A young man adorned in a wizened cloak of black gold walked through the impressive archway into the Imperial throne room. Trumpets blared his arrival, and all eyes in the grandiose setting went upon the figure as he made his way down in ceremony.
A single brief clap erupted into a thunderous applause. Even the young emperor of twelve upon the high throne joined in its chorus.
For you see, this was a Hero''s welcome. Nay, a Great Hero''s welcome. The first outside the famous dynasty. The first since the First.
The turnout for this momentous event would be detailed in the future as one long counted. And in the present, just about every noble of good standing was visible in this long hall. None of them would ever be shamed in saying they did not bear witness.
These lords and ladies stood in their proudest finery, equal that to of kings, but all staring hungrily at this passerby. Already their machinations were in full display, wearing sophistry like another crest.
But the young hero looked eerily calm to his surroundings and kept his gaze straight, only stopping at the throne''s impressive steps. At the foot were the Imperial Knights, said to be the strongest bastion of humanity. Yet all together would they falter versus this figure''s power. Such were the rumors that even their famed "Saintess" was said to be far from his equal.
Further up stood the court magicians led by the strongest their order, an Archmage aged nearly 200. But the new Hero was said to be his superior in that craft as well. How when he was still so young, no one can be certain.
Then came the herald as he announced this honored guest to the gathered assembly - his name, his titles, and his deeds. Many of which seemed too outlandish to repeat or give second thought to. The recounts of his many adventures and subjugations sounded like tall tales. Not at all possible, save for the cumulative effort by an entire army.
Surely there had to be some boasting ... but few knew that if anything, his achievements had been diminished.
The news of what transpired in the Border State had long made the rounds. Heard still was gossip in the east, whispers of the desert south, a couple recounts in the Vale, and tales in the great dungeon expanse a continent away. It was an odd collection of stories - four years worth - which led to this particular moment in time.
But the whole truth was still "unknown", and that is what made his coming such a historic event. It was enough to move an Empire.
So who was this Hero? What does he want or where did he even come from? And why is this all still a mystery?
To answer that, you have to go back to how it ALL started, and that was when-
¡°-are you stupid or something?¡±
Those were the words spoken to me just after I asked the pretty cheerleader to sit next to me ... a total teenage blunder. I should have judged the circumstances better and held to my gut feeling, but I guess my fevered excitement got the better of me to just "go for it". Yet this was the result. Of course the girl in question knew none of this inner turmoil as she scoffed it off and walked over to her usual table of friends where she sat down and noticeably whispered a few words as though a show, to which they all turned to me and laughed together.
To say an embarrassing lunch period followed would be an understatement. "That really hurts you know", I really wanted to complain out loud about this phantom pain. Heck, she didn''t even give me the chance to ask her out. You see, we had worked on a science project for nearly three weeks, and I thought the time together spent in class went well enough. Granted after the school days were done, I did nearly all of the extra work while she slacked off with her little clique of friends, though she did make up for it with her cute presentation skills. In the end, we got full marks and thought this could turn into a golden opportunity. However I was only fooling myself, especially seeing the disdain on her face now. Thinking it was more was just overblown fantasy.
After lunch, I made an excuse to skip my last two classes - in part to avoid any more sniggering aimed my way - and made it home on my bike in record time. My apartment was empty, as usual. Sadly I lived alone, as my parents died a couple years ago in a car accident. Worse off - I had no siblings. That meant no cute sister to tease or little brother to bond with. Well, that was probably for the best. I was pretty much an outcast at school and would be an embarrassment to them anyways.
In fact, my only remaining family was a rich uncle - my mom''s younger brother - whose condo I lived in now. But even he was hardly ever around, always away on some business trip abroad. It was like all my relatives conveniently died out before my 18th birthday. The thought sometimes kept me up at night. Though I do think I still had a distant cousin, one to my father, living somewhere on the west coast, but we never met.
That was why I wanted a girlfriend. I had quite the lonesome life. Even after another bad experience - the third this school season - I just wanted to just have a relationship with someone. And I had no friends save for some digital acquaintances. Then I sighed as my stomach grumbled. I hardly ate during that lunch period, being too upset to eat. However I did have some snack food to munch on in this quiet comfort.
After boiling up some water, I opened up a pack of instant ramen and ate it fresh from a tin bowl. The quality of food was poor, but my monthly allowance did not afford me many amenities in life. But I could not really complain here as I had enough sense to know I atleast had free room and board living under my uncle''s custody.
After eating, I headed to my room and sat down in front of my 22-inch monitor and booted up the computer. Picking up a bag of disks I had purchased from a used media store, I started glancing through them. I had to be thrifty, so the games I bought were from the discount bin or rips off the net. My favorites were RPGs as their more engaging stories helped pass the time and my boredom.
Lately I have been finding more VRs in the bin - games that utilized a special visor interface to give players a 360 view of its game world. In the beginning, each VR game had to be run with its own specialized VR pad to run concurrent with the staple helm. However, the tech has improved to the point now where a single ''universal'' pad could run most virtual games. And many VR games made in the last five years have been modded to work off the keyboard system.
¡°What is this one?¡±
I noticed a game I did not remember picking up at all last week. It was a VR disc, golden in color, with no labels on it. This was odd because whatever casing it came from was also not in the bag. I neatly stacked all eleven contents in the bag out, just to make sure, and this left me wondering to-
Where did this come from? But the thought made me more the curious.
Booting it up, the screen quickly flashes a series of matrix-like patterns before its archaic symbols settled on two romanized words in large gold font - Dungeon World. Then what looked to be its intro-sequence began to scroll in common rpg fashion:
Are you tired of your mundane life? Then escape to a world of adventure in... the Dungeon World. Its land of high fantasy awaits you. Take on quests, hunt monsters, discover lost dungeons, find hidden treasures, and earn glory. Click << Start >> to forge your destiny!
¡°Dungeon World¡¡± I repeated the words and then shrugged, never heard of this game. After putting on the VR visor, I used the game pad to mouse the cursor over the start function on the screen and hit the button.
This time the screen of matrix-like patterns flashed all around me within my 3D view. It was a pretty cool sight but ended with me (as a shadowed avatar) stuck in complete gray space. Seriously... a system crash already... but soon enough a bright light shone before me. Its bubble had the words {{ Create New Life }}.
While this looked surreal, it reminded me of the Dungeon Life startup. Perhaps this Dungeon World was a knock off on it. Using the game pad, I had my formless avatar move towards the bubble to interact with it.
After another matrix-like flash, I was in what could be considered the character creation start-up menu. This time I had three bubbles to choose from: Character Model, Class Creation, and Bonus Allocation.
I first went into the [Class Creation] tab and was given a small tutorial of how this game''s class system functioned. Apparently after scrolling through all the text - the base classes were divided into four categories: Physical Attack, Shield Defense, Magic Attack, and Magic Support. And each category had three subdivisions.
I was astounded here by the amount of class choices available at startup. It was more varied than the top end mmorpgs. Gazing through - there was atleast an odd 20 in each category. What''s more was reading, {{ Each class will dictate the type of skills you will gain to navigate the Dungeon World. Choose wisely as advanced classes are based upon your first. }}
So apparently this game used the common ''rank up'' feature in that base classes unlocked a more tailored pathing to stronger classes. I once maxed a character in the online Final Fantasy tactical VR so I was familiar with this system. But the thing I couldn''t get my head around was how I never heard of this Dungeon World game. Such an interesting premise should have warranted threads in the gamer forums. The only thing I could surmise was this game was a literal knock off which would not allow it to be officially distributed.
