Fantasy Valkyom In Character (IC) Posting Section

[ChoShadow]

* Valkyom: Player Information, Stats, Weapons/Armor, and More!!
* Valkyom, EXP Chart!
* Valkyom Character Page
* Valkyom OOC

“Welcome one and all to Valkyom, the next generation of Virtual Reality gaming!

My name is Jeremy Strober, Developer and Executive Producer of Valkyom, and it is my pleasure to bring all of you along with me for this journey through a brave new world!

Thanks to cutting edge VR technology, Valkyom has upped the anti on every aspect of gaming imaginable. All of your basic senses are alive and active at all times as you play, having been painstakingly recreated from the ground up for the most realistic gaming experience the world has ever seen.

You can feel everything in this world as if it were the real world itself outside of your VR gear.

If it weren’t for the HUD and the cursor icons above other Players, NPC’s, Enemies, and Objects of importance in the game world, one would easily forget it was a game at all.

And now for the information you’ve been waiting for!

The Cataclysms.

Once every in-game six months, a Cataclysmic event strikes which threatens to destroy the game world. These Cataclysms come in many forms, most commonly a giant and nigh indestructible creature that Players from across the world must combine forces to defeat; but not before overcoming numerous challenges to weaken them making the battle infinitely easier on you.

Should you fail to prevent a Cataclysm, the entire in-game world is destroyed and the System will Force Log-Off all players immediately as the server wipes and resets. Over the course of one real-time week, the game will return to its default settings and repopulate the world with new enemies, NPC’s, and opportunities for Players to experience.

All of your inventory (both on-hand and in your storage), your Quest Data, your unlocked Skills, and (arguably most important) your Player Data are all preserved despite the wipe meaning you can load your created character’s base data and appearance and start the game anew.

However, you will be reverted to Level 1 and all of your stats will be reset. This is a blessing and a curse. It’s a curse because who wants to restart at Level 1 after spending time leveling up and doing so well to face a Cataclysm? But it’s a blessing because if you discover that your character could be improved upon, stat wise, to better focus on and take advantage of your preferred play style, you can begin building them up better and more efficiently than before.

So welcome, brave Players of the world, to Valkyom!

I’ll see you inside!

- Jeremy Strober”

 

[ChoShadow]

Date: June 18, 2022​

_______________________________________​

Saya awoke at precisely 5:30am to the sound of her alarm clock blaring in her ear. She had placed it on a small table next to her bed, and as it sang its annoying “wake up sleepyhead, wake up sleepyhead” song she turned over under her sheets and slapped the top to shut it off.

She didn’t actually get up yet. She wasn’t really what anyone would call a “morning riser.” In fact she’d never woken up this early for anything in her life, but this was a special occasion.

Today was the final release of the world’s most realistic and first “Deep-Dive” VR MMORPG called Valkyom.

Deep-Dive was a new form of VR technology where the user’s brainwaves were scanned, analyzed, intercepted, and digitized by specialized hardware contained in the Valkyom headgear. Once digitized, the user’s consciousness was transported into the VR game world where the process of character creation and play could begin.

Still, despite her excitement, the last thing she wanted was to get up. She could barely form a coherent thought in her head other than “Valkyom.”

She put the word “Valkyom” on a loop in her mind to try and inspire her to get up, but it was only just barely beginning to work as she slowly crawled to the edge of her bed and literally fell out of it, sheets and all still wrapped around her body.

“Mmmmmmm…” She mumbled.

She lifted her head and looked to the right, and her cheek was met with the bed frame which was cold and caused her to retract and look the other way.

She forced herself to stand up and the bedsheets fell off of her and wrapped themselves up around her feet. As she tried to walk towards her door, her feet caught the sheets causing her to fall forward to the floor once again. Her arms were straight out in front and her forehead hit the ground with a decent *smack* which earned another groan from her as she brought her hands to her forehead and massaged it.

It took a minute or two for Saya to stop rubbing her throbbing forehead and whining quietly to herself about it, but eventually she managed to free her feet from the entanglement that was her bedsheets on the floor and meandered to the bathroom to take her morning shower and then to the kitchen to eat breakfast. After she was finished eating she ambled back to her room where she fired up her computer and prepared to fire up the game software.

Valkyom’s data was pre-downloaded a week in advance if you were among the Beta Testers, meaning it was available to play immediately upon the clock striking 12am PST, meaning that at 4pm today she’d be able to log on and play Valkyom herself since she lived in Tokyo, Japan.

She spent the better part of her entire day doing a bit of last minute research to confirm that her system was up to snuff in order to play it. She'd spent most of her available funds which didn't go to student loans buying the best PC parts she could to upgrade her system enough to play the game on halfway decent settings, though she would still have to sacrifice some of the graphics quality to enjoy the game without issues.

She prepared to log on as the time hit 3:58pm.

Her mouse cursor hovered over the desktop icon for Valkyom as she put her head gear on and laid down on her bed with her arm outstretched ready to double click the icon.

3:59pm.

She was getting giddy and she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck beginning to stand up.

3:59pm.

… Come on…

3:59pm.

Her left foot started to bounce back and forth from her unconscious habit of “tapping” her foot whenever she was nervous.

3:59pm… 3:59pm… 4:00pm.

She instantly double clicked on the icon and rested her arm at her side as the software fired up, and she heard the headgear beginning to come to life as well around her as she suddenly began to feel sleepy. Her eyes seemed to shut on their own and her mind felt like it was being transported through some strange portal before she “awoke” in an all new space.

It was some kind of void. Pure blackness and emptiness everywhere.

Then, a small light floated up to her.

Greetings Player, and welcome to Valkyom’s Player Identification Process.

Please confirm your name, date of birth, and provide your National Identification Number (Japan’s version of Social Security) to confirm your identity.

Saya saw a touch panel made of light appear in front of her which looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. As she looked it over she was prompted again by the floating light to confirm the information.

She typed in her name, date of birth, and her National Identification Number’s twelve digits and pressed “Confirm.”

Thank you. One moment please.

The little floating light turned into a slightly larger sphere resembling a sun before returning to its former tiny circular light form.

Thank you. Your identity has been confirmed. Please wait…

The world around her began changing before her very eyes, and it shifted from a world of blackness to a world of white. The floating light had also changed into a small glowing blue orb which floated in front of her.

Welcome, Saya Tanabata, to the Player Character Creation menu. Here, you may choose one of two methods to create your in-game Avatar. First is to scan your real-world body and digitize its image as a Player Avatar to use in Valkyom. Second is to build a character Avatar from scratch using provided body templates as a starting point.

Please make your choice.

The two options of “Body Scan” and “Start From Scratch” appeared before her, and she then elected to use the body scan. She felt warm all of a sudden, which she realized must have been the head gear scaring her body in real life. After a few seconds had passed, she saw a virtual image of her real world self appear before her, and it was like looking in a mirror.

Miss Tanabata, is this scan accurate? The scans can sometimes be faulty if the Player’s body has twitched or moved during the scan.

Saya examined the avatar of herself from head to toe and from every possible angle.

It was perfect.

Every detail of her real world appearance was there for her to see. Every hair on her head. Every curve of her hips and chest. Every tendon. Every vein. It was all there.

She touched the “Yes” button on her little light touch pad, which prompted a response from the orb.

Thank you for your cooperation.

… *Beep*…

As a member of the Beta Testing Group, you have the option to acquire one or more of several possible add-ons not available to other players at launch.

Would you like to proceed?

Saya was surprised that Beta Testers had such a perk, but then again it wasn’t that big of a surprise. Most other games of the recent past did something similar with early access to DLC or discounts on season passes and such for Beta Test players. That or they had a few exclusive in-game aesthetics like wardrobe skins and whatnot.

Saya clicked “Yes,” and was taken to a new screen listing all the options she had available to her.

You may choose any of the following bonus-content items to purchase before starting your game. Please note that these are one-time only purchases which will become unavailable to you in the future once purchased for this profile.

You may choose any of the following items, or none of them, now:

Saya was shown the list in full, and everything in total was ghastly extensive which gave her pause.

