2 Scrub Tier (Updated)

John spotted what looked like a tavern of sorts just beyond the town square he had appeared in. Making this place, the Redhead Tavern, his destination he began slowly walking that way, while still taking in every detail of this thriving little forest village.

     Passing by several market stalls and village citizens chatting amongst themselves, he arrived at the presumed tavern and walked in. John approached a large heavy set elf who appeared to be in charge and asked, "Excuse me, sir? Do you happen to know where a stranger might find work and information here? I've just arrived and could use some guidance."

     "Certainly," The man responded, with a smile. "If you go west from here, a couple of streets down, you'll see the City Centre. It's not as large and as fancy as some of the City Centres of larger cities but it's the largest building in this town, so it's hard to miss. There you should be able find contracted work, same as anywhere else. Or you could simply ask around. There's lots of folks that need this and that done and maybe don't have time to issue an official request."

     "Thank you, Sir! You've been very helpful, I'll be sure to return to your establishment, in the future."

     The man's smile grew a tad and seemed a little bit brighter, as he wished John well and John headed out the door. 

     'Hmmm…that's really remarkable! The AI is so convincingly real. He even responded positively to me telling him I would return. So far, I'm really having difficulty finding differences between this world and the real one, aside from the obvious aesthetics. Air in my lungs, moisture in my mouth, my eyes need to blink occasionally, sight, touch, smell, and I suspect even taste, they're all there and functioning properly. I don't have any money at the moment, though, and so a taste test will have to wait.'

     As John thought of these things, he finally arrived at the City Centre and entered the building. He had come directly back across the Town Square where he had arrived and continued towards the next street. This building, in fact, was larger than the other buildings but not by much and so didn't really stand out.

     Upon entering the building, he noticed several people gathered at various points throughout the large open space the front door opened up to. There were a couple of people lined up, on the right side of the room, in front of a barred window, behind which stood an attractive young female elf tending to the business there.

     On the left side of the room, there was a fairly large notice board covered with written-on parchments nailed to it. Next to this board was another barred window, with an accompanying attendant and a que of waiting people.

     This board was John's only concern, at the moment. All of the non-combat aspects of the game could wait. The first thing he wanted to do was obtain a combat mission and test out his new body and ability.

     Walking over to the notice board, he began looking through the various requests. All of the quests in Fantasy Lyfe were generated via the AI that monitored and maintained the various NPC behaviors. 

     There were no primary or main questlines. If you were caught up in a world shaking event and ended up playing a critical role, then the quest system would reward you based on your performance via the NPC's reaction to your behavior.

     There were no static or endlessly repeatable quests. If one were to log out while looking at a notice board and then log back in an hour later, it's entirely possible that all the available quests would be gone. 

      As for repeatable quests, they were typically issued by vendors and craftsmen who were in need of various supplies. As such, if the quest giver were to acquire more materials than he or she needed, they would rescind any further iterations of the relevant quest. 

     Thus, all quests were entirely dependent upon the social, political, and economic environment of the players current location. Likewise, merchants wouldn't simply buy anything that might be of value. A player who wished to sell his goods would need to find a merchant who actually needed or wanted what the player was selling and had room to store it.

     After looking the board over, he noticed several requests from local craftsmen and decided to go out and acquire the requested materials.

     Before leaving, however, he looked over the names of the people who had posted the requests. 

      'Hmmm...Telvin Melistia, Ervina Freildis, Phylonea Lepolis. I might be able to come up with something based on these…

     'Ah, how about Forandil Paline. It might not show up in any Forest Elven genealogy books but it shouldn't be a complete standout either.'

     Because Fantasy Lyfe's systems were so organic, choosing non-lore based names was strongly advised against. While he didn't plan on keeping this particular character, it wouldn't hurt to start familiarizing himself with the naming sense of each race.

     *Would you like to confirm the character name 'Forandil Paline'?*

     [Yes/No]

     John confirmed the name as he drew near the village's border, which he quickly realized had no walls. 'Hmmm…I wonder if they have some sort of magic that keeps monsters at bay. Surely, they must, if they're able to build up to such a degree out here.'

