Robert scowled as he looked at the bow in his hands, before he looked back at Galmi. “Are you really sure about this?” he asked again.

Galmi stood in the middle of a field not far from Linkston. Scarlet had been left to Tim so that she wouldn’t get accidentally hurt during his experimenting.

“Yes I am, stop being a wuss,” Galmi told Robert as he lifted a blindfold to his eyes. He wrapped the soft black material around his head and tied it.

Robert pulled an arrow from the quiver at his hip and nocked it. “I really don’t think I should do this.”

Galmi leaned forward and turned his head slightly to the left. He spread his arms wide and stretched out his fingers. “Come on, I could handle a Red Wolf I think I can handle an arrow.”

Robert muttered a few words in response to that, and then he lifted the bow. With a smooth motion he pulled back the arrow, and then he released the drawstring. The arrow slipped free from the bow and struck deep into Galmi.

“Oh god! Not my-”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Nika’d never had as much fun as she did while fighting alongside Typhoon. The man had a similar mentality, one that made it easy for them to coordinate without words. The more they fought together the more a rhythm grew. Nika would lead the attack, relying on her speed to disrupt the enemy, and then Typhoon would smash through behind her.

Marcus followed along with them, but he struggled to keep up with their pace. Almost always he’d show up a little late to the fight, and only deal with a couple of the goblins. It was after they’d taken out what felt like the thousandth goblin that Nika received an alert.

You Have A New Quest

Hobgoblin Extermination

Difficulty: 2/5

A small group of hobgoblins have gathered north of Faeriver. If they’re not stopped they’ll invade the town. Defeating them will garner reputation and rewards.

“Yes, we got this!” Nika exclaimed as she looked excitedly to Typhoon, “are you up for this?”

Typhoon gave a shake of his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m already running late,” Typhoon told her, “I made a promise to meet up with some of my family.”

Nika looked crestfallen, as she’d had so much fun over the last few hours. “Do you really have to go?”

“Hah, of course I do, family is family,” Typhoon declared as his giant hammer vanished, “but don’t worry. I’ll give you a present!”

“A present? What kind?” Nika asked as her excitement started to mount.

“Information!” Typhoon said with a big grin on his face.

Nika’s mouth hung open as she stared at the man, her brain struggling with what she’d heard. Between Typhoon leaving and this so-called present, it was almost as though she’d been overloaded with disappointment.

“Now don’t be all sad or something, this is good,” Typhoon told Nika, “I can already tell you this. You aren’t suited to be a barbarian, they tend to get skills and gear suited for grounded head on fighting with heavy attacks.”

“I know that, but I all the agility classes are thieves or archers.”

“Ahh, only the ones known openly. But if you head to the Faran desert and find the Chaos Nomads you can get a special class. It’s definitely a few days away in-game, but the class will make you scream for joy if you can get it.”

Marcus looked at Typhoon sharply. “A hidden class? How do you know about it?”

Typhoon almost looked hurt at the question. “I’ve been here since the start, so I know a lot of things. Besides, why would I lie about this? I’d love to see Nika earn the class.”

“I’m going for it,” Nika declared, pointedly ignoring how suspicious Marcus was of Typhoon, “thanks for telling me about it.”

Typhoon gave a small smile at that, and then he waved. “I’ll see you later then.”

Nika and Marcus watched as the big man ran off back to Faeriver. Marcus was the first to speak, “So now that he’s gone we can go relax right?”

“What are you talking about?” Nika asked with a perplexed look, “we just got a quest! We’re killing some hobgoblins.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Selene moved the blankets off and slipped out of bed. She stretched after she’d stood up, yawning even though she’d slept all night.

An alarm kept ringing on the stand nearby, and she stumbled over to it, fumbling with the buttons. Selene wiped at her sleep-laden eyes and tried to figure out what time it was.

When she saw the time there was a moment of panic, as she’d overslept by almost an hour. Clumsily she went to her dresser, and started to pull out the clothes she’d wanted to wear for the day.

After a little bit of that struggle, as her dresser was an utter mess, Selene ran to her bathroom. From outside the nearby clock tower chimed nine times, the deep bass resonating even through the walls of her apartment.

By the time she’d managed to get out of the bathroom her automated assistant had already set off a new alarm. “I know, stop ringing!” Selene cried at it, and the alarm stopped.

She grabbed her soft-cushioned chair that she preferred and pulled it to the middle of the room. The books that’d been on it fell off, which caused Selene to gasp in horror.

Selene scooped up the books, prioritizing taking care of them over anything else, and the feel of the synthetic paper brought a smile to her face. As she put them on top of a nearby table her thoughts wandered.

Though all of her friends in school had favored the all-in-one tablets, Selene had gotten addicted to books due to her grandparents as a child. The closest she could get to the real paper, though, was the synthetic kind, as most publishers had vanished over the last fifty years.

