《Project New World》


 Chapter 1 - 1.New World

    In New York City, chaos is happening ¨C a tumultuous din can be heard as people watch the hand of the Statue of Liberty breaks. Some kinds of plant grow several centimeters high as each minute passes by. Sirens are wailing; public services are busy helping people that go hysterical about things that happen in the last month. In other cities ¨C weird, unexplainable and illogical stuffs keep happening which make people worry about the catastrophic ending that awaits mankind ¨C the world''s end is coming. Mount Fuji¨C the tallest mountain in Japan turns into an active volcano in a span of a week.


    The tiny island of Hawaii turns into a desolate land mass; almost becomes 5 times its normal size as all the inactive volcanoes become active and erupt simultaneously which give way to the rise of a new land. This results to the devastation of all that inhabit the island.


    Luckily, a researcher notices and discovers the weird activity of the volcano ¨C warns the government to act immediately and evacuates the civilians. Yet even after all the counter measures done by the government, the immense number of casualties keeps rising day by day.


    In the sea, near China ¨C never before seen earthquakes occur causing the ocean ground to shatter and make the water seeps in through the massive gaps. All the people in China are able to witness as the sea water recedes; fishes are left dying on the waterless seabed.


    Before they can even process what is happening ¨C a 15-meter-high tsunami hits the beach with a devastating force which wipes all the parasols and small stalls that used to be there. Just before the tsunami hits the city, an image of a dragon appears and makes a bubble shield to protect the city from the tsunami.


    In India, statues in the temple become alive ¨C causing mayhem as some people try to destroy them while others protect and worship the statues. Meanwhile, in Europe, ghosts start to appear in the old castles wearing nobility kind of clothes and some even wear full iron armor.


    -----In some secret undisclosed location-----


    Silence....


    A rounded large table stands in the middle of a room with 25 hologram projectors placed next to it. In the middle of the table are scattered images of cities that are in chaos because of the disasters that happen all over the world ¨C snowstorms in the middle of Africa, hurricanes in Australia, and the fall of the Great Wall of China.


    An old, feeble, yet somehow strong voice echoes around the room with incredible force, "A new era is coming... The world that we know will now end... They are coming... The war is coming upon us once again..."


    The silence lurks upon the room once again. Everyone wants to break the silence that suffocates them yet no one knows what to say. As an old saying goes, ''If you don''t have something nice to say then don''t say anything at all''. Each and everyone in the room is a world renowned leader ¨C the greatest minds of this time yet at the time like this, every single one of them don''t know what to say.


    Cannot bear the silence; the youngest among them coughs slightly to get everyone''s attention. His projected body has reformed completely into a reality. He smiles shyly, before saying, "We have to do a plan G and launch project New World. Like it or not, this is our only chance of surviving this mess. I hate to say this but HE may really come to help us. And at the time like this, we need every help that we can get."


    "Are you really sure about this? How long has the beta test been going on and what is the result?" A middle-aged lady with a frown on her brow asks.


    "The 2nd beta test was concluded one month ago, we start the 3rd beta right after we finish the second one. In this document, there is the result of the 1st beta test after 1 year. We haven''t compiled the result of the entire 2nd beta tester. But looking at the result we have collected so far, it can be said that it was successful."


    "What is the failure rate of that thing? And is there any casualty?"


    "Depends on what we see as a failure. From what our team concluded so far, the ability that we get from this project is unique for each individual. Even though some of the ability are identical, they can evolve depends on how that individual use it. From alpha and beta test, we have 99% chance to evolve people and for us, to awake each and every evolver is a success. If you see a noncombat class and less useful trait like cold resistance a failure, then we have a 75% failure rate."


    "What about the 1%?" asks a skeptical old man with a goatee.


    Some of them cannot believe that the casualty number is that low. But the fact that there are casualties is already a proof that they can''t trust it. In another field, 1% failure rate is an acceptable rate. But this is unknown stuff that came out of someone that supposes to be non-existent in the first place. The room falls in raucous ¨C sounds of whispering in all different languages can be heard; until finally, the feeble old man takes a deep breath and with a resigned voice pronounces in the room.


    "We take a vote. Those that are in favor, please raise your hand."


    Without counting the hand, the old man can already see that they are overwhelmingly in favor of the plan.


    "We launch project New World in 3 days. 3rd beta tester would be sent back to their homes with their equipment. Are the equipment ready to be sent to all of the potential candidates?"


    "We don''t have enough equipment for all the candidates but it will be ready in 1 month at most."


    "Will those that start later have a disadvantage?" The skeptical old man asks.


    "This is not a competition for fuck sake! This is our only chance of survival! Can you let those egos of yours go for even just a second?" A lady in dress exclaims.


    "Yes, they would be. But not too much that it would affect their chance. From the entire previous test, we concluded that it took approximately a week up to a month to get used to their ability. I suggest that we evolve the potential candidates first. Then, send all the equipment that we have at the moment. The rest of the equipment would be sent to them as fast as possible, and in the meantime, they have a chance to adapt to their new power."

 Chapter 2 - 2.Beggining

    "Bro, wake up! I''m going to leave you if you keep sleeping." Alice wakes his brother up as she ties her hair up. Albert opens his eyes slowly and reaches his hand beside his bed taking up the electric float-chair that he has been using for the last 10 years or so.


    "Well, did you forget what James''s celebration party yesterday was about? He finally got his driver''s license. He is going to pick us up today! So, we don''t have to go up super early and walk to the station." Albert yawn as he tries to get to the float-chair and sit on it.


    "Oh! right, that''s why I keep thinking that I forgot something this morning. Oh! well, take your time then."


    As she walks out of Albert''s room and proceeds downstairs to watches the news as she always does every morning.


    On the other hand, Albert is my doing his morning routine of in a jiffy; floating downstairs he sees his sister in a couch potato mode while his mom reading some newspaper with breakfast ready on the table.


    "Did you eat already, Alice? James is already on his way so you better eat fast." Albert mutters while floating as he tries to get the toast on the plate.


    "Uh huh, I''m not really hungry. I will just eat a bit."


    "Your father will come back tomorrow so you guys must have to come back in the evening and help me prepare the food. He also said he left you a message on your comlink, Albert. So, you''d better look at it." his mother reminds him while still reading the news.


    "Why did he have to leave a message when he is going to come back the day after? Can he just tell me tomorrow or something?" Albert answers impatiently while opening his comlink.


    -You have 2 new messages-


    "I am Gustavo Almadovar and this is channel four news. The snowstorm is blowing heavily tonight, with an expected 6-8 feet of snow to fall over the next two days. Recent storms across the world have been extreme; so stock up, and stay safe! The He...."


    "It''s going to snow? It''s July for Pete''s sake and it''s going to snow? Man! This world is getting weirder and weirder as time passes by!" Albert cuts off the news announcer


    "Well, aren''t you happy that you can play your online games all day and don''t have to worry about school?"


    "Yep but some of the games are getting boring nowadays. The developers are just some pricks who love to hoard money and make all the games as some kind of pay-to-win game. It''s not fun anymore. What''s the point of spending time gaming only to get boom as some kids pay 1000$ and then instantly kill you. Even in some MOBAs (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), they keep making some OP (Over Power) new hero and nerf it to the ground once they have a new one." He exclaims while reading the 2 new messages that he received.


    One of the messages is from James; send 9 minutes ago ¨C


    "I''m on my way to get you and your sister. Be ready in 15."


    The other one is from his dad; It is a super weird message when other people see it. For them, it is just a random rambling that they use to do while discussing game concepts and stuff.


    It is basically saying ''Hi'' in their language. "Remember Albert, there are no useless abilities, only people who don''t know how to use them." He read the message and then close it again without replying.


    Albert father''s works as a game developer for a big company. It is because of him that Albert who can''t play outside a lot still can have fun. As Albert describe it to his friend ''My childhood is full of bliss, kids are envying me trying new games that have not yet been released.''


    That is also the reason why He doesn''t get bully despite being crippled from the waist down. You see 8-12-year- old kids who are mean to everyone outside their group; and coming to school every day floating will not let you in their group and be accepted easily.


    Luckily, being the kid that plays super cool games that have not been released yet automatically makes you the cool guy. A big advantage too is when your best friend''s literally the biggest kid on the block. You''re basically safe from all the bullying from any group.


    The bestfriend he is talking about is James ¨C the big chatty guy that says anything that comes out of his mind. He gets into sports because of his father''s encouragement when he''s 13. Now, not only he''s tall; he''s also jack as f*ck. He rocks that buzz cut hair since he''s still in his mother''s womb.


    You could argue and say he looks like an a**hole high school guy that you see in every movie ¨C the captain of some football sport team or some sh*t. Fortunately, this one is into swimming rather than that football stuff; Or this would be another high school drama on Netflix.


    "Yooo! Professor X and his sidekick come on out! We are going to be late!" a loud voice can be heard from the outside.


    "Well, there''s our ride let''s go, sidekick."


    "Hey, why do I become the sidekick now? Aren''t I supposed to be the female villain that beats all the main character? I demand an explanation from the producer!"


    "Well, it turns out that the producer refuses to use that script and you get downgraded to a sidekick. Just smack that unreliable manager of yours outside to relieve your anger."


    "Aye! Aye! Captain! Goodbye, Mom!" she said as she runs outside to beat the shit out of James.


    "Goodbye, Mom!" Albert said as he floats outside to see his bestfriend defending his head from the angry sidekick hand that comes his way.


    A couple hours down the line, I am trying to stay awake in Calculus class. Mr. Atkins is writing some weird mumbo-jumbo on the board. I look at the clock above the board. 9:28 before I can sigh a breath of relief ¨C sign that the class is almost over. An announcement bell rings and the principal''s voice can be heard all over the school.


    "All Students, report to auditorium at 10 am. Attendance will be taken and the rest of the class for today will be canceled. For those who will not attend will be suspended for at least a month." All of the students celebrate while I am left wondering what could have been the purpose of this sudden assembly.

 Chapter 3 - 3.Auditorium Assembly

    On his morning break, Albert floats to the cafeteria to meet up with James and Kana so they can go together to the assembly. On his way, James saw several trucks parked next to the auditorium backdoor. To confuse him, even more, he did not saw even one faculty employee along the way to the cafeteria.


    ''Where the hell is all the teacher usually I can spot a group or two grabbing a late breakfast.''


    Albert looks at the clock and sees that it was 9.52. To his left the is James eating his second portion of food peacefully as usual and in front of him is Kana one of their childhood friends who is half Japanese fiddling with her comlink. After James finishes his food, they get out of the cafeteria straight to the auditorium.


    "This is weird," Kana said while looking at her comlink.


    "What''s weird? This assembly? I think this is about the storm or some weird stuff on the news. I see some trucks and my guess is they are here to do some reparation and prepare for the storm. I heard it''s going to be big"


    "Nope. My sister just sent me a message and she said she wish me luck and I''ll need it and when I ask her what for she said I''ll understand it tomorrow."


    "Since when you''re sister into riddle kinda stuff? She''s the most straightforward person that I ever met" James said while holding his chin remembering that painful memory


    "She''s coming back tomorrow right? Maybe she''ll surprise you with something."


    "Oh yeah, she''s coming back tomorrow almost forgot. It''s still doesn''t make sense though. Why would I need some luck?"


    "Well, I guess we can find out tomorrow," Albert said while yawning


    They all have been friends since they''re 5 years old and since Kana''s big sister Anna is the oldest one she''s the one who takes care of youngers most of the time. And by taking care It means to beat them up when they do something stupid. Anna is 4 years older than all of them, so when they are in senior year of middle school she''s going to some college outside the town. And now that they''re in a sophomore year of high school and it''s been 2 years since they hang out together. Anna still comes home every now and then but it''s only for 3 or 4 days and she barely has time to catch up with her family. Kana''s dad said that she''s busy cause she''s working while studying in college.


    In front of the auditorium, a bunch of students queuing to touch into the scanning device for attendance. Suddenly Albert see a familiar shadow coming from behind him and jump into Kana''s back


    "Yooooooo!!! What are you guys doing here?"Alice said while getting off of Kana''s back


    "That''s should be my questions. The principal announces all high school students to attend an assembly in the auditorium. What is a senior year on Middle School like you doing here?" Albert said ready to get into a big brother mode that scolds the mischievous little devil


    "Well the vice principal and some of our teacher lead all the senior on Middle School to the auditorium already and I just came out of the toilet over there cause I think this thing is going to take a long time to finish. Soooooo, at what time is Anna going to arrive tomorrow? and how long is she going to stay this time? Did she bring some gift for me?"


    Kana is closest to Alice among us all, she dots on her and she never makes troubles. It''s not like she doesn''t make trouble it more like she never caught making trouble in front of her. Since she was little the mischievous little devil always knows who she can mess with and who she has to suck up to. Even though Kana never makes trouble that would get her scolded, she always ended up getting drag into Albert and James''s mess and get scolded together.


    "Now that I think about it. She hasn''t said how long is she going to stay this time. I think she''ll land tomorrow at 2 pm. Do you want to come to the airport, Alice?"


    "Nope, we have to welcome my smelly old man tomorrow. He''ll come at 10 am in the morning but I''ll bet you any money that he''ll be late and I doubt that we will finish before 2 pm."


    "Well even if we finish early I doubt mom will let you go play on the day that dad coming home"


    They chatted along the queue until they arrive in front of the scanning device. Albert''s mind was wandering elsewhere because He''s sure it''s just some random gibberish. In his mind, He was wondering about many weird things that happening today. It''s just doesn''t make sense for him.


    ''First, the weird message Anna sent and then there is the truck in the parking lot and last a joined assembly with all senior on middle school. I mean if it''s near the end of the year than it would make sense to do a joined assembly with senior on middle school for preparation to greet them after graduation but right now we just started the school year and it''s not even 1 month yet. And if the purpose of this assembly is to greet the senior on middle school after graduation then what are the senior high school student doing here? And as if it''s not weird enough to do this kind of thing in August they even add up several trucks in the parking lot.''


    When they get in the auditorium Alice split up with the three of them as she has to go to the front row with the rest of the middle school student. Albert sits on the very end side of the auditorium as him and his chair are a package so he has to sit either in the front or on the very end so it doesn''t look weird. It takes 5-10 minute until the auditorium are full of students some even doesn''t have a chair to sit on so they end up sitting on the stair or sitting in the space between the stages and the chair.

 Chapter 4 - 4.Evolver

    All the student is busy chatting and whispering with each other when the principal and some school staff walks into the stage. Albert is observing all of them closely and behind them, he sees 4 guys that definitely not affiliated with the school following closely. It''s not that Albert 100% sure that he knows everyone that works in this school but they just don''t seem to belong there. They look more like someone that works for the government and stuff. When he observes at each of them carefully he notices that there are also more peoples that he''s not familiar with. And unlike the others stand in the podium, they seem different.


    "Well since we''re already behind the schedule let just start it off," the principal said as the light in the auditorium got a bit dimmer and a spotlight shines the stage brightly.


    "As all of you know, Saint Joseph Academy is one of the top 10 schools in the United States. And as of today, the government just implant a new law that required all kids above the age of 15 to participate in an experiment called project New World. As 1 of the top school in this country, Saint Joseph Academy get a special privilege to get into this experiment faster than others"


    The auditorium suddenly full of whispering noise and some of the students are panicking when they heard the word experiment. in the year 2250, the word experiment has more negative connotations rather than positive. In this day and technology age, something that has an unknown factor is scary. In this age when you can even create a hybrid of a different animal without any side effect on their life expectancy. Can you just create some guinea pig with your lab mumbo-jumbo and just leave us all out of it. Some of the students are raising their hands and asking questions even before the principal finished with the explanation.


    ''Look shady as the government maybe they would still explain some stuff so just sit there and listen to him you dumbo. Raising your hands wouldn''t answer any of your questions at the moment'' Albert finishing his thought as he looks at his fellow students.


    "I know that a lot of you have a lot of questions so let me be clear here. Although we call it an experiment we already test this before so you guys are not the first to test it. And from the previous experiment, the results are quite satisfying. The government is planning to do this not only to this school but it will be mandatory for all citizens. But in the meantime, we are chosen to do the experiment first as the government still lack the equipment needed for the experiment. We are giving all this information about the experiment to all your parents/guardians as of this morning and some of them already agree to this. Well, it doesn''t matter whether we have the permission or not as the government will enforce this soon. And to be honest this experiment has a 99% to bring you benefits so you don''t have to worry.


    Now to explain more detailed what the experiment is about; you guys can listen to Mr. Rodrick"


    "I''ll just give you a short summary about the experiment now; and after the experiment, you guys can ask your parents as they are more informed than you all. Hell, some of your parents even work on it and have more information than I do.


    As you know that this world is currently in shamble and in the middle of chaos there are some people that you know as heroes helping people left right and center. Well, the heroes that you see and on tv are actually the more successful result of this experiment. And of course, after the experiment, we''re not going to let you loose into society and let test your power on your own time. You have to adjust to your new power and training under our watch to avoid any potential danger to the society and of course yourself."


    "The reason we are doing this experiment is that the world that we live in is dying and we need to move out and colonize some new place. We already found a planet to colonize and we plan to transport all the people in the world to the said planet. Now, this planet is not a vacant planet as they also have humanoid lifeforms. To invaded that place and make a place of our own is out of the questions as they are also a conscious and civilized lifeform so we reach an agreement to co-exist and help each other. The details about the agreement are the thing that you guys don''t need to think about it. But what you need to know is in that world strength talks so you need to get strong. And on top of that, some of the people in that place have unique power so to balance it we''re borrowing their power to gift some of it to you"


    "I know that most of you are still processing all the information that you get but the earth doesn''t have much time. We''re super tight on the schedule because of the storm so we will start the experiment right now." Mr. Rodrick ends the explanation and brings more questions than before.


    "In a minute our staff would distribute a bootle vial and those of you that don''t want to do the experiment can tell them then and you''ll be escorted home. Even though we say that this is mandatory, the law is not active yet so you can refuse it in the meantime." The principal took over the stage once again while some people hand over some weird vial."


    As the staff is distributing the vial few peoples are escorted out of the room through the entrance by the teachers. Alice walking towards Albert''s group escorted by her homeroom teacher there''s confusion in her eyes. Her teacher told Albert that she wants to ask his opinion as she''s not really sure. Albert asks the teacher for a couples minute so he can consult his parents about this as he pats Alice''s shoulder to calm her down. James and Kana are fiddling with their comlink, trying to contact their parents.


    Albert look at his comlink and there''s another message from his Dad


    "Do the experiment you don''t need to worry about it. I''ll explain it tomorrow when I landed."


    "Now that every single one of you gets the vial you can drink it and don''t worry about it the vial contains some vitamins and nutrients that will help you get to your prime conditions before the experiment. Now if you please go to the exit door and from there, people will lead you to the temporary lab where you will awaken as a new human being that will be known as EVOLVER"

 Chapter 5 - 5.Awakening

    In gym building rows and rows of beds are lining up, followed by a row of weird machines at the end of it. There is a long queue line that ends with 10 doctors checking everyone''s vitals before they escorted to lay in a bed wearing some kind of helmet. Every time one student wakes up there''ll be another student already waiting to use the said bed. Albert already passed his dad''s message to his sister so she becomes a bit more relaxed; Though seeing lines and lines of unconscious people didn''t help her loosen up.


    Soon it was Albert''s group turn to do the checkup. They''re lead to different doctors and they start hooking up some kind of reader to their body. The doctor asked Albert general health questions like allergy, weight, height, and stuff like that. She also explains a bit about the experiment like what to expect and what feeling you will be experiencing went you go through with this. Albert paid a little attention to what the doctor said cause he can''t concentrate remembering his sister''s frightened face when she leads to a different doctor.


    "Okay you are all checked up now all I need is you to do is find an empty bed lay down, relax, and wear the helmet. You''ll feel a bit nauseous and you''ll be unconscious for 5 to 15 minutes. After you woke up you can go to that machine at the end of the building. Follow the machine instruction and after that, you just wait in the sides for all of this to finished and you can go."


    -------Albert Perspective------


    Once the doctor finishes with me she called the next person as I float towards an empty bed beside Kana. Alice already lay in her another bed wearing a helmet-like device while James''s doctor is not yet finished examining him. Mr. Poe, my homeroom teacher help me off from my floating chair to the bed. As I wear the helmet and I can feel a heat-wave coming from the helmet making my head a bit warm. It was a nice feeling when suddenly I feel a pain in my neck and before I can mutter anything to express the pain that I feel, my visions turn red and a nauseousness kick in and I fell unconscious.


    After I don''t know how long I woke up and the nauseousness has not gone yet. I can''t see Kana and Alice in their bed so I start scanning the room to see if I can spot a familiar face. I see Alice was fiddling her comlink on the sides but the rest is not on my radar. I sigh a breath of relief seeing that she was ok. I sat on the bed and when I try to get into my floating chair I feel my waist are weighing me downs.


    ''Wait why is my waist weighing me down. I thought it was paralyzed for good. Maybe it just a little side effect that would go away along with my nauseousness.''


    I hop into my floating chair and goes into the weird machine at the end of the building. I see Kana in one of the machines and so I step into the other empty machine platform. As I step into it I can see a hologram and a row of instructions was written on there.


    -Scan both your hand into the machine and wait for it to complete before taking it off-


    -Drop your blood on the card that emerges and slides it right back in after-


    -Scan your comlink onto the machine and take the card that will emerge with you-


    It took approximately 1 minute for the machine to complete scanning and a black card emerge alongside with a needle. I prick my finger with the needle and drop my blood on the card. There I can see the card has some kind of veins and when my blood touches the card the blood seems to go into the veins and spreading to all the crevices in the card. I slide the card back into the machine and put my right hand where my comlink resides on top of the scanner. The whole process took under 3 minutes and I float out with a new card in hand towards Kana and Alice. I see James standing on one of the machine and Kana and Alice having a discussion on the side.


    -End of Albert Perspective-


    "How are you guys feeling?"I asked as I approached the two girls


    "I''m okay a bit dizzy but Alice said her dizziness already gone so I figure it would go away soon"


    "Hey hey hey. What class did you acquire is it a combat or non-combat class?" Alice asked excitedly


    "Class?? What are you talking about? Are you really okay?"


    "Hey, I''m okay alright. I just curious about what class you get I get Monk as my class "


    "You get Monk as your class? Is this the result of the experiment? How can you see your class? And what is the difference between class? What else do you get from the experiment?" The gear in my brain starts to work and barrage Alice with questions that seem to make her brain shortcircuited.


    As a game fanatic I when I heard about acquiring a class my brain goes straight to an RPG game that I usually play. Alice was not a game fanatic like me so the only explanation that makes sense is that the experiment did something. Is this experiment make me a game character with a class and that weird stuff.


    "Whoa whoa whoa, one at the time, one at the time." Alice was taken aback by the barrage before Kana save her from all the pain of answering all of it.


    "You can see on your comlink and see your status tab and just open it up and you''ll understand. "


    I open my comlink and there are 3 new tabs on it. Status, Trait, Mastery & Skill, Equipment & Inventory


    Name: Albert Ward(UNSPECIFIED)


    Age: 17


    Gender: Male


    Race: Human


    Level: 1


    Class: Minstrel ( +2 Dex, +1 Int, 2 Free)


    HP:40/70


    MP:95/95


    Stamina:45/45


    Weight Limit: 1


    Str 1


    Vit 6


    End 2


    Dex 10


    Int 6


    Wis 8


    Free Point: 2

 Chapter 6 - 6.Classes

    "What is this thing? have we become a game character or something? And why the hell my HP is not full?"


    "What? Your HP not full let me see it? Is the experiment failed on your side?" Kana asked as she has more game knowledge as she usually getting drag to play with me and James


    "Here as you can see my HP is 40 out of 70 is it because of my legs condition? How can I share the status screen with you by the way?"


    "Oh, you can just let me borrow your card so I can scan it; The main function of the card is to store your personal data for registration and stuff. It''s basically your new identity card. You only need to scan the card to your comlink and the comlink would show you what information is on the card. Here you can see my status" As Kana gave her card to me while hand mine to her


    Name: Kana Campbell (NONCOMBAT)


    Age: 17


    Gender: Female


    Race: Human


    Level: 1


    Class: Priest ( +1 Wis, +3 Int, 1 Free)


    HP:220/220


    Stamina:30/30


    Weight Limit: 1


    Str 1


    Vit 6


    End 2


    Dex 3


    Int 12


    Wis 10


    Free Point: 1


    "What the hell? How come you don''t have any MP you''re a priest for god sake. Aren''t priest classes suppose to have the highest mana pool after mage classes. And why the hell do you have so many HP? A priest is supposed to be squishy. This doesn''t make any sense for my game brain"


    "I have no idea. Maybe we should ask the guy in charge as to why I don''t have any MP and why are your HP not full."


    "What are you guys talking about? What do you mean by MP stuff are you dreaming that we are in some kind of RPG game? and Kana is a priest?" James cuts in as he just arrived and he hears a lot of gaming stuff comes out of my mouth


    "Alice let me see your status, gimme your card," I said ignoring James and let Kana explain everything to him while I check Alice''s status followed by James status.


    Name: Alice Ward (NONCOMBAT)


    Age: 15


    Gender: Female


    Race: Human


    Level: 1


    Class: Monk ( +2 Int, +1 Vit, +1 End, 1 Free)


    HP: 95/95


    MP: 30/30


    Stamina:90/90


    Weight Limit: 2.5


    Str 7


    Vit 6


    End 7


    Dex 5


    Int 8


    Wis 1


    Free Point: 1


    Name: James Smith (COMBAT)


    Age: 17


    Gender: Male


    Race: Human


    Level: 1


    Class: Necromancer ( +2 Wis, +2 Int, 1 Free)


    HP:55/55


    Mana:130/130


    Stamina:60/60


    Weight Limit: 1.5


    Str 2


    Vit 3


    End 5


    Dex 2


    Int 12


    Wis 10


    Free Point: 1


    "What the hell why are a super buff guy like you have the smallest amount of HP compare to us all; even I as a cripple has more maximum HP."


    "Yep and what''s with necromancer class it''s not fil you at all you should have a barbarian as a class or something along that way" Alice rub some salt to James''s wounds while Kana covering her mouth giggling


    "Well, at least I''m classified as a combat class, not like you. And what''s up with you getting 1 extra free point per level more than us?"


    "Well, it doesn''t make a difference in the grand scheme of it. We get the same amount of point per level it''s just that I can choose on what stats I want to put it while yours are predetermined. And what do you think would decided whether someone combat or noncombat class? And what is the difference between combat class and noncombat class? Why is my class unspecified?"


    "Those classified as unspecified means that the system still analyzing your potential to be a combat class. Combat class and noncombat class are a classification that measures your potential and determined whether or not you can survive when you encounter a monster with a similar level in the game world. And it continuously measures your potentials, so even some of you that classified as noncombat change your classification if the system determined that you have enough potential.


    " Mr. Poe, Albert''s homeroom teacher cuts in and explaining some stuff while he makes a round to check on his students


    "How exactly the system measure our potential? Is it by looking at our stats? Like someone with 10 strength would automatically classify as combat classes? But that can''t be right cause if it is then Alice''s stats seems more like a combat stats compare to James''s" Albert ask for more detailed information from Mr. Poe.


    "They look at your potentials as a whole and not by the specific things that you have. Let say that you have a Chef as a class but you have high strength and dexterity stats or a superb knife-related mastery that can help you cut through metal like butter that would certainly help you survive when you fight so the system would classify you as a combat class. Or even if you''re a Swordsman but you have a trait that makes you unable to hold a weapon then it would decrease your potential value. The classification is by no means a determining factor it would only help us to find you a suitable field that you can shine on. But we can only give suggestion on what to do and can''t force you to do what you don''t want. For those classified as unspecified, that means that the system still analyzing your potential." Mr. Poe''s voice can be heard answering his question.


    Albert was ready to barrage him with other questions that have been bothering him. But before he can ask him even one more question Mr. Poe held his hand in front of him indicating him to stop. Right at the front door, the principal entourage can be seen entering the building.


    "For those who still have questions, we will answer all your questions on Monday. Right now you guys need to go home as a storm is coming our way. Here is a link to download a manual that would explain the general thing that you need to know about everything. You can download it to your comlink and read it at your convenience. A bus that would take all of you to home is already outside so you guys better hurry up or you would have to stay in school until the storm recede" The principal voice echoed to the whole building

 Chapter 7 - 7.Trait, Mastery, & Skill

    Mr.Poe lead Albert group outside but because James drove his car to the school this morning, they decided not to take a bus. On our way outside Albert slip questions after questions to Mr. Poe about the experiment because he seems to know more about these whole things.


    "The classification would only help the system to find you a suitable field that you can shine on. But even if you are classified as a noncombat it would still depend on you on how you use your potential to be useful. Then again you are called evolver and if it means something, It means that you can evolve. Based on the data that we gather from the previous result the ability that you gain can evolve depending on how you used it so you should explore how to use it.....


    If I have to guess the problem on your HP should be related on to your legs as for Kana''s MP I guess it should be related to her traits but I''m not too sure either, you can try to find information about it on the new library on Monday.....


    You should read the manual that the principal give. It answers a lot of questions that I don''t have time to answer now. Now go and see you on Monday"


    As Albert floats to James''s car with Kana, Alice, and James; Albert tries to reviews all the new information that he got from Mr.Poe. Suddenly he remembers the last thing that Mr. Poe said to him when he waves him goodbye.


    ''The experiment not only gives you ability and class it also slowly changes your entire body structure. You should try to walk on your feet when you have time Albert''


    Albert tries to turn towards Mr. Poe but sitting on the floating chair doesn''t make it easier for him. When the chair turn 180 degrees all he can see was Mr. Poe back so he decided to keep all the questions he has in his head until Monday


    On their way to Kana''s house, Albert busy reading the manual that the principal gave them. It only took about 15 minutes before he gave up reading all of it while the rest of the group gave up even before they start reading.


    --------- Albert Perspective-----------


    This feels like reading terms and conditions that they gave you when you create an online account. I guess I''ll binge reading this on the weekend. Also, dad is coming home tomorrow so he can help me to eat all of this information. For all, I know he knows a lot more than I think he knows. I think his text this morning is correlated to the experiment and he said something that good or bad one ability is depending on how the user uses the character may be the clue.


    All I get from reading the manual so far was that each of us is unique and even if we get the same class doesn''t mean we get the same trait or masteries. Mastery can be acquired by spending your mastery point on a level 10 mastery. Spending mastery points on a level 10 mastery and would force said mastery to evolve and gain you 1 empty mastery slot to choose another mastery to master. Traits and Mastery can evolve with certain conditions that different for each.


    You can also gain traits as the times goes on or if you met certain conditions that would trigger it. Bear in mind that there are positive and negative traits so if we are unlucky there is a chance that you would get a negative one. Mastery and traits usually evolve to fit the user more so they are uniques for each people.


    So for example when there are peoples with the same fire manipulation mastery but 1 guy specializes it to make a fireball while the other specializes in covering their hand and use it in melee. When you reach level 10 mastery and use mastery point on it. One of them would evolve lean towards concentrate effect and the other would evolve lean towards range and stuff. After all of that reading, I decided to check all of our skills and mastery tab before we reach home.


    Albert Ward


    Traits:


    Sound Domain


    All sound-based skill inside the range are twice more effective


    Range increase based on int ( int x 1 meter)


    Sound-based skill cost 50% more mana


    Mastery:


    -Instrument Mastery LVL 0 (0%)


    -


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -


    Alice Ward


    Traits:


    Steel Arm


    Incapable wielding any forms of weapons.


    Unarmed attack deal 20% more damage.


    Bonus 1 extra Mastery slots.


    Mastery:


    -


    -


    -


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -


    Kana Campbell


    Traits:


    -Blood Magic


    Skills would cost HP instead of MP.