1) A 90% discount coupon for housing in the starter city of Liertis - 2,200 Yen ($20)

2) A storage chest with Infinite Storage Capacity - 1,650 Yen ($15)

3) A Transfer Crystal - 11,000Yen ($100)

4) A Personal Assistant NPC - 3,850 Yen ($35)

5) 1,665 EXP (instantly reach Level 10 upon entering the game) - 4,400 Yen ($40)

6) Exclusive Beta Test Outfit Pack 1 - 1,100 Yen ($10)

7) Exclusive Beta Test Outfit Pack 2 - 1,100 Yen ($10)

8) Exclusive Beta Test Armor Pack 1 - 1,100 Yen ($10)

9) Exclusive Beta Test Armor Pack 2 - 1,100 Yen ($10)

10) Exclusive Beta Test Weapon Pack 1 - 1,100 Yen ($10)

11) Esclusive Beta Test Weapon Pack 2 - 1,100 Yen ($10)

12) 200,000 Led (in-game currency) - 2,200 Yen ($20)

13) 450,000 Led (in-game currency) - 5,500 Yen ($50)

14) 1,000,000 Led (in-game currency) - 11,000 Yen ($100)

15) 2,500,000 Led (in-game currency) - 27,560 Yen ($250)

16) Exclusive Beta Test Mount (Horse) - 2,200 Yen ($20)

17) Exclusive Beta Test Mount (Bear) - 2,750 Yen ($25)

18) Exclusive Beta Test Mount (Great Eagle) - 5,500 Yen ($50)

19) Exclusive Beta Test Mount (Wyvern) - 8,800 Yen ($80)

20) Beta Test Badge Of Honor - FREE

… That was a mighty long list of perks available to Beta Testers.

The cheapest housing in the Starter City of Liertis was 2 million Led if the Beta was anything to go by, so that 90% off coupon would make it 200,000 Led which was much more manageable. You could probably grind for that in a month or so if you didn't buy any of the in-game currency from this menu.

Normal storage chests, as well as the Player’s inventory, had limited capacity. Having one with infinite storage was definitely going to be invaluable given how much she loved going out and gathering things. During the Beta her limited inventory had been the bane of her existence, so she wouldn’t be worrying about that this time around.

A Transfer Crystal was a special item which allowed a Player to transfer items, weapons, armor, etc from their inventory directly to a Storage Chest of their choice in-game. Normally any transfers had to be done manually by going to the Chest and interacting with it directly, and the only way to get a Transfer Crystal in the Beta was to reach level 30 and complete a special Quest. Skipping that from the get-go and being able to transfer items right away was a HUGE benefit which she knew she’d be enjoying straight away.

A Personal Assistant NPC… That was new. She had never encountered such a thing in the Beta, so when she hovered her hand over the option it gave her an explanation. The Personal Assistant NPC was an NPC character which would live in the Player’s home and take care of numerous chores assigned them while the Player was away. Maintaining the house (as it did get dirty and dusty), buying food and other necessities, taking damaged armor or weapons to the local blacksmith to have them repaired, sending gifts to other players, and much, much more.

That was cool!!

The 1,665 EXP, enough to reach level 10 right away, guaranteed she’d be able to access her Profession right away. Reaching level 10 unlocked the Profession option from the Player Menu, so other players would have to wait to be able to occupy their profession.

The Exclusive Beta Outfit packs were purely aesthetic and were not the same as armor. But they looked nice and could be fun to wear around town from time to time.

The Armor Packs were pretty nifty, but not all that impressive. The first Armor Pack was for males, the second for females. But both of the packs Armor had average ratings for Players at Level 1, so they wouldn’t be worth keeping in the long run. There was much better armor in the games to acquire the normal way. They looked nice, but that was it.

The Weapon Packs were more of the same. They had one of each basic weapon in them, but their ratings were no better than a Level 2 weapon and they couldn’t be improved on by blacksmiths according to the info. So unless there was some amazing secret hidden within them, they weren’t really worth getting to anyone who was serious about progression.

The currency was currency, but having more of it couldn’t hurt.

The Mounts, however, were amazing!!

The Horse could have its appearance customized by the Player to suit whatever breed they liked most in real life, and its stats were much higher than the Mounts you could buy in the beginning of the game. In fact they were statistically equivalent to Level 30 Mounts from the Beta which was the strongest Mount you could get at the time.

The Bear was cool, but not really Saya’s thing.

The Great Eagle was, go figure, a giant Eagle who’s plumage could be changed to suit the character’s liking. It was strong, faster than the horse, and could fly you to wherever you wanted. Horses and Bears couldn’t take you to certain places due to harsh terrain. But the Great Eagle had no such limits.

The Wyvern was a similar story, and definitely looking to be her favorite Mount so far. It was a draconic being with no front arms. Just wings which could be folded to function as forearms when it landed. It was strong, a bit slower than the Great Eagle, but it also had a weaponized breath which could be chosen by the Player as well. Frost, Fire, Lightning, Wind, or a roar which could turn all nearby monsters into allies for approximately one full minute to fight for the Wyvern and its owner.

Now THAT was something worth getting!!

And finally was the Beta Badge of Honor. This item was a special item which could be worn freely without taking up an Accessory Slot, of which you only had two. The Badge was nothing really all that special on its own and it didn’t do anything, but it let everyone know that you were a Beta Tester and that you had reached the max Level of 30 in the Beta as well as beaten the game’s then Final Boss, of which there was no such being in the final release. But it was still cool to have.

Saya was so torn about the decision she had to make because she knew that she could not afford many, if anything on the list that she really wanted. The 90% discount coupon was nice, as well as the infinite storage chest. She could afford both of those if she wanted, but it would be stretching her monthly funds very, very thin if she did. Everything else was either too expensive or in a state where she couldn't justify the cost.

The 200,000 Led in-game currency, for instance, was something she could grind for in a month or so if she wanted, meaning she didn't have to get it if she bought the 90% discount coupon instead. The infinite storage chest was fairly cheap, so she knew she wanted that no matter what. She could stand to deliver items and such by hand since the teleport crystal was far too expensive for her to purchase. It would take time to do, but it would be okay.

She wanted a Mount... She really wanted a Mount. But if she bought the 90% off a home coupon and the infinite storage chest, she wouldn't have enough for even the Horse.

Decisions... Decisions...

In the end, Saya was unable to justify going farther than 90% off coupon and the Infinite Storage Chest. She selected both and clicked "Purchase". The little orb flashed for a moment, and then continued speaking to her.

Thank you Player. Your payment has been received and approved.

Welcome to Valkyom!

Saya’s world was suddenly engulfed in light before she was transported to the Starter City, Liertis.

When she opened her eyes, she looked around and found herself in a medieval style town with cobblestone streets, street vendors and market stands, people in simple and common clothing topically of many “old world” RPG games.

The graphics were definitely noticeably less than those in the trailers and such which used high end PC's, but they were good enough that she was able to enjoy them and understand exactly what everything was. Other Players in-game avatars were still at max graphics no matter what since it was a Player-focused game. But the rest of the world took a slightly stylized approach to its graphics to save performance stress on her machine.

Livable, and it didn't detract from the rest of the game's natural beauty and how much more… alive, if that was the right word, the world felt than when it was in Beta.

The warmth of the air. The gentle breeze waving through her hair. The scent of the stone beneath her feet and the food produced by the merchants. Even the simple feeling of her own clothing which was not present in the Beta was now present as advertised. It was a perfect replication of the real world. Every sight. Every sound. Every scent. Every sensation. Every taste. It was all there.

Even with a more modest gaming PC the game never sacrificed these elements.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, feeling the air go down her airways into her lungs, her chest expanding, and letting it out through her nose.

She couldn’t help but smile as she opened up her Player Menu and saw that her inventory had two new items in it. The 90% off a home coupon, and an Infinite Storage Chest which she could place anywhere in the world she wanted. She saw also that there was the option to pick it up, making it a mobile Chest which was normally not part of the game. Once you set a storage chest, it stayed there unless it was destroyed. So being able to move one that had infinite capacity was a godsend since she'd be able to grind enemies for loot out in the world, put the chest down, store her stuff, and then pick it back up and keep moving.

Saya looked up and smiled as she giggled in excitement!

It was time to get to exploring!!

JustifiedRoles animegirl20

 

[JustifiedRoles]

Haruki woke to meowing in his ear and a gentle nudge against his head. Ah. His personal alarm clock. Stretching lazily, he looked at the fluffy ball of fur laying on his chest. Mori was doing a decent job of looking innocent, however Haruki was no fool to this. Smiling groggily, he gave his friend a nice scratch behind the ear with one hand as the other fetched his phone and glasses from the table.

