Taste of Combat

Jacob stood on the course earth and looked around the field. He and Matilda stood on opposite sides of the field, him armed with a mace and shield, and her armed with a broadsword.

Just as the fight was about to begin, the world around him turned gray and another interface page appeared. This time it was several pages long and included pictures.

[Welcome to the combat Tutorial for the Mace and Shield combo! The mace is a heavy blunt weapon, sometimes adorned with spikes or blades for extra damage, known for its brutal damage. On its own, it's a heavy-hitting weapon more than capable of killing and it's easy to use, but very difficult to master. The mace will often leave its wielder wide open for an attack and isn't difficult to avoid due to its often slow and heavy movement. Luckily, what it lacks in defense can be made up with a shield, albeit at a minor cost to the mace's handling, speed, and damage. There are plenty of ways you can use this combo, but the simplest and most effective one for a total beginner is to raise his shield and guard carefully, then beat the crap out of your opponent as soon as you have the chance. If you consider yourself above that, however, you could consider a shield charge or other more aggressive tactics.]

After that initial page, there were several more pages, alongside images, detailing various techniques, styles, and tips for his current weaponry.

Jacob read all of it carefully, and when he finished reading, he closed the page and time resumed.

Jacob raised his mace and readied his shield. Both were heavier than he thought they'd be, but he figured he could manage. Matilda meanwhile was already in a fighting position.

Herald stood aside and looked at both before yelling, "Ready, Set, Start."

Jacob stood his ground while Matilda rushed forward. Her sword clashed against his shield while Jason prepared to strike with his mace. Matilda saw it coming however and dodged before sidestepping and launching another attack with her sword

Jacob reacted quickly however and turned to block with his shield before trying once more to land a blow with his sword, but Matilda just jumped back before thrusting at his head. Jacob raised his shield as a response but realized all too late that it was a feint as Matilda ducked down and swept his legs. Luckily he just barely managed to maintain his posture and managed to raise his mace in response. Matilda predicted this, however, and twisted to the side before slashing at his back. Before she could connect the blow, however, time slowed again, before a bust of light teleported them away from each other.

"The winner is Matilda," Herald announced as Jason realized he had almost been cut in half.

"Nice work. No wonder the Master's wanted to ask you guys for help, you're pretty good. However, your movements were pretty stiff and slow, so you really should work on that. I understand that you're a soldier and not a hunter or fighter, so you won't as agile or fluid as one, but you should still hone your skills. Let's see, other than that, you made the right choice by standing your ground and maintaining your guard, and it really only failed because I'm a lot more experienced than you are, plus I'm a hunter, which is a soldier's natural counter. Though I couldn't help but notice that for some reason your fighting style seems like it's used to dealing with wild beasts and untrained enemies. You'll need to get out of those habits or else you'll run into some trouble when you face more equally matched opponents." Matilda advised him on his combat still, then stood there for a few moments in thought.

"I'm busy so I can't spare the time to spar with you again, but if you want there's plenty of soldiers you can spar with, or if you're looking for real experience, there's been a few bandits companies roaming around in the Eldrean Forest. That place also has a few wild beasts that need to be taken care of before we fully begin our operations there. We haven't really had the time to deal with them, but maybe you Travelers can. Besides, it's best for everyone, or well, everyone on our side at least, if you gain more experience before we begin the reclamation campaign after all. Oh right ..." Matilda walked over to him and reached into a small bag hanging from her waist, before pulling out another bag and badge.

"In order to get to the Eldrean Forest, you'll need to go through The Gate. Also, here, this badge will serve as your identification and it comes with plenty of benefits if your rank is high enough. Yours is only an initiate badge, but that's enough for now. Also, keep in mind that you'll need to make some contributions to get anything higher ranked. Also, this bag is a spatial pouch. It's a fairly cheap spatial pouch, so don't expect it to have a ridiculous amount of space, but it should be useful enough for now. Also, there's 50 copper in there. It's not much, but I'm sure you'll have enough for a few days at an Inn as long you don't waste it all. By the way, just some friendly advice, if I were you, I would invest in some skills."

[Congrajulations: The Inventory feature has been added to your function list.

Simply think; 'Inventory', to view your inventory menu, or access it through the Player Menu. The inventory can be used to store a limited amount of items from your journeys. It is possible to increase its size, but that comes at a price.]

[Congrajulations: The Skill feature has been added to your function list.

Simply think; 'Gain Skills', to view your skill tree menu, or access it through the Player Menu. The Skill Tree can be used to acquire new skills and abilities very quickly, at the cost of Skill Points. A Capabilities section has been added to your Status Screen.]

[Congrajulations: You've acquired 50 Copper, 10 Exp, and 5 SP, and 1 AP!]

