I blinked as the world came back into focus. Katy reached out and steadied me as I stumbled on the uneven ground.

“Thanks,” I said. It was always hard to get used to sudden changes in your environment that you couldn’t see coming in early builds of games, and I hoped that Gransoft patched that out later on as that sort of thing had a tendency to put people off games with high levels of realism like Soul Core Online. It was only the game’s first day live so they probably still had a few little things like this to fix over the next few days.

She smiled at me as I looked around taking in the new area, I found myself in. It was considerably more impressive than the white room I had created my character in.

All around me there were stone walls, and the ground underneath was covered in sand. I frowned as I looked higher seeing places for people to sit at the top of the wall that surrounded me.

“It looks like a coliseum,” I muttered to myself.

“That’s right,” Katy said. “The tutorial zone is a coliseum, here you will pick out your first two weapon and fight a weak enemy so that you can see how combat works in Soul Core Online.”

“You can either pick two weapons that you can wield separately or together. Each one of them will come with a Soul Core containing some basic skills. You can try out as many combinations as you like before entering the main game,” she said as gestured to a large wooden table covered with various weapons and shields.

I looked closer at the table noting that the items on it looked like they had seen better days.

“Will I get to keep what I choose?”

“Yes, they’re just basic starting items, so they have similar stats,” she explained picking up a sword off the table and handing it to me.

I gave the staple weapon of all RPG’s a couple of swings and grinned, as expected of Gransoft, the heft felt like I imagined a real sword would. However, I wanted to have a look at the other options and looked back at the table.

Most of the options were standard, swords, bows daggers, you know, the sort of weapons you would expect in a standard fantasy RPG. But there were also some I hadn’t been expecting like a pair of dueling pistols or a strange glove with a geometric pattern embossed on the metal plate that would sit on the back of your hand when you wore it, frowning I picked it up and turned it over. Like all the other weapons on the table this was somewhat worse for wear, the metal plate was scratched and partially corroded and the black fabric that made up the rest of the glove was almost worn through in places.

“That’s a spellglove,” Katy said when she saw the look of confusion on my face. “It’s sort of like a shield for mages, you can use them for casting magic as well, but they won’t provide as many stats as a wand or staff.”

“What do you mean ‘a shield for mages’?”

She grinned at me seeing the sudden interest appearing on my face as I asked the question, “It doesn’t do much normally, but the skills that it gets from the Soul Core allow it to do things like project a small barrier that can absorb a certain amount of damage before fading.”

“And you can still cast spells with it?” I asked as I grinned back at her an idea beginning to form in my mind.

“That’s right, spellgloves don’t have as many slots for Soul Cores as a wand or staff of the same level but they’re still an interesting choice don’t you think?”

Katy was right, this was a very interesting option. It would allow me to attack from range with magic and it could be used as a shield, it wouldn’t be as effective as a shield made of metal or even wood but it would allow me to move a lot easier than either of those options as well as switch between wielding a weapon with one or two hands much easier or even dual wield if I wanted, that it would allow me to use magic as well was interesting as I had never heard of an item like this before. It wouldn’t be as useful as a staff if I was going for a full caster build but I always felt that casters were too squishy anyway. Especially because I mostly play solo these days and only really teamed up with people for large missions or dungeon diving.

I stroked my chin as I put the spellglove back down, I should figure out what my main weapon should be before I get too carried away. I glanced at the sword that Katy had given me earlier, there was reason swords were the most common weapon in any RPG, but they had never been my favorite. Knives were always begging to be dual wielded which while fun wasn’t something, I was actually very good at, so they were off the table. I couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a bow so there was no way I was going to choose that. The pistols could be fun, but when I checked with Katy, she explained that that they had a long reload time to offset the damage they did.

I also passed over the great sword, the axes, and staves before coming to a particularly battered looking spear. I picked up the simple weapon, the haft was weathered, and the tip was rusty but the places where my hands naturally held it were smooth from long years of use. A smile grew on my face as I started spinning it, the long weapon dancing in my hands as I went through a series of thrusts and sweeps that I had been taught in another game.

