Lyle Upon The Plains
*Ding* System Announcement: As the First Warrior player to step foot in Ordina, you have been granted your Battle Force.
*Ding* System Announcement: As one of the first 100 Players in Ordina, you have randomly unlocked a Secret Attribute. Unlocked Attribute: Good Luck.
*Ding* System Announcement: Your Basic Attribute scan revealed your body's Trait. Your Trait is Unrelenting Will. Trait activation has granted you Will Force.
*Ding* System Announcement: Your Basic Attribute scan revealed your body's Talent. Your Talent is Soul Accumulation. Talent activation has granted you Soul Force.
Kai did not understand what these announcements meant, so he opened his stats panel to see what changes had occurred. If all was as expected, his Basic Attributes should be between 1 and 5, and he should have the Cleave active skill, and Weapon Proficiency passive skill. As for his Basic Attributes, the most important to him were Strength, Agility, and Constitution. Intelligence was for magic classes, and Dexterity was for Artisan Professions.
Name: Gorwyn
Class: Warrior
Level: 1
Exp: 0/1,000
Race: Human
Title:
Fame: 0/100
Trait: Unrelenting Will
Player cannot be Compelled and has a 100% increase in Will-based calculations. Will Force Hidden Attribute opened.
Talent: Soul Accumulation
Player has an increased efficiency in Soul-based generation. Soul Force Hidden Attribute opened.
Health: 22
Health Regen Per 5 Seconds- 1.1
Stamina: 11
Stamina Regen Per 5 Seconds- 1.1
Attributes:
Strength- 12
Agility- 11
Constitution- 11
Intelligence- 10
Charisma- 10
Dexterity- 10
Unspent Attribute Points: 10
Secret Attributes: 1/5
Good Luck- 1
Hidden Attributes:
Battle Force- 0/100
Increase Physical Damage and Defense by 0.5% Per Point. Can replace Stamina or Health as a resource when using Skills.
Will Force- 0/200
Increase Physical and Magical Damage, Defense, and Stamina by 1% Per Point. Can replace any other resource when using Skills, or activating the Will.
Soul Force- 0/100
Increase all Basic and Secret Attributes by 0.5% Per Point. Can replace any other resource when using Skills, or activating the soul.
Physical Attack- 1.2
Magical Attack- 2
Attack Speed- 1.11
Defense- 1.1
Armor- 0
Resistance- 0
Movement Speed- 2.1
Skills:
Active- 1/9
Cleave Lv. 1- Deal 110% Physical damage to all enemies within your swing, 20% less for each consecutive enemy after the first, minimum of 30%. Cost- 5 Stamina
Passive-
Weapons Proficiency Lv. 1- Increase Damage with all weapons by 5%.
Kai was quite surprised. His Basic Attributes were 10, not 5. As a warrior he gained 2 Str, 1 Agi, and 1 Con every level for free. For the first ten levels he would get 10 Attribute points to allocate into his Basics. From level 10 to level 25 he would get 5 Attribute points to spend. From then on, he would only obtain 1 Attribute point to spend until level 100. At level 100, his stats would enhance, and the process would restart. This would repeat every 100 levels. Which meant that he would obtain 250 Attribute points every 100 levels. 175 in the first 25 levels, and only 75 more in the last 75 levels. This straining of resources combined with steep difficulty curves was the basis of the core gameplay loop that was intended to reinforce player's skill foundations.
This was because skills could also level up as you used them. And finding new skills was important to complete your build. In Ordina Online, Skill Build was of paramount important. Because a player could only have 9 Active skills at a time. This combined with the fact that skills could not be reliably obtained, but were rather found as drops, loot, or obtained from trainers that one had to discover.
Kai was thrilled at his Trait and Talent. Every player was guaranteed to have one of each. But unlocking them was difficult. Kai had no idea the Basic Attributes scan would detect them, nor that they would be so impressively useful. Hidden Attributes were the gems of the game. According to the official release info on the forums, unlocking them would be nearly impossible without completing difficult chain-quests, and walking arduous paths. And even then, that was only for those lucky enough to discover such opportunities in the first place.