I scrolled through the class categories again. Rather than having just traditional classes like Bard, Cleric, Monk, Ranger, Warrior, or Wizard, each category held classes in its subdivisions with more specificity. Classes in Weapon Offense also included Swordsman, Ranger, and even Magic Fighter. Paladins and Shield Fighters could be found in Shield Defense. Magic Attack held Sorcerer, Elementalist, and Shadowcaster. Some classes were even shared in multiple categories like Paladins and Druids. But it were the classes in Magic Support that caught my eye.
Some where classics like Bard, Cleric, and Druid, yet many were really random like Alchemist and Sage. One was even a Chef, why would anyone pick this one, to a Mime - a mute caster who can mimic the skills of others. However the one in Magic Support I ended up picking was Adept Mage. Its tooltip gave the info of the class being a dual caster of holy and arcane spells, though being locked from specializations within those schools. However in a game where advancement stages was a ''thing'', Adept Mage was (in my mind) a unique and versatile starter among all the magic classes.
I selected the Adept Mage class and another bubble option popped up asking me to choose a {{ Primary Setting }}.
¡°What is this?¡± I could only wonder to this option until I read its ! tooltip. Seems like each class in this game has a primary function - a stacking bonus connective to its class level. A nifty little feature. I had three choices in front of me: [Upcast] which gives a percentage bonus to any spellcast, [Holy Spirit] which gives a ''Spirit'' bonus to spellcasts, and [Mana Focus] which reduces ''MP'' costs of spellcasting.
It was a tough choice between the three. Each had their own merit, especially when considering endgame potential. [Mana Focus] seems to be the least useful of the three because its current value was set to a fixed number (10) while the others were based off higher percentage values that would be more beneficial in the early levels of an Adept Mage.
I finally selected [Upcast] as having a flat percentage booster on top of any spellcast seemed the best starter setting but a couple line of words flashed in orange below my choice -- Primary Settings can be re-configured and more even unlocked through level advancement. Discover the right balance in your Life. --Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
So it seems this choice is a bit of a soft-lock mechanic. Which is good to know. These Primary Settings coupled with the advancement system for classes, this Dungeon World seems to have a very expansive character customization. It seems ''overpowered'' on its face which means this game must have a long playthrough to warrant such an investment. Perhaps even a New Game + mode.
But speculating about this now was rather moot and so I continued on to the {{ Bonus Allocation }} tab. Within it showed a stat page common with the RPG style. It showed the HP and MP bars with a longer EXP bar below it. Below that tally was the main stat listing of Strength, Vitality, Agility, Dexterity, Magicka, Spirit, and Luck. The bottom most section was a Skill Settings tab, which was currently minimized. And off to the side floated another bubble that read {{ Bonus Points: 100 }}. Apparently I could use these hundred points to improve my starter stats.
Hovering over each Stat showed me a tooltip for what in-game function they added towards, like a ''Rating'' system relative to the typical rpg genre. These scores of -- HP, Power, Critical, Accuracy, Evasion, Speed, Resistance, and Regen -- seemed to be subfactors of one''s total stat pool rather than direct features like in other games. So for Adept Mage - I had to focus on the Magicka and Spirit stats as they affected both the Power and MP score the most while giving side bonuses to Resistance, HP, and the passive Regen. I would also need to stack some Vitality to up my overall HP, Resistance, and Regen while getting just enough Agility and Dexterity to improve my Critical, Accuracy, Evasion, and Speed scores to appropriate levels.
It seemed Luck was the only Stat that could not be directly improved through this allocation process as it was grayed out. Although the tooltip showed this Stat seemed to greatly influence the Critical ratio and even affect experience gains. So being able to affect this Rating was likely gained at the higher levels, and it seems I can ignore the Strength stat for now since I will be a primary spellcaster.
All my base Stats were set at 10. Each Bonus Point I spent into a stat raised it by 10 points. It was a good tradeoff so I started dumping points into the Magicka stat only to find that after it went past 100, it took 1 Bonus Point to give the stat a +2 increase. I paused my Magicka on 102 and looked at my Bonus Point tally of 90. I then did the same for Spirit, spending another 10 points to raise its value to 102. I had 80 Bonus Points left. Then I did the same for Vitality, Agility, and Dexterity, making each stat a 100 for a 9 point investment.
Glancing over each Stat''s subfactor, I could see my character''s ''Ratings'' were raised to a proportional level. I thought I may as well do the same for the last untouched stat. Strength was raised to 100 for another 9 points spent. This left me with 44 Bonus Points to spend. However I paused on calculating this remainder to expand out the Skill Settings tab to see what laid within. To my surprise, I was shown a wide and varied listing of customizable features, many of which I had never seen before in these types of RPGs.
The first of these parameters was an Equipment tab filled with bonus gear for your character to summon and start off with. Some items appeared to very overpowered for starters, one in particular being a sword called Durandal that gave a +300 increase to Attack Power and Accuracy while having a [Critical Boost] passive buff. Even with all my stats at 100, each of my ''Ratings'' was under a 40 value. This was sorta offset with its 50 Bonus Point cost value, but it still seemed quite cheesy for a newbie player. Mayhaps this was THE power-level item for warrior classes.
I almost wanted to reset my class choice right then and there but decided against it for melee classes not being my typical play style.
The second parameter was more to my liking being an Experience tab filled with bonus features that affected experience gains. One increased rate gains while another decreased bar value. However two in particular stood out in this tab - [Skill Gainer] and [Reset]. The tooltip for [Skill Gainer] was that you gained an extra skill point upon any skill point gain, with it being maxed to a +3 value. And these extra points did not seem to be locked in to any one class, meaning they can cross over into advancement stages or even to purchase more bonus skills. [Reset] was read being an investment that allowed a player to refund their skill points and respec their builds with no penalty. [Skill Gainer] costs 10 points for each rank while [Reset] was a flatline 20.
The last was a tab full of purchasable skills. Some of this latter were magic spells like [Warp] and [Meteor] but again, two really stood out. The first was [Scan] which read as an all-appraisal skill. The second was basically a self-resurrection skill called [Phoenix Heart] that allowed the player free ''restarts'' to game saves. In comparison: [Warp] was worth 10, [Meteor] 40, [Scan] being 10 for its base cost and another 5 for a +insight bonus, and [Phoenix Heart] was worth 30.
With 44 bonus points remaining, I couldn''t get everything that struck my fancy. I could roll [Scan], [Reset], and a rank of [Skill Gainer] while resetting a point in my Spirit stat to then buy [Scan]''s Insight bonus. And I was just about to do that until my eye caught the last purchasable option in the Skill tab. It was called [Bonus Roll].
The tooltip revealed its function: it was a literal dice roll, a random of 1-100, and whatever numbers the dice showed was added to your Bonus Points. But it came with a catch - a red exclamation showed this was a non-refundable option of its cost value, 10 points. So if bought and a bad number was rolled, I would have to restart the whole game over to remake the character from scratch to then buy another [Bonus Roll]. I could already see this being the start of a really tedious effort to score a high 90.
I hated these games of chance... but having nearly a double amount of Bonus Points in the character creation process was too good an opportunity to pass up. I could literally start off with many more bonus feats and I really did not want to play this Dungeon World a second time around since it sounded like a game with a long play time already.
I could only sigh out loud, "-let''s get this done." I prepared myself for a long and dull exercise when I spent the first 10 points into [Bonus Roll], only to see its purchased option fade and for two large 9s to be rolled in its place. Hardly believing my luck here, I looked again to my bonus counter and saw 133 points remaining.
"Thank God!" I exclaimed in relief. I was prepared to do this for over an hour if need be but to get the second highest score on my first attempt was a stroke of good fortune, and that I would not have to waste any more time on this shit.