The man who had taught me had naturally been an NPC, but he had seemed genuinely impressed with how quickly I had picked up using a spear. Incidentally this game had also been the one that I had first been scouted to join a proper guild. The spear had been my go-to weapon ever since.

“Heh, I guess this is the one then,” I chuckled as I saw the look on Katy’s face after I finished the kata.

She nodded at my words her eyes still wide with shock, this was starting to get embarrassing. Not that it wasn’t nice to have my skills acknowledged but there were plenty of people better with a spear than I was.

“So, what’s next?” I asked breaking Katy out of her trance.

“Oh!? Sorry I zoned out there for a minute,” she said giving her head a quick shake.

Aren’t you supposed to be an AI, how exactly does an AI ‘zone out’?

“It’s fine,” I replied giving her a confused look.

“Right, uhh I you should check the stats of you weapons then, and I’ll explain how Soul Cores work.”

I nodded and focused on the spear, hoping that this would bring up the information I wanted to see, and I grinned happily as a small screen appeared in front of my face.

Crude Beginners Spear

Item Tier (Rarity): Basic (Common)

Required Level:1

Damage:

1-Handed-4 to 6.

2-Handed-5 to 8.

Damage Types: Piercing and Slashing

Core Slots:

1 Skill Core Sockets

2 Support Core Sockets

This old spear has seen better days but is still an effective weapon in the hands of someone who knows how to use it.

As expected, the stats were dismal, but I could use it both with one hand or two, so I picked up the spellglove and pulled it on, the glove wriggled slightly as it adjusted to fit my hand, but when it finished it fit me perfectly.

Threadbare Beginners Spellglove

Item Tier (Rarity): Basic (Uncommon)

Required Level:1

Magic Power: 3

Core Sockets:

1 Skill Core Socket

1 Spell Core Socket

This spellglove is battered and old but the enchantments laid upon it still function.

So, it looks like it uses magic power to determine how much damage it’s shield function can absorb as well as how much damage any spells cast while using it did. I guess that it makes things easier to keep track of but now I’m a little worried about how much damage the shield can take.

“Alright now I’ll teach you how to use Soul Cores, first bring up your menu screen,” Katy said when she saw that I had checked out both of my weapons.

I complied and saw that along with the usual things like Inventory and Equipment as well as the all-important Log Out button there was an option called Soul Links.

“First you should equip you weapons. You can only use the skills contained in the Soul Cores when they are bound to an item and equipped so be careful not to get caught out,” she explained. “You can still use the item itself, but you won’t get any of the bonus stats from the Soul Core.”

I nodded bring up my equipment screen and equipping my two new weapons while I was doing so. I noticed that the basic grey shirt I was wearing had a Support Core Slot but no other properties while the pants and footwraps didn’t. It looks like I’ll have to replace my starting gear quickly.

“Your characters statistics should be on the right-hand side of the screen,” Katy said when I had finished checking the rest of my equipment.

Name: Zeke

Level: 1

Next Level: 0%

Health: 100/100

Combat Regen: 1 per sec

Spirit: 100/100

Combat Regen: 1 per sec

Strength:1

Dexterity:1

Agility:1

Costitution:1

Intelligence:1

Charisma:1

Physical Defence:3

Magical Defence:3

Physical Damage:

1 Handed 4-6

2 Handed 5-8

Magic Power:3

I am the most basic of basic bitches.

I turned to glare at Katy who was spluttering as she tried to stifle the gales of laughter that had shook her body when she had seen the look in my face as I saw my stats.

“Sor-sorry,” she gasped. “The look on your face!”

I waited impatiently while she brought her amusement under control, apparently, she had gotten over her surprise at my skill with a spear because the brat was back to her normal self.

