016 Headaches All Around

The GMs were getting alerts from their team members and the various developers that the game is progressing much faster than what were expected.

The predicted time lines were all wrong.

Doug and Tom were staring at two monitors. One contained James and the other the Reaper. These two players have caused them and the whole staff major headaches.

The system's predicted timeline drastically changed due to these two players. It would have not mattered which one got their hidden class first. Due to the classes being from an era that was not to be found out for more than a year they sped up the systems time table.

To keep up with the stories these two players experienced the game needed to change. Their respective classes were too strong for the current progress.

The world's monsters would need to be strengthened to match the classes from the Lost Era. If only they found just about any other hidden classes it would not be this dramatic.

There are three types of classes. First there are normal classes that every player starts with. Second there were class upgrades that every player would get at level 50 and then again at 100. Finally there were hidden classes.

These hidden classes all revolved around some sort of legendary figure from the game's history. Most of the hidden classes came from the Decline Era. That era came two eras before 'they' showed up. Only a tiny fraction of the hidden classes came from the Lost Era. A measly 15 classes came from the era, all of which should have be found much later into the game.

The 15 individuals that managed to claim a Lost Era hidden class were to be the heroes of the story of the first arc. While many players can come together to defend against 'them' only players with one of the 15 Lost Era classes could manage to defeat 'them'.

The battle between 'them' and the players was planned to be hard-fought and an uphill battle. Different factions of the players would need to set aside their differences and come together to survive.

They knew the game would be changing at a fast past from now on.

One immediate change that players will experience is how fast they can get to the first dungeon. Before it was estimated it would take another two weeks but now it will be a little over a week before the top players can reach the requirements.

Next, field bosses of the different environments will start to appear. There were also random event bosses that players can side with. Depending on the side they choose the rewards and consequences change. Raids, while in the further future, will also be reached faster.

They could only sigh. They cannot interfere with the system.

"Blaise's luck is amazing. Thanks to that mask we gave him he was able gain Alfred's interest and eventually the quest to find Roland. He could have gone to a few different places to get a hint of were Roland could be but he choose the library of all places. The easiest of which only required him to ask Alfred if Roland had a house there in the city and then went to search the house for clues. The library route was not only the hardest but also the longest option."

Tom took a second to catch him breath, "That combined with everything else made the perfect storm."

Doug massaged his temples, "How could we have known that by giving Blaise that mask would spark such a disaster. No matter the Reaper would have caused what is going on as well."

Tom shook his head, "She is a monster. She has remained a [Red] player since she hit the level required to be a player killer. She lives for battle and previously there is no greater challenge then fighting players."

"Yeah but to draw Apollo's attention she had to kill over 2,000 players. Then to finish the quest she had to kill 5,000 players with 1,000 of them being unique ones. If only Scarlet did not continue to challenge her."

Tom thought about what Doug said then took a few minutes to play on his phone, "Good lord, the data we found shows that Scarlet was killed over 100 times herself then members of her guild took up over 3,000 of the Reaper's kill count..."

Doug slumped deeper into his seat, "If only we put a level requirement for the hidden classes. That would have solved all of our problems."

"Yeah, but now we can only live and learn."

*****************************

James started to come up with ideas for his first spells. His teacher said that he would only be able to make minor spells at first; at best and if he got lucky he would be able to make a normal grade spell.

[Over all I need at least one attack spell, a spell for defense, and some utility spells. I have not learned the limitations of the spell creation process. I guess I should as teacher about it.]

"Teacher, once I start creating spells does that automatically use up one of my spell slots?"

"Fortunately it does not. Unfinished spells will only reside within your spell creation space within your mind. It is only when you complete the spell and decide to learn it does a spell slot get used. Do you have any further questions?"

"I do, while reading through all of those books I got an understanding of different runes. However, knowledge and practice are different. I know that to create spell one must draw runes into the air and join them together to create a matrix. None of the books stated how to join them together into the matrix though."

"I kept that information out of the book on purpose. I only wanted my student to be able to learn how to do so. The best method of learning is looking at real spells. By doing so you will be able to learn practical applications of binding runes into a spell matrix. I will demonstrate 5 spells for you. I will only show them to you two times each. How much you learn will be determined by your comprehension skills."

His teacher paused to look at him. It seemed like James did not know where to start, "I will give you some time to think it over. Return to me once you figure out the path you wish to take."

James nodded his head and walked over to the end of the water and sat on a log to think things over.

[The book mentioned that offensive and defensive spells are the hardest to create. With utility spells such as buffs and debuffs are easier. I am not sure if I can manage jumping into the hardest difficulty right off the bat. It seems like teacher wants me to rely mostly on myself during the learning process.]

James took a good hour to think things over before he made progress.

[It would be best if I have buffs that would increase my attack power, defense capabilities, and my movement speed. With those I would stand a better chance of surviving. My attacking spell will most likely be the weakest spell I create so I need to cover that weakness...]