Once those were on the world became less of a blur, and he took a glance at his phone. 3pm. Typical of him. He had been up late watching a few new shows with Mori until he'd finally gone to bed like any sensible person would have done sooner. Standing and walking out of the bedroom, the young man carried the cat to the kitchen where both ate their fill. Today was a very good day, and here was why. The newest video game on the market, the most realistically immersive vr-mmorpg game was going to be available for playing at 4pm. Being a beta had been fun yea, but it was also sort of lonesome. He'd quested along solo and with his schedule, had been one of the first to hit the beta-level cap. It really was a great game. However both needed some grooming firt. After Mori's brushing Haru took a shower, and cleaned up. Then he walked to his game room. They lived in a nice house, it wasn't huge but it was large enough for them and some extra funzones here and there. Like his own gaming center.

Approaching his vr set-up, he began to ready everything. Laying back on the comfortable couch with mori climbing onto his stomach, he booted everything up. Turning on a tv show for mori to watch, he began start-up.

Reaching the starting void, it felt strange to have all sensations of reality vanish. He couldn't hear or feel Mori's warm purring, or the plush cushions he was laying on. But after taking a breath, he began his process. Body scan, full purchase of items, and he was ready to go. As he prepared himself to meet the spawn's flash of light he couldn't help but smile a bit. Maybe he'd meet some new friends.

 

[GrieveWriter]

In a fairly decent looking apartment a PC was currently downloading a game, the owner of said PC was spending his time waiting for it wisely.

"So, its around the Square, right?" a white haired man asked in a nasally tone as he raised his phone and squinted at the map, one hand wiping some moisture from his brow as he did so.

"Yeah," a voice came from the phone "We meet in there then get on with the show, and make sure to follow the rules of design, need to know who's who in there. Can't have no casual bastards showing up and trying to get in with us, I'll meet you right outside noob spawn."

"Oh, how you plannin' on making yourself?"

"Big as hell and ready to break bitches." the voice said before the line cut off.

As soon as the call ended, Paxton immediately stopped squinting and reached for a nearby paper towel he'd set aside ahead of time.

After placing his phone on the desk he reached for a bottle of water, the true source of the moisture on his head. He'd dabbled it on himself in order to get into character when Stew called, it was much faster than actually taking a moment to jog or something.

Once he was done refreshing himself, he turned at the sight of a notification appearing on his screen.

"Finally." he muttered in a low voice, all traces of the nasally tone from before gone.

And so he hooked himself up and dove in for lack of a better term.

+~{[[[--+--]]]}~+​

Meanwhile, the sounds of furious scribbling were echoing into the halls of what seemed to be a decent house. Unfortunately, they were coming from what was immediately recognizing as the most filthy room in said house.

Inside, amongst crushed energy drink cans and pages of exceptionally violent lyrics was a table where another PC was set up.

Sitting at said Table was a young woman whose Mechanical Pencil was practically burning words into the papers before her what with how fast she was writing. It was so fast that the words looked more like chicken scratch than anything legible, known only to the furious woman who wrote them.

"Hey Eri!" A young man opened the door and leaned in, not blinking an eye at the state of her room "Me and the guys are heading out for some grub, wanna-"

"Piss off, Ray." Erika replied without hesitation

"Ya know, Rachel says that anger ain't good for a lady's beauty Eri." the Drummer said as he leaned against the doorframe "Maybe you could turn it down a bit, for her?"

"Maybe you could tell her to stay the hell outta my room." the Singer bit while tossing the completely filled page to the side and grabbing fresh one.

"She's just worried."

"And I'm just tired of this goddamn conversation." She turned back to him "How 'bout you be a pal and make with the disappearing?"

Ray just shrugged before taking his leave, and Erika glared at the door until it closed and she could return to her enraged writing.

She and her band all lived in one large house. They weren't really a prime time act or anything, so it wasn't like the mansions that most assumed bands stayed in, but it was fairly nice. Of course, Erika barely spent time appreciating her home, as much of her time was spent either going to the nearest gym and trying to work her rage out or spewing her consistent agitations onto paper. That changed when she'd heard about Paxton's plans that he and his band of bastards had for Valkyom.

Suddenly her time was mixed between trying to scurry together the necessary equipment and even more violent song writing. One of their best received songs was created during this time for preparation.

Soon she was notified that the game in question was ready, and she immediately threw her pencil away before snatching the head gear and sitting down with her arms folded as she impatiently waited to fall asleep.

If that bastard thought she would just sit back and let him and his goons have any semblance of fun at others expense, then he didn't deserve the title of Prodigy.

"Watch out" she grumbled as her eyes began closing "I'm coming for you Motherfu-"

+~{[[[--+--]]]}~+​

Paxton hummed a pleasant little tune as he customized his character from scratch, going over options and selecting while keeping the Rules of Design in mind. The rules had been established in the forum he, Stew and their comrades populated. A simple way to identify one another during the game's start. The palest skin available, garish black makeup, minimalist starting hairstyles while selecting a very specific butterfly tattoo for the back of the head.

Besides that they'd acquire the edgiest looking starting gear possible before going to meet up in the Square closest to the Spawn.

Paxton hadn't had the glory of being a Beta Tester, he had to keep up appearances. The others thought him to be from a lower middle-class up bringing, so he'd foregone beta testing on grounds that he had to help with his mother's store due to his brother's sickness. They bought it of course, and he'd used the time till launch to research a number off the Game's mechanics.

After creating his character, following the RoD of course, then setting his Username, Fettlesworth spawned in and took a moment to clench and unclench his fists in front of him.

"Magnificent" he commented before the complaints of other noobs drew his attention to a massive, pale man approaching. Strapped to his back was what was obviously a giant Warhammer.

The large man shoved past other fresh spawns carelessly as he approached, grinning and raising a hand to wave to Paxton as he approached.

"Nice, man." the large man commented as his eyes committed Fettle's appearance to memory "Shoulda gone big like me, we coulda been twinning like mad."

"Stew?" Fettlesworth asked in his nasal tone "Dear god mate, what happened to ya eyes?"

"I made 'em big like everything else." he chuckled before gesturing to the title above his head "And here I'm called Taskworth, Shrimp. Don't forget it."

"I know I know, all a part of the boss's plan." Fettle sighed before standing tall and looking around "So where exactly...?"

"Come on." Task began before shoving yet another fresh spawn out of his way and leading the way.

The duo soon found themselves in the town Square, where the rest of their allies made their presence known.

In the very center of the square were a congregation of dozens of pale skinned player characters with dark makeup and edgy clothing. Just like the Rules of Design stated, these must be the rest of the Vulgar Vagrants.

They were waiting for something, tossing nasty looks and glares towards any who neared them. A number were arguing over the accuracy of each other's genders, questioning the Female Vagrants and accusing the Male Vagrants. A much smaller number who had wielded the privilege of being a Beta Tester were currently showing off their possessions.

One currently sitting high atop a Bear Mount noticed the duo approaching and turned to them.

"Geez, there you two are. You seen LOLCow anywhere, he's taking- wait...." he stopped upon noticing Fettle's weapon "The hell are those?"

"My crossbows? I'd think that would be pretty obvious," Fettle responded before glancing above the Bear Rider's head "Felgrat?"

"No, I mean why do you have those instead of a real weapon?" Felgrat asked before hefting a harpoon "Something deadly like this baby. Crossbows are NPC weapons, bruh. Let the meat shields hold 'em."

"If you must know, I actually wielded a real crossbow during a field trip back when I was in school." Fettle responded with a nervous laugh before pulling one of the crossbows from his back and hefting it "I'd say I have the most experience with them."

Felgrat just shook his head "God you are such a pussy, man. At least my man Task over here knows how to rack a battle hammer, damn dude." He mumbled before catching sight of someone "There he is! Finally!"

Those who heard the Bear-Rider turned to see another Pale Skinned Vagrant rushing over. The major distinguishing feature between him and the rest of them was the massive Afro he had.

As he neared the arguing Vagrants began quieting, and Taskworth and Fettlesworth shared a glance before moving to meet up with who could only be LoLCow. He was one of the Moderator's on the Vulgar Vagrants Forum, and had been the one to actually organize this little party of theirs.

"Sorry y'all!" LoLCow apologized as he approached, "Had to do something real quick. But now we can start."

As he spoke, Fettle and Task took their places on either side of the Moderator. As avid supporters of the Vagrants, they'd offered to act as the Moderators personal guard when needed.

"First up, may all our Beta Testers please raise your hands?"

A small number of hands were raised.

"Okay, all those non Betas please group up with them immediately. From there on, everything goes how we planned it. Let's have some fun people!"

Soon the crowd of Vagrants were making their way outside, making quite a large spectacle which drew the eye of many a player.

Once they reached the outside, the group split in half and diverged. LoLCow stopped Task and Fettle before saying "Keep them on track, boys."