“So, as you can see, you have very low stats,” she said wiping as she wiped tears from her eyes.

“Yeah, what’s up with that?”

“In Soul Core Online your health and spirit will go up by ten points every level but the rest of your stats will come from your equipment and Soul Cores. Actually, that’s not entirely accurate there are a couple of ways to increase your base stats, but I can’t tell you how,” she replied tossing me two small orbs which I quickly caught.

“So, these are Soul Cores,” I mused examining the items. They appeared to be made of either glass or crystal and holding them up to the light revealed no further clues as to what they were made of, but one was lit from within with a light that changed between red and green as well as the image of a spear in it and the other had a faint blue glow and the image of a glove within it to help discern which was. At Katy’s urging I examined them both.

Basic Spear Core

Skill Core-

Basic Tier

(Common)

Core Level:1/10

Soul Points: 0/10

A Skill Core that can be used to learn basic spear techniques.

Must be socketed into a spear.

Basic Spellglove Core

Skill Core-

Basic Tier (Common)

Core Level:1/10

Soul Points: 0/10

A Skill Core that can be used to learn basic spellglove techniques.

Must be socketed into a spellglove.

“These can level up?” I asked Katy in surprise.

“Yes, both Skill Cores and Spell Cores can level up, but Support Cores just give stat boosts,” she replied.

“Will these give me stats as well or just skills?”

“They will give you some stats every time they level up,” she replied confirming my suspicions. It would be strange if you had to start with stats as low as mine were currently, so I was pleased that I was correct.

“Alright so how do I use them?”

“First you have to insert them into your weapons,” she said walking over and taking the spear core from me placing it up against the blade of my spear. The core started glowing as it was slowly absorbed by the weapon, the whole thing took about five seconds.

“Can you take it out again, or is it in there for good now?” I asked.

“You can remove it on the Soul Links screen,” she said.

Well thank god for that, I wouldn’t have been able to replace my spear if it meant losing my skills as well.

I quickly did the same thing with the other core before bringing up the Soul Links Screen.

Zeke’s Soul Links

Current Links:2 Skill Links

Basic Spear Core

Level: 1/10

Soul Points 0/10

Skills

Thrust: 150% weapon damage. Cost: 15 Spirit. Cooldown: 3 Seconds.

Additional Stats

+1 Strength, +1 Constitution.

Basic Spellglove Core

Level: 1/10

Soul Points: 0/10

Skills

Ward: Creates a small shield that absorbs a base of 20 damage +200% of Magic Power. Cost: 20 Spirit. Duration: 10 seconds. Cooldown:20 seconds.

Additional Stats

+1 Intelligence.

Along with this information there was an image of both my weapons that showed the sockets for Soul Cores. My spear had one large red socket which was filled up by the Skill Core and two smaller ones, one red and one green which I guessed were the Support Sockets. My glove on the other hand had two large Sockets, both were blue, which were filled up by the Skill Core I had inserted and another blue one that had the image of a book next to it which had to be the Spell Socket.

I closed the screen and blinked as the information on my new skills flooded my brain, Thrust was about what you would expect from the name, just a more powerful version of a basic spear thrust. But Ward was different, it conjured a small barrier above the metal plate on the back of my glove that I could use to defend against attacks. The Ward would last until either it took more damage than it could handle, or I dispelled it.

“Alright so you have some more stats now as well as those skills you just learned so do you want to learn about those?”

“Of course,” I agreed

Stats were the bread and butter of every game. If you didn’t understand how they worked, you wouldn’t be able to compete with those who did. The stats worked pretty much as expected. Strength increased the damage I could do with melee weapons and increased the amount that I could carry in my inventory. Dexterity increased the damage I could deal with ranged weapons, as well as my chance to hit which was a little confusing due to the presence of guns in Soul Core Online but Katy had just shrugged and asked me how I would deal with it. Agility increased movement speed, allowing me to dodge easier and attack speed. Constitution increased health by five as well as increasing both physical and magic defense slightly. Intelligence increased Spirit by five as well as increasing magical damage. Finally, charisma increased how your action affected how NPC’s would treat you as well as getting you better prices when trading with NPC’s.