I immediately went into the Experience tab and got [Skill Gainer] at its three ranks and [Reset]. Fifty points were downed giving me 83 left. I then went back and refunded the two extra points spent in my stat pool to bring my Bonus total up to 85 to purchase [Scan] and its insight bonus. Another 30 was spent on [Phoenix Heart]. Reason being having a self-reliant resurrection skill was a godsend in these long RPGs. I now had 40 points remaining.
[Warp] seemed useful but considering my base class was a magic caster, I would likely get a teleportation spell in the future so I felt its 10 points would be wasted there. Also none of the other purchasable spells in this Skill tab were worth the investment in the long run since I''ll be running as an Adept Mage.
I went back to the Experience tab to look at increasing my XP ratios, knowing the faster I leveled up the better off my character would be doing the game''s end content. Scrolling again through the available listing - I decided first to spend 30 points in the three [XP Division] ranks. This would reduce the overall size of my leveling bar by fractions of a fifth, a fourth, and a third. The last 10 points were spent on two of the ten ranks in [XP+] giving me a 10% passive bonus to all XP gains.
The above combo should reduce any leveling needed by half. Now with all my bonus points spent, I went back to the Equipment tab just to double check its listing to make sure nothing was worth grabbing. There was a [Collar of XP] whose effect was a 20% bonus on equip. It was worth the 10 bonus points to grab but I figured the extra rate wasn''t worth it since my character would likely acquire better neck items in the future.
Settling on my {{ Bonus Allocation }} being complete, I left its window and entered the last untouched bubble {{ Character Model }}. Immediately a panned view of my shadowed avatar came into focus. This tab had a plethora of bubbled options to contort the body''s shape in height and weight, one for skin color and texture, hair in style and color, facial settings for eyes, nose, and mouth, and another tab for various physique tweaks. There was even a racial change bubble to become a non-human character. But at the bottom was an [Upload] function which I assumed was to produce a randomized appearance. I clicked on it to see the shaded avatar morph into what can only be described as my digital self.
I was stunned looking at my carbon copy. "How" was the first thought that entered my mind. I''ve heard of retinal locks in the latest visor modules but never a full body scan through the virtual interface. But the ''how'' soon gave way to the detail present in this model. This 3D of myself was in quite the hi-resolution. It was not exact replica mind you, my skin was never this clear and the mole on my cheekbone was gone. Still, I was astonished to see how detailed it was from the pale shade of my skin, to the dark shades of my hair and eyes, and even the shape of my thin body to a numerical precision.
Normally in games, I would tend to make my player characters as close to my own resemblance as possible but to see this digital avatar as a near exact reflection was confusing to say the least.
But "neato" I thought soon after, thinking there was no point in trying to figure out how this game just accomplished this. My best bet was that it somehow used my gamer profile, since it had a picture of me in a tight-fitting Tron costume.
Since the [Upload] was my little doppelganger, I started to fool around on improving my 3D appearance. First of course was the Height feature in {{ Body Shape }}. Naturally I was barely 5''5" but I quickly changed that to a 6''1". Doing this also made me pencil thin since my weight was still set to 122 pounds. Going into [Weight] next, my figure gained another 80 pounds to even out my form. {{ Skin Tone }} was next - my white skin was usually quite pale, but I was able to even it out with an undertone. Already I wish I looked like the figure on my screen. It was akin to thinking of myself as the proverbial ''stud''.
I then went into {{ Facial Settings }} and tweaked around with my eyes, nose, and mouth. I made only small little changes here and there. For my head, I thinned my brow so my eyeline was more level than in the real. Then I lightly rounded out the slant of my dark eyes and faded the bag line underneath. The best of plastic surgeries could not have achieved this effect. Back into {{ Body Shape }}, I choose to give my current shape an [Ectomorph]. Surprisingly it kept the avatar''s visible shape and only added tight definitions in certain areas of the arm, leg, and chest regions. My weight went down to 193 but there was no reason to change it back.
I kept my {{ Hair Style }} pretty much the same. Did not even alter my ash black color at all. However I did trim up my curls into a faded cut.
The last tab of {{ Physique Changes }} had the funniest options of all. Most were novel such as an age variant choice between [Teen] [Adult] and [Veteran]. Mine was already set on [Teen] so I didn''t change it. Another marker was set for piercings and tattoos which I kept blank. I did a double-take on the last option being [Endowment]. Sure enough when I clicked on the box, I got a faded shot of my avatar wearing nothing but a fundoshi loincloth. I laughed out loud to the bulge showing.
Was I really that size? The [Endowment] tab only had a setting 1 to 10 with it being currently at a 5. I immediately set it to 10 to see the bulge visibly protruding from the loincloth. Snickering, I lowered it to 9. It was probably still too big, but it held a more moderate look in its wrapping. Heck... why not? Perhaps this game had some 18+ quest chains or something.
I was tempted to lift the [Endowment] back to 10 but pushed it off. I spent over 15 minutes customizing my human appearance and that was long enough. Finally existing {{ Character Model }}, I went to the << Enter >> button at the bottom to get one last message of-
{{ Choose Variation }} with there being a choice of six between: Hume, Braham, Norse, Erudite, Farsi, and Amazon... though that last option was grayed out for me. It seemed the human player race in this Dungeon World game had a further customization model as each variant gave specific bonuses to your startup. The standard Hume it was set on now was just a flatline 10% bonus to Stats with a profession bonus but changing it to one of other options gave my character a bigger bump down a particular path. It even affected the visual.
Braham showed my highlighted character with a steampunk flair and blonde hair. Norse looked to be the go to for warrior types as the avatar became more ripped at a foot taller. Farsi made my character look even more oriental, like a chinese guru styled with an orange mantle and a bald head with tattooed pattern. It was sorta obvious Amazon was a female given. But it was the Erudite option that caught my eye.
My character''s complexion only had a slight change - hair getting a spring curl with highlights and the skin''s undertone having a touch of olive. However the visual aside, it was this variant''s magic bonuses that more intrigued me. I would lose the 10% bonus to Stats but would in turn gain a boost to my MP bar and a bonus feature called Wizard''s Grace. Just reading the options in the latter was enough to select it here.
Upon my choice, my avatar digitally fazed in and out to reflect the change before another window popped up-
{{ Enter your name to start your Life }} and the layout of a hologram keyboard was shown. Using it, I quickly entered my nickname (with an extra K) which I normally used as my gamer tag - Rikku. Then I pressed the Enter button. A quick flash of the screen showed a character tab of:
Name: Rikku
Race: Erudite
Class List
lv.1 Adept Mage
+ Upcast (10%)
Stats
Strength - 100, Vitality - 100, Agility - 100, Dexterity - 100, Magicka - 100, Spirit - 100, Luck - 10
Skillset
- Holy Magic: 1, - Arcane Magic: 1, Scan +insight, Phoenix Heart
Feats
Bonus Roll: 99, Skill Gainer 3/3, Reset, XP Division
1/5 1/4 1/3, XP+ 10%, Wizard''s Grace
Titles
n/a
{{ Finalize, Yes or No? }} I clicked on Yes again, then {{ Soul Marker ***: Accepted }}!
A strange connotation there...
My thoughts of it were interrupted by another matrix-like event of flashing symbols surrounding my avatar as a prescreen began to load in the distance. It was like a magical gate to another world. However another bubble floated before me. Interacting with it gave me the coded message: Enter Tutorial Mode. The selection box was currently on Yes.
Well I played enough of these games to know the RPG system in and out but I guess it wouldn''t hurt to see this Tutorial in action. Perhaps I''ll learn a thing or two.
Chapter 1.2
The Tutorial loaded up in what looked to be the foyer of a ruined castle. My avatar was standing in the middle of this circular chamber etched with a faded seal on the cracked marbled ground. I quickly got my bearings and used [Scan] to look for anything out of the ordinary. What came on my screen was various nothings save for the large floating crystal - which was oddly transparent - that was named: Blue Save. It seemed to be the only object in this spawn point that had any data value.