[Tasks]

[A New Tale Pt 2. - The Calm

- Explore The City of Haven

- Explore the Eldrean Forest

- Explore the Irntul Outpost

[Friendly Advice Pt. 1 - Skills

[The Art of Combat Pt 1. - Beginner

- Defeat a trainee of any class with any weapon (0/10)

- Defeat a Soldier Trainee using every Basic Weapon at least Once (0/5)

- Defeat a Fighter Trainee using every Basic Weapon at least Once (0/5)

- Defeat a Hunter Trainee using every Basic Weapon at least Once (0/5)

- Defeat a Scholar Trainee using every Basic Weapon at least Once (0/5)

[Bandit Camp Extermination Pt. 1 (Eldrean Forest)

- Clear the Forest of Qin Bandits (0% Cleared, Contributed 0% of Total Clearance)

- Clear the Forest of Res Bandits (0% Cleared, Contributed 0% of Total Clearance)

- Clear the Forest of Lior Bandits (0% Cleared, Contributed 0% of Total Clearance)

[Beastial Population Control Pt. 1 (Eldrean Forest)

- Clear the Forest of Red Wolves (0% Cleared, Contributed 0% of Total Clearance)

- Clear the Forest of Warp Foxes (0% Cleared, Contributed 0% of Total Clearance)

- Clear the Forest of Cloud Bears (0% Cleared, Contributed 0% of Total Clearance)

...]

As Jacob read the various missions he had just been assigned, he understood immediately. Since it was a beta test, the game company obviously hadn't finished everything about the game. Since the scenery and combat were so well crafted, he had completely forgotten that the game was in closed beta up until that moment, and had treated it as a full game.

'The quest system is a little crude, and it was obviously designed to test out various aspects of the game and its interfaces, such as difficulty adjustments and skill testing. Only after they made sure everything worked would they let players play the actual story. Still, so far everything seems well crafted, and everything had worked just fine. The NPC's movement was natural and very realistic, and there are so many of them too, but there hasn't been any lag. Still, they need to tone down the combat a bit. For new players that combat would be hell. I only managed because I've played a lot of other games and even then I didn't do very well. Wait ... would healers also get the 'Art of Combat' quest. I mean, I guess they should have some kind of solo capability, but they weren't among the class types to defeat, so maybe not? Huh.'

As he thought this, he checked his status screen and started thinking of which skills to get after reviewing it.

[Character]

[Gametag: EnderKnight0

[Identity: Jacob - Elven Male

[Division: Soldier Lv 1 - 0/10 EXP -> Soldier Lv 2 - 0/20 EXP

[Position: Mysterious Unknown - Initiate Rk 1 0/50 CBP

[Vitality: 50/50 - Stability: 35/35 - Stamina: 30/30 - Epilloga: 21/21

[Condition: No Status Effects

[Attributes]

Strength: 9 -> 10

Fortitude: 10 -> 11

Dexterity: 8

Perception: 7

Spirituality: 7

Resonance: 1

Copper: 50

AP: 1

SP: 5

[Capabilities]

[Proficiencies: Straight Blades Lv 1, Curved Blades Lv 1, Simple Polearms Lv 1, Brutal Polearms Lv 1, Quarterstaves Lv 1, Shields Lv 1

[Natural Skills: Second Wind Lv 1, Impact Lv 1, Guard Lv 1

[Learned Skills: (None)

[Aquired Skills: (None)

[Equipment]

[Armour: Cloth Shirt, Linen Pants, Leather Boots

[Weapon: Basic Mace, Basic Shield

[Proficiencies determine your ability to perform certain actions and grant benefits when performing those actions. Weapon proficiencies grant benefits when relevant weapons are equipped. Natural skills are skills automatically earned when your class advances to a certain level or you meet certain conditions. Learned skills are skills gained through intentional practice, skill books, or the skill tree. Acquired skills are skills attached to your equipment and can be gained, lost and changed, as you equip, unequip, and swap out your gear.]

[Second Wind: When Stamina falls below 20%, quickly recover 30% of your Max Stamina. Cooldown of 2 Hours.]

[Impact: Unleash a powerful blow that deals 10% more damage for your next attack. Works with any Melee Weapon and Shields. Does Not Work with Ranged or Magic Weapons. Cooldown of 3 Minutes.]

[Guard: Increase your defense by 10% until you deactivate the skill or take 70 total damage overall or 50 damage in one attack. Works with any Melee Weapon and Shields. Does Not Work with Ranged or Magic Weapons. Cooldown of 3 Seconds.]

'Ok, so that's how that everything works. I'll dump the AP point into Dexterity. Now then, what Skills should I invest in?'

...

Meanwhile, on earth, the four siblings were staring at the screens, shocked by how quickly a player had joined. Furthermore, more players joined shortly after. They had been expecting players to join in a few days, not right away.

"I mean, I guess it is to be expected, we did send them emails directly, and considering how most of these guys focus on the internet for their jobs, it's shouldn't be too surprising that they responded so quickly. We just failed to account for that. Besides, this is actually a good thing. The faster they join, the faster we can get feedback and make sure that everything is working as expected." Aaron said.

The other siblings paused, mulled over it for a second, and then nodded.

"Yeah true."

"Why were we so surprised again"

"We should have expected this huh."

"So what now?"

"I mean, I guess we just keep watching and decide based on that. Our plans need more people and time to be carried out after all."