The two Worths nodded, and soon the Moderator was mounting an Eagle and going for one half of the Vagrants. The duo went after the other half.

+~{[[[--+--]]]}~+
​

Almost exactly fifteen seconds after the Vagrants evacuated the town, did a tall, white haired woman spawn.

Eyes ablazed with rage, the Avenger stepped forth away from the other fresh spawns before immediately scanning her surroundings. Her massive Cleaver was already in hand, and her grit teeth told all of the pure irritation currently coursing through her veins.

Upon not immediately finding her target, she took a breath before calling out "Paxton!?!" in a resonating shout which immediately made several of the nearest players and NPCs turn to her in worry. She didn't care.

"PAXTON!?!?" She roared again before her eye began twitching and she immediately turned on one of the nearest players "You! You seen a guy named Fettlesworth around here?!"

The younger boy immediately began shaking his head, fleeing once she turned to another.

"What about you!? Got anything on a guy named Fettlesworth!?!" She questioned with similar results.

The Avenger continued this, demanding information on her quarry from the other players. She couldn't just go searching randomly, she couldn't let that bastard get too much of a lead on her.

 

[Thawne]

(( I see everyone writing novels for posts and now suddenly I'm intimidated. ))

 

[ChoShadow]

Saya was eager to explore her new environment, and she began by setting off into town to see what there was to be seen.

Everywhere she went she saw what looked like a real living town. None of the NPC's were standing still (unless they were speaking to one another). They were all doing something. A woman was carrying groceries and on her way home from one of the merchant stands. A man was walking towards the edge of town speaking to what Saya presumed was a friend of his given how they were talking.

The NPC's actually made friends and forged relationships with other NPC's!!

How much more "alive" could this world get?!

It was such a simple detail, but it was one easily overlooked if one didn't appreciate what it meant. The AI was capable of exchanging conversation and information between NPC's and that allowed for friendships, rivalries, and even other such things as hatred and resentment to form between them. These NPC's truly were "alive" in almost every facet of the word as far as this game was concerned.

Saya checked many of the merchant stands and business buildings to see what was around town, and when she located the weapons merchant and the armor merchant towards the North edge of the town she stopped to check out what they had.

"Welcome! How may I help you?" The weapons merchant asked.

"Umm... I'm just browsing." Saya said, wondering how the NPC would respond.

"No problem. Please have a look and let me know if there's anything you'd like!"

That was a happy and upbeat reply, and very natural too!

Saya was so excited she could hardly stand it! She wanted to keep talking to NPC's to see how far the AI would go in conversation.

But she had to hold back for now. She wanted to see their weapons, and in each weapon category there was something interesting to know about each one:

* Basic Weapons.
* Wooden Weapons - Divided into carved, refined, and master craft versions of each.
* Copper Weapons - Divided into simple, refined, and master craft versions of each.
* Iron Weapons - Divided into the same as the Copper versions.
* Steel Weapons - Divided into the same as Copper and Iron versions.
* Gilded Weapons - Divided into simple, refined, folded, and master craft versions.
* Mitrhil Weapons - Divided into the same as above.
* Orichalcum - Divided into only two versions: master craft, and Ascended.
* Custom - Design your own weapons using the materials you've collected.

The basic weapons were simple wooden versions of each beginning weapon that Players were given by the system when they started the game. Though their appearance could be customized to an extent, they were the weakest weapons in the game with a Damage Rating of only 1 no matter how formidable you made them look.

The Damage Rating just meant it did low levels of damage, and the Rating was on a 1-10 scale.

The Wooden weapons were the first to be divided into various versions, and Saya read each one.

Carved Wooden Weapons were the first step up for the Wooden Weapon series, and they were also a Weapon Rating of 1 but they still did a bit more damage than the Basic Weapons.

Refined Wooden Weapons were a step up from Carved, and they held a Damage Rating of 1, but their damage was almost twice that of the Carved Weapons.

And finally there were Master Craft Wooden Weapons which were Damage Rating 2, and did almost four times the damage of the Refined Wooden Weapons.

Each different version, or Grade as the NPC's menu called them, cost significantly more than the one preceding it. The Basic Weapons only cost around 200 Led, which could be grinded from enemies over the course of about ten minutes. The Carved Wooden Weapons cost more than twice that much sitting at 500 Led each. Refined Wooden Weapons cost 2,000 Led. And the Master Craft Wooden Weapons cost a whopping 8,000 Led.

Saya noticed that this pattern of cost pertained to each and every category of weapon Grades. The lowest Grade version of each weapon cost a given amount, and every Grade higher cost 4x the amount of the Grade preceding it.

So the Simple Copper Weapons cost 800 Led. The Refined Copper Weapons cost 3,200 Led. And the Master Craft Copper Weapons cost 12,800 Led.

The only weapons which deviated from this pattern were the Ascended Weapons which didn't have a price. They could only be acquired using a special item known as an "Ascended Totem," which Saya didn't remember existing in the Beta. It was something entirely new, but the Ascended Weapons were, as expected, the most powerful of all by far.

Saya could hardly wait to see what they were about, but she was a looooong ways off from getting her hands on one.

Saya decided not to buy anything and started walking out of town to see what the rest of the world looked like. And when she reached the edge of town, her breath was stolen from her by how vast and beautiful the world was. Even with lowered graphics settings, the world was gorgeous. And scattered around the plains which stretched out before her she saw dozens of various animals. Some of them were natural animals like birds and prairie dogs, while others were enemy creatures like the giant wasps and boars which were staples of MMORPG games like these.

She decided to check on her equipment and Skills to see what was available since she was about to fight her first enemy. She opened her Player Menu by pressing her middle finger and thumb together and raising her hand a few inches. Once it was up she touched the icon for Equipment first and was a little concerned by what she saw.

She wasn't wearing any equipment. The game gave her basic clothing for a start, but no armor. The only thing that was equipped was a Basic Single-Hand Sword, which Saya wanted to try out first before switching to something else. She was more a smaller weapons kind of girl anyway in games since she liked speedy characters rather than strong ones. But for now she tried the basic single-hand sword. Its weapon rating was 1, as expected, and she knew she'd have to be careful fighting her first enemy since her stats were still low and she was only Level 1.

As she approached the giant wasps, she saw they were already Level 2 which didn't bode well for her. That and... One other thing.

They were HUGE!

These wasps had to be three feet long from end to end, and she didn't like wasps to begin with. They creeped her out to no end, but thankfully they were passive monsters meaning they wouldn't attack unless they were attacked first.

Saya prepped her weapon and decided to take the leap and try her luck against the one lone wasp she was able to isolate as it meandered away from the others. But before she could do that, she knew she'd need a Skill to take it down more quickly. She opened her menu and quickly hit the Skills icon and was taken to the Skill Crafting menu. She quickly selected to make a Skill for her single-handed sword, opting for a single enemy target, six strikes in total, twelve stamina per strike, and a Bleeding effect. Naming it Butterfly's Wing, it was designed more for humanoid targets which this wasp was not, but from having played the Beta she knew that the best enemies to grind at lower levels were the larger Cave Orcs in the mountains which she could see farther to the West in the distance.

For now, the wasp would have to do. She readied her weapon and came up behind the wasp striking it across the back causing a small red line to appear where she had struck it. The wasp flinched, made a screeching sound, and whipped around to face her while violently shaking its head and legs at her.

She gasped in fright as it lunged for her with its stinger and jumped off to the right side falling on the ground. She shook it off and looked up to find it coming after her, and she scrambled to her feet and pushed herself to the side to avoid being hit by that stinger as it came in for another assault.

It was faster than Saya expected, and fighting it was a lot harder than she thought it would be. This thing scared her for one, but it also it was just hard. This was as close to fighting a giant wasp in real life as she'd ever get, and keeping away from that stinger against a creature this fast that could fly was no easy feat. She had to keep moving which didn't give her much room to attack given how scared she was of it. She couldn't stop looking at its mandibles and wondering how much it would hurt to get bitten by the thing. She knew the pain sensors were not active in the game as a safety measure, but it didn't make it any less terrifying to imagine what it would feel like.

Saya lurched to her left as the wasp tried to sting her again and desperately hacked her sword at its legs causing red lines to appear across them as they fell away from the rest of its body. The wasp let out a screech of pain and shook its legs before going at her again. But this time Saya braved it and thrust her sword forward stabbing it in the lower abdomen. But unfortunately Saya's aim was off and the wasp tried to dodge which meant she only glanced the side of it instead of actually piercing it. It did bit of damage, but not as much as a full on attack would have. Glancing blows were significantly weaker than full force blows.

