Hello readers!
Once again, welco, and thank you for being here.
If you liked this work so far, it would do great to leave a power stone if you have one laying around, or even a review, though do wait a bit more before you do so, you may end up liking it even more, or hating it, hopefully, it's the first.
Regardless of what happens, you can check my other account 'Abadom' to see my other books if you don't already know them.
Why did I not publish it there? Simple! Because my Inkstone account is full... So I can't make a new book, only update one...
It's a sha, but we authors do not have the ability to delete books.
Goodbye, everyone, I wish you all, a pleasant night as I am going to sleep.
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/Back at the base of the Tutorial Tower…/
/Fium!/
/Fium!/
/Fium!/
/Fium!/
[Server capacity 1000/1000]
[The Tutorial will soon start, please get ready in the anti]
Multiple lights flashed almost at the sa ti, and once they dimd and disappeared a crowd of people took its place.
/CHATTER!/
And with them, an explosion of sounds...
"Wow… It's truly sothing else. The sll, the feelings, the sensation… As expected, Elden Throne outdid themselves once again with yet another hit." Said one of the players, clearly an older one, likely soone that had played the previous ga before
"Yup, this is incredible."
"I feel like I can feel each individual hair on my head... Ouch! I can!" Soone spoke as they took out one of their hair strands
A few of the people around him agreed, others moved around and checked the place, a few checked the ga's nus… Everyone was doing sothing.
They weren't the only ones doing these actions as millions of players all around the globe did the sa.
No matter where they were from, they were just as equally impressed with the levels of detail they were witnessing.
With the players' arrival and the servers' initiation, the Official ga forums also went online, and they were imdiately flooded.
It didn't take long at all for dozens of threads to be created, with so exploding in popularity, such as…
"Are you a Standard Mode Fan, or are you a HardCore Mode Enjoyer?"
"I am a Tourism Mode God! Change my mind."
"HardCore is for masochists!"
"Standard is for Pussies!"
"HA! Pussies are the ones who didn't randomize!"
"Has anyone tried increasing their Ding Dong long chong's size? Is it possible?"... And so on.
Everyone had their own reactions and priorities, so more serious than others.
However, things were getting chaotic…
The internet would always be the internet, and it didn't take long for people to argue with each other over such aningless things...
And it took no ti at all for people to start getting banned as the hamr of justice fell down on the virtual web nonstop...
If you paid enough attention, you might hear the cries of despair of the many keyboard warriors that fell with each passing minute...
...
/Back at Server A-0001…/
The players continued to explore their System's interface, comnting with each other about what they found and what they could do as they waited for the 30 minutes to pass.
Until soone noticed sothing strange...
"What's this? Hall of Fa? Records…"
'The first player to reach Level 100?! What's his na… 'My Dad'?! Who would choose such a damned na?!"
Hearing this, another player said with a smile:
"Why are you so surprised? It's clearly a joke by the developers, it's quite common. So chill out, it probably won't remain there for too long…" Soone said on the side with a slight smirk, thinking it was obvious
The first player smiled awkwardly and said:
"I was just surprised since it's my first ti in one of these MMOs."
"Really?! You've been living under a rock or sothing?"
"I… I just liked playing normal sandbox gas… Wait, there's another record!!"
/Silence.../
This made the players around him surprised as they started to check the Hall of Fa as well...
"First to complete the Tutorial…"
"The fastest Tutorial clear…"
"First to finish a Raid alone… All of them are under this guy called My Dad!"
The players were surprised and then confused.
"Who is this guy? It's impossible to have achieved Level 100… Unless he used an exploit, and if that is the case, then it's going to be removed soon." Said one of the newbies as he pondered
"Even the other records are simply too much, everyone just logged in yet the ti says… -30 minutes and 15 seconds?"
"Who can make a record with negative ti?!"
One of the players tried to make sense of the situation by voicing his own idea:
"It might've been one of the developers trying the chanics to make sure everything is running smoothly, if that is the case, then it should be removed soon unless they decide to keep it as a joke."
Almost everyone nodded in agreent, but so kept quiet about their own worries... Not wishing to be the stupid one that doubted this mysterious player.
They weren't the only ones thinking like this, many players across multiple lobbies were now all thinking about this.
Who was this player? Who was... 'My dad'?...
There wasn't much to do anyway, so apart from theory crafting, so tried to move around and see what they could find...
So t with their friends, as there was a certain chance they were sent to the sa server... Especially if they planned beforehand.
A few others checked the in-ga configurations, and so tested the skills they got from randomizing their characters…
Of course, it was impossible to damage anyone before the tutorial actually started and if they did try or went over the line, like, let's say, trying to harass a player, then they would be imdiately banned.
