Chapter 005

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‘ ‘ for thoughts

“ “ for speech

Hope you enjoy this chapter! –please point out any mistakes/inconsistencies you notice and feel free to post any comments you might have.

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Jack left for the Training Hall to meet Instructor Theon. After he reached it, he found Instructor Theon chatting with the old man in the corner. As soon as Jack approached him, Theon stopped his conversation with the old man and addressed Jack:

“Ah there you are Jack! So tell me how did it go with Madam Curie?”

“She threw a quill at me and then shouted at me to get out.” Jack replied. Instructor Theon looked intrigued and asked Jack to explain in detail what lead to Madam Curie losing her temper. Jack gave a brief overview of his nightly slave labor in the library and his self study assignment. He then went on to explain the rewards Madam Curie had given him: the silver visiting employee card, a skillbook on Mana Manipulation, its two subskills, and the book about the basic elemental affinities to a visibly shocked Instructor Theon. Jack then concluded his monologue by saying:

“After obtaining all this, I thanked her and said to her that I intended to use the knowledge I had gained to enchant my fists and beat up my foes. She seemed pissed at me and threw the quill which she was holding. I just barely managed to dodge it, and that seems to have flipped her and she shouted at me to get out of her office.” Hearing this Instructor Theon burst out laughing. He calmed himself, but still had an amused look on his face, as he said:

“You really are full of surprises! Impressing her enough to give you a such a valuable skillbook, and then infuriating her enough to make her lose her cool. But a word of advice Jack, don’t go freely revealing about your abilities, especially Mana manipulation. That includes both travelers, as well as residents of Terra. Anyway, I had promised to myself, that I would give the first traveler who bothers to train here diligently, a basic melee weapon. But you seem to prefer unarmed combat, and you made my day, making Curie lose herself like that. So I will give you something special.” Instructor Theon handed him a white translucent polished gemstone. After Jack finished inspecting and pocketing it, Instructor Theon continued:

“Now you know Mana Manipulation, but you haven’t developed any elemental affinity correct?” Jack nodded. Instructor Theon continued, “What I gave you is from a family of gemstones called Zahersonite. They have a very peculiar property. Infusing mana into it will cause a very small explosion to the element it is attuned to. If you can contain the explosion in your mana repeatedly, you can eventually gain an elemental affinity!” Instructor Theon paused for a bit, letting Jack absorb this piece of information, before continuing:

“Now this particular Zahersonite in your possession is attuned to kinesis, kinetic force, or simply force. It is the same phenomena which causes mundane hammers to shatter rocks, and swords to slice through leather. Most mages don’t bother specializing in force is essentially pure physical damage, meaning it is reduced by armor and is useless on incorporeal entities like ghosts. But it does have some advantages. Force is the cheapest element in terms of MP costs, and the easiest to control. Now go upstairs, into the throwing range and to obtain force affinity. If you obtain it, I may have something for you.”

“Thank you Instructor Theon, I will get to it at once.” Jack said as he happily went through a door, which leads towards the staircase. After Jack disappeared from view, Theon addressed the old man and said:

“You sure it’s a good idea to send him there? He seems capable and diligent enough, I say. Why not just induct him? And don’t tell me some of your usual vague bullshit, Janus. Tell me the real reason for once” Janus chuckled and said:

“Only novices can enter there, and it does need clearing out. Besides, I am bored. He managed to surprise you and Curie. Let’s see whether he can surprise me or not.” Theon just shrugged and said:

“Well he is a traveler after all. He won’t die permanently anyways. But I will teach him a few tricks before I let him loose.”

Upstairs, Jack disabled all notifications except alarm, and used mana manipulation to infuse the Zahersonite on his palm with mana. After a certain amount of mana was infused, there was a small blast with a diameter of 15 cm which took around 5% of his HP. The zahersonite remained undamaged o his palm. Jack reasoned that once he was able to contain the blast so that it didn’t damage him, he would obtain affinity to kinesis. Jack pondered how to proceed.

