1 Prologue
"Yes! I'll do it!"
said Arun Hans in a delighted tone as he accepted the quest. His eyes shaking with excitement. Anyone else who saw the quest information and then observed Arun's reaction would think he was crazy.
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Quest Info - Taxman(5)
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Help Jimman by calculating the tax he owes to the kingdom of Daharas. Obtain the property documents and his income information and present him with a tax figure. You need to sign a parchment with the Oathblue ink as an undertaking that you have calculated the tax properly.
Quest Difficulty: E
Quest Rewards: 100 Novos as fees, 10% increase in affinity with Jimman, +5 Reputation Points and +50 EXP
Quest Failure: Loss in Reputation Points -10 and 5% decrease in affinity with Jimman
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Who would accept such a boring quest? People played Fusion Fantasy for various reasons whether it was money, fame or simply leisure. Some companies did not have real world offices and actually did real world work in the pleasant virtual environment of Fusion Fantasy. Some even played the game as a therapeutic activity. But nobody was crazy enough to even consider calculating the taxes of an NPC! Except for Arun, that is.
Arun was not the first one to be offered this quest by Jimman. He was the seventeenth, in fact. But each single player before him had declined the quest.
"I am an Adventurer! How dare you ask me to calculate taxes! Point me to a Dragon, Goddamn it!" exclaimed one of the players named DragonFighter. He had then haughtily went on, "this game is great but where do these weirdo NPCs come from every now and then giving such trash quests? Calculating Tax? BOOORING! Just because I have a lot of points in my Intelligence stat, you pleb? Get lost!" DragonFighter had walked on along with his companions mumbling that only a crazy person would do such a quest.
But Arun Hans was not crazy. His quest acceptance was actually a very deliberate and measured action. He was one of those players who had a already decided his style of play even before he started. There did exist players like him who never changed their playstyle and stuck with it come rain or sunshine.
Once again, Arun was not crazy. He was an Associate Professor in the computer science and engineering department in a University in Mumbai, India. Playing Fusion Fantasy was actually a pet research project of his. This research project involved him studying the AI of Fusion Fantasy - the 'mega-hit game of the century'. Arun was quite enjoying his work these days if anyone bothered to ask him about it.
Arun quickly headed into the city to buy the materials required for the current quest - namely a parchment and a bottle of Oathblue ink.
The capital city of Dori was a very large city when compared to other cities in Fusion Fantasy. Although, the kingdom of Daharas itself wasn't that big in area. It had only half a dozen cities in its territory. Dori was special even among cities that weren't a part of the kingdom. Dori had a peculiar structure with smaller buildings in the middle and taller buildings in its perimeter. The taller buildings were residential areas where NPCs lived in cramped conditions whereas the smaller buildings near the center were commercial stores belonging to players and NPCs alike.
It was towards these commercial stores that Arun was headed.
The ink and the parchment cost him about 20 Novos and made a significant dent in Arun's game account. Arun opened his status window to verify the details although he clearly remembered the exact amount of Novos in his account. He was a fussy man that way.
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Status - Player Arun - Level 9 - Level Progression 94.44%
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-- Stats --
Intelligence: 50
Strength: 20
Agility: 20
Stamina: 30
-- Special Stats --
(None)
HP: 380
MP: 580
Attack: 200
Defence: 200
Novos: 30
Reputation Points: 95
Unused Stat Points: 0
-- Skills --
(None)
-- Special Skills --
(None)
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"Can't wait to get to Level 10 and get myself a Class. This quest should do it." Arun mumbled to himself. Indeed, Arun was self-talker. He didn't want to obtain a basic class like a Magician or a Swordsman. His goal from the beginning was to obtain a Hidden Class.
Fusion Fantasy boasted over a 100 Basic Classes and an unaccounted number of Hidden Classes. Any player could walk up to a known Class Instructor and obtain a Basic Class Quest after reaching Level 10. But as was known from the media and public discourse, certain conditions had to be fulfilled in order to obtain a Hidden Class Quest.
