Chapter 4 - The Beginning Of All Ends.

Lantis looked at the top-left corner of his vision.

As expected, the empty synchronisation bar was one-quarter full at 25% now.

It gave him a piece of satisfaction at least knowing the fact that he was one step closer to completing the tutorial and entering the game. No matter, how bad he played in the last round.

Quite an optimistic way of thinking, one must say.

Wait, wasn’t that the quest title itself? One step closer, oh…I see now, why they named it such like that.

“Even the synch bar is blue; developers must have some sort of obsession with it. Not that I will mind, blue is, after all, the most popular colour in the world.”

While he was having such thoughts and relaxing for a bit, he heard a light giggle coming from behind his back.

Naturally, that certain one was Luna. Lantis was really upset at her for leaving him halfway in the last activity. Not to mention the fact, that the overall quest was itself shitty, to begin with.

Since he found her now, he thought it will be better if he asked her why she did that and clear his other doubts.

“Well, well, see what we have here. You betrayed me Luna, kind of hurts when the only one you can rely on leaves you in the middle of nowhere.” He added with sarcasm.

Luna didn’t back down and instead replied with an even more sarcasm and challenging eyes.

“Oh, did I? I thought this activity was just the sort-of-a menial task for you. Was I wrong?”

“As if you know what I can do.”

“Well, I might not know about that but the system surely does. This tutorial sequence is a place where the system tries to guess out your abilities. Even if you had failed to complete all the optional objectives, nothing much would have mattered. If worst comes to worst, the game would have given you a new quest and you will still be fine. The point is to just try your best, many people in millions have already passed through this tutorial, many failed but that’s not a reason to rage quit. The only reason optional objective, achievements, feats and the like exists in this tutorial is just so that you can have a better start than others, kind of a bonus for the worthy and understand what each of this is and used for. Don’t worry about unnecessary stuff; the developers had made sure to keep things balance and dynamic at the same time.”

He was not even angry, to begin with, why should he be the one to rage quit?

Lantis wondered and scoffed, “Have you ever tried teaching? It might suit you.”

“Not interested. Alright, let’s not try to waste any time. Throw me any stuff that you don’t understand and I will answer it for you. For your next trial, you will be transported to a designated location where you will have to do activities related to the objective, just like your previous trial. Be innovative, use the game mechanics wisely, wait for the situation to turn around -that’s all the hints you will ever need. And for what I have seen, you have what it takes to do that.”

Ah, looks like she was impressed with my feats in the last trial; can’t help it, after all, I can’t stop myself from being badass all the time. Hehe…

Well, now on the matter at hand…

“What is this weapon wheel and inventory, you were talking about? I couldn’t find it anywhere in my HUD.”

Lantis was wondering about that, since the moment he heard her talking about it.

He himself was pretty surprised at this game. It was filled with mechanics that you can find in other genres, for example- One can’t find a free running mechanic in an RPG, nor a Weapon wheel other than an action-adventure one. Prior to buying this game, he made a thorough research on it and found that the game has different mechanics for different stuff- be it stealth, battle, sex, trade, swimming, archery, nation-building etcetera. It just never ends, that’s AFS for ya. The company just smashed all the interesting things they can find in other games and perfectly blended it all into one. Now, that was not a new idea at all, but to make a streamlined and polished game like this. Oh boy, that was a real pain and hard work.

It should be a fucking utopia then...

Fortunately, Luna interrupted Lantis’s wild thoughts or else he would be doing hard-core “philosophical” analysis about it till the end of time.

“Weapon wheel and portable inventory were one of those test features that were to be implemented in the base game during the beta phase of the project. But the alpha testers and developers alike feared that players may use it to exploit the game and the features itself were not that realistic, to begin with, quite game-breaking actually. Thus, their implementation was overruled and now they serve their purpose here, in this empty space and tutorial. To let the players see information about their gears, things that they were carrying in-game, stats etc. all before they log into the game. You can open your own weapon wheel and inventory wheel quickly by just thinking about it in mind, and the system will do the work. You should try this now since the system has allowed you to use your weapons. Check what you have got for your next trial.”

Alright then…weapon wheel!!

Suddenly, a giant wheel appeared in front of Lantis, which was similar to that of a radio wheel. It showed all the available weapons and armours to him in a circular pattern.

So cool!

//Opening Weapon Wheel//BETA

Available Weapons:

Tomahawk x2 (Melee) (Selected: Primary Weapon)

Exquisite Kukri Knife x2 (Hybrid/Melee) (Selected: Secondary Weapon)

Smoke Bombs x2 (Bomb)

Poison Bomb x1 (Bomb)

Mongol Composite Bow x1 (Ranged Weapon) (Selected: Primary Weapon)

Fine Bodkin Arrows x12 (Arrows) (Selected: Complementary Weapon)

Available Armour:

Exquisite Leather Set:

Leather Greaves//Leather Vambraces//Leather Chest Guard//Leather Spaulders//Leather Boots

Exquisite Leather Cloak.

Miscellaneous Items:

Fire Lighter x1

Looking at the available weapons, Lantis couldn’t help but whistle and say loudly,

“God looks like Christmas came very early this year. Look at those exotic weapons, each one more badass than the last. I can just play this game whole day killing people or monsters if all you can give me is just that Kukri knife. You know what? let me do it myself.”

With sparkling eyes, he commanded.

“System, equip every item. Set kukri as my primary weapon of choice.”

A white-purple light rapidly surrounded him and enclosed his body from all sides.

When the light subsided, Lantis was standing on wearing his new black leather armour and holding one long kukri knife in both his hands.

The Tomahawks were kept on the side of his pants with the bombs attached to his leather belt. The composite bow and arrow quiver were behind his back.

He played with the kukris, mimicking some film style moves and depreciatingly laughed at himself in the process.