After some trial and error, Jack decided to combine the mana manipulation techniques he had learnt in mana identification and mana repair. He coated the gemstone in multiple films of his mana. Then he proceeded to infuse the innermost layer of mana (which was directly in contact with the gemstone). As the innermost layer was consumed, he pushed the outer layers of mana towards the gemstone, while simultaneously generating outer layers of mana. Whenever he got low on HP or MP, he would meditate to recover it.

Initially Jack could barely hold three layers simultaneously, while each blast took around 4% of his HP. Jack soon got engrossed in his task and lost track of time. Eventually, it was time to mooch some free dinner from the library. ‘Hope I don’t meet Madam Curie there.’ Jack thought as he went ot the library, ate his fill and took 10 extra pieces of rabbit meat jerky with him. ‘I can stay ingame overnight, until it is time for my dinner. When satiety falls too low, ill eat some jerky. I don’t want to waste too much time with the regen penalties and get this affinity ASAP.’

Jack resumed his exercise with the zahersonite and was steadily making progress. By the time it was time for Jack to log off for dinner in RL, Jack could maintain 11 layers of mana and each blast damaged him for around 1% of his maxHP. Jacob logged off, did some stretched and prepared a quick dinner of spaghetti with stir fried prawns. He took a quick shower, hurriedly ate his dinner and returned to Asunder Online in FuDi mode.

Jack felt a pang of regret after noticing that he had missed his free breakfast ingame. Jack ate some jerky, drank some water from his canteen and returned to his zahersonite. Jack took another break when it was time for his ingame lunch. By dinnertime (ingame), Jack could consistently maintain 16 thin layers of mana and could successfully trigger a blast without damaging his HP visibly. Before going to dinner, Jack reviewed his stats and skills:

STATUS WINDOWNameJackClassNoviceRaceHumanGenderMaleLevel0 (0%)Fame / Infamy20 / 0TitlePackratCONDITIONHP970/970HP/s1.1252/sMP465/465MP/s3.3524/sStamina920/920STA/s13.2936/sSatiety / Thirst69% / 69%Weight Limit8.9/102Active EffectsControlled Breathing (Intermediate lv1)STATSStrength51Vitality52Dexterity51Agility50Intelligence51Willpower53Luck10Endurance45Sustenance41Balance39Flexibility41Concentration45Wisdom42Free Stat Points0Elemental AffinityPhysical5%Elemental ResistancePhysical1%

SKILL LISTAmbidexterity (Trait)Mana Manipulation (Beginner Lv 2: 85.67%)

Mana Identification (Beginner Lv 1: 00.00%)

Mana Repair (Beginner Lv 1: 00.00%)

Meditation (Intermediate Lv 5: 29.13%)

Controlled Breathing (Intermediate Lv 1: 15.23%)

Meditative Stasis (Trait)

Thrown Weapon Mastery (Intermediate Lv 1: 05.38%)

Axe Throwing (Beginner lv 5: 87.34%)

Boomerang Throwing (Beginner Lv 9: 12.25%)

Chakram Throwing (Beginner Lv 6: 67.34%)

Dart Throwing (Beginner Lv 8: 15.24%)

Javelin Throwing (Intermediate lv1: 25.34%)

Knife Throwing (Intermediate Lv 1: 23.67%)

Unarmed Mastery (Intermediate Lv 2: 12.23%)

Jack met Instructor Theon and told him that he had managed to gain affinity to the physical element, and told him that he was leaving for dinner at the library. Instructor Theon looked pleased, and told him to stock up some food and refill his water canteen from the library during dinner. He then instructed Jack to return to the training hall as soon as he had finished his dinner. Jack was puzzled at this odd request to stock up on food. ‘Maybe he wants me to share some with him. I will bring as many pieces of rabbit jerky as I can get my hands on!’ Jack resolved. Jack managed to store 54 pieces of rabbit jerky in his inventory. Jack went to the training hall, and tried to enter, but found that the door was locked. Jack knocked and Instructor Theon let him in and locked the door.

