9 Chapter 9: First steps in Chaos
First steps in Chaos
[Personal quest complete: Road to birth
Rewards:
New avatar created
Living world unlocked
100 EXP received
10G received
Exotic weapon blueprint received
new personal quests unlocked]
[Personal quest added: Identity prologue
You have been born into the world of living, born as the child of a prestigious family, you carry the name of 'Shire'. The family is known as one of the forefront families who spread knowledge in Damanik. As their child, you must learn the knowledge by heart so that you may as well spread it.
Objective: Choose>Learn the code of light or the code of life or the code of script.
Reward: 100 EXP, 10S, inner skill unlock]
Looking at the quest added, I sighed. Players are gonna complain that they are not given any clue about what to do to complete the quest.
"pfft.."
Not that we will feed everything by ourselves, go find out! haha, will be fun watching some people be headless chickens hehe. Now then, I am probably in my own room so need to find the useful stuff first. Let's see, what are my clothes?
[Vest of Amar'khan
GS: 30
P.DEF: 150
M.DEF: 200
S.DEF: 25
Light's curtain: Reflect 10% of damage received on any attack up to the maximum of 30% of it's value]
[Pants of Amar'khan
GS: 25
P.DEF: 100
M.DEF: 150
S.DEF: 15
Breeze: Increase movement speed by 5%]
[Boots of Amar'khan
GS: 25
P.DEF: 100
M.DEF: 150
S.DEF: 15
Falling leaves: Decrease falling speed and damage by 5%]
Not bad, let's check my room and see if there's anything useful.
I found this room for my liking. Not too much decoration, but more of useful stuff. I found a bookshelf opposite of my bed, beside which study desk is there. Although calling it a 'bookshelf' is not correct, since in this civilization, digitization is achieved a long time ago. All the bookshelf has is numbers and selecting that number will allow me to see the content of the book on my HUD. Reading the books allow me to increase my wisdom, even if I don't actually read it. This way to gaining stat point was popular since last century and we used that here as well but if anyone wants to read the books, they can do so without any inconvenience.
I gained a total of 15 points on my wisdom from the books I found here, if someone goes to a library in any civilization, they will gain access to many stat points and skills, given they have the social standing to do so. Not everyone will have good social standing and as such, they will have to earn it by accepting various requests and aiding the natives of the land. Once they have enough reputation among the natives, they will be given a title, like citizenship, which will later upgrade through nobility which also has different standing and as such. We made sure the procedure will be similar to reality, which it should be, but it also depends on the culture and all, so not all players will face the same difficulty to gain acceptance from the natives.
Looking around I couldn't find too much of useful items, which is quite easily understandable for this family, if it was other big family, a child of their might have some good skill or powerful item or even some evidence of black deeds but for this family, they don't give their children too much strong stuff other than knowledge. I need to go to the family library and use certain books to unlock useful skills myself here. But before that, need to find the inner skill.
*Knock knock*
"Young master, are you up?"
Seems someone came to check up on me.
"Yes, come in."
An old man wearing a tunic robe came inside my room. This kind of robe colored in black and white are robes worn by the servants of this family. Also, the simple the decorations are in the robe, the higher the servant's rank. No one will look down on these servants, each one of them are chosen under careful consideration and are evaluated under different circumstances. Some of them are much more powerful and wise than some actual family members, of course the said members are few of those lazy people who don't love studying. However, one thing is true about this family, not a single member are weaklings or have too high sin. The family's education system and growth plan made them as such.
"Young master, master asked you to join him on his study."
This old man, who's name was Sankha as identified by the HUD, spoke to me. The HUD not being able to show any other details credits to two factors. One is that this person is leagues above me in strength and karma, also that I don't possess any identification skill.
"I will be going then grandpa Sankha."
Him and several other older people in the servant ranks are all head butlers and have served the family for a very long time, so the younger generation calls them grandpa and as such. However once we take any official post, we will address them as their post rank as well, as they will for us.
Many of these information are already posted on our main website's encyclopedia about this game, I really hope people actually read that, otherwise they have a very bad time coming ahead.
[Personal quest update: The house head wish to speak to you, as this is the first time you navigate through unexplored zone, your map will be refreshed with the full map of zone: Shire's compound. In future either you will have to explore the entire zone or find ways or skills to aid you in that.]
With that my map showed the place where I am at. The map is designed to be a 3 dimensional one, so it is easier for a player to navigate through the zones, although they are termed as zones by us so that we can divide the map, the entire world is one and you can go anywhere unless you get stuck by any natural or artificial restrictions. I will also need to check the library if we have some scouting skills, map is very much needed for players as they show the hostile presence and without it, getting killed outside is very likely.
