Ah skills. Sweet sweet skills! My favourite part in any RPG. Too bad I have no idea what skills exist in this game. This is where the limited knowledge I've gathered comes to an end. I have no idea of what skills, quests, classes are in this game. What information I know comes from glimpsing at the database. Thank god for my good memory. If I didn't know anything I'd be completely lost.

I walk through the streets in search of the training center. I'm going to the training center to learn the 'Sword Mastery' skill. It's a pretty straightforward skill. It makes you do more damage with swords! I got lucky stumbling upon this skill when I was surfing the database/

I walk through the streets looking for the training center.

*****

After a couple more minutes of walking around I finally come across a building that has "TRAINING CENTER OF ALTAIR" written all over it with capital letters. It looks like a pretty shoddy building.

I enter through the door and get greeted by a long hallway. I follow the hallway and get led to a huge room full of scarecrows and wooden sword racks.

Sitting there, reading a book was an NPC that looked to be the instructor. He noticed me coming in and put the book aside.

"Hello Lad. What brings you to this humble training center?"

"I came here to learn the way of the sword"I said. Talking to an AI felt kinda awkward. They were unbelievably advanced though so it wasn't. It was almost like talking to a real person.

"Ah, the way of a sword is a righteous one. It will bring you great honor. Come, let me teach you."

I took a wooden sword out of a rack and walked towards the instructor.

"What you need to do to learn the sword is feel the sword. Think of the sword as an extension of you own arm. It's a tool made for killing but that doesn't mean it's not elegant. The art of the sword is delicate and precise. So close your eyes and hit the scarecrow.You'll get a feel for it eventually." He said as he went back to reading the book.

Could you have been more vague Mr. Instuctor? Even though I'm not sure I'm doing it right I close my eyes and try to feel the weight of the sword in my hand. I swing with all my might towards the scarecrow. I feel the impact on my arms and shoulders.

TING!

__________________________________________________________________________

You have learned the "Sword Mastery(Beginner, Lv.1)" skill.

Damage dealt with swords of any kind increases by 5%

__________________________________________________________________________________

I open my eyes when I hear that sweet "ting!" indicating I got the skill! Well, that was quicker than expected.

I look at the scarecrow to see i completely destroyed. Cleanly cut in half... by a wooden sword.

I hear the instructor shout:

"A..amazing! Such power! Such precision! Are you really a beginner?"

I pu the sword down on the ground and say to the instructor:

"Yeah, I'm a total beginner!"

The instructor stands there bedazzled as I make my my way to the exit. As soon as I touch the door handle the Instructor manages to speak:

"He..hey wait up! I want to give you something." He'd totally dropped his formal way of talking and was talking casually.

I stop and look at the instructor, curious of what he might give me.

"Here, have this. I think you'll get more use out of this than I ever will." The instructor drops a small gem on my hand.

Ting!

______________________________________________________________

Item:"Lesser Gem of Strength" acquired.

______________________________________________________________________

I chant "Identify" in my mind.

Identification failed.

identification failed.

Identification sucess!

"Item Check: Lesser Gem of Strength"

________________________________________

Item:Lesser Gem of Strength

Durability:1/1

Rarity:Rare

Rare Magical gem that grants a permanent strength boost to the user.

Effect:Raise Strength stat by 50.

Requirements:Attack Power 2000.

___________________________________________________________

"Thanks for the item!" I say as I shove it in my pocket.

"Safe Travels!" the instructor shouts behind me as I leave the training center.

****

After I'm out of the training center I take the gem out of my pocket and wonder how I use it.

_____________________________________

Do you want to use item "Gem Of Strength"?

Doing so will destroy the item.

____________________________________________

"Yes, I want to consume it."

_____________________________________

Due to consuming Gem Of Strength

Strength stat raised by 50.

_______________________________________

I wonder what's my attack power now.

Character Name: Jack Class: Glass Cannon Title: The Suicidal Fame: 3350 Infamy: 3500 Health: 1000 Mana: 1000 Strength: 60 Agility: 250 Vitality: 10 Endurance: 10 Wisdom: 10 Intellegence: 10 Speed: 2500 Luck: 1 Attack: 2750 Defence: 0 Resistances: Magic RES:25% ; Water RES: 50% DarkMagic RES:5% ;Earth RES 5% Skills: Suicidal Attack ; Stamina Burn ; SwordMastery(B:LV1)

Holy shit! It increased attack power by 250! That means I get 5 points of attack for 1 point of strength! Is it my class doing that?

I was starting to think this class wasn't as good as I thought. While it does raise attack damage, speed and agility these bonuses would become less and less noticeable over time. But if this is caused by my class that means my class is amazing! In all the RPG's I've ever played STR raises attack by 1 or 2 points at most! But 5 points is a huge increase!

_________________________________________

Real Life Satiety Levels Low

Auto-Logging out.

_____________________________

*******

As soon as I open my eyes, the capsule autmatically opens.

Ah fuck. I wanted to play a little longer. I should've eaten before getting in the capsule. Oh well guess I'll check the forums while eating. There should be thousands of articles already.

While eating a sandwich I check the forums, looking for information on anything. Skills, quests, mechanics, anything will do. My lack of knowledge makes me feel uncomfortable.

While searching a thread caught my eye. The title was written in capital letter "DON'T START IN ALTAIR!!!"

I open the thread and read the main post.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Look, to any guys just playing the game DON'T START IN ALTAIR.

I chose that as my starting city and played for some time.

After getting a decent sword I decided to try to fight some monsters.

So here's where the problem(s) lie:

1. The monsters out there are too powerful for a beginners.

Just so you get an image of how hard they are to fight:

While wandering on the plains I came across a monster 20 m tall. It looked like a BOSS MONSTER.

AND IT WAS RIGHT OUTSIDE THE CITY WALLS.

Plus it's super hard to fight in VR. Extremely hard.

2.The quests are extremely hard. Difficulty D and up.

3. A thick forest surrounding the area. I just observed from a distance but there seems to be some scary shit in those forests.

There's like 1000 other problems but I'm too lazy to list them but I think you get the gist of it.

Don't start in this city.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Well that sure is demoralizing. I check the posts under it to see if it's true or not:

Yep this guy's telling the truth. Unless you're a masochist don't start there. Tru tru. Indeed. I deleted my character and started a new one because of the difficulty. Is this really true guys? Yep,it's true. Indeed. This post isn't a hoax. I've experienced it firsthand.

..................................

Oh damn, what have I gotten myself into. After reading another 100 posts to make sure this wasn't fake, I sigh. So that's why this city got picked automatically. Huh. Nothing you can do about it I guess. It's not like I can create another character. My character's locked.

I continue to scroll through the forums but find nothing interesting.

The most interesing thing is howw many threads and forums there are after just 2 days since the game release. I turn my TV on. As I expected, it was full of news about Mortal Coil. They basically said the same thing. It was earth shattering technology that would change the world as we know it. I sight heavily. Can you tell us something that's not painfully obivous media?

I turn the TV off and hop back in the capsule.