    Wisdom would give 10 HP per level instead of MP every 10 Wisdom you would gain 50HP.


    Skills would cost 50% more mana.


    Skill:


    -Book Mastery LVL 0 (0%)


    -


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -


    James Smith


    Traits:


    Superior Summon


    Your Summon are 200% stronger than normal summon


    Can only have 1 Summoned Unit at a time.


    (The first unit would die immediately if you try to summon a second one)


    Mastery:


    -Shield Mastery LVL 0 (0%)


    -Summon LVL 0 (0%)


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -


    ------- End of Albert perspective -------


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. A priest without any MP and not capable of healing, Necromancer who can only summon 1 monster, and a monk who can''t wield any weapon. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"


    "Hey, this is not funny you know. And you aren''t the best either what can you do when you facing an enemy. Sing a lullaby for them?" Alice puffs her cheeks at me.


    James smile wryly while he drives and said


    "So I can summon 1 skeleton but it would be stronger compared to a skeleton that other people summoned. I guess that''s a good thing, right??"


    "Not really but yeah you got a head start in that department. Well, at least you got your path figured out you just need to fight quantity with quality. And why skeleton; can''t you summon something else like a dragon??"


    "Well, it said in my class that I''m a necromancer, right? So it gotta be skeleton right?"


    "I can''t deny that logic" I said sarcastically amaze at James flawless logic


    ''I have to persuade him so he will choose a stronger summon and not a fragile skeleton'' Albert make a note in the back on his mind


    "You have to explain it to me how does all of this works later after you finish read that manual. I just can''t understand it. The way that the manual told us is so back and forth and I just can''t focus. And how do you gain mastery? We have some empty mastery slots and you said we can choose a mastery to learn, right?" Kana said cutting Albert monologue


    "Wait let me continue reading this I want to know do we choose a mastery for our empty mastery slot," Albert said while skimming the manual again.


    "It said here that we can choose new mastery just by clicking the empty slots and a new window would pop up. In that window, there is a list of masteries that you are compatible with. Some masteries would have some requirements like some stats so you would have to be compatible but also fulfill the requirements. So I guess we would have a different option want me to help you pick your mastery?"


    "Hey hey hey, help me pick first, help me pick first" Alice cut his brother short

 Chapter 8 - 8.Very Rare Mastery

    - Steel Body (vit 8, end 12)


    - Close Quarter Combat Technique (dex 10, str 10, end 10)


    - Qigong Mastery (int 21, 15 str )


    - Dharma Sutra (int 14, wiz 9)


    - Kick Mastery (str 10, agi 15)


    - Punch Mastery (str 15, agi 10)


    - Emerald Skin, Topaz Muscle, Saphire Bone (VERY RARE) (str 7, vit 6, end 7, agi 6)


    "What the hell are Dharma Sutra, Qigong Mastery, and this very rare mastery? Is there rarity in terms of mastery? Are rare masteries good? Why are there no descriptions about the masteries and how do they work?" Alice complaining right after the windows pop up


    "Calm down there let dissect the information 1 by 1."


    "First if we''re playing a character in RPG games the rarer things are in-game the better that thing is. Possessing rare masteries usually make you super strong so I assume that it was a good thing. But the low requirements make it suspicious for me. If I have to guess it was the kind of mastery that easy to learn but hard to master." Albert said channeling his inner geek gamer


    "Second, from the manual, we know that masteries could evolve to fit each user and; So far, all of the mastery that we possess has no description whatsoever. I assume there are no descriptions of the mastery is because the description is depending on how to utilize your masteries than it would all make sense. For example, If someone else posses the summon mastery like James maybe the other guy can summon a pack of a wolf while James can summon a dragon."


    "SKELETON!" A SUPER STRONG SKELETON NAMED BONE-VOYAGE" James exclaims from the front seat


    "He''s beyond saving, Albert. Let him be" Kana said before I can retort this retard and fix his brain.


    Seeing James all smiling proud of his new creation Bone-Voyage Albert gave up and decided to continue explaining to others that still lucid.


    "If my assumption was right then it should be like this. Let assume that I have the same summon mastery. But because of James''s trait he can summon his 1 skeleton meanwhile, I can summon 5 or even 10 dragons depends on how proficient I am with the mastery. So mastery description would be useless as a description for each person would be different depending on how you use your it."


    "Well, we''re already in Kana''s house, Mr. Holmes. So we better get inside before you continue your analysis. And for the record it names BONE-VOYAGE"


    "Al, are you going to come inside? Aren''t you guys suppose to go straight home to help your mother prepare stuff to welcome your dad tomorrow?"


    "We''ll pick our mastery first and go home after that I guess. I was kinda curious about what the option would the system gave you have. It wouldn''t take too long and I can learn more about the experiment."


    The whole group was greeted by Kana''s mother who has a concerned look when they walk toward her house.


    Inside Kana''s house, Albert continues explaining his assumption reading less than 10% experiment manual the principal gave. On top of that, he adds on a couple of general gaming concepts here and there as even most examples the manual gave is the general gaming concept.


    "Ugh, my brain hurt hearing all that tacky stuff. In conclusion, I should pick the very rare one because it was super good, right?" Alice said while holding her head


    "Yep, but I was curious as of why that one has a very long name Diamond Skin, Jade Muscle, Emerald Bone. It as if it were 3 different masteries rather than one very rare mastery. If it was the former then you just spend 3 mastery slot on 1 mastery and that could be bad. I hope it was the latter one."


    On Albert left Alice was fiddling with her comlink. She only hears the word ''Yep'' from her brother and without hearing the end of his sentence. She straight away raises her dex with the free point that she has to meet the mastery requirement and clicked the very rare mastery and press confirm to learn it.


    "Ok, I got all my mastery now you can help Kana pick her,"


    In Alice''s brain, something is changing and it causes the nauseousness she feel when she awakens come back. Fragment of information starts to flow towards her brain; It wasn''t as bad as before but it causes her to close her eyes trying to fight the nauseousness back.


    "What do you mean you'' got all your mastery? you still have 2 empty mastery slots to fill, aren''t you? Is it really a 3 different mastery that been bundled together?" Albert asking his sister.


    Without opening her eyes Alice just throws her card to her brother to scan so he can look at her skill.


    Alice Ward


    Traits:


    Steel Arm


    User can''t wield any forms of weapons but get 1 extra mastery slots.


    Unarmed attack deal 20% more damage.


    Mastery:


    -Emerald Skin LVL 0 (0%)(RARE)


    -Amethyst Muscle LVL 0 (0%)(RARE)


    -Ruby Bone LVL 0 (0%)(RARE)


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -


    "What the hell it was really 3 different rare masteries??? Hey, how do your new masteries works? It better be super good cause it took all your masteries slots. Did you get at least get some kind of information oh how does it work?" Albert asks while shaking Alice''s body with his left arm.


    "Can you stop it. I still processing the information that I got from the masteries. I was super dizzy and you shaking my body was not helping. And the information that it gave is fragmented so it''s really hard to understand it" Alice smacks his brother''s head as a reward for disturbing her and continue her meditation.

 Chapter 9 - 9.Picking Mastery

    "Well, I guess we can help Kana pick her masteries in the meantime, and back to Alice when she''s done," James said distracting Albert from his sister''s situation.


    "Well, I have a theory that I want to consult with you guys but let see Kana''s mastery list first so then I can be more sure about it."


    "You really passionate about this aren''t you," Kana said while handing her card''s


    "Well yeah, what do you expect from me. I spent all my life play games and right now our life just turn into an RPG and we have a status screen, mastery, skill, and even class."


    - Vitality Restoration (int 11, wis 11, vit 5)


    - Light Magic (int 16, wis 9)


    - Fire Magic (int 13, wis 8)


    - Water Magic (int 9, wis 12)


    - Blood Manipulation Technique (int 25, HP 400)


    After looking at her mastery list Kana was down a bit. She was sad by the fact that she has a little less mastery that compatible with her compare to Alice. On top of that, the thing that she can learn now is limited to 2 as the requirements are too high.


    "Whooa now that''s some high number you need to satisfy. You can either add 1 wis to your stats and learn Vitality Restoration, or add 1 int and learn Fire Magic. So which one do you think better, Al?" James asked Albert after looking at Kana''s list


    "If this was a game than I would choose to add 1 int and learn Fire Magic. But for Kana, I think you should to add 1 wis and learn Vitality Restoration?"


    "Why would you suggest her to do that? Isn''t it better if she can manipulate fire to add more offensive options? After hearing Mr. Poe''s explanation if you increase your offensive option it would increase your potential to classify as combat class."


    "First and foremost, this is not a game and we don''t know what we have to do after we got this ability. The only explanation we have is we have to try our best to survive in some new places because our earth is dying. In a sense, classifying as a combat class would give you a benefit as you can survive when you face an opponent on the same level.


    But combat is not the only option here; Like in an MMORPG you can tackle more difficult content if you have the right party composition. You don''t have to be a warrior to kill a goblin you can be a priest and help your party killing raid boss or something like that.


    And from the name Vitality Restoration, It feels like you can get a skill similar to healing. And because she got a priest as her class, I feel like it would fit her rather well. When I skim through the manual it emphasizes a lot on compatibility and a lot of ''depends on the user'' word keep reappearing.


    Also, do you remember what Mr. Poe says to us? ''The classification is by no means a determining factor it would only help us to find you a suitable field that you can shine on''. And what better stage for a priest to shine on other than healing the party? If my deduction is correct she could become a priest that can heal from behind like in the game."


    "Okay, so you''re saying I should choose Vitality Restoration?"


    "Yes, but in the end, it was your choice if you think choosing Fire Magic is better for you than I''m not opposed to that either. I just think what makes more sense and it doesn''t mean it would always be the right choice."


    Same as Alice after the word yes she just straight away raises her wis and choose to learn Vitality Restoration. Do you guys really trust me that much? What if I told you to jump off a bridge. I look at Kana''s face and I can see sweat forming in her frowned forehead. I turn to look at Alice and her face look a bit calmer but I can still see some sweat on it. I didn''t go check my potential mastery list and straight away because I know Alice''s would complain to no end if I choose without her. Even though the knowledge she had about games almost nonexistent she still enjoys watching when I play games. So in the meantime, I just discuss what I discover with James as he already has a full mastery and can speak a nerd language as he usually the guy that I drag into my gaming madness.


    "Okay, so far we know that we get our class automatically and we have no option of choosing classes. From all the information that we have, I think the most important thing we got from the experiment is actually not the class but the status."


    "Why would you think so?"


    "Well look at your status and tell me in a game scenario would you say that your status distribution makes sense or not? High int, High wis grant you necromancer and priest class. And I get class minstrel due to high dex."


    "Yeah but you can also see it the other way around. For example mine and kana''s class are lean more towards magic stuff so our status distributes more towards int and wis. Right?


    "But if use that theory then Alice''s status doesn''t make sense at all. Look at her statuses and see if it''s fit a monk. Even in a game where monk classifies more towards hand to hand combat they usually have a decent mana pool to either buff herself and others. I think she just barely met the requirement due to her high int and because of the endurance and vit stats, she ended up as a monk.


    And although you can still argue it to be opposite when you look at the mastery that compatible with Alice and Kana they''re not really fit their job description rather fit their status more. A priest that got fire and water magic option is really not in the norm of the game, right? Also, Alice''s monk class got a lot more offensive option and I think it was because of her str stat causing more offensive mastery to pop up. "


    "Well, I''ll just accept it for now as there''s no way to know it for sure. But what''s the use of knowing that status determined your class rather than the opposite?"

 Chapter 10 - 10.Puppet Mastery

    At this time Alice and Kana dizziness have already gone as she finishes absorbing the knowledge that she got from their new mastery. They finish almost simultaneously even tough Alice start first.


    "What are you guys talking about? Have you choose your mastery already" Alice asked


    "I have not. I know you''ll be pissed if I choose it without you."


    "So what is it about status being super-duper important or something?" Kana cut joining the conversation


    Albert re-explaining things that he and James just discussed to both of the girls while they listen and try to understand it as best as they could.


    "So, in conclusion, the status is what determining factor that can affect everything should be careful about distributing it. It''s like a foundation of a building if you build a skewed foundation than it would not be strong enough to deal with the wind that blows." Kana drew a conclusion after Albert finish explaining


    "And James should keep his 1 free stats and distributed it once he sure what stats he should raise next, right?" Alice adds a valid argument on top of Kana''s conclusion.


    "For now yes. Now let see what are my potential mastery are and goes straight home after I choose it. I don''t want to hear mom nags about how that we''re not helping her preparing feast for dad."


    - Sound Reverberation ( Int 10, Dex 7, Wis 5)


    - Spirit Magic (Int 12, Wis 8)


    - Bow-mastery (Str 3, Dex 6, End 2)


    - Puppet (RARE) (Dex 10 Int 8 Wis 5)


    After looking at Albert''s potential mastery list Kana looks at him with pity in her eyes. She thought that she had the worst luck but it turns out Albert has 1 less potential mastery to choose compare to her.


    "Oh, you also got a rare mastery. Are you going to take that?" Alice asked excitedly


    "The only useful one you can take with your current stats are that rare puppet mastery. Bow-mastery would be useless as you already have Instrument Mastery and on top of that I can''t imagine someone in your state would shot an arrow then ran to another position. " James adding some salt to Albert wound


    "Why does he have to move to another position after shooting an arrow? Can he just shoot one after another until the enemy died or something?" with a confused look Kana look at Albert waiting for an explanation.


    Without even a need for any more hints Albert starts explaining as to why bow mastery is kinda useless for him.


    "Well if we are following general game logic bow and arrow usually lack power compared to others weapon. To cover that flaw, game developer creates so that all monster has some kind of weakness that player can exploit to deal more damage."


    "In a perfect world maybe you can shoot arrow continuously from 1 spot, but you can''t expect the enemy would just stand there and let you shoot them right? So people who use bow and arrow have to continuously move to get a better position and stuff."


    "Too bad it was a bow mastery if it was a gun mastery or something I would pick it so that I can have an offensive option but a bow is just too complicated for me. And that puppet mastery seems to interesting to me and it''s also a rare mastery so I guess it''s not that bad. Well here goes nothing"


    Albert uses 2 of my free stats and raises his int to meet the requirement to learn puppet mastery. He stopped for a second before information about the mastery flows into his brain. To his surprise the dizziness that Alice and Kana''s experience never come to him.


    ''I got all the information about the mastery in only 5 seconds, not even a bit nauseousness or dizziness coming my way. That''s weird is there some kind of problem?''


    "It finishes already? How come there''s no nauseousness that both of you talk about when learning the mastery?"


    "Is it because of the mastery is a rare mastery? But I learn a very rare one and not only I get a headache. It also took me longer than Kana" Alice grumble at the system unfairness


    "Maybe it''s different each mastery depends on how complex the information that the mastery has. For example, when we go through the awakening process this morning some people took more time than others."


    "You''re saying that because of my summon mastery; The awakening process take me a whole 13 minute while it only took you 9 minute?" James confirming Albert theory


    "It does actually make sense. Alice is out for less than 6 minutes and she got no mastery whatsoever. And although I passed out longer compare to Albert there''s not that much difference between the two of us. By the way, what do you learn from that puppet mastery? Can you make a puppet or something and use it to fight?" Kana said backing up Albert theory


    "No, I learn the general description about it and the rest is kinda blurry. It said that I can have 1 puppet bound to me and I can summon them went I want to. It has its own stats and it can grow stronger and can level up. And it said that the puppet is alive and has a consciousness so it''s more like a normal pet and not soulless object."


    "You can summon them? Quick summon it so I can see the cute puppet." Alice jumped next to her brother


    Albert closes his eyes and with the knowledge that he acquired from learning puppet mastery he tries to summon his new puppet.


    "SNAKE????!!!!!"Both girls scream at the same time causing Kana''s mom who''s been spying from outside the room took aback.


    She burst into Kana''s room looking worried at her surroundings.


    "What happened? Why are you girls screaming? Is anybody hurt?"


    Albert scratched his head while James explaining what happened and he even goes further and tells her all about the experiment. Kana''s mom takes all the information and sighs her relief at the end of it.


    From her reaction, Albert assumes that she knew about the experiment but she doesn''t know the details about it. She holds Kana''s hand and asks her a lot of questions about her experience. The group end up spending half an hour chatting with Kana''s mom and told her all about our experience. I asked her about what does she know about the experiment because she seems not so surprised about this and she said that she''ll explain it tomorrow after my father coming back. I look at the clock and decided it was time to go home.


    "Wait, where is the snake that you summon before?" Alice remembers about his brother puppet snake that came out before Kana''s mom burst in


    "You want to see it? I thought you''re scared of it"


    "I''m not scared of it. That was just reflex." the little sister argue


    "Sure," Albert said moving his right hand


    Albert''s hand gesture reveals a white snakehead pop out from his jacket sleeve. His hand gesture somehow causing his comlink to activate and 2 notification appears on it. Albert looks at his comlink and sees 2 of his tabs appear to be highlighted. He opens the status tab with his left hand while everyone still focusing on the snake that suddenly appears on his hand. Alice is hiding behind James and only her head can be seen, Kana is holding her mom''s hand with both of her hands, James look at the snake curiously and Katherine (Kana''s Mom) observes the snake but didn''t seem scared of it.


    Name: Albert Ward(UNSPECIFIED)


    Age: 17


    Gender: Male


    Race: Human


    Level: 1


    Class: Minstrel ( +2 Dex, +1 Int, 2 Free)


    HP:41/70


    MP:100/100


    Stamina:45/45


    Weight Limit: 1


    Str 1


    Vit 8


    End 2


    Dex 10


    Int 8


    Wis 8


    Free Point: 0


    Name: -


    Age: 0


    Gender: Female


    Race: Snake


    Level: 1


    Affinity: 0


    Class: Puppet ( 5 Free)


    HP:85/85


    MP:45/45


    Stamina:70/70


    Weight Limit: 2.5


    Str 7


    Vit 6


    End 5


    Dex 9


    Int 6


    Wis 3


    Free Point: 5

 Chapter 11 - 11.Luna

    "Hey look it comes out. Hello, little buddy" James stretch his hand trying to touch its head. It blinks its eyes and starts coiling Albert''s left hand; Seeing that a stranger hand approaching her, the snake slither to Albert armpit dodging the hand as she observes her surroundings like a baby in a foreign world.


    She seems scared of everything but she treats Albert like a safe haven and seems to be okay with his presence. Albert stretches his right hand to her new puppet and she slithers right to it and starts coils around it like a bracelet.


    "Hey hey, do you get any special ability like you can talk to it like in some fantasy novel? Can you give it a command like go attack James or something?" Alice is a fan of a fantasy novel and she read it every day. There''s a lot of pet and taming related fantasy novel when usually you tame a pet you instantly get an ability from it or you can talk and understand it. Albert understand why his sister is so excited but not even 1-minutes past he burst her bubble of imagination


    "It''s not like what you think it is Alice. It''s real life and not a novel well maybe there''s a trait that you can gain that can help you with that but this is not one. I don''t think she understood if I told her to attack James. And somehow I feel like she thinks of me more like her personal treehouse rather than her master" Albert comment as she continues to play with the snake


    "You can''t command her? It''s a female? How do you know it was a female? Did she have an ability or something that can help you?" James asked


    "It says here in her status screen that she''s a female. As for whether or not, she can help let me check my TMS(Trait, Mastery, & Skill) tab. I think I got a new thing in there."


    Albert Ward


    Traits:


    Sound Domain


    Make a sound dome that would make all sound-based skill twice more effective


    Range increase based on int ( int x 1 meter)


    Sound-based skill cost 50% more mana


    Mastery:


    -Instrument Mastery LVL 0 (0%)


    -Puppet Mastery LVL 0 (1%)


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -Summon Unnamed Puppet


    "How come you have some experience in your puppet mastery already? How do you do that?" Kana notice that my puppet mastery is not at 0%.


    "I don''t know maybe because I summon her it went up from 0% to 1%"


    "Why don''t you give her a name? In your skill list there said summon unnamed puppet" suggest Alice come out of her hiding hole behind James while


    "That''s a good idea let me think a name for her. Hmmmmmmm. Do you guys have any good names for pet snake? Should I call I sneeky? or snek?"


    "WOW YOU HAVE VERY GOOD NAMING SENSE, ALBERT," said James sarcastically


    "Oh whatever I have terrible naming sense, SUE ME! Alice picks a good name then you usually come up with a creative one. And for all the holly above I''m not naming her Boop Noodle or Danger Noodle, Kana."


    I stare at Kana knowing that she would suggest an even worse name that I already had.


    "Hey!!! that''s rude I have better naming sense than that!" Kana puff her cheeks as if she''s been wronged.


    "And not another word from you, BONE-VOYAGE!!"


    "Hey!!!! That''s a great name. Beside, Slippery Ramen sounds really cute." James asked her holding his laugh while Kana is rolling on the floor.


    "You guys are the worst."


    Fortunately, Albert knows that he has terrible naming sense unlike the other two who always denied it. Well in James''s cases he embraces his terrible naming sense rather than denying it.


    "How about lucy or luna? She''s so white and beautiful I think it would fit her?" Alice finally broke the terribly named trio concert that has been going on.


    "Oh, Luna I like that one. I guess that would be her name then. From now on you''ll be called Luna. Ok, little buddy?" Albert said while petting the little snake. Luna''s eyes flashing and some kind of blue shade can be seen inside her red eyes for a second. She approaches Albert''s hand again as if she hasn''t had enough of the patting.


    Albert Ward


    Traits:


    Sound Domain


    Make a sound dome that would make all sound-based skill twice more effective


    Range increase based on int ( int x 1 meter)


    Sound-based skill cost 50% more mana


    Mastery:


    -Instrument Mastery LVL 0 (0%)


    -Puppet Mastery LVL 0 (3%)


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -Summon Luna


    On my comlink, I got 2 new notifications


    -Successfully name your unnamed puppet


    -Luna affinities to you raise by 25


    After that little event, James drove Albert and his sister to their home. Albert plays with luna all the way home petting it and letting it slither all around his body up and down. She seems to enjoy resting her head on his shoulder so He just let her do that to raise more affinity with her.


    ''Why do I feel her weight when she''s on my lap? Aren''t I suppose to be paralyzed''


    Albert said in his mind while pinching his tight


    ''Ouch!!! I can feel it! I can feel my legs! Okay, calm down first don''t gets your hopes up. It''s not confirmed that you can walk again! Calm down, you''ve done all kinds of experiments before too. If you get your hopes up and it fails your family is the one that will suffer the most. Calm down'' Albert struggle not to shout when he found out that he can feel his leg again.''


    ''Maybe it''s a side effect of the experiment? But my dizziness is already gone and the principal said there''s no side effect other than the power that you get. Not that I''m protesting if I can walk again''


    Albert tries to feel and move his leg all the road from Kana''s to his house without getting caught by anyone especially Alice. He discovers that although he can feel all his leg from tights to toe, He can''t move them at all except wiggling his little toe. Being able to wiggle a toe is already very exciting news for a boy that has been floating 10 years long.


    The only reasons he can keep it all down is because he''s been in many experiments that promise it can heal him but they all failed it. And every time the experiment fails he can see his family sadden face while trying to cheer him up. Though he acts like it doesn''t bother him he still hopes that one day he can walk again.

 Chapter 12 - 12.Healed?

    When Albert arrives at his house he can see that his mother was standing on the front lawn waiting worriedly. Seeing James''s car approaching the house she takes a big step to James''s car directions looking for a familiar face. It''s normal for a mother to be worried about the experiment result, but if you look closely there''s a glister of hope in her face mixing with a worried expression.


    The car starts to decelerate 40 meters apart from Ward''s manor. Before the car fully stopped a silhouette rush from the backdoor crashing to Mrs. Abigail causing her to stumble backward.


    ''I guess this whole experience scared her more than she shows. Well, the fact that she goes all through this without breaking down is amazing already. I mean, She''s 15 for god sake.'' Albert''s mind taking note after seeing his sister rushing to their mom.


    Mrs. Abigail pats her daughter back calming her down while James helps Albert to get off the car and get on his personal floating device. While calming her daughter Mrs. Abigail throws a couple of worried glance to her son from time to time.


    Albert offer James to stay for a bit but James declines him saying that his father already sent him a message and wait for him in their house. James says goodbye to the Wards family and hop onto his ride and go on his way.


    Inside Ward''s house and Alice was so tired that she goes face-first into the couch. Albert recites what happens today to his mom about the experiment and also introduces her to his new puppet Luna. Luna is still hanging out in his shoulder with her eyes closed and his mom doesn''t seem to bother about a snake that hangs around in her son''s neck making him a bit disappointed.


    Before Albert can join the sleeping club with his sister who''s already fast asleep in the couch; His mother stops him.


    "How were your legs?"


    "Whaaaaaaaat? How do you know??? So the experiment really have an effect on my legs?" I was surprised by her questions.


    "I''m not exactly sure that''s why I''m asking. So can you move it? Can you walk?"


    "No, I can''t. I can wiggle my toes and the sense of having legs are back but I can''t move it," Albert said with a sad face ready to face her grimace that she would give me every time an experiment failed to heal her son''s disability.


    Contrary to Albert assumption, His mother''s face becomes so bright and happy the moment she heard he got to sense with his leg again. Tears start dropping from her face and she smacks his head lovingly and hugs him tight.


    "You''re supposed to be genius aren''t you. How can someone who hasn''t move his lower body for 10 years walk with his own two feet after he treated for only one day?"


    Albert''s brain gear starts to rotate and he realizes that all the stupids miscalculation that he made.


    ''Since when I was so stupid and start to think that this was a game. This is real life and in real life, after you get paralyzed for 1 year you probably need to go to the therapy for who knows how long before you can walk again. And I''ve been paralyzed for 10 years so does that mean I''ve been really cured?'' Albert starts imagining all the possible things that could happen and tears start to roll down his face.


    "Do you mean I ca..."


    "Yep," His mom cut him short as if knowing what her son going to ask.


    "But how? All the doctors before said that it would be impossible and even all the medical trial that we''ve been going through. Hell, we even tried the sketchy underground research center. If the government has this experiment figured out since long ago why do they not announce it? What exactly is this experiment? Can it cure all illnesses that ever been recorded? Is it some kind of panacea or something?" Albert barrages his mom with a ton of questions loading all the emotions that he had been held.


    From her reactions, Albert knows that her mother knew something. The fact that she mentions about his leg conditions leak the secret away.


    "This experiment has only set in motion about 2 years ago. They got the research data and all the materials that needed for this from a sketchy source so we need to pace it really carefully. And no this is not some kind of panacea that can cure everything. This experiment alters some of your brains DNA to gives you an ability that not from this world. In the process of giving you the ability, some part of your brains would be destroyed and something that I''m not really sure of would remake all it functions to the most optimal ways. The cause of your paralysis is located in your brain so I figure that there''s a chance that the experiment would have a slim chance to heal you."


    "How do you know all this? And since when? Does it mean that the government knows that the world is going to end for like at least 2 years and they didn''t announce it? They can evacuate all the people on earth at that time span why didn''t they do that? As bad as mars are it''s still better than dying planet who cough up disaster every weekend."


    "The scientist already predicts this a long time ago. The inial plan was to evacuate everyone to mars in like 5 years but the earth deteriorating too fast and the mars have not been prepared to host all of the people 5 years early in development. The research to colonize Mars only has been finished like 5 years ago and it needs at least 10 years to develop a sustainable environment in a barren planet."


    Albert ready myself to barrage his mom with another question after she finishes her sentence when she holds her hand in front of him and said.


    "For now, hold all your questions after your dad come back tomorrow. He''s better at explaining stuff to you and he knows more about this thing than me. I don''t want to wake your sister up in all these commotions. And you know better than I do if she know all this, her brain would be short-circuited and unable to keep her calm. And you of all people should know that in a dire situation a calm minded people are the one that would make it out alive."


    Albert floats up to his rooms and lay flat down in his bed while Luna trying a few different spots until she decides to curl up on a sofa next to a window. Albert skips his dinner cause he was too busy processing all the pieces of information that he gets during the day.


    His consciousness slips away while he was reading the experiment manual that t. All along, He was wondering about a way to make use of his power and what would the government do with all of these powerful peoples suddenly popping out like mice.

 Chapter 13 - 13.Anna Campbell

    Albert is woken up after the long night sleep and day full of surprise. He put his right hand where his comlink resides in front of his face to look at the time.


    ''10.34 Gosh dang it! I overslept mom going to kill me.''


    Albert thought as he floats downstairs as fast as he possibly can. He still can''t move his legs but after 10 years he''s already a pro moving from his bed to his chair back and forth. His pet snake woken up by the commotion he causes. If he can understand her, he would know that she''s really annoyed that he disturbed her beauty nap time.


    Looking at Albert ready to get out of the room she slithers her way to her royal throne on my shoulder. And continuing her beauty nap using Albert''s shoulder as her pillow.


    "Morning," Alice''s said while yawning walking out of her room


    "It''s almost noon Alice, we''ve overslept. I wonder why mom didn''t wake us tough"


    "What???!!! Mom''s going to kill us let''s go, hurry" her eyes go from let me sleep 5 more minutes to there''s a meteor coming towards her in a blink.


    Downstair Mrs. Abigail is reading newspaper in the dining table full of food. Looking at their mom not in the best mood, Albert decides to start the conversation by apologizing


    "Sorry, we overslept, mom. Is dad already home? Where is he?"


    "Nevermind, kids. Your dad''s flight got canceled due to the storm. He said he''ll try to book another flight as soon as possible but it''ll probably impossible to make it for this weekend." Mrs. Abigail said disappointed


    Seeing their mother not in a very good mood. Alice tried to cheer her up by acting as the most adorable daughter world could have. The rest of the day they spend inside their house finding their own entertainment due to the storm.


    Albert spends the rest of the weekend reading the experiment manual and playing with Luna.


    He also successfully raise his Instrument Mastery experience by experimenting with his dad''s old guitar. By Monday morning he raises his Instrument Mastery experience to 4%; He also raises his affinity with Luna causing his puppet mastery to gain more experience.


    He calls James and Kana every night to discuss what he gains during the day and to share more information so they can perform better as a group. The day before school he was so excited about the change that would occur in his school and he almost couldn''t go to sleep because of it. Albert reserve James taxi service''s that night so he doesn''t have to go to the nearest bus station in this cold weather.


    ------Saint Joseph Academy------


    "Good morning, Mr. Wayne" Alice greet her teacher


    "Morning, Alice. You don''t have to go to your classes just straight to the auditorium. There would be another assembly this morning." Mr. Wayne reply with a smile


    "Is it only for senior on junior high? Or also for all senior high school students?" Albert ask Mr. Wayne


    "It''s for all student that participating in yesterday experiment. By the way, according to school regulation, you can''t bring pets to school, Mr. Ward." Mr. Wayne said when he sees Luna on Albert''s shoulder.


    "Oh, this is Luna, and she''s not my pet well not your normal pet exactly. You can say that I got her through the experiment. Is it really not possible for me to bring her inside Mr. Wayne?"


    "If you got it from yesterday''s experiment than I guess it''s okay to bring her in. But I need to check your card to confirm whether or not this is really not just an exotic pet."


    After Mr. Wayne finishes checking Albert stats, the group waltz in and head to the auditorium. Albert, James, and Alice start looking for Kana when they arrive at the auditorium. James offers his taxi services to her but she declines him. She said she would bring surprise tomorrow morning at school for them and end that conversation.


    In the auditorium, Kana is having a conversation with another girl who looks similar to her. The girl has the same skin complexion as Kana who is a bit Asian but mostly Caucasian. She''s taller than Kana by not much the only distinct different about them is their hair. Kana has short hair and she always loves that bob cut hair while the other girl ties her long hair with a ponytail.


    "Annnnnnaaaaaaaa!!!!" Alice jumps straight to the girl beside Kana without hesitation.


