The accommodations provided to Null were, to put plainly, bare. There was no furniture throughout his small apartment aside from a chest and a bed in the bedroom. There was a part modern, part fantasy tavern aesthetic with a little hint of Oriental influence mixed in as well. The was a large fireplace on one side of the living room, something common to Restissna housing as all the apartments were on ground level. A metallic hearth stretched out from the fireplace overlaying the polished light wood of the floor, which caught the light of the everlamp above in such a way that the room was glowing. The everlamp, a clean cut crystal hanging from the ceiling from a metal casing, was perhaps the most unusual thing about the room, as it was the most “fantasy” that he’d felt coming out of it. It’s light changed depending on the time of day, the soft white color indicating that it was around noon time. For a city that was stuck in perpetual night time, it was a nice indicator, even if his Smart Box told him the exact time that it was. It amounted to little more than a nice visual trick, but he had to admit that it impressed him. The doors that led out of his apartment were a pair of sliding doors reminiscent of an old East Asian aesthetic, locked by a magical seal rather than something mechanical, though it functioned mostly the same. A similar pair of doors led out of the living room and into a small meditative garden, where Null had decided to sit. He’d spent enough time cramped up in apartments, and the star filled sky of Retissia was calling to him.

Little illumination was needed in his garden. The starlight from above cast a dim glow around the city, enough to see what one needed to see, but everlamps still lined the streets for a brighter color pallette. In his garden, such frills weren’t necessary, and the display of his Smart Box was bright enough to see in any environment. He attention was occupied by the Skills tab of his Status menu.

+++

Combat Skill Proficiencies:

Hand-to-Hand: Level 1

Swordsmanship: Level 1

Dual Wielding: Level 1

+++

On his way to his apartment he picked up a couple of combat skills from the training hall at the Academy, but didn’t stick around for any proper instruction, by Players or NPCs. He didn’t need to be taught something he already knew how to do, even if he didn’t have the muscle for it, the memory remained. Well, he had the muscle for it now, and with a few motions through the forms, he’d be back in shape in no time. There was a fluttering in his chest at that thought, the ability to move and respond as he intended almost made him spring up and break into practice right there, but he held that desire back for that, just momentarily, and focused on the books that lay before him.

Settled on the soft grass were The Basics of Arcane Magic and Magic Cultivation. From what he was told by Estella, he didn’t have to “read” the the books, but rather open them and meditate in front of them. The more isolated the area he was in, the less “interference” there would be from outside stimuli, allowing him to learn the skills from the books faster. His small garden was fairly silent, and he guess that maybe the developers had designed the apartments to allow for more isolated training. Also, since it was noon, most of the other inhabitants of the apartments were gone, so it was probably the most ideal time to practice.

He flipped open The Basics of Arcane Magic. The words on the pages were written in a script that he knew he had no hope of understanding. Given how he was supposed to use the book, however, that was not much of an obstacle, which is probably what the developers intended. The in lore explanation of this was that the books were written in Mindscript, a language that imparted knowledge and understanding directly into the reader’s mind. He found that a bit hand wavy, but at the same time he admitted that the idea was fascinating.

He lay the book directly in front of him, pages open. Taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes and cupped his hands. He let go of the breath, and with it any distractions that lingered in his mind. He wasn’t sure of what else to do, so he started to imagine a couple of the symbols of Mindscript in his head. As he did so, his skin started to tingle. It was a small shiver that traveled down his spine, a lot like the ones he’d get whenever someone whispered into his ears. When that feeling passed, it was replaced by a small buzzing that settled over his skin. It was soothing, in a way, but more than anything it was something that Null could use to get lost in, to forget about everything except the symbols on the paper.

Eventually, the tingling stopped. The process felt like an eternity, a very tranquil eternity, but the color of the everlamp inside was still glowing white. He would have checked his Smart Box for the actual time passed, but was distracted by the now floating runes that surrounded him. They danced around him, flowing from the pages of the book in front of him, its pages flipping as if turned by an invisible hand. There was a purple aura that surrounded both him and the book, but that soon stopped as the last page of the book turned. The book closed, and the the effects around him faded, a text box in its place.

+++

Magic Skill: Arcane Magic

May the bounty of nature lay at your fingertips.

-

Proficiency in Arcane Magic allows the user to draw in the arcane energy from nature for use in spells and sigils. Unlocks Arcane Magic spells and sigils.

-

Level 1 Proficiency:

Ability to use Arcane Magic spells

-

Will you accept this skill?

Yes/No

+++

With more enthusiasm than he expected, he hit “Yes”. The window closed, and with that came the return of the buzzing sensation from before, this time focused on his right arm. Light covered parts of his skin, crawling up his forearm. He rolled up his sleeve as the light traveled up his arm, stopping at his shoulder. When it did, the light faded, leaving behind a series of tattoos. They wrapped around his arm in three bands of black ink, a series of words written in a rigid writing scrawled in between the alternating layers of lines. It wasn’t Mindscript, but it was just as equally incomprehensible visually. At the center of each band was a combination of runes, though he could only guess what those meant. In addition to that, there was a new tattoos on the back of his hand, a glyph separated into three parts with runes similar to the ones on his arm. Obviously this was connected to Arcane Magic somehow, but the exact mechanism behind it was lost to him. His Smart Box vibrated, and when he looked at it he noticed notification icon. When he clicked the Box on, a new text box opened.