[There is also the possibility to weaken the enemies with debuffs. If they have stat decreasing debuffs that would also make me stronger as well. I guess the only way to learn is to jump into it. I will have teacher show me spells that can create buffs and debuffs. As of now I will try to create a buff and debuff for attack, defense, and speed.]

James walked back over to his teacher to start practicing.

"Welcome back, have you made our decision?"

"I have teacher, to start I would like to create a spell that can strengthen my attack power."

"When one cannot directly over power their enemies they must have a way to increase their strength. You made a good choice. I will show you a spell called [Strengthen] it increases its target's attacking power by a factor determined by the quality of the spell. Prepare your notes."

James pulled out his magic notebook and activated [Magical Eyes]. He waited for his teacher to cast his spell.

"This is a simple spell but its results are powerful. Do not focus on the complex; find the foundation of the spell so that you can replicate it. The runes outside of the foundation only strength the base spell."

James put on a serious face and focused, "Will do!"

[Strengthen], "I will channel the spell for 2 minutes. Learn well."

James received a game notification as soon as his teacher cast the spell.

* Player received the Strengthen buff, attack power has increased by 25% *

[Wow a 25% increase! It was a good choice to pick a buff like this. I wonder how much of a boost my version will have.]

With his [Magical Eyes] he was able to see the spell matrix around his teacher's hands. A complex web of runes could be seen. There were some runes that branched off the core of the matrix and joined back up in a different location.

James started jotting down the runes in the center of the spell matrix. He would need to take some item to analyze and figure out what each rune did but he was fairly confident. His teacher stopped the spell after the time limit was up. Two minutes was not nearly enough time to copy everything down. He got the majority of the runes and their positions in the matrix but he missed some.

"Well, how did you do? Do you wish to see it again?"

"I got enough to work with for now. I will save my second attempt for later. I want to study what I currently have."

His teacher smiled when he heard James's answer. "It is good not to bite off more than you can chew. Come back to me once you feel that you are ready."

James returned to his log and began his research. He combed through this memory to find the runes he found in the various books he had read. He found several of them but there were some missing. [It appears that teacher did not want to make this easy for his student. Several of the runes I managed to wright down are missing from the books I read.]

"What a headache." uttered James while he was in the middle of his research.

His teacher smiled and returned to his hut.

James went through a few dozen pages of his notebook putting everything together.

[This rune translates to attack. This one appears to be a targeting rune. Both this rune and that attack rune are commonly found on weapon enchantment runes that are etched into weapons to increase its attack rating. Meaning the runes that reset between the two are some sort of linking runes. They appear in other places in the matrix but in different positions around the runes they are next to...]

"Damn it! It's all so confusing... I need some actual practice."

James ran over to his teacher's hut but before he could knock on the door his teacher appeared behind him.

"How may I help you?"

[Did he use teleportation? No matter, he is a [Spell Weaver] after all.]

"I want to try my hand at rune crafting to figure out how the runes in the matrix work with one another. However, I do not have any materials to create runes. Do you happen to have some?"

"Why not just draw them in the air?"

"I want to replicate weapon and armor enchantments first. I feel like I have enough understanding of enchantments. On top of that I have a mask with enchantments on it so I can always have a reference if i need one."

"An interesting approach."

His teacher handed him a small chest, "Here, this chest contains the basic materials for rune creation. It has ink, chisels, and rune slates. Since you do not have any real experience creating runes they should be enough for you to get started. Let me know if you feel like you can handle better materials in the future."

"Thank you!"

James ran back to his spot by the pond and his teacher once again vanished into thin air.

He took a look inside the chest and was amazed. The interior of the chest did not match its size. It was just like the [Fire Mage] tower. [He must have cast a space related spell to increase its capacity to hold items.]

There was enough rune slates and ink to last someone a few years. He knew he would have no problem if he made mistakes. He made him feel less on edge. He was worried he would have limited amounts of resources to practice with.

James took out his first rune slate, a pen, and some ink. He started to plot out the rune that translated to power. He drew it so it took up as much space as it could. This was so he could have extra space to etch in the magical ley-lines.

After he finishing with his pen he took out a chisel and started to etch the basic shape of the rune. After he was finished with the basics he attempted to create the ley-lines.

Ley-lines are how mana flows through the rune. It is the key to maintain the rune's effect. Runes that are applied to weapons are feed by the user's class specific resources.

Based off what he read as saw from when his teacher demonstrated the spell. The runes within the spell matrix feed of the mana he personally supplied.

The more precise the ley-lines the faster and more efficiently mana will flow through the rune. It also results in a stronger more high quality rune.

It took James just over 30 minutes to finish etching the rune into the slate. He wiped of his perspiration and went to test the rune out.

He set the rune on the sand in front of him then directed some of his mana to the rune.

The rune started to glow as the mana started to flow into the rune.

* Crack *

Everything was going well until the rune broke into two.

* Boom *

The rune exploded and created a small shockwave that made James fall over. His teacher was not fazed as if he expected the results.