“I don’t have time for this!” Selene reminded herself.

She almost ran to the chair and sat down on it, making certain that she faced the primary camera. “Ariel, please turn on my broadcast and transmit for class,” Selene asked of her digital assistant.

“Sure thing, though please make sure you are not in violation of university decency laws,” came the soft voice of the machine.

Selene knew she wasn’t, but at the mention of it she couldn’t help looking down. Her blouse was fine, and her skirt was sufficient in length. Though she wore no socks or shoes, they weren’t necessary.

“I’m fine, Ariel. Broadcast and project.”

At her command the lights of the room dimmed, and a hum of activity came from the four walls. Small black boxes embedded in each wall produced blue beams that swept Selene from head to toe.

A projection was overlaid across her apartment. All of the items in her room vanished from sight, and other people who were seated began to appear Selene instinctively started to lower herself into her chair at the sight of everyone else.

The chairs that appeared formed a circle, which Selene was part of, and a second circle was outside the first. The back row was uplifted, high enough that they could easily see over the people in the front row.

While Selene sat in silence some of the other undergraduates started to talk to one another. Those closest to her glanced at her, a couple of the boys even smiling, but she remained quiet and waited.

When the professor appeared all conversation came to an end. It wasn’t out of respect, or fear, but rather because his appearance caused all microphones to stop transmitting.

The professor was short, perhaps a little over five feet tall, and had white hair. He wore contact lenses, which were only noticeable due to the glisten they caused on his hologram. He wore a beige tweed jacket and his pants were the same color.

“Good morning everybody,” the professor said from his spot in the middle of the projected circle. Like the students he was seated on a chair, and even though he didn’t face everyone his audio was transmitted equally.

A few of the undergraduates mouths moved as they worded their own greetings, but none were transmitted to the class. The professor showed no reaction, his only reply a cursory glance at everyone.

“My name is Professor Haas. Before I even cover any of my subject matter I’m going to address a consistent issue this class has. If you are here to learn how to program, you are in the wrong place.”

At those words a couple of the people who were seated vanished, as they cancelled their transmissions. Haas gave a small nod of his head at that, and then continued to speak, “If you are here thinking this is going to be an easy course you should leave as well. I will be requiring extensive work from everybody.”

A couple of the people near Selene vanished, as well as even more in the upper row of undergraduates. By the time all of the people leaving were gone the class had dwindled to seven.

“Good,” Professor Haas said as he saw all of the people who’d left, “I’m quite tired of dealing with those. Now then, welcome to The History Of Synthetic Intelligence.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

What she could only call a lecture had went on for an eternity, where everyone sat and listened to Haas talk about what he expected from everyone. After the class Selene had retreated to the library of Faeriver. It hadn’t taken her long to fall back into the rhythm of reading books.

Her fingers slid along the pages of the book in front of her, and the sensation brought a smile to her face. The feel of the books inside the game might’ve been lacking, but it was far better than synthetic paper.

A bell rang in her ear, and Selene realized that she’d received a request for a chat. She pressed the accept button as soon as she saw who’d asked to talk with her.

“Selene, how are you?” Nika asked, the sound of metal against metal being transmitted along with her voice.

Selene’s smile widened even more at that. Of course Nika would be talking while fighting. “Fine, I just got back from class.”

“Great, well I just wanted to warn you that Marcus and I got dragged into a bit of a problem,” Nika said before she started to yell, “Marcus watch your back! That’s a hobgoblin!”

At the yelling Selene put down her book with a frown. “Do you need my help?”

The sound of some type of monster crying out in pain was transmitted through their connection. “No, don’t worry. Besides you’d need to kill like a billion goblins to get this quest. Once we’re done we should totally meet up though.”

“I’d like that.”

“Great, kay, I’ll talk to you later, no Marcus put it down!”

With that last shout the connection between the two stopped. Selene gave a small shake of her head at what she’d heard. “So silly.”

After that she spent a few more hours reading through the books in the library. The size of the place, especially for a smaller city like Faeriver, was large and so she had plenty to choose from. When she finished off each book there seemed to be a small chance it’d hold a skill, and so even though Selene wasn’t fighting she felt that she’d gained strength.

What she was most impressed by wasn’t the writing, but rather what it gained her. A couple of the spells she’d picked up had been interesting. A fireball spell, earth lance, ice chain whip, the variety was equaled only by the genres within the library. As she finished off another short story once again a skill box opened in front of her.

You Have Learned A New Skill

Aero Slice

0(0%) Beginner

Through reading The Winds of Death you have learned how to control wind to create a slash from a distance. Power is lost in areas of naturally high wind.

Selene picked up the book and carried it over to the shelf she’d acquired it from. As she pushed it back into the spot it belonged to, a new box appeared. Selene’s eyes widened as she read the new alert.