+++

You have learned the following spells:

Light

Firebolt

Spark

Freeze Spray

Stalagmite

-

Would you like to view these spells now?

Yes/No

+++

He selected “Yes”, an the the menu shifted to a new list split into two parts. On the left was the list of spells from before, and on the right were boxes that ran parallel to the spells, with three blank circles in each box. He assumed that the spells listed were the default ones to his branch of magic. Curious, he selected the Light spell.

+++

Please register a gesture for this spell:

+++

Below this new text box was a small, transparent orb. It was big enough for his hand to move around comfortable, and he assumed that this was where he was supposed to perform the gesture, so he placed his hand inside the orb and snapped his fingers as a guess.

+++

Gesture registered.

+++

The text box gone, he snapped his fingers again. A pulse of white light traveled through the tattoos on his arm, gathering into a small ball of light right above his thumb. It hovered away and grew in size until it was large enough to cast a glow over the entire garden. The light itself didn’t let off any head, but he found it fascinating enough that he did it a few more times before he couldn’t anymore. It was then that he noticed that his Smart Box was vibrating once again. When looked at it, he noticed that there was now a pulsing blue bar at the corner of the box. It was slowing growing in size, and as a small experiment he snapped his fingers again to cast Light once again. As the ball of light sprouted to life, the bar shrunk.

“Well there’s the mana bar… kind of a inconvenient place to look,” he said with a frown.

He noted that there was a small delay before his mana regened, taking that into account before he went off spamming spells. He took a few moments to register gestures for the rest of his spells. He stuck with small, slight movements with his fingers, so he could cast the spells if he was wielding anything in his hands. He found the option to hide his tattoos in the spells menu, the visual effect of light pulsing from his arm still remaining whenever he cast a spell, but he chose to keep the tattoos on display. He was tempted to start casting spells, but decided that throwing fire in the confines of his own home probably wasn’t the best of ideas. He’d need to go outside the city walls for that, but before that could happen there was one more skill he needed to get.

He sat down on the grass again, placing the Magic Cultivation book in front of him and opened its pages. Mindscript exposed to the air, he once again started to meditate, the tingling from before returning as the pages of the book began to flap. The process felt longer this time, but that could have just been the desire to go outside getting to him. That being said, he enjoyed the process. It was a small window of time for him to clear his head and forget about the things that were bothering him, which added up every day. In that moment, he was just playing a video game, and for now, that was all he needed.

+++

Magic Skill: Magic Cultivation

The path to power in a long one. This will help you along.

-

Magic Cultivation is a passive skill that will allows the user to strengthen their mana pool through meditation. This skill synergizes with all types of magic.

-

Level 1 Proficiency:

10% Increase in Mana recovery when meditating.

Mana Pool increases by 1 for every hour of meditation

5% increase in learning speed from magic tomes

-

Will you accept this skill?

Yes/No

+++

Null stared at the window. At face value, there wasn’t much use to this skill. The low risk increased to his mana pool sounded neat on paper, but in practice he wasn’t sure if he’d be spending any time meditating. He wasn’t only focusing on increasing his mana pool, and according to Estella that would happen passively with spellcasting in the first place. It was entire redundant, a waste, but…

He selected “Yes”.

“There’s gotta me something more to this…”

He decided to test the skill out, draining his mana pool by casting Light multiple times before he meditated again. The buzzing sensation from before returned, and after a few seconds it stopped. When he opened his eyes and checked his Smart Box, he saw that his mana was fully restored. He scratched his chin, thinking.

“If it takes, what, ten seconds to fully charge the mana I have, and I drain my mana pool after every fight, that leaves 360 battles for 1 point of extra mana, and that's only if I can break up the meditation. That’s… pretty useless.” Null sighed, “Well can’t do much about it now. Guess I’ll just keep this in the background for now as a passive.”

Null returned the books to his inventory and stood up, giving his legs a stretch. He gave a long, drawn out groan as the felt his virtual muscles stretch, pausing at how real it all felt. He wasn’t sure how they managed to replicated such sensations, but it excited him as much as it concerned him. He could lose himself in this world, forget about the outside and just continue to live whatever virtual life awaited him here, but he couldn’t. Life wasn’t that convenient. Time Dilation ensured that every hour in the real world was four hours in Aelios, and as convenient as that was, he’d have to return to the real world some time, and he wasn’t so sure if he was ready for that.

He shook his head, pushing that thought for the time being. To further distract himself, he started to shift his feet, bouncing back and forth like he was squaring up and appointment. Hands up, he threw out a few kicks, the sharpness of the movements emphasized by the crisp, cutting sounds of his clothes as he continued to kick into the air. He shifted to another stance, hands brought closer to his face, and started to punch as he shifted left and right. He eventually started to combine tot two like he would have in the past. The strikes were clumsy, out of practice. Any fighter worth their salt could see them coming from a mile away, and yet… he was smiling the entire time.

