ALL NOVEL Chapter 10: Start
While walking to meet the others, Hugo opened up his Profile once more to check out the changes.
They were quite significant.
\\Profile//
|
Name: Polus |
Faction: Celestial |
|
Class: ??? (Legacy) |
Realm: I |
|
Species: High Human |
Psion: 10 |
|
Vitality: 18 |
Strength: 13 |
|
Acuity: 17 |
Wisdom: 17 |
Skills:
|
First Star: Precision Proficiency: 0% |
|
Path of the Prima Materia Proficiency: 0% |
He scanned through the Profile, rubbing his chin curiously.
The first anomaly he noticed was the Class. It didn’t have a name. Then again, he never heard what Magnus called it.
Second, it was labeled as a Legacy Class, not a Special one. He didn’t know if that was a level above Special or if it belonged to a category of its own.
Then there was his Species. It seemed superhumans got the label of High Human for being something greater than merely human.
After that was the new Psion Stat, along with the increase of all his other stats. Psion was the mystical power of the Celestials and used in Psionic magic. Hugo could now use this power with the new magical organic system he got, the Heart’s Eye.
As for the Stat increases, he wasn’t sure what specifically caused that.
Finally, there were the Skills. His first step on this road would be mastering Precision.
As for the second skill ‘Path of the Prima Materia’, Hugo could only guess that was the method within the Beatball, the one that would cultivate Psion. He would have to figure out how to use that.
Besides that, the title for that skill also translated to Path of the Prime Material. Hugo roughly remembered that concept stemming from ancient theories regarding the Philosopher’s Stone. He didn’t know if it had a connection, but he assumed it wouldn’t be named that way for no reason either.
Eve may not be controlling everyone like a puppet master, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t lay the groundwork for this world and guide it a certain direction. She had everyone in the palm of her hand and thus coincidences likely weren’t.
Perhaps the Philosopher’s Stone was a thing in this world.
For now, Hugo decided to ask his Heads some questions.
“What’s a Legacy Class?”
“Hm?”
They turned to him as he walked out with Tanya, Moses being the first to answer.
“A Legacy Class is a type of Special Class. They’re generally on the same level, except Legacy classes come with special circumstances and encounters. You disappearing to some other place was one of those special encounters.”
“Mm. Now, second question. What do I need to do to reach the next Realm?”
“You need to grind out Stat points until you reach a cumulative total of 150. How many do you have now?”
“Let me see.”
Hugo pulled up the window and made a quick calculation.
“75.”
So you’re already halfway there.”
“Yes, but why did they increase when I got the Class?”
“That’s the Potency Factor. It’s a hidden function that’s different for every class. Basically, your magical energy increases the overall power of your body by a set factor. A more potent power means it’ll boost your Stats more. It’s multiplicative, and it’s the biggest driving force behind the superiority of Special Classes over the others. So what’s yours?”
“Well, my Strength used to be 10. Now it’s 13.”
“So you have a 1.3 Potency Factor. Which makes sense. You jumped from 50 points to 75, factoring in what should be an addition of 10 Psion stats.”
“Yes. How good is that?”
“It places you higher than Advanced classes, but my Special class gave me a 1.5 Potency Factor.”
“Mine gave me 1.4”
Stacia raised her hand, the others following after.
“1.4 too.”
“1.5.”
“1.5.”
“Mine was 1.6!”
“We know George.”
“Hm.”
Hugo hummed. It seemed he was actually getting a lesser deal.
But he knew the power behind Magnus’ art. He was pretty certain that his class wouldn’t lag behind the others.
That’s when he noticed something.
“You said it was?”
“The Potency Factor will grow with each Realm. It can also grow if you evolve into a higher species. You’re a High Human, right?”
“I am.”
Hugo confirmed Moses’ guess, making him smile.
“I already know a good path for you. Unless you find something else, just take the route we did when you reach your first Evolution going into Realm 3.”
“Alright. So that’s how far you guys are, huh?”
“Indeed. It’ll be a lot of work to catch up to us. The maps are only growing, and the competition is getting a lot worse. I’d like to say that the growth of the players has slowed, but it feels like its only getting faster.”