Interacting with it, I got a Tutorial message of how the game world used these Blue Save crystals at important junctures. They were generally found in dungeons to record a player''s progress before venturing in. The common ''Save'' trope. However with my [Phoenix Heart] feature, I could technically restart on my own so I would not have to rely on these crystals as a backup. Just in case though, I activate it - the crystal shining blue - and created a record.
Next I scrolled and scrutinized every inch of my online interface. From my [Character Panel] which showed me wearing my starter gear of Novice Robe, Trainee Legs, and Apprentice Boots. Each was a white item barely above the ''Trash'' quality. They had no stat values and just a low AC count. My weapon was a Curved Rod.
This item was ''Green'' which was the likely denotation for the lowest grade of magical gear in this RPG game world. This rod had no stat value but held a 5 Damage score. [Scan] did not give me any real insight to what this meant. Perhaps this 5 Damage is a literal +5 boost to any damages I did? I''ll have to find an enemy mob to test this theory out.
My other equipment slots were empty: Head, Back, Hands, and three Accessories. Also next to my Main Hand was an empty Off-Hand slot. Rods in these RPGs were usually one-handers so I might be able to fill that slot with a ''Focus'' item like an orb. Or replace the rod with a two-hander like a magic staff.
I then checked my Stats window on the [Character Panel]. Most of it was unchanged save for my Power subfactor having a green +5 bonus next to it. That must be from the weapon bonus. Also of particular note was that Wizard''s Grace feature already boosted my build, even at lv.1 to increase my toon''s spellcasting capability in three ways - increased spell damage, reduced mana costs, and improved spell focus, and all by flat percentages. Sure they were currently set at low values but as my character gains levels, this Erudite feature will grow to improve on these spell efficiencies without any added investment.
Next was opening my [Class Settings] tab. At the top was a Skill Point counter which read 0 in bold font. Below it were two Spellbook icons, one for Holy Magic and one for Arcane Magic. Each of these windows had only one spell unlocked: [Light Healing] for Holy and [Magic Arrow] for Arcane. I then put both starter spells on my character''s empty skill bar.
Going back into the spellbook, I read the tooltip for my two starter spells. [Light Healing] is a weak heal but fast to cast being only 1.5 seconds. [Magic Arrow] is a 2 second cast that creates an arrow of mana to strike a target. Each spell will scale with the caster''s level but something to note was each of these spells held its own ranks, like a talent system. [Light Healing] has two extensions while [Magic Arrow] had nine in one. And each rank cost Skill Points (in multiple) to unlock, or fill out rather. The two ranks of [Light Healing] will add a [Refresh] mechanic and a heal over time effect (or HoT) called [Light Breeze] to its base heal. Seems the nine ranks in [Magic Arrow] would add to the amount of arrows it summons to create a multi-hitting spell.
Expanding my view out, I also noticed that each of these spellbooks was not detailed out as a top-down skill tree but more like a web in the shape of a spherical grid. At level 1, I could only see up to 5 levels outward as a gray area but atleast there I could see what could be gained. Yet despite the grid stretching out into the darkness unseen, I could still see that borderline of 100 in its far distance.
I then checked my toon''s [Item Box] which opened his inventory space. It was a 30-slot tab that only had a single item [Mini-Rations] stacked to 100. It read as just normal recovery food. The interesting thing to note about this [Item Box] was - it is upgradeable. Within it, I could open up more inventory space or buy skills bound to it such as [Exchange] and [Repair Item]. And it seems none of this is level dependent. I would just need enough of the game currency (Rupee) to open each option up. It looks like the [Item Box] can be expanded five times along with four extra compartments being available for purchase. And the two skills in particular that seem the most useful is [Exchange] which will trash an item in my inventory for its appropriate sale value and [Repair Item] which will restore an item for an allocated rupee amount. There was even a [Cash Shop] feature linked to this [Item Box] but its 10,000 rupee value put it far off in my thoughts going forward.
I skipped over the last two icons. The [Game Menu] controlled the various settings in the game, even logouts and latency issues, but I did nothing to change these since this game already ran at a high base resolution. In fact, I was shocked to see this level of graphics in such an obscure VR. The one before it was some sort of [World] feature, but it was inactivate at this time.
The only other thing to note was the little mini-map on my screen''s upper right corner, with most of it darkened out. It was likely a ''radar'' of some sort, or maybe not. But satisfied with all my prep, it was time to play the game.
I walked over to the shadowed archway that would take me from the starting foyer area to the next hallway and saw parts of my mini-map stretch out with some lighting. Nothing was there but more Tutorial text appeared. It was if it was telling a story.
The Tutorial first welcomed me to the Dungeon World before delving into the lore system itself. Apparently it all revolved around the concept of a Great Game - the overworld hosting remnants of ages past duking it out in this winner-take-all battle for supremacy. But these isolated locations were not just a monster pool with a quest ''Lore'' and designated boss creature. Here a Dungeon could grow into its own living setting as to better expand their influence in this neutral world. And it appears to truly conquer a Dungeon, one would have to capture its ''Core'' which can be used to empower chosen hubs in a type of conquest mode, or be used in the ''classic'' adventure mode of converting the core towards character advancement.
Guess that is what that locked tab is for as the game data was slightly highlighted and connected to the [World] tab, like a recording in journal format. Continuing my read through it, the Tutorial was then noting that this particular Dungeon had amassed nearly enough power to release a ''Wave'' of monsters into the overworld and thus my first quest was to stop this ''Flood'' from happening ...
A very interesting premise, I thought. So the dungeons here were more than just monster lairs but points of interest. Like areas displaced in time and place but could also grow and affect the game like a living world. Nothing else was showing up in the Tutorial on what this ''Lore'' could be so all I could do was venture deeper in. As I moved my character through the hallway, I had my first dungeon encounter.
It was a little imp - [Scan] showed him to be a lv.1 demon mob. The only resource bar it had was HP, but it did something quite unexpected ... its little face twitched and the imp literally jumped to my presence. "How" was my first thought - impressed by these little details - but my eye got focused on another Tutorial window opening up: Within dungeons are monsters. These creatures must be dealt with to further progress. However be warned, not all monsters may be what they seem.
Nothing else came up with this imp - outside the visual antic of cocking its head - so I just casted [Magic Arrow] on it. The spell did more than half its HP as I drew its aggro. Its face went alive with malice as the imp charged my toon at a lumbering pace. The next [Magic Arrow] killed it with a puff of smoke. I gained 110 XP in one shot and was almost to the next level. A short walk down the hall spooked another imp, but another two spellcasts got me another 110 XP before the animation could get passed its surprise.
My Adept Mage became lv.2. A quick window spawned showing my stats upped by 1, save for Luck which was still 10.
Already my experience combo paid dividends. I gained 1 Skill Point, with [Skill Gainer] getting me three more. I was almost a fourth of the way into lv.3 as well. I went into my Spellbooks but saw I could not unlock it any further until lv.5. However I could up my ranking in the Magic Arrow spell, the nine open ranks each costing 2 Skill Points.
New text appeared on its tooltip to show [Magic Arrow] Rank 3/10. This made the starter spell a triple hitter. But I was back to zero Skill Points after the upgrade. The next few imps I encountered in the abandoned hallways died to a single spellcast. Every mob was still lv.1 but those next three kills got me lv.3 Adept Mage. I gained another Skill Point with another bonus three. This time I upgraded my [Light Healing] spell. Three points spent netted me its tooltip change to show [Light Healing] +Refresh to reduce any Fatigue status. I still had a remaining Skill Point to be saved for future use.
