Author's Corner: Just some tutorial training to set the stage for later stuff.

Legend

" " = people talking

italics = people thinking

* * = sounds

' ' = people talking within telepathy

CAPS = Power usage

Chapter 1: Training in the Tutorial

Once the light dimmed enough for me to see, I noticed I was in an endless plain of green grass on a bright noon day.

“Oh good you are awake. Normally you just get blue screens for your tutorial but since you have me we get to skip the boring stuff!” –Faefae

“Good! So what first?” –Me

“First thing first, take a look at yourself. Note that rogues can only use daggers at first and then only one of them.” –Faefae

Then I take a look at myself, I’m wearing beginner garb and have a worn dagger.

“How do I check the stats on my gear?” –Me

“Just look at it and say identify, that’s part of the tutorial! You can also say show status to see your status or show skills to see your skills.” –Faefae

So I look at the dagger and instead of yelling out loud like a noob I think the commands instead.

IDENTIFY! –Me

*DING*

Worn DaggerAttack:2-4Durability:100%

Well that’s pretty shitty, especially since I read you have to break someone’s defense or your attacks will hit for less than 10!

“Let’s see my status then. Show status.” –Me

*DING*

STATUS WINDOW!Name:Psychotic DeathRace:DemonClass:RogueLevel:1Health:90Qi:90Power:13Speed:13Intellect:9Stamina:9Attack:2-5Defense:2

“Hum.. only 2 defense, that’s pretty bad.” –Me

“It is just the stats of your armor, though some passives can increase it, they are not easy to learn. Be sure to check your skills so we can practice them.” –Faefae

Not sure what she meant by practice them I simply checked my skills.

“Show Skills.” –Me

*DING*

Skill List:Active Skills:Flight (level 1)

“So I only have one skill eh? Show details flight.” –Me

FlightSkill Type:ActiveSkill Rank:RacialSkill Level:1Exp:0%Description: Allows one to fly with joystick 10 meters above the ground at 10% speed increase over ground speed.

“Good you see the flight skill, now to try it out! Once you activate it, you will automatically star to fly up and a mental joystick will appear that you can use to move around.” –Faefae

“Okay here goes nothing!” –Me

FLIGHT! –Me

Then I felt energy flow from my middle towards my wings, then the wings started to flap ever so slightly causing me to go a few inches off the ground. Once the joystick appeared in my head I started to move it around like any flight sim game. It was very easy to do 3d movement especially since I only had to think about which direction to go. I also noticed the energy flowing through my body which I guessed was Qi. This made me wonder since I was using one of the realistic pods if I could do the same thing manually. Having a good memory, I memorized all the movements that I felt internally and externally. Then I cancelled the skill.

“By the way, where is my luck or charm stat? Or rather how do I gain new skills or learn skill books?” –Me

“Everything is money based, unlike older games, you don’t use luck or charm to determine loot drops or can you spend the points to learn new skills. Loot that drops will drop and gold is used to learn skills. This keeps a constant money sink in the game.” –Faefae

Typically Buzzard game, always tons of money sinks so the economy stays fresh.

“By the way, can I fly manually or just use the qi the same way manually?” –Me

“Fufufu, that’s a secret but since I like you, the answer is yes. Also what should I call you?” –Faefae

“Jun is fine, no reason to use my game name since no one else will hear you.” –Me

“Okay Jun, good luck unlocking the secrets to maximum power!” –Faefae

Now I know something is wrong. First I start to try to move the qi through my meridians.

This alone took 15 minutes! Why is it so hard to channel qi? Not knowing wtf I am doing. I just channel the qi throughout my body until I could move it to the tips of my toes or my fingertips and all the way to my head. I still wasn’t able to move it through my wings so instead, I moved them to my feet and started to run normally and then see if I could increase my speed by pushing qi to my legs and push off on my feet.

At first I couldn’t get the timing right as I was going all over the place, but eventually I figured out how to circulate my qi perfectly so I just moved faster naturally without thought!