Saya didn't have time to dodge its next attack either, and even though it didn't hurt she felt the pressure of the stinger being thrust into her stomach sending her sprawling back onto the ground. She gasped for a breath and rolled to her side as it tried to sting straight down onto her torso, and in doing so she stood up and turned around readying her weapon again as it floated a bit higher while turning to face her.

This wasn't going well, but when she checked its health it was already down about half way. She'd only lost around 15% of her own health from that attack, but that was a hefty sum for just one blow. She'd have to keep attacking a few more times to finish it off, so she set about slashing as fast as she could (rather wildly) and finally managed to take it down with three more strikes that connected as it tried to move in towards her.

The wasp erupted into millions of glowing white particles which slowly evaporated from view, and she received a notification that she'd earned her first Achievement: Monster Slayer.

"Okay... That was horrifying." She said.

The Beta hadn't been anything like this. The creatures were less detailed and had less advanced AI, so they were much easier to face and defeat than these newer and more refined enemies which now inhabited the world. But Saya was victorious, and she checked her Status in the Player Menu and discovered that she'd earned 8 Experience and 12 Led from that encounter.

She checked the clock and found it took her about thirty seconds to deal with that thing, though it felt like much longer. But then again she'd been floundering most of the time, so once she got used to the new enemies and got over her fear of large insects she'd be able to fight them much more easily. She figured that if she could get good enough to down three of them every minute, she'd Level Up in as little as five minutes or so. Twenty four EXP per minute was, in fact, exactly enough to do just that. But that meant she had to actually get to it or she'd never get there.

Saya brushed herself off and took a deep breath to steady herself and prepare mentally for a continued assault on the nearby wasps. Aggroing them one at a time and taking them down wouldn't be easy at first, but once she hit Level 2 she'd find it easier since her Health and Stamina would automatically be restored at Level Up allowing her to not worry about using any potions or going back to the city to restore HP. Health didn't restore automatically unless you were in a safe zone like a City, so out here she'd have to watch how many times she got hit. She didn't have any potions yet, so she'd have to grind for Led to buy some soon given her inexperience with combat in general.

But this was her start, whether she liked it or not. Her first battle with countless more to come as she enjoyed the experience that was Valkyom!

It was so exciting!!

animegirl20 Elekta Kount F o o l i s h n e s s LieutenantL The Saviour of the Masses Sprios LoneSniper87 Thawne

 

[JustifiedRoles]

Haruki, or Tarlach as his in-game name stated, had forgone checking out any beta changes with the town, itching to get out into the world. Equipping his basic sword and the beta shield via his storage, he kept the basic clothes and held off on summoning a mount from the stable in town. Deciding to start on foot with some basics. However not using a shield seemed a bit.....overzealous. He wasn't skilled in combat at all, and didn't want to be thrown around too much. Sure it didn't hurt but winding you could happen...maybe...he didn't know for sure. They changed a lot. Shield on his back and sword in it's sheath, he stood at the town's gate staring for a moment. It... it was beautiful. He could feel the wind brushing his skin, smell the grass and relish in the warmth of this world's sun. It was amazing. Sure he'd beta tested...but this....this was what the anticipation had led up to. Hearing others cheerfully engaging each-other, not just npc's wandering the town... it made it feel alive.

He began walking, and spaced out. Stopping mid-stride, he turned to watch a girl engaging many wasps. Wow. Okay that girl was cool. She'd already become confident enough to do all that? He was still nervous about drawing his sword and holding it's weight. In his thoughts he failed to notice one of the wasps which had unfortunately decided to agrro on him. He hadn't done anything threatening of course, but being near it's territory and within sight of the other human who was currently killing it's brethern, the ai may have reacted on some instict. Or maybe the developers were the type to make you being within three feet register the aggression. He'd tuned out the buzzing like a moron, which he shouldn't have because he was scarcely armored.

Haruki yelped out of shock as the wasp attacked. Lunging from behind and sending him tumbling head over heels into the grass. That was dizzying for sure, and he lay on his stomach for a moment before registering the approaching buzzing behind him. Scrambling up, he ducked away from it as he fumbled with his shield and sword. He wasn't holding the items properly... Why had he used a bow in the beta, and not chosen it this time. Why?! He managed to clumsily block the barrage of attacks with his shield, stepping backwards. Why had he been watching that girl again? Oh right she knew what she was doing. He didn't. Maybe she'd help him if he-

That train of thought was interrupted as he was thrown onto his back. The wasp's buildup of attacks had been enough force to toss him when he was off-guard in thoughts.

"Crap..."

He frantically tried to think about how the hell he could kill it, and swung his sword wildly at it.




He missed. It was RIGHT THERE. And he missed.

Of course that meant he was left open. The attacks had taken a good bit of his health bar. He wasn't thinking about this when he chose to go with a close-range starting character. Letting out an audible 'oof' from the hit to his side, he rolled out of the way and did one thing he could do somewhat decently. He began to run around and hope it would rightly frick off in pg-terms. Unfortunately the poor fool just ended up running in circles with the wasp pursuing him.


ChoShadow

 

[Thawne]

Nicholas Sherman​

Nicholas was busy most of the day ensuring that his equipment would be able to run smoothly while he spent the afternoon in-game. He had built his system from scratch using money he had from his family and money he had saved up from excess scholarships he had earned. Even for a self-built gaming PC rigged to run on the max settings with VR, it was an impressive piece of equipment that would manage to run without overheating at the peak efficiency for several hours at a time. The time now was 3:30 for him, a full half-hour before the game he was excited for officially launched. He took a small break from his pre-checks, walking over to the window of his high rise as he observed the bustling city of New York City one hundred floors below him. The olive green button-up shirt with brown khaki pants matched the style he wished to have in the game, as it mirrored his favorite hero Green Arrow. To say the skills he acquired were similar to those of his favorite Emerald Archer wouldn't offend him in the least, but he'd deny it as much as possible. He took a few seconds to examine his archery kit in the corner, making sure it was clean before he went in-game. Of course, it was, as he had cleaned it after practice earlier.

Nicholas took a deep exhale and walked away towards the kitchen, where a delightful smell stemming from the baked Johnny Marzetti he had in the oven. Slipping some protective mitts on over his hands, he carefully opened and removed the steaming hot pan from the oven and removed his mitts. He had taken some tin-foil out of a drawer and carefully placed it over the pasta for consumption later. The time was now 3:50. He walked back in to the bedroom/gameroom to retrieve his VR headgear and adjust the PC one final time. He did so, then placed the game inside the disc reader and watched in anticipation. Satisfied, he laid back in the bed and placed the VR device over his head and laid waiting for the game to start.

-<>-
​

It was now time. All of the money spent, all of the parts gathered, all of the patience Nicholas had was about to pay off. In the dark void, a screen appeared and welcomed him to the game, then asked him to enter in his identification and the name he would choose to be identified as. He smiled, feeling a great sense of excitement. It was finally time to play this expansive and interesting game. He hadn't been able to participate in the beta test because he was still gathering parts to be able to craft a rig that would be able to handle the game at its max settings. He entered his name, date of birth, email, and social security number. After that, he entered in his display name: Jäger, German for 'hunter.' Once that screen passed and he was accepted, he moved on to character creation.

Two options appeared before him: Scan Body or Start from Scratch. He boldly chose a scan, and was immediately surprised by what the game offered. It was almost as if he stared into a mirror, seeing an exact replica of himself in the clothes of the times. He, of course, opted for the primary forest green and secondary dirt brown color scheme, but he felt this game would be his chance to live out another life as he wanted. To be a great hero instead of an academic. He confirmed his selection, and the starter weapon of a bow and arrow. A bright flash, and suddenly he was in the game world. He had entered Valkyom.

-<>-
​

Nicholas was absolutely astounded by the game world. Everything seemed so real, yet he knew it was not. He suddenly started walking, unable to bring himself to stop. NPCs interacting as if they were real people, merchants selling gear to not only players but NPCs as well. And the players; many different people with different avatars, colors, weapons. Some Beta testers and some fresh players. Before he knew it, he had almost left the starter town due to his carelessness to watch where he was going. But could he be blamed? For someone who had just come to start THE VRMMORPG of this year, possibly his life, he had a lot of information to process. This was all interrupted by the sounds of combat. He glanced to wear it originated, seeing a Japanese girl fighting off a swarm of large wasps as a boy charged in and was partially overwhelmed. Nicholas decided to check and see if his archery skill translated into the game.