I steadily progressed through this first floor. It seemed the only mobs here were those little imp demons and they came solo. Five more hallways were cleared and six more mobs were downed. Every now and then an imp would round a corner in snarling aggression, but [Magic Arrow] easily sniped them down. But sadly their poofing bodies left behind no loot to be had, just a distant screech of their demise. I was but a hair from the fourth level when I reached a clear bend in this first section and again I was caught unexpected, this time hearing an animate conversation taking place with voices jumbled together in some strange skittish tongue [Scan] marked as demonic-
"What going on? What be those screeches? Intruders, here? No way! What you mean, elves? Here? Where? Should we wake the bosses? Wait, what? How they even find us? No you go wake em," and on it went. It was like reading subtitles of a bunch of panicking imps. My mind went blank trying to figure out the how and why of this detail before "Look dere he is!" flashed like a warning in the scanned translation. One of the imps was clearing pointing at me looking around the corner as another said "Why is there just one?", and for a moment I could even see myself taken aback at the room''s entrance ... as if in the first and third person.
Snapping to, I went to work versus the mob of imps but it barely took 10 seconds to clear them, and this time I got to swing my rod in an auto-attack before my second [Magic Arrow] cast finished it off. I gained another 440 XP and leveled up, gaining 4 more Skill Points to raise my total to 5. Shaking my head to the oddity of that weird cutscene, I opened up my Spellbooks.
I bought the last open rank of [Light Healing] for 3 more points, giving the starter spell the [Light Breeze] effect. Highlighting its tooltip showed the added effect and I could see more of my skill trees uncovered and was but a level away from obtaining new spells.
Funny, I still haven''t had any need to cast that heal yet, although that might change here. In this last room was a lv.2 Taskmaster ... snoozing in the middle of a rune circle. [Scan] showing it to be a demon with both a HP and MP bar. It was clear this was going to be a mini-boss of some kind. It standing there in the middle of the room completely unguarded was the key indicator. I could even see transparent zzz''s coming off it.
Sure enough, when I used [Magic Arrow] from its max range distance, the Taskmaster woke up, roared "Intruder!" in anger, and then auto-summoned 3 of those lv.1 imps as the little devils charged me with hopping speed. Then the game time basically stopped as the Tutorial opened a window to state this was a ''Trap'' encounter.
"Well, duh!" I said aloud, closing the window out to allow the game to continue on. The Taskmaster was barely able to whip its head in the right direction before my second [Magic Arrow] cast took it out, but the three imps were already on me taking swipes. This time I casted [Light Healing] which not only restored all the damages they currently did to my HP bar but the [Light Breeze] effect was high enough to negate any other damages the trio of mobs did.
Nice, I thought and just downed this trio with my rod''s auto-attacks, surprised to see the imps die to a bonking animation. My own MP bar was almost at the half point at this time. [Light Breeze] had a 12-sec duration and I managed to get two of the imps down before it ran out. I auto-hit the third imp without the benefit of the spell regen and still had over 80% of my health remaining.
After the ''Trap'' encounter was done, another Tutorial window was opened to explain what those mechanics were. I skimmed through the text, already familiar with the concept, and closing the box triggered the fallen Taskmaster corpse to shine. Interacting with it triggered a ''Loot'' Tutorial. Apparently this little mini-event opened the loot function.
The Taskmaster gave me a single green gem in the shape of a hexagon. This opened another Tutorial on the Rupee game currency. Most drops came in 3 colors - green, blue, red - and two sizes in diamonds and hexagons. Green diamonds were worth a value of one, blues were five, and reds twenty. The hexagons were worth 10x its diamond shape. So I got 10 rupee off the Taskmaster, which then smoked away like the imps and collecting it opened another window showing that any rupee drops would now auto-spawn after a kill. It ended with: Collecting Rupee will help expand your options. Don''t let any go to waste!. I already knew part of this though since the [Item Box] has unlockable features.
Opening that back up, I took a better note at the rupee costs for each expansion. The first two upgrades to increase the main storage by 5 and 5 was worth 500 per. The four compartments were 5000 each. And the two skills that seemed the most useful - [Exchange] and [Repair Item] - was worth 300 and 1000. My current value was 10 that one grab so I was still a long way off so I closed the window.
The little mini-encounter was finished so I went to the obvious staircase leading to a lower chamber. Interacting with it brought me to the second level where all the imps were now lv.2. And much of this progression was like the first floor maze, surprised mobs and all. But this time around the mobs died to a single [Magic Arrow], and it only took two kills to get me to lv.5 Adept Mage.
This time I got 5 Skill Points for leveling up and another 3 from [Skill Gainer]. Two class windows then popped up for me. The first unlocked the Holy [Smite] in its spellbook. It was a direct damage spell that would auto-critical on specific types of mobs - like demons or undead - and held 9 open ranks to increase its critical damage output.
The second window showed the Elemental Adept base feature being unlocked in my Arcane spellbook. This read to allow the Adept Mage to learn spells of the four prime elements. While it didn''t give me any new spells per say, the feat did open up the grid on my Arcane spellbook for some to be learned - [Fireball], [Ice Lance], [Wind Lash], and [Earth Spike]. Each spell cost a Skill Point to learn, with each also having its own corresponding ranks.
[Fireball] was a 3-ranked Fire spell that induced a ''nova'' effect, though it cost almost twice the MP to cast over [Magic Arrow]. Its two extra ranks added a burning DoT to the main target with the first and ''splash'' damages with the second.
[Ice Lance] was a 10-ranked Ice spell that has both spell penetration and a high chance to critical hit. Each of its ranks only affected its crit ratio by 5%, which was already high at 40%.
[Wind Lash] was a 3-ranked Air spell that read as a strike of wind, like a whip. Its two ranks would increase its strike radius for the first and a knockback effect for the second.
[Earth Spike] was a 10-ranked Earth spell that hit as ''physical'' instead. Its nine ranks tacked on ''blunt'' damages, a quality that would double against mobs with any physical vulnerability.
Among my five new spells, [Fireball]''s read the most optimal to invest in - for aoe purposes - but I was not gonna invest in any of their bonus ranks for the moment, holding onto the remainder 6 Skill Points until I fleshed out my build some more.
After closing out the windows, I went on progressing further into the dungeon, killing more lv.2 imps and collecting their rupee drops. But on one kill, its corpse was flashing for an interactive loot trigger. On it was a fang drop shaded in gray which opened up an ''Item'' Tutorial. Skipping through the lines, it read just like any other in-game loot table that you can get off mobs. In this game - items were color coded in terms of quality: Gray was trash, White was common, Green was uncommon, Blue was rare, Purple was epic, Red being mythic, and Gold being legendary. And all but the first two had some sort of magical property.
By the time I reached the second floor mini-boss, my Adept Mage gained another two levels. Each of my stats were now 106 save for my Magicka which was over 110. My MP bar was a tad bigger and my Primary Setting of [Upcast] finally gained a percentage boost. I still did not spend any of the gathered Skill Points, its pool up to 14, saving them for lv.8 since I could see my spellbooks open up to more net gains in each school.
I was still seeing no Lore for this dungeon though. After doing the same Taskmaster encounter - its only difference being the mobs a level higher - I gathered the rupee dropped and progressed through the staircase to the third floor. And although there were slight differences to the mob encounters here and there, it ran nearly identical to the previous two. It felt like a repetition of a labyrinth of similar floors stacked together. I could feel my eye twitch ...