I went through the manor with the help of my map and went to the room titled personal study of the head. These rooms can be called mini zones because of the owner, my father here has transcended a certain level of power and can control the area around him easily for certain distance.
Knocking on the door, I entered it as it opened by itself and then closed, part of the automated system that works in the manor. If there is one thing quite fun in here, it is that the face of the sons quite match the father, while the daughter's face match the mother, with exceptions but that is rare. So, my father is like how my avatar will look after like a couple of decades, given that people age here slowly due to the powers and all, but it will be matched with our real world time, since the time here is accelerated.
"You called for my presence, father?"
"Yes, actually, I wanted to call you about this earlier, but your mother wanted to keep you for a few more days. You know that our children have to venture the world and learn from nature itself while also educating those who are in need. You finished your general studies already, so I think it is time for your rite of passage."
"Understood father."
"Don't worry, it's not like you have to go too far right now, as you are not yet that strong, so you should start from our city, aid those in need here and when you are strong enough, fate will present you with the opportunity."
This is something the big families had, and even the families that do not, players who are born there will face situations which will allow them to be independent, after all, which player will just stay at their home here and don't go and explore the world.
"Before going out though, you will require to learn one of our family's 3 inner skills, each of these 3 are derived from the forces of nature and contain the seed of natural force, which will grow with you and allow you to gain insight from nature. Take a look and see which one of them will suit you."
Father took out 3 cases, each of them are quite simple, however, inside of them are century old books. In fact, no one can tell when these books were written because it's been a very long time since they were first handed down. For general skills and such, digitization will allow you to understand them, as you see masters to perform the moves and understand their intent. Inner skills or skills with high rarity however, can't be digitized, or the intent in the very book will be lost and it will no longer be an inner skill.
[Code of light: Born from the understanding of the yang of nature.
Skill: Harnessing glow]
[Code of life: Born from the understanding of life of nature.
Skill: Caressing bud]
[Code of script: Born from the understanding of natural thought.
Skill: Absorbing intent]
"These are the 3 inner skills available in the family which all family members and under circumstances the servants also learn. you can only have one inner skill learnt and wanting to learn another is impossible unless you abolish your cultivation and start new. inner skills don't have grades, as they are inner skills because they are directly derived from the intent of the nature and aid you to understand it and communicate with it, so regardless of which you choose, you will end at the same point. It's only which path you take, as every path takes you to the pinnacle, only one is more suitable to you than the other."
[Personal Quest update:
Choosing any one of the inner skill will be precursor of your class, please choose which type of class you wish to take.
Code of light: Yang nature, aggressive type, choice for main damage dealer.
Code of life: Support type choice, main healer type.
Code of script: Manipulator type choice, main crowd control type support, secondary type for any role.
Weapon of choice do not matter for either of the 3.]
I already had my choice, so I took the code of script. Opening the book, the pages were filled with words, however the intent behind them drag me in an illusion of a world filled with words. Word being spoken and actions being taken, I couldn't hear them but could feel them. These illusions are the highest grade of the respective inner skill, they show you what you can become, for me, my words manipulate reality.
[Personal quest complete: You have received your inner skill, now it is up to you to explore the wonders of nature.
Received: 100 EXP, 10S, inner skill: Absorbing intent]
[Absorbing intent: Listen to the sounds of nature, it is the intention of nature as it tells what it will do, only, not everyone understands it.
Passive generation of inner skill by 10%(+/-10% depending upon location) per hour.
Listening to the voice: Actively listening to the words of the nature grants generation of skill progress.
Word: Words of powers can be learnt by listening and comprehending the intent behind the words of nature. Current word count: 0.
Voice: Words spoken will have influence upon all substances.
Skill level: 1
Progress: 0]
Most of the inner skills have passive generation unless they belong to a special type of intent that can't be found in normal places, which will weaken or strengthen depending upon my location, the closer I am to my element, the more the generation will be.
"Son, it is time for you to meditate upon the intent and prepare for your rite. You will generally not get any aid from us unless it is something you can't handle at all, which should not happen, but just in case. Go now and prepare, you can take the necessities from our home during this time, but places like the library will be closed to you unless you have given enough contribution or have passed the rite. go."
"Yes father, have a good day."
Now is the preparation phase, I can access most of the facilities now before I leave, so I'll take this chance to learn some useful skills, it'll be a while since I will be able to get in the library after all.