Arun played in a weird way hoping to obtain a coveted Hidden Class. He did quests like tutoring NPC children, calculating taxes for people and even working as an inventory manager in a grocery store in Dori. Quests no player would do. All his actions were the result of carefully studying the game before he started playing it.
"Anyway, might as well check my Inventory too.." mused Arun.
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Inventory
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- Rusty Old Dagger (0 Novos)
- Legal Parchment (Equipped)(5 Novos)
- Oathblue Ink Bottle (Equipped)(10 Novos)
- Beginner Clothing (Equipped)(5 Novos)
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"What the hell? I got scammed! I paid 5 more bucks than the value."
Arun was in disbelief.
Shaking his head, he returned to the outskirts of Dori and stood in front of a decrepit looking building. He then said to Jimman who was standing with a stoic expression,
"Show me the documents for any properties you bought in the past year Jimman. If you didn't buy any, just give me a summary of your earnings and investments of the past year."
"Here you go", Jimman replied handing over a stack of parchments.
After Calculating the tax and doing what was required of the quest Arun signed the parchment and gave it to Jinman to be handed over to the Daharan tax department.
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Quest Completed!
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You have Levelled Up!
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Status - Player Arun - Level 10 - Level Progression 0.0%
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-- Stats --
Intelligence: 50
Strength: 20
Agility: 20
Stamina: 30
-- Special Stats --
(None)
HP: 390
MP: 590
Attack: 200
Defence: 200
Novos: 130
Reputation Points: 100
Unused Stat Points: 10
-- Skills --
(None)
-- Special Skills --
(None)
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Jinman smiled at Arun. Arun smiled back. Jinman kept smiling. Arun kept up his expression for a few moments before realizing that something was wrong with Jinman. It was as if the NPC's AI was glitching.
"You have built up quite a good reputation around here and you seem like you are ready to enter the next phase of your life." Jinman said relaxing the smile on his face. This was NPC code for saying that Arun had amassed a fair amount of Reputation points and that he had reached the threshold level for obtaining a class.
Arun simply nodded in anticipation with a growing suspicion that he might actually get a Hidden Class Quest out of this.
"You are a good man for helping me with my taxes. Many have refused to help me before." Jinman continued.
Arun was barely able to hold back his excitement.
"Well I don't mean to brag but I am inherently a kind and helpful person. My mother brought me up well." Arun replied smugly.
"Ahem. Yes. Well, you see I would like to help you out a little more if I can. You have even been regularly tutoring my kids daily for the past few days. You are good with numbers and that is all great but how about learning something new?" Jinman asked rhetorically.
"I have an elder brother who has his own Dojo in a small village called Dwaram, a day's journey south of Dori. You should go meet him. Here, show him this and tell him I sent you. I am sure he'll accept you as his disciple." Jinman removed a locket from around his neck and gave it to Arun.
Jinman turned serious suddenly. "My brother, Henman, said that he will only ever take one person as his disciple. I have sent a few adventurers to him before but he is yet to accept a disciple. But I have a feeling that he will accept you right away! "
Arun excitedly read the Class Quest alert that appeared in his peripheral vision.
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Class Quest
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Quest Info - Go meet Henman and become his disciple
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Travel to the village of Dwaram and meet Henman. Show him the recommendation given by Jinman and fulfill any demands that Henman might have in order to become his disciple.
Quest Difficulty: D
Quest Rewards: Hidden Class - Mathematician
Quest Failure: --
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Arun's eyes Widened.
"A MATHEMATICIAN??!!"
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END OF PROLOGUE
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Author's notes:
For every point invested in stamina, HP increases by 10
For every point invested in intelligence, MP increases by 10
For every point invested in strength, Attack increases by 10
For every point invested in agility, Defence increases by 10.
All stats start with 10
For every level up, players obtain 10 stat points, 10 HP and 10 MP.
HP, MP, Attack Power and Defence start with 100.
EXP required to level up from Level 1 to Level 2 = 100
EXP required to level up from Level 2 to Level 3 = 200
EXP required to level up from Level 3 to Level 4 = 300
And so on...
Usage of skills require MP.
Weapons, Armor and Accessories do not change the stats, they directly change either HP, MP, Attack or Defence.