However it was good for an early grind as Adept Mage leveled up to 8 after the third kill on this floor setting. I got 4 more Skill Points bringing my total up to 18. This time I bought three of the available spells in the grid - two in Holy [Remedy] and [Sleep], and one in Arcane [Will-o-wisp]. [Remedy] was a 3-ranked ''Condition'' clear while [Sleep] read as a 3-ranked control spell of its common trope. But these ranks did not add anything new to these spells other than to up their effectiveness.
As for the Arcane [Will-o-wisp], it was a utility spell that created an ephemeral orb with a passive illumination aura that could reveal hidden effects. But oddly, this was the first spell I obtained that did not seem to benefit from the ranking system.
However I invested none in the ranks of the former and kept their base versions for now. Not that that was a bad thing, mind you, as I still had 15 points in the tank. I then went on to clear the floor, chain killing through every monster to gain enough experience to net another level before the lv.5 Taskmaster mini-boss. Its down got me to lv.10, this level up giving me 5 Skill Points and a plus 3 from [Skill Gainer].
Again at this 5-level interval, another two class windows opened up. This time I auto-gained the spells [Heal] and [Arcane Shot] as they were explained as being the staple spells of this Adept Mage class. And I could see this to be true considering the amount of rank upgrades available for each. Some were even blocked from view with level caps, but these two spells also had atleast five visible lines leading into each dark grid which was described as ''link'' effects.
[Heal] was a moderate heal, more than double my starter spell, whose nine open ranks would provide a hit point shield based on a percentage of the healing done. The tooltip read this ''shield'' being a temporary effect, but it seemed a solid investment for later. The other two ranks were locked with the earliest coming in ten more levels and the second at 40.
[Arcane Shot] read as a magic bullet, instant cast on a 5 second cooldown, which ignored a target''s armor value. Its nine open ranks increased the spell''s scaling property from the Magicka stat, boosting damages above the norm. And like with [Heal], this staple had another two ranks locked at levels 20 and 40.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Also a pattern was emerging at every fifth level, I obtained 5 Skill Points instead of one. [Skill Gainer] was proving to be the wisest bonus option I got thus far since this starter class of mine will grow at a much faster rate than without it and in the end, any leftover points could then be carried over to other classes. Or even back to the {{ Bonus Allocation }} tab, but for now I had 27 points to spend at this 10th level.
[XP Division] was a solid choice too since I now outleveled all these Tutorial mobs by 5, but I noticed the mob count I needed to kill to up my level was growing by tens. However the 9 ranks in my new additions weren''t too appealing at the moment, so I re-opened my [Class Settings] to see a more expanded view of my skill trees. At lv.10 - Adept Mage was opened to some features that worked as passive effects.
The two I selected was [Meditation] in the Holy tree with its three ranks and [Spell Mastery] with its ten ranks in its Arcane variant. The first point spent in [Meditation] gave me the [Meditate] skill but each bonus rank would increase its effectiveness by 15% and 30%. I left these untouched for now but both ranks would cost 8 Skill Points to increase its MP restore by 45%.
[Spell Mastery] cost 2 Skill Points to unlock and worked as an auto-boost to any of my spellcasts, and spent six more points for three of its nine ranks to increase that effect by another 5% each. This passive will combo very nicely with my Primary Setting of [Upcast] which is now at 12% and the boons gained in the Wizard''s Grace feature.
I was also able to pick up a few more spells to play with. In Holy - I got [Regen] and [De-Curse]. [Regen] is a 3-ranked enhancement spell that gives a passive HP regen, each extra rank into it would increase said effect. [De-Curse] had no ranks but can remove a single ''Curse'' effect on a target. And in Arcane, I took [Might]. [Might] was a 3-ranked enhancement spell that boosted Physical Attack, with each rank increasing its percentage value by 10 and 20.
I immediately went to buff myself with [Regen] and [Might] to see their effects in action. Each buff was on a 3-min timer. I still had 15 points leftover from all the purchases and decided to spend 6 more to rank up [Regen] fully. I dismissed the spell to cast it again and the HP tick was much higher, equivalent to a tenth of my health bar. That left me with 9 more Skill Points in the balance. Again - I decided to save these for future use.
My passive HP regen was now so high that I could safely KO the lv.4 imps on the next floor with just my weapon with the attack boost of [Might]. I did not even have to spend any MP if I wanted, well only to recast [Regen] and [Might] again. Feeling a little overpowered, I went ahead and used this fourth floor to test out the capability of my other spells, as I had only been using [Magic Arrow] up to this point.
But most were overkill versus these imps. [Fireball] was hardly mana efficient. [Arcane Shot] was good to use but its damage spike felt excessive. Same with [Smite] despite the auto-crits. [Ice Lance] felt a little underwhelming, even when it critted. [Wind Lash] was probably the most fun to use but like [Fireball], hardly efficient as it did the least damage. And [Earth Spike], while the damage was good, looked the most dull.
Yet none got that proverbial bang for your buck like [Magic Arrow] did. I considered upping the ranks in it but didn''t really see the need to at this early stage. Still it was nice seeing all the different animation effects as I rounded that last corner to reach the mini-boss. Downing the lv.6 Taskmaster encounter got me to lv.11, where I gained another 4 Skill Points bringing my counter to 13. This time I spent the 8 points to up [Meditation] to its third rank. Having a skill that can basically restore my MP bar to full was must for a spellcaster. However something strange just happened, I gained a Bonus Skill called [High Speed Mana Regen], which appeared next to it in my Arcane grid.
A golden game window opened congratulating me on the ''Bonus Feat''. Reading through the text, it seems there are many ''Hidden'' feats in the Dungeon World and by maxing out character features can earn you some special skills. [High Speed Mana Regen] was a passive effect that worked in the same way the first [Regen] rank did for my HP bar. It was a hell of a find, especially in a Tutorial. And I had 5 Skill Points left over.
Stoked - I entered the Tutorial dungeon''s fifth floor to find a change to the norm I was expecting. While the first room was very similar to the starting point on the preceding three floors, this one held a non-hostile (but transparent) imp of hiding in one of the corners, seemingly in a preset cowering action towards my avatar, or the intruder. And mousing over him - or her as this lv.10 imp was the lone white in color seen thus far - turned the cursor into a speech bubble, allowing for my first interaction outside of a combat option.
Two things happened when I ''clicked'' on this npc, whose name got prompted as Mglbbl. First was getting a Tutorial window of ''Interactive NPCs'' and their multitude of functions. Second was after skimming through this imp''s dialogue and responding in the non-hostile approach opened up a quest option which played out like a cutscene showing the backstory of this Dungeon being the castle halls of a kingdom lost to a demon infestation. The story itself was vague and much was lost in the translation but the words were clearly hinting the Lore of this dungeon was to find the item which was the original source of their summoning.
Apparently that was all the information this Mglbbl knew of, despite all the five different dialogue options available after the cutscene. However one did explain why all the floors looked the same in that the Imp Lord had used this Dungeon''s core to construct ten [Maze] floors over the many centuries.
The last option continued the quest line to ''dethrone'' the current Imp Lord to be replaced by the white imp herself, but this would curtail the adventure route on capturing (and using) the core for yourself. Seems her presence here on the 5th floor is an alternate route to clearing this Tutorial stage ... so "why not" I thought. Elsewise this friendly imp was basically a warning sign that served as an empty vendor where I did dump my lone dropped item (Broken Fang) for a decent 100 rupee value sale. I almost had enough now to buy one of the +5 expansions but decided to hold off for now.
Accepting the quest and progressing past the entry point, I found lv.5 imps to be killed but these were slightly different in also having a MP bar, a [Fire Shield] buff, and could cast a [Fire Bolt] spell. They were still downed just as easily as those on the former floors but these changes were something to note. These mobs also left similar rupee values behind but had a higher rate of trash drops of their Broken Fangs and Torn Wings. I got six drops off these floor mobs alone.