I checked my stats and saw that although my health and spirit had increased as promised, the only other thing that had increased was the maximum amount of damage I could deal while wielding my spear with both hands.

“What about HP and SP regeneration?” I asked as Katy had yet to mention how these stats worked.

“Both regen rates increases to ten times what you regenerate in combat when you’re not fighting, but other than that they can only be increased directly by Soul Cores,” Katy replied.

I nodded this was normal in most of the games I had played, no-one wants to be waiting around for their health to regenerate after every battle. However, it was a little irritating that there wasn’t a particular governing stat for them.

“Do you think you’re ready for the combat tutorial now?” Katy asked, excitement flashing over her features as she spoke.

I grinned back; I was definitely ready to try out my new skills.

“Alright then,” she said disappearing from in front of me.

I looked around in shock wondering where she had gone.

“Up here!”

Turning around I saw her draped casually over a large chair that overlooked the arena.

“I’ll just be watching from up here!” She shouted before pointing at something behind me.

Rolling my eyes, I turned around before staring in shock at my opponent. It looked like someone had taken a mold of my avatar and poured pure darkness into it. It stared silently back at me as it raised the sword it held in its right arm in a salute.

Once I got over my moment of surprise, I mimicked its salute with one of my own ending it with a flourish before jumping as voices cheered down at us. Looking around in surprise I saw that the seats above were now filled with people that cheered and stamped their feet in excitement as I prepared to fight my dark doppelganger.

“Oh, this is gonna be fun,” I said with a grin as I settled into a fighting stance. I noticed that two gauges appeared in the upper edges of my vision as I prepared to fight these were my health and spirit gauges. Both of them were full for now, but I was starting to get the feeling that would soon change.

There was no warning, no signal my opponent just attacked.

“Fuck!” I shouted as it rained blows down at me with its sword, I managed to block some of them with my spear, but my health bar was decreasing with every blow even the ones I blocked. It looked like I couldn’t block that much damage with my spear. I probably needed a shield to block attacks with any real success. Well, either that or a skill I didn’t have.

Hissing as every blow sent pain searing across my skin, I brought up my left hand.

“Ward!” I shouted causing a shimmering veil of energy to appear above the back of my hand which I quickly used to block the sword that was hurtling towards my head. The Ward flared as the sword struck, I could feel that it could only take one more blow before failing and even then, some of the damage would still get through.

I retaliated with a thrust before the doppelganger could recover, it turned away from the blow, but I still managed to cut a shallow groove through its shadowy flesh. The doppelganger’s face twisted in rage as it looked down at the injury, but I wasn’t going to wait for it to recover from its surprise and quickly continued my attack refusing to get caught up in its rhythm again.

We moved slowly back and forth along the sands of the arena trading blows, the thing was just as fast as I was, but I seemed to have a slight advantage in strength. The small bar that appeared above its head when I landed my first blow was nearing even with mine. I had used my spellgloves Ward a few times now as well as Thrust, which sent my spear blurring forwards faster than I could attack with it normally and cut far deeper into my opponents’ flesh.

In this time the doppelganger hadn’t seemed to have used a single skill of its own which had led me to believe that it didn’t have any Soul Cores socketed into its weapon and was just as weak as my own avatar had been before I had done so.

I smirked in amusement as I realized that the dev’s making us fight against something only slightly weaker than ourselves meant that an average player wouldn’t be able to win due to the doppelganger’s swordsmanship. That meant that those of us who did win this fight would probably be getting some sort of reward.