---

The fields outside Restissia’s walls were brimming with wildlife and players alike. He could only tell they were players because his Smart Box would pulse with light whenever he was near another Awakened One. It wasn’t something that anyone told him, but something that he noticed the more he walked around certain people. This was probably the largest gathering of players he had seen since starting the game, and he imagined it was because this was the starting area. Even then, they amounted to about three separate groups, hunting down the local mobs for some experience. The most common of these mobs were hounds with large protrusions across their backs, like spines, and a large horn jutting out of their foreheads. The name Spinehound was a bit on the nose, in his opinion, but he couldn’t say it wasn’t fitting. There were some other beasts, such as the large, ox-like creatures that roamed the plains like buffalo, but with furs that ranged from red to yellow, like autumn leaves. Some rodents scurried about as well, possibly to get away from the some of the avian species that flew overhead. A forest lay in the horizon, and was more likely to have a larger variety of flora and fauna, but Null was in no shape to tackle anything like that.

His stay in the plains wasn’t going to be long. It was just a brief test of his abilities. One his way out of the city he picked up a set of armor more suited to combat. An oddly fitting combination of a hoodie and leather armor served as his chest piece, and he traded in a pair of work jeans for a thicker pair of cargo pants he wore over a pair of combat boots. A pair of fingerless leather gloves finished the outfit off, giving him a small boost to defence, but not impeding the movement of his fingers. With the last of his starting allowance, he purchased a short sword and a dagger to fully utilize the Dual Wielding and Swordsmanship skills that he picked up. He wasn’t sure how much of what he had equipped was practical, but it suited his own needs just fine. Apparently the gear he was wearing somehow linked with his Smart Box’s magical aura, and as such allowed a small HUD to appear in his vision. It was mainly a health and mana bar, which was convenient. The HUD could be removed on command, so he could take it off if it was too much in the way.

He checked his status screen before he head out.

+++

Name: Null

Class: Freeform

Title: N/A

Health: 100

Mana: 10

Hunger: Sated

-

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Intelligence: 10

Constitution: 10

Speed: 10

Wisdom: 10

-

Total Attack: 17.5

Total Defense: 30

-

Combat Fame: 0

Merchant Fame: 0

Craftsman Fame: 0

+++

His stats appeared good enough, so he closed the screen and ventured deeper into the field. The groups near the gate were doing a fairly good job of clearing mobs there, so he needed a more secluded area to test out his skills. To that effect, he made way to the Black River, which lay a little ways off to the side. It was a fitting name, because the water was so clear that the black rocks of the river bed looked to be more in a display case than underwater. It was still in the vicinity of the city walls, so the mobs located there were of the same low level at those closer to the gate. To his delight, no one but him was in the area, so he had plenty of time to experiment.

He spotted a lone Spinehound near the river, drinking from it and unaware of his presence. Null drew his short sword and dagger, keeping the dagger in his left hand. He crouched and crept closer to the beast, controlling his breathing to not make a sound. When he was close enough, he went through the gesture to cast Firebolt in his left hand. A pulse of red light, visible through his clothes, pulsed down his amr and gathered at his first, shooting a small ball of fire the size of a softball at the Spinehound with a whip sound. The spell drained half of his mana bar.

The bolt struck the Spinehound at his flank, a small burst of flame following the impact. It howled in pain, the lifebar above its body half emptying and shifting from green to red. The force of the spell almost knocked the beast into the water, but before it slipped in it dug its claws into the ground. The beast snarled at Null, who was holding his weapons at the ready.

The Spinehound leapt at him, a simple attack of pure instinct. Null could have fired off another Firebolt and finished it, but it had been a while since his last fight, and he need to shake off the rust. He tensed his muscles, and shifted to the side as the beast closed in. The Spinehound passed him, unable to dodge the slash at its side as Null swung his shortsword. The attack left a long, faint red line across the hound’s flank. Blood wasn’t completely absent from Aelios Online, but most damage was indicated by a damager marker like the red line to indicate where the enemy was hit.

The beast charged again, but as he dodged this attack it dug its pawns into the ground and kicked off the ground and directly at him, driving its spines into his chest. The attack caught him completely off guard, but he didn’t feel the pain that he’d expected from the wound. There was a sharp jolt the reverberated through his system for an instant, but not the continuous piercing pain he braced himself for. The force of the blow did knock him back, and Null and to roll back on his feet as he hit the ground. There were some light red spots on his chest from where the beast struck him.

That should have scared him. Everything except the actual pain of the blow felt real, but instead he felt his vision clear, and his breaths quicken as he was somehow experiencing an adrenaline rush in virtual reality. He wasn’t sure how it was happening, but he didn’t care. Instead, Null grinned and roared at his opponent. The Spinehound howled in response, and broke into another charge. Null readied his weapons, and lunged at the beast.