The imps also seemed to be expecting me as they came in twos and threes instead of solo as before in my floor wanderings. I found that odd but it didn''t prove to be much of an obstacle, so I continued on. In the mini-boss room, a different demon was standing there and the game froze as another ''cutscene'' began to play out. It was the grandiose entrance of a tall goat-like creature black in fur, large bat-like wings, bearing four arms and an impressive pair of horns, who was titled Imp Lord.
As ''that'' finished up, the Imp Lord attacked after a very foul provocation (to which I laughed) but I easily fended off the lv.12 demon with a single [Smite] spell that critted his health range well into the red. Shocked, the Imp Lord put itself in a bubble - gaining an ''Immunity'' effect - as the boss taunted in how it will raise a demon horde deeper in the heart of the castle to which to kill me ... then teleported out.
Clearly this was a pre-programmed out encounter. Imp Lord was likely set to retreat once he lost a certain amount of HP. Plus he was lv.12, so most players would need those extra 5 floors to make up any level difference. I did not gain any experience with this fight but a quest marker showed on my screen with another Tutorial window opening to explain what this meant. It was a timer of one hour showing when this reinforcement force would be unleashed. A ticking countdown so to say.
Yet no continuation was not going to be on this floor and so I went into the sixth eyeing for every nook and cranny to be found. This wasted some time yes but I was not too worried in still seeing forty-five minutes left on the clock. I had ended the previous floor just two kills short of a level up to 12 but soon dinged after downing the second lv.6 imp, getting 4 more Skill Points to up my counter to 9. This particular level opened up 4 more spells to nab in each spellbook. But I only spent points in [Flash] in the Holy tree and [Shell] in the Arcane. [Flash] was a debuff spell that reduces the target''s accuracy, held no ranks, but also came with a ''utility'' effect of being able to give light to one''s surroundings (for a time). [Shell] was a 3-ranked enhancement spell that raised target defenses to both the physical and magical, each preceding rank increases its effectiveness by 10% and 20%. I had 7 points remaining.
I searched everywhere my minimap showed but could not find the desired item. Even the last room looked to be the same Taskmaster encounter - my toon easily able to handle the lv.7 demon and its three lv.6 minions. This was also just enough to level me up 13, raising my Skill Point total to 11 as I entered the seventh floor.
Then things got weird. Again I could not find the item on this floor either and gained another two levels after clearing the floor of its mobs and mini-boss, but the imps were using some strange tactics against me - various hit and runs, packs waiting around walls in ambush, and even lone imps trying to lead me astray at certain points in the hall-like maze. It got me wondering how all this was programmed out. Even the taskmaster was visibly hiding in a different part of the floor than where usually found. It took an added ten minutes to clear it all.
Still I was able to finish that floor with my character at the 15th level. This time the only special window that popped up was Elemental Adept (again) with four more elemental spells unlocked in the Arcane tree. None were freebies but I could spend a Skill Point to learn each one, spending 4 to have a remainder 19 total.
And these elemental spells in particular held some nifty effects for the caster. [Flametongue] was a buff that added Fire damage to any hit but could be placed on a weapon to give it a temporary ''magical'' enchantment. [Water Shield] boosted passive regens and worked as a buffer against minor damages and effects. [Thundershock] was an instant blast of damage that could interrupt skills or spellcasts. [Earthbind] magically ''rooted'' targets but could be used to create a snare trap as well. Each also had three ranks that added to their utility value.
The only other point spent at this level was for [Haste] in the Arcane tree. It too was a 3-ranked spell that improved on the target''s Speed, a rating that affected both melee attacks and spellcasting. This left me with 18 Skill Points left.
I casted on all my buffs - [Regen], [Might], [Shell], [Haste], [Flametongue], [Water Shield] - in preparation for the eighth floor clear. But it was for naught as there not a single mob could be found on this floor. I blinked in confusion after the first few empty halls. I had my toon wander around for nearly twenty minutes, going back and forth and double-checking every hallway only to confirm that there were indeed no mobs to be found. What started a quiet curiosity became an agitation. What is going on here? Now while I did find a hidden wing on this floor as compared to the latter seven, but again it was empty of mobs or any interactive items.
At last surmising this had to be tied to the dungeon Lore, I got back to the path that would take me to the usual Taskmaster room ... but this time I was greeted by a small army of lv.8 imps, the lv.9 Taskmaster, and a large floating book surrounded by a cloud of dark energies as their backdrop.
Well it looked like I found the Lore item, in the middle of an entire floor of mobs. So this is where they went, I thought with a twitch, but thankfully this zerg battle could do little versus my combination of [Shell] and [Regen]. Still getting ganged up on by nearly five dozen mobs seemed a bit overkill for Tutorial mode. Not to mention the book itself summoning more waves of imps to be fended off. It started to become a very tedious fight in downing imp after imp, so in the end I settled for spending 8 Skill Points to get [Fireball] its extra ranks with the intention of clearing the room in one go.
I targeted the Taskmaster first who went down in a flashy visual of exploding fire which also took out his surrounding imp guard. It even looked comical for one moment as though the imps paused to contemplate that I could use this spell. The next three Fireballs took out the wings and the vanguard, leaving only smoke, their gems in rupee, and the floating book behind.
My toon gained four huge chunks of experience bringing his level to 18. My Skill Points were raised by 12 to 22. After looting the obvious Lore item, which was dubbed Book of Demon Summoning by [Scan], I went into my [Class Settings] to spend some points. First I got two spells [Stone] and [Slow]. The Holy [Stone] was a 3-ranked ''Petrification'' spell, the two added ranks increasing its CC duration. The Arcane [Slow] was a 3-ranked spell that inflicted the ''Slow'' status. This not only affected the target''s movement, but it also reduced their attack speed and casting time. I immediately invested the 8 Skill Points needed to raise [Slow] to its third rank, its 50% debuff becoming 75%. This was a definite must for Boss fights. I then spent another 8 points to get four more [Spell Mastery] ranks, raising its passive bonus to 35%. This left me with a remainder 6 in Skill Points.
My build was noticeably becoming quite OP for its low level, and I liked it. Each of my base stats was now 117 with my Magicka at 126. Yet still Luck seemed to be outside the scope of normal experience gains. I had a combo of passive features and a varied spell pool to run with these enhancements. And I still had 2 more Tutorial levels to go with barely 10 minutes on the clock.
Thankfully the ninth floor did not have much in the way of gimmicks per a usual clear, although rushed it may have been, got me to lv.19 and halfway to 20. Each of my two stacks of trash drops were over 20 in number. Hopefully I''ll be able to dump them at the end of this Tutorial run. This is one of the reasons I was saving up for [Exchange] first so I would be able to clear my own inventory while out in the open game world. I was still over ninety rupee away from an even 300 but these two trash stacks should put me over.
There was no Taskmaster mini-boss waiting for me at the end of the ninth floor and the last room just had a staircase already opened up and leading down to the next floor, however this one had an eerie light glowing beyond it. I re-casted my six buffs for the sure final encounter to come beyond it.
With barely twenty seconds left on the clock, the tenth floor entry was just a singular chamber with a long hall leading to a larger circular chamber. As expected, inside this final room was the Imp Lord with a host of taskmasters and imp demons of various levels under 10. And the boss was muahahaha-ing at me, with the swirling backdrop of the Dungeon''s core glittering atop a throne-like apparatus.
But the Lore item became a trigger on my screen where clicking it had the large floaty book activate as a cinematic to banish all the demons in the room. It was a rather anti-climatic Boss fight where they all got sucked back in, [Scan] literally translating the Imp Lord''s whining of their demise. The cutscene ended with a decorative bubble sporting a flashy Title - Imp Exterminator - a kind of gratuitous gain there as the room transitioned into one clear of hostiles with the friendly imp from before cheering me in a little emote, even blowing a "kiss" here and there.