“You returned? Good. I have a task for you, as well as a lesson. First return my zahersonite.” Instructor Theon demanded. After Jack complied, Instructor Theon handed him a stone coin. Jack examined the coin before storing it in his inventory. The coin has some strange runes on one side, but was completely flat on the other side. It also had a hole in its center. Instructor Theon continued:

“You will require that later. Now that you have mana manipulation and physical affinity, the question is how to utilize it effectively? If you just shape a force bolt and aim it at your enemy, it is the equivalent of just throwing something blunt at it at high speeds. Once you shape mana and release it, you cannot control its nature with your current abilities. But if the mana is connected to your body, you can freely shape it.” Theon paused a bit for emphasis, before continuing:

“You can change it from unshaped mana to a concussive blast for example. Now doing this takes a lot of concentration in battle, so practice is essential. The idea is to coat your hands and feet in mana and constantly maintain it. On impact, quickly attune your mana within the enemy to a blast not unlike the zahersonite. If executed correctly, this will allow you to bypass a portion of your opponents armor and directly damage them internally. You could also use the blast just before the impact, to knockback your opponent. You can also parry weapons by using less mana for a much smaller blast. The best part about this is that force magic is almost invisible to most.” Instructor Theon paused and noticed that Jack’s face had unrestrained glee.

“Once you can create these blasts on and before impact with just your intentions reflexively, it will boost your unarmed capabilities significantly. Imagine parrying a massive battle axe with a flick while rupturing your opponent’s heart. Don’t get too happy though, you are years away from such feats. Now stop smiling like an idiot and practice on a dummy. I am going to sleep. If you want to leave before morning, just wake up old man Janus there and he will let you out. But you won’t be able to return till morning if you do leave.” Instructor Theon told Jack.

Jack collected himself and started practicing on a dummy. Due to his training with the zahersonite, Jack could maintain a mana film on his hands during impact. He had some trouble timing a concussive blast just during impact, and the dummy rebounded. Whenever Jack ran out of MP or stamina, he meditated to recover it. He occasionally ate jerky and drank some water to keep his regens optimum. After some time, Jack could trigger concussive blasts reflexively on impact. Jack then coated his feet in mana and started mixing in kicks.

After he could trigger the blasts effectively with his hands and feet on impact, jack switched to triggering the blasts slightly before impact. When he was satisfied that the dummy was rebounding satisfactorily, Jack mixed in blasts which triggered on impact with blasts which triggered just before impact. Soon jack was in a good rhythm. He tried to mix in force aided dodges and lunges, but usually lost his balance. He reasoned that he was not proficient enough in Mana manipulation to control the power of his blasts effectively.

Meanwhile, Janus was pretending to sleep while observing Jack. Jack was in a trance and his arms and feet were moving like powered whips. It was very unfortunate for the dummy. Jack repeated his cycle of training and meditation until he received a notification.

*Ding*

Alarm notice: 7am in game time.

‘So it is time for breakfast. Let me quickly review my notifications, and then I can go for breakfast. Instructor Theon should be awake by the time I return.’ Jack decided. He saw that he had a few gains in strength, agility and intelligence. Among his special stats, he noticed gains in balance, flexibility and a bit of concentration. He had also gained a new subskill to his unarmed mastery, namely mana fists. Jack summoned information on Kinetic Fists.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Mana FistsBeginner215.68%Subskill of Unarmed Mastery

You have learnt to effectively integrate magic with your unarmed fighting. You can maintain a coat of Mana on your fists and feet triggering elemental blasts at will. You can currently trigger the following elements:

Force (at 100%MP cost).