“Well, walking a paved road is always easier than blazing the trail. Don’t worry about me. At least now I can finally start.”
Hugo’s finger twitched. If he was honest with himself, he was itching to do something, anything. Although he had calmed himself massively during his week of rest, that didn’t seem to entirely eliminate the craving for exertion.
Not only that, but he would finally be engaging in what he had done everything to prepare for. Eve had brought him to this level and now he was only just beginning to learn martial arts.
Stacia chimed in.
“I recommend going to the Dungeons. Since you’re already halfway to the second Realm, that would be a good place for you to learn how to fight. The easiest one is in one of the neutral cities. We can send you there.”
“We can also get you some items and money. Here, take this.”
Alexander took out a leather sack, tossing it to Hugo who caught it with a hand.
“I bought that not long ago in anticipation for your arrival. It’s a soul-bound storage sack. It can hold a good amount and anything inside of it can’t be lost. It’ll stay with you no matter what. It’s got some silver and gold in it, a single gold being around the value of a dollar and silver being cents.”
“Let’s see…”
Hugo lifted the sack, feeling a power within it reach out to him.
<Would you like to soul-bind this Storage Sack (Strange)?>
“Yes.”
Hugo nodded, the leather sack flashing and disappearing into his body.
He felt it take up a position within his very soul. He could call upon it whenever he wished, and there was nothing that could stop him or attempt to take it away.
One interesting thing though was the Grade of the item.
Strange.
There were 5 Grades: Common, Rare, Strange, Mythical, and Legendary.
Strange was in the middle but at this stage in the game, it had to be one of the best items players could hope to get their hands on.
Note only that, but when he saw its stats, he further confirmed that Alexander hadn’t casually received it.
Storage Sack
Grade: Strange
Storage: Tier 5
This item is capable of storing a large amount of material or items, so long as they aren’t alive or exceed a certain magical power level. Further, it binds to the soul of its owner, capable of taking in or ejecting items without exposing the sack, and thus not risking the possibility of losing or having the item stolen.
Current Owner: Polus
A Tier 5 Strange Grade storage item capable of soul binding.
The value of such a thing couldn’t be understated. This game wasn’t one with a built in inventory system. Players had to carry their items on them. To their luck, magical storage items were common enough.
But that didn’t mean they couldn’t lose things. Death may not strip you bare, but items could be stolen and lost. Securing your valuables was vital.
And this Storage Sack made that issue nonexistent.
Of course, Hugo wasn’t supid enough not to realize that they were giving him something they didn’t even have, or at least not in any significant amount. It was extremely valuable even to the best current players, and here he was, a newbie, receiving it for free.
But he decided to take it. As he realized how far ahead everyone was, he started to think that taking some advantages here and there wasn’t so bad. Besides, the core of this game was skills, and Hugo hadn’t even started working on his.
It didn’t matter that he was already halfway to the second Realm. Working on his proficiency would take plenty of time that not even an all powerful Storage Sack could mitigate.
“Thank you. I’ll make good use of it.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s got 10 thousand gold in it, enough to buy you some good weapons and armor as well as cover living expenses. And we know you want to carve your own way, so after we drop you in the starter city, we’ll leave you to your devices. We can't be away from our Leagues for too long anyway.”
“You all are in one?”
“Separate ones, but yes. We aren’t officially parts of the IRL Clubs but since we’re strong enough, we stand at the top of the League hierarchies.”
“I see.”
Hugo nodded. It seemed his Heads had been working hard while he was preparing.
Then again, their skills were the best. They would be valued no matter where they went, that much he knew. By their very nature, they were incapable of being mediocre.
After situating himself with the bag, Tanya tapped his arm.
“Hugo, what kind of class did you get? What weapon does it call for?”
“I’m not actually sure about what the class really is, but I need a knife and a mace.”
“Interesting combination. I can get you both. Any particular specifications?”
“A knife with a foot long blade, and any mace will do. Don’t give me anything with fancy magic either. Just normal weapons will do.”
“Very well. I’ll be right back.”
Tanya skipped out of the room, running off to wherever before Hugo could even thank her.
He shrugged and turned to the others.
“How do I get to that starter city?”