Everyone had to wait for the 30 minutes to pass before they could do anything, be it play in the tutorial or jump straight into the continent and play the ga for real.
However… Things weren't going to remain silent forever…
…
/Outside of the Tutorial Tower…/
/FWOOSH!/
On the broken stone streets of this ancient city, Dale ran as fast as he could as he avoided any possible ti wasters, his objective, the Begginer village.
/Crack... Fwosh... Slide.../
He was very fast, almost as fast as a car as he ran and jumped around the place like a cat.
A level of agility beyond Human, it seed as if Dale was flying!
And as he ran, he mumbled:
"Part 1 of the plan was completed flawlessly, I got much stronger than I expected, so it's ti to start part 2…"
'I have many materials, but they are mostly useless, although it's not ti to sell them yet, I still need so things to remain with for the future…'
"There are 4 things you can get in the tutorial that can change your early ga completely."
"Gear, Special Items, information, and Money."
'I already got the gear, but there are still so I would like to get… But I won't go out of my way to get it if I am to lose ti as my main objective is to finish everything before the 30-minute ti limit.'
'While 90% or more of the players will spend their first few hours if not days in the tutorial, I will be enjoying the ga and stacking items…'
'Especially big gar guilds, they should be logging out together and monopolizing a few lobbies... They will certainly grow stronger very fast and this will only snowball towards the main ga.'
"Although my plans do not include that portion of the ga as I lack any information about it… Simply put, I did not plan that far."
'I do have so predictions for what I'll experience and what I should seek based on what I experienced in the Beta, but such things are better left off for later.'
"There are only two words in my mouth right now..."
'Special... Items. This is the most important part of this plan…'
'There are a few items in the Tutorial that could change everything… I'm talking about Stat potions, Skill manuals, Upgrade materials, and other things.'
'Even secrets like this sword over here...' He thought as he looked at the sword on his hilt
'I don't even need to explain what money ans… The more the better.'
'Money makes the world spin at the end of the day...'
…
/Fwoosh!/
Within a minute, Dale arrived at the village, it looked the sa as he rembered with everything in the sa place as before.
The smith, the baker, the small road that led to the river where a kid should be currently playing...
Shaking his head, Dale focused on his task at hand.
His first target was a place hidden beneath a rock in the ruins of a house.
To get inside, you must first have at least 15 Strength, else the rock won't budge.
Either that or several people would need to work together since it weighs several hundred Kg.
"Hum..."
'Jelly implied that it should also be possible to move the stone through a basic application of physics, but then again, so preparation is needed for that.'
'And that ans... A waste of ti!'
/Touch.../
Touching the rock, Dale said in a low tone:
"It took a few days for people to find this in the Beta."
"I don't know how long it will take for people to find it now since the number of players is 10 tis that of the Beta, but that doesn't matter…"
'Like the Tutorial Tower Boss, this place holds a unique reward, one per Server if I understood it all correctly.'
'The fragnt of the Sigil of Strength is mine!...'
Dale jumped inside the hole and the rock rolled back into place, sealing the hole once more as if pushed by an invisible force.
The NPCs didn't even react, albeit a few did look at him with side glances...
An old man even laughed as he shook his head… He mumbled sothing in a low tone, but no one heard it.
…
"It's really dark in here…"
Dale was currently within a dark corridor made out of gray bricks which were similar to a dungeon structure.
/Shine.../
He quickly took out his new spear from his inventory, it shined in faint red light, but it was strong enough to illuminate this entire hallway like a torch.
"Good!" He said as he smiled, everything was going according to the plan
/Step step step!/
He then proceeded to run as he activated his temporary Skill Explorer Sense:
[Explore Sense 2-Star Passive
Effects: Gives you a sixth sense capable of detecting danger and treasures, and even I'll ons. The degree of information detected depends on the difference between the Levels of the threat and of the Skill.
]
He knew there weren't any traps, since the chanisms of the tutorial were still disabled, but being cautious never killed anyone… Not many tis at the very least.
Dale also took out a small wooden shield and put it in front of his chest, but it was then he noticed sothing odd.
"I got no penalty notification?"
'This is a ga after all, so there is a limit of things you can equip at once… Equipping a sword in the nu will allow you to get its effects while holding sothing not equipped does nothing 90% of the ti.'
'However, here I am, my Sword is on my back giving its buffs, while I am holding a spear and a shield while receiving their boosts without any penalty…'
"Is this because of the realism of HardCore players?"
'If so, this is yet another bonus that was not told in the character creation screen… An incredibly strong one at that.'