    Albert almost couldn''t believe his eyes when Anna turn her body and straight-up catching Alice with both of her hand mid-air.


    ''What in the name of hell is that reaction? Are all normal humans capable of catching a human being running and jumping at them at full speed?''


    "Aliceeeee!!!" Anna starts swinging Alice left and right like some kind of doll making the little devil happy.


    "Hey Anna, long time no see. What are doing here? Didn''t you graduated like 2 years ago?" Albert greets Anna as he approaches them.


    "She is being transferred here as she''s also part of the experiment."


    "What??? I thought it was only for young people aged between 15 -18?" James confirming whether or what he hears yesterday are true.


    "Hey, Albert!!! Hey, James!!! It''s for people aged 15 - 24 but they prioritized younger people so, for now, they focused mostly on places that have good reputations such as our school." Anna clarified


    "Oh is that why there seems to be many unfamiliar faces here. Also, are all our school alumni who''re not older than 24 would come back?" Albert spoke as he observes his surrounding


    "Not exactly, most of the transfer students would be your ages. I''m a special case as I already start the experiment about 10 days ago as 3rd beta tester but because of the circumstances I transferred here."


    "Oh, you start the experiment earlier than us. Does that mean you already gone to that world?"


    "If by that world you mean the tutorial world than yes, but Eden nope, not yet."


    "There''s a tutorial world????"


    "Of course there''s you did not think that the government would just throw a bunch of unstable teenagers to another world without some kind of guidance did you? Didn''t your dad already explain this?"


    "Nah, his flight got canceled so he has to re-book it. By the way, what''s all this gotta do with my dad? Does he know something?"


    "Woops, well I guess you have to wait to hear it directly from him." Anna tries to slip away avoiding answering Albert question


    "You are also part of the experiment??? Do you have stats? What is your class? Can I see your stats, sis?" Alice starts barraging Anna with questions.


    "Here you go, little Angel." Anna gave Alice her card while still hugging her from her back like she hugs a teddy bear.


    Name: Anna Campbell (COMBAT)


    Age: 20


    Gender: Female


    Race: Human


    Level: 8


    Exp: 6,4%


    Class: Spearman( +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 End, +1 Vit, 1 Free)


    HP:215/215


    Mana:25/25


    Stamina:190/190


    Weight Limit: 5.5


    Str 18


    Vit 13


    End 15


    Dex 16


    Int 2


    Wis 2


    Free Point: 4


    Traits: Weapon Expert


    -Can have more than 1 weapon mastery


    -Can use weapon spesific skill with any weapon


    -Incapable of wielding a shield


    Mastery:


    -Spear Mastery LVL 1 (87%)


    -Staff Mastery LVL 2 (8%)


    Mastery Point:1


    Skill


    - Crescent Sweep


    - Focused Charge


    - Spear Shove


    "Whoooaaaa, you already level 8!!! How do you level up? Do you fight monsters to level up? What kind of monsters? Is it scary? How come you have an experience bar in your status tabs" Alice exclaims amaze looking at Anna''s stats.


    "You unlock your experience bar later when you get some general experience in the game. As for how to level there''s a lot of ways to do it. You can fight monsters if you want as it is one of the faster ways to do so. But there''s a lot of different ways. For now, you better listen to the principal first cause it looks like he''s going to start" Anna said pointing at the principal who''s walking with a group of people.

 Chapter 14 - 14. Weapon Instructor

    The principal going up to the stages with his entourage. One of the guys is really bulky walking right behind the principal covering the guy behind him. But the one that stands out the most there is a funny looking guy who is a bit plum but moves agilely through the stairs. Most of the students pay special attention to a particular lady who walks beside the plum guy.


    She is really attractive but the reason most students can''t keep their eyes away is because of her aura. Not that the aura is visible is just the way that she moves feels different compare to others. And there are some more suit-wearing people following the group walking to the stage look kinda imposing.


    "Ahem, I see that some of you guys already adapting to your new power. I know that some of you still figuring out about the situations but don''t worry we''re here to help you. In front of you guys are some of the peoples that already going through the same things that you are experiencing at the moment." The principal start the speech without any opening and straight into the core problem.


    If you look around the auditorium you can find a really magnificent sight that you can only find in a movie. In just a day a plain normal school turns into an X-Men university with weirdo everywhere eyes can reach. You can find one student who used to be normal, grow overnight into a bodybuilder almost as big as a door. You can find a student with a plant-like vine growing on her hand and even a student who brings a white snake pet hanging on his shoulder.


    "We also have some transferred students that would go through the experiment and become evolver alongside you guys. I hope that you guys can get along with each other and help those in need. Now I guess that''s enough introductions so let''s move on to the next agenda."


    The principal start explaining things about the experiment, mostly about the purpose of the experiment and about the new world that they call Eden. It turns out that the government is creating a VRMMO that somehow can materialize you into the new world. It couldn''t transfer your real body and even if you died in there you would still be alive. But dying is not without side effect so the principal warn the student multiple time about that.


    The situation in Albert''s group is really dire. James is trying his hardest not to fall asleep while Alice is catching up with Anna not paying even the smallest bit attention to what the principal speech. Only Kana and Albert listening to the principal trying their best not to miss important stuff while taking some notes on their comlink.


    After 2 hours the principal finally finishes his preliminary explanation about Project New World. The principal also provides a link to a school website where students can find a more detailed explanation about the experiment. There''s also a half an hours video the goverment provides as a general explanation about the outline of the project.


    "Now that you guys got the gist of all of this. it''s time to just dive right into a practical side. I could go on explaining this to you for days and you would still confused about it. As many say you learn better walking 10 thousand miles than reading 10 thousand books. Now I would give the floor to the peoples behind me to take over. They are the people who already going trough the experiment for 2 years so you better listen to them."


    The principal walks back and sits on one of the chairs on the stage as 3 people walk to the center of the stage. The plum guy, the buff guy and the lady with unique aura waltz through the stages and take a stand in the middle of the stages and start introducing themself.


    "Hello, my name is Hubert you can call me Mr. Hubert or Sir Hubert, beside me, is Mr. Carlos and Ms. Layla. We are the basic instructors that would help you in figuring out your mastery, skills, and traits. I''m not good with words so let just start with a presentation. We would now show you guys our ability so prepare to be amazed. HAHAHAHAHAHA"


    The buff guy, Mr. Carlos moves to the front and takes a fighting stance and suddenly a sword and a shield appears on each of his hand. Sounds of awns from the students can be heard surprised and amazed by a guy pulling weapons out of nowhere.


    "Calm down!!!" The principal said from the back calming some frightened students


    "Mr. Carlos has sword mastery and shield mastery as his starting mastery. He develops both of that masteries and uses sword and shield to survive in the new world. As for why he can summon them out of nowhere, that was not related to his mastery so we wouldn''t focus on that. As the principal already told you guys, your consciousness is going to be sent to the new world and in that world, magic exists so don''t be too easily startled."


    "I believe most of you guys have at least one weapon related mastery. Sword-mastery is the most common weapon related mastery that you could get so Mr. Carlos would teach you guys about basic weapon mastery. Most of you guys that got sword mastery and or shield mastery can also ask him for further instruction. For those who have others weapon mastery, I suggest you go to the library as we have compiled data about others weapon including a holographic video on how to use them."


    Students chatter can be heard getting louder when Mr. Hubert talk others weapon beside sword and shield have to learn by themselves. 1 particular person who is surrounded by a group who wear the same uniform as him, stands up and questions Mr. Hubert without a care as if he is a king and everyone need to respect him. His attitude is really similar to a young master in some generic novels.


    "Aren''t people who have others weapon mastery would be at a disadvantage as they don''t have an instructor, then? While the holographic video is nice as we can see them with our eyes and follow their movement. There''s no way it can compare to a real-life instructor who can give you advice and correct your mistake."


    Mr. Hubert ignores the young master and continues his speech sharing his experience about the New World Project. He also mentions that the whole 4th floor of our school is already renovated to be a library and we are free to go there and read some stuff that we don''t understand as there are too many students and there''s only a limited amount of instructors.

 Chapter 15 - 15.Magic & Skill

    "Now as I said we''re basic instructors so we would only teach you guys the basic of things. So most of you guys would have to learn by yourself. Now to answer that rude boy previous questions."


    "Although I said that people that have sword or shield mastery can ask Mr. Carlos for instruction it doesn''t mean they have advantages over others. There are a lot of ways to interpret sword mastery and although Mr. Carlos is good with sword and shield there is a lot of type of sword and shield. Falchion, Shortsword, Gladius, Claymore, all of this are categorized as sword mastery. Even if he can instruct someone who uses shortsword the same as him there''s still a problem of the length of the said sword as everyone has their own preference. So, in the end, every single one of you would still have figure things out by yourself."


    "And as Mr. Hubert, said before we''re only basic instructor we would not instruct you on how you should develop yourself. I would only help you with basic fighting and how to fight with weapons. The fact that I can instruct some of you it just means that you''re lucky. And just for your note, I develop my sword and shield mastery to correspond with each other so if you only have sword mastery I can''t help you too much. On the contrary, if you have shield mastery with other weapon mastery like spear, dagger, axes, etc, I maybe can help you a bit as we would have a similar fighting style." Mr. Carlos go into more detail about himself


    Mr. Carlos un-summon his sword and shield and step back to stand beside Ms. Layla. Now was Mr. Hubert turns to take the stage; pose a fighting stance and shapeshift his body to be a robust bodybuilder. His arm is shining and has a bit of a bronze luster like copper.


    "We would now divide you guys into 3 groups and each of us would teach you basic stuff. I will teach you on mastery and skill. Mr. Carlos will teach basic combat and weapon mastery. While Ms. Layla will teach you magic-related mastery and skill."


    Ms. Layla waves her hands and everyone can see water dancing on top of her hand.


    "Whooooooooaaaaa!!!" the students exclaim as they see people who can control water and others who can shapeshift his body. Although summoning a weapon is also cool there''s a lot of magicians that can hide card and pull them out of nowhere. People who can control water and do real magic, on the other hand, are really out of the norm and pique everyone''s 8th-grade syndrome.


    "After each lesson, we would rotate the group so others can also learn from other instructors. We would do 2 hours of each lesson today. After that, we would make a scheduled for a class where you can attend if you want to. There would also several more specific lessons later where you can attend so open the school website and check it for any updates. Any other questions?"


    "When are we going into a game that the principal talking about?" Asked some nerdy guy on the backline. Imagine his excitement as a person who spent most of his time gaming being told that they are going to play a VRMMO in another world where you can be the main character.


    "You can start dive into the tutorial today but I suggest you do that after you have at least some understanding about yourself."


    From the back a timid girl who seems awkward raise her hand and stand up like in the military.


    "What level are you guys are? And can you tell us how to level up? Do we need to kill monsters or something?"


    "Yes we can kill monster and level up that way but no that is not the only way to level up. You would have a better understanding after you dive into that world. You can learn all that information in the library. As for our level let just say it''s double-digit"


    "I think it''s better to divide them first into 4 groups and let one of the group read in the library. Most of their questions would be answered by then so we don''t have to babysit them so much."Ms. Layla suggest to Mr. Hubert


    "I''m down with that as we can focus more on each individual as we have a smaller group. The downside is we would have to do the lesson 4 times instead of 3. What do you think, Carlos?"


    Mr. Hubert agrees as he looks at his college. Mr. Carlos nodded his head and look toward the Principal asking for his acceptance.


    "Okay, those who want to do some fighting practice can follow Mr. Carlos, those who want to learn some basic magic can follow Ms. Layla, Mr. Hubert for mastery & skill application, and those who want to read can follow me." The principal said making the auditorium full of rambling and people moving to different groups.


    "What are you kids going to do first?" Anna asked her group, breaking Albert train of thought


    "I guess I would read in the library first. Without any information, the lesson that they gave would not be optimal."


    "Oh, I do not think that way. I guess it makes sense luckily I did not dive headfirst into Ms. Layla''s class as that class seems to be the most complicated one." James chip in


    "Well, I already learn the basic so I guess it would not make any difference for me. But I think it would be beneficial for Kana plus it would be more fun if we''re stick together."


    "Hmph" Kana agree with her sister.


    It took approximately 5 minutes for 4 uneven groups of students to form in front of the auditorium. To nobody surprise, Ms. Layla''s group is the most crowded one. Mr. Carlos''s group consists mostly of buff up type guy and some delinquent. Mr. Hubert''s group is kinda well balanced in terms of student composition and amount of students and the group that goes to the library has the least amount of people.


    "I think we need to split them more evenly as it would take a longer time to teach them if the groups are massive." Mr. Hubert said to the principal


    Before everyone can say anything, Ms. Layla stands in front of her group of students and open her mouth.


    "I know that all of you are eager to learn magic as this world doesn''t possess that. But the concept of magic is really complicated and reading some basic theory of magic in the library helps you a lot. You can read in the library first and ask some questions that you don''t understand in my class later.


    After Ms. Layla put her argument her group started to shrink as some of them realize their mistake but most of them still stay in and the groups are a bit more reasonable now.


    It''s still skewed towards the instructor classes but not by much.


    Mr. Carlos''s group move toward the open football field, Mr. Hubert moves towards the PE building where the awakening process took places days ago and Ms. Layla group stay in the auditorium.


    Along the way to the 4th floor, James asked Anna about her experience in the experiment but it does not help much as she is still in the early stages too. She told him most of the stuff that the morning assembly taught but her VR experience in the tutorial world really pique Albert''s interest.


    As they arrive at the library their comlink got a new notification informing them. That they are connecting straight into their database and they can read anything that they have inside the library.

 Chapter 16 - 16.Library

    "So what are we going to read?"Alice asked the group as they sit on the corner.


    "I think we should look up for something related to our mastery that we have. Puppet mastery if there are any and sound-related mastery would do for me, And I''ll also put some pet related mastery on top of that. What about you guys?" Albert said while browsing the categories in my comlink


    "Hmmmmmm, I don''t really know what titles are related to my masteries. Can you give me suggestions? It''s really weird to think that I would fight a monster with a book. I mean what should I do, bash the enemy with the book? Doesn''t seems to be helpful." Kana said grumbling


    "You have your Vitality Restoration Mastery, right? Why don''t you read about basic healing skills or something related to that? Why read basic soul pet, Albert? I thought what you have is soul puppet and not a pet."


    James suggest to Kana


    "I''m looking at healing related skill but I can''t see a basic healing title here. There are some basic elemental heal, basic natural heal, and some more specific like water element heal, light element heal. Which one should I choose?"


    "Luna feels more like a pet than a puppet so I want to cross-reference my puppet mastery with pet mastery cause I feel like they are kinda interrelated. Also, my puppet mastery categorized as a rare mastery so I''m not too sure whether I can find puppet related titles.


    I would choose natural heal if I were you. But you can also read the other one if you have time to cross-reference it. Vitality related books could be an option too so maybe pick 2 or 3 titles. And see what works best."


    "Really there''s no title about your puppet mastery? They usually have at least a title even if it''s a rare mastery. As for you, I suggest this, this, this, and this" Anna said while picking natural healing, basic mana manipulation, basic inscription, basic body manipulation, on Kana comlink


    "Oh, you have to read some basic title like mana manipulation and body manipulation. It would help you a lot with the lesson later." Anna added as she picks some titles for her to read in her comlink.


    "Anna sis help me pick a title, PLEASEEE!!!" Alice jump on Anna bandwagon after she saw Anna picks couples titles for Kana to read


    "Sorry I can''t help you with that, sweetie. I only can help with basic stuff but you have 3 rare mastery so I don''t know what to do. I would recommend you take some basic stuff first and pick more advanced stuff later when you understand yourself better" Anna said to Alice


    "I''ll take on that suggestion, Anna. You have to have strong foundations to build a tall building." Albert said while choosing extra titles to read from his comlink.


    "Will this basic mana manipulation and basic body manipulation title really help me along the way? I don''t have any mana due to my traits, would reading mana manipulation be useful?"Kana doubt her sister selection as she browses through her comlink


    "Even though you don''t have mana having knowledge about basic mana manipulation could still be useful. Normally you would need a certain amount of mana to cast skills whether you like it or not. And your blood magic traits said that you can use a skill the difference only that it would cost HP rather than MP. Basic Mana manipulation would teach you not only how to manipulate mana but also how to use your mana to cast your skill."


    "So although you don''t have any mana it would be still helpful to read that. Body manipulation would help you a lot tough as your HP and your body are inseparable. With both titles in hand, I think it would help you down the road counteract your negative combat traits."


    "As for basic inscriptions title, it''s one of the ways evolver who have book mastery fight. You can inscribe your books to have some effects that would help you fight. Books, Orb, Wand, and Staff these are the most common weapon for evolver who uses magic. Each of these weapons has its own advantages but one thing they have in commons is they all help some kind of inscription to help you cast your skill more effectively."


    "Whoaaa, I guess we''re in luck to have a private instructor." James leaves his comlink and starts bugging Kana for an explanation.


    "As you already know your mastery doesn''t give you an instant magical ability to do something. For example, if you have fire magic mastery it doesn''t mean you can instantly make a fireball out of thin air. They gave you knowledge about fire manipulation and how to do it and you learn to control your mana to do just that and create a skill. You''ll learn this in Ms. Layla class later."


    Kana start reading in her comlink intensely after she is content with the reasons her sister gave her. After Albert has done choosing titles to read He starts helping his sister and James choosing their title to read. He gave them both most of the basic stuff that Anna suggests plus a couple of titles that seems fitting for them.


    He gave Alice basic earth element, basic hand to hand combat, and also body manipulation skill as for James he''s really lucky as summon skeleton skill is one of the most common summoning skill so he chooses that despite Albert protest and he also pick couples extra summon related titles as a reference.


    Albert recommends him reading some basic summoning, basic skeleton summoning, and basic necromancy due to necromancer class. James try to find some shield related combat technique but he couldn''t find it. Most shield related titles have some kind of combination with others weapon and in the end, James gave up and chooses basic blocking titles to add up to his reading list.


    Judging by James appearance people would be amazed how a muscle fool like him can stand reading that many titles without overheating his brain. Granted that his muscle is only a facade and he''s really just another geek like Albert who happens to have a father whose is an ex-athlete.

 Chapter 17 - 17.Library (Part2)

    "Why basic earth element and basic body manipulation? Did you figure something about her skill? Be careful not to give her wrong advice as it can cause her a lot in the long run. If you''re not sure better to let her figure things out herself" Anna ask Albert worriedly when she saw he pick basic earth elements in Alice comlink


    "Her mastery is actually 1 very rare mastery and not 3 separated rare mastery. I try to draw theory from her skill name as that are the only thing we got. Emerald, Amethyst, Ruby; the only thing they have in common is precious stones. According game logic, precious stone and mineral are parts of the earth elements. And to learn how 3 linked mastery work you have to figure the connections between them and consider them as 1 skill rather than multiple. So I think it would be safe to start from the connections which are earth element."


    "Right, almost forgot that Kana told me Alice pick 1 skill and got 3 as a result. She really is a lucky girl. I guess you also suggest body manipulation for the same reason as bone, flesh, and skin are part of the body so hence body manipulation?" Anna said looking towards Alice


    "If you look at it from games perspective isn''t ruby usually tied to fire elements rather than earth? I think you should reconsider this, Albert." James cuts Albert before he can answer Anna


    Albert realized James is still listening to them all this time despite focusing on his comlink. Sweat drip on Albert''s head realizing he almost make a big mistake that could cost his sister a lot. Realizing his mistake, Albert took basic earth elements from Alice''s reading list and consult the other two further about what should they do.


    After a short discussion, the three of them agree to let her read basic stuff first as there''s a lot to read and discuss further when she''s done with the basics. Basic body manipulation still on Alice''s reading list as they have no qualms with the logic behind how bone, flesh, and skin are parts of the body itself.


    After Albert finishes discussing Alice''s situations with Anna and James he starts to read from his comlink. He tries to help the others by giving them his perspective on how things should work but Anna stops him to help them further.


    She said it does not help much to do so because every person has a different perspective and if they follow him blindly they would hit a bottleneck somewhere and can''t raise their mastery ever again.


    That is also the reason why most of the things in the library are basic knowledge and not a full-on tutorial lesson.


    Albert spent half of his time reading basic mana manipulation and all the basic stuff that could be useful for the next lessons. He read basic sound manipulations and there''s even a video about how you can use an instrument to fight an enemy. Due to him having a sound domain as his traits so all sound-related skills would be twice more effective. Fortunately for him, he could use a sound base skill coming out from his instrument also buff by his trait.


    ''I think I could use a sound that comes out from my instrument not only to attack but I can also try to create a skill to buff others around me like in Hunter Monster Game that used to be popular in past.''


    Albert really needs to thanks Anna for her suggestion as basic mana manipulation helps him a lot. The core purpose of an instrument is to create a sound; To use it efficiently he would need to create a sound-base skill and not bash your enemy with it. It turns out that a lot of peoples who get instrument mastery also have the same idea so he got a lot of references to take for that part. Creating a skill using an instrument requires you to channel your mana and somehow project your mana out using the sound that comes out from the instrument.


    Some people use it to hypnosis target so their partner can attack it easily, some combine it with other mastery and create some kind of mental attack, there even one who use it for a physical attack as he combines it with wind element and he makes it so the sound that he produces can cut through it making some kind of wind blade.


    Albert finally understands what is Anna is saying about figure his skills through his own perspective. Each skill has a strong point and some kind of downside so he can''t just go learn them all as some skills contradict each other.


    For example, the guy that uses hypnosis play a soothing melody to the target let them relax and let their guard down. On the contrary, to attack them using sound that produces wind blade a strong high pitch note is necessary. There are also many kinds of instruments and one would suit other types of development better.


    When he play games in the past, Albert always told himself to never commit to a one-way path and to always have an alternative. Even as an archer you would face some situation where you need a knife or magic. He always chose to go to more of the general path to be ready to for any weird situation.


    This time he decided to toss away an attacking path as they require him to make an early commitment when he choose instrument type. Granted there are multiple types of attacking using and some instruments there are some instruments would fit his requirement and can be used in multiple ways.


    But the more he thinks about it, it would suit him better to abandon an attacking part as his mastery compliment his support build.


    ''This is real life and not a game. Although a general path is an easier option, in a world where you need to be better than others to survive you need a specialization. I can have Luna to attack and I support her and others from the back. I could also observe the fight from distance and give command whenever I can. I can contribute my experience of 10 years MMO gaming and as a leader of raiding party I think the experience would be useful.''


    Albert finishes reading everything and look at the time on his comlink and realize that he already spend almost 3 hours in the library.


    "Wait, we''re here for almost 3 hours??? Didn''t the instructors say that there would be 2 hours for each lesson and we have to rotate one after another? Did we just miss one of the lessons???"


    "There is a notification on your comlink informing you that they would add an extra hour for every lesson. As this is the first day and it''s really hard to get the hang of it on the first time you try." Anna said nonchalantly


    Kana and James are discussing what they learn from all the new things they read. Next to them, Alice is having a blast in the dreamland. Albert knocks on her head to wake her up; 3 hours are almost up and they would need to move to one of the instructor lessons soon.


    "Oh, you''re finished, Albert. How much experience did you get for your mastery from all the new knowledge?"


    James ask him smiling like he is the happiest person on earth.

 Chapter 18 - 18. Transfer Student

    Albert Ward


    Mastery:


    -Instrument Mastery LVL 0 (12%) rise by 8%


    -Puppet Mastery LVL 0 (7%) rise by 3%


    ''Whoa, it raises a lot. It''s more than what I get from 2 days of fiddling at home. I got a lot more experience for my Instrument mastery skill compares to my puppet skill. It could be because my puppet skill is a rare one so it''s harder to level it or maybe because I got a lot more information about instrument mastery and sound. Or maybe both, well whatever it is it''s a good thing I that all my mastery experience reach double-digit.''


    "What the hell? How did you get so many experience for your instrument mastery?!" James exclaims looking Albert mastery status.


    "Well, it turns out there are a lot more people who has instrument mastery as their starting skill. And they are kinda similar to each other as most instrument mastery users use sounds manipulation so I get a lot of notes to compare. What about you guys how much did you guys improve?"


    "I raise my shield mastery a lot more than I expected. Blocking is kinda the core of everyone who has shield mastery so I hit a jackpot on that title. As for my summon mastery most of the notes are kinda useless as they talk a lot about how to summon more entity and how to summon different things so I kinda ditch most of it other than the summon skeleton title."


    Everyone examine at others comlink as they share their views regarding the titles they read.


    Kana Campbell


    Mastery:


    -Book Mastery (7%) rise by 5%


    -Vitality Restoration (7%) rise by 4%


    James Smith


    Mastery:


    -Shield Mastery (8%) rise by 5%


    -Summon Mastery(10%) rise by 7%


    Alice Ward


    Mastery:


    -Emerald Skin LVL 0 (4%) rise by 4%


    -Amethyst Muscle (3%) rise by 3%


    -Ruby Bone LVL 0 (3%) rise by 3%


    Anna Campbell


    Mastery:


    -Spear Mastery LVL 1 (88%) rise by 1%


    -Staff Mastery LVL 2 (8%)


    "I wonder how long it would take us to raise it to the max level. If after we reach Anna level the experience gained only around 1%. And her mastery is not even LVL 1 yet" Kana''s statement looking at Anna comlink.


    "It would raise faster when you applied what you learn for real later. They also say it would raise even further when you create original from the mastery that you have but I have not managed to do so and only can copy other most basic skills. It''s like swimming even if you know the theory how to do it when your body did not move accordingly you would still drown" Anna explain


    The speaker announcement start to make noise as 3 hours period is up. The principal voice can be heard instructing students to take half an hour break before they proceed to the next lesson. Looking at the time indicating that it was almost past lunch hours seems like the plan to do all 3 lessons plus self-learning time in the library in 1 day is impossible. The school decided to only hold 2 lessons today and continue with 2 other activities tomorrow.


    After he finishes that announcement the students who already finish reading in the library started to walk towards the exit. In every corner of the library, you can see the majority of the students are lazying in their chair and some of them even require their friends to wake them up as they still in the dreamland.


    In a normal school, it''s already a miracle you can stuff a group of full energy teenagers in a library for 3 hours and there is no riot happening inside. With a lot of things happening on earth their guardian/parents must have already warned them about the importance of this experiment so even if they are not reading they don''t dare to make a ruckus.


    Albert float towards the exit forgetting his pet snake who''s been sleeping next to the windowpane. The snake enjoys sleeping basking in the sunlight and so she chooses that specific spot. Feeling her personal moving tree nest exiting the room the snake slither to catch up with it. Some of the girls that never realize there''s a snake napping in the same room as them; shriek as they see a snake slither towards the staircase.


    "Oh, I''m really sorry about her, she is with me. Don''t worry she won''t bite you and is not venomous, I guess" Albert explain to a guy ready to be a white knight


    "What do you mean that snake is with you??? Are you allowed to bring a pet to this school? And a pet snake on top of that? And what do you mean by ''She''s not venomous, I guess'', it''s either yes or no, there''s no in-between! If you''re not sure, don''t bring it then!!!" Berates one of the girls raising her voices.


    "Hey, he already says sorry. You don''t have to raise your voice like that! And it''s not your business whether he can bring it or not!" Alice chides back as she saw the girl raising her voice reprimanding her brother. She doesn''t care whether her brother was in a right or not. Family comes first other things can be solved later.


    The girl who berates Albert was one of the transfer students. And she has a bossy attitude you can find from an influential family. Looking that he''s at fault Albert decide it was not wise to raise the problem further.


    "Well, I get her from the evolver project so yes I can bring it. As for whether she is venomous or not I have not checked yet, again because I get her from the evolver project so I''m not sure how to check it."Albert explained slowly as he floats in front of Alice stopping her from escalating the situation. When the girl saw that he''s a disabled person in the floating chair her expression change and decided not to argue defusing the situation.


    Alice is super protective and sensitive when someone is at odds against her brother. It should be the other way around and it was at least until Albert get a moving throne about 10 years ago. Floating in a chair doesn''t stop Albert and James to make a mess every now and then.


    Luna slithers her way to her throne and shows dissatisfaction with Albert leaving her in the windowpane. Although Albert can''t understand her after the weekend he learns a lot about her habit. She usually starts hanging her body around his neck and rests her head in his shoulder but when she gets in his lap this time she just looks towards him and stares at his face. Only after he pat her head, then she starts to climb to his neck laid her head back down on his shoulder.


    Looking at Luna''s behavior Alice is excited wondering whether or not is she really possesses human-like emotion. Albert wonders how excited Alice would be if she knows that there''s this thing called soul pet mastery that allows the user to make a contract with otherworldly creatures and turn them into your soul pet. Soul pets possess high intelligence and they possess human-like emotion. Some can talk in human language and the rare one can even communicate through telepathic.

 Chapter 19 - 19.Magic

    After the group finish with their meal in the cafeteria, they are lead straight into Ms. Layla''s lesson in the big classroom on the third floor. When we arrive in the classroom, the 1st row is already full so we choose to sit behind them.


    Following after them, waves of students fill the class before finally, Ms. Layla shows up with 2 other people in tandem ¨C 1 male and 1 female; the man looks like a scholar from fantasy novel wearing round glasses and book on hand; the girl looks like a magical girl that you will only often see on anime ¨C staff, red hair, big eyes, and excessively fancy clothes. Ms. Layla stands in front of the class while her two entourage sits behind her.


    "Mana is the energy inside your body that you control according to your will. Mana has 3 distinct features; they are stable, harmless, and it acts similarly as energy. Mana possesses the same characteristic as energy and it also complies with the first law of thermodynamics; Mana can neither be created nor destroyed; mana can only be transferred or changed from one form to another..."


    "Our body can only withhold a certain amount of stable mana at a certain time period. Each person''s capability is different and some can withhold more while others not so much. This amount is reflected perfectly by MP in your status tab..."


    "When you cast a spell, you''re using you''re forcefully controlling your mana to do your bidding. Mana that is under your control no longer considered as stable mana; Due to this, you would lose some of your MP when you cast a spell as your body can''t withhold unstable mana."


    "Now the number one question would be how do we regenerate back our mana, right. Similar to how tree produces oxygen the world take unstable mana and slowly turn it into a stable one before they release it again. Then we could absorb the stable mana to regenerate our MP -making an endless loop of mana circle..."


    "Similar to how blood moves around the mana inside our body are also in a constantly moving state. To control your mana you have to feel your mana flow and try to control the flow instead of controlling the mana itself....."


    Half of the students in Ms. Layla''s class already lost their way when Ms. Layla explaining things about mana to them. The clock shows that it''s only been 1 hour; It took her 1 hours to explain basic theory and she didn''t even touch more advanced stuff such as element


    "Now, for those who want to learn a magic-based skill, listen and watch carefully, I''ll teach you how to cast a spell but be very careful. To cast a spell, you are required to change your mana characteristic. I''ll use my water magic as an example but this would apply to every single magic-based skill."


    "To cast magic-based skill you need to learn about rune; Rune is a catalyst that can change your mana characteristic into a bunch of different aspects. All magic-based skills require at least 1 rune. And this is how my water rune looks like" Ms. Layla explains as she waves her hand, creating visible calligraphy in the air.


    The students exclaim in awe as they see the floating scribble in front of Ms.Layla. Albert observes the rune closely but he did not recognize the character that she writes at all. It''s not Chinese, and it''s definitely not Japanese, as Albert is proficient in Japanese. Whatever it is the character seems really complex though.


    "Now to create a rune, you only need to do it with your minds. Just imagine every stroke and dot and voila! There you go. You''ll get used to creating rune as you train casting your spell, but for now, you can just watch the demonstration."