     John had reached the edge of the village and stood there for a moment looking into the forest beyond. 'I remember now the system doesn't update audibly, unless I set it to do so. I imagine I'd want it to be off, whenever I start my permanent character, so there's no reason to get into the habit of using it now. Let me check to see if those requests were added to my quest log.'

*Quest Log*

[Economic Stimulus Quest]

-Craftsmen and various other business owners, in your village, need materials from animals, plants, and mines, in the surrounding area. Help them to acquire these goods, bring them to the intended recipient, and receive fair compensation for your labor.

-Telvin Melistia, Blacksmith: Needs metal ores of any variety, Vampire Bat Hair Oil, and Viper Python Venom Sacs.

-Ervina Freildis, Tailor: Needs Direwolf Pelts, Killer Bee Wax, Viper Python Scales, and Spider Silk.

-Phylonea Lepolis, Alchemist: Needs Spider Venom Sacs, Direwolf Livers, Killer Bee Honey, and Viper Python Venom Sacs.

Direwolf Pelts: 0

Direwolf Livers: 0

Killer Bee Honey: 0

Killer Bee Wax: 0

Spider Silk: 0

Spider Venom Sacs: 0

Viper Python Venom: 0

Viper Python Scales: 0

     'Sweet! It seems that, not only was the quest generated, it picked up on my intention to only gather combat related materials and filtered out the others. Although, I'm curious as to which of these creatures is going to be carrying ores with them. Now that I think about it, however, if I go after Vampire Bats, they'll most likely be inside a cave and so the ores will probably be right there on my path.'

     John finally stepped outside of the village and veered from the road leading out of the village. Picking a direction at random he set out to see what he could find.

     He had only walked about twenty meters, when he realized that the beginnings of fatigue were already setting in. As a result, he decided to test his Conjure Lightning ability on a nearby tree. John quickly reviewed the information that Unity Triune had put out concerning the usage of abilities. It was supposed to be 'as natural as breathing' or so they said.

     "Let's find out."

     John extended his hand and attempted to activate his Conjure Lightning ability. It worked...exactly as the description says. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Conjure Lightning]

Cost: 10 MP

Cooldown: 5 Seconds

-Conjure a streak of pure Elemental Lighting, into the palm of your hand.

     John looked at his palm and witnessed the marvelous pale blue lightning streaking around in erratic patterns inside his palm. It was actually quite exhilarating seeing magic in such a realistic way for the first time. Yet, it was also quite disappointing, since he was expecting it to attack in some manner. How would he defend himself as a weak bodied Caster, if the Lightning just sat there in his palm.

     He pointed his palm at the target tree, once more and tried to 'tell' the Lightning to attack the tree. It did nothing. Although, the Lighting seemed to be growing a bit unstable and he realized that he would lose control of it, if he didn't manage to get rid of it.

     After having a minor panic attack and trying to find a way to rid himself of this troublesome lightning, he looked at the ground below him and immediately forced his palm firmly and completely onto the ground.

     The Lightning then quickly dispersed and was no longer a threat. 'Phew! That was a close one! How hard would it suck to die from my own spell, on my first cast?'

     John quickly realized that his dream of jumping into the game and messing around with some magic abilities was not gonna happen. There was clearly more to magic, in this game, than simply invoking an ability.

     John decided to sit down right there in the middle of the woods and try to figure this thing out. He assumed a meditative position and attempted to sense the mana within. He actually recalled a barely perceptible sense of a power within him, whenever he activated his ability but he wasn't picking anything up at the moment.

     After about fifteen minutes of attempting to sense his mana, he was getting ready to move on to another tactic when he finally caught a whiff of his magical power. It was barely there but it was there.

     Having finally confirmed that sensing his mana was possible, he focused his attention on that power and attempted to explore its characteristics, if it had any. Nearly five minutes later, he wasn't able to determine any of its characteristics but he had been able to manipulate it by both stretching and compressing it.

     Now that John was satisfied with his new understanding and control over his mana, he stood up and decided to give it another go. Stretching his arm out, in the same manner as before, he ignored his ability this time and simply attempted to achieve the same thing manually.

     Closing his eyes, he reached inside for his mana, brought it out through his palm, and envisioned that same streak of lightning appearing, once more, in his palm. John, almost instantly, detected the familiar prickling of lightning in his palm. Maintaining his connection with his mana, he then willed the manifested lightning to fly out of his palm and towards the targeted tree.