"Gorwyn. I am now Gorwyn. It appears I have no Mana as a Warrior, making Intelligence even more useless. I can only assume my Basic Attributes scan declaring me at 'Advanced Maximum Value' is what gave me 10s. If I wait a short while, my Hidden Attributes should regenerate. And I can go ahead and allocate my 10 Attribute points..." Kai self-acknowledged himself as Gorwyn, unaware of the convention of 'Usernames'. He assumed this was part of the experience. After allocating his points to 3 Str, 4 Agi, 3 Con, he equipped the basic heavy armor and great axe in his inventory.
Now looking the part of a medieval adventurer, Gorwyn looked around. He knew that he could talk to NPCs for quests, but he honestly wasn't interested. Killing monsters would be less efficient, but it would help him become accustomed to this game-like world. It may have elements of real combat, but it was a game. Just as he was about to walk out of town, several dozen shimmering particles appeared all around the summoning square. He saw many new players entering the world, and became excited.
The first player to fully materialize beside him was a young man named Glorious Lion. A rare man even taller than Gorwyn himself. Being the polite young aristocrat he was, Gorwyn opened the conversation jovially. "Greetings! My name is Gorwyn, I see that you are also a Warrior. Would you like to explore the surrounding area with me to find foes to slay?" His unexpected greeting left Glorious Lion at somewhat of a loss, but the man quickly recovered.
"Hello, Gorwyn. I cannot join you at the moment. I am waiting for my guild members to make it through the Login Queue. If we meet later, you are welcome to join us in grinding. You look like a reliable man, and i'd love to adventure with you another day." The rejection was soft, and Gorwyn understood he'd imposed upon the other man, so he nodded his head, bade him farewell, and quickly made his way out of town without another word. He was not a shy man, but he realized most of these people would likely not be playing alone, and he had not intention of discovering guild politics so soon.
As he left the village, he marveled at it's sights, quaint as they were. Then, he put it behind him. Upon the plains he immediately spotted an abundance of prey. Hundreds of 'Lv. 1 Stray Dog' and 'Lv. 2 Stray Dog [Elite]' monsters roamed the grounds outside the village. Just as he was about to step forward, a man in a cloak by a fire just to the left of the village entrance spoke to him. "Brave of you, wandering out here without even speaking to that Elder for compensation. Tell me, child, Why did you leave the comfort of the city walls without direction or companions?"
Gorwyn was baffled. This NPC had simply struck up a conversation on their own! He'd read on the site that these NPCs would be highly intelligent and life-like, but this felt surreal to a new player of video games like Kai. "Good Sir! I have ventured out of the village because I do not need direction to kill monsters. And I do not need aid to kill monsters. I have my axe, and I have my targets. Battle will forge me, and blood will cleanse me of my innocence and ignorance. What more could a man ask for?" Gorwyn replied to the cloaked figure with virtue in his heart.
The man paused, for a brief moment, then laughed. "Hahaha! Yes! You have spirit, child! Come, come here and have a meal with me. You can slay to your heart's content after. Let me show you...how to truly slay a monster." At this moment a notification appeared in front of Gorwyn.
*Ding* Grandmaster Monster Chef Lyle wishes to teach you the Artisan Cook sub-profession 'Monster Chef'. Agree / Disagree.
Gorwyn's eyes widened. Artisan professions were incredibly difficult to obtain. And specialized sub professions even more-so. On top of that...this Monster Chef profession seemed perfect for him! He could kill the monsters, and eat them, too! Normally in Ordina Online, monster meat could not be cooked. You could only harvest materials from the bodies, and then they would disappear after a set amount of time. But if he were to cook them...what would happen?
"Of course, Good Sir! Of course! I would love to have a meal with you. Show me how I can truly slay a monster." Gorwyn wasted no time agreeing to the profession change. In the first place, he didn't have a profession to lose, he'd only be gaining. And a specialized sub-profession completely defeated his initial intention of becoming a Cook to eat decently on his adventures.
Gorwyn sat beside Grandmaster Lyle, and listened to him. For what seemed like hours, as people left the village to hunt, and came back to rest, he stayed and learned. Most people ignored him. Immersive games like this were expected to breed a few fanatics who would converse with NPCs as if they were real people. No one expected him to be receiving a sub-profession while they slaved away the day for a few dozen Exp.