Dialog in this story has the speaker's initial in front of it, unless it is bleeding obvious who is talking. NPCs will have some name or descriptor, leaving initials to be used by the player characters.

W: Werlkhan - main character, first person naration is from this perspective

I am standing on the main road that goes from the East town gate to the chapel. Time to see what wooden weapons do to level 1 monsters. Before I get in a fight, I should probably look at my status.

Name: Werlkhan Class: n/a Level 1(0%) exp to level 98 Vitality 6 Health 59 Strength 6 Mana 10.5 Dexerity 6 Stamina 39/50 Intelligence 4 H regen 0.89 (66s) Wisdom 5 M regen 0.31 (34s) Charisma 3 Armor 0 unspent 0 Carry limit 62 Money 4c

This looks easy; my health will fully restore in the time that it would take to walk from outside the gate to the chapel and back. Mana seems a little low for how even my stats are, but I am not worried as I am more a front line player anyway. I pity the mage that thinks they will come out of town hurling fireballs. I run to the nearest gate. Well, it's called a gate but it is just a guarded hole in the wooden permimeter wall. As soon as I step foot outside I get a system message.

Hidden Class Available!

Animalist

You spend all your time in the wilds with the animals, and civilization holds no interest for you. The animals are your companions, your teachers, and you draw your strength from them.

[Class selection is locked until level 5]

* No tutorial

* No equipment

* No stops in town

A hidden class so easily? Hidden classes are supposed to be strong, giving you unique weapons or bonuses. This must be weak, if it is just being handed out. Well, I can not equip it yet, so I will worry about it later. Outside the eastern gate I find a few farms built close, with some crop fields in need of care. The farm houses are spread apart, and appear to be nothing more than log cabins. The fields have a mix of things, some growing vines with broad leaves that creep across the ground and others growing upright grains. All the running has burned a portion of my stamina, so I walk towards the farm fields to see if there are any items I can scavenge.

As I reach the edge of the nearest field a rat jumps out of the knee high cover of broad leaves and bares its teeth.

Rat - level 1

The rat is larger than a real one. If it were to stand on its hind legs it would just see over the plants it had been hiding in, but I suppose that will make it easier to hit. I swing the wooden sword low, a one-handed golf swing, and connect with the rat's head.

-6 to rat

That looks like it took a quarter of the rat's health, so three more until my first experience points. The rat stumbles back to look at me, and then starts circling to come at me from an angle. As I watch, it stops and then leaps from a little to my left, going for my throat. The dagger is fast and good for defense, and I use it to intercept the rat and throw it off. The rat twists in air but still rolls a little as it hits the ground.

-4 to rat

Not giving it time to regain its footing I smash down with my sword, stab with the dagger to pin it in place, and wack it once more.

-6 to rat

-4 to rat

-6 to rat

25exp

The rat immediately disolves, leaving three copper coins behind. As expected of a lv 1 monster, quick and cheap. Some one who is unused to immersive vr might have found that challenging, but this level of threat can barely hold my interest. The coins vanish into my inventory when I touch them, and I take a step into the field. Two more squeaks, and I see the leaves rusting towards me. Hoping backwards out of the field I bring my weapons up into a defensive posture. The first rat leaps just as it reaches the edge of the field, and I bat it to the side with my sword

The second rat charges out right after, and instead of jumping goes for my ankles. One hop backwards and then one sideways to put the charging rat between me and the one I just threw off, and I bring both weapons down as hard as I can. Reaching the ground at my own feet with a dagger is a little awkward, but I still connect with both weapons halting the rat before it can reach me.

I keep my sword pressed down on it, pinning it to the ground, and stab away with the dagger.

25exp

and that rat vanishes. Before I have time to wonder how a wooden dagger can stab so well, the other rat lands on my shoulder and bites my ear. Pain fills my head and I start flailing to throw it off of me. The rat falls to the ground and takes another bite out of my leg. That leg stops supporting me for a moment, and I fall ontop of the rat. I can feel it pinned under my leg, and three quick sword swings end its life.

25exp

6 more coppers, and the pain of having hole in the leg and an ear ripped off. I guess players should not be offended at starting on the same level as the rats, the little buggers are scrappy. "Status!"

Werlkhan: Status Name: Werlkhan Class: n/a Level 1 (76%) exp to level 98 Vitality 6 Health 51/59 Strength 6 Mana 14.5 Dexerity 6 Stamina 21/50 Intelligence 4 H regen 1.83 (32s) Wisdom 5 M regen 0.40 (36s) Charisma 3 Armor 0 unspent 0 Carry limit 62 Money 13c

Letting out a long breath, I sit on the ground and wait. It took a couple secconds to kill that last rat, so I am already seeing the recovery rate work. 7 seconds later my health is full again and my stamina is almost there. This heal rate is wonderful, and pretty much means any noob can survive out here without potions. If it stays like this then FoH is going to be like an elaborate game of tag. Kiting is going to rule most encounters. If I can run away enough during a fight then I won't even need potions! And I am close to leveling.

Classes are available at lv5, so the game up to that point should essentially be tutorial. New goal: get a class before my two friends log in today.

I run to the next field, kill a rat, and receive my first level. The faint sound of trumpets play some fanfair over my head, and I get a system message.

Level up!You have 2 unassigned points

Gameplay is smooth, so I dismiss the message and let the points sit there. I take one step into this second field and hear the squeak of a rat taking offense at my pressence. This one goes down just as easy, and the 25 experience points gets me 16% of the way to lv 3. Certainly diminishing returns, but not bad really. I am getting better at deflecting the leap attack from the rat, and start taking it on the dagger every time. Three more rats (75exp) and some things happen. I reach 64% progress to the next level, gain 12 more coppers, run out of stamina, and I gain my first skill.

New Skill Learned!

Parry (dagger)

Using a dagger or short weapon, receive and redirect attacks without taking damage. This is a contest of dexterity with your enemy.

I sit down for a rest and have a look around. It is a good thing the plants in these fields are only knee high; I can see past the fields without having to stand up. I am east of town. East of me is a wide open grassy plain. I can see trees to the north and a glint of water to the south, which makes sense. Being near a forrest means easy lumber and being near water is essential for a medieval town. It just works out that this starting village has easy access to a variety of monster habitats. I open my status sheet to see if there are easy to find relations between the stat numbers and my character's abilities. Carry weight looks simple. It was 62 at level 1, 64 at level 2, and I have 6 strength so a 6*10ish limit. To test, I add one of my two points to strength and bring up my status.

Werlkhan: Status Name: Werlkhan Class: n/a Level 2 (64%) exp to level 176 Vitality 6 Health 77 Strength 7 Mana 21 Dexerity 6 Stamina 60 Intelligence 4 H regen .89 (86s) Wisdom 5 M regen 0.63 (34s) Charisma 3 Armor 0 unspent 1 Carry limit 74 Money 31c

The increase in mana is surprising, as it is twice what it was, and the mana regen is up too. Those are clearly level based changes. But my healing rate has not changed, adding 20 seconds to the time needed for a full heal. I can see that the low level fluff will be over quickly, and I wonder how quickly the monsters will scale in difficulty. I should log off for a quick lunch, and then head north to those woods.