He jogged over and took a kneeling position, taking an arrow from his quiver and nocking it into the bow. He pulled the string back, which surprisingly did not have a lot of tension on the pull. He aimed for a single wasp that was chasing the frantic boy and let his arrow fly, hopefully hitting the large insect in its head or neck area.

JustifiedRoles ChoShadow

 

[GrieveWriter]

"I...I think I might've seen a name like that."

The Unfortunate noob immediately found his personal space severely lacking as Erika pressed towards him with such intensity that he felt as though she planned to crush his body beneath hers.

"Where?!?"

"The group that left town!" he spoke quickly "Bunch of pale guys ran out to the plains! I caught sight of it in the rush! I just wanna figure out my inventory lady!"

The Avenger had allowed him to run off, instead turning and making for the exit as quickly as she could. He already had a lead on her, that was not good.

Soon she found herself faced with the open plains, where many of the fresh spawns were beginning their levelling. Erika couldn't care less about that at the moment, instead her eyes traveled to find someone who matched the description given- There!

Some ways away from town, easily visible due to their similar theme were about four players. One was reclining in the grass while the other three walked about engaging with whatever beast they could find. Erika immediately made for them.

The Trio of Vulgar Vagrants spat curses and swears as they worked on the monsters, two of them shouting insults to the third due to their apparent squeamishness around the boars they had been fighting.

"Dear lord man can you just grow a pair and stab something already!?!" one shouted as she tapped her spear on the ground in irritation

"Ya'll don't know nuttin'!" he shouted back to her "My uncle got put in the hospital by one of these things IRL!"

"Oh, did you inherit his massive pussy?" the third grunted as he dodged one of the creature's charges "Because that is exactly what you're being right now!"

"Hey!"

The three halted in their squabbling and glanced to the source of the noise, leaving one open to be tackled by the beast.

The two others initially ignored their teammate's frantic shouts as she tried forcing the boar off her, instead giving curious looks to the approaching woman.

"Oi oi, we in the middle o' sum grindin' here lady." One called out "We don' got time for no fans."

"We ain't famous yet." his partner commented while twirling what seemed like wooden nunchucks

"I stand by what I said."

"Where's Fettlesworth?!?" Erika demanded

"Who the hell you think you is comin' to interrupt our killin' time?" the first one grumbled before turning and waving her off "Piss off!"

"I know you disgusting freaks know where he is, so tell me before I beat that info outta you!"

That made the two Vagrants pause and look at each other before bursting out into laughter. Erika took offense to that, she narrowed her eyes at the disgusting wastes of brain cells before her and began seeing red.

But before she could try and act on her growing anger, a slashing sound brought her attention to a boar just as it exploded into particles.

The one who'd apparently slain it was the fourth vagrant, who leaned a large halberd against his shoulder while giving her a critical look.

The Spear wielder who'd been fighting off the beast leaned up with a groan of relief once the immediate threat was gone, and immediately glared to the two of her teammates who had not heeded her pleas "The hell is wrong with you!?!"

"Maybe next time you don' go dissin' me, eh?"

"He was the one who called your uncle a pussy!" she shouted whilst gesturing to the nunchuck-wielder

"Yeah, and he'll get his soon 'nuff." he said as his buddy flipped him off.

"You three need ta shut the hell up," the Fourth Vagrant ordered while walking in between Erika and the trio "seems we got a big girl here."

"She got a big mouth too!"

"I said shut up." the Halberd wielder bit back to then before returning his gaze to Erika "We don't got time for kids, Dollie. How's about you follow my idiot friend's advice and go run along to get that measly level up before nipping at a bigger beast's heels?"

"Like you're one to talk," Erika said as she looked for the Player's name "Tundra, you don't seem to mind being a-"

Erika flinched back as she noticed something, apparently this guy was level 10.

"Think she noticed?" one of his lackeys whispered to another, prompting his pal to shout "Hey slut! Our Captain here's a beta Tester, how's about waving that damned ego about now?"

So they were already at this point, huh? Erika had known how adamant the group was to seeing their plan to fruition, but she hadn't anticipated them to have Beta Testers with them. That could only mean that they had more of an early advantage than she'd thought. As much as it pained her to do so, the Avenger let her clenched fists lower away from her sheathed weapon. She had no idea if her Cousin was a Beta Tester, as he'd never divulged that to her, so she couldn't succeed in her mission even if she did find him.

"That's right girl, now prance along home so your mother can change those soiled leggings of yours." Tundra chortled before gesturing to his teammates "I do believe I can smell the defeat and shame from here, better not let any kids see you in such a vomit-inducing state. Come on lads you all still got some leveling to do, and I know a perfect place."

Erika was forced to watch the Vagrants walk off, and gritted her teeth to a point where it would've no doubt hurt in the real world. Looks like she'd have to tough it out like the rest of these players for the time being.

Stomping through the grass of the plains, Erika sought out the nearest enemy she could. This was fine! Everything was fine! Sure she was visibly seething at the disrespect her enemies had thrown her way, and may have been shaking a bit out of utter and complete hatred, but this was fine!


Erika eyed down the closest creature, that being a buzzing wasp, then glanced down at her large blade before shaking her head. Resigning instead to focus on cutting down much larger, much easier to hit Boars, Erika went forth to begin.

Its just an ugly pig with tusks, she had a giant blade that could probably dice trees if she put enough effort into it. Just like tearing apart the training dummy's at the gym, only more disgusting and deserving of dying.

Taking hold of her weapon in both hands, Erika stalked closer to the wandering creature.

A giant edged weapon couldn't be much different than a golf club or rolling pin, and she's smashed lots of stuff with those before. Taking a breath, she brought down the weapon, creating enough sound to cause the beast to turn towards her.

The first collision sent the beast stumbling back with a roar, and Erika cringed a bit. Seriously, this big ass blade wasn't enough to one shot it? Disappointed, she moved forward as the Boar reared back and ran towards her.

Narrowing her eyes, she raised her weapon again and took several steps forward as the enemy charged her. She faltered slightly once it released a vicious squeal of rage, until she employed her greatest weapon.

Plastering Paxton's smug face on the vile creature.

She planted her weapon through the Boar and into the ground, with the creature exploding into little digital particles.

Yep, okay... first kill... Soon to be followed by many more. Just gotta get a streak going. She was going to be taking out some of her recently gained agitation on a lot of Paxton substitutes for the next couple hours.

Snorting, she glanced around at the nearby Players who were doing farming of their own, before moving to work on the next Boar she could find.

 

[JustifiedRoles]

The wasp fell to the arrow. However the sudden death of the enemy made him yelp in surprise and look around for what had happened. His only capabilities in the beta had been helping from afar, and supporting companions. Its how he got that far. But defending himself close quarters was an entirely different mentality. He kept his shield raised, looking at the archer who'd shot it. Relaxing a tad he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. God he was so bad at this. But of course he'd had to let his beta-companions convince him to try something other than hiding in a tree and shooting things. He'd have to wait til an opportunity arose to change that.. but first.

Haruki walked over to the archer, offering a meek smile.
"Thanks for the help. I sorta got distracted and flat out panicked when it well...started to aggro on me."

He went quiet after that, waiting for the other's response while his brain rapidly panicked.

Oh no i messed up. He doesn't want to talk with you! A beta who panicks at any enemy too close to him?! Seriously! He was just that one person who was like that wasn't he. Maybe he could learn but that would take to long and time would be spent on that and he'd be a shut it and-

Okay he may have tensed a bit. Can anxiety attacks happen in deep-dive games? Probably? Maybe. He should've asked during the test sessions. Forcing himself to at least look like he wasn't about ready to just fall on his face, he waited.

Social anxiety is a bitch........


Thawne

 

[Thawne]

Nicholas Sherman/Jäger​

Nicholas nodded, acknowledging the man's gratitude. He made a mental note of his shyness and possible stress of social interaction for later. He drew another arrow and nocked it in his bow, aiming for the wasp to the girl's side. His breath was steady, his aim was true, and it was sighted in on the wasp's head as he was poised to strike. In these few moments before he let the arrow loose, the only thing that he would care to see was his immediate surrounding, himself, his breathing, and his target. All things required of a skilled archer. Of course, he could rapidly place shots accurately, but from a distance it was key to take time and sight his target and properly hold his aim so that he would not miss. He let the arrow loose, exhaling on the release.