New Class Available

Mage

By learning one spell in each of the four basic elements you have gained the right to be called a Mage.

Increased pool of mana and regeneration. Able to evolve your magic. Increased magic damage while holding a wand. Can not wear heavy or medium armor. Can not wield heavy weapons.

Warning: Once a class is chosen you can only change it again to an evolved form of the class.

There was no hesitation as Selene clicked the accept button. A small light began to glow around her feet, and then a ring of light swept up her body similar to a scanner. The clothing she’d worn had changed as the light moved over her, and instead of the tunic and pants she now had a robe. A somewhat unimpressive hat with a tall cone shape was now on her head as well.

“Well, this is pretty ugly,” Selene commented to herself as she looked down at the bland robe. She hoped the game would let her change it.

“Was that a class change into a mage?” came the voice of a woman from behind Selene.

Selene jumped at that, as she had grown accustomed to only seeing the silent librarian. When she turned she saw a beautiful woman, one who had green hair that’d been pulled up into a bun. Glasses were worn on her face and the stranger held a book in one hand.

“Wait, didn’t I see you yesterday?” Selene asked as she grasped at the fragment of a memory.

“You remembered. Yes, I told you and your friends how to get here,” the woman said as she walked over to a table and sat down.

“Thanks for that,” Selene said as she started to almost mumble, though she couldn’t resist trying to peek at the book the stranger had, “and yes I’m a mage.”

“Congratulations, I’m Gia by the way,” the woman told Selene as she opened up her book, “you’re the first mage I’ve seen in a while. Most people still haven’t learned they can pick up skills from reading, well that and they don’t want to invest the time to do it.”

“Really? But books are fun to read.”

“People would rather punch something to get a skill than read a book for a few hours,” Gia said with a shrug, “plus you can get stuff like holy magic by praying.”

“Holy magic? Can I learn it?” Selene wondered aloud, her wariness of Gia decreasing by the second.

“Sure, why not? You’re a mage,” Gia said and then suddenly laughed, “but that reminds me. There was this one guy who wanted to be a paladin so bad he would pray at least once an hour, and then do sword swinging practice around five hundred times a day.”

“Does that even work?”

“It does, if you spend enough time doing it. You can learn anything if you put the time and effort into it. Last I heard the goddess he was praying to took pity on him.”

Selene sat down at the same table as Gia, though a few chairs away from her. “I’m Selene,” she meekly offered in greeting, as she realized she hadn’t said that yet.

“Great to meet you,” Gia said with a smile, “but yes there are all types of ways to learn skills in this game. There was even one guy who kept jumping into the air and trying to jump again, but he gave up.”

Selene tilted her head a little to the side. “How long have you been playing this?”

Gia smiled mysteriously. “Sometimes it feels like all my life. So, why are you in this library all alone instead of out there with your friends?”

Selene almost felt an eagerness to share her feelings with this stranger. “I just really like books. My grandfather read them to me a lot. This is the closest I can probably get to reading a real book since nobody makes them anymore.”

Gia nodded her head as she listened with a twinkle in her eyes. “So you came here, and now that you’ve been able to feel and smell them you’re addicted?”

“Kind of, yeah,” Selene admitted as she blushed, “I lost track of time too. I planned to stop after only a book or two, but then I kept getting skills. Getting rewarded for doing what I love is just perfect, y’know?”

“Well, I might know a great place you can check out,” Gia said as she reached into her inventory bag and pulled out an object, “it’s a unique library outside of town. There are a few monsters in it, though, and I found it back in the alpha.”

“Oh, that’s neat,” Selene leaned toward Gia to see what she had in her hand, “but why tell me?”

Gia put a key on top of the table, one that had little wings attached to the head. “For some reason I feel like this was made for you. Follow the river downstream and you’ll eventually find where it goes.”

Unique Item

Key To The Fairy Ruins

An old key that allows for access to a hidden dungeon, called the Fairy Ruins. Can be found to the east of Faeriver.

Help Files

Alignment

Every living creature falls into one of the five alignments. Many skills and classes have natural advantages and disadvantages against specific alignments.

Everything born naturally of the Earth is considered to be of the Nature alignment. Humans, wolves, cats, and anything one might consider ordinary is Nature aligned. Any and all monsters which were born in the depths of the Earth and emerged from the cracks are Chaotic. Creatures who were initially created by the God of Magic are of the Magic alignment. The Fairies and Elves are the main representatives of this alignment. Any and all creatures specifically crafted with the power of the Goddess of the Divine are viewed as having the Divine, or sometimes Holy, alignment. This includes such creatures as Angels. Anything that has returned from beyond the veil of death, born anew as a skeleton, ghost, or anything similar belong to the Spirit alignment.