Chapter 3: Dawn of the crafter III

The Librarian clapped his hands and the world around them dissolved and was replaced by a grand hall spanning on for miles. In this hall stood many figures staring blankly into the empty space.

"Please take your pick"

Alex wandered around for a while before stopping Infront of one figure. It had grey mottled skin, long lanky limbs, clawed hands and a deer skull covering its entire head.

Alex began to read its description displayed by a screen in front of the figure.

[The Wendigo:

When a lost soul dies of hunger or cold in the forest, the goddess of the forest takes pity on them and gives them a second chance with part of her power. Reborn as an undead, the wendigos roam the forest, forming tribes and social circles. While mostly amicable folk they will become violent and ruthless when it comes to matters of revenge or territorial disputes.

As they where brought back to life via holy means, they are one of the few undead to have resistance to holy attacks, however they have increased metabolisms and vulnerability to cold attacks and environments, they also have increased lethargy and a need to sleep at least nine hours a day. The skull on their heads can never be removed and subsequently prevents the equipping of helmets and other armours that cover the head.

When you pick the race: Wendigo you will have access to the following skill paths:

Wendigo's skull

Minor blessing of nature

Wendigo's tribal tattoos

Do you wish to pick this race]

"Yes"

Skill paths worked in similar ways to classes, when you level up you get 2 skill points, these points are invested into skill paths which unlock bonuses for the player. When 100 skill points where invested into a skill path, it would upgrade when another 100 points where invested it would upgrade again until tier 5. Unlike classes, a new skill path could not be chosen. However every class and subsequent upgraded tier would give 1 new skill path.

The average skill paths for each race was about 2, while it may seem good to have 3 it was actually more detrimental, as you did not get enough skill points to fully upgrade the new skill path given to you after each class rank up, it simply meant many players ignored most of their skill paths or tried to spread their skill points among each skill path and simply not have any good skills.

As Alex was contemplating the matter, a screen appeared In front of him.

['The God who crafted the stars' offers you a proposition]

Alex was a bit confused, in all his research of the game, he had not found anything like this. While gods where important figures in the game, and their existence was common knowledge to all players.

However they rarely interacted with players, and even when they did, it was usually through their apostles.

As such, the sudden message surprised Alex.

"Go on" Alex said in a tentative tone, the screen flashed and changed in front of Alex.

['The god who crafted the stars' offers you to become his avatar.

If you choose to accept, you will have to gain 4 times the experience to level up.

In return you will gain double the stat points and triple the skill points upon level up.

You will also gain access to the skill path 'minor divinity of crafters'.

Do you accept?]

"Why me?" Alex asked quizzically. Another screen flashed in front of Alex

['The god who crafted the stars' explains that all crafters of the dawn faction are offered this position but they all either refused or are dead]

"Are there others"

['The god who crafted the stars' explains that while there are other avatar, there can only be one for each god]

"Well if that's the case, I accept"

A blinding light burst forth from Alex's palm. After it died down, a golden tattoo of a hammer appeared on his hand. While Alex was admiring the tattoo, a screen popped up in front of him.

[Please customize your avatar]

A 3-D display of a wendigo appeared in front of Alex, around the model , sliders and options popped up.

After fiddling around for a few minutes, Alex settled on a design he liked.

His avatar had Oak bark brown skin, a pure white deer skull with branch like antlers, grotesque claws on each finger and twisting cream tattoos spilled out over his body his body.

Alex had also shortened its arms and legs a bit so they would feel more comfortable and need less getting used to.

"Certainly an interesting choice of race" The Librarian mused over Alex's shoulder appearing seemingly out of thin air.

Alex jumped slightly. He turned to look at The Librarians expectant face.

"I guess so" said Alex in a slightly annoyed tone.

Alex had no intention of striking up conversation with the slightly unnerving caretaker. This seemed to annoy The Librarian, He snapped his fingers and the display of Alex's avatar began to corrupt.

"Certainly an interesting choice of race" The Librarian said once more, with a slightly more assertive tone.

"W-why do you say that?" Alex asked with a forced smile, scared of how The Librarian would mess with him if he didn't play along.

"Glad you asked" The Librarian replied, in a slightly smug tone "its quite an odd part of human psychology, many of you don't like things with long and thin appendages. I can relate myself however, I have seen the so called 'daddy long legs' from your world. Urgh, creepy buggers"

The Librarian continued on his tirade for close to half an hour, with the monologue going round and round in circles. The only point he really made was 'its creepy'.

"Oh my, would you look at the time, I've kept you for so long and for that I apologize. Allow me to extend my sincerest apologies by helping you pick a starting town"

The Librarian clapped his hand and the world melted away, as if it was wet paint sliding of a wall, once more returning to a familiar library.

"This way, no dawdling" The librarian called while walking through the labyrinthine halls of the eternal library.

The Library followed no coherent order. The paths where long and winding, many reaching dead ends and circles that went nowhere, the books as well seemed to adhere to the chaos, you could find a book on demonic rituals sitting comfortably next to a book on home cooking.

Even the laws of physics where not safe, Alex was surprised when they came to a wall and The Librarian casually began to walk up the vertical wall, reprimanding Alex when he did not follow.

After walking for what felt like eons, they arrived at a convergence of many paths, creating a circular clearing. In the middle stood a cluttered ornate wooden desk, two satin arm chairs, surrounded by piles of books and sheets of paper covered in scribbles, and a massive globe sitting proudly in-between the two chairs.