Luna felt goosebumps crawling through her skin and couldn’t bear to watch it any longer due to cringe. She needed to stop him…

“Don’t be too happy though, these weapons are especially exclusive to this tutorial. Once you are done with it, you might as well say goodbye to all of them. Won’t know again when you will find it later in the game.”

That did calm him a little.

Lantis coolly replied, “Is it? Well, that’s a shame. Let me tell you a memory of mine, there was this game called “Skyrim”. It was one of the great old games ever created before VR's made their entry, I bought it, played it the whole night and suffice to say, I loved it very much. There was this particular guard in every town who when you meet, used to say, “You see those warriors from Hammerfell? They have got curved swords. Curved. Swords” It quickly became a meme; at first, I was pretty perplexed- what the fuck was wrong with a curved sword? Raphael, my pervert friend told me that a human can already have one curve sword but those dudes from Hammerfell had it different. Now…”

He pointed the kukris blade tip towards Luna’s chest and then continued,

“Can you see? Now I have got a curved sword. A curved and. A sword.”

One can immediately sense his lecherous intentions just from his rotten smile. But Luna just kept her cool and replied back,

“Must have been a pretty fun game,”

“It was. It really was. But you my friend should be pretty fun at parties.”

Lantis kept his kukris in the scabbards for later use and sighed deeply.

“Anyway, tell me what are those feats and achievements?”

“Feats are abilities that are earned by players in Total War Online by doing some meritorious task or just simply doing a work better than others. There are thousands of feats to be earned in this game, each with their own boons and effects but only a select few players have actually been able to achieve them. Achieving feats can give you multiple benefits, some effects are passive, few are one time, and others need to be activated to work. You can only have four feats at a time, to unlock more slots you need to get enough experience, prestige, influence and achievements. Feats are of four grades- Copper and Bronze (Level 1), Silver and Gold (Level 2), Diamond and Platinum (Level 3) and Blood (Level 4). They are further distinguished based on their varied effects. Achievements, on the other hand, are medals earned when players succeed in completing something. They can net you a good amount of prestige and influence, they might also show you your value to other players. Achievements are more in demand since they are easier to obtain yet rare enough to take a toll. They are used for distinguishing professional players and can even get you a good sponsor in real life. Each has their own advantages, I guess.”

Lantis quickly digested the new-found information from the game-pedia girl.

Looks like I have a second-grade feat. I wonder why I feel so sad now.

“Any more questions you want to ask me?”

“No, I guess. I am now ready for the next trial.”

Luna nodded as she looked above.

“Alright, the system will be transporting you to a new place. You will be leaving this corridor soon enough. If you ever get confused with the mechanics, which is a high possibility with this game, ask me or if I am not available- you can now use the Helix in-game database to get a help. Just give a holler. Tread carefully and remember- Stats, feats or achievements don’t matter much in this game. At the end of the day, your powerful army can bring down a hero and a lowly hero can also topple down your army. The world is not ruled by the strongest, not by the wisest but by those who know how to adept the best.”

In a rare moment of time, Luna touched Lantis cheeks for the very first time and smiled.

“Go now, my war chief, my liege. May the flares, the echoes and the drums of victory follow you wherever you go.”

Lantis was too shocked with the sudden turn of events that he did not realise the space shrinking beneath him.

The world was crashing down, the horizon was getting darker, and the square memory blocks were disappearing.

It was too late as he saw his own vision getting darker.

//Initiating//Sequence_tutorial_segment_2

//Teleporting//

Stealth Mechanics are now unlocked.

Squad Mechanics are now unlocked.

You are being teleported to a zone, where you will begin your next trial.

New objectives are being listed in the quest log for this trial.

The last thing he heard was…

“Deus Vult.”

When Lantis opened his eyes for the second time, he once again found himself in a strange place; Strange in probably another way, this time.

“God, I have to get used to this teleporting. It just zaps through my mind like a fucking blade tearing apart.”

He observed his surroundings and seemed to conclude that he must be somewhere in a village long abandoned by men.

The night was getting darker, cold wind was blowing making him feel sick.

No one seemed to be in the village. The hovels and buildings have broken down, empty and long since fallen into disrepair.

Dust and dirt in the windows, rust in the door could be seen from distances way.

He looked above and the full moon shone high above the skies amidst the countless twinkling stars.

There was fog in the air but not enough to disturb his vision completely.

He looked down at his own fingers, then elsewhere left and right.

All he could do was to sigh in wonder and say,

“Beautiful. Just plain beautiful, no other words can describe this game’s graphics and rendering capabilities of Helix. I knew back then in the memory corridor that the graphics were awesome, but now it’s just otherworldly. Even in real life, nature’s own graphics card pales in comparison to this shit, much less other VR machines. I made the right choice buying Helix, yep.”

He unsheathed his kukri knives and held them tight in his hands.

Ting!

The system has temporarily bestowed you the title of "The War Chief".

You are now eligible to lead armies.

//Mission Details: For the purposes of this tutorial, you have been made the war chief of the Mion tribe. They will recognise you on sight and will follow all your orders willingly. You are to help them free the hostages taken in by their rivals, the Capote tribe whom they are at war with. You are to meet them at a place marked in the map, take a squad of men along with you, free the hostages, sabotage the enemy’s plans and escape the place within the time limit.

Conditions::

Do NOT get killed. At least half of your men should survive this mission.

Lantis looked at the objectives and nodded.

“Alright, I guess. Let’s meet this Mion tribe then, shall we?”

He looked at the mini-map, and then looked west.

He slowly began to move towards the north-west direction of the village.

The night was dark; the wind was chilling, the night owls hoot echoed everywhere and the wolves continued to loudly howl.

But the lone war chief continued moving…