2 Brave World

     My eyes opened to a title screen. It had the title of the game in large letters, and in the background there was this large backdrop of a grandiose landscape, with lush green fields and trees scattered across it. In the back was a mountain with the sun at the peak. I stared at the title and thought of the word "Start". 

     I was suddenly taken to a menu. One that asked for my name. I went with my real name because I didn't care if people knew my real name. I was then taken to another screen asking for what class I wanted to be. This one had way more classes than Arch Online: Fighter, Warrior, Assassin, Mage, Tank, Healer, Beastmaster, Spearman, Swordmaster, and Archer. Each time I said the name of the class, I was given an explanation of the classes:

Fighter: Use your fists to strike with great speed and power to overwhelm your opponents. Wield great strength and dexterity to push through the most powerful of foes. 

Warrior: Wielding a sword in hand, strike your foes with incredible strength. Your high vitality gives you the power to stay alive no matter how terrible the wound is. 

Assassin: Strike from the shadows with great speed. Snuff their lives out before they can react. 

Mage: Use spells that defy logic. Your spells are only limited by two things: your imagination and your MP. Use this near limitless potential to become great!

Tank: High defense. Protect your friends and allies to give them the edge in battle. 

Healer: Assist your allies by mending their wounds to have them continue the fight. You are not limited to just healing as you can give buffs to your allies and even learn to debuff your enemies. 

Beastmaster: Excel at bringing in monsters to fight by your side. Be it a wolf, a bear, or even a mighty dragon! Use your skills to bring them to your side of the fight!

Spearman: With great skill, pierce the hearts of your foes! Your speed is your greatest ally.

Archer: Strike from a distance, sending a multitude of arrows into the sky. Your ability gives you the edge to always get out of danger and gain distance in a one on one battle. 

     All of them seemed too generic. But what interested me is the fact that skills were not displayed. They were accompanied by multiple question marks. I thought it over for a second but something caught my eye. 

???: Randomized! Gain a randomly selected class from the 200+ available in the game. Only after getting to level 5 may this option activate. 

     Over 200!? So just the few that are here are barely scratching the surface, then. I wasn't expecting this. I can only guess that with this I could get a pretty powerful one if my luck is good. After a bit of thinking I selected it. Another menu screen was shown, giving me the option to change my appearance but I just wanted to be how I looked in real life so I ended up going with that option. 

     "Another screen?" 

     This one was a stat allocation screen. It was because I chose the random option that I was given this. I was allowed 100 stat points to put in. "Hmm. If I can be anything until I'm level 5… let's see." 

     Everything was 0: ATK, HP, MP, SPD, INT, and AGL. 100 stat points seems to be good enough, which means that the other classes had 100 as well if my assumption was correct. After a while, I finally made up my mind. I decided to put 15 into each category, leaving me with 6 left. I put 5 more into speed and the last one into attack. "There we go. Now I just gotta wait until I get to level 5." 

     My sight was clouded in black, and all of a sudden I felt a soft breeze touch my body, and a smell of something like strawberries. I opened my eyes and my face was shoved into a flower bed. I slowly stood up and I found myself in a garden in the middle of a city. All around me I saw a number of people appearing, though not a single one of them appeared in the same way as me, making this all the more embarrassing for me. In fact, I think people already started mentioning an imprint in a patch of flowers. I made sure that there wasn't any dirt on my face to make sure no one got any hints. No one had any equipment on them, so everyone started fresh. It was just then that we got a message in our mailboxes. 

[ATTENTION! New players are given 5,000 gold at the start of the game! Prepare yourselves for a new adventure! Thank you for purchasing Royal Star!]

     As quick as it appeared, the message was deleted and in the corner of the inventory screen was a bag with a G in it. All of a sudden, it went from 0 to 5,000 in an instant. "Wow. Pretty generous of them." There were no pre-order bonuses so everyone started at the same level no matter what. I looked at my stats and saw that I was level 1. With that in mind I decided to walk out of the starting area and into the marketplace just to the right of it. There were signs indicating what the shops were: Havel's Smithy (Armor Shop), Shira's Finest (Weapons Shop), and Aiden's Tricks 'n' Trinkets (Item Shop). The parenthesis by their names just helped to distinguish which shop was which. I went into the weapons shop first and purchased a straight sword with +6 ATK for 200 gold. The armor shop was my next stop and I bought a set of leather armor for 1,500 Gold. It was pretty obvious what my next stop was and it was the item shop. This was something I actually had to think about. The obvious were potions which were 50 gold each, and I bought 10 potions to be safe. 

     I also bought a few bottles of oil for 10 gold. I didn't have anything to light it with so I just put them in the back of my inventory to separate them from everything else. I exited the shop and got another message. 

[Hey! It's me, Veronica! I'm by the starting area! Don't worry, I got stuff for myself!"]

     So she already got stuff? Seemed pretty fast. I shrugged it off and made my way to the starting area. As soon as I entered the garden, I immediately knew who she was. Her appearance was the exact same as in real life but she did something I didn't expect: Pick the warrior class. The way she was personality wise made me think she would be a support class, but this? Last thing I would have thought of. "You picked a warrior?" I asked. 

     "Mhm! I do all the time!"

     "Huh? This isn't the first time? Damn. You seem pretty tough, then." I commented. She smiled and spun around, stopped when she faced me again and winked while sticking her tongue out and doing a cute pose. "Thanks! Trust me, I won't be a burden!" 

     I tried finding a menu to make a party, and after a bit of digging, I found the menu and I invited Veronica. She had this big smile on her face after getting the notification and immediately accepted it. "Alright. You wanna start grinding out some levels?" I asked. 

     "Wait. Don't you wanna start up a quest?" She asked. It made me think a little bit, and I came to a decision. I nodded and suddenly a message appeared. 

[ QUEST: FIND A QUEST ]

     Are you serious? Finding a quest can be a quest in and of itself? That was a surprise. Though it seemed that she got the quest as well. Her and I made our way back into the main street of the city. We saw this little girl roaming the streets by her lonesome, showing a frightened expression, her legs shaking violently and tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. Veronica immediately ran for her and knelt down in front of her. "Hey. Are you lost?" She asked. The girl looked up and she started crying, and Veronica responded by hugging her and rubbing her head. 

     "I-I-I lost my mom. I don't know where she is! Her and I were walking together and when I looked back, she was gone!" After that, her tears ran down her face, and her cries were getting louder. I walked over and patted her head gently. "Don't worry, kid." I said. "Just tell us where you last saw her and we'll make sure to find her, okay?" I added, she rubbed away her tears and nodded, slowly making her way back to the area she was in, and I immediately saw the problem at hand: there was a dark alley just to the right of us. Instantly, I thought that her mother was kidnapped. If we let this go on for longer… I didn't want to think about what could possibly happen next. "Veronica. Keep her safe. I'll message you when I see something, okay?" 

     "W-what? No! I'm coming with you!" She responded.

     I didn't want to argue, but I wanted her to stay with the kid to keep her safe. I sighed.

     "Fine. Let's go." 

     The both of us found a daycare. We used this to help her relieve some stress and that with all the kids and adults around to keep an eye on her, she would be fine. We made our way back to the alley and entered it. I drew my sword, and so did Veronica. 

     First hour or so of playing and I'm already in the middle of a rescue quest. Isn't this just perfect?

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