Reduces Max MP by 25 for each fist or feet coated with mana. (100 MP for both fists and feet)

Costs 1MP/second to maintain for each fist or feet coated with mana. (4MP/s for both fists and feet)

Each Blast costs 30 MP (cost modified by choice of element)

Current level effects:

Each effective blast does 34% of Magic Attack.

Damage done ignores 21% of defense and resistance.

Jack was on cloud nine after reviewing Mana Fists. After calming a bit, Jack reasoned that the damage done was quite low at 34% of his Magic Attack. He couldn’t boost his Magic Attack with staves and wands like mages. This also meant that to actually improve the damage of this subskill, he had to train his Intelligence and wisdom.

But the best part was the info about ignoring defense and resistance. He reasoned that there were exceptions. His Force blasts wouldn’t affect ghosts. Also, he deduced that using fire blast on a fire elemental, which was a being made of magical fire, wouldn’t result in any damage. Still this was good news. He had a way to deal with armed opponents, without relying exclusively on critical hits.

Jack had a quick breakfast, restocked his supply of rabbit jerky and refilled his canteen. He returned to the training hall to find Instructor Theon awake. Apparently, Janus had informed Instructor Theon of jack’s progress as he was looking quite pleased. Theon saked Jack to follow him upstairs and they ended up at the throwing range. Instructor Theon then said:

“You now have some basics to integrate force magic with your unarmed fighting. Now I will explain a bit about how to do the same with throwing weapons. During the motion of throwing, you can imbibe your projectile with a blast of force. This will cause it to have increased range, speed and damage. If you imbibe piercing projectiles like darts or javelins with enough force, you can pierce right through your opponent’s armor!.” Instructor Theon paused a bit before continuing:

“Once you become more proficient with your mana manipulation and throwing mastery, you could do stuff like a throwing dagger’s blade exploding into shrapnel inside your target. Or throw chakrams with enough force to behead your target outright! Once you gain other affinities, you could enchant your projectiles with different effects! Like enchanting a dart with fire to burn a barrel of tar, or freezing the surface of a lake. But this has a downside. Throwing weapons are expensive, but they can be retrieved and reused. Imbibing them with mana will cause them to deteorate very rapidly, so stick with cheap ones until you can afford it.”

“That seems very useful. Thank you Instructor Theon! I will start practicing immediately!” Jack explained. Instructor Theon grunted and said:

“When you are done practicing, meet me downstairs, I have a task for you.” Instuctor Theon left Jack. He started practicing to imbibe force mana into the training darts while launching them. Ife he imbbed too little mana, his darts wouldn’t make much of an impact; if he imbibed too much it would shatter before it reached his target. Once he got a feel for darts, he moved onto throwing knives and javelins.

He figured that since these were the cheapest, he would be using them for a long time. Also, the other throwing weapons like boomerangs, throwing axes and chakrams had a rotational component to their motion. Hence jack concluded that he needed better mana manipulation to imbibe them effectively. After he was done practicing with these three throwing weapons, it was time for lunch ingame.

Jack had a quick lunch and stocked some more rabbit meat jerky. Then, he went to meet Instructor Theon to inquire about the job he had mentioned. Instructor Theon saw him and said:

“Ah there you are Jack. If you are finished with your practice, I have a quest for you.” After jack nodded, Instructor Theon continued:

“The stone coin I gave you earlier, is actually a key to some catacombs beneath the city. You can enter it by placing the coin on an unmarked grave in the outer city. Now what I want you to do is to liberate a ghost trapped there. Don’t worry, he won’t be hostile, but his skeleton jailers are another matter. When you reach him, he will tell you the details to free his soul. Here take a few silvers. Be sure to use them to stock up on potions and some darts. It can be dangerous there. Oh and make sure you take the coin after you open the entrance. You won’t be able to exit the dungeon without dying, if you don’t have it.”