……
…
“That’s an interesting feeling.”
Hugo froze for a few seconds, settling his body and clearing out the loopy feeling he got.
Teleporters were luxuries afforded to magical societies within video games like this one. He had done plenty of research on them in the real world but eventually stopped due to how ridiculous it’s complexity was. Even when Eve was created, though she was able to create theories and simulate a working model, the energy required and infrastructure they’d need to build for a single teleporter traversing a distance of a mere mile was ludicrous.
That wasn’t to say it couldn’t be done, but unless Hugo released several of Eve’s limiters and allowed her to develop the technology more, they wouldn’t be getting one anytime soon.
After stepping off of the teleporter built upon a blue platform, Hugo and George exited a building and entered the streets of the starter city.
It was one of the neutral cities, one closer to Celestial territory and geared toward beginner Celestials. This one was called Feather City and had a much higher player population than Oddbird’s Rest because it was beginner friendly and cheaper to live in. It also had a teleporter, making it another popular landmark.
That was another small but significant detail about the game that Eve had implemented, or had left out.
There was no differentiation between player and native at first glance. You could usually tell pretty fast by picking out the differences in how each acted, but otherwise, there were no indications. The definitive ways to find out were through the special magic called Judgement, the Friendship system, the League system, or by killing them and seeing if their body disappeared.
If none of these methods were used, a player could perfectly blend into the native society.
That made walking through the city and interesting experience, not knowing if the people you were passing were actual people or not.
Well, he wouldn’t say that. As Eve has explained to him, they were beings with their own intelligences as well. They had lives, desires, emotions, and all the other things that made someone human.
Nonetheless, they were different, and it was amazing how close this place resembled reality despite that. Given a long enough time, people would begin to forget the difference.
George explained while walking.
“So the first dungeon is usually taken on by groups of 5, and although you’ve got good stats, you don’t know how to fight. I recommend the easiest difficulty, just so you can try things out. You can also find some people to fight with.”
“People would accept a stranger into their group?”
“Of course. Coordination might not be good, but anybody taking on the easiest difficulty wouldn’t be worrying about that anyway. Just go in there and fight your own battles. Besides, if you want to form your own League or Club, then you’ll need to start meeting people. No better time to start than now.”
“That's very true.”
Hugo nodded with a smile, heading through the city until they reached its western region.
The city didn’t have walls, and so when the city stopped, the broad open fields began, extending off into the distance with roads going every which way.
In Hugo’s field of view though, there was a large hill with a giant cave in it, currently occupied by at least a hundred thousand, not counting the ones within the dungeon.
“This place is busy even after a year and a half. Oh well.”
George shrugged and entered the cave, Hugo following.
As soon as he was within the vicinity, a bit of magic power washed over him, filling his vision with a screen.
<Welcome to the Featherfall Dungeon. Please specify how you would like to enter the Dungeon.>
With that prompt, Hugo was given a list of specifications.
He could attack the dungeon alone, or he could specify a group size up to 10, and he could choose any difficulty.
Besides that, there was a matchmaking system that allowed all of the thousands of people to find others to group with. Hugo looked through the filters while George spoke.
“I recommend doing this with a group of 5. And do Tier 1 difficulty. That’s the easiest with Tier 5 being the hardest.”
“Alright.”
Hugo slotted in the specifications. However, he didn’t submit it just yet.
George took out a watch and saw the time.
“She should be here soon.”
“Hugo!”
Right as he said that, there was a shout.
Tanya appeared, running with Moses trailing behind.
“I got them!”
“Thanks Tanya.”
She went forward and presented the two weapons to Hugo.
He took them with a smile, seeing their stat pages.
Self-Sharpening Dagger
Durability: 100%
Grade: Rare
Damage: Tier 2
A dagger with the basic function of maintaining its blade through use.
Rust-Stained Mace
Durability: 100%
Grade: Rare
Damage: Tier 3
A mace degraded by rust over time, restored to a level comparable to its former self. The chipped edges along its flanges now provide sharpness to piercing bluntness, inflicting bleeding onto flesh beneath armor.
“Mm, good. I can work with this.”
Hugo nodded and inspected the weapons.
