{-Casrane-}

The room was dark and, given the mumbles she could hear, would probably make a few believe that it hadn’t loaded. She knew she just had to wait a moment, though.

[Welcome to the land of Masylm! Before you begin your adventure, you will need to fill out some information.

Name- Choose a first and optional last name for your character. This will be shown to players in co-op mode and under other certain circumstances, so do not choose anything you would consider confidential. It can be changed later in the Settings.]

She put in her selection: Casrane Kyrenise.

[Age- Choose an age from this list. It will not be shown to other players, but it will determine whether you are able to access the co-op feature and may slightly impact your gaming experience.]

She skimmed through it and picked 16 from the list.

[You are ready to begin your adventure. The world is waiting for its hero.]

The darkness slowly faded to reveal a busy street. She was, for some reason, standing right in the middle of it—she was unable to move out of the way before someone bumped into her.

“Oh, I’m sorry!”

They walked right past her without even acknowledging she was there.

“Right… you’re not real.” She scanned the crowd for who she knew she was looking for, but didn’t see him. She decided to step forward, to which she immediately jumped back when someone appeared in front of her.

“Hello! You must be new around here. How about I show you the ropes?”

[Quest: Tutorial

Follow Relfror around Nafrius and learn how to play the game.

Rewards: Access to the full Secrets of Masylm experience, Poison Tip, 100 coins, +20 EXP]

Relfror went behind her and pointed to one of the options below it. “To accept a quest, you—”

She’d already done it. “Is there a way to skip this..?”

“It doesn’t appear like you have any other Secrets of Masylm save data on your device,” he responded cheerfully. “We don’t want you to rush in there and not know what you’re doing! You’re going to need to follow along with me all the way.”

Maybe there still were some things to learn.

“To look at your quests at any time, you can open up the Menu.” He still seemed surprised when she did it without his instructions. It was clear he had to think about what the next step was, saying, “Here you can access your active Quests, Inventory, Party, Map, and Settings. Be sure to become familiar with the layout so you’ll have no problem finding something when you need it.”

He gestured for her to follow him, continuing on his ramblings. “When you go to Quests, you’re able to see all of the quests you’ve accepted, the location of the quest-giver, and the general location of the quest objective. There’s many different types of quests you’ll find here, from ones essential for continuing the story to more casual tasks. Generally, all quests will reward you with some coins—the monetary system here—and EXP, which you will need to level up.

“Your Inventory will show all of the items you currently have with you. It’s empty right now, but I assure you it’ll have plenty of things in it in no time. You’re able to see all your offensive, defensive, and quest items there. The first five spaces are your Personal Inventory; this is where you can see your currently equipped weapon, any defensive items you may have, and a quest item. You can also equip a weapon in this menu.

“Throughout the game, you will come across temporary story companions. The Party option allows you to see their stats as well as your own. It also lets you see the weapons and skills you all have equipped. For story mode, there is a max of four party members at any given time. To see the rules of party members in co-op mode, talk to the Innkeeper in Nafrius and select Go In Co-op for the first time.

“Next is the Map. Here you’ll be able to see the entire map of Masylm, though how much is directly shown to you depends on how far you’ve progressed with the story or if you’re in co-op mode. It will greatly help as you navigate through the land and is worth checking frequently in case something gets updated.

“Finally, the Settings. Here you can change all sorts of things, like your name, date of birth (private, used to give birthday presents and determine when to increase your age), and specific game settings. It also allows you to toggle certain co-op features. It’s recommended you look at these before getting too far into your adventure.”

Relfror stopped and turned to Casrane. He put four weapons in front of her—a sword, a dagger, a black rune, and a brown rune—and motioned for her to pick one. “Choose one of these items. It will not determine your Class.”

She took the black rune.

“Now, going to your Inventory—”

She equipped it.

He was silent for a moment before a thief showed up. “This thief must be interested in stealing from us. Please, use the weapon you chose to fight him and scare him off. To initiate combat, simply walk up to him.”

She walked up, ready to get it done and over with as soon as possible.

“Secrets of Masylm has turn-based combat. Whoever initiates combat gets to attack first, along with all of their party; once they’re done, the other person and all of their party can go. To attack an opponent—”

She did what she needed to activate the rune and watched as the thief was defeated in a single attack.

Relfror nodded. “While there’s little difference between base weapons in terms of strength, as you travel through the land, you may encounter more powerful weapons. Be sure to check the description of every new weapon you come across, as it may be better than the weapon you currently have.”

The rune disappeared in her hand.

“Weapons only have a certain amount of uses. When it runs out of uses, the weapon disappears. Keep a close eye on how much uses your weapon has; it never hurts to bring a spare or two along with you!” He gestured to the remaining weapons. “Would you like to try another selection?”

“No.” Despite how quiet she was, she was certain. “Am I almost done?”

“Almost.” He once again started walking through the streets. He filled the silence by rambling more about the combat system; she ignored him, already knowing more than she needed to about how it all worked.

Eventually he stopped in the center of town. “You now know everything you need to start your journey. Before you leave, choose a Class. This can be changed later, but it isn’t easy, so pick wisely.”

She looked over all of her options, even if she already knew which one she was going to choose.

[Swordsman

An average person with great potential. Wields swords. Can Ascend into a Knight or Mercenary.]

[Thief

A person well-acquainted with the shadows. Wields daggers. Can Ascend into a Rogue or Trickster.]

[Mage

Someone capable of unleashing the power of runes. Wields black and white runes. Can Ascend into a Healer or Wizard.]

[Whisperer

Someone attuned to nature and its denizens. Wields brown and green runes. Can Ascend into a Plant Whisperer or an Animal Whisperer.]

Without much of a second thought towards it, Casrane chose [Mage].

Relfror smiled. “That’s all! Here’s your coins and [Poison Tip]. We all hope you enjoy your time in Masylm.” He began to walk away, though after a little while he simply disappeared.

The immediate attention she was welcomed with was overwhelming.

“Are you the hero? Please, you’ve got to help us!”

“Oh, hero! I could really use a favor!”

“Would you help an old man out, lass?”

“Could you lend us a hand?”

Casrane, mostly just to get them all to leave her alone, accepted all the quests. She took a deep breath to collect her bearings before deciding to head toward the temple. She’d do them all later, when she actually had a party to do them with.

For someone who had, technically, never been here before, she walked along confidently. Plenty of research and some help from the inside made it so there was very little she wasn’t sure of.

An old man was waiting by the entrance to the temple for her. He smiled. “You must be the hero.” Still, even when she got closer, he didn’t make an attempt to let her in until a dove fluttered onto her shoulder. “Ah, it seems Mazel likes you. You truly are meant for great things. Come in, come in; most of the temple is currently closed for a ceremony, but that doesn’t matter right now.”

Casrane wandered inside, admiring the majesty of the little bit that she was able to see. The man called something and two others walked up to stand beside him. They looked a lot alike, dressed in the same off-white robes and having the same brown hair.

“If you’re going to be trying to help us, then you’re going to need to have the help of some others,” he explained. “These two are the descendants of Emmyth, they’ll be accompanying you for the whole duration of your adventure. Their names… well, for now, you’ll refer to them as the Lord and Lady.”