“-And you can feel it flow through your whole body. How do I explain it? It’s like a fabric that runs through the entirety of Metsys. Any distortions in this fabric forms Core. Core is like energy and can be used as either Strength or Speed.

Strength can be used to harden your body, a weapon and if you want to be clever it can soften matter too. It can alter some properties. Speed on the other hand is about using Core to speed things up: your body, weapons and the opposite as well,” said Line.

“That’s amazing! How do you use it?” enthused Corn, leaning forward.

“Well, Core is all around you. All you have to do is alter it. Use it.”

“Yes, but how?”

Line stopped for a moment and scratched his head. “If you want to harden something, you fold it, uhh, never mind. Imagine you have a sheet of paper, you fold it in two. You fold it in two again and again. You keep folding it and it makes the paper stronger. Sort of.

But there is a limit to the amount you can fold it. Fold it too much and the paper will tear. Fold it too many times and you can’t fold it anymore. Besides not everything is strong enough to be folded. Only some weapons can be folded and only some parts of the body can withstand this folding. Only people with Strength can even withstand it and that too, only in some places.”

“So Strength is about paper art?” asked Corn.

“No. Maybe I should explain it with bed sheets or clay. It’s about relaxing and contracting. It’s about-”

“But what does all of this have to do with Magic?”

“Nothing. I told you this in the beginning, Magic is a Stat for the rich. For people with power, being a mage is a status symbol. The pinnacle of affluence and genius. For people of lower levels, that information is wayyyy out of reach,” explained Line.

“I have no knowledge of any this. No memories of what seems to be basic information to everyone else. How the Abyss will I ever find out?” added Corn pensively.

Line sighed and sat on the hard ground. “By asking other people and experiencing life. And whenever you need convenient info dumps, there are search engines.”

“They’re expensive! Do you know how much they charge for one question?”

“There are ‘other’ search engines. Not as comprehensive as the System but cheaper.

Look the kind of information you are looking for is precious and makes people powerful. No one is going to fucking hand it over for free.”

“Ok I am asking you then, tell me about the Stats.”

“There are eight Stats, listed out according to the difficulty to master and status. The lower three are Strength, Speed and Endurance and are mostly practiced by ordinary people who only have the choice of one Stat.

I have already explained Strength and Speed. Endurance is about manipulating barriers while Charisma is about people’s Hearts or some mushy shit like that. Wisdom and Intelligence are esoteric as fuck and no one practices Vitality unless they have an excruciating death wish or an insanely good master. And Magic is the ultimate tool of nobility.

Let’s see, what else? Yeah that number next to your Stat determines the amount of the Stat you can use. That’s all for now, anymore and I’ll spoil the game. You need to play the rest of the game to discover more.”

“I was being serious,” rebutted Corn.

“Only to the protagonists in games do such impossible things happen. We’re not even close to being Players. Get your hopes up and the disappointment is all the more worse. Just live the lives you have left and be content.

Now that we’ve come here, I have to know. Honestly, why did you choose the highest Stat in the list?”

Corn rubbed his neck and cast his eyes down. He looked up at Line, “You know how it is to be a slave.”

Line nodded and said, “It eats you away, until there’s nothing left. Nothing you want to go back to anyway. And for you it must have been…”

“Exactly,” completed Corn. “So when I was enslaved I made a promise to myself. A promise that if I escaped slavery I would become a mage. And that promise kept me alive all throughout. Now that I’m out, I have to honor that promise. Whatever it takes!”

Line stayed silent for a minute.

“Mage Councils hold all the power. But almost all learning occurs in the Academies. It is, however, notoriously difficult to get into one. Your best chance is to impress a mage affiliated with one of those Academies. I honestly can’t see any other way that doesn’t require a shit ton of money. Legal or illegal.

Your dreams aren’t strictly impossible, but don’t get your hopes up.”

The entire hall was colored in varying shades of blue. Sleek elegance draped the entire room only offset by Corn’s rags.

“So, how much do you have in your account?” asked the receptionist. Seeing Corn’s unsure face he clarified, “The exact value.”

“20 credits,” replied Corn.

“Ahh. Of course you must be a Player?” he asked genially. Corn shook his head.

“A Servant then?” he asked hopefully. Corn shook his head.

“A Program at least?”

“No,” replied Corn.

“Lovely, an Indentured Servant,” he said with a grimace.

Corn nodded and waited in silence. Two steel like arms grabbed him. He struggled to turn around and see the grey skinned orcs guarding the entrance but their grip was inescapable.

The receptionist gave Corn a broad smile, “Just because we’re new here doesn’t mean we have to pander to every hobo on the streets. Get lost. Never come back.”