*DING*

System Notice: Congratulations, you have created a skill. As a result, when you run, your speed increases by 10%. Please choose a name for your skill!

This made me think for awhile, it’s just a simple skill to make me move faster so maybe… Quick Steps!

*DING*

System Notice: Congratulations, you have successfully named the skill. You are the first person to create an SS skill in the entire server, do you want to disclose your identity?

“Hey Faefae, I just made a skill, should I let others know?” –Me

“Of course, your name will strike fear in your enemies!” –Faefae

So of course, listening to the cute fairy, I clicked yes.

*DING*

System Notice: Congratulations, player Psychotic Death has learned the SS skill –[Quick Steps]!

“Yay! Now check the skill, see if it can level or if it is static, those that can level are much stronger!” –Faefae

“Okay! Show details quick steps.” –Me

*DING*

Quick StepsSkill Type:PassiveSkill Rank:SSSkill Level:1Exp:0%Description: Allows one to use qi to move 10% faster.

“Yes it can level, that means my speed will keep increasing! Now time to figure out these wings!” –Me

“Good luck, remember you have no time constraints here.” –Faefae

Good thing she told me that as it was dark before I knew it and then the sun was starting to show up when I finally was able to move qi to my wings! Another few hours and I was able to circulate them perfectly like they were my arms or legs. It was very weird moving qi to appendages that I didn’t have in real life, but now I figured it out and the wings were an extension of my body. I also noticed that I was walking and running perfectly. I guess being an athlete before the injury helped tremendously as I didn’t have to relearn at all!

Now that the wings were mine I needed to make sure I had no other problems. That is when I forgot about my tail! The tail is necessary for balance while in the air! So I spent the next hour circulating qi in my tail too. That much easier, and next thing I knew it I was scratching my back with my tail!

“Okay I’m ready to fly!” –Me

So I started to fly!

*SMACK*

And of course I planted my face in the dirt as it is impossible to fly perfectly the first time!

After a few more attempts I was able to stay in the air! I then started to fly higher than the 10 meters the other flying limited me too and realized I had no limit! I could fly as high as I want, only I needed to circulate more qi to make sure I didn’t lose my way and fall to the ground. Once I remembered how birds used their wings to catch hot air currents, I started to do this and flying got 10x easier. Eventually I had perfected flight so I went back down to where Faefae was waiting.

*DING*

Skill Unlocked: Manual Flight!

“What? I got a skill for that! Just like you said, and also it was just a hidden skill and not one I created!” –Me

“Be sure to check it out, it replaces the other crappy flight you had before.” –Faefae

“Show details manual flight.” –Me

*DING*

Manual FlightSkill Type:PassiveSkill Rank:SSSSkill Level:1Exp:0%Description: Allows one to fly freely at 10% speed increase over ground speed.

“See? At first it doesn’t seem like much, but once you evolve it will be amazing! You will be able to fly any and everywhere and no one will be able to stop you from fleeing!” –Faefae

It seems she really wants me to kill others!

“Excellent! Anything else I need to learn here?” –Me

“Well of course you need the basic rogue skills and since I’m lazy and none of them can be upgraded like flight I’m just going to give them to you. You won’t be able to train them until level 10 anyways so even if you don’t use them now, it won’t matter.” –Faefae

*DING*

Skill Unlocked: Stealth

“No need wasting time looking at what it does, it’s obvious. Stealth does lower your speed by 30% at level 1 though so be sure to level it up, the penalty drops by 10% each level so by level 30 it won’t have any penalty and at max level you will move 70% faster while stealthed!” –Faefae

“That seems insane! Do I not gain any other skills or dagger type skills?” –Me

“Not until level 10, archers get no benefits for using a dagger and at level 10 you will gain the 35% damage bonus for using the right weapon type which for you is dagger or sword, and since you are choosing dagger you can make sure to buy the right skill.” –Faefae