The Dagger was simple, and it seemed the only aspect that pushed it into the Rare category was its self-sharpening ability. For Hugo, it was a great convenience. Other than that, it was simply a high quality weapon without fancy magic.
Then there was the mace which looked a little more iconic. Black steel was stained by splotches of brown and red color from what was once rust. As the description stated, after being chipped by the rust, it was restored and those chips were taken advantage of. Now, the flanges around the mace head were complimented with some sharp edges.
It made it more effective against fleshy targets without sacrificing the bludgeoning damage. It also had a higher Damage tier than the dagger.
Hugo knew that within each Grade such as Common and Rare, there were Tiers to the aspects of the item. In the case of the Soul-binding Storage Sack, it’s storage abilities were at Tier 5 of the Strange grade.
Tier 10 was the best possible rating within a grade, and Tier 1 was the worst. So that storage sack was already halfway to the Mythical grade. At least numerically, that was. Realitstically it probably wasn’t anywhere close.
These weapons were low for the Rare grade, but they were still a level above Common so they would serve him well for a while.
The dagger came with a sheath, but Hugo just threw both into his storage. It was the mace that he strapped onto his waist like a sword and kept there. He couldn’t just manifest his items if he wanted to keep suspicions at bay. For now he’d need to keep certain things on his person.
“I appreciate it, Tanya.”
“Mm. I also brought you some rations. Keep yourself fueled.”
“Thank you. I’m submitting my dungeon application now.”
With that, Hugo pressed the button with the specifications he had prepared before.
Tanya clasped her hands behind her back.
“Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Sure.”
“Aurelia wanted me to let you know that she also plans on taking you shopping for clothes once you’re done.”
“We’ll see.”
Hugo smiled, and right at that moment, he got a notification.
<Group found. Proceed to the meeting point. Excursion will begin once all members have agreed to start.>
“Oh, that’s me.”
His brows raised as he lifted his head, seeing some indicators within the crowd, as well as one large objective marker.
He assumed that those indicators were his new group members, so he waved to the others.
“My group is found. I’ll be going.”
“Keep yourself safe! No need to get hurt if you don’t have to!”
“Don’t worry.”
He waved off Tanya’s worry while walking into the crowd.
Like that, he found his way to the meeting point, seeing the others arrive as well.
There were four of them, and two of them seemed to be together. The couple seemed to be an actual couple, man and woman, while the other two were both women.
“Hello.”
“Hi. Are you all starters too?”
“I am.”
“Same here.”
Hugo nodded, everyone confirming that each of them were newbies.
The only other man nodded and stepped forward.
“I’m Factor. If we can, let’s get an idea of what we can do and how we should divide things. This dungeon can take up to 5 hours depending on how fast we kill enemies, so knowing each other’s strength now can help with that.”
“I’m Polus, a Celestial, and I use a mace. That’s about it.”
Hugo spoke first since he felt his abilities were the simplest. There wasn’t much he could do other than swing a hunk of metal.
Factor nodded.
“Hello Polus. I’m an Ethereal, currently going through training to become a Wizard Apprentice. I cast some simple spells, so I’ll be in the backline.”
“I’m Raine, also training to become a Wizard Apprentice. I’ll be with him.”
Raine pointed to Factor, her partner. After that, the other two girls spoke.
One, with short brown hair and a cute face, waved.
“I’m Hannah. I’m a Celestial and I use a bow.”
“I’m Yenna, Celestial, and I use a sword and shield.”
The other girl, a tall one with long blonde hair, waved last.
Factor nodded.
“It’s a pretty good composition then. As for loot, shall we divide it based on type?”
“I'm good with that.”
“Me too.”
The two girls agreed, casing Hugo to nod along.
Seeing as everyone was on the same page, Factor smiled.
“Great. If that’s all, then we can go.”
Factor turned and started walking, everyone following along until they came upon a large totem.
There were many of these totems, and they were used to enter the dungeon. Each totem had 10 pads upon which the hand was placed, signifying readiness.
They all surrounded one totem and placed their hand on the pad.
With that, they were all enveloped in light, teleporting away, and sending Hugo on his first journey through The Ascent.