    "With this basic water rune, I can change my mana characteristic into water." Suddenly the inscriptions that are floating in the air changing from a dull grey colored character into a bright yellow character with a shade of gold. Glowing brightly the rune start to fade as a stable ball of water starts to form on top Ms. Layla''s hand


    "To successfully cast a spell, you need to perfectly draw the rune in your mind and supply it with enough mana as energy. Every stroke in a rune has its own meaning. When you miss even a dot, there''s a possibility that it could ruin your spell."


    "When you reach a certain level, you can try to tweak basic rune to fit you better and even create a new rune from scratch. I advise you to not do that until you''re really proficient and understand the meaning behind every line, curve, and dots on the rune you plan to modify. Now that the demonstration is over.Any question before we move on to individual practice?" Ms. Layla halts her explanation as she sees that most of the students are daydreaming and cannot keep up with her fast-paced teaching.


    Students start raising their hands asking questions, mostly they ask her to repeat or clarify certain part of what she explained before. Some of the stubborn once ask her on how to modify their rune so it can be stronger. Ms. Layla didn''t answer that question and just straight up ignoring the said student.


    "You." Ms. Layla points at Albert as he raises his hand.


    "You said that to cast a magic-based skill, I need to change my mana characteristic using rune as some kind of mediator, right? Does that mean that if I can copy your water rune, I can also cast a water spell like you even though I don''t have the mastery to compliment it?"


    After Albert ask his question, the room suddenly erupted in loud noise as the students realize that if what he said is possible, then it will be HUGE. Doesn''t that mean that everyone can do magic regardless of their class and mastery?


    "Good question!!! The answer to that question would be yes and no."


    "Yes, in theory, if you can recreate the rune perfectly and supply it with enough amount of mana you can copy someone else skill. But, even after 2 years of testing, no one has ever successfully done that."

 Chapter 20 - 20.Rune

    "Every single line, curve, and dot in each rune has a meaning. Like an idiom where you combine a couple of words that hold their own meaning to create an expression that has a new meaning. The meaning is unrelated to the individual word but take one word out of it than all would collapse."


    "A single dot contains 1 crux the other held another crux but combines they represent the essence. Without the essence, it would only be a doodle. So, if you can perfectly copy the rune and understand the essence behind it you for sure would be able to do it in theory."


    "The mastery that you possess isone of the ways that help you do all this. Some of you who have water magic mastery get fragments of information that help you understand water-related rune more easily."


    "Then, let say that I possess water magic mastery. Can I copy the entire water magic rune in the library and create my own skill and raises my level?"


    Ms. Layla looks at Albert amazed at his intelligence.


    ''If all the students are half as smart as him, I would skip this lesson and just teach them some advanced stuff.'' *sigh*


    "Yes, you can but there''s a catch."


    "What, I just did about 5 minutes ago should already answer this question of yours. To create my personal water rune and I also use someone else rune as a base and change the structure to fit me better making it my own personal water rune. Even if you understand the meaning behind each and its every stroke, it doesn''t mean that you can capture the essence of why the creator of the rune does so. "


    "All the rune in the world are unique even if two identical twins learn from the same master, the result could greatly differ. For example, if I show you a picture of a river, one guy would say that the water flows beautifully while others might say, the fish swims freely. From the same picture, two guys interpret it differently. Both of them are not wrong as the water on the river flows beautifully and in the same river, you can see fishes are swimming freely.


    "Only copying other people rune you wouldn''t net you any interpretation of the rune itself, although this way can net you a good amount of experience. But in the long run, you''ll just destroy yourself by building tall without a firm structure."


    "That''s why in that world, master is respected so much by their students; the chance to inherit their rune; receives a private lesson to help them understand the essence of the rune, and how their master interpreted the said rune. This would help you greatly in creating your personal rune."


    I need to go back into the library to broaden my knowledge even more. Digging more information is useless If I don''t have the basic knowledge to implement it later'' Albert said in his mind


    Ms. Layla smiles looking at Albert didn''t go digging for further information as she already feels that she''s going too far. Giving a clueless student more advance information than they could probably handle can make them go into the wrong path.


    "How do magic-based weapons such as book, orb, or wand to help me cast a spell?" Kana''s give Ms. Layla another question after Albert.


    "Well, there is a couple of different ways to use them but we segregated them into 2 main courses; one could use it to help them cast faster and others amplify the spell to be stronger. Each weapon type has its own unique way of helping one achieve just that. And each weapon type also has more advantages in one path compare to others.


    "Most wands made of expensive and precious materials excel in amplifying your spell power. The materials of your wand would determine how your wand would perform. You can also cast faster as you can gather all your mana on the tip of your wand and use it to compose your rune; This way you don''t need to supply your rune with mana as you finish composing it as you already put the mana on the wand. The second part is a lot harder as you need to put a different amount of mana in a different part of your rune so you really can''t let your concentration slip even a bit."


    "Orbs are magical items that can help you control your mana. To cast a spell effectively, not only you need to understand the essence of your rune but you also need to control your mana to supply it with the right amount of energy. Too much mana then it will be a waste; too little then, the spell is failed. Too fast, then there''s a risk of explosion; too slow and your enemy would kill you. Same as the wand, you can also make your orb from materials that to help you amplify the spell"


    "Books can hold many inscriptions that can either amplify your spell or you can even just inscribe your spell rune so you only need to supply mana on your book to cast it. Books are not made of any valuable materials unlike the other two. What makes the books invaluable is the inscription inside that book."


    "Then which types are the best weapon for mage class?" cut a bob haired girl sitting at the row in front.


    "Everything depends on the user. For someone who has perfect control of their own mana wand would be the best as he/she can cast a stronger spell and also faster. For someone who has a ginormous amount of mana, the orb would be the best as the more mana you have the harder it is to control it."


    "For those who are diligence, books can help you cast a spell higher-level spell even when you''re low level. Also unlike the other two books are not made of any expensive materials. So it''s also the most economist one."

 Chapter 21 - 21.Magic Class Weapon

    "Doesn''t that make the book weaker compared to the other two? It feels more like a beginner weapon that you change after you get stronger. It can help you level up faster but it''s usefulness fall after you''re strong enough." Jerry one of Albert classmate respond to Ms. Layla


    Ms.Layla moves her eyes towards the inquirer and shakes her head as she continues her explanation.


    "No, What I''ve said before is only a very basic example of each weapon usage. In the hand of a pro, books are the deadliest weapon; They can fill up their books with spell rune and continuously bombard you with it without any pause. Or they can amplify their 1 simple spell to eradicate a city by amplifying them with layers and layers of inscription.


    "At the end of the day, weapons are only tools that would help you reach a certain level. How you use that tool is the determining factor of how deadly your weapon is. But don''t be disappointed if you didn''t have the weapon mastery that you desire. if for some reason, you feel that the weapons are not compatible with you then just pave your own path.


    "What do you mean by ''pave your own path''? Is there any other weapon type for mage classes? Can you create your own weapon mastery?" Jerry asked enthusiastically


    "How to use your weapon are up to you and not up to the type of the weapon. I as an orb user happen to have an excellence mana control; The orb doesn''t actually help me that much in casting my spell. Although it seems useless I keep using my orb until I found a new method on how to utilize my orb; Now, I can amplify my spell by oversupplying my rune with mana, making it more deadly."


    "And although there''s never a case of mage creating new mage class weapon mastery; There''s a lot of people who use successfully create their own weapon mastery. Double-blade mastery is created by a man who wields 2 sword - one for each hand. There''s also a case of someone combining 2 weapon mastery and creating one new weapon mastery."


    "Didn''t you say before that too supplying too much mana in a rune is a waste?" Albert asking for clarification as what she said is contradicting what she explain before.


    "Yes, this is where my new method kicks in. With the help of my orb, I can compact my mana to be more dense and concentrated. I would then supply my rune with condense stable mana instead of my normal mana making the skill more effective." Ms. Layla explain further.


    "How do I inscribe a rune to my book? Do I write it with pencils?"


    "How many inscriptions can a book hold?"


    "Where can I buy a mage class weapon?"


    "What material is good to make a wand?"


    "Question about book mastery would be better if you ask Mr. Stan who is sitting behind me as he is also a mage class who specializes in book mastery. Ms. Lily can help you with questions about wand mastery as to where to get them. You''ll get the basic one at tomorrow''s classes while the more advance one you have to look for it in the game world."


    "I think we should now jump into practicing how to cast a spell. Even if you already learn the basics having a real experience of trying to cast is a whole different matter. We will help you prevent the spell from going awry so you can try to learn to cast in here. We also will conduct an individual test to see how stable are you in magic casting."


    "Those who pass the test can practice on the side while those who don''t can only learn magic casting inside this magic circle so we can monitor you better. Passing our test doesn''t mean you can practice on your own time ¨C only in this class!" Ms. Layla reminds us not to experiment outside the class.


    "Those who don''t have any mastery related to magic can learn how to control your mana first on the side. Although, you can''t use magic, controlling your mana can be useful as many swords skill also need mana to be executed."


    Albert moves to the sides along with Anna and Alice as they don''t have any mastery related to magic. James and Kana start practicing in the middle of the stage while Ms. Layla takes 1 student the front to test them one at a time.


    Albert closes his eyes and tries to feel the mana inside his body ¨C imitating what Ms. Layla teaches him before. After 15 minutes Albert start to feels something different inside his body.


    ''I can feel a flow of mana through my whole body but how do I control it?'' Albert''s mind analyzing his new experience feeling mana inside his body.


    Albert tries to focus his mana onto his hand but even after many tries he still failed to do so. Beside him, Alice is sitting in a cross leg position on the floor. But unlike him, Alice are busy watching how others perform in the middle of the stage. She asks Albert for advice as she also failed to control her mana like her brother.


    Next to them, Anna is sitting in the same position as Alice; But unlike the latter, you can actually feel Anna''s body projecting some kind of cold air to her surroundings. Alice is eager to ask Anna to teach her as she thought that it would be really cool if she can do that too.


    "I think it would be best not to disturb her for now, Alice. You can ask her how to do it later after she''s done. Disturbing her could possibly put her on danger so it''s better to leave her unless we''re sure that it won''t harm her."


    Listening to her brother''s Alice stops her intention and continues to watch how other students learn spell casting. Seeing his sister listening to her advice, Albert starts observing others student together with Alice - hoping to learn something new.


    Besides the group in the middle, an extra group of students is forming on the side casting difference spell. The new group presents a much better entertainment compare to the group in the middle.


    Albert saw James among the new group with a 2-meter high skeleton standing beside him. James continuously summoning and unsummoned his big new friend and try to inspect it every now and then.


    James picks a corner spot as most of the students beside him avoiding him like a plague due to his new summon. Fire, water, lightning, you can see students after students controlling different kinds of magic on top of their hands. Some have fire burn brighter than others but there is not so much difference other than that.


    One particular student stand out the most due to his feet not touching the group. He fights the law of gravity and won by levitating about 10 cm off the ground.


    ''WHOA!!! He can fly?!'' Albert screams on his mind as he sees the levitating student


    ''I wonder whether his mastery is Telekinesis or something related to gravity.'' Albert continues his thought as he looks toward another student who is being tested by Ms. Layla


    ''Oh, he is another skeleton summoner! I guess James is not the only freak'' Albert thought as he sees the said student joining James in the corner. Albert continues to wander his view looking for Kana who he finally found still in the middle of magic circle.


    In front of Kana, a floating dull-colored rune is visible. Her forehead is sweating and you can see that she tries to make her rune glow like Ms. Layla did but in the end, nothing happens to her rune.


    "Failed?" Albert hears a familiar voice beside him before he finishes observing all the students.


    "Yeah, how do you control yours? I try to gather my mana in my hand but they keep resisting." Albert narrate his experience to Anna


    "Instead of controlling it by using force, why not try to lead them like water? Make a path, instead of forcing them to go to places. Mana needs to be in a constant moving state so you also have to provide a way out from them to flow."

 Chapter 22 - 22.After School

    Albert back to learning controls his mana again following Anna''s advice. This time instead of trying to gather and hold it in his hand - he tries to release it bit by bit through his palm. After several tries, he successfully controlling his mana and start emitting them from his palm.


    ''I need to try to focus my mana on a more specific spot like my fingers. According to the information I gather from the library, most instrument mastery plays their instrument using their finger. Focusing mana on larger surfaces such as hand would be easier but it also wastes more mana as it spread around evenly.'' Albert''s brain analyzes how to efficiently utilize his mana


    Times pass by fast and soon it was already 3 hours since Ms. Layla start her lesson. Although some students can be considered successfully did casting a magic spell the same thing couldn''t be said for most of the students.


    "Okay, 3 hours is up it''s time for you guys to go home now. For those who still can''t cast a spell don''t be discouraged as things are different for each people. Some mastery is harder and some are easier to learn - And you also have to consider your traits which could make learning specific mastery harder."


    "So don''t give up too fast and just do your things up to your own pace." Ms. Layla said encouraging the students who didn''t get to cast anything.


    After Ms. Layla''s encouragement, students start to leave the auditorium to go to their own home. Albert entourage already books James''s taxi services so they start heading to the parking lot.


    "So, how does it feel?" Albert ask James


    "What does what feel?"James smirking to him pretending he doesn''t know what he is talking about


    "Don''t get too cocky you bastard. Just tell me already"Albert punch James on his arm annoyed by his smug face.


    "Hey, that hurt! I know you just envy cause you don''t get to try casting skill but you have Luna let me have my fun." James pointed at Luna and grumbling


    "Well, it was a fun experience I have to say. We''ve been playing games together since we''re still on daycare and today I got to experience to summon stuff like I was in the fantasy world." James said excitedly


    "Soooo, do you have any advice for those who want to try casting a skill? You know in case I try to cast one later" Albert ask him pretending he wants his advice


    Hearing Albert''s question Kana understands that he is asking James advice to help her as she failed miserably in Ms. Layla''s class. She turns her head and stares at James hoping she can get information about his personal experience casting a skill.


    "Hmm, how do I say this? I just did it as Ms. Layla instruction, create the rune and move my mana through my hands into the rune. If you want some advice I guess tread carefully. Mr. Stan dispell my runes a couple of times as I oversupply my mana trying to make BONE-VOYAGE stronger."


    Hearing the name Mr. Stan, reminding Kana that she forgot to ask him about book mastery. James continues gloating about how awesome he was successfully casting a spell on the first day he learns it.


    Sharing our experience''s we found out that Kana is having a really hard time controlling her mana. Even after the class ended she still couldn''t feel her mana existence and spend the entire time learning about healing rune.


    The next morning, you can hear students bragging to their friends all around the school as they go to their classes. Albert''s group scheduled to take weapon mastery class first thing in the morning - followed half an hour break and then skill application class. After students are done with the classes they are free to train whatever they want until 3 pm - The school needs to install some device so all students have to go by 3 pm.


    Albert entourage arrived at the football field that has been modified. Rows and rows of machines can be seen lining up in the football fields. 30 brand new fighting dummy installed on the left side of the field and more other equipment such as sandbags are also installed there. Make the field looks more like a gym than a football field.


    Mr. Carlos walks into the football field right before the class start, with a few people in tow.


    "As this is a weapon mastery class, we will start the class by picking your preferred weapon first. You can pick your weapon on that machine over there. There you can see a list of weapons and detailed about each weapon. If you still can''t decide what weapon suits you best you can try a couple of weapons in the simulated room over there."


    "Please be mindful as we only have a limited amount of time and If everyone is wasting their time to choose their weapon - We wouldn''t have enough time to learn anything. Don''t be too afraid that in choosing your weapon as you can change it later if you feel it doesn''t fit you."


    "Although I said that It doesn''t mean you can just pick carelessly. The weapon that you choose now would be given to you for free as your school already paid for it. If you want to change to another weapon then you would have to find it by yourself. This very weapon would also be your starting equipment when you dive in-game it would stall your early game development if you choose the wrong one."


    "Now, If you don''t have any question you can start choosing your weapon of choice as we don''t have an unlimited amount of time."


    Finish with the introduction, half of the students start to walk towards the machine to look at the weapon list. A small group of students is standing in front of him raising their hand waiting to ask their question. Albert''s group also stays in their spot as they want to consult about Alice''s condition.

 Chapter 23 - 23. Weapon Mastery

    After answering 3 consecutive questions about the general stuff around New World Project rather than questions about weapon mastery - Mr. Carlos raises his hand and told someone who about to ask him another question to stop


    "You already have a chance to read some of the general matters in the library. It''s your fault if you did not use your time to look for it before. From now I would only answer questions about weapons mastery or basic combat."


    Some of the students walk to choose their weapon after hearing about Mr. Carlos''s decline to answer their question. The group that is left behind start to inquire more detail information about weapon mastery and the weapon itself.


    Student A: "Are we allowed to bring the weapon back with us to train on our home?"


    "No, you can''t due to how dangerous it is. But you can file a request and see whether or not that possible after the New World Project goes public."


    Student B: "What if I want to refit my weapon, for example, the length or the weight of it?"


    "You can file in a request for a customized weapon but you have to pay an extra for that"


    Mr. Carlos is a man of a few words. He tries his best to be amicable but it got overshadowed by his intimidating presence. One particular group students seem unfazed by his intimidating presence;


    From the way they stand and the stoic face that they show, they seem to have a military background.


    "Can use my personal weapon for this training? Also is it possible for this weapon to be my starting equipment later?" Ask the student from that group


    "Yes, but I don''t know whether it''s possible to use it as starting equipment later. Most weapons we got here are made of by the people from the New World. The weapon from New World possesses a status like an attack, durability, weight, etc. You can try to fill a request to see whether it is possible to recreate your weapon to fit the requirements."


    "What if I can''t use a weapon and don''t have any weapon mastery?" Alice asks Mr. Carlos seeing that only their group are left as other students already taking their time choosing weapons.


    "That means you''re free to choose anything but the risk are higher as you don''t have any basis. One of my good friends starts with no weapon mastery just like you. Hoping he can get a sword mastery as his mastery, he picks a cleaver for his weapon of choice; Due to some event, he somehow gains axe mastery by chance and even after he got axe mastery he still sticks with his cleaver."


    "His persistent and hard work was finally awarded when his axe mastery evolved into saber mastery which arguably fit him better than sword mastery that he wishes he could acquire. Even though I say this you should pick your weapon mastery carefully as his case is 1 in 100 cases. The other 99 who didn''t the same luck as him either get left behind by others peers or trying their luck with another path."


    Alice furrows his eyebrow as that is not the answer she was expecting. Mr. Carlos who seems to hate answering other student questions. Gave a long detailed explanation about weapon mastery. Still, even after this long, it did not answer Alice''s real question.


    Seeing Alice''s face frowned forehead Albert decide to be a good brother and give Mr. Carlos a more detail explanation about Alice''s predicament.


    "Sir, Alice''s circumstance is a bit different compared to others. You see, Due to her traits Alice is incapable of wielding any form of weapons. So even if she wants to pick let say a sword her traits are preventing her from wielding the said sword. Do you have any suggestion for someone with those conditions?"


    "Oh, that one unique condition you have there. Hmmm, did you have any support or magical capabilities? If you do, it would make this easier as support and magical classes not necessarily need weapons to perform. May I know what her class and mastery are? Maybe I could give more appropriate suggestions if I know more details."


    "She has a monk as her class and even though it can be categorized as a support class she doesn''t have the necessary mastery nor traits to back it up. Her Steel Armed traits prevent her from wielding any forms of weapon but it gave her bonus to unarmed combat and also extra mastery slot. Her mastery is called Jade Skin, Amethys Muscle, Ruby Bone I was thinking about asking Mr. Hubert about it later. Mr. Hubert''s demonstration of body manipulation skill yesterday gives me an impression - that body manipulation would suit her mastery quite well."


    and as for her traits, It''s think it falls into body manipulation category


    "Oh, there is one good brain you have in there young man! Better keep it safe." Mr. Carlos said before he continues


    "Asking Mr. Hubert for advice would be the correct way. From her mastery, it''s almost safe to assume that it would fall into body manipulation category. But I think it would be inappropriate for a girl like her if she follows Mr. Hubert''s way of combat."


    "You see when he fights with his party he utilize his body manipulation skill to manipulate his body constitution and act as the tank for the team. I can''t imagine a team where they let a little girl like her take a hit while everyone stands back and attacking the enemy."


    "If I were in her shoes, then I would try to learn basic unarmed combat and pick a couple of movement base skill or unarmed combat style in a library later. Learning unarmed combat goes doesn''t hinder you in learning body manipulation and it also got boosted by her traits. But if you prefer her to be far from harm you can try to help her develop her lifestyle mastery later in-game."


    "She can learn basic combat while wearing gloves and arms guard as it counts as armors and not a weapon. Nothing could go wrong by learning self-defense as the world we would dive into are full of danger. She can spar with me so I can instruct her as I already complete basic combat lessons even before I participate in Project New World." Anna chid a proposal

 Chapter 24 - 24. Picking Weapon

    Anna is blackbelt in multiple martial arts as it''s one of her passion. It''s also helped her discipline her sister''s mischievous friends when they were younger. Anna''s combat standard might be higher compared to what it shows in her status as her mastery only mark her based on her spear and staff mastery.


    "I can arrange that; Anna is one of the best fighters in her batch and If not for her late start she can qualify as one of the instructors for sure. How about you, boy - are you going to participate in this training? We give students to opt-out in this lesson if they think they are not willing to." Mr. Carlos look at Albert condition


    "Did you merge all weapon mastery or did you separate them based on their weapon type? I can join either the range fighter group or mages group as I can try to utilize instrument mastery from range."


    Mr. Carlos nodded acknowledging with Albert''s choice.


    "I have a shield mastery but I don''t have other weapon mastery to go along with it. And I also don''t think I will pick any other weapon for my main hand as my class is a necromancer. Should I go with the melee or range group?"


    "If you ask me for my honest opinion I suggest you go with the melee group. As the shield is kinda useless when you are standing in the back of your group. But you can try both if you want and decided later what suits you better."


    "If you restrict yourself too much it can backfire against you. The best way to become strong in the new world is to develop a path that suits you best and don''t limit yourself with the logic. Who decides that necromancer can only cast from range. In fact, In Anna''s previous group there''s a mage from her batch who is one of the better close-range fighters - He can shoot fire from his fist when he put throw a punch."


    Finish with their inquiry the group start walks to the machine to pick their starter weapons. As Albert browses through the instrument section he was in awe as there''s a lot of variety of instruments that not even mentioned when he read in the library. There''s a ton of percussion instrument listed, violin, flute, a bagpipe, harp, etc.


    He skims through all his options and eliminated them 1 by 1.


    ''String-based instrument seems to fit me best and it said that they are the most balanced type instrument. Blown type instrument is lean towards debuffing enemy with either confusion or hypnosis and drum-based is more fitted for attacking type user.''


    ''My choice is either violin, harp, guitar, ukulele, or zither. Violin and harp have the same problem as the blown type instrument while a guitar is too big for me as I can also need to consider my condition so with the process of elimination it was either zither or ukulele.''


    After considering his option, Albert picks an 80 x 30 cm size zither not too big and not too small. Looking at his surrounding he saw Anna not picking any weapon and instead she''s helping Alice and Kana pick theirs.


    Common Zither


    Weight: 0.2


    Requisite: 8 int 8 dex


    - Effective range 10 meters


    - Amplify all sound-based spell effect by 5%


    Kana pick a big 17-inch book as her weapon. That one big ass book for your normal everyday stuff but Anna recommends it to her said it would be useful for her sister as it''s hard for a beginner to inscribe anything when you have a small working space also it could help her defend some stray arrow or projectile as it''s kinda thick.


    Alice has to wait for a day for her gloves and armguard. Anna said she would let Alice borrow her stuff for this training session as she already ships some of her in-game equipment to the school for practice purposes.


    "Are you not done yet, James?" Albert asks approaching James who is still browsing the weapon list


    "Yeah, there''s a lot to consider I only found out just now that there are so many types and variables that come along with it. Come here dud, help me pick one."


    "What are the options?"


    "They mainly categorized into physical defense and hybrid between physical and magical defense. There are also shapes and sizes to consider and finally the weight of it - Check out this shield stats. "


    Heater Shield


    Weight: 0.4


    Requisite: 5 end 5 str


    - Max damage block 8


    - Blocking consume 2 x damage in stamina


    Great Shield


    Weight: 2


    Requisite: 14 end 10 str


    - Max damage block 18


    - Blocking consume 4 x damage in stamina


    Celtic Shield


    Weight: 0.3


    Requisite: 5 int 6 str 4 end


    - Max damage block 7


    - Can block magical attack


    - Blocking consume 2 x damage in stamina


    Looking at the three options James gave him, Albert stop looking further. Most of these stats requirements for the shield are str and end unlike with instrument which requirement mostly consists of int and dex. Necromancer class is not known for high endurance and strength so he couldn''t fulfill most of the shields requirement even if he spends his free point.


    "Dude you can''t even wield most of these. You did not meet the requirements as you have low str. You also have to consider weight as your weight limit is not that high. Sort this into one that has strength requirement lower than 3 as you have 2 str and 1 free stat if you want you can probably use it."


    Round Shield


    Weight: 0.1


    Requisite: 2 dex 3 str 3 end


    - Max damage block 5


    - Blocking consume 1 x damage in stamina


    Coffin Shield


    Weight: 0.5


    Requisite: 5 end 3 str


    - Max damage block 8


    - Blocking consume 2.5 x damage in stamina


    Kite Shield


    Weight: 0.3


    Requisite: 3 end 3 str


    - Max damage block 6


    - Blocking ranged attack is twice as effective (Can block 12 ranged attack)


    - Blocking consume 2 x damage in stamina


    "Well, this just becomes so much easier. Now, which one should I choose among this 3? The lightest one? Or the one with most damage prevention?"


    "I think you can manage the weight as you have necromancer as your class. Your other armor should relatively on a lower side of it. You should ask Mr. Carlos how to raise our weight limit."


    "Or I can just ask Anna later. I remember she has quite a lot of weight limit when I saw her stats yesterday." James said while putting a point into his strength so he can wield the shield that he choose as all of them require a minimum of 3 strength.


    Not long after all the students finish picking their weapon a bunch of cart boxes is delivered to the football field. The students seem excited when the staff revealed the weapon inside the boxes and start distributing it based on their previous choice.


    "I think that''s a little too big for you, Alice," Albert said when he saw his sister wearing an oversized armguard.


    "This is Anna''s as the basic armor for us is still being processed. I already filed a special request for a more sturdy armguard and gloves and Anna said she would pay it for me. I''ll wrap my hands with bandages for now so it wouldn''t slip out of my hand"

 Chapter 25 - 25. Sparring

    "You either raise 5 strength and you would gain 1 weight limit or 5 endurance and gain 0.5 weight limit. It seems useless for a necromancer to raise those stats but raising your endurance would also increase your stamina. And to utilize the shield you need a lot of stamina as you spend your stamina to block your enemy attack." Anna told James how to raise his weight limit


    Anna is holding a thick red book in her hand and James is trying a couple of cool poses with his new shield. He said that it''s the shield really fits his necromancer theme as it has a black color and shaped like a coffin.


    30 minutes pass since the start of the class and Mr. Carlos raises from his chair and getting ready to teach the students some basic combat and weapon mastery. All Around, you can see a miss-match high school student holding all kind different weapon in their hands.


    "Now that I see all of you already pick a weapon we can start the lesson."


    After saying that Mr. Carlos separated the student into 3 main groups; melee, ranged, and magic classes. Each types has a different basic combat style so they need to teach them separately. Albert join the range group while Kana and James chose the mage group while James, Alice, and Anna join the mele group.


    James contemplated for a while in which group to join. In the end, he chooses the range group as Anna offers to teach the group personally later. That way he can try both styles and pick which one suits him the most.


    Mr. Carlos gives all the students a 10-minute lecture about the importance of teamwork and team composition.


    After we''re separated Mr. Carlos start instructing the melee group first as other instructor taking over other groups.


    Mr. Carlos began teaching the melee group basic stance for each different weapon and how to use them efficiently. Mr. Carlos also teaches them how to properly dodge, block, parry, and counter-attack.


    The range and mage group head to dummy to start their lesson. Other than basic that range group also learns how to dodge and basic movement patterns of shoot and run. Mage group mostly learn how to cast while moving or to dispell their spell midway to dodge a lethal attack. The instructor also helps the student to fix their stance and advise them to read extra titles in the library later.


    Instructing a bunch of harmless teens to use weapons taking a lot of time and patient. Finally, after 2 hours, some student stands out compared to others. Archer starts hitting the dummy although they still miss 3 out of 5 shots; Some mage successfully cast a spell while they move around. 1 particular mage even hit the target casting while moving.


    The last hours are free self-train time for the students and they can learn whatever they want and ask different instructors if they want to. Some students even suggest sparring with each other but Mr. Carlos stops them as it''s really dangerous to let 2 beginners a sharp weapon to swing at each other.


    He let the students spar with an instructor if they want to see their capability. Anna to do a 1 on 3 spars versus Alice James and BONE-VOYAGE team. Kana is left behind as she still can''t cast any spell whatsoever and Albert due to his condition.


    Mr. Carlos approved Anna''s request as he knew her fighting capability and seeing there''s no sharp weapon user in our group. Anna uses a training staff instead of her own spear that she owns in-game. James gives BONE-VOYAGE a big stick as you don''t really need mastery to swing a stick.


    Albert asks them to let him try to control Luna and make the spar 2 vs 3. James, Alice, and Anna moved to an open space to begun their sparring. James start by summoning BONE-VOYAGE and gave him a big stick as you don''t need any particular skill or mastery to swing a stick. Being a kind older sister Anna gave him enough time to summon BONE-VOYAGE and only start the spar after they are ready.


    Albert & Kana are not even a bit worried that they would hurt each other during the spar. Alice can only punch using bare hands or defend with her arm guards. James can only defend using his shield while Anna got to have enough experience if to do a 3 vs 1.


    BONE-VOYAGE starts the spar by swinging his big stick toward Anna''s side. Anna blocks the attack with his staff and shoves it make the skeleton stumble back 2 steps before he can regain his balance.


    She swings his long staff left and right suppressing James while Alice would try to sneak around and launch a counter-attack when the opportunity arises. Alice can raise her battle experience and as James wants to learn how to cooperate with his skeleton to comfort his enemy later this training can be very useful for him.


    Anna keeps hitting James''s shield while pointing out some flaws. Granted there''s not a lot as she is not an expert in shield either but it''s still useful for James. Anna dodges most of Alice''s sneaky attack and launch a counter back whenever she can towards her. She even predicts couple of Alice''s sneak attack forcing her to defend herself before even she can attack.


    Anna always stops her attack a couple of inches before it hit Alice unless she prepared to defend it with her arm guards. While James suffers a lot cause she didn''t hold her punch against him.


    On the sides, Albert tries to communicate with Luna so he can also participate in the sparring. He tries to set BONE-VOYAGE as his main target as he''s afraid to target Alice or James in case anything went south.


    They are learning fast and Alice learns to continuously move and not to linger around after she attacks giving Anna chance to attack her. She even learns how to hide behind James''s shield protection which makes him suffer even more.

 Chapter 26 - 26.Skill Creation

    Until the end of the lesson, Albert still did not get the chance to participate in the spar. Mr. Carlos dismisses the class but some students choose to continue training in the football field until the next lesson start. Some students have bonded with each other makes a lot of smaller groups within the class.


    Alice asks the group to wait for her to finish cleaning herself up because she sweats excessively after she spars with Anna and James. Anna and Kana also decided to join Alice in the cleaning up as they are also sweating a lot. Kana sweats a lot less compared to the two but she got a lot of dirt and dust moving around the field and learning how to dodge.


    Time passes by so fast as we relax. After finishing their meal in the cafeteria, the group jumps straight into the next lesson with Mr. Hubert. In the gym building, A lot more instructor is waiting inside holding various kind of weapon.