The orcs dragged him through the corridor and kicked him out of the compound. The taller one screamed, “Next time you cook up some messenger story I’ll break your arm kid.”

Corn got up and wiped his bleeding lips. Time to try the next academy.

“But I need to deliver the message, you see I can’t leave without delivering it,” argued Corn.

“If that’s really the case, the mage who gave you the message is screwing with you. No one can enter the Academy compound unless they have permission,” replied the female guard. She grabbed Corn’s hand and scanned the bracelet to the huge Screen attached to the gate pillar.

“See no response. You can’t enter. Abyss below, even I can’t enter,” she said scanning her bracelet to show the same response.

“But-”

“Whatever reason you have for wanting to impress a mage is not going to be enough for them. Most of them are crazy anyway. Just focus on your chosen Stat and excel in it and you’ll find mages chasing you,” she lectured.

‘How can I excel at Magic if the mages refuse to teach me?’ he thought. But he left the gates; there was no way he could enter this Academy compound. Two down.

Corn stood next to the guard post, leaning on a wall. A large carriage stopped by the gates.

In the place of Beasts were twelve Purpose Slaves carrying the yoke of the carriage. They only wore loin clothes. One of them clutched his leg in pain, slowing down the carriage. Instantly, the driver whipped him, tearing the flesh of his back out.

A mistake. The slave’s face contorted in pain and he stopped completely. The driver kept whipping him. Again and again. The whip flayed some of his neighbors.

Corn stood seething in anger. He could feel each flick of the whip as though it drove the pronged edges into his skin. Each cut and welt were seared into his memory. It wasn’t the pain, no, it was the humiliation and degradation that caused his anger to flood out.

A woman exited the carriage and enquired as to why they had stopped.

Seeing the matter she threw out a dagger and said, “Whoever finishes the lame one gets a bonus.”

Instantly one of them in the back threw off his harness to grab the dagger only to be pushed off by his neighbor. This neighbor drove the dagger into the troublemaker leaving only a thin red disk which he handed to the driver.

Corn ground his teeth, chewing off his inner mouth.

Soon after, the carriage entered the gates of the Academy.

A guard walked up to Corn and asked him casually, “You are trying to whore yourself out, huh?”

Corn spat the blood and shook his head, “No.”

“You know what I mean. You’re hoping to impress one of these mages, so they take you as their disciple. I’ve seen a lot of your kind at this Academy. The one that just entered is a prime candidate. Impress her and-”

“Never,” spat Corn. He’d die before he had to beg like a slave in front of that bitch.

“Come on man, she’s a bit cruel. But we’re not slaves. You’ve gone up to like twenty mages in the past week, they all rejected you because they’re talented but have no influence. On the other hand she has talent and influence. It’s perfect.”

“N.E.V.E.R.”

To prevent any further reproach, Corn managed to snag the next carriage.

And after a few coy words found himself standing inside an exquisite carriage of red and brown and facing a seated mage. He wore gaudy armor inlaid with sparkling rubies and enamelled with motifs of some ostentatious bird. Corn was already wincing in disgust by just looking at him.

“Lord Servant?” he asked. Corn knew he flouted any etiquette required for nobility but he could not stand anything other than looking him straight in the eye.

The mage held out a gloved hand. Then he went back to perusing the mini screen in his hand. Swipe. Press. Swipe. Press. Then he typed something. He made Corn wait for twenty minutes.

Still looking at the screen the mage spoke, “Open a mana portal to the Abyss.” He looked up to see Corn looking unsurely at him.

“Then just open a mana portal. Ok then, if not that produce a few mana stones. How about conjuring a 6th circle spell circle? Not even that? Then 4th or 2nd.”

Corn shook his head at each sentence.

He sighed loudly, “What to do with you people? Ok. Just conjure a spell circle. What you can’t even summon any of the 6 elements?”

“No,” replied Corn, instead of just shaking his head.

“And you call yourself a talented genius? One last test, if you can pass I’ll even sponsor your studies. Are you ready?”

“Anything.”

The mage dragged Corn out of his carriage and into the streets. It was a richer part of the city crowded with nobility with their entourages of slaves and various Beasts. With the wave of a hand the mage managed to clear a part of the street.

Two cat woman came from the driver’s seat. Corn stared at their manacled feet and only belatedly noticed a crest on their uniforms. After listening to the mage, they took out their mini Screens. The mage then instructed Corn to stand in the middle of the street.

His glove lit up and a red spell circle formed at his fingertips. He pointed it at Corn. Instantly Corn’s clothes caught fire.

The mage guffawed loudly, slapping his thighs. “Are you getting this?” he asked the women.

