Talent

On the second day, 7.30 a.m.

The alarm forced Nocturne to open up his lazy eyes. He stared at Chubby Blue with a grudgeful gaze but the cat was too carried away licking itself.

"Fine. He just nuzzles me once in a while, I should be grateful that he didn't throw a party in the middle of the night."

After feeding himself and his cat breakfast, Nocturne entered the game pod and started character creation.

"System detecting…"

"First login detected. Scanning retina… Retina information binded. Analyzing DNA… Identity binded, bank card binded…"

"Do note that this is your only account in the game. Characters you create cannot be deleted within a month."

"Dear Player, are you sure you want to create your character?"

"Yes."

"Please choose your race."

"Human."

"You have chosen the Human race. Classes available are: Warrior, Paladin, Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Priest and Warlock."

"Please select your class."

"Paladin."

After all, Chubby Blue did 'recommend' the class to him and he had also done some research himself as well. The Paladin class could tank, fight, heal and even sustain on his own. Going solo with this class would be the ideal path, it was an all-rounded class for a solo player.

"Please enter your nickname."

"Nocturne."

He decided to use his real name as his in-game name. First of all, his name was rather rare and it already sounded like a game alias; second, the gaming experience would be more immersive.

"Character creation complete. Generating random talent…"

"Generating random talent…"

"Player acquired talent: Halo Master."

"Welcome to Atland, courageous warrior! The Alliance needs you!"

A pleasant voice of a female rung in his ears.

After the character creation, the game introduction cinematic started to play.

"Atland has stood strong for tens of thousands of years in the history of time. A vast number of ancient clans, tribes and races scattered across the vast land. In the Dark Age, the undead and demons invaded Atland and the humans, dwarves, elves and orcs formed an alliance to defend against such evil. With the Alliance's formation, an age of war has begun…"

Following the narrator's voice, countless demons and undead appeared from above the sky and beneath the ground. The horde of evil launched a siege at a city and different classes of heroes stood strong against the enemies.

The game cinematic was top-notch, especially the Warrior's jump slash. It was the coolest thing Nocturne had ever seen. No wonder the game developers focused on advertising right after finishing its first beta test.

The most epic scene was Grom Hellscream killing Mannoroth and screaming 'The orcs will never be slaves'. 

The game was also extremely generous. There was no in-game shop or a monthly subscription fee, it only taxed transactions made in the game.

The taxes might be more lucrative than it sounded. Since the game was tied to a real life bank card, it had a system to perform direct debit of credit. 

If Nocturne listed a gold bar for sale at the price of 100 bucks, after the transaction, he would only get 95 bucks. 5% would be taken by the game company.

Meaning, the more players the game had, the more transactions would be made, thus earning more. Therefore, the developers would do anything to keep their player base, but how?

Through amazing gameplay.

After the game cinematic, Nocturne's sight turned bright. 

He then found himself beside a tree near a waterfall and a lake. The noise of water crashing down the waterfall bombarded his ears.

When the water crashed down to the lake, a layer of mist blanketed the surface, causing the environment to look misty and mysterious.

The weather was great, the sun was bright and there were birds flying and chirping.

The scene before Nocturne's eyes was overwhelming because he had never seen a waterfall before.

He started to inspect himself. He touched his clothes and it felt real; he squatted down and sniffed a flower that he plucked, a faint aroma entered his nose. 

He walked over to the lake and saw fish swimming in schools.

"Holy sh*t! I'm sold!"

He then opened up his character window.

[Name: Nocturne]

[Level: 1]

[Class: Paladin]

[HP: 100/100 (HP decides the character's health and endurance. When HP reaches 0, character will die.)]

[Mana: 100/100 (Mana will be consumed when casting spells or skills that require mana.)]

[Strength: 10 (Strength decides the character's muscle intensity and increases weight limit.)]

[Agility: 10 (Agility decides the character's reflexes, nimbleness, coordination, balance and stealth.)]

[Stamina: 10 (Stamina decides the character's Max HP, HP regeneration, Endurance and Resistance.)]

[Wisdom: 10 (Wisdom decides the power of the spells casted.)]

[Spirit: 10 (Spirit decides the character's Max Mana, Mana regeneration and Magic Resistance.)]

(Other than the five main attributes, there were many other sub-attributes and special attributes that were not shown in the character window.)

[Talent: Halo Master Lvl 1 (Activate a halo (Lvl: 1 + Talent Level))]

[Class Skill: None.]

Halo Master?

Nocturne had done some research on the Paladin before. Halo skills were considered a unique skill to the Paladins. The activation of halos required no consumption and could be cast on allies. A Paladin normally could only activate one halo.

As for the details, Nocturne skipped it because he only did so much research.

He decided to pay a visit to the game forum for a looksee. There should be many new players with their newly created characters there, so he planned to gather more information first.

After he got to the forum, the first thing he saw was the pinned thread.

"Talent Megathread. Tell us what kind of talent you got!"

The thread already had a few thousand replies. 

"Geez. Are they the Flash or something?"

Nocturne then went through the replies.

"First!"

"Second!"

"Red Dragon Bloodline! Haha! I'm going to be awesome!"

"I'm Lightning Master, I think I'm going to be an Elemental Mage in the future."

"Same. Please call me the Lightning God!"

"I have the Fiery Demon Bloodline. I will become the Flame Emperor that reigns over this batch! Bow to me, peasants!"

"Hahaha! This guy must be out of his mind. He's lost it. GG. Bye."

"Track Seeker. Erm… I think it's related to stealth or something."

"The King's Guild is recruiting. Benefits are handsome, we have girls in the guild. Come and join us."

"I got my popcorn, beer and beverages. Excuse me, I'm getting to my seat for the show."

"****! All your talents sound great! Mine's Never Forget! I want to delete my account!"

"Blood Fury! I guess I'm going to become a rampaging Warrior! Hahaha!"

"I bet you are ramming into a hole."

"What's your problem! Looking down on Warriors? I'm telling you bastards, Warriors are the one true class for real men! Other classes are all pussy! Heaven on the left, Warriors to the right! We see through life and death and if you have a problem with that, come fight me!"

"Piss off! I got the most imba talent in the game! Overwhelming Handsomeness! Charm +999!"

"I got a Potion Master. What am I going to do now? My dream of conquering the world has ended."

"If it's a dream, you will wake up sooner or later."

"Be careful what you say! You hurt me!"

"Anyway! This game's CG is freaking awesome! I'm sold!"

"My talent is All-Round Berserk! It's either you or me today, only one will walk away alive! I'll kill you all, or I'll die by your hands!"

"Anyone want to party up? It's better to have a companion when the server opens."

"Mages are the best! Your argument is invalid!"

"F*** off! You glass cannon! I'll hunt you down with a single arrow!"

"The holy light is almighty! May the holy light be with you!"

"Who has a Paladin in their party? Hurry up and kick them!"

"Shaman is a forgotten class."

"Warlock:???"

…

Nocturne was stroking his cat while going through the funny comments of other players and it made his day.