    "Alright, now that you arrive we can immediately start the lesson. As this is the last group I expect you to be better than the group before - As you already learn from the class before" Mr. Hubert say after all the students get inside the gym building


    "Today we will teach you how to create a skill using what you already have. We will start with the demonstration as it would be easier for you to understand what I explain after you observe it your self. Mr. Poe will you please show them your skill."


    To many of the students surprise their teacher Mr. Poe walks from behind Mr. Hubert holding a big great axe. Mr. Poe is Albert''s homeroom teacher and he is known for his easy to approach personality; He''s been teaching poetry in Saint Joseph Academy for almost a year and most of the students know him.


    Without any words, Mr. Poe swings his great axe to another instructor who held a great shield and big maces in each of his hands. Mr. Poe''s swing is guaranteed to miss as they stand about 10 meters apart. But to many surprises, Mr. Poe''s swing denying logic and some kind of wind blades coming out from Mr. Poe axe hitting the great shield.


    Loud noises are reverberating when the wind collides with the great shield. The instructor forced to move 3 steps back - Every single student including the transfer students are picking up their jaw due to the shock. Witnessing something so bizarre yet amazing demonstration.


    "What you see before are one of Mr. Poe''s more flashy sword skill, Turbulent Slash. He creates this skill to complement his fighting style. His preferred weapon a great axe gave Mr. Poe quite a burden as it slows his movement speed due to its size and weight. To cover this weakness being unable to catch up with ranged enemy or enemy who runs away Mr. Poe creates this skill."


    "And differ from the skill you learn in Ms. Layla''s class - This skill doesn''t require you to possess any rune to be used. Here, you will learn to execute your skill using only your mana. There is one other method to create a skill and I''ll explain it in a bit after I explain the first one."


    At this point, Kana''s face is pale due to what Mr. Hubert said. Since yesterday every lesson requires her to use mana which she doesn''t possess. She''s been trying her hardest to look for any presence of mana inside her body but she still couldn''t find it.


    "Back to Mr. Poe''s demonstration, Turbulent slash is a skill designed so he can create a wind blade transferring the momentum from his swing through the air cutting all in its path. To do that he gather a certain amount of mana and shaped it like the axe blade itself; Using the momentum of the swing he throws the mana shaped axe bladed towards his target obliterate everything in his path.


    "Although sounds simple in reality it''s really is difficult. As this is your last lesson I believe you already familiar with controlling mana so I wouldn''t explain any further about it. For the first lesson, try to channel your mana into your weapon making it part of the circulation."


    Although it sounds easy even after half an hour some students still can''t manage to do it. Mr. Hubert stops the first lesson there as there''s still many more he has to teach.


    "You can keep practice this on your free hours as this doesn''t need much supervision and save to do even in your own home. Now, we will show you a demonstration of other methods on how you can execute your skill."


    "Next we would cover the other method you can cast a skill. Like in Ms. Layla''s class this also requires you to have a specific rune to execute the said skill. I''m not going to demonstrate this as I already did that on the first day when we meet in the auditorium. The skills that I demonstrate previously use this method."


    "To create skill using this method you need to create a specific in your mind. You need to carefully imagine how your body stance, the flow of your mana, how would the said skill works, and also the result of your skill. With my copper skin skill, I imagine my mana to reconstruct my own skin."


    "I start by emitting my mana to the skin surface level and move it with a particular rune pattern turning my skin harder than it should be. So instead of creating rune and supply it with mana, I move my mana to recreate the rune at the same time. The advantages of this method are obviously faster skill execution and more efficient.


    "The disadvantages of this, your skill would only affect the thing you apply your rune on. For me, I use my own skin as a media so the skill affects my skin. Due to this, some skills are restricted to other methods as they would cause more harm when you cast in with this method."


    "Now try to move your mana following various kinds of patterns. This training would make it easier for you when you create your skill later. Moving mana in a certain pattern is harder than it seems. And this method also allows no rooms of errors as you do all in 1 stroke. Failing to cast your skill in the middle of the skill could cost you your life; so do this training seriously."


    "Some expert mage can execute their other skill using this method due to how proficient they are at controlling their mana. They force their mana to lingers just long enough for them to finish drawing their spell rune in an empty space."


    More than half of the class brain lost in space after the longwinded explanation Mr. Hubert gave them. In Albert''s group, James couldn''t keep up with the complexity of the lesson; Kana survive it due to Anna helping her step by step while Alice is a lost cause and can only try her best not to sleep in the class. Albert fares better as he loves to dive deep into the game mechanic dissecting how things work and how things interact in a game.

 Chapter 27 - 27. Transformation Skill

    Spending another half an hour trying to move their mana the students are exhausted. Mr. Hubert stops them and continues the lesson with a Q&A session. This session took almost 1 hour due to how complex this lesson is. Finish nitpicking every single detail about skill creation Mr. Hubert split the class in a group of 5 each with one instructor as an overseer.


    Albert''s group instructor just happens to be the plum guy Mr. Hubert.


    "Okay if you don''t have any other questions, you can start practicing the two previous methods; For mage class, you can treat this as training using your own skill rune If you want. It would be hard for a beginner to cast a spell with your weapon as it will split your focus. Maybe after you master your spell you can start to train to apply your weapon benefit to your spell."


    "I have questions. What should I train as I don''t have any magic-related mastery nor weapon to train with?" Alice asks Mr. Hubert as she gave him her cards so he can check her status.


    "Hmm, interesting... Do you get any information about your mastery when you read in the library? I personally never heard of this 3 mastery so I couldn''t help much. You could just probably train your mana control like in Ms. Layla''s class."


    "We couldn''t find any titles regarding her mastery so we told her to just read the basic stuff. I also told her to read basic body manipulation as I feel that her mastery has close ties with it. Could it be possible whether or not she could do body transformation skill like you, Mr. Hubert?"


    "Well from her mastery name it there''s a possibility that is related to body manipulation and transformation. I guess you could try to transmit your mana to your skin and control it bit by bit. There''s no easy way that you could do to determine whether or not you are compatible with transformation skills like steel body or beast transformation. You just continue to practice and hope for an epiphany."


    "THERE IS A SKILL THAT CAN TRANSFORM YOU INTO A BEAST???" Alice exclaims excitedly


    "Yeah but it''s an uncommon one and one that transforms your whole body into something like a werewolf requires you to have a certain mastery. Most people can only transform part of your body like transforming your hand into a beast claw or something like that. The previous class has one guy that successfully turn two of his finger into a wolf claw."


    "By the way, why did you not use any weapon? I believe Mr. Carlos from basic combat class would suggest you otherwise if you don''t have any good reason not using one. Even if you don''t have any weapon mastery it still better to use one for protection."


    Albert explains Alice''s condition to Mr. Hubert about how she can''t use any weapon because of her trait. Along the way, he also tells him about James''s situation; about how he only uses a shield without any primary weapon because he wants to focus on his magic base class.


    "Well, the necromancer can try to transfer some of the mana to your shield to help you defend or try to strengthen your skeleton with the second method. As for you, you can try a lot of things using instruments; attacking with sound maybe a little hard but you can try something simple first like for example amplify the sound it emits or transfers your mana trough the sound."


    ''That''s a good idea; If I can transfer my mana trough the sound maybe I could use it to communicate with Luna.''


    Albert nodded to him accepting his suggestion and move his gaze to look at the sleeping snake on his shoulder. Albert''s fiery gaze waked up the snake confused about what all this is about. 15 minute in the training Albert startles due to Kana''s voice. Kana stands with her mouth wide open pointing at Alice''s hand.


    Alice opens her eyes and looks at her surroundings confused why they all are looking at her. Seeing that Kana is pointing at her hand she lifts it to the front of her face and looks at it carefully. Her hands look normal and before she can ask why are they staring Mr. Hubert cut her short.


    "You can already use your transformation skill? Amazing!!! Have you got any new skill in your skill list? The boy in the last class only successfully transforms at the last 5 minutes" Ask Mr. Hubert amazed by Alice''s achievement. Making Alice more confused about the situation.


    "What do you mean? I have a transformation skill? How do I use it?" Alice asks confused about the whole situation.


    "Your hand, Alice! Your hand! It turns green for a moment there but it turns normal again."


    "It''s because she broke her concentration and her mana goes awry. Try to do control your mana again, Alice. This time concentrate more on your hand and try to make them linger for a bit longer." Mr. Hubert told her to practice again


    Alice closes her eyes and tries to move her mana towards her hand. It took her less than 5 seconds before her right arms starting to change color. A tint of green start appears on her hand and her nails turn emerald color. Alice opens her eyes and observes her hand carefully before it turns back to normal complexion 5 seconds later.


    "I guess her mastery really has a tight connection to body transformation mastery as you expect. I don''t know if she is really talented or just plain lucky; Most transformation skill requires you to cast it using a specific rune that the skill represents. There''s a record of people who can transform without any rune but the data are insufficient so we can''t find out the exact way how to do so."


    "Wooooohoooooo, does this mean I can create a skill if I train this skill? What is the effect of this skill? Would this make me stronger? Would it turn me into hulk if I turn my whole body green?"


    "Yeah, you can try to train this method and create a skill from it. As for skill effect; I also don''t really know. There are a lot of factors that can affect transformation skill, a slight difference can have a whole different effect. Even people with the same skill can yield a different result so there''s no way knowing what effect would your skill give you."


    "How can she transform without any rune? Is it similar to weapon mastery skills? Didn''t you say transformation skill requires a rune to execute? Also, where can I find the record about the guy who can transform without rune?" Albert inquiry as he wants to help Alice dug more information.


    "Although it was unusual some people can transform their body without rune. I can also do that but with the help of my rune, I can help strengthen my skill; Similar to weapon mastery when you reach a certain level strengthening your weapon with mana would become natural. When you reach that stage you can then use your mana in a more advanced way such as executing weapon skills." Mr. Hubert raises his arm and it already turns into something similar to cooper.


    ''It seems a bit different from the demonstration. The color seems kinda duller and it only covers his arm and not his whole body''


    "As far as I know there are less than 20 people who can execute this kind of body transformation; granted the test subject is also limited. But now that almost all young people would participate in this experiment I expect more people like her would pop up."

 Chapter 28 - 28. Tutorial Village

    The lessons continue and several students seem to make a good progress in their training. Before the lesson end Albert also successfully gain a new skill.


    -Gain new skill Sound Transmission-


    With his new skills, Albert successfully establishes a new way of one-way communication that he could use utilizing his zither. He plays with it for a while commanding Luna to slither here and there and tried to prank James and Kana a couples of times. When he initially success he can only send a few word massage but at the end of the training, he successfully sends a full-length sentence massage using a single note.


    Albert Ward


    Mastery:


    -Instrument Mastery LVL 0 (34%) rise by 22%


    -Puppet Mastery LVL 0 (14%) rise by 7%


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -Sound Transmission


    Albert made a leap of progress in his instrument mastery but his level and general made no progress whatsoever. His HP made a small recovery in this 2 day and it makes him really excited to be able to walk again. Alice did not gain any skill in the end but still make a tremendous amount of experience in this skill application class.


    Kana Campbell


    Mastery:


    -Book Mastery (17%) rise by 10%


    -Vitality Restoration (15%) rise by 8%


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -


    James Smith


    Mastery:


    -Shield Mastery (30%) rise by 22%


    -Summon Mastery(44%) rise by 34%


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -Summon Skeleton


    Alice Ward


    Mastery:


    -Emerald Skin LVL 0 (16%) rise by 12%


    -Amethyst Muscle (13%) rise by 10%


    -Ruby Bone LVL 0 (13%) rise by 10%


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -


    Anna Campbell


    Mastery:


    -Spear Mastery LVL 1 (90%) rise by 2%


    -Staff Mastery LVL 2 (9%) rise by 1%


    Skill


    - Crescent Sweep


    - Focused Charge


    - Spear Shove


    Kana fails to make any significant breakthrough after 2 days made her a little bit down. Anna and Alice tried to cheer her up every now and then but she just smiles quietly. James improves the most among his group while Anna made a little to no progress due to her high level.


    The group stays at the school to train a bit longer before they are told to head home. The school has to be emptied as the goverment would start installing a bunch of machines for Project New World.


    The next day the whole school gathers in the auditorium for another morning assembly. All the students are really enthusiast after learning that they would step their foot into the New World today.


    "As you already know today is the day that you will dive into the new world. Now some of you already know the place that you would spawn is not exactly the main world rather it''s a copy for you to try to learn basic and everything. You''ll be spawned in a tutorial village and you can teleport to the main world after you finish the tutorial."


    "You can hang in the tutorial village until you''re level 10 in which you will automatically teleport to a various city in the main world. You can choose where you''ll be spawned but beware as some cities are more dangerous than others. Most of you would start in the same tutorial village while others who already registered under another village would spawn in their respective village."


    "Bare in mind some of the people you meet in the tutorial village are the native of the world which volunteer to help in this project. Don''t sow discord and try to be polite as they are intelligent beings and not an AI."


    "As you diving into a new world for the first time you''ll experience some dizziness and nauseousness and that''s normal. You''ll get used to it as you go back and forth within the game world and earth. Each village would have 1 or more instructor dispatched to help you with your question; Listen to them and try to stay in a group of at least 3 people. That''s all for now, good luck."


    The principal than divide students into 20 groups and ask the school personnel to lead them. Albert''s group is assigned to a class on the 1st floor of the main building.


    Along the way, Anna told them that she won''t be at the same tutorial as the group because she already registered in another village. Alice is a bit bumped out because of it and asks the instructor whether would it be possible to register in Anna village or transfer to her village.


    "It''s possible but unfortunately it''s not viable; The problem is because of the influx amount of new evolver it would be hard to sort of that kind of request. It can take days may be weeks before they approve such a request. By that time you would already 1 to 3 levels behind the entire village and lost many good opportunities and quest."


    Anna advice Alice to just stick to the school arrangement and meet her after they finish the tutorial. Anna is already level 8 and by the time the school approves the request, she may already finish the tutorial. Hearing that Alice is on fire and eager to level as fast as possible.


    The group is divided further as each classroom can only accommodate 10 people. Inside the classroom 10 sleeping pods replaces a bunch of students seat that usually there. The pods are hooks to a bunch of monitors in the back of the classroom where they can monitor all the students together.


    The instructor assign 1 student for each pod and teach them how to operate it. Albert follow the instruction and scan his comlink before James helps him lay flatly inside the pod. The instructor that Luna can join him inside the pods and so she starts to slither and mingle in the pod with him.


    Albert stares at the white ceiling for a minute before his consciousness starts to fade as second pass by. When he opens his eyes, He was sitting in the middle of medieval the village with peoples stands all around him. The combination of wood and stone houses surrounded by a wooden fence and thick forest behind it really gave a peaceful feeling.


    Before anyone can admire the surrounding a round of dizziness starts to kick in. Making peoples around Albert start to fall to the ground holding their head and some even throw up. Lucky for him, He spawned along with a wooden wheelchair so he gets the luxury of not rolling on the ground.


    Minutes pass by and peoples are started adapting to the new surroundings. Students start to search their mates forming a small party together. James, Kana, and Alice approach Albert as he was easy to spot due to his wheelchair. Mr. Hubert happens to be the instructor assigned to the village and he arranged an assembly to brief the students about the tutorial village.


    The medium size village can home approximately 300 peoples. Butcher, Tailor, Blacksmith and many more various works occupations are spread around the village. The village square is filled with young foreign people that just got teleport here 5 minutes ago.

 Chapter 29 - 29. Exploring

    1. If you''re dead in the game world you''ll be knocked out for at least 3 days. There''s no permanent damage but you need to restore your damaged soul. Your body would remain in the game world so people can loot your equipment but not the items in your inventory.


    2. Monsters did not drop money; You need to bring the monster carcasses to the village or harvest the corpse for material and sell them.


    3. You have 5 big inventory slots and 10 medium slots; big slots can stack either 50 small items, 5 medium items or 1 big item. medium slots can stack either 10 small items or 1 medium item. An extra-large item such as bear carcasses takes multiple inventory slots. You also couldn''t stack carcasses so you really have to consider inventory management.


    4. The in-game currency is copper, silver, and gold. 100 c = 1s; 100s =1g. You started with 2 silver allowance to buys starting gear and supplies.


    After general introduction, Mr. Hubert takes students for a tour around the village and introduce them to various building and services. There''s a shop, blacksmith, tailor, butcher, inn, pubs, townhall, etc. There''s no cliche adventurer guild or something like that instead the village hall replaces its function and there''s even similar quest board stand in front of the town hall.


    Mr. Hubert advises them to try to interact with natives and be friends with them. They have a lot of useful information and if you''re lucky and befriend a powerhouse they can help you when you''re in danger.


    One of the unique facilities the village offers is a magic tower. In the magic tower, you can rent a room where you can safely train your skill as many skills are destructive to your surroundings. The tower made of special material that can self regenerate so you don''t have to worry about repairing the building. It cost 1 silver per hour to rent. It''s really expensive for the students as they only get 2 silver as their starting fund.


    After they finish touring the whole village Mr. Hubert takes them outside so the students can observe monster and beast from a safe distance. Some monsters are docile others would aim to kill on sight. But even the most docile creature would retaliate when you start attacking them.


    Mr. Hubert finishes the tour by telling the students that they have to be back at 3 pm as that''s when the school would end. He also told us not to worry about our real body condition as medical staff are monitoring our vital and would force us to log out when something went wrong.


    -


    Alice: "What are we going to do now? Hunt for some monster?"


    James: "We at least need a weapon to do so; Blacksmith first, I guess?"


    Albert: "I prefer to explore the villages first and ask around for information. Who knows maybe we can get a quest or two from natives."


    Kana: "Guys check your comlink; There are additional EXP stats in your status tab and there''s also a new party tab. We can ask around first who knows maybe we get a subjugation quest so we can hunt monster while completing the quest. Other than that everything seems to be in order. It''s also already 27% filled."


    James: "32%. How come mine is higher than Kana. I guess we can ask around first; who knows maybe they would give us weapon so we don''t need to buy one."


    Alice: "Mine 34%. Oh, Let''s create a party. Go go go invite me!!!"


    "I got 30% and Luna''s 44%. Well let''s go then; Village tour part 2!!!" Albert said while inviting Kana, James, and Alice to his party.


    The group spends the next hour touring around the village for the second time. They try to strike conversation every time they meet new people. Most peoples in the villages willing to chat around with players but they did not give Albert''s party a personal quest and told them to go to town hall if they are looking for one.


    The villagers inform Albert''s party about various monsters you can hunt around the village; Their strength, how to hunt them, where to find them, etc. They also advise the party to eat some foods as although it wouldn''t really stuff them up but it can trick your brain and gave you the placebo effect.


    Visiting various businesses the party skims trough what the village offers and plans on what to spend with their money. As some of them already have their starting weapon. Armor is the number one priority after that so they decide to pick it up first before they decide.


    The tailor and blacksmith are next to each other so you can buy weapons and armor at the same time. The blacksmith also provides heavy armor for those who are interested but as Albert''s party doesn''t have any who wear one they decide to visit the tailor first.


    The blacksmith shops are filled with players browsing trough their goods hoping to find a better weapon to start with. The tailor shops offer cloth and leather armor; The cloth armor are best for magic classes as they gave extra attributes such as mana recovery or gave a couple of extra maximum mana. The leather armor is heavier than cloth but provides more defense compare to the cloth. The heavy armor gave the most compare to the two but it hinders your movement so it''s not ideal for someone who moves around the field.


    The selection inside is really limited and the price is not that cheap either basic cloth armor set cost about 1 silver coin and leather armor even more expensive at 1 silver 30 copper. Basic armor set only covers your top and bottom armor slot; so you still need to fill arm, legs and head slot for you to be fully equipped.


    Seeing the expensive price Albert party decides to buy only 2 armor sets for Alice and James as they are the ones whos going face to face with the enemy. Spending 2 silver and 30 copper the party decides to visit the blacksmith shop to look for gloves/armguard for Alice; Alice is looking for one similar to Anna''s as she already uses to wear that.


    Leather Armor (TOP)


    Weight:0.8


    Requisite: 5 str 4 end


    Armor: 7


    Consume 5% more stamina


    Leather Armor (BOT)


    Weight:0.5


    Requisite: 4 str 2 end


    Armor: 5


    Consume 2% more stamina


    Cloth Armor(TOP)


    Weight:0.3


    Requisite: 5 int 2 end


    Armor: 2


    +10 Maximum Mana


    Cloth Armor(BOT)


    Weight:0.2


    Requisite: 4 int 1 end


    Armor: 1


    +5 Maximum Mana

 Chapter 30 - 30. Supplies

    The group ends up spending another 1 silver in the blacksmith shop. The armguard cost them 80 copper; James picks a 20 copper wooden club for his skeleton. Although James''s skeleton didn''t have any stats like Luna they want to try to equip it with a weapon.


    The blacksmith didn''t have a superb quality armguard like the one that Anna wears. Alice settles for a nice steel armguard and decides to switch when they found a better one.


    Steel Armguard


    Weight: 0.8


    Requisite: 7 str 2 end


    Armor: 9


    Decrease attack speed by 5%


    Wooden Club


    Weight: 0.7


    Requisite: 5 str


    Attack: 6-8


    With how fast they spend their money; they would be bankrupt the day after tomorrow if they didn''t have any income. But before they can take quest from the village hall they need to stock up healing items. Hunting monster could land you pretty nice income but it also filled with danger.


    The group spend another 3 silver and 50 copper buying all kinds of potion to ensure their safety and went straight to the town hall. They bought 10 lesser HP potions for 15 copper each, 5 lesser MP potion for 20 each and 4 lesser antidotes for 25 coopers each.


    The town hall is even more crowded than the blacksmith. People are walking here and there try to dig more information, groups are looking for extra members to help them do complete a difficult quest, etc. Due to Albert''s condition James and Kana volunteer to take a quest for the party while Albert and Alice wait on the side.


    Albert and Alice are waiting near a small butcher stall while Kana and James went on their way. Bored with nothing to do, Alice decided to continue to train her transformation skill. While Albert just plays with Luna on the side. Luna slithers here and there around his hand, head, and shoulder following Albert''s command; Weirdly enough Luna is not a sleepyhead like when she is in the real world.


    "That''s a unique soul pet you got there, little buddy. What is her species if I may ask?"


    Suddenly Albert hears a hoarse voice from behind. He turns his head towards the voice and sees a big blurry butcher sitting in his stall with nothing to do.


    ''Weird, people in this village usually wouldn''t start a conversation with you unless you ask them first. Is he going to give me a quest? Better use this chance and dig more information from him.''


    "Yeah, I got her as my first mastery. And she is a puppet and not soul pet so I have no idea what is her species. What do you sell here, good sir?"


    "Oh, that one rare skill you got there, son. As for what I do; I run this butcher stall. I buy monster carcasses and harvest them and sell the finish products. I also sell my services and charge to help others harvest their hunting trophy."


    "You get paid to harvest monster material for others? Why would people do that? Can''t you just sell it as it was or harvest it themself?"


    "Hey, harvesting material is an art. If some amateur does a sloppy job the material would be damaged and can''t be used. How can you make a good quality product when the material is damaged? Also, the store usually prefers a finished product as there would be less waste."


    Albert chats for a while with the old man who later introduces himself as Theodore but he prefers to call Old Theo or Mr. Theo. Kana and James got back from their scouting mission and Albert introduces them to his new friend before they go on their way.


    "What quest is available for us to do?" Albert asked James and Kana


    "Mostly collecting quest. Either collecting rare herbs or material from a monster like wolf fangs or boar tusk. There''s no subjugation mission available at the moment." James said


    "Did you pick a quest already? How does questing works in this world? Is it free for all or you can reserve quest so other parties can''t take the same quest?"


    "Gathering and Hunting quest is free for all; the first party to finish get the money. But since most hunting and gathering quest is repeatable you don''t really compete with other parties. You have to apply for a personal quest such as escort or protection and your employee can pick which party he would hire." Kana chip in


    "So which monster we''re going to hunt???" Alice asks impatiently


    "I think it''s better for us to hunt easier monsters like a horned rabbit first. We don''t know how dangerous the monster could be. There''s also Earth Chives around where the rabbit usually spotted so we can also do that. That way we can benefit from 2 quests at once." Kana said checking her note on her comlink


    "How do you know where that Earth Chives grow near horned rabbit? Also, what the hell is Earth Chives? Is it just normal chives but people around here called it Earth Chives?"


    "Earth Chives is one of the ingredients to make lesser HP potion. It looks similar to normal chives but the base of the plant is brown rather than the usual yellow-green. So we need to look closely or we will miss it. There''s a small map in townhall and it shows the most common quest location."Kana explain


    "I think that place would be super crowded as many students would think the same. Isn''t better to go to less crowded places?" James putting forward his opinion.


    "For now, I think following the crowd is a better option as we don''t know the danger yet. We can''t be too reckless as we can''t progress for at least 3 days if we died here. We would be left behind by the time we go back here. Plus we haven''t fully geared yet so I don''t think trying to hunt some high-level monster is a good idea." Albert said backing up Kana argument

 Chapter 31 - 31.First Hunt

    Albert distributes the supplies they bought before they walk out of the village. He gave 3 lesser HP potions to James and Alice each since they need them more than others. He and Kana took 2 lesser HP potions and 2 lesser MP potions each and distribute the lesser antidote evenly; 1 for every party member. The last lesser MP potions go to James as he needs MP to maintain BONE-VOYAGE.


    Along the way to their destination, they strategize on how to hunt efficiently. They decided that James and his skeleton would attack first while Alice would go attack it whenever she can. James and Alice''s teamwork is on a good level as they train it a lot with Anna; But as a worried brother, Albert keeps reminding Alice to be careful and to hide behind James''s shield as much as she can.


    After sparring with Anna, James is more inclined to be in melee range as he performs an attack and defense combo with his skeleton. He feels that he can control BONE-VOYAGE better at closer range and since the party didn''t really have tank class he took one for the team and aim to be one. As unusual as-is for a necromancer to be tank his shield mastery help greatly, BONE_VOYAGE can also help as it''s stronger than other normal skeletons.


    Kana and Albert can''t really contribute as they don''t really proficient in fighting. Kana still can''t use any skill but she improved a lot; She can inscribe her rune faster trying to cast a healing skill but the end, which arguably more important still failed her. As for Albert, he can try communicating with Luna utilizing his new skill but it was still up to her whether she would help or not. Relaying your life on a pet snake you just got 3 days ago doesn''t really sit well but Albert believes she would listen to him when it counts.


    It took the party 10 minutes from the village gate to the hunting location. Chaos can be seen all around as 100+ students running around chasing monsters trying to complete their quest. Luckily horned rabbit is the most basic monster so the village hall set unlimited amount can be submitted otherwise some people would return with nothing.


    Group of students can be seen working together taking down multiple enemies but soon problems can be seen occurs one after another. Students stumbling over each other, friendly fire, stuff that usually the game designer disabled to make player life easier start happening making it more difficult to hunt. One thing that almost put everyone on the edge is that missing projectile can accidentally hit other parties making the field practically a survival battleground.


    James: "I don''t think to go in the middle of that is a good idea,"


    Kana: "Should we just pick some Earth Chives and hunt in other places?"


    Albert: "Hunt in other places seems dangerous as we''re only level 1, but hunting here seems very inefficient."


    Alice: "What should we do then?"


    Albert: "I don''t know; Maybe we hunt for 1 or 2 stray rabbits on the edge while focus on collecting Earth Chives."


    James: "Well, that seems reasonable for now. We can relocate later after we get used to fighting monsters."


    The group decides to look for Earth Chives on the sides while hoping to take down 1 or 2 stray rabbits. Not many people seem to be interested in gathering quests and more focused on hunting one. Granted hot blood teenager is eager to show off their new power and picking vegetables wouldn''t complete the objective.


    10 minutes went by; the party found a few Earth Chives but failed to take down any horned rabbit.


    Although not rare, Earth Chives is not common herb and the location where they grow didn''t make it easier to find one either. They grow alongside normal Chives so you need to look carefully or you''ll miss it.


    Sudently 4 rabbits pop out from a burrow hidden near the group; 1 big and 3 small ones. Unfortunately for the rabbits, waiting outside their burrow are 4 people and 1 snake waiting for some action.


    Albert plays his zither making Luna move from his hand to face one of the smaller rabbits. James cast his summon skeleton skill while Alice try to buy him time facing 2 rabbits alone.


    -10


    Alice start pounding at one of the smaller rabbits. Acknowledging the threat the 2 rabbits start retaliating while the last one facing a 1-meter long white snake.


    -5


    -6


    It only takes 2 attacks from 2 fluffy rabbits to chop off Alice HP down to 90%. Granted her class is not the designated tank class like some knight that has a deep HP pool. But it still surprises the party as the rabbit dealt more damage than they expected. Finish casting his skill James and BONE-VOYAGE charge to the big and small rabbit hoping to take the agro off Alice.


    -12


    -7


    BONE-VOYAGE wooden club did more damage than James shield charge but James''s charge knocks the rabbit back resulting in Alice facing 1 less rabbit.


    -1(BLOCK)


    -9


    -6


    -11


    -10


    James tank 2 of the rabbit attack manage to successfully block one of it with his shield while the third rabbit trade attack with Alice 10 attack damage fist. BONE-VOYAE doubles up with Alice hitting it for another 11 damage making it officially bellow 50%. Albert continues playing his tune while Luna successfully constricts one of the rabbits decreasing it HP bit by bit.


    -2


    -2


    -2


    -3


    -3


    The poor rabbit is helpless against its natural enemy as red-colored number keeps popping up above its head. Kana observe the fight worriedly trying to cast her skill to no avail.


    The battle proceeds and they traded hit back and forth trying to kill the others. James HP depleted at a concerning pace as his maximum HP is alarmingly low compared to normal frontliner. Kana looking at the party tab and prompt James to drink the HP potion when his HP reaches 40%.


    Lucky for him, his right hand is free from any weapon so he proceeds taking a lesser HP potion from his inventory and chugged it all up. With 1 rabbit down on the count, the trio put gagged up on the last two while Luna put the last one out of misery.


    +5


    -1(BLOCK)


    -9


    -11


    -11


    +5


    Two +5''s float above James''s head restoring about 10% of his HP. On his right side, Alice and James''s skeleton tag team and killed one of the rabbits without any problems. They then proceed to help James with the last one. Alice and BONE-VOYAGE are at free reign as James intercepts a lot of the monster attack resulting in them take small to no damage.


    +5


    -8


    -13


    -10


    +5


    It took almost 2 minutes for the party to take out all 4 horned rabbits without any casualties. James ends up uses 1 of the 3 lesser HP potions he has; healing a total of 30 HP maxing James HP pool. Alice stuff all rabbits carcasses into her inventory and the party decides to take a small break on the sides after that intense fight.

 Chapter 32 - 32.Shield Charge

    "Fiuuh, almost died there, hahahahaha" James said while laughing


    "That''s not funny!!!" Kana said looking at him worriedly


    "Luckily we didn''t hunt a stronger monster out there and chose this rabbit instead," Albert said patting James on his shoulder.


    "Yeah, maybe we lure them 1 by 1, next time. I can block an enemy attack with my shield preventing them from dealing a massive amount of damage." James said caressing his precious shield.


    "Maybe don''t charge headfirst into the battle!" Albert berate him "BONE-VOYAGE can also tank a hit or two, why don''t you let him go first and tank most of the hit while you focused blocking 1?"


    "I just get really excited and just go with the flow, sorry. hehehehe" James said while grinning "But if he''s the one tanking the monster then what do I do?" James continued arguing


    "NOT DYING!" Kana berate him even further.


    Seeing that he''s fighting a losing battle James agrees with the group and promises them to be more careful.


    "Sorry, I couldn''t help much," Kana said meekly


    "This good damn sh*tty healing skill just wouldn''t work for me!!!"


    It was rare for Kana to lose control of herself but being left behind by her friends maybe left an impact on her mental health. The party comforts her saying that they would help her research her condition and so on.