"Please, take a seat" The Librarian said, gesturing towards a chair.

Alex stared at the chair with a distrustful look before tentatively lowering himself into it. The moment he did he felt as though he was resting in an angels embrace, all his cares seemed to melt away.

"Now" said The Librarian, snapping Alex out if his comforting thoughts, "before we start the selection, there is one more gift to compensate for the handicap of your faction"

The Librarian clapped his hands and a screen, listing many fantastical items, appeared in front of Alex.

"before you make your selection I would like to offer some advice" The Librarian began "all of the relics in this store have the growth trait. What this means is you can use skill points to 'upgrade' the items, while it may be tempting to pick a powerful relic, I would advise against it. In a means to make the game balanced, the more powerful a relic is now, the more stunted their growth will be. You could either perceive this gift as a way to get you through the beginning of the game and discard it latter on, or a useless item at the start for a boost in the end game, or an item to help you all the way through your journey. As such, to get the most out of your relic, I would advise you choose a utility item, rather than a weapon or armour"

"Thank you for the advice" Alex said in a sincere tone.

"happy to help, all I ask for in return is for you to have an interesting and entertaining adventure"

Alex nodded and began to put over the myriad of relics in front of him. After searching for a few minutes he found one he liked.

[Dimensional key ring of the crafter

One of many mystical key rings, this key ring is imbued with the will of a great crafter.

Effect: The key ring gains keys, these keys can open 'doors' in space and allow the user to travel to isolated 'pockets' of space, inside these spaces, the user can store items and perform activities.

Relic inscriptions: Growth, soul bound, all terrain, dimensional warp

Growth: By feeding the item skill points the item, it will evolve and gain new inscriptions and functions.

Soul bound: This item can only be used by the owner, it can't be stolen of taken forcibly. It is stored in a space separate to normal storage and will not be dropped upon death, instead it will be destroyed permanently.

All terrain: This item can be used in any scenario, even if it otherwise would not be able to, nothing can prevent its activation.

Dimensional warp: Gives the owner access to the skill path 'entry level dimensional magic: Novice'

Would you like to choose this item]

"Ah, the key chain series" The Librarian said in a slightly daydreamy tone, as if he was reminiscing on something "certainly not my first pick, but still a good one"

"So what would your first pick be?" Alex asked in an innocent tone.

"Hah" The Librarian let out a monotone laugh, "like I'd tell you, besides, someone already took it. So you gonna pick it or what"

"Yeah, Yeah, have some patients" Alex said, locking in his selection.

"Now that's out of the way, let's move on to the starting location" The Librarian motioned toward the massive globe, which began to steadily spin, "I promised you I would help you with the selection so allow me to share my opinions"

The Librarian motioned toward the globe once more and the globe came to a halt, on an area pointing toward the two, a light suddenly flickered into being.

"This area is a good starting point for you; the closest town is neutral, the monsters in the surrounding area are relatively weak and it has many unconquered dungeons nearby"

"Anything wrong with the area?"

"Well there are quite a few wandering bosses in the area, but that's pretty much it"

"Well then, I guess I'll go there, you are helping me so it'd be rude not to accept"

"Splendid, I do so love a yes man" The Librarian said gleefully, clapping his hands together once, "well off you go, show me something interesting so I can amuse myself. Oh and before you go, remember this is a game designed for fun, that should be your main concern and whatever you do, don't ruin it for others, it is not your game, it is not a single player game, and it is not a world that revolves around you. while you may be an important part of the world in due time, please never forget these rules"

With that, the floor opened up under Alex and he dropped like a stone. The last thing he saw from the vast library was The Librarian mockingly waving to him as he sped toward the ground.

Alex closed his eyes, his head span and he felt sick, cold sweat trickled down his back and face, and he began to flail his arms incoherently while screaming loudly.

after a while the wind stopped whistling through his hair and he felt a a rough dirt brush against his skin. After waiting for a few minutes, making sure that the ground was not a cruel illusion, created by The Librarian just to mess with him, Alex opened his eyes and stood up.

His knees were weak and shook franticly like a new born deer's. After steadying himself, Alex Began to take in his surroundings.

He had landed on a rocky overhang on the edge of a dense forest, behind him stood a vast mountain range, the peaks reaching high into the clouds as if they hid some great secret at the tip, past the forest he saw the faint outline of a fortress. He assumed that was the town The Librarian had told him about.

As he tried to make out more of the fortress, he moved closer to the edge, and looked down.

His legs almost gave out and he hurriedly moved away from the edge.

"It's just a game, calm down, you'll be on the ground soon" he muttered to himself.

As Alex calmed himself down he heard a scream, leading over the edge of the cliff with much trepidation, Alex saw a player running away from something into a clearing, and was hit with a wave of nostalgia.

"Ah, look at him", he mused to himself, his fear lessening with each passing second "I remember when I was a newbie to these games, running scared from the simplest of goblins, I remember my ... Firs..."

Alex trailed of as while watching the player, something shot out of the ground, piercing directly through their neck. Alex watched on with horror as the players body seemed to deflated, slowly shrivelling up and becoming limp and still.

While still in shock, Alex looked on in horror as several wolf like creatures emerged from the trees and began to tear the poor player into bloody stripes of flesh.

Suddenly the forest seemed like a much less appealing place to be.

As Alex stood, contemplating what choices had led to this moment, he heard a voice come from directly beside him.

"Merde"