show you the real power of a water magician.” He made a shooing gesture with one hand while conjuring a ball of spinning icy water with the other.

Dan bridled in outrage at the insult. He couldn’t believe this punk was not letting him go through the basic magic tutorial that must exist. “I am in fact a mage. While I don’t have any magic I can show you I am more a mage then you and your little gang of punks will ever be.”

At his proclamation the group burst into laughter and Dan felt himself deflate.The ball of icy water fell from the Mage’s hand and splattered across the path, soaking his shoes and sinking into his socks. Deciding he wasn’t going to get any help from these people he turned away, hiding his burning red face and muttering to himself.

After a few minutes of walking he decided he would make a stop to an armorer before heading to work for the day. With another question to a passerby, though this time he bribed them with a few copper to tell him a reputable shop, he was off.Making sure to pick up three gold from the bank he walked to the Armored Welp and was greeted by a man watching over a person wearing similarly ragged starting clothes, presumably another player, as he stitched strips of leather into armor.

Dan waited until they finished, though as much as he wanted to barge in he couldn’t bring himself to cause the other player to mess up his armor, and the mentor gave him a nod of appreciation before speaking up. “What can I da for ya’ll today?” The player looked up in surprise as his mentor started talking, being so absorbed in his work that he didn’t notice Dan until the Southern Drawl broke him out of his reverie. Wait… how did an NPC even get a southern drawl? Shaking his head to rid them of those thoughts he began to make his request.

“Hello, I am hoping to be a front line for my team but I am currently lacking any kind of defence of… well any kind.” Dan stated simply. He had his eyes on a set of metal armor along the wall and was drawn in by the beauty of it. Tearing his eyes away he refocused on what the owner of the shop was saying.

“Well y’all can call me Dinton. And him here is ma apprenish GildanCrafter. A strange name I know but he does some mighty fine work. I can see ya’ll have your mana unlocked so y’all are gunna be needing something light enough to let ya’ll cast sum mugic. An’ my aprenish right here will be able to help y’all out for cheaper then me.” Dan was having a tough time understanding the man through his thick accent but got the jist of it. He would happily pay less if it would help another player. Perhaps he could even work out a deal with him. In previous MMOs he played he often would only go with one or two trusted armor crafters and would pay a bit higher for higher quality stuff while also helping them out by bringing in rarer materials.

Dan nodded. “I would be more than happy to buy from him if you were to recommend his armor. I am looking to buy a full set. Did you have some in mind? As well as a price for it?” Dinton nodded at the request and held up the armor Gildan had been working on.

“I have him workin on this piece to get his level up since for most this armor wouldn't work or suit them. But it’s mean’ to be a set of heavy Mage Armour. Despite it bein leather it’s made much tougher and heavily layered. Though still far more flexible than metal armour. If a mage were to use metal armour then they wouldn’t be able to move their arms to cast spells properly. With this ya'll have a lotta protection but not as much as metal. We are willin to give it for free if you swear to buy the next set of armour from here and bring him ten rabbit pelts within the next two weeks.”

Quest Gained: Crafters Compendium: Bring Dinton 10 Rabbit Pelts in order to gain both favor and a free armor set as well as helping a fellow player! Reward: Free set of armor and friendly status with Blacksmith. Failure: Armor requires payment.

The player nodded his acquiescence, still not saying anything. Dan happily accepted the quest that popped up and the armor appeared in his inventory. Happy he got such a good deal he immediately equipped the armor and was informed he would take 10% less damage from melee targets for having the equipped set.

The plain brown leather left much in the way of looks, as he looked like some weird hunter that put on way several sets of armour over each other. Sighing in relief at the increased protection Dan made his way to a nearby inn and paid the ridiculous 50 silver fee to get a room and laid down before logging out.

Once he was back in reality he realized that he had far more time then he thought he would have before work. Despite wanting to hop back in he realized he wouldn’t be able to do much in the short time before work anyways and quickly got ready before heading to work for the day.