    Happy with the bounty Alice is busy checking her stats and saw that she gains 6% experience from the whole ordeal. She told the group excitedly and are eager to hunt more so she can level up.


    Albert Ward


    -Gains 4% experience


    -Puppet (Luna) gains 5% experience


    Kana Campbell


    -Gains 4% experience


    James Smith


    -Gains 7% experience


    -Successfully creating new skill Shield Charge


    -Successfully creating new skill Block


    The one with the most bountiful harvest turns out to be James; not only he gets more experience point to compare to others he also successfully create 2 new skill. Shield Charge damages the enemy and also knocks them back; it also has a slight chance to stun the enemy. Blocking is just what it sounds like; it blocks an enemy attack that is directed at your shield.


    "I was just about to ask you about your first attack as it deals damage and knock the enemy away. Turns out it was your new skill. How about you try to bash enemy with your shield? Now that we know you can attack with your shield maybe experiment more who knows maybe you get another skill." said Albert to James


    "It''s unconventional but what could possibly go wrong. Okay, I''ll try that."


    "aaaaaaaaaah, I forgot to turn my hand green. I should have done that maybe I can create a skill that way." Alice realizes her mistake and rushes the party to look for more rabbits.


    The party hunt more rabbits and search for more Earth Chives for the next 2 hours. The experience diminishes really fast and by the time 2 hours pass by the rabbits only yield their carcasses and not even 1% experience. The party didn''t try to hunt in the middle of the field as more accidents happen and some students even start dying due to PK or monster.


    By the time 2 hours pass by the party medium inventory is full of rabbit carcasses. The party successfully hunt 42 rabbits and gather 2 big stacks of Earth Chives. Albert''s group decide to go back to the village and unload their inventory and stock more consumables.


    The village''s atmosphere is darker than it was this morning. Instead of a teenager with extra hormones, you can see some students are down like a beaten dog with their sad puppy eyes. The empty training field is filled with students swinging their weapon and the shops are not jammed pack with students browsing the goods.


    Entering the villages, Albert''s party receive a lot of attention as the party brought 2 rabbits carcasses by their hand as their medium inventory is full. The party then to Mr. Theo butcher stall as Albert suggest harvesting the rabbits before they turn the rabbits head as proof of completing the quest.


    Promising to pay the harvesting fee after they turn they get money from the quest. Mr. Theo usually charges 3 copper each for harvesting small game but since Albert want to harvest 42 rabbits; He gave Albert''s party a discount and only charge 1 silver for the entire things.


    Albert''s party observe how Mr. Theo do the harvesting while stuffing the finished product to their inventory. Each rabbit would yield 1 rabbit head, 1 rabbit horn, 1 rabbit skin and 2-3 unit of rabbit meat. Unlike the rabbit carcasses, you can stack rabbit material emptying some important inventory slots.


    Finish with the job Mr. Theo offers to teach Albert''s party how to properly clean and harvest monster carcasses and it doesn''t sound bad to learn more things as you don''t know what would happen in the future.


    -Quest received-


    Learn harvesting skill from Mr. Theo


    Harvest 500 monster carcasses under Mr. Theo''s guidance. (You have to provide the monster yourself)


    Reward: Life-skill Harvest


    Penalty on failing the quest: None


    Time limit: None


    ''500 per person?!?! I think we should just let 1 person accept the quest cause I think we would be leaving the tutorial village before we hunt a total of 2000 monster''


    Albert did not press accept on his pop up quest and turn to his party to ask their opinions. The party agrees to pile their bounty on 1 person so he/she can complete the quest. Right after the party decide to let 1 person learn from Mr. Theo; Kana insist to let her learn so she can help contribute in the future. Alice complies right at the spot as she is to lazy doing tedious work.


    Albert and James do not have any reason to disagree either so Kana ends up as the only one who accepts Mr. Theo''s quest.


    Albert''s party continues to finish their business; turning in the quest, and selling the harvested material. The town hall rewards 5 copper coins for each rabbit head and with that money, the party can pay Mr. Theo for his work.


    Kana tries to sell all the rabbit meat to the inn and restaurant in the village but since there is a sudden influx of rabbit meat they would only buy 200 units and the price is only 1 copper coin. Net them 2 silver coins in profit.


    They keep the 3 leftover meat and proceed to the blacksmith and tailor to sell rabbit horns and fur. The price of the horn and fur are depended on the item quality; Damaged horn can be sold for 1 copper and pristine horn prized at 3 copper per horn. The tailor didn''t want to buy the damaged rabbit fur but they prized the intact one at 3 copper coins.

 Chapter 33 - Announcement

    My family and I are planning to go on vacation during the new year so I want to say sorry to you guys for any late or miss update for this novel. Yesterday''s chapter is the last rewrite chapter from my previous novel. If you enjoy my works so far kindly gave a review on my novel so far or you can also give this novel power stone.


    On the future, the release rate of this novel would decrease to about 2-4 chapter a week. I would try to release extra chapter whenever possible but more than that is going to take a toll on my real-life job. Thank you for your understanding and happy holiday.


    P.S: I just realized that this novel got featured on the new novels page. YAY ME! And thank you, guys!


    P.P.S: Expect the next chapter in the 2-3 hours

 Chapter 34 - 33.Emma

    Albert''s party head to potions store to stock up some more and deliver their Earth Chives. The earth chives quest they take from the village hall turns out to be a commission quest from the store. Upon delivering the store would buy their earth chives for 3 copper each.


    "Emma!!!! What are you doing here? I thought you were assigned to a different tutorial village." Alice greet one of her friends excitedly


    Due to Albert''s physical condition, Alice becomes a target for bullying when she''s young. Little did they know the little devil is very cunning and she destroys the bully group by pinning them against each other. Picking the weakest of the bully and make their school life miserable as her life goal.


    Emma is one of Alice''s friends who stick with her through some difficult time hence she treated her as a really precious friend. Emma is in a 5 man party with her cousin and her cousin''s friend. Previously on the second day after the experiment; Alice asks her to join their group in the morning assembly;


    Emma decline as her parents told her to stick with her cousin if possible. Emma is not that close with her cousin but as blood is thicker than water she joins her cousin group and dives in the tutorial world together.


    "Alice!!! I didn''t know that you also start in this village. Maybe the school assigned more than 1 group in each village?" Emma greet Alice back


    "Well, whatever the reason is it turns out to be good for us. We can hang out together if when we have free time. Have you tried to go outside? Fighting monsters around the village are really fun. We killed a lot of horned rabbits today."


    Alice starts telling her about her day while the rest of the party goes inside the shop. Turns out Emma''s party also finishes their potions stock so they are restocking inside the shop. Emma''s cousin, Drew is a sports guy and only hangs around with other sports guys. Alice greets him as he exits the store but he didn''t hang around for long as his other teammate is eager to hunt more.


    The two girls said goodbye to each other and go on their own way. Albert party acquires a little more than 3 silver selling all the Earth Chives they gather. Overall they gain a little under 10 silver from hunting for 2 hours. Deducting the cost of Mr. Theo fee they still gain more than they starting funds.


    Spending the money at a faster rate than they gain it the party goes on a shopping spree. 3 stacks of lesser HP potions cost them 4 and a half silver; On top of that they still need other utility potions such as lesser MP potions.


    Looking at the time they still have around 3 and a half hours before 3 pm. The group decides to go out and hunt again to raise their experience and gather carcasses for Kana''s quest.


    -


    "This is boring!!! We''ve been hunting the horned rabbits for almost 3 and a half hours today. We should go look for a different enemy." Alice complains 1 hour into the hunt


    James: "I gotta agree with her; The experience gains is really nice at the start but now we didn''t even get any. Should we look for other monsters?"


    Albert: "We''ll you two are the one who does most of the fighting so if you feel like you can take stronger enemy; I don''t really mind, going into the forest may be a bit difficult as I need to navigate with my wheelchair but other than that I''m down."


    Kana repeatedly remind James to be careful as different enemy means different attack pattern. She sternly warns him to lure 1 enemy first so they can learn their attack pattern. The party head to the periphery of the forest to look for the different enemies. They didn''t plan to go inside as stronger monsters live inside the forest.


    Their target is a monster called four-eared monkey. The monkey resides inside the forest but to avoid more ferocious monsters they usually wander outside the forest to find their food.


    It took the party 10 minutes before they spot two wild monsters. What they found is not their original target the four-eared monkey but two big sized monsters called long tusked wild boar. James and Alice are eager to pounce forward but stopped immediately by Kana.


    Remembering his own promise to only face 1 enemy at a time James agree to look for another target. They spend another 10 minutes looking around before they decide to hunt the 2 long tusked wild boar. They found the four-eared monkey but they travel in a pack making it harder to hunt them.


    "Okay, so how about Luna would restrict one of the boar and we focus on the other one finishing it as fast as possible?" James suggests a strategy


    "That would work wonderfully if the enemy is horned rabbits or four-eared monkey. I don''t think Luna can fully restrict a big sized monster. But we could try; worst-case scenario 1 of you would come help me restrict the snake while the other finish it." Albert agrees with him as he couldn''t think a better solution


    ''Splitting the group into 2 wouldn''t help as splitting the party mean that one of the group would lack damage to finish the monster. Extending the fight would be dangerous as the party didn''t have any support that can heal so the only option would restrict one monster while finish the other as fast as we can then finish the other one''


    "Let''s start the fight with your shield charge; After you finish charging just leave it and go help tank the second boar. Hopefully, you can stun the boar long enough for Luna to fully restrict the boar." Albert suggests after further consideration.


    Finish arranging the role, Albert''s direct Luna to move behind one of the boar ready to pounce at command. Nodding his head giving James signal to start James starts running with his shield in front of his body.


    DANG!!!!


    A Loud sound could be heard followed by a red -10 number appear above the boar head.

 Chapter 35 - 34.Evolve

    Luckily Alber''s pray has been answered as the boar that got hit didn''t get up right away; Giving him enough time to play his zither to communicate with Luna. Luna pounce towards the boar upon hearing the zither and start to constrict the boar.


    Almost at the same time BONE-VOYAGE and Alice jump towards the second boar hitting it on the head and the side. This time Alice didn''t forget to control her mana and gather it at her hands; turning her hands green and increasing her damage.


    -12


    -14


    Alice''s hand turns back to normal skin color as she still can''t maintain her concentration while fighting. Whenever there''s a chance Alice would regather her mana and turn her hands boosting its damage for a while before it turns back to normal.


    -5(BLOCKED)


    The boar retaliate but James arrives in time to block it reducing the damage significantly. The boar attack damage is much higher compare to horned rabbits from before. Even with James''s blocked skill 5 damage still goes trough his shield reducing almost 10% of his HP.


    The fight continues as Alice running around and strike when an opportunity shows itself. James and BONE-VOYAGE tank the boar together as James HP is still too low to tank it solo.


    "ALICE! DODGE!" Shouted James


    As the boar running towards him but since Alice is in the wrong position she''s at risk getting run over by it. Startle by the warning Alice rolls instinctively dodging the charging boar. Too busy watching his surroundings James forgot to defend himself with his shield.


    -15!


    James HP drop bellow his comfort zone; Controlling BONE-VOYAGE, James makes the skeleton face the boar while he chugs a lesser HP potion down his throat. His left hand nimbly operates his comlink taking out an HP potion to recover his HP gradually.


    ''Gotta remind him to increase his HP the next time he levels up!'' Albert thought watching the fight.


    Albert got slightly distracted by the fight and forgot that he has to concentrate to restrict the other boar. Snapped out of stun status the first boar charge towards Albert despite being constricted by Luna. Albert did not realize that he''s being targeted until it was too late.


    Lucky for him Kana who''s been staying out of the fight is on alert. She repeatedly tries to cast healing skills throughout the fight hoping a miracle would happen. Right before the boar would run Albert over Kana pushes his wheelchair out of the harm. Unfortunately for Kana, she''s not come out unscathed; her feet are grazed by the boar long tusked and blood is gushing out of the wounds.


    "BROTHER! KANA SIS!" Alice shriek as she watches the two getting attacked.


    Alice turns towards her brother but before she even moves; Albert instructs her not to do so.


    "I''M OKAY! Alice, finish that boar first! We have to finish at least one of them!"


    "I''ll help them tank the other boar! You and BONE-VOYAGE finish this one!" James told Alice as he charges towards the first boar


    DANG!!!


    James crashes the boar knocking it back damaging both the boar and Luna who''s coiling it. This time the boar didn''t get stunned and retaliate back.


    "What are you doing here?!?! Finish that boar first!" Kana said surprised at James arrival


    "I''m not dealing any damage anyway. I can help kite this one while Alice and my skeleton finish the other one." James explains as he blocks the charging boar.


    With James on the field, Albert plays his zither directing Luna to tighten her bind on the boar. With Luna disturbing the boar James is having an easy time blocking the boar with his shield. James is having a hard time. Alice on the other side got a bit overwhelmed and has to chug her own lesser HP potion.


    BONE-VOYAGE couldn''t help Alice that much as James has to focus on his defense and let his skeleton on a free reign and not micromanage it. Finish relocating Albert out of the harm way; Kana tries to cast healing skill towards Alice as her HP drop again below 60%.


    Different from the usual a weird phenomenon appears as Kana cast her skills. The floating rune in front of Kana emits a dark red glow instead of a normal dull color. Blood from her gushing wound is floats towards the rune making it glows even more so than before.


    -15


    +24


    As the rune disappears a red number and green number appear on Kana and Alice''s head simultaneously. Alice and James did not realize what has just happened but Albert jaw is on the floor looking at Kana. He did not say anything as disturbing James and Alice could be fatal.


    -


    Alice sidesteps the boar attack and counters it with an uppercut to the lower abdomen. The second boar finally fall and Alice rush towards James to help him with the first one. James already on his 3rd lesser HP potions but his enemy is also on its last leg.


    Dragging 1-meter long snake while fighting is not on the boar schedule. He is forced to fight, carrying a heavy snake who deals damage each second pass by. Each time the boar move Luna would be tightening her bind making the boar lose more HP per second and slowed its movement.


    With Alice and BONE-VOYAGE help, it didn''t take long before the party finishes the second boar. As the boar fall, Kana cast 1 last heal to refill James HP surprising Alice and James.


    "Kana sis, you can cast a skill?! You finally did it!" Alice runs towards Kana celebrating her success


    "Yeah, I can finally help you guys out when we''re fighting!" Kana smiles from ear to ear happy that she can finally contribute.


    Kana check her status to look at her new skills and got more surprised by what she found there.


    -Gain skill Blood Rejuvenation


    -EVOLUTION TRIGGER-


    -REQUIREMENT FULFILLED-


    Users with blood magic traits successfully cast a skill without blood manipulation mastery!


    Evolve Blood Magic traits to Blood master


    -Gains Blood Manipulation Mastery!


    !WARNING!


    Mastery slot is full deleting 1 random mastery!


    Name: Kana Campbell (COMBAT)


    Age: 17


    Gender: Female


    Race: Human


    Level: 1


    Class: Priest ( +1 Wis, +3 Int, 1 Free)


    HP:144/230


    Stamina:30/30


    Weight Limit: 1


    Str 1


    Vit 6


    End 2


    Dex 3


    Int 12


    Wis 11


    Free Point: 0


    EXP: 67%


    Traits:


    -Blood Master


    Skills would cost HP instead of MP.


    Wisdom would give 10 HP per level instead of MP every 10 Wisdom you would gain 50HP.


    Skills would cost 50% more mana.


    Doubles HP Regeneration


    Gains Blood Manipulation Mastery


    Mastery:


    -Vitality Restoration (23%) rise by 8%


    -Blood Manipulation (14%) rise by 14%


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -Blood Rejuvenation


    Heal allied HP ( 2 x INT )


    Mana cost 10


    Cooldown 8 second

 Chapter 36 - 35. Hidden stats

    "WOW!!! Your traits evolve and you even got mastery from it!" James is amazed at Kana''s transformation.


    "Yeah, but it deleted my book mastery. Can I get that mastery back later? Also, doesn''t it mean that I have a useless starting weapon now? Does this mean good or bad?" Kana expresses her worry but still smiling as she can''t hide her happiness.


    "Well, we better hold the discussion as time is almost up, guys. We have to run back to the village and turn our quest in as it''s already past 2 pm. We can also find more information later in the school library or ask the instructor. By the way, congratulations on graduating from non-combat class Anna; we finally have 2 people in combat class."


    "Wait, what? She''s no longer a noncombat class?? How do you change it? I also want to be categorized as a combat class! Hey! I was the one who does all the fighting." Alice protests but the party ignores her and proceeds to take their spoil into inventory.


    It took 1 big inventory slot to fit 1 long tusked boar inside and in total the party net about 30+ monster carcasses for Kana harvest training.


    -


    Right after they arrive at butcher stall, Mr. Theo sends the party to the blacksmith shop to buy a knife set for Kana training. She would need at least 3 kinds of knives; cleaver, bone knife, and a cutting knife. Luckily they still have enough money from the previous hunt to afford the knives set.


    Albert, Alice, and James are exchanging their opinions at what they experience so far while Kana learn under Mr. Theo''s guidance.


    Albert: "You should increase your HP somehow, James. It was too low if you really plan to become a frontliner."


    James: "I know, but I also have stamina and weight problems. Blocking enemy cost me lot of stamina; Although I can manage it so far, there''s a time when my stamina reaches a single digit."


    Albert: " I think we should spend more time at a library tomorrow. First look up at evolution article and second, we need to look at what do our stats represent. Although general game knowledge seems to be applied we''re not sure how much 1 stats point worth in a grand scheme."


    At 3 pm Kana barely finish her job and the party is heading back to school without selling the harvested material. It was Kana''s first time using knives to harvest and clean monsters. Due to her inexperience, she messed up some of the jobs damaging the materials in the process. Still, it was worth the money as they didn''t need to pay Mr. Theo to harvest for them.


    At the end of the day the team net a pretty nice experience and a bit of money to start for tomorrow''s hunt.


    Albert :70%


    Luna : 84%


    Alice : 75%


    James :77%


    Kana : 68%


    -


    Students start to get up 1 by 1 from their sleeping chamber. Some are really excited some are not so much. Some sleeping chamber are empty as the students forced to log out mid-game as they died in-game. As time flows at the same rate inside the game world the students can head directly home as school time already over.


    The group meet up with Anna and head home together in James''s car. Anna asks them about their experience and Alice is happily telling her all the things that happen tutorial world. Anna knows that Albert and James are really into RPG games and figure they would fare rather well. But hunting 50+ monsters in a day is outside of Anna''s expectation.


    On her first day in the tutorial world, she only manages to hunt 30+ monster and it was all due to her martial arts experience. Granted she was a monster and she hunts 30+ monster alone but she did not expect a newly made-up party to outdone her by 20+ monster.


    Anna jaw''s drop to the floor as Alice told her that Kana experience her first Evolution and they net almost 50% experience point on the first day.


    "I didn''t expect you guys would experience first evolution before I do," Anna said to the group


    "Yeah, It just happens and before I knew I successfully create a skill and cast it on Alice. By the way, what do you know about evolution? I lost my book mastery skill due to my evolution. Can I get it back?"


    "Usually each person only has 1 weapon mastery and other weapon mastery option would disappear from their mastery list if they already choose their weapon mastery. I did not know what would happen to your book mastery but hopefully, you can get the weapon mastery option back when you choose your mastery later."


    "But don''t you worry too much about it. As far as I know, there''s never a case of bad evolution; All evolver that I know so far always produce a better result than they previously did. Although it was unfortunate to lose a mastery at least you land yourself another mastery and even got skill as a bonus to that." Anna continues to congratulating her sister''s achievement.


    "Anna, did you know what stats point affect stamina and how much stamina per stats point it would give? Also what affect HP regeneration and how come we didn''t have that in our status?" Albert ask Annaas from Kana traits she gets doubled HP regeneration but it didn''t show in her status.


    "Endurance yield 10 stamina per endurance points and every 2 Dexterity point would give you 5 stamina. As for HP regeneration, it was one of the hidden stats and get affected by many things but most significantly by vitality."


    "Hidden stats???" Alice asks cuts in Albert discussion


    "Yeah, hidden stats; There''s a lot of hidden stats such as movement speed, accuracy and most of regeneration stuff such as HP, MP, and Stamina regeneration are fallen into hidden stats category. They are not listed on your status tab because it was hard to measure said status by numbers."


    "Does stats point affect this hidden status? Why does it hard to measure hidden stats?"


    "Because it was everchanging; for example, your movement speed is not constant and the more tired you are the lower the number is. The same could be applied to HP regeneration, bleeding person has low HP regeneration but if you tend it properly it would go up. Hidden stats are linked closely to your body current physical conditions so it was really hard to determine hidden stats by number."


    "Same as normal stats hidden stats also get affected by stats point; You can read all about this in the library they already did extensive research about this very subject."


    Arrive at her house Kana and Anna gets out of the car. James drops the rest of his passager before he heads home to rest and prepared for tomorrow''s hunt.

 Chapter 37 - 36. Inventory Problem

    The next day Albert''s party dive in later than other students as they spend some time in the library. Kana couldn''t find any title she could use as a reference to her evolution; Although there are many recorded cases about evolution each of them is unique. The instructor couldn''t be much of a help either as even some of them haven''t gone through 1st evolution even after years of experimenting.


    Those who have experienced didn''t land themself in the same condition as her. The most similar case to her is some guy who has their mastery evolve due to class change but there is no reported case about losing mastery.


    Did not want to waste any more time the group decides just to wing it and hope for the best. The party needs to catch up to Anna as she already levels 8 and would soon leave the tutorial world. Anna promises to wait for them in Eden and they need to catch up soon as not to hinder her.


    -


    Spawning in the middle of the village the group split up the task and go on their way. Kana would go sell yesterday harvest and stock up on potions and James would check on the quest board. Albert and Alice are tasked to communicate with otherworld natives to either find a quest or other useful information.


    Albert enters the only pubs in the village as Mr. Theo advises him to go there if you want to learn about the village. The bartender sells information about what''s going on around the village, rare monster, accident, dungeon info, etc.


    Apparently, there is a dungeon located inside the forest east of the village. It was categorized as a beginner dungeon and it didn''t house any powerful monster or boss monster. Albert is tempted to try to go to the dungeon unfortunately for him. The location of the dungeon makes it really hard for him to go there.


    Finish with their preparation the party meets up at the village exit ready to go on their adventure. Without the party notice, a group of people is following the party to where they hunt two long tusked boar yesterday. Located near the village hall some people watched as Kana pulled 2 long tusked boar from her inventory at the butcher stall.


    Reaching their destination, the party starts to scan the area surrounding looking for something to hunt. Due to nimbleness and sneakiness, the party puts Luna in charge of scouting locating and marking their prey.


    "Long tusked boar on the east, a pact of four-eared monkeys on the north, and human on the tree behind us???" Albert said confused at what Luna''s message. Surprising the entire party.


    Although she can''t communicate Luna''s intelligent is quite high and she can send a message using his body gesture. Albert''s clear command also helps in making the communication easier; To make it easier for Luna, Albert mostly asks a yes or no question or ask her to point direction.


    Albert sends James to check on the people behind the tree to make sure everything is okay. With the rest of the party ready to jump in and help him went things went south; James approach the tree and true enough 5 people are hiding behind it.


    Three of the people turn out only want to learn how do they beat the long tusked boar as it seems really strong. And the other two want to know where they found that monster as their party wants to challenge it too. Assured that the stalker did not have any ill intention Albert party start their hunt.


    The party head east to where the long tusked boar located; With Kana healing skill the party can save a lot lesser HP potion and challenge a more difficult monster. They pounce on every stray monster they see making a quick business out of them. Before long 3 long tusked boar can be spotted grazing on the field minding their own business.


    Alice and BONE-VOYAGE face 1 long tusked boar each while James and Luna stall the last one until they finish the first 2. The party defeat the 3 long tusked boar with no problem and filled all their big inventory slots full of wild boar carcasses.


    "We gotta do something about this inventory slot. We either need to find a way to increase the slot or bring something so we can haul more items. We''re wasting time taking a trip back selling all the material and go hunting again." James complains as he is almost level up but their inventory slot is full.


    "We can save a lot of inventory slot when I finish my harvesting skill but we still need to hunt 400+ monster in the meantime."


    "We can try to buy something like a backpack later in the village. I''m pretty sure the tailor sells something like that. Even though we can''t stuff a lot of things in there we can still expand our carrying capacity that way."


    "We should look for a storage ring!!! You know like the one in web novel!" Alice said excitedly as she is addicted to web novel and read it at night every day to catch up with her favorite novel.


    "I don''t think backpack is a viable option though. It would get dirty if we stuff monster carcasses in there. Washing it every time it gets dirty would be annoying but the smell of dead animal would 100% linger in it making it unusable." Kana said with a bit disgust as she imagines how dirty the bag would be after a few trips.


    "Plus it would be a hassle to fight with a weight swinging around on our back," James add more flaw to the backpack plan


    "Is no one going to address my storage ring plan???" Alice said protesting to the whole group


    "It would be nice if we can find a storage ring as you said. But I doubt it would be available and even if there''s some we wouldn''t be able to afford it." Albert addressing his sister


    "We don''t necessarily need to put monster carcasses in there; We can put other stuff such ass our potions or other quest items such as Earth Chives. We''ve been avoiding taking some quest items due to inventory slot and it was a waste of money. And to avoid the bag getting in our way; Kana and I can carry it as we don''t move so much during the fight." Albert gave the party a counter-argument they can refuse as there are only advantages to it.

 Chapter 38 - 37. Level up

    The party proceeds hunting for smaller monsters that can fit into their medium inventory slot. New monster means new attack pattern; it starts slow but as they learn the monster weakness and all, the experience start rolling in and they level up before they knew it.


    With an inventory full of monster carcasses the party head back to town to unload their loot. After dropping their loot and Kana at Mr. Theo stall the party decides to do their own thing rather than wait for Kana until she finishes her job.


    With half an hour of free time, Alice decides to look for her friend Emma to catch up while Albert and James split up doing their own thing. Albert ends up in the same bar he visits this morning chatting up with various people.


    Albert meets with an interesting group of old people who loves to brag about the olden days. They are retired and now enjoying their lives in the village before they are assigned to this tutorial village. One particular old man who Albert finds out used to be a fisherman; brags about how fierce the sea in Eden and how he with his brave crew catch a sea monster.


    Albert enjoying his time with his newfound friends and even buy them 1 round of drink with his small wealth. Growing up in a wheelchair Albert really fond chatting with older people as most of them didn''t care about your condition and treat you as a human being. They didn''t give you a pitying look nor treat you like a freak; some may be interested in your stories but most of them more inclined to share with you their stories.


    The other party member ends up picking up Albert in the pubs; As he forgot about the time and the other spends almost an extra 30 minutes looking for him before they can set out again. Saying goodbye to his new friend, the old fisherman told Albert to look for him if he is interested in fishing. He offers to teach Albert how to fish and would even give him his old rod as he also likes this new friend.


    The party set out for the second time today with 2 new bags sitting on Albert lap occupying Luna spot. The first hunt nets them a little more than 10 coins even after deducting the cost of 2 bags and stoking some of the potions. Granted they don''t need as many potions as they have Kana''s healing skill.


    -


    The party spent the next 2 days hunting on the outskirt of the forest before the monsters around it gave almost 0 experience each and they decide to look for new hunting ground. Kana''s quest is halfway done and James just got an apprentice job as a carpenter. The job seems useless but since he likes it no one is against it.


    Alice finally successfully create her own skill on the 3rd day in the tutorial world. Similar to Mr. Hubert''s skills it turns Alice''s hand to a solid jade colored. It boosts her arm strength and defense tremendously that she can knock the big long tusked wild boar two meters with 1 punch. The skill drains her mana continuously when is active so she has to deactivate it after 1-2 minutes continuously fighting.


    On the topic of skill, Kana also create a skill called Blood control. She can immobilize a target whos health below a certain threshold for a few seconds and control blood like a waterbender making her job as a butcher easier as you need to clean the carcasses out of their blood.


    James got better control over his summon and he found a niche little trick to improve defense and offense. After 2 days of experimenting, nowaday he can cover his entire shield with his mana completing the first method of Mr. Hubert training. As a result of that training, he creates 1 new skill called shield bash and replacing the block skill with mana shield.


    With mana shield skill blocking now cost him mana instead of stamina which arguably better because he has a much bigger mana pool compare to stamina. And he can also go on offense with his shield bash skill. Similar to his shield charge skill shield bass could stun the enemy but as a downside, it cost mana to execute and also has a cooldown similar to Kana healing skill.


    Albert made no progress in the skill department but his health improve tremendously during this 2 day. He now can stand on his two feet and plan to attend a rehabilitation program to regain his ability to walk. Alice and his mom are in tears when they saw him stand up for the first time in 10 years and they celebrated with pizza that very night inviting Kana and James''s family.


    Name: Albert Ward(UNSPECIFIED)


    Age: 17


    Gender: Male


    Race: Human


    Level: 2


    EXP: 88%


    Class: Minstrel ( +2 Dex, +1 Int, 2 Free)


    HP: 49/70


    MP: 95/95


    Stamina:50/50


    Weight Limit: 1


    Str 1


    Vit 6


    End 2


    Dex 12


    Int 7


    Wis 8


    Free Point: 4


    Mastery:


    -Instrument Mastery LVL 0 (41%) rise by 7%


    -Puppet Mastery LVL 0 (22%) rise by 8%


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -Sound Transmission


    Transmit a message using sound


    Mana cost: 2


    ---------------------------------------------


    Name: Luna


    Age: 0


    Gender: Female


    Race: Snake


    Level: 2


    Affinity: 144


    EXP: 99%


    Class: Puppet ( 5 Free)


    HP:85/85


    MP:45/45


    Stamina:70/70


    Weight Limit: 2.5


    Str 7


    Vit 6


    End 5


    Dex 9


    Int 6


    Wis 3


    Free Point: 10


    ---------------------------------------------


    Name: Alice Ward (NONCOMBAT)


    Age: 15


    Gender: Female


    Race: Human


    Level: 2


    EXP: 90%


    Class: Monk ( +2 Int, +1 Vit, +1 End, 1 Free)


    HP: 110/110


    MP: 35/35


    Stamina:100/100


    Weight Limit: 2.5


    Str 7


    Vit 7


    End 8


    Dex 6


    Int 10


    Wis 1


    Free Point: 1


    Mastery:


    -Emerald Skin LVL 0 (25%) rise by 9%


    -Amethyst Muscle (21%) rise by 8%


    -Ruby Bone LVL 0 (20%) rise by 7%


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    - Jade Arm


    Increase arm strength and defense by 25%


    Increase arm toughness by 25%


    Increase arm pain tolerance by 25%


    Mana cost: 2 per second


    ---------------------------------------------


    Name: Kana Campbell (COMBAT)


    Age: 17


    Gender: Female


    Race: Human


    Level: 2


    EXP: 9%


    Class: Priest ( +1 Wis, +3 Int, 1 Free)


    HP:240/240


    Stamina:30/30


    Weight Limit: 1


    Str 1


    Vit 6


    End 2


    Dex 3


    Int 15


    Wis 12


    Free Point: 1


    Mastery:


    -Vitality Restoration (25%) rise by 2%


    -Blood Manipulation (15%) rise by 1%


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -Blood Rejuvenation


    ---------------------------------------------


    Name: James Smith (COMBAT)


    Age: 17


    Gender: Male


    Race: Human


    Level: 2


    EXP: 14%


    Class: Necromancer ( +2 Wis, +2 Int, 1 Free)


    HP:55/55


    Mana:155/155


    Stamina:60/60


    Weight Limit: 1.5


    Str 3


    Vit 3


    End 5


    Dex 2


    Int 14


    Wis 12


    Free Point: 1


    Mastery:


    -Shield Mastery (46%) rise by 16%


    -Summon Mastery(53%) rise by 9%


    Mastery Point: 1


    Skill:


    -Summon Skeleton


    -Shield Charge


    -Mana Shield


    Blocking are 20% more effective


    Blocking cost mana instead of stamina


    -Shield Bash


    Damage : STR +(INT/2) * Shield Weight


    20% chance to stun enemy


    Mana cost : 10


    ---------------------------------------------

 Chapter 39 - Happy New Year

    Happy new year guys, There wouldn''t be any chapter release until the new year cause I want to spend more time with my family during this time. On the other side, I have 2 news for you guys; a good news and a bad news.