ZAP! BOOM!

     The lightning he had conjured had crossed the twenty five or so meters between him and the tree in about a second. Upon impact hundreds of tiny pieces of bark and wood splinters were flung away from the point of impact. In their place was a small scorched and blackened hole in the tree's bark and the wood underneath.

     It wasn't anything too impressive damage wise but, considering his first attempt had nearly killed him, he was satisfied with it. As a broad and jovial smile spread across his face, John opened up his status once more.

*Character Status*

Name: Forandil Paline

Level: 1

Race: Forest Elf

Class Titles: Caster

Professional Titles: None

HP: 10/10

MP: 802/860

SP: 20/20

Strength-1

Endurance-1

Vitality-1

Dexterity-1

Perception-3 (+2)

Intelligence-43

Willpower-2 (+1)

Recovery-8

*Accolades* 

Unlockable:

Mad Man

Obtained:

None

*Active Abilities*

Arcane:

[Conjure Lightning] Lvl 1

*Active Skills*

Arcane:

[Conjure Lightning] (Scrub Tier) Lvl 1

[Cast Lightning] (Scrub Tier) Lvl 1

[Mana Sensing] (Scrub Tier) Lvl 1

[Mana Manipulation] (Scrub Tier) Lvl 1

*Passive Abilities*

[Caster Blaster] Lvl 1

     'Wow! So, attempting to sense my mana not only gave me the skill Mana Sensing but also increased my Perception by two points. I suppose these are the Practice Points that the developers had mentioned. They had stated that utilizing certain attributes regularly and rigorously could lead to an increase in that attribute.

     They had mentioned that it was theoretically possible, through nothing more than practice and repetition to acquire end game level stats but such a thing would require unthinkable amounts of time and dedication. Thus, the benefits of this type of attribute increase falls off rather early, is thoroughly impractical in the mid-game, and near impossible at the end game.

     Seeing the four new skills and his increase in Perception and Willpower, his previous smile quickly returned and, despite having accomplished very little, he felt quite satisfied with his time spent in the game so far.

     'Although, I must say, the distinction between Abilities and Skills isn't immediately clear. If I had to guess, I'd say that Abilities are given by the game/system automatically and Skills are learned manually, even if they are the same as an ability. It also seems that Skills don't have cooldowns. The cooldowns seem to be a penalty enforced on abilities due to the lack of skill and effort involved in using them.

     'Hmmm...perhaps, whenever my Conjure Lightning Skill gets to the same level as my ability by the same name, the ability version will be removed or perhaps even replaced with something better. Oh well, there's no way to find out, right now. Now that I've confirmed my combat readiness, I should probably get a move on, just as soon as I try one more thing.'

     Grabbing his daggers, whose weight felt closer to that of baseball bats, he then activated his Conjure Lightning ability in both hands. John's smile seemed to distort his otherwise handsome appearance, as he witnessed the blades of the two daggers become electrified, with a dazzling cabaret of dancing sparks flickering from the cold metal.

     This little light show only lasted a few seconds but, once he checked his skills window, he saw exactly what he was hoping to see.

[Channel Lightning] (Scrub Tier) Lvl 1

Cost: 30 MP

-Channel Lightning into metallic weapons, in order to imbue attacks with lightning damage.

Scrub Tier Note: Wow, Dude! You really suck at this! Wouldn't recommend trying to use this in battle! You might hurt yourself!

     Whenever John saw that last part, his brain stopped. "WHAT THE FUCK!?" John screamed and then quickly looked around him, because he realized he had said this out loud. Luckily, being in the middle of the woods, no one else was around to bear witness to his little outburst.

     'I've been curious about this Scrub Tier thing but I was going to put it off for later. Now, however, it seems to have come out that these cowardly developers like to shit talk people who can't talk back. 

     'I'll have to type up a nice long retort in the forums…although, now that I think about it, it's probably not worth the effort. I should probably just let it be. No reason to let a little cheeky banter ruin my good mood.'

     With these thoughts in mind, John waited a few minutes for his mana to completely recover and then set off in search of prey.