Chapter VII - Level Up!

<Welcome to The World!>

Marcus would be grinning ear to ear if he wasn't a simple wisp of light floating in the empty field. As the announcement faded from view he was brought to the familiar character creation screen:

<Character Creation>

"Would the user like to create their own character or scan the user's mind to create the character?"

Marcus said "Scan my mind!" Marcus never used this function in his past life as when the information was revealed he had already invested far too much into his character to start over.

<User selected Mind Scan, do you wish to proceed?>

"Yes!"

<One moment…>

<…>

<…>

<Character Creation Completed!>

Marcus was grinning like a madman as his pale wisp energy was expanding and conforming to his physical shape and size.

<Welcome to the Tutorial!>

"This is a simple introduction to the game's controls and to help familiarize the User to The World.>

A large red flashing arrow pointed to an empty space 30M away from him. Marcus immediately began walking towards the arrow as the tutorial began explaining how to move.

"The User can move by…" Marcus already knew all this information and simply ignored the AI completing the tutorial as fast as he could.

It included how to walk, run, jump, crouch, go prone, swing a weapon, use a skill, cast a spell, open the inventory as well as social tabs, etc. the final instruction was to open the Status Panel.

\\\You can find information about all of these under the Auxiliary Chapter 0///

Name: ???

Faction: ???

Guild: <None>

Title: <None>

Class: Adventurer

Level: 1

EXP: 0/100

Sub-Class: <None>

HP: 100

STA: 100

MP: 100

STR: 5

AGI: 5

DEX: 5

END: 5

VIT: 5

FCS: 5

INT: 5

LCK: 5

Piety: 0

Fame: 0

Infamy: 0

Skills: <None>

Spells: <None>

Abilities: <None>

Pet: <None>

Mount: <None>

Companion: <None>

Partner: <None>

Marcus was already prepared for everything that was dumped on him, he was completely overwhelmed the first time around.

<Please choose which faction to pledge yourself to User:

The Order of Balance

The Agents of Chaos>

"Order of Balance!" Marcus replied.

<User has selected Order of Balance. Do you wish to continue?>

"Yes!"

<Please name your character:>

<No special characters or spaces allowed>

Marcus thought long and hard beforehand when he was creating his Flutter account and decided not to use old username AverageJoe.

"Nobody"

<Please wait…>

<Transporting user to Vhul Village!>

Marcus enjoyed the feeling as blue lights swirled around him as the system was transporting him to the beginner village. Soon his vision went white and he was standing on a small hill overlooking the outskirts of Vhul.

Marcus was immediately brought back to the first time he arrived here, the crisp bitter Spring morning was tingling his skin as the sun was beginning it's fiery rise into the sky. He could hear birds chirping as Spring was in full swing. Little critters as bunnies and squirrels were darting around the landscapes.

He could see the small village of just under 1,000 was coming to life as the NPCs were going about their lives tending to livestock and the fields.

He could essentially assume he was the first one as he didn't create he his character and ran through the tutorial in limit breaking fashion. His viewers skyrocketed as he every other screen was displaying the same notice quickly jumping from hundreds to thousands as everyone was as completely blown away by his surroundings.

Marcus started to descend the hill as flashes of blue lights started to appear behind him. He wasn't alone anymore.

As everyone was heading towards the town to explore and familiarize themselves, Marcus did the opposite, he went away from the town and pulled out his beginner Sword

<Wooden Sword>

Rank: Grey

No Level Restriction

No Class Restriction

Blunt Damage

Slashing/Piercing Weapon

Durability: 100/100

A sign of an adventurer, it has weak damage output but is reliable in a pinch>

Equipment had a ranking system as did everything else in The World

Grey

White

Green

Blue

Purple

Red

Gold

Marcus was heading to the first hunting grounds before it became swarmed with newbies (New/Inexperienced Players.) He knew that while the quests in Vhul offered rewards and fame, which was essential to one's success, it was all useless at this time as they did not award experience.

Every player began as an Adventurer and needed to get to level 5 in order to expand their character's abilities and join an Order to begin their class progression.

Level 5 was easy enough as it only took 472 experience, but killing monsters was not the easiest task with no skills or spells. He had to rely on simple hack-and-slash with a blunt weapon. He was already experiencing flashbacks to the minuscule 1s and 0s.

With experience being awarded based on the level of the enemy, he would need to kill 128 level 1 mobs (Monsters) to reach level 5 as he would never dare to venture further to find higher level mobs with nothing but this weak weapon.

As Marcus came up on the small clearing in the woods about 25M to the south of Vhul, the first monster came into view:

<Giant Beetle>

Level 1

HP: ???/???

Marcus knew from experience that they were the small fry, Giant Beetles had next to no offensive capabilities with high defenses. They were passive until engaged. It took him forever to kill them the first time around but now, he knew their weak spots, a small gap in between the plates between their head and the useless wings on their back.

He casually walked up to the beetle standing next to it as he turned his sword down and jabbed it as hard as he could targeting their weak spot.

Critical Hit! 2 DMG! (Damage)

The beetle screeched as it was hit hard. It tried to retaliate against it's aggressor throwing it's large horn up but Marcus expected this and swung his sword and retreated at the same time but frowned at the result:

0 DMG

Marcus was annoyed and charged back in unleashing a barrage of slashes and thrusts upon the poor beetle who was even more frustrated as every time it turned to retaliate Marcus retreated and circled his prey unleashing more attacks.

0 DMG

0 DMG

1 DMG

…

This continued for a full minute before Marcus was able to deal the remaining 8 damage needed.

Giant Beetle slain!

10 EXP

Marcus wished that the sub-classes were available at level 1 as every monster either needed to be hauled back to the village and traded to a NPC to break it down for money or left to despawn (disappear from the game.)

This had even worse repercussions than one initially thought as if the monster was not broken down, it would remain for a whole 300 seconds before despawning and then and only then could the respawn (reappear back into the game) timer begin.

Marcus left the monster as another Giant Beetle was rustling in the grass. He continued this slow process for another 10 minutes before the desired announcement flashed in front of him.

Giant Beetle slain!

10 EXP

Level Up!