Chapter 1 First Connection

Alex was in a strange white room. It was quite empty. He sighed while looking around

- After all this talk about the greatest virtual reality, there’s nothing…

- You’re not connected to Edge of Magic yet, said a voice around him.

- Where are you, he asked when he found nobody?

- Wait a minute, I’m coming.

And less than a minute later, he saw the Doctor Nathalie Vercoss appearing before his eyes.

- So! Where are we?

- It’s your cyberspace. You can modify it as you see fit. You just have to call “Interface” and do the change. The time frame of this space is the same that the game’s one: 6 for 1. You’ll live for 6days inside for one day outside.

- Why 6?

- To simplify life for gamers: 10min correspond to 1 hour, easy to understand and calculate.

- Good!

- For you, there won’t be any time difference! When you need to sleep, you can either do it here or in the game depending of the cases.

- Other thing I need to know!

- A lot, told the doctor, but I’ll let the AI of the game explain the details of Edge of Magic. Concerning our research, you’ll just need to live among your peers in any way you want. The only limit concern your account: you’ll have only one avatar available, and your avatar’s name has already been decided. And keep in mind that an AI will look at your action, and if it judges it dangerous for others people, you’ll be disconnect for 1 whole day of real life, the same as the death penalty, or 6 days in here.

- What do you judge dangerous? Fighting?

- No! That would destroy the principle of the game, but any form of torture, or other behaviors which would risks to cause mental damages will be stopped!

- I’m fine with that, answered Alex. And for Emy?

- Your sister will be able to connect to the game in 2 weeks, 12 for you. She’ll tell you herself.

- Thank you!

- Now you just have to connect to the game… Tell “Connect to Edge of Magic” and that will do!

The doctor disappeared saying those words, and Alex just called:

- Connect to “Edge of Magic”

You will be connected to Edge of Magic. Are you ready for the transfer?

Yes/No

- Yes!

A rainbow of colors twisted before his eyes and the scene changed.

***

Alex found himself sitting on a chair, facing a beautiful woman.

- Hello! I’m the AI Kara. I’ll be your guide for your first step in the game. That is to say the creation of your avatar. Do you want my help?

Do you want the help from the AI Kara for your avatar creation?

Yes/No

- Yes!

- Good! Do you know about the world, the races, and the game system?

Do you want the explanation about the game from the AI Kara?

Yes/No

- Yes!

- The world of Edge of Magic is plan and limitless. For the time being only two continent have been discovered, and a total of 102 kingdoms. There are a total of 29 races available for the players. During the gameplay, the player will discover new continent, kingdoms and races. Those will then become available for the new players. Normal players have 3 avatars slots, even if most use only one. But your special account will limit you to one, and your name has already been registered as “Dark Lord”.

- What?!?

- Your name has been registered as “Dark Lord”

- I shouldn’t have teased her, complained Alexander under his breath. Hey Doc, he shouted! I know you’re looking! Can’t I just keep my name?

- …

- …

- A change has been made by your administrator. You can choose your name to be “Dark Lord” or “Alex Sanders”!

Choose your Name.

Dark Lord/Alex Sanders

Without saying a word, Alex just touched the floating screen with his fingertip.

Your name is now “Alex Sanders”

- Beware chickens, for I’m on my way, murmured Alex dejectedly!

- Do you want me to continue the explanation?

- Yes, answered Alex without letting a new screen appear.

- I’ll give more information about cities, countries and races during the creation process. I’ll continue the explanation with the game system.

- Go on!

- Each race have different bonus. Be careful with your choosing. The level of your avatar can give a general idea of your power and give you access to powerful weapons or hard quests. You can equip one Title that will give you different power-ups. You have two general attributes named Fame and Infamy. They govern the way NPCs see you. There’s no upper limit for those.

- I see the use of fame, but what of infamy?

- Most players see infamy as a penalty, but there are some dark powers or organizations that’ll only offer quests to people with enough infamy. High infamy can ban you from normal cities, but open you others paths, different paths. And there are cities that will only allow people with high infamy inside.

- Fine. What else?

- After, we’ll talk about your classes. You can have up to 3 classes. The first after level 10, the second at level 50, and the last one at level 100. Each class has 5 steps: Novice, Acolyte, Expert, Master and Grandmaster. Each step has 10 levels before evolving.

- Understood.

- You can learn any skill you want in the game, but a skill linked to one of your class grow 2 times faster than a normal one.

- Fine!

- Then you have 2 professions. You need a class related to the said profession, and to succeed in a test. A profession will bring you more bonuses concerning the related class. The steps and levels are the same than for classes.

Alex was still listening to the explanation of the AI, but decided to explore a little more the change in the feeling of his body. He began to do some push-ups, rapidly going from the standard form to a one hand and even one finger stand.

- You can continue, he told the AI who stopped, looking at his training.

- Then come the attributes. 6 primary ones and a lot of secondary ones. The primary are Strength, Agility for your speed, dexterity for your precision, vitality for your life and stamina regenerative ability and for your total amount of life and stamina, intellect for skill and spell power and total amount of mana, and wisdom for mana regeneration and skill or spell growth. At each level you’ll earn 6 points to give to the primary stats alone.

- None for the secondary?

- You will need to unlock the secondary attributes by yourself, and they will grow depending of your playing.