“How will I afford it if I just stay here in tutorial?” –Me

“Don’t worry, once you are ready, you will be fighting stuff and gaining some money that way. The tutorial stays until you quit it! Also remember you can still die here and death means you lose a level with a chance of losing a piece of gear. More drops if you are red too so be extra careful and fly away and stealth so you don’t die! Both don’t cost any energy to use so you can always use it!” –Faefae

“Okay then what next?” –Me

“Now follow me, here are some dummies, you can practice your daggers on them. Normally this step is skipped but since you already know the secrets and what to do, I will let you do it.” –Faefae

It was at this time that I wondered what it would be like to be a monk. As I already figured out how to channel qi throughout my body. Well one advantage that I know I have over others is my real dexterity that the game cannot take away from me. Being without a leg I’ve long since mastered the art of swinging my dagger in the same place 13 times within a single second!

So the first thing I do is charge the dummy and do just that! I attack dead center 13 times within 1 second!

-2

-3

-2

-3

-4

-2

-5

-3

-2

-3

-4

-2

-3

Hah it works! And since all the attacks were in the same spot and the same way the system did not register it as a combo! This works in my favor as combos cost qi and restrict my movements as I am forced to follow them. I hate combos! Unfortunately the damage is weak because of my shitty stats and shitty dagger. Also using qi to make my hands move faster won’t work as my dexterity is already maxed, no way I can make it any better. Now stronger? I should be able to make it stronger!

Time to test this qi thing a bit. Next thing I do is put the qi in my arms to increase my strength to see if it does anything like with the movement speed.

Channeling all the qi to my right arm and screaming I attack the dummy!

-6

Success!

*DING*

Skill Unlocked: Body Strengthening

“Good you gained the basic body strengthening skill, now you just need to learn the basic qi attack and we are done here.” –Faefae

“Cool, show details body strengthening.” –Me

*DING*

Body StrengtheningSkill Type:PassiveSkill Rank:SSSkill Level:1Exp:0%Description: Uses Qi to increase attack by 10%.

“Don’t feel bad, this is a skill that is already part of the game so no fancy notification for the world. Though most won’t learn it until the endgame and then only if they learn the real usage of qi.” –Faefae

“No problem, let me learn this final skill so we can move on!” –Me

It was weird how I felt, my qi was circulating on its own! My muscles were getting a revitalizing amount of qi and my legs and feet were getting the same as the two SS ranked passives did their job.

Moving my qi to my weapon I knew what I was trying to create wasn’t the standard enchant the blade and attack, as every class gets that the moment they reach level 10. So I thought about what I should be doing knowing it will be 10x harder than it would be if I just hit level 10 first then tried to make the skill.

Thinking nothing of it, I finally after 3 hours managed to move qi to the end of my blade. It took a few more minutes to evenly distribute it across my dagger. By now mid day is long over and this beautiful spring day is starting to get dark.

Once I had the qi at the end of my blade I thought about the things I could do with it. Then I realized I did not have a ranged attack! So I started to swing my dagger at the dummy while trying to send the qi out of the blade. I knew only healers and casters could really use their qi externally but there is no reason why the blade can’t do the same thing!

Eventually a stream of white qi left my blade and hit the dummy.

-7

Success!

*DING*

Skill Unlocked: Qi Blade

“Finally got the ranged attack! No need to learn any melee abilities, you will gain those later and then you can make combos. But I recommend against them as combos are clunky and do less damage than just using the skills in a faster fashion.” –Faefae

“My thoughts exactly. Show details qi blade.” –Me

*DING*

Qi BladeSkill Type:ActiveSkill Rank:BSkill Level:1Exp:0%Description: Uses Qi to send a blade of qi at your target for 110% weapon damage.

“Okay now we are done with basic training. It’s time to fight!” –Faefae

___

Only two chapters written so far, no schedule at the moment but plan to at least have a chapter out every 4 days or at least once a week until I get in the groove on it.