The fire burned bright. Corn rolled around on the pavement but to no avail. Finally he ripped out his clothes to stop being burned. But the damage was already done, his body was covered in huge red burns.

A large crowd had formed around him to watch and record the scene. He pushed past their laughing faces and walked back home naked.

Of course the fourth Academy was also a failure, but to be honest Corn wasn’t really surprised at this point. He decided to change tactics this time and went to talk to Pock about looking at the mana forge.

This led him back to the community Elders who despite his bargaining adamantly denied him. Their discussion finally ended when StoneHeart pointed out that Corn was lucky they had accepted him and if he would argue anymore they would kick him out.

Realising he couldn’t convince anybody with his words, he went down to look for the entrance of the mana forge. But he couldn’t find it. He scoured the entire workshop and all the places he had access to, until he had to ask one of the dwarves.

“No I don’t know. They only let the best and most loyal mechanics in and that basically means all the old geezers,” replied the dwarf.

Corn sat in the mess hall, despondent. Thinking. Wondering. Until his eyes lit up. ‘Of course,’ he thought, ‘that’s the next step.’ And he went to find Pock, once more.

Corn was wearing a black hooded cloak and had squashed the bug on his wrist. To anyone with glasses he would look like a Player. And that was the plan. He walked into an empty alley way. A leopard kin was pacing about, smoking something. Maybe Breathe. It smelt strangely sweet and sickening at the same time.

The leopard kin wore black all over, all the way up to the black sunglasses. He sucked on the pipe and blew out the smoke straight into Corn’s face.

“I’m here for the auction,” said Corn.

To which the leopard kin nodded. “Your collateral?” he asked.

“I’m a Player, I don’t need collateral.”

The leopard kin shook his head. “Everybody needs collateral.”

“You want to see MY account?” with as much arrogance as he could manage. It felt good.

The leopard kin tugged on his whiskers. “We don’t deal with credits here. Only everything else. Core crystals, mana stones or mana made stuff.”

“I don’t need that shit, I’m a Player let me in.”

“No,” replied the leopard. He removed his jacket, stuffed his pipe inside and placed it on the floor. He held his paws out as if in surrender, revealing pale fur and taut muscles. “I like that jacket,” he said.

And he stood silently in front of Corn. Both of them stood there for two minutes.

Until the leopard kin broke the silence, “Are you going to kill me or not? I don’t have the time to wait.”

“I’m a Player, so why can’t I enter?”

“Ask the Players who made the rules,” said the leopard kin donning his jacket and leaving.

His bluff had been called. He could maybe wrestle with the guard or stab him if unprepared but in a direct confrontation of Stats, he would always be the loser.

As soon as he was far enough, he removed his cloak and released the bug. No use pretending anymore. He walked through the streets, moping about.

“Have you dreamt of slaying monsters? Fighting alongside Players?” shouted someone.

He turned to see a young water nymph with tanned blue skin looking at him from a stall. He realised he was in a lower end residential district.

Having gotten his attention, she continued, “They’ll put your name on the score boards, maybe even put you in a game. You’ll have glory and honor and…”

But Corn walked away. ‘What a waste,’ he thought ‘what could possibly come from fighting alongside Playe-‘. He stopped in his tracks and grinned widely. But he walked on, faking disinterest.

Unwilling to lose a customer she screamed out, “Join the Border Reserves and you can gain your lives back. You could live longer!”

Corn stopped and turned to face her with casual disinterest, “As if, you’re lying.”

“I’m not! Joining the Border Reserves allows you to replenish your Life counters and you get to slay monsters and fight with-”

“Players,” finished Corn for her, “I doubt anyone fights with mages let alone actual Players. You’re just making stuff up.”

“I’ll prove it to you. Munch, hand me the Screen,” she said to her companion. The companion, dressed in khaki coloured robes, gave Corn a knowing smirk and handed a Screen to the water nymph.

After a few taps and swipes she handed the Screen over to Corn.

Shared Quests

Border Reserves – Mage Ware’s Company

Slay monsters, ally Players and earn Life counters to live forever. Protect the borders of Iridicrodium.

Requirements:

1) 15 days of service in a month

2) The captain’s approval

Member List…

“There, that’s a shared quest to join the Reserves, with A MAGE.”

“What’s the catch? Eternal servitude?”

“No, it’s a quest you can enter and exit at your choice. As long as you clock in for 15 days per month you get to remain. You don’t fulfill the requirements you just have to leave.”

Corn nodded. It seemed reasonable, so he scanned his bracelet and accepted the quest.

Citizen of Iridicrodium Part 1 of 2

Time Remaining : 1 month 12 days

Stats : 3/20