'I could find a good set of armor, then proceed to equip light cloth armor underneath it, I could stack different types of headpieces, such as a hairpin and a helt when it would've been otherwise impossible...'
'It's also normal for it to not appear in Creation nu since, if the developers were to say everything about the ga chanics in one go, then we would stay there reading a multi-paged file for the next few tens of minutes…'
"Perhaps they want us to find out everything there is to each ga mode through practical gaplay…"
'I do rember the ssage they gave one year ago...'
"... So mysteries are better found and solved by oneself..." He mumbled as he continued on his way
…
Dale ran through many corridors, taking a few turns before he arrived at a large hall with a single stone door at the end of it.
"Phew… That took a while, I thought I had taken the wrong path in there for a mont..."
/Silence.../
'But as expected, the trial is not activating, and that is the problem, I hoped for it to start…'
"Without it, I can't proceed..."
Dale looked at the stone door at the other side of the room and said:
"Plan B."
/BOOM!/
Dale grabbed his spear and activated its skill while he pierced the wall.
Once the smoke dissipated, a small cracked hole appeared in the door.
"It worked, violence yet again prevails." He said with a small smile as he took a stance, ready to strike again
But he didn't.
"Hum... I feel a bit... Worn out?"
'This must be it, the feeling of using Mana... It feels wrong sohow.'
"Sigh, it's truly an ass to not be able to work with a mana bar..."
'I can't see how much MP these skills cost, nor can I see how much I have available... Truly a fucking disaster for soone who micromanages things... Not for since I can't bother.'
/BOOM!/
/BOOM!/
/BOOM!/
Dale used his skill 3 more tis and finally, a large enough hole appeared.
Without waiting even a single mont, he stored his spear in his inventory, jumping through the small hole with a serious gaze.
[DING!]
[You discovered the Hall of Strength!]
[Your Mana and Health have been repleneshed]
[5K Experience points]
[XP converted to 5 Zulls of Wood]
As Dale raised his head, he saw a grandiose Hall filled with weapons and statues, most of it was completely broken and corroded, useless trash not worth taking.
However, a few were still intact, he would obviously be taking those with him.
/Shine.../
In the middle of it all, was a small red badge glowing in faint red light.
[Sigil of Strength (Broken)]
"This is it."
"Although, instead of broken, I would've said it's worn out..."
"It looks super old." He said as he carefully went to grab it
'The Sigil of strength, in the previous ga, it held a lot of importance, and once again, it was thought to be an easter egg to commorate the achievents of the players of the past.'
'There are 6 Sigils, one for each stat, and they increase each stat by 15, but since it's broken, the value is now 5. So by gathering all of them, I can effectively stay an additional 5 levels ahead of every player at all tis.'
'Even if these can be acquired by other players, it doesn't matter since at the end of the day, it's almost impossible for a single player to get all of the 5…'
'Unless he is one of the Beta players and soone that followed what happened in it, or he is soone who is backed by a large force...'
'Or if he has played the previous gas.'
'But who would rember these details… If it wasn't for Jelly researching it with I would've forgotten it as well…'
"Talking about Jelly… Didn't he say sothing about this…"
Dale started to think and he eventually rembered his talk with Jelly.
He scratched his head, pondering over the feasibility of his idea, but eventually, he gave in.
"It's worth a shot…"
He grabbed the sigil and stored it in his inventory before he left the place; there weren't any treasures left to be collected in this place.
"Ti to start, operation 'Vault Hunter'!... Hehehe…"
Dale's evil laughs echoed in the dark halls...
…
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Notes
Here is the set item he got in the Shrine for the Aspect of Might, it won't really have any importance in the story given it was just a passing thing, but it hopefully gives us so insight into how varied items can be.
I made it in a rush, but it should be okayish, I liked it...
So in case this sohow ends up as a balance breaker, then we can just forget it exists... Or at least its stats...
[Arm of the Giant Set (Rare)
Rating: 2-Stars
10 Strength; 6 Constitution; 4 Reflexes; -8 ntal Power
Gives the temporary Skill, Bulk up 1.5 Star (Active); Elephant Punch 2-Star (Active); Territorial Roar 3-Star (Active)
Set Bonus -> Partial Giganfication, consu 10% of your current HP and Mana to increase your Strength Stat by 10 for a few seconds.
Increases your character size by around 20%.
Requirents: Strength: 20; Constitution: 35; Dexterity: 5; Mana: 5
Description: Armor of the Guardians of the First out of the Five temples of Might, standing watch over the Sigil of Strength.
]
The armor may look incredible to be found in the newbie area... But take a proper look at the requirents.
You would need to be Level 35 to use it at the very least unless you're a Hardcore player or a privileged player that has access to rare items that can increase your base stats.
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