    The good news, this novel release rate would raise to approximately 4-5 chapters per week cause web novel offers me a contract for this novel. The bad news you guys would have to pay to read the continuation either with a fast pass or coins due to the contract. I would continue with my 2-4 chapters per week starting after the new year and would increase it as soon as the contract got approved.


    P.S: I know that it was early for me to say happy new year as it still the 30th of December


    P.P.S: I need your help to come up with a cool and unique party name for the group. Comment down bellow and maybe I would pick yours suggestion since I do not have a good naming sense.

 Chapter 40 - 38. Anthony Ward

    Heading to their house on Friday evening the party agree to meet up on Saturday to train and exchange some notes about things they learn all this week.


    -Saturday Morning-


    "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!" Alice exclaims as she proceeds to tackle a man watching TV on the couch.


    "Alice!" Alice''s father said patting his daughter''s head.


    Alice''s father, Anthony Ward is a middle-aged man who works as a game developer in a well-known gaming company. He is not the lead game developer or any supper expert like that. He is just an older employee who has many experiences in game design. Due to the snowstorm he only manages to re-book his flight to Friday night and arrive on Saturday morning.


    "Dad, you know about the experiment? The school already informs you, right? We do a lot of cool stuff in school. Albert got a snake from the experiment. Look!!!" Alice said while pointing her finger at Luna excitedly.


    "Ooh, what a beautiful creature. Is it a soul pet, Albert? You''re really lucky to get a soul pet as your first mastery. Even tough soul pet is not a rare mastery it''s not really common either. And to acquire one you need to have an affinity with the said creature."


    "It''s not a soul pet, dad; What is soul pet? And how much do you know about all of this exactly? Can you explain it to me one by one? My brain almost explodes through reading the manual that they gave me. You told us to go through with the experiment so I assume you know something, right?"


    Anthony Wards start telling his son that he''s involved in this project New World as one of the game designer expert that they hire. They need someone like him because of all of the knowledge about how to evolve an ability and how it should work; Someway or another it follows RPG game logic.


    The world government decided to make the top 10 game company works together on this project as a researcher. As someone who has a lot of experience in game design, Anthony selected to works in this project since two years ago hence, he often got send out of town to works on the project.


    "The government found a new planet called Eden and decided to move off our people into that world. We did not invade Eden as they possess an intelligent being that is stronger than us. Seeing that Eden possess an intelligent being; The government tries to communicate with the native of that planet. Fortunately, the native in Eden is also a human there''s no problem there. Although Eden posses intelligent being beside human; human still is the majority"


    "Trough some diplomacy lead by the world government we successfully establish a pact with the leaders of the new world. From them, we learn that the human in the new world possesses a unique power and ability to evolve. But that is not the most surprising thing we learn from them."


    "GOD. After further communication, we learn that Eden possesses a living breathing God who creates the planet and has unimaginable power. That God that created Eden took interest in us after he learns our existence especially after he tries RPG games. He is baffled by the similarity of the games world and his world and offers to shelter us after learning about earth''s condition."


    "To cohabit with the native in that world we have to makes it equal grounds so we can benefit each other. Taking interest in this world entertainment the God decided to modify his world even further and gave the occupant system like in RPG games hence the status tab and everything. Their God grant us a way to awaken our ability so we have the same opportunity as their native and grant their native system so they can learn more about themself and become stronger."


    "We can''t send all of our people at once to their world or it would destroy the balance so we decided to send young people who have better adaptability so they can place foundations before we sent all of our people. Although we already made a deal to cohabit with their God we didn''t know how their native would react so we can''t be too careful about it. To make sure you''re safe in your new environment the government makes a device that would send your consciousness into that world."


    "So the government decide to make us play a massive MMORPG in the different worlds?"


    "You can say it something like that but there are also some things that you should take a note on. First, their native is NOT an NPC so you have to be mindful about how you interact with them. and Secondly, this is real and not a game. Although you can''t die in that world because we only send your consciousness and not your real body that doesn''t mean that there are no consequences when you die. and Third, we all knew that there is no limit to human greed and although I emphases a lot on the world government you still have to be careful to some people that would take advantage so they can have better standings."


    Albert''s Mom stops their discussions as the food she prepares is ready to be eaten on the table. The timing is impeccable as Albert''s brain is getting hotter and hotter processing all these pieces of information to dump that his Dad gave him.


    ''I need to sort this information out and tell Kana and James when we meet later this afternoon.'' Taking note for himself Albert''s brain busy preparing a bunch of questions to ask his dead after they finish eating.


    While Alice is helping her mom with the dishes Albert continues his discussions with his Dad.


    "You have to keep distance around people with power; Some countries already show that they have different agendas. All countries get reset as they arrive at the new world, no matter how influential you are the God doesn''t really care and put you on the same start. To reclaim their dominance people of power already start multiple factions using their offspring to build a sturdy foundation."


    "Big countries with a high population are having a hard time staying united while smaller countries already try to create small alliances to compete with the big one. World goverment couldn''t really put them on the lease as technically the one who makes move are the youngster so instead they put their own faction to compete with them."


    "The safest option for those who did not want to be involved is to tie themself into a bigger tree namely the natives country. With the world current power, they wouldn''t provoke the natives as they are strong and can wipe each faction with a flip of a hand. And with how massive Eden is you can freely establish your own country if you have the power to protect it. Due to this reason, various power agrees just to try to reclaim new lands instead of taking the lands from natives."


    Anthony''s lesson cut short as the bell of Ward''s manor ring. Anna, Kana, and James arrive at Albert''s house to learn more about the game. With Anthony here, they can even ask him more about the game world as he is part of the research team.

 Chapter 41 - 39.Soul Pet vs Puppet

    Alice and the group joining in Albert''s discussion as the information could also be useful to them.


    Albert: "Dad, do you know about rare mastery and very rare mastery? What is the difference between normal mastery and rare mastery?"


    Anthony: "There''s almost no difference between them is just as the name suggests rare mastery are few and far between so we have almost no data about it. A lot of researchers consider people who have them quite unlucky. Although it was good for the researcher as they can do research on a rare mastery we can''t help them as we don''t have that much data about said mastery. Oh, how do you know about rare mastery? Do you get one?"


    Albert: "Yeah, so I am at some disadvantage because I pick a rare mastery?"


    Anthony: "Why do you say so?"


    "Because you said that you guys don''t have enough data to help me raises my comprehension and I also told Alice to pick a very rare mastery. So I screw up, I guess." Albert said dejectedly


    "Well each people have different opinions and just because they are right it doesn''t mean you''re wrong. There are a lot of roads that lead to Rome, Albert. Personally, I think people that have rare masteries are really lucky; Although they have to learn everything from scratch if they somehow found a way to develop their mastery to fit them it would be really strong."


    "Following other''s way of fighting would only get you so far. At a certain point, you would have to create your own style or your mastery would be stuck and can''t level up. From previous research data, those who are creative and try to develop without restricting themselves to the general way tend to trigger evolution that would help them to become better at want they intend to do. On the contrary, others who try to imitate other people would usually fail; It''s either because they don''t the necessary traits and mastery to back it up or something else like different stats distribution, equipment, etc."


    "You said you have a rare mastery and help Alice pick a very rare one? What are the masteries that


    all you guys have?" Anthony asked his sons friends as his inner researcher is tingling


    "Well for me I get instrument mastery and puppet mastery and from the puppet mastery, I got Luna here," Albert said patting the sleeping snake on his shoulder.


    "Alice got a bundle of very rare mastery which turns out to be 3 different rare masteries while Kana, James, and Anna have normal masteries." Albert continues


    Anthony is a but surprised by the fact that both of his children are in possession of rare mastery. Digging trough his brain about what he learns about their mastery he start explaining what he knows about their mastery.


    "Oh, a puppet mastery, I think you can develop that one to be one of your main mastery if you want to. It has a very strong potential in the right hand but could also fail terribly if you''re unlucky."


    "What do you mean by main mastery? Is there a different category for masteries? And you said before something about soul pet? Why does everyone think that Luna is a soul pet? And what is soul pet?"


    "Main mastery is just a concept between us researcher; To create their own fighting style evolver usually focus on 1 or 2 mastery as a foundation and later on would pick other mastery that could complement their main one. For example, an archer who uses bow could pick magic mastery or trap mastery to complement their bow mastery."


    "Soul pet and puppet mastery are really similar in how they work. They both bound you to 1 specific creature that you can summon to help you in various situations; They have levels and can level up alongside you but that''s where the similarity ends."


    "Different from soul pet you can adjust your puppet status however you want. Soul pet gets 5 free stats point each time they level up while all pet status except their HP, MP, and Stamina is hidden so you can''t really measure it. To compensate for that soul pet possess bloodline and the stronger their bloodline the stronger your pet could be."


    "Because of their bloodline, soul pets always evolve following their lineage. For example, if you have a cat as your soul pet no matter how many times you evolve it, it would never change into a T-rex. It could still possible for it to become a lion as they have a similar bloodline."


    "According to that, a puppet can evolve into anything as they do not possess any bloodline. Then if I have let say a puppet mouse does it mean it can evolve into a dragon? Isn''t this just a straight-up better than a soul pet?"


    "Although a lion seems weaker than a T-rex in that world there''s even a mouse who can kill a dragon so you don''t have to worry about them having a weak bloodline. In that world, the fact that the beast can survive until today is an undeniable proof of their bloodline. You''re right that puppet has an advantage as they can evolve into many things but it doesn''t mean that pet is considerably weaker."


    "One advantage soul pet has over puppet is the starting point. Compare to puppet beast, soul pet has much higher overall stats so it was easier to level them up. On top of that, your puppet can never out level you while soul pet can out level it master. The second advantage is soul pet origin skill soul merge. 99 out of 100 people who possess soul pet mastery would somehow learn soul merge skill."


    "With soul merge skill your soul pet would share part of their ability with you; Buffing a certain stats, sharing their traits, or even integrate it into one of your equipment. Soul pet is one of the most common mastery after weapon mastery but at the same time, it was one of the hardest masteries to level.

 Chapter 42 - 40.Chapter 40

    "Depends on your preference; You either could go all in being full-fledged magic caster and use your shield as a defensive measure. The advantages of this choice you could stack all things that would help you improve your magic capability leaving your shield and your summon as your only defensive measure. The disadvantages are you''re wasting one mastery slot as a shield is not that really useful in range." Anthony gave James his opinion when he asks him about his mastery.


    Anthony didn''t comment a lot about Anna''s skills as both of her mastery are the most common weapon mastery. Due to her traits, she was lucky to land herself to possess 2 different melee weapon mastery. Weapon mastery split into 3 different categories as in melee, ranged, and magic weapon mastery. Each person usually only possess 1 weapon mastery and other weapon mastery usually disappear from their mastery list after you choose one.


    Although there are some cases of a person possess 2 different weapon mastery; There never been a case of a person possess 2 weapon mastery from the same category. A lot of range weapon mastery acquire a melee weapon mastery to compensate their weakness on a later date as their 4th or 5th mastery. Staff mastery falls on both melee and magic weapon mastery so there has been no case of staff user possessing multiple weapon mastery.


    The conversation stalled a bit when Anthony saw Kana''s status card. He mulls over her traits and when he learned that she already experiences her first evolution his jaw drops to the floor.


    "Congratulations on your first evolution, Kanna. Looking at your overall status the evolutions seem to bring you a ton of benefits. Although it was a shame that it deleted one of your mastery but overall it was good. Your blood master trait is also new things as there has been not even 1 record about these traits. Do you mind if I send your status information to my college?"


    "There are some people who have your previous blood magic traits but their''s traits don''t evolve like yours. If possible we would like to know what triggers the evolution and if it was possible for others to do the same or there is some other requirement."


    Kana nods permitting Albert''s dad to share her status information and do some research on it. She also explains how she previously couldn''t cast a spell due to the absence of her mana pool and how she successfully triggers the evolution.


    Kana also expresses her concerns about her deleted book mastery and whether it was possible to relearn it at a later date. Anthony couldn''t remember it on top of his head and told her that he would inform her if he found something similar to that.


    Anthony didn''t make a lot of comments about Alice''s very rare mastery. Alice''s mastery is the first one ever so he just takes the information and tells Alice to do a couple of demonstrations for him. Anthony and the kids continue their discussion about the whole project until evening. Albert says goodbye to James, Kana, and Anna as their parent is waiting for them for dinner.


    Anthony informs them that the government already send them a machine that would let them dive into the game world from their home. It should be arriving either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow so they can just dive in at their convenience later.


    He still encourages them to go to school every day as the school has more facilitate like libraries, training ground, and medical staff. You can also meet up with other groups of evolver from different villages and learn how to do other tutorial villages fare.


    -


    Albert and Alice dive into the tutorial world right after dinner. A guy came to their house this morning to install 2 machines similar to what they use in the school. Right after the guy finish, Albert contacts Kana and James and plans to meet up in the game world that very evening.


    Anthony warns Albert to be careful, the same as in the real world. Nighttime monster is more dangerous compared to the day time monster. Wolf, bats, and most cold-blooded creatures are active during the night making the town the only safe place for them to roam.


    Spawning in the middle of the village Albert sees the different vibe the village gave. During the night most people who work outside the village came back making the pubs really brimming. Most of the street stall is closed so the street seems wider and candles light lit up all around the village enhancing the horror vibe.


    Today is the first day Albert tries to walk on his two feet again. His HP is already at healed to the max and he can feels all his leg and move it a bit; His real body has really bad muscle atrophy but his father suggests trying to walks in-game first as it didn''t have the same problem.


    Alice helps him stand from his chair while they wait for Kana and James to come online. Albert put Luna down from his shoulder and successfully stand on his two feet while still holding to his sister. He tries to let his hand go but he instantly wobbles as he didn''t have any sense of balance since he has not walked for a long time.


    ''This is going to take some time to adjust, but at least there''s progress.''


    Albert''s smile from ear to ear and Alice is already in tears. After 10 years sitting on the floating chair, he can now finally stand again on his two feet. As he trains how to walk again James and Kana dive into the game world and got a nice surprise as they see their best friend standing in his two feet.


    The party didn''t plan to go out hunting that evening and only exploring around the town try to find some quest and more information as there''s a lot more people that are available in the village.

 Chapter 43 - 41.Elite Monster

    Albert''s party is not the only one who receive their new equipment. As minutes go by people starting spawning in the middle of the village exploring the village outside school time. A group of students can be seen organizing a big party for a night hunt. Alice is also eager to try testing the night predator but since other party members are against her.


    ''I guess not all of them are conceited over their new power. At least they recognize the danger and try to hunt in a bigger party.''


    "Should we also join the party?" James asked as he is also eager to try to hunt during the night.


    "With a bigger party it would be safer and we can learn about the monster who roams at night." James continue his argument


    "Didn''t You saw what happens at the rabbit field on the first day? More people don''t necessarily mean better. Organizing a mismatched party with no cohesion or any cooperation experience is more dangerous than a normal party." Albert denies James''s argument.


    "We can try to go outside if we can''t find anything to do but only as far as you can see the village. I don''t think it worth the risk as we can use the whole day tomorrow to hunt and level up. We can wake up early and try to make 2 hunting trips before lunch and continue to hunt again after lunch." Albert continue


    "I agree with Albert; We can also try to dive into the dungeon tomorrow as I got a bit inside information about it. One of the parties in the other village manages to come back without any casualty from the dungeon. Although they didn''t complete the whole dungeon and abandon it midway I still learn something from it."


    "We can gain a lot of money going into the dungeon as there is a lot of rare material inside it. We do need to bring a couple more backpack if we have a limited amount of inventory space. Anna also said think it was a good idea for us to go into one as dungeon gave more experience compared to normal monsters. She starts going into a tutorial dungeon at level 3 and successfully completes it at level 5; She said since we got a healing jobs it would probably safe to try going into the dungeon." Kana said agreeing to Albert.


    The party went to the pubs to meet up with the natives and look for more information; Inside they see Mr. Theo the butcher hanging out with peers around his ages. Kana decides to say hi to him while the rest split up looking for someone who''s willing to share their story with them.


    James got nothing while Albert got pretty interesting information about the dungeon near the village. Although each village is build mirror to each other and possesses at least 1 dungeon near them; the monster that lives inside the dungeon is different for each village and the information that Albert got is exactly about the monster inside the dungeon near their tutorial village.


    Alice meets with a pretty interesting lady who turns out to be one of the village instructors. With enough coins, you can hire her to personally teach you basic magic and some water elemental magic. The lady seems to be fond of Alice and even introduces her to a couple of different instructors who are hanging out in this bar.


    "I''ve got some pretty interesting stuff we can try to explore tomorrow," Kana says to the group


    "What is it? Did you get a personal quest?" James ask


    "No, but I just had a conversation with Mr. Theo''s friend who turns out to be a hunter. He knew every monster around the area, where do they live, weaknesses, etc. I learned that there is an elite version of every monster that we hunt. Elite monster is something like pack leader and turning them in as a quest would gain us village point which we can then exchange with better equipment. We can also try to find rare material and exchange it with village point but we haven''t even spotted one rare material exploring the surrounding during this 2 day."


    "So in summary Elite monster would gave more experience and gave us better loot, and trying to find a rare material is a waste of time. So where to find this elite monster?" Alice cut in asking the real question


    After the party learns that most Elite monsters are location they decide to try to find one of the elite monsters tomorrow morning. Kana is eager to learn from the village instructor after listening to Alice''s story but since she was still busy finishing Mr. Theo''s quest she decides to add more to her already packed schedule.


    Seeing that there is still plenty of time to spend the party decide to go outside the village for a bit. Albert decides to keep his but on his wheelchair for the time being as his walking speed would slow the party down tremendously. He is also the designated backpack carrier so it would be easier to just sit and put the backpack on his lap.


    Walking around in the night the group of 4 can''t see that far ahead and has to rely on their other senses more. Luckily for them, Luna''s sense doesn''t get affected and she is also more reliable during the night as she actually is a nocturnal animal. The only downside is her white body would be easier to spot as the dark night really contrast her body white tone.


    James summons BONE-VOYAGE increasing the horror atmosphere but it helps the party to feel a bit safer. Walking around they can clearly hear the sound of a night creature but couldn''t find anything even after going 1 lap around the village periphery. They decide to try to go on one more lap and log back out after that if they fail to find anything.


    SWOOOSH!!!!

 Chapter 44 - 42.Black Panther

    A dark silhouette jump toward Albert''s wheelchair caught the party unprepared.


    CRASH!!!


    Albert fell from his chair due to the momentum of something crashing to his chair. The party turns to Albert and start rushing to his aid. Albert loss a bit of his HP due to the fall but he receives no other damage making the whole party confused.


    Fortunately, Luna is on full alert and manages to foil the black panther ambush by jumping the black panther aiming for its neck. Sensing danger the panther retreat 2 steps back avoiding the white snake fang back into the dark of the night.


    "What happen??!!" Alice ask her brother worriedly


    "Monster!!! Some kind of panther!!! It has a dark color and it can blend himself with the night! Watch your back!" Albert warns the other party member as he pulls his zither out of his inventory and ready to fight.


    SWOOSH


    The panther launches its second ambush this time toward Alice. Alice fell on to the ground with the panther on top of her biting her arms.


    "Aaaaah!" Alice shriek in surprise as the pain comes from her hand.


    "ALICE!!!" Kana, Albert, and James shout worriedly as Kana cast a healing spell on Alice immediately.


    Luckily for Alice, she already on standby due to the first ambush and already execute her jade hand skill; Reducing the damage she receives to her hand and because of her skill the panther teeth only manage to make 2 small incision and did not fully penetrate her hand.


    -16


    +25


    -15


    James took the chance and launch his shield charge to the black panther. James charge successfully knock the panther 2 meters away from Alice and gave her enough room to recover and fight again.


    "James! The panther damage is seriously high! Don''t try to tank it by yourself!" Albert shout warns James as he saw that 1 attack manage to cut 10% of Alice''s HP.


    James''s pitifull 55 HP would instantly disappear if the panther manages to land 1 big hit to his undefended body forcing him to log out and wait for 3 days before he can go back in.


    Recognizing the danger James send BONE-VOYAGE to the front to be the main tank and help him to block the panther whenever it was possible for him. Albert did not have enough time to sit back on his wheelchair so he decides to play his zither sitting on the ground.


    As the zither starts humming, Luna jumps toward the panther aiming at one of its legs while the panther is pincered by 3 people formation. BONE-VOYAGE on the front, James next to the skeleton and Alice behind the panther.


    Hunting a carnivore monster is much more difficult compared to the herbivore the party used to hunt during the day. All carnivorous creature has some kind of weapon that they use to attack their prey making it more dangerous; It also possesses the natural instinct of hunter making it more aware of its surrounding.


    The panther dodge Luna ambush as it turns and attacks Alice ignoring the two guys in front of it. Alice tumbling to the side barely dodging the panther claws which is inches away from her faces. BONE-VOYAGE and James run towards the panther interupting its follow up attack, giving Alice enough time to get back on her feet.


    The panther changes its trade hit with BONE-VOYAGE while dodging James''s attack.


    Thwack!!! CREAK!!!


    BONE-VOYAGE club hit the panther on the side but a much louder sound coming out of his left hand as the panther smash his boney hand.


    -7


    -21


    Both parties took a step back after they trade hit considering their options.


    "Can you guys give me time to resummon BONE-VOYAGE? He loses his hand!" James shout


    "I don''t think we have enough time for that! He dodges most of our attack and we need at least 3 people to keep him occupied otherwise he would attack me or Kana! KANA, Try to heal BONE-VOYAGE!"


    "Already tried that! The healing goes trough but it didn''t regrow his hand!." Kana said as she chugs a healing potion to refill her HP.


    ''We finally dealt some damage but we took a lot more on our own. Kana can''t regrow BONE-VOYAGE hand and the only way to heal him is to resummon him but James would need some time to do so. The attack is too high to tank normally the only way to tank it is either James mana shield or BONE-VOYAGE. Wait a minute! MANA SHIELD!''


    "JAMES! TRY TO TRANSFER SOME OF YOUR MANA TO BONE-VOYAGE! Try to strengthen it like you strengthen your shield!"


    "WHAT?! What are you trying to do?" James ask unsure about Albert suggestion


    "This is a gamble but we would die anyway if things continue the way it is!" Albert said as he controls Luna more aggressively giving James enough time to channel his mana to BONE-VOYAGE.


    ''If my conjecture was true then similar to how we can strengthen weapon using mana. Then it was possible for James to strengthen BONE-VOYAGE using his mana. BONE-VOYAGE is also made of purely out of James''s mana so it should be easier for him to shroud it with his mana similar to how he covers his shield with mana.''


    "WHAT THE???" Kana said shocked


    BONE-VOYAGE body emitting blue glows as he grows his body even bigger and heals its arm in the process of it. Transferring almost half of his mana James stops as he feels that he loses control over BONE-VOYAGE. BONE-VOYAGE is now a two and a half meter skeleton with red eyes ready to re-engage the fight.


    !WARNING!


    Stronger summon can break free from the summoner!


    Skeleton BONE-VOYAGE is no longer under your control.


    !UNLOCK TRAITS HIDDEN EFFECT!


    Super summon traits allows user to naturally control stronger monster!


    Traits super summon put BONE-VOYAGE back under your control!


    BONE-VOYAGE eyes turn from red to a bright blue color before he starts charging the panther and crashing it before the panther hits Alice whos'' already half HP tanking few of the panther attack. Kana is already on her 3rd potions bottle and the panther is still without any significant injury.


    CRASH!!!


    -23


    -

 Chapter 45 - 43. Village Tokens

    With buffed up BONE-VOYAGE the party re-engages the black panther with a full force. A red number start to appear repeatedly above the black panther head but it was still standing strong fighting 4 vs 1.


    James is having a hard time concentrating his mana in both BONE-VOYAGE and his shield. He can only block every so often and withdraw any intent of attacking with his shield. Luna is struggling to land any hit as the panther is much faster compared to her. To put it on top of that the panther has 4 limbs and one very strong jaw which could foil any of Luna''s attack as it would harm herself more than the panther if they traded hit.


    Observing the fight since the beginning Albert start to learn the panther attack pattern and decide to try a different approach. He plays his zither and commands Luna to stop attacking and wait for his next signal.


    BONE-VOYAGE fight into the panther into a draw but a long drawn out fight is not a viable option as James stamina wouldn''t last that long. Stamina depreciation causes your body to move more sluggish making it hard to avoid and launching an attack on the very fast black panther.


    Fortunately, Albert''s party is not the only one who didn''t want a long drawn-out fight. The panther stamina is not unlimited and fighting a 5 vs 1 didn''t help it conserve stamina. Albert starts strum notes after notes sending a sound message to Luna.


    "Kana! Get ready to heal Luna!" Albert whisper to Kana quietly as he continues to play his zither


    "James! Drink an MP potion!" shout Albert, reminding James to do so as he almost out of MP due to blocking


    The panther saw an opening and jump towards James as he takes out a lesser MP potion from his inventory. Without the panther knowing Luna is waiting behind BONE-VOYAGE to ambush the panther. As soon as the panther moves pass the skeleton Luna throws her whole body onto the panther caught one of it hindleg.


    The panther loses it momentum and crashes into James shield face-first stunning the panther and negating the damage. Due to its big body, Luna gets dragged on the ground dealing quite a bit damage. Kana is already precast her healing skill and execute it as soon as Luna HP drop bellow 80% healing it back to full.


    BONE-VOYAGE and Alice took chances while the panther is stunned and attack it with their most powerful attack. The panther snapped out of stunning effect but it is having a hard time contending with the party as his movement is significantly slower as one of his hindlegs is get constricted by a snake.


    The panther tries to roll its body around and eve smash its own body to the ground try to laid-off the snake. Luna is struggling to keep latching on to the panther and only manages to do so because of Kana''s healing skill. The panther injures not only Luna but also itself every time it smashes his own body to the ground.


    After struggling for almost 5 minutes the fight finally ends and the panther fell as it HP reaches 0. Seeing the panther is dead the party follows the panther as they fell butt first onto the ground as they are too tired after an intense fight.


    Albert, Alice, James, and Kana are too tired to continue hunting so they decide to haul their loot and decide to call it a night. The party spent quite a bit of their potions supply fighting the panther; 8 lesser HP potions, 2 lesser MP potions. But since the panther yield almost 20% of exp for each of them it was really worth the effort. Storing the panther corpse took 2 big inventory slots and with the panther safely stored in Kana''s inventory the party walk back to the village.


    -


    Early in the morning, Albert, James, and Kana meet up in the tutorial village again. Albert plans to restock their inventory and turns in their last night loot before they log back out again to eat breakfast with their family. Alice the lazy bug decides to skip out and just continue her beauty nap as she has little to no interest in anything besides hunting monsters.


    Alice''s personality changes worry Albert a little but then again the little devil is much more active compared to others around her ages. The group visits Mr. Theo''s empty stall and pulls out a big black panther carcass to Mr. Theo''s surprise. Kana was too afraid to damage it since she hasn''t mastered the harvesting technique and so they decide to let Mr. Theo do the job.


    With the bone, meat, leather, and fangs cleanly harvested the party proceeds to the town hall to turn in the panther head for a possible quest reward. The panther leather is in perfect quality since no one in the group using any sharp weapon that could possibly damage the skin. On the contrary, the fang and bones are in a much worse condition to the blunt damage the panther receives during the fight.


    "Hello, adventurer! How may I help you today?" Said the town receptionist as she welcomes Albert''s party.


    "Hello, miss. We would like to turn in this monster head as proof of subjugation. Is there any quest related to this monster?" Kana said as she took out the panther head


    The receptionist is in shock as she witnesses a low-level party successfully hunt a higher level night predator on the first week. A High-level party even struggles to hunt one of these as if the panther decides to run nobody would be able to catch not to mention with its camouflage ability during the night is really good.


    "Yes, there is 2 quest related to this specific monster. 1 is subjugation and the other is to procure its leather, preferably in good quality. Would you also submit it''s leather or only the proof of subjugation? Also as this is a high-level quest the one who completes the quest would gain some village tokens and reputation point as a quest reward. Would you like to submit the quest under your name or someone else?"


    -

 Chapter 46 - 44. Reputation

    "Reputation point?"


    "Yes the higher your reputation is the more likely for you to get a designated quest as quest issuer prefers high reputation adventurer. There''s a lot more benefit to a high reputation and even some country would grant a high reputation party a noble or knight title to keep them working for their country." The receptionist explains further about the quest rewards


    "Is the reputation point we gain in this village have the same value in the Eden world? Do the reputation points we have belongs to a specific region or it represents the whole world? Also, can we share this reputation point? We hunt the monster together so if possible we would like to split it up with the whole party." Alberts jump in the conversation as this is the first time he hears about this and this could be his ticket to have a better standing in the Eden world later.


    "Your reputation would influence the world as a whole but different country has its own separate view about them and what is the value of the point itself. Some countries even have their own reputation system that is separated from general reputation points."


    "You can split the reputation point with your party members but I suggest you not do so. Reputation point reward gets exponentially better as with each point and splitting them up is a bad idea. An adventurer party usually either lets its leader accumulate all the points and be the point person or put it under your party name."


    "Both has its own advantage and disadvantages but the most distinct point is that; Party reputation point less than half of individual reputation point. You also can''t acquire any nobles enfeoffment with party reputation point. Tough some nobles love to hire a private mercenary company and you can get a personal title that way working for noble houses."


    ''On one side, if the party leader leaves the party the other party members would have no reputation so you really need someone trustworthy to be the leader. On the other hand, you can enjoy all the benefits so long as you remain in the party but it was harder to reach higher standing as the point only worth half of what it is.'' Albert''s brain gear working summarizing all the information he got from the receptionist lady.


    "Can we receive the other reward first and put a hold on the reputation point? We have 1 other party member and would like to discuss it first with her before we decide on what to do." James asks the lady as they would be late for breakfast if they continue engaging in this discussion.


    "Certainly; The reward for hunting the black panther is 10 silver coins, 20 village token, and 10 reputation point. As you requested, here are the coins and village token and you can inform the town hall later to receive your reputation point. Please remember to exchange your village token before you leave the village for good as they would be useless otherwise."


    "What about this black panther pelt? What is the reward for turning this in?"Kana pulls out a perfect black panther pelt from her inventory


    The receptionist lady examines the goods and evaluates it as an excellent quality leather. Turning in the panther pelt would net the party another 5 silver and another 10 village token to exchange. Albert asks the party whether or not they should consider keeping the leather so they can ask the village tailor to make leather equipment with it.


    The receptionist lady helps them decide as she shows them a list of equipment you can exchange with the village tokens. The black panther pelt can only make 2-3 pieces of leather equipment and the only one who uses leather equipment is Alice. Considering that they can exchange another type of equipment with the village token the party decides to exchange the pelt with coins and tokens.


    Albert and the group log out to have their stomach filled after they visit the village store restocking their potions. Floating down the stair his family is waiting for him in a dining table with plates full of food.


    Albert told Alice about the quest reward and ask what his father knew about reputation points. James and Kana having qualms whether to put it under someone''s name or under the party name. Kana plans to ask his sister and suggest Albert ask his father for his opinion so they can better decide on what to do.