ChoShadow JustifiedRoles

 

[ChoShadow]

Saya had begun her wasp farming after slaying her first one. She still wasn't too eager to face them, but they were less worrisome than the Boars nearby. For Saya, who was a bit on the shorter side at only 5' 3", had neglected to increase her height out of excitement when she saw her real-world image rendered for the game. The Beta only had a default human avatar to choose from, and the clothing was all you could change.

Since she was only 5' 3", she was a bit too small and ill-equipped to take on the Boars who stood at around 3' 6" at the shoulder. Those things were big, and that made them heavy and very strong. Saya would be bowled over like a cardboard box in the path of a truck if she tried to fight them now. She needed better gear first, so the wasps it was.

She did slightly better against her second wasp, but it was only because she used a few basic attack angles with her sword whenever the wasp moved in close. She had good timing, being a composer of music and a singer, so it was easy enough to time her swipes when the wasp came in. That helped prevent the wasp from getting an attack off, but it was only just good enough for that. She was a noob using a sword for the first time, even if this was just a game, so Saya found it difficult to keep the wasps at bay even though she was able to aggro them one at a time.

The second wasp went down, and Saya set about throwing a rock at a third to get its attention. No damage when the rock hit, which was interesting, but she figured that the game only registered weapon strikes which made sense. The wasp definitely aggro'd though, and it came right for her. She took it down the same way she did the previous wasp, but suffered another hit due to one bad swing on her part which went too low and hit a leg allowing the wasp to come in for a strike with its stinger.

Saya was down to half health now which was okay. She had gotten used to strategies to protect herself at low health in the Beta, but she'd have to watch herself.

As she was finishing her third wasp she saw a fourth approaching out of the corner of her eye which was not what she wanted to have happen at this particular moment. She didn't need to fight two. The one she was fighting now was two hits away from death, so this wasn't exactly a scenario she was looking forward to. But she grit her teeth and focused on the one she was currently dealing with. She got one hit in, and backed away as it tried to sting her. But the other one was moving in closer and she could see it and hear it coming.

As she dealt the death blow to the current threat, she turned her head in time to see the fourth wasp approaching at a good clip. It was closer than she thought too which wasn't good at all. But from out of nowhere Saya saw the wasp struck in the side of the head by an arrow which came from off to the side. The wasp reacted realistically by lurching to the side and falling to the ground flailing with all its might to shake the arrow loose, and that gave Saya a moment to look to where the arrow had come from.

Two boys were standing nearby, one with a big shield and the other with a bow who seemed pleased with himself for hitting it.

Saya gave the archer a wave and used this time to slash the wasp while it was down before it could get up to counter and dealt it a final blow as it was starting to get back up. It vaporized into numerous particles, and Saya took a moment to breathe and walk away from where the rest of the wasps were buzzing about in the plains.

She walked over to the shield bearer and the archer and gave them a light bow of her head.

"Thanks for the help on that last one." She said pleasantly with a smile.

JustifiedRoles Thawne

 

[Thawne]

Nicholas Sherman/Jäger​

After watching the wasp fall to the ground, flailing its limbs around, Nick was about to nock a second arrow to land the killing blow, but the girl he was assisting seemed to have recovered from being swarmed and dealt the death blow to the injured insect. He returned the arrow he pulled out of his quiver to its resting place and stood up, dusting off his knees. He switched his grip on the bow to his right hand, in case he needed a melee weapon to guard against some form of surprise attack via players or animals. He scanned the area off in the distance, seeing players farming for XP against boars and wasps across the open plains. This game could never cease to amaze him at all, as it perfectly mimicked reality in a different setting, almost as if he was in another universe where he would feel no pain.

Nick looked back into reality to see the girl walking over. She was shorter than he was by several inches, and didn't exactly look up to par to be a swordsman, but she handled herself pretty well. He made a mental note to send her a friend request should he need assistance or party members in the future with skills. Funny though, she carried herself like she'd been there before, appearing as if she was a beta tester. He didn't much mind them, as he had taken part in a few betas for other online games before during college, and he was glad to have the experience.

"Glad to help. Pro tip though: try not to fight swarms of enemies alone. Bring backup for help," Nick offered.

ChoShadow JustifiedRoles

 

[animegirl20]

Saburou woke bright and early eager to start her new game. Even though she wasn't living with her stepmother anymore she still had access to the money, so she was able to by everything she needed for the game. Her father, before he died, made sure he had a will made out incase anything happened to him and want to make sure Saburou would be taking care of. So she never had worry about money problems unless the business fell through. Which wasn't likely to happen any time soon.

When Saburou first logged on she decided on making up a user name (Twilight) and changing her appearance. She knew a lot people probably would use their real appearance but she didn't get why. Part of the fun in playing these games was creating the character and here you had a chance to actually change your appearance and be whatever you wanted and most people weren't doing it?! Well whatever it was their choice but she would totally take advantage of that. Once she was done she was quite please with it. She was ale to go all out. "This is so cool!" Now she had to chose her weapon, which wasn't really hard she knew what she wanted already. The bow and arrow. She was use to using that on games. Once she was all done with customization she entered the world.

Once she entered the world she was in total aw. She couldn't believe how real and awesome it look. She was so ready to get started. Twilight really wanted to practice around with her weapon and fighting style and decided to go off alone before trying to make friends. That and she wanted to explore a bit. As she was doing this she happen to hear some wasps that were near by. She climbed up a tree and looked out to close they were. When she spotted them they weren't really far. They were pretty close in fact and on top of that seemed like a group of players were fighting them. She relaxed a bit and sat up there and decided to watch them. She was going to help but felt like she might be in the way plus they were almost done. She swung her legs watching the fight go on. When they were done she waved over to them. "Hey! Nice job you guys a party or something?"
ChoShadow
JustifiedRoles
Thawne

 

[JustifiedRoles]

Haruki had kept quiet, a polite smile on his face for most of the interaction that his savior had with the player he mentally dubbed Coolgirl. Until someone new spoke. He jumped in surprise, turning to look at the source. He returned the wave, a bit awkwardly. "Um hello, and uh maybe? I don't know. Should we be? It would be cool for sure, but we just met and-Ill shut up now." He stopped talking, a bit flustered. Why. Why did he ramble. Why couldnt he just stay quiet. That would be much better. Less awkward staring.

His hand went to his face to adjust his glasses, which weren't there. Changing course, he rubbed the back of his neck.

Smooth.

ChoShadow
Thawne
animegirl20

 

[Thawne]

Nicholas Sherman/Jäger
​

Nick looked over towards the source of a new sound after checking on the girl that he had helped out. This voice came from a younger girl sitting in a nearby tree, who appeared to have been watching the skirmish from nearby. He took a second to strap the bow across his back in a resting position then looked over and replied.

"We're not a party as of now, but with this many people it would be beneficial to team up. We could cover more ground and assist each other if needed."

JustifiedRoles ChoShadow animegirl20

 

[animegirl20]

Twilight watched as one of them began to talk. Though he seemed a bit awkward. She titled her head and then smiled at him and laughed a little. "It's just a question no sense in fretting over it." She jumped down from the tree and brushed off her dress. She then turned her head to the other voice. "Yeah? I'll be up for that. If you don't mind me tagging along. Been fighting on my own.....wasn't bad but wasn't good plus it's more fun with a team! I'm Twilight by the way." She then noticed something. "Hey is this how you guys really look?"
ChoShadow
JustifiedRoles
Thawne

 

[GrieveWriter]

Planting her cleaver in the ground, Erika sat down to take a breather as the latest of her quarries evaporated into particles.

What was that? Like... the third pig beast Boar thing she'd cleaved? That had to have been a level! Right?

As her breaths turned to grumbles, the angry white haired young lady immediately fidgeted a bit before spotting some player off in the distance checking some resources he had just acquired from killing a beast of his own.

Narrowing her eyes, she quickly copied his motions and soon pulled open her own menus.

"Where the hell do they have the... what is this? Options? No how many more things do I need to-GUH!"

The Avenger closed the menu with a violent swipe and stood... she hadn't even gained one level for those things? At this rate her damnable cousin would be in the top reign before she even caught up to the Beta Testers! She needed something quicker and more rewarding, she would need help. Strapping her massive cleaver to her back, she scanned her surroundings for a moment before they fell upon something of note.

Seems a number of other players had begun congregating closer to where the Wasps wandered, surely one of them would be better versed in the ways of the game.

She immediately began approaching, picking up tidbits of their previous conversation as she drew closer but ultimately finding herself not caring.

"Oi!" she shouted to garner some attention before coming to a stop about a yard or two away and gesturing to them "Anybody here got some tips or Hints about killing stuff faster? Or familiar with these menus? I haven't used them before and I'm in a hurry like no other."