Deflecting a sword strike aside with my Ward my spear blurred, striking my enemy three times in quick succession. First, the butt of my spear slammed into my opponent’s chin knocking its head back. I had only used the point of my spear so far, so it hadn’t been expecting an attack like this, for the second blow I used the edge of my spears leaf-bladed tip to slash across the tops of my doppelganger’s thighs bringing it to its knees and finished it off by using the last of my spirit to send a Thrust through its throat.

Sweat dripped from my brow as my doppelganger dissipated in front of my eyes, the crowd roared its approval as I raised my fist into the air in triumph.

“Well done!” Katy shouted as she appeared in front of me. Looking over my body she snapped her fingers restoring my health to full.

“Thanks,” I gasped, by law games were limited to letting us feel fifty percent of the pain we would feel from our injuries in real life but that was more than enough to put some people off.

“So, how many people did Gransoft think would actually be able to defeat that thing,” I asked.

“Not quite half, but from the results so far they were being generous.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, it’s actually more like a third, most gamers are used to being much stronger than normal opponents. But things are different in Soul Core Online, even a normal mob at your level can be more powerful than you if you don’t have the right skills.”

“Wait… are you telling me that was weak for a mob in this game?”

“Not weak, but around average for your level. Remember, this is supposed to be a game for hardcore players,” she explained.

“Well, I suppose it would have been easier if I was kitted out with gear suitable for my level,” I mused.

“Yeah, and you aren’t quite used to your skills yet, so you actually did quite well, defeating it on your first try.”

“My first try?” I asked.

“I told you that you could try out as many weapons as you liked remember?”

“Oh yeah…”

“You do get a small reward for doing so though,” she continued pulling a small sack out of thin air and passing it to me.

The sack jingled as I took it from her and sure enough there were some coins inside.

“How much is in here?” I asked.

“Fifteen copper, in Soul Core Online every 10 Copper is worth a single Silver and so on.”

So, I had the equivalent of one silver and five copper, I don’t know what the prices for new gear would be like, but this was going to be useful.

“Everyone starts with five copper and some simple healing items, so in total you have two silver. You can enter the main world now if you want, but if you still have questions feel free to ask,” Katy said looking at me expectantly as a strange geometric pattern appeared on the floor of the arena. If I had to guess, then I’d say that circle was the portal to the main world of Soul Core Online.

“Can you tell me anything about crafting and gathering skills?” I asked. If I was going to make money with this game, I would need to be able to craft.

“You can pick three crafting skills and three gathering skills when you reach level five. Most are what you’d expect, like woodworking, and metalworking but there are a few differences,” she replied the crafty look that appeared on her face letting me know I was onto something interesting.

“Like what?”

“Some equipment requires multiple crafting skills to craft, for example your spear would require both the metalworking skill and the woodworking skill to craft.”

Well, that’s interesting. It looks like crafters would have to either be very careful about what skills they got, unless…

“You can work together to make things that you can’t make on your own,” I stated, and Katy nodded in agreement.

“Of course. Another difference is that there is a crafting skill that allows you to make your own Soul Cores,” she replied.

Now she had my attention, ideas started to appear in my mind. If you could create your own Soul Cores what were the limitations? Could you make your own unique combinations, or could you only make certain ones?

“Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much else about crafting, you will have to ask a trainer when you reach level five. I can tell you that Core Crafting is quite expensive to learn though, so if you want to learn it, you’ll need to start saving.”

That’s not surprising, but now I had something to aim for. My first courses of action would be to get some new gear and find out more about Core Crafting.

“Alright then, I’ll see you later,” I said walking over to the portal.

“We’ll be dropping you into a random starter town in the Kingdom of Issaronia, this prevents people from all choosing the same town and ruining the game for everyone else,” she explained as she followed me.

“What about if you wanted to play with friends?” I asked with a frown.

“I have access to your friends list. I know that none of your friends are playing Soul Core Online right now, but if one of those five ever decide to, then they’ll spawn in a village close to you,” she continued managing to get one last dig at me due to my small number of friends.

Katy smiled and waved at me as the circle flared with light.

“Good luck.”