    "They have their own plus and minus but I would personally suggest you put it under the party name. If you want to create a guild similar to how you see in an MMORPG game then putting it on one person''s name; That way you can accumulate enough reputation point for registering your guild. Your other guild member could then accumulate their own reputation point via guild quest."


    "But creating guild would invite more trouble as other powerful earth faction already have their own guild and creating new guild is competing with their interest as each country can only have a certain amount of guilds. Putting it under one person''s name would be more beneficial at the beginning as the person who has high reputations can be the party representative but later on, everyone would need the reputation point and having none of it could possibly lock you out of some quest or some area."


    Albert nods at his father''s explanation and puts it on the back on his mind so he can discuss further with the others later on in the tutorial village. His father asks Albert what does he do to get reputation points as a reward because even in the first 2 alpha and beta test there''s only a handful of people who acquire it at the tutorial village.


    You can get them more later on as you interact with higher rank natives in Eden. Alice excitedly retold her magnificent feet hunting a black panther last night to her father making both of her parent worried as they hear their lovely 15 years old daugther fighting a big black panther even tough it was not her real body.

 Chapter 47 - 45.Super Hero in Training

    Albert meets back up with Kana and James after breakfast and they all agree to put the reputation point under the party name after a bit discussion. Albert told his father''s opinion and Kana said that Anna''s party put the reputation point they got from clearing the tutorial dungeon in their party leader name.


    She also told them that the 3rd beta test participant doesn''t necessarily have freedom like the students and they are all assigned into a party from the start so it''s more like military camp rather than gaming experience for her. She is free to go by herself after she finishes the tutorial world but she also needs to turn all her equipment back to the party since it was registered as a party''s property.


    Hearing Kana''s explanation, all party member has a disgusted face imagining Anna''s condition. Alice directly sends a couple of messages to Anna via her comlink telling her to level up quickly and join their group later on in Eden.


    The party proceeds back to the village hall to register their party and put reputation points under their party name.


    "What is our party name? Boney and friend?"James ask the member with a big smirk


    "Not again, James." Albert''s brain instantly short-circuited realizing he has to pick a good name with the guys


    "Whyyyy???!!! It was a good name! We can use BONE-VOYAGE as our mascot." James retort


    "4 and a half-man? There''s 4 of us and BONE-VOYAGE can be count as a half" Kana shows the party what terrible naming sense is


    "Ay, you forgot about Albert''s snake. 4 and a half-man plus beast?" James making thing worse


    "What would happen when Anna join us? 5 and a half-man plus beast?"Alice said the whole sentence holding her laugh watching the trio who have a terrible naming sense


    Albert argues over and over rejecting the terrible name James and Kana offer one after another. At one point Kana suggest Ramen Party as their team name and making Luna their mascot. At that point, even James didn''t back her up when Albert denies the idea.


    "What about Super Heroes in Training?" James suggest another name for the team


    "I''m kinda ashamed to admit that I thought it was a good idea for a while." Albert denies him again but his defense is already shaken


    Alice watches the whole drama on the side and chip in every now and then teasing the members making it harder for them to decide the name. But even after sometimes it was kinda sad and not so funny anymore.


    "Can we change our party name later? We''re still in a tutorial village and we already waste half an hour here coming up with a terrible name one after another. Can we just pick something simple first like team Victory or team Brave and change it later on?" Alice decided to put an end to their misery


    Realizing they are wasting a lot of time coming up with a party name instead of hunting the party agrees to just put a temporary name for their party. Kana walks to one of the receptionists to ask them whether it was possible to change their party name later on.


    "You are free to change the name of your party but you risk losing some of the employer recognition. As a new establish team being recognized by your employer is one of the important things as most employers only hire the team they knew well to do their quest."


    "When you reserve a quest for your party the employer wouldn''t know your personal identification and only know the name of the party that reserve it. Most people also thought that changing your party name means changing in leadership so even if you inform your employer, later on, there could also be a risk of that."


    The receptionist explains the disadvantage for us doing so as some people would rather pick a new establish team rather than a team who often change their leadership. Albert calmly explains that they would only use the temporary name in the tutorial village and would permanently choose one for later in Eden as they still have another member who would join later on in Eden.


    James insists on the name Super Hero in Training and since they going to change it later anyway the rest of the party didn''t argue much and decide to make him happy for this time.


    Albert registers Super Hero in Training as their party name and asks the village receptionist for an item catalog to exchange with their village token. The receptionist transfers the item catalog data to Albert comlink and proceeds to explain how does the item catalog work.


    "There are 4 main item categories which you could choose to exchange in the Village Treasury. First is the Equipment category which includes armor, weapon, and accessory; The Consumable category consists mostly of hunting supply, high-grade potions, and unique potions, etc. Forging, tailoring, and any kind of material could be found in Material category and last but not least Miscellaneous category.


    "You can filter the item category even further with your comlink to make it easier for you to compare similar items. Make sure to exchange the item you want as we don''t have any return policy and spend all your village tokens before you leave the tutorial village for good as the tokens would hold no value in any other places." The receptionist remind the party to not bring any of the village tokens to Eden.


    Albert and the party move out of the way as they are blocking others who want to talk to the village receptionist. Albert moves and shares the item catalog with the rest of the party so they can look for anything they fancy. Albert skims through the item catalog looking for anything that could help them level up faster or become even stronger.


    The party skims trough the equipment category first as the same in any other game; Equipment is almost as important if not more important than your level.

 Chapter 48 - 46.Village Exchange Services

    Albert: "What do you think we should exchange our tokens with?" Albert ask the other about their opinion after he skims through the equipment tab


    James: "We just bought my equipment on the first day so it should still be good for now. One that I can consider changing would be my shield if we ever found a nice one." James said his part


    Kana: "Well, Albert and I didn''t wear any protection equipment but since we''re on the backline I don''t think we should prioritize that. I did not have any weapon mastery so I don''t need that either; I do want to use our money to pay for the tutoring lesson from the village native so maybe exchange it with more coins if possible?"


    Albert: "It is possible but we can gain more money by hunting but not every monster would yield us village token so exchanging with coins is a bit of waste, I think. And James, what about your weight problem? There''s a couple of nice shields in the list but they require at least 1 weight point to wear and the nicer one even has 1.5 weight requirement."


    James: "Damn!!! I forgot about that weight problem; nevermind then. What about we look for equipment with a lot of wisdom or an HP boost for Kana? That way she can have an easier time to be our blood bank."


    Kana: "We can look for that. What about you Alice? Anything you fancy? And please don''t refer me to a blood bank."


    Alice: "There''s a leather boots equipment piece which boots movement speed but I think we should focus more on offense rather than that. A better armguard also would be nice but again I think we lack an offensive power. My Jade hand skill boosts my arm defense and combines that with my current armguard I don''t think I would need more defense for now."


    James: "I found a set of cloth equipment which boosts 3 wisdom and would boost another 3 wis if you wear 2 pieces of the same set. The set consists of 5 pieces of different equipment part and would further boost your wis by 3 and int by 2 when you wear a full set complete with headpieces, gloves, and boots. The headpieces grant 2 int and the boost provides a little movement speed bonus. The arm pieces special effect would help you control your mana but it would be useless for Kana and can only provide 2 armor overall they would cost us 20 tokens for all the pieces. Would everyone ok with that?"


    Kana: "I don''t think it''s worth spending all 20 tokens for that. Have you guys checked the other category? There could be something more useful down there."


    Albert: "I found interesting stuff in a consumable category..."


    Alice: "What it is? Some kind of super potions?"


    Albert: "No; It''s an item called space stone that can expand our inventory slot and add another 10 medium inventory slot to our current inventory. Too bad, we couldn''t afford to spend 50 tokens on that item. James, how much is it if we only exchange the top and bottom part for Kana''s equipment?"


    James: "It would cost us 5 tokens each for the top and bottom part so 10 tokens in total. The helmet cost 4 tokens and the other 2 are 3 tokens each. Oh, we can also exchange the tokens to buy our supply. 5 token for a stack of small HP potions which is better compared to the lesser HP potion that we currently use."


    Albert: "A stack of potions consists of 10 of the exact same potions; If we assume that the small HP potions are at least 40-50% better than the lesser one than we can safely assume it would cost us about 25 copper each. With simple math, we can deduct the value of the village token about 50 copper each. Does that mean the cost of Kana equipment would be 5 silver? No wonder they give a ton of stats."


    Kana: "10 tokens for a 3 wis and that would give me another 30HP and add a little bit of natural defense from the cloth armor. If you guys okay with that, we can exchange it. Here''s an idea, since there''s nothing that fits us better in the exchanging platform why don''t we make a custom one since we get a lot of money from the black panther quest."


    Albert: "That''s a good idea. We can then maybe put a request to make an armguard with more offensive capability for Alice. Or a better lightweight shield for James. And on top of that, we can save the rest of our village token to exchange for the more expensive items later on."


    Blessed Priest Robe (TOP)


    (UNCOMMON)


    Weight:0.6


    Requisite: 5 int 4 wis


    Armor: 6


    WIS +1


    INT +2


    Bonus set (2): WIS +3


    Bonus set (5): WIS +3 INT +2


    Blessed Priest Robe (BOT)


    (UNCOMMON)


    Weight:0.4


    Requisite: 4 int 2 wis


    Armor: 4


    WIS +2


    INT +1


    Bonus set (2): WIS +3


    Bonus set (5): WIS +3 INT +2


    Looking at the time the party decides to hunt before they do anything else. They already stock up potions and could visit the blacksmith later when Kana''s busy doing her daily chores at Mr. Theo stall.


    Walking to the village entrance students are start log back into the tutorial village making it more lively. Students who unfortunately demise on day 1 having their second chances causing the village center more noisy than usual.


    Most people who just revived refuse to go back into their previous party due to many different reason. Some even straight away looking for the one who either coincidentally or not causing their death for revenge.


    More reasonable students try to establish a new party or join other existing parties to level up and explore outside the village. Albert''s party refuses couples of students inquiry before they can escape the village center but a stronger looking party would be stuck in the middle of the human sea.

 Chapter 49 - 47.Custom Equipment

    The party head to the nearby forest to look for monsters called large horned elk and white sock fox. Alice is really eager to try looking into the nearby dungeon but Albert and Kana bait her by saying that they try to look for an elite version of the monster that they hunt yesterday.


    Albert distributes 2 more venom antidote to the frontline before the party enters the forest as some of the venomous monsters also live in there. He put his wheelchair inside his big inventory slot and hand over the backpack to Kana as traversing in the forest using the wheelchair is really not convenient.


    Albert did not slow down the party too much as they need to explore more cautiously inside the forest. With trees all around them, there are many hidden spots where the monster could set up an ambush not to mention you could also accidentally walk up to a pack of monsters if you''re not careful enough.


    Kana warn the party to avoid 2 specific monsters which she heard from the village hunter last night in the pubs. He specifically mentions red eyes bear and silverback wolf are often seen around the forest and you should not mess with them at all.


    The party meets some monsters they hunt the day before and makes quick work out of it stuffing the carcasses to their inventory. Inside the forest with many varieties of monsters sometimes you would encounter a different type of monster at the same time making it harder to fight them.


    With 2 or 3 of the same monster, you could easily predict their movement and prepare a counter to it. But, fighting 2 different monsters at the same time making it harder as they have a different attacking pattern and not to mention the possibility of their pack coming to aid them.


    Walking around the forest, Alice spots a water stream and one of the party targets; 3 white sock fox can be spotted drinking from the water stream. Unfortunately, the monster that they try to avoid also hanging out on the other side of the stream; The silverback wolves pack.


    "How should we engage this fight?" Ask Alice eager to start the fight.


    "I''ll ask Luna to patrol the area around to see if there''s another monster or not. Could one of you check the water depth? I''m afraid the wolves would run across if the water is shallow enough." Albert try to strategize in the middle of the forest


    James sends BONE-VOYAGE to check the water depth by dipping its own body and instructs it not to go beyond the chest level. Luna comeback after round of patrol around the area and the only monster around is 2 four-eared monkey that is not aggressive.


    James, Alice, and BONE-VOYAGE charge to the group of foxes right after BONE-VOYAGE back after checking the water depth. As the water is deep enough the silverback wolves pack wouldn''t be able to cross it without swimming.


    Although wolves species are proficient enough to swim across to ambush them; Swimming across a river with more than 2-meter depth is a whole different matter as there could be a water predator living inside the river.


    True enough, The silverback wolves did not even try to swim across the river and the party hunts the pack of white sock fox with ease. James and BONE-VOYAGE struggle a bit at first as the foxes are faster compared to the usual boar or rabbit. Alice, on the other hand, is having a blast as she has higher dexterity compare to the two and can react faster than the foxes.


    Finish with the foxes the party head out to the 2 monkeys Luna found about 150 meters from their current location and make quick work out of the monkeys. In the next hours and a half, the party rampaging trough the forest and hauling a bunch of monster carcasses to Mr. Theo stall for Kana''s quest.


    ---


    Dropping Kana at Mr. Theo stall, the other party members then head to the only blacksmith in the village to see if they can find something useful or request a custom made one if there are none available. With 15 silver in their pocket, Albert is confident that they can afford almost anything the village offers.


    "Hello, sirs. We''re looking for an arm equipment pieces that have an offensive capability. Do you perhaps have one in your shop?"


    Albert asks the blacksmith as the shop is empty and you could only hear the sound of metal hammering.


    "You''re looking for a barehanded weapon? Something like brass knuckles? I don''t have that but I can make one if you want to. The price would be quite high as the brass knuckles have quite a bit of detail." The blacksmith asks Albert back as his question is not quite clear


    "No, sir. An armor piece preferably similar to an armguard. My sister couldn''t wield any weapon do to her traits so we''re looking for different options for her. She can wear an armguard just fine cause it can be considered an armor piece but our party is lacking offensive capability so we''re hoping to find a unique armor with an offensive option."


    "That''s quite a challenge you have there." The blacksmith stops hammering the weapon and brings a couple of chairs for Alice and James. He then sits in front of the party and speaks his idea while rubbing his chin.


    "I like challenge! I could extend the armguard so it covers your entire arm and adds a bunch of spike on the armguard. The finished product would guarantee to have some offensive option but it would be hard to maintain it; The spike would break after couple of use and it would be even more brittle when you fix that."


    "How about using a stronger material like steel instead of normal iron so it wouldn''t be so brittle?" James chips his idea


    "It wouldn''t help much the problem is not within the material but the blunt force it would facing when you use it. Using a different material is a good idea tough. If you could bring me some of the more rare material like Dark Metal or Aetheryte Shard I could even forge you an UNCOMMON or even RARE grade equipment."

 Chapter 50 - 48. Rare Equipment

    "RARE rank equipment? How many grades are there for equipment?" Alice cuts in as she is excited when she heard the word rare.''


    "As far as I know, An equipment can be grade into 5 different levels. An ungraded level which most people called it as common equipment; Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. A lot of people in Eden believe that there is even higher grade than Legendary rank equipment but I never even saw a piece of Legendary grade equipment before."


    "You could forge a rare grade equipment piece? What is the material you''re talking about? Dark Steel and Aetheryte Shard? Where can I find them? What is their characteristic?" Albert ask the blacksmith


    "Dark Metal usually could be found near a rich mineral metal vein along with other rare metal. It was one of the more sturdy metals it was often forged into shield and armor headpieces. I could try to make fingerless gloves that cover your entire arm and add a bunch of studded spikes made from dark metal. It would be easier to maintain but it would sacrifice a lot of defense as the armguard base would be made out of leather."


    "Why can''t you make it out of iron so it would be sturdier?" Albert suggests


    "Using normal iron as a base would destroy the structural integrity of the iron and it would create more problems than it solves. You could try to find more rare material such as Feather Iron or Quicksilver and use it as the base material but it would be such a waste and as far as I know you, there aren''t any near this village."


    "The other option would be forging the armguard using Aetheryte Shard as its base. Aetheryte Shard is a strong metal that contains a lot of fire energy which is perfect for offensive options. It''s one of more difficult metal to handle due to how easy it was to combust the said metal. A weapon which is made from Aetheryte can have an explosive effect attach to it which would satisfy the offensive options you guys seek."


    "Explosive effect?! Wouldn''t that be dangerous as the user would basically in close proximity when the explosion happen? Also what about its durability and defensive capability?" Albert ask for more details


    "The metal itself has a lot of resistance to fire and really durable so it can protect you from the explosion backlash: The explosion itself is not that dangerous as the area of effect wouldn''t be that big and it would only create a double attack effect."


    "I like that one! Can you make one for me if I found the Aet something shard?" Alice show her interest


    "Well the Aetheryte Shard can be found in a volcanic environment, or a place where there is a lot of fire energy. I don''t think you can find one around here but last month the village patrol brought home 3 kg of that Aetheryte Shard. You can either ask to buy it from him or ask where did he found it."


    Albert asks where to find the guard and details about him and went ahead to meet back up with Kana. Kana''s working speed has been improving tremendously and she also makes fewer mistakes making their loot more valuable.


    Kana''s already finished 30% of her entire harvesting quest and with the rate of the team hunting, she would finish it during the next week. The group asks around the village looking for the guard who posses Aetheryte Shard but unfortunately for them; The guard no longer has the shard when they met him.


    "I already sold it to the Village Hall as I don''t have any use for it and worth a lot of money. You can go to the village hall ask them to rebuy it if you want to."


    The gear in Albert''s brain clicks the moment he heard what the guard says; He opens the item catalog for village tokens exchange and clicks on Material tabs before he looks at it 1 by 1. True to his guess, the Aetheryte Shard is available for exchange at 3 tokens per kilogram.


    There''s a couple more rare metal listed down in the item catalog but since they don''t have any knowledge about this world metal or even metals in general; The group went back to the blacksmith shop to ask how much and what materials are needed for Alice''s new armguard.


    "Oh, I didn''t know that you guys already got so many village tokens to exchange. To craft the armguard that according to your requirement I would need at least 3 kg of the Aetheryte Shard. May I know what else is available in the village tokens item catalog? If I could find a compliment metal to forge it I could guarantee it would reach rare grade equipment with no problem."


    "As fas as metal goes, there''s the dark steel that you talk about previously; Some common metal like brass, iron, silver, and gold ore are also available at less than 1 tokens per kilogram with the exception of gold. Mithril, Jade, Platinum are more expensive and there are also couples precious stones like ruby, garnet, emerald, etc."


    "Oh, garnet! That could be a good fit for this craft. If you''re willing to spend a bit more and trade for the garnet and a bit of Jade I could guarantee you could use it at least until you''re level 20 or even 30."


    ''The garnet would cost us another 4 tokens and jade is the price at 2 tokens for half a kilogram. The entire thing would cost us about 15 tokens and that does not include the cost of forging. This better be worthed.''


    Albert say in his mind as he looks at the other party member for approval. Alice is beaming with excitement the more she heard about her new armguard and the other also nods as they don''t have anything they urgently need at the moment. Increasing Alice''s offensive option would also mean increasing the party average fighting capability; It means they can hunt a stronger monster and that would net them more money and or more tokens to exchange for.

 Chapter 51 - 49. Crimson Vambrace of Strength

    "Okay, I could provide all the necessary materials to forge the armguard; How about the forging cost?"


    "Well, I usually only charge about 2 to 5 silver for a piece of custom equipment including the materials if they request to use more common material. But since you provide the material, I couldn''t charge that much but due to how difficult it is to handle it I would have to charge a bit more than normal as I have to compensate with my own money in case I need some material on the process."


    "How about 5 silver for the piece and I would buy the excess material or you can request another piece to be made out of it for free."


    "That''s a bit more expensive than I thought. Even Kana''s robe set only cost us 5 silver if we convert the tokens into gold currency. Are rare equipment really that expensive?"


    "Well, each leap of grade after UNCOMMON would also mean a leap in price. Rare equipment normally would cost you around 1 gold coin. You could get a less desirable rare equipment for 70-80 silver but the better one could also cost you 2-5 gold coins. Epic equipment is sold at around a thousand gold coins each and You can''t buy Legendary equipment with coins even if you have a hundred thousand gold coins."


    "There''s also a factor of equipment level requirement but you don''t really need to worry for now as all the equipment from the tutorial village doesn''t have any level requirement as our God''s instruction."


    The team agrees to order the equipment and wait for 5-7 days before the armguard complete. The team gets into a routine where they hunt 2 times during the day and patrol at night to see if a stray monster or a quest pop up for their team.


    They mostly hunt the monster from inside and on the periphery of the forest while avoiding a stronger monster living inside the forest. Other students at Saint Joseph Academy also start catching up on the level and most of them are already level 2 while the party level up to level 3 on the 4th day after they order the equipment.


    Anna also finishes her harvesting quest on the 5th day and the party hunting efficiency goes up as they don''t need to go back to the village as often as before. The more notable thing the party did was hunting an Elite version of the horned rabbit which netted them 5 village tokens and a couple of silver from the materials.


    Albert notices the changes that happen on the last day of school before the weekend; Students start hanging out more with their party members and segregating from their own friends. Weaker students got isolated and transfer students start gaining awareness as most of them are stronger compare to normal students.


    Students start to suspect that they receive preferred treatment but they can do nothing about that when they denied it. The atmosphere around the tutorial is also changing as there''s some student who starts recruiting other people to join their guild/organization.


    Although the guild system is not implemented in the tutorial village; Information got leaked and students found out that they can make one on the Eden World later on. The party is also invited to joins a couple of different guilds but they reject it.


    The party also accumulated quite of wealth and possess a total of 25 silver combine even after they pay the armguard forging fee. Kana and James try to visit the village tutorial to learn a couple of things from the natives but they got discouraged when they discover the price of the lesson.


    The party went back to the blacksmith shop of the 6th day to pick up their order and buy a harvesting knife set for Kana. The set she uses to complete her quest was on the lower quality and on the verge of breaking.


    The blacksmith informs the party that the equipment is finish but it needs to cool down before it''s ready to be used. Alice''s eyes are glimmering as she sees a pipping red hot armguard sitting on the forging table. The armguard is red in color with bright green accents around the edges.


    Albert asks for the forging prices as they haven''t pay for it as they agree to pay it off later when the equipment is finish. The blacksmith charges the party 5 silver coins for the entire forging fee and would buy the excess rare material from the forging process for 4 silver coins.


    "Here are 1 silver coin for the forging fee and we would be back tomorrow for the armguard; Do you have a high-quality knife set available for sale? We need a harvesting knife set as the beginner knife set we use already brittle."


    "Most equipment which is not made for fighting purpose would have a similar quality, but I do have a harvesting knife set which is 1 grade higher compare to the beginner one you use. The knife set is the price at 3 silver coins and I would give you this knife as a bonus for all your patronage"


    The blacksmith reaches to the weapon rack and pull an exquisite curved dagger and handed it to Kana. It was uncommon grade dagger that possesses lower attack damage stats compare to un grade tier dagger which is very unusual.


    Nobody in the party is using dagger or knife as their weapon but you got to take every free stuff you could get. There''s an unidentified effect on the dagger which presumably categorized it on to uncommon grade weapon but since nobody on the tutorial village can identify it, it was kinda useless for now.


    Vicious Curved Dagger


    UNCOMMON


    Weight:0.2


    Requisite: 3 DEX 1 STR


    Attack: 1-2


    ????????


    Crimson Vambrace of Strength


    RARE


    Weight: 1.2


    Requisite: 7 STR 5 END


    Armor: 3


    Attack: 9-12


    Attacks deal additional fire damage


    Increase arm strength by 10%

 Chapter 52 - 50. Guild Representative

    The party decides to wait for another day before they visit the nearest dungeon as the armguard stats are too good to pass on. Settling their loot for the day the party log of to take a break before they log back in for night time patrol.


    The night time in the tutorial village is getting merrier by each day. Students spend some time in the village before they head to sleep and some students even ask whether or not it is possible to dive in the game for a whole night and log back out to during the day so they didn''t waste time sleeping.


    Mr. Hubert tells the student to not be greedy and told him that even if his physical body is in the sleeping state while you are in the game world; The brain which is arguably the most important part is kept active during the whole gaming experience and would still need some resting time.


    Some lucky students acquire patrolling quest with the town guards making their nighttime hunt much more easier but they sacrifice some valuable loot as the town would take all the loot. They still invite other people to envy as they netted themself quite a sum of easy experience each day and get pay 50-100 copper per day.


    Right after dinner the party log back into the tutorial world and right in front of them is 3 different party representative.


    "James, have you thought about our offer? How about you join us to patrol tonight?" One of the students in the black robe said


    "I really don''t have any intentions to join your Black Society party, Mark. How about you ask other students; I''m sure there''s a bunch that would be happy to join your party." James told his intention


    "You do know that there''s only a small amount of people from this batch that already reach level 3, right? You are one of the few that already level 3 and with our party help we can level faster and leave this tutorial village to experience a whole new world." Mark persuaded James


    "And, let me guess; Join your Black Society guild right after you teleported to Eden?" Cut the only girl out of the 3 party representative.


    "Kana, can you help us to patrol around the village? We''re aiming to hunt a stronger or elite monster


    tonight; We would like to hire you to help us hunt it and we would pay commission for each monster we hunt tonight and would still pay you guys on top of that."


    The three representatives that approach Albert''s party are the Black Society, Blue Chivalry and Sword and Shield Mercenary. The Black Society and Sword and Shield Mercenary representative are formed by transfer students that transfer over when the Project New World started while the Blue Chivalry is formed by the students'' councils president.


    The only female party representatives that try to invite Kana to help them is a member of student councils who happen to be in the same village as Albert''s party while the president himself is faring in another tutorial village.


    Looking around the surrounding Albert feels pretty lucky that they start in a different village with other big party leaders. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have any say when the big boss is the one who invites them to join. Although they wouldn''t mind that much if you reject him Albert is pretty sure their lackey would take his gesture as offensive towards them.


    "You guys, I''m sure a lot of students here would love to join your groups and level together with you guys. Some of them are really not that bad and with the right party, they would surely improve and be more efficient in helping you level up. I know that you fancy my harvesting skill but I already told you where I get that skill from and If you really want it you can learn it from Mr. Theo."


    "Can you help us this one time, Kana? We have located 3 Elite monsters and really could use a support class who can heal to subdue them. Other low levels player could only be used as cannon fodder against an Elite monster not to mention the Elite always travel in a pack with at least 2 other normal monsters." Ellie the representative of the Blue Chivalry persuade her


    "I''m really sorry, Ellie; But if you still insist on hiring me as individual I have to reject your offer." Kana reject Blue Chivalry offer


    "We form Sword and Shield Mercenary would invite your whole party to join our party to level together. You can name any conditions and we would try our best to accommodate you guys."


    "Sorry, Jack; If you still want our party to give up all the reputation points I really can''t agree with that. I know you would compensate us generously but as we all know real-world currency doesn''t really have much use in this tutorial village nor in Eden." James rejects the third offer knowing what is their intention.


    The three-party representative took a step back after Kana and James reject their invitation and try to incite them with all kinds of things; In-game currency, village tokens, and Blue Chivalry even willing to split the reputations points as long as Kana agree to join them. Tempting as it is, the current financial situation of the Party is not that bad that they have to offer themself as a mercenary.


    With Kana''s harvesting skill their daily hunt became more efficient netting them more profit compare to other parties in the tutorial village. On top of that, the party potions consumption is really low due to BONE-VOYAGE and Luna tanking some of the damage.


    It took Albert''s party 15 minutes of going back and forth before the 3 party representative gave up. A lot of students are witnessing the whole incident with envy as some of them are willing to pay the three representatives some money if they allow them to join their hunting party.

 Chapter 53 - 51.

    After successfully avoiding the 3 big party representative Albert''s party heading out to do a night hunt on their own. Alice is still grumbling on the fact that no one invites her specifically tough she has the best equipment out of them all.


    Albert is slightly relief knowing the 3 big party representatives did not mention Alice or her new equipment. Knowing their behavior the 3 big party representatives would either force the party to sell it to them or forcing the information out of it like they force out the information about Kana''s harvesting skill


    Albert is still bitter remembering how one student they encounter while hunting tattle tale about Kana''s harvesting ability to others making the whole school pushing them to release the information. Luckily for them, before someone acts out of the line; the school instructor leads the mass to look for their own information in the library and teach the whole school about life skill existence.


    The existence of life skills makes the player who has weaker fighting capabilities hole up in the library looking for something they can do in the tutorial village other than hunting monster. Not long after the information spread woodcutting, smithing, tailoring, fishing, and many other life skills are discovered by the students making it a new hype.


    Nowadays the front of Mr. Theo butchering shop is full of players bringing a bunch of monster carcasses ready to be harvested. The same phenomenon can be seen in almost all the shop like the blacksmith shop, tailor shop, and even the potion shop has a lot of traffic due to a lot player starting to realize that a nominated quest has a possibility to grant them many kinds of rewards other than money, unlike the quest board.


    During the night hunt, The party did find 1 elite monster but unfortunately for them, another party already stalk the elite waiting for their reinforcement. Albert decides to not stealing the other party prey despite Alice''s insistence on trying to talk to the other party.


    With a 3 big party representative staring at his party back it was not a wise idea, antagonizing other unrelated parties. Moving on from the elite monster the party does a couple of lap of patrol around the village before they decide to call it a night. The party successfully hunt around 40 small night predators like foxes and snaked which net them 10% worth of experience and some silver coins that came along with it.


    Alice is really satisfied with her new equipment performance and she can''t wipe the grin on her face even after they log out of the game. The vambrace almost doubles her normal attack and boosted her arm strength even further making her arm defense almost impregnable.


    During the hunt, she even got a new skill called Overpower which she gets when she tries to punch a monster mid attacking. The monster charges straight to Alice''s jab and got knocked 3 feet away and receives a substantial amount of damage.


    Although the skill effect seems too good to be true there is one downside to the said skill. Overpower require Alice''s attack to have higher damage than her opponent otherwise, it would backfire and guarantee the opponent to land a critical hit on her. The skill also cost both mana and stamina to execute but since Alice''s other kit didn''t use much of those resources she can manage it quite well.


    Early in the morning Albert party rendezvous back at the tutorial village ready to dive into their first dungeon experience. Albert ditches his wheelchair midway to the dungeon entrance as the terrain is not really suitable for his wheelchair to traverse. The party moves onward slowly as Albert still rather stiff moving with his own two feet.


    With luna scouting along the way the party did not meet with too much trouble and even manage to hunt some monsters netting them a small amount of experience. The party soon reach a small opening near the mountain range that looks like a beast lair.


    Near the cave, there are couples of parties getting ready to jump straight into the dungeon. The dungeon works like a normal MMORPG game where they created an instance special for you and your party members so you don''t really have to worry clashing with other people inside the dungeon.


    Bear in mind that you still get teleported to where you were before after you completed the dungeon so you still have to beware of other people ambushing you right after you complete the dungeon.


    "Hey, look at that. There''s another new party attempting to try dive in the dungeon. We should hurry and sell our loot otherwise the price would drop as there would be a new competitor."


    "We don''t have to rush it; Look carefully at their party composition. 2 cloth armor, 1 light armor and the last one seems to be wearing starter equipment. Even if they can clear some monster inside they would surely use it to craft new equipment for them rather than sell it in the village."


    "Not to mention that party seems to not have any tank so at best they would clear the monster in the first area before they get wiped out. The girl who''s wearing the light armor seems to be the one who have the best equipment out of them all. The 2 cloth armor wearer seems to be the mage so the last one has to be the healer."


    "1 fighter, 2 mages, 1 healer no tank party? But what about that snake? Is that a pet or a summoned unit?"


    "That snake is called Luna; That is the limp guy''s pet. I''m in the same training batch as that guy and as far as I know, that guy doesn''t possess any healing capability." One of the guy who seems to know Albert chip in.


    Under the gaze of other parties, Albert limps his way to the dungeon entrance along with his party.