ChoShadow JustifiedRoles Thawne animegirl20

 

[JustifiedRoles]

Haruki jumped again before turning to face the newer girl, an answer leaving his lips.


"'Learning the menu isn't too hard but I'm afraid leveling will just take a while. Leveling up into the teens will take perhaps a few days....unless the

statistics from the beta were adjusted. But if we formed a party and split experience equally, we'd cover

ground faster but level slower unless we took on larger monsters. If we worked together we could take

down the first boss for a decent amount of exp but- I'm rambling Im sorry!"

He fell into a flustered silence, not wanting to seem like he was being a smart-ass or anything. Seriously, someone please teach this boy how to be social.

ChoShadow Thawne animegirl20 GrieveWriter

 

[ChoShadow]

Saya was happy that the archer had been friendly enough to offer advice, but was slightly put off by how he worded it. It almost sounded to her as if he felt some level of intellectual superiority to say "Pro Tip", but then again that could have been just her over analyzing things. He seemed the calm, silent type. Perhaps he was an intellectual? She couldn't tell yet.

"Thanks for the advice," she replied, deciding to brush off that previous feeling.

Then, another individual popped up asking if they were a party, to which both the males said "no" in their own way. The archer was a bit more eloquent in his reply, and when he mentioned that teaming up would be a good idea she was inclined to agree. The other archer, the girl, called herself Twilight, and as Saya was about to respond and chime in on the topic of teaming up another girl with a massive cleaver on her back showed up asking about the menus and leveling.

The shy gentlemen offered a reply, and Saya smiled and turned to the newcomer.

"The menus are fairly simple to navigate once you memorize the list order. Just click the one you want and it will open a sub-menu. Memorize those, and it's smooth sailing from there."

She turned to face the entire group.

"As for leveling, I have some good news for everyone in regards to teaming up." She said happily.

"I was a Beta Tester myself, and the developers, even then, wanted to encourage players to form Parties. If we do, we all will gain 25% more EXP from each enemy we kill so long as they are either at or within five levels of our highest level team member. So let's say we're a Party and Twilight there is Party Leader. If she's Level 10, any enemy which is Level 10 through Level 15 will provide 25% more EXP than normal. Make sense?" She asked, taking a brief look around the group before continuing.

"There's more. This EXP boost only happens as long as we stay within the Tether Circle of the Party Leader. We cannot see the circle, unfortunately, though they mentioned in Beta Patch Notes that they'd think about implementing a visible circle if enough players asked for it."

She took another moment to make sure everyone followed what she was saying before continuing.

"The Tether Circle has a radius of approximately 15 meters, so it's pretty simple to stay within it as long as we can maintain some kind of formation to avoid stepping on each other's toes which may take some practice. If we wander outside the Tether Circle we'll gain normal EXP from enemies."

She took a breath.

"Lastly, there's another hidden buff for everyone to know which I think you'll really like. If we remain inside the Tether Circle when the enemies are killed, there is an extra 5% chance of the enemies dropping their unique rare loot. It's not much, but it's better than the usual 0.5% drop rates of a lot of early-game enemies." She said.

JustifiedRoles Thawne GrieveWriter animegirl20

 

[animegirl20]

Twilight watched as a new girl suddenly appeared asking about menus and leveling up. The nervous boy tried to answer again but got all flustered. She walked up to him with her hands behind her back. "Hey you ok? Your face keeps going red?" Twilight's attention switched over to the other girl had began to speak. Apparently she was one of the beta testers and boy did she know a lot. She was pretty sure she followed everything she said. And from the sound of it forming a party might be the best thing to do. She smiled and looked at the others. "Well this party idea is sounding better and better."
ChoShadow
JustifiedRoles
Thawne
GrieveWriter

 

[ChoShadow]

Saya looked to Twilight as she spoke and nodded.

"It would be beneficial, but it's your guys' call. Partying up has a few tantalizing benefits, but it also has a few negatives as well. By comparison the positives outshine the negatives by a fair margin, but they're something to consider all the same." She said.

For starters, if we Party up then we all suffer a hidden hit to our Ailment Resistance. It's a hidden stat the game doesn't show you, so I can't be sure of the math behind it, but it has to do with a combination of the sum of all of our armor ratings and how many people are in the Party. The more people in the Party, the bigger a hit we take to that stat making it easier for enemies to inflict debuffs and ailments on us." She continued.

"Another negative we all suffer is that when we're in a Party other Players may freely attack us whenever we're not inside a Safe Zone. Normally the game's core system has PvP disabled, and it can only be enabled by challenging another Player to a Duel which they have to accept. But once you're in a Party any other Player, or Party of Players, can attack you at any time out in the wilds. If we were higher Level, this wouldn't be a problem. But with Beta Testers having the option to buy enough EXP to level them straight to Level 10 right off the bat, if we came across an aggressive Party of them we'd be dead." She warned.

"And lastly," she began.

"... If we're in a Party, as a consequence to our increased EXP if we're in the Tether Circle of the Party Leader, we lose 50% of the Led we'd earn normally regardless of whether or not we're within the boundaries of the Tether Circle. So it's going to be a balancing act. If we want or need more EXP and Led isn't an issue, we should Party Up stay within the Tether Circle. But if we need Led more than EXP, we should dissolve the Party and grind normally. The enemies are usually generous with how much Led they give you since the Devs made a living and workable economy throughout the entire game world. It won't be hard to grind for several thousand Led within the first six to eight hours of play which will be enough to buy you your first set of armor and a decent weapon or two." She concluded.

JustifiedRoles animegirl20 Thawne GrieveWriter

 

[GrieveWriter]

"I don't care about Ailments and I don't care about Led." Erika stated as she folded her arms and grumbled "Faster I can level the better, risks be damned."

She opened up her menu again and began carefully navigating it "And as for PVP..."

She paused, hand hovering over her menu as she thought for a moment. She didn't know them at all and could barely consider even this many Players a threat to even one of those groups of Vulgar Vagrants, the chance of coming into contact with them was still relatively high since they should still be grinding in the neighboring areas. She needed that EXP boost, items and status affects aside. She'd worry about equipment once she no longer had the Beta Testers and their extra levels to contend with.

She narrowed her eyes at the girl who explained all this, she'd said she was a beta tester too right? She wasn't level ten, she'd mentioned how that was an option and not a guarantee. Maybe not all of the Vagrant Beta Testers had the EXP boost? But if they were as devoted to this little game of theirs as she expected them to be, no doubt they'd make the most of the ones they do have.

"...then..." she turned back to her menu before finally continuing "then we're just going to have to stay away from those pale guys until we all level up. Won't be easy, but I need this much more than I need gear or loot."


ChoShadow JustifiedRoles Thawne animegirl20

 

[JustifiedRoles]

Haruki
IGN:Talach

Tala had been about to answer when the other girl spoke up. He listened to her and nodded along to the notes. He hadn't read the beta list's changes yet and did not use any of the exp purchases, planning them for later on. The only slight give away might be the beta badge in his inventory, or the decent looking shield that was different from a beginner's one you could buy from npcs in town. He had wanted to work from the bottom and learn the class. Had he been archer instead, maybe he'd have used the exp and gone further in to use the trees as hunting places.

"I uh. Wouldn't have anything against partying up. It sounds fun. I could make the party-erm unless someone else wants to. I don't want to make someone upset or anything...."
His hand had opened the menu, hovering over the 'Create a Party' icon.

​

ChoShadow GrieveWriter Thawne animegirl20

 

[Thawne]

Nicholas Sherman/Jäger​

Nick stood and listened to the Beta tester explain to him and the group what it meant exactly to form a party. While the benefits of increased XP and a group of companions sounded enticing, the threat of intensified debuffs, less monetary gain, and threat of attack from potentially higher level foes sounded like a potential problem. If they came together and fought with a strategy, they could possibly handle one enemy a few levels above them, but not a group of them or one enemy ten times their levels. He put his hand to his chin and thought for a moment, weighing the risks and benefits. Ordinarily, he would've just asked to stick around the same area, but he decided to take the high risk and high reward.

"I feel like it'd be a good idea for us to party up. I don't really mind not having a ton of cash, and the debuffs shouldn't be a problem at this stage in the game. The only issue I can see are the other players. We could handle one opponent a few levels above us or a few at our levels, but if we find one of these beta testers at level 10, that could present problems. It's your guys' call," he added.

ChoShadow JustifiedRoles animegirl20 GrieveWriter