*Ding*

Quest InformationNameCleanse the sealed catacombs of RotangGradeE+Description

Instructor Theon is impressed with your progress and has tasked you to free a tortured soul in the sealed catacombs. The catacombs can be accessed by using a special coin on an unmarked grave in the outer city. You cannot refuse this quest.

Duration / Time LimitTill you leave Rotang.Privileges

You get 50 silvers to buy supplies.

You get exclusive access to a dungeon.

Failure

You leave the outer gates of the City of Rotang.

On failure, you will lose all intimacy with Theon and Janus. You will also be banned from using the Training Hall

Rewards

You will get a set of leather gloves and boots.

Depending on how you complete the task assigned, you may gain additional rewards.

“Yes Instructor Theon. I will go now to shop.” Jack replied as he went towards the market. The weakest healing potion went for 3 silvers each, and the weakest mana potion went for 5 silvers each. Jack bought 10 of the healing potions and 3 of the mana potions. A basic wooden dart went for one copper each. Jack bought 50 of them. Including his initial 10 coppers, Jack had 4 silver and 60 coppers left. ‘I sure am poor.’ Jack sighed mentally.

Before leaving for the dungeon jack reviewed his status:

STATUS WINDOWNameJackClassNoviceRaceHumanGenderMaleLevel0 (0%)Fame / Infamy20 / 0TitlePackratCONDITIONHP970/970HP/s1.1252/sMP470/470MP/s3.3872/sStamina925/925STA/s13.34/sSatiety / Thirst94% / 94%Weight Limit16.5/102Active EffectsControlled Breathing (Intermediate lv1)STATSStrength52Vitality52Dexterity51Agility51Intelligence52Willpower53Luck10Endurance45Sustenance41Balance41Flexibility42Concentration46Wisdom42Free Stat Points0Elemental AffinityPhysical7%Elemental ResistancePhysical1%

SKILL LISTAmbidexterity (Trait)Mana Manipulation (Beginner Lv 3: 15.67%)

Imbibe Projectile (Beginner Lv 2: 03.16%)

Mana Identification (Beginner Lv 1: 00.00%)

Mana Repair (Beginner Lv 1: 00.00%)

Meditation (Intermediate Lv 5: 30.63%)

Controlled Breathing (Intermediate Lv 1: 18.23%)

Meditative Stasis (Trait)

Thrown Weapon Mastery (Intermediate Lv 1: 09.18%)

Axe Throwing (Beginner lv 5: 87.34%)

Boomerang Throwing (Beginner Lv 9: 12.25%)

Chakram Throwing (Beginner Lv 6: 67.34%)

Dart Throwing (Beginner Lv 9: 05.14%)

Javelin Throwing (Intermediate lv1: 29.54%)

Knife Throwing (Intermediate Lv 1: 27.78%)

Unarmed Mastery (Intermediate Lv 2: 35.23%)

Mana Fists (Beginner Lv 2: 15.68%)

Satisfied, Jack proceeded outside the inner city gates to search for an unmarked grave. There were many other players who were killing the rabbits and foxes there. Jack assumed that they were unable to find a party because of their low levels. They in turn, were staring at the novice in a tattered beginner clothes set without a weapon. Some of them were pointing openly at Jack and laughing. Jack ignored them and went on looking for an unmarked grave with a grove to fit his stone coin. Most of the gawkers, got bored at Jack and went back to grinding.

Jack soon found a cluster of bushes. Crawling through them, he arrived at a clearing in the center. There he found an unmarked grave. He noticed that on the tombstone there was a grove the sizeof his coin. He placed the coin there….but nothing happened. Jack was lost for a bit. Then he tried to rotate the coin clockwise , using the hollow centre as lever, but the coin refused to turn. He tried rotating it anticlockwise, and heard a groaning sound. The Lid of the tomb slid open, and there was a staircase leading down.

Remembering Instructor Theon’s words, jack pocketed the coin again and entered the tomb. The lid closed over him. ‘My first dungeon in AO, here I come!!’ Jack thought as he went down the staircase.

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