Then another Tutorial window opened linked to the [World] tab explaining how completing the dungeons in this game works on a progression system and any rewards gained are based on percentage markers. Apparently some areas in the Dungeon World will require multiple playthroughs to finish. The Journal entry here got filled out with a record in being a preset adventure in making the white imp into the next Imp Lord - while turning the Dungeon into a neutral hub - however this change will need a downtime period called a ''stasis'' for the dungeon''s core to be recharged to do so. Also the Book of Demon Summoning was added into the tab as a Lore item, though its possession as well as the core''s went to the new Imp-Lord-to-be. But due to the optional quest undertaken, only the first marker was met, showing as a text bubble over the white imp.
And that was pretty much it for the Tutorial. I gained quest XP after closing it out, enough to level up to 20. I also gained a quest reward in receiving three items of note. The first was a green Wand of Focus with 2 empty [slot] values. Its passive effect gave increased focus for spellcasting, but [Scan] did not explain what they were. Perhaps they were placeholders for upgrades or enchantments, maybe. The second item was a green Journeyman Cloak with a 50 Armor value, 3 empty slots, and had what read as its own storage space unit. And the third item was a blue Ring of XP. My eyes were lines as I read its effect to be similar to the collar found in the {{ Equipment }} tab at the character startup, having a 20% passive increase to XP gains.
I could only think if this was done intentionally by the game developers as a bad joke. How many players would skip the Tutorial - or this quest - only to miss out on this item which increased leveling gains. My time in here was fruitful for the level advantage alone, outside this nifty little pick-up. I right-clicked the ring in my inventory to equip it as an Accessory as it appeared on my avatar''s left pointer finger. I also equipped the cloak as my toon''s Back item. However my new wand did not seem to be a visible upgrade (yet) over the Curved Rod until I got it upgraded. The only other thing to note was unlike the wand and cloak, the ring had an ''upgrade'' function tied to it, though this option was currently grayed out from even accessing.
Next, I went to the vendor imp to dump my two stacks of collected trash drops to raise my rupee count to over 370, enough to activate its [Exchange] function. A red tooltip popped up to give a little detail to this addition to my [Item Box]. Closing it out, I then re-opened my [Class Settings].
Level 20 got me another 5 Skill Points, plus 3 from [Skill Gainer], which raised my counter to 18. Both my skill trees were expanded upon, opening it to more options. First, I selected two spells from each school: [Holy Flame], [Revivify], [Dispel], and [Arcane Eye]. [Holy Flame] held no ranks but hits with a low damage burning debuff that can build vulnerability against a target''s resistance to Holy magic and attacks, including itself. It was also tagged with ''utility'' usage. [Revivify] is a 3-ranked Holy resurrection spell, the two ranks improving its HP return value. [Dispel] is a 3-ranked Arcane spell that can remove a ''Magic'' effect off of a target. The second rank increased its effect to bypass resistances with the third giving it a +1 removal. And [Arcane Eye] is an Arcane scrying spell with no ranks.
Second, I spent 8 points to get the second and third ranks of [Shell] to up its shielding capacity to 80%. Being able to buffer most damages will be a huge boon for overworld traveling in any game. So no reason why not to get it here.
Next my eye drifted to those lv.20 ranks now open for both [Heal] and [Arcane Shot], but they were both single 5 point buys and I only had 6 Skill Points left. While they did offer a big bump to each spell, I decided to hold off until I got another couple of levels.
And before closing it out, I checked up on that new Title gain of Imp Exterminator. The cursor showing a readout that increased damages done versus lesser demons by 30%. Hmm... so they worked like passive effects in this game. It even came with a red notice saying it would have little to no effect on demons of a higher level threshold and greater devils may take offense to the Title itself. Odd I thought that last little bit was.
But after finishing up the character windows, I went to collect the last Dungeon reward. Interacting with the white imp zoomed into a character interaction with new dialogue options, one of which felt oddly immoral as though I just won the heart of a "maiden" girl. I rolled my eyes to that, skipping over that particular continuation to select the highlighted marker to receive an item called Secret Stash - its tooltip reading as a bag of various stolen goods in italic - and opened it to reveal a bunch of magic orbs numbered by the dozen. Each orb was of some elemental variety - Earth, Fire, Water, Wind - all in green quality and got registered by [Scan] as crafting reagents. Together they numbered over a hundred.
Looking at their total sum with the [Exchange] function, I could dump them to get a rupee amount equal enough to purchase the Item Box''s [Repair Item] function - which allowed me to repair items for a simple rupee cost - and even access to the [Cash Shop], before even entering the game proper. However it would cost nearly the entire [Exchange] total, plus I didn''t know if those orbs could be used for better crafting purposes.
So I held out and kept the Stash as is for now. Then I double-checked the three game tabs again to make sure nothing else could be done before ending this Tutorial stage. After another triple-check, everything was settled to for me to finally move on and I went to the glowing rune now visible to enter the game''s main world.
Standing on it prompted a game message: << Warning! You have elected to enter the Dungeon World! Start New Life? >> . My cursor was over Yes on its check box and clicked it.
<< Warning! It will not be permissible to return. Do you still wish to continue? >>. I already had my cursor clicking over the Yes option.
"Assessing..." A strange monotone voice entered my ear as the dungeon room dissolved into another matrix-like pattern of those weird archaic symbols. But then this pattern then settled on what looked like a large ritual circle around my little avatar.
"Hello," my own voice answered back. Where did that come from? It did not sound like it came from my VR station but from afar. Even my own voice had been reduced to a echo in some far distance. I could feel a primal chill course through my body. Something was wrong ...
But I was too late to act. A bright light appeared, but it wasn''t coming from the screen my visor was showing. It was illuminating all around me.
It all happened within a second''s time, but I was able to register it all. One last game bubble appeared as I could feel my trembling body literally dissolve.
{{ Soul Contract ***: Complete }}
As a quick flash of my character status appeared before my eyes-
Name: Rikku
Race: Erudite, age: 17
Class List
lv.20 Adept Mage
+ Upcast (14%)
Stats
Strength - 119, Vitality - 119, Agility - 119, Dexterity - 119, Magicka - 129, Spirit - 119, Luck - 10
Skillset
- Holy Magic: 11, - Arcane Magic: 17, Scan +insight, Phoenix Heart, Meditation rank 3/3
Feats
Bonus Roll: 99, Skill Gainer 3/3, Reset, XP Division 1/5 1/4 1/3, XP+ 10%, Wizard''s Grace, Elemental Adept, Spell Mastery rank 8/10, High Speed Mana Regen
Titles
Imp Exterminator
And the last words I thought I would ever hear, "Welcome to your new Life," as I felt my body pull to someplace far away.
To the outside eye, the 18 year old Richard (Riku) Garcia vanished in a plume of dissolving lights.
No one would not even know of his disappearance for two weeks, until his uncle finally contacted the Tampa police to formally check on his whereabouts, as he had gotten a call from the local landlord worried in not seeing his nephew about. The officer on the scene only found his gamepad on an empty chair with the loadup screen showing on the monitor display. The golden disc of Dungeon World was no where to be found in the VR system. Like it never existed at all.
Missing reports were filed by the local authorities, but it was if Richard had vanished off the face of the Earth. The lone story of his disappearance on the web done in the hopes the young Garcia would be found: made note that he may still yet be alive, his runaway caused by the rejection of a popular girl at his school ... the detail of which got highlighted moreso than the missing person himself.
But on a faraway land in a forgotten world, the erudite known as Rikku awoke. This was his rebirth into the forging of a Legend.