- So I’ll have to choose if I want to be strong, fast, precise, enduring, mighty or fast growing.

- Indeed. But you can also gain primary attributes thanks to your action in game as for the secondary attributes. After you have 9 Magic Affinity/Resistance. Higher is one, stronger your skills or spells related, and lesser the damage you receive from a related attack.

- This one is easy to understand.

- Depending on your actions or quests, you can unlock new magic affinities.

- Interesting!

- And the last concern the skills. Skills have steps and level as classes: Novice, Acolyte, Expert, Master and Grandmaster. You can learn skills by special actions, by quests or thanks to one of your class. Except for the five first skills you’ll unlock. Those are called soul’s skills. They are growing 3 times faster than normal ones. They will appear due to your first actions in the game. That is all I can say about the game system.

- Thanks!

You have finished the tutorial. Do you want to begin your avatar creation?

Yes/No

- Yes!

- Your name is set as Alex Sanders. Which race do you want?

- I don’t know much. Can you explain?

- Each and every race has bonuses and minuses. Most people take human in the beginning. Human have 10 in each of the 6 attributes, and no particular magic affinity. They can become whatever they want, except of some rare races classes or professions.

- Are there some races that have a better growing rate of attributes?

- Yes! The two races having the better growing rate for skills and classes are the Nephilims and the Horned Devils.

- Can you detail their particularity?

- The Horned Devils have a 10%higher growth rate for skills and classes, and begin with 20 in each of their primary attributes. They have a magic affinity to darkness of 20 and of light of -100. Their gain of fame is halved and their gain of infamy doubled. They begin with 200 of infamy. And even with high fame or infamy, depending on the location, the horned ones will be considered enemies by every other race, even dark ones.

- That’s no good! I can’t be evil after all.

- The Nephilims have a 10%higher growth rate for skills and classes, but begin with 5 in each of their primary attributes. Their affinity for light is 10, and for darkness -10. They do not have kingdoms but can pass for humans, and begin in human cities. Their gain of infamy is doubled when they do evil.

Alex pondered for a little time, but finally decided.

- I’ll be a Nephilim.

- Do you want to alter your appearance some more?

Before him appeared a projection of himself, but his skin had change to become more golden and his hairs, already black, were even darker. His eyes kept their dark color.

- This is okay!

- Where do you want to begin your adventure?

Before his eyes appeared a map with glowing cities. He chose one at random. Then he saw his avatar body and himself being absorbed by the map and falling towards the chosen city.

***

Without the shock he was waiting for, he landed in the middle of plaza in his starting city, Lutetia of the kingdom of Gallica. He was standing up here and tried to take his first step, but stumbled on a pebble and fall on the ground. He rolled, avoiding the painful fate of hurting himself by falling shamefully on the ground on his first step.

The people around him laughed at his antics and an information window popped up, but he discarded it as he was deeply in thought. His movements were so imprecise and he had to exert so much strength just to be standing up. That was quite a change from his well-trained body in the real world. But having no time to lose in regrets, he decided it will help him train his spirit more. So he just sat here and began to concentrate in his muscle. Soon a new window appeared and this time, he looked at it.

You have gained a New Soul’s Skill:

Inner Control (Passive&Active)

You can see the description of the Soul’s Skills after calling the “Status Window”

- Status Window!

NameAlex SandersRaceNephilimLevel1TitleØHealth (HP)100/100Stamina (SP)50/50Mana (MP)50/50Fame0Infamy0

Class 1ØNovice lvl 0Class 2ØNovice lvl 0Class 3ØNovice lvl 0

Profession 1ØNovice lvl 0Profession 2ØNovice lvl 0

Primary AttributesStrength (STR)5Agility (AGI)5Dexterity (DEX)5Vitality (VIT)5Intellect (INT)5Wisdom (WIS)5

Secondary AttributesØ

Magic Affinity/ResistanceEarth0Wind0Fire0Water0Light10Dark-10Nature0Lightning0Gravity0

Soul's SkillsUkemi Mastery (Passive)Novice lvl 1 12%Inner Control (Passive&Active)Novice lvl 1 42%ØNovice lvl 0ØNovice lvl 0ØNovice lvl 0

- Show “Ukemi Mastery”.

Ukemi Mastery (Passive)

Novice lvl 1 12%

By rolling upon falling you can reduce the damage by as much 6%.

The effective percentage depends on your dexterity and timing of your action.

- Not so bad! Show “Inner Control”.

Inner Control (Passive&Active)

Novice lvl 1 42%

(Passive)

You have gained perfect control over your body. All of you stats increase by 6%.

Your skill and class growth increase by 1%. Your stamina, life and mana regeneration increase by 6%.

(Active)

By meditating you can gain a temporary buff:

All stats +18%

Mana, Life and Stamina regeneration +18%

Meditation time: 5min

Duration: 1min

- The passive is fine, but I’ll need to work on the active one if I want it to be useful!

Standing up, and moving in an easier way thanks to the buff, Alex asked a guard for the direction of the library. He had decided of two things: he’ll need to know more about the classes of the games, and he’ll need to train his body so he’ll move in a better way. But with the Inner Control and his own experience, he knew he will be able to do an effective training. However, for his research, he had no idea how he should do it. He decided to then use the remaining spots of his soul’s skills for this.