Before Tristen and his friends even rounded the corner to the training ground, their ears were assaulted with a cacophony of noises like entering a coliseum during a free for all. Only, the only death fights here consisted of poor massacred scarecrows with hay strewn about. There were some boulders off to the side where magic users practiced explosive spells resulting in a symphony of booms, the crackle of lightning strikes and whoosh of fire blasts. This place was jammed shoulder to shoulder, but it looked like this was the place for them to learn some skills. Asking around where there trainers were, everyone just pointed to the small building on the side of the grounds. Looking at it skeptically, Tristen saw no way for this to accommodate so many players, but curiously there was no line and a steady stream of people were leaving the building. Asking what kind of skills they could learn earned them shrugs and “go see for yourself” comments. Typical gamers, they care only for themselves. Most gamers are highly competitive and reluctant to help any other players. Although Tristen and his friends were also competitive, all of them would put the party first. No matter the situation, they would always work toward the benefit of the party, even if it meant missing out unique opportunities. Even Tyler, who had become quite adept and being the lone wolf, would always put the group first. Aaron and Natalia knew well the advantages of a team, especially considering their chosen careers. Heck, Tristen wouldn’t even be standing in this game with his friends if he hadn’t relied on his employees. He held no delusions of grandeur for himself and would always put friends first.

  Tristen stepped through the door of the small building and his vision did a little cartwheel as he stumbled forward. As his vision cleared, Tristen was standing in the exact same space when he had first initialized the game. Only this time, there were no avatars, only rows of glowing orbs and a larger orb at the center of the room.

  “Sai, is that you?” Asked Trsiten.

  Hello Father, exclaimed Sai.

  “You know I hate it when you call me that, right,” asked Tristen.

  I know, sorry…Father, Sai said coquettishly

  Shaking his head in mirth, Trsiten asked, “Where am I? I thought I was going to talk to some NPCs about skill training?”

  Maintaining her whimsical personality, Sai said, In all beginner areas, there is a training ground. In each of these training grounds is a building that leads to this room. Because all adventurers begin their path in the same villages, I have created several places like this that use time dilation so that users can take their time on important decisions like race, skill and class selections.. Additionally, this training room will provide you with the basic understanding of skills, spells, combat abilities and magic schools. In here you will be able to choose two schools of magic. You will be able to unlock basic combat skills for up to two weapons of your choice. Lastly, you will be able to choose one skill and one spell. To learn additional skills and spells, you will need to visit an NPC trainer in one of the larger settlements outside the starter zones.

  “Is time compressed in here like it was in the character selection and tutorial?” Tristen asked.

  Yes, for every hour in here, only fifteen minutes pass in the world of Aeglenn.

  Tristen was curious if Sai gave this much information to the rest of the players and if she acted this familiar with them all.

  “Sai, do you usually act the same with other players as you do with me?”

  Laughing Sad asked, Would you like to see how I appear to other players?

  Intrigued, Tristen told Sai to go ahead and show him. Once Tristen had finished speaking, Sai began to grow from a ball of light into a larger than life glowing avatar, complete with shining golden hair spiraling in some unseen gale. She had a white gown, floating in that same unseen wind. The light surrounding her intensified and it was almost impossible to look directly at her.

  “Holy Crap!” Tristen yelled

  I AM SAI, THE CREATOR, MOTHER AND DIETY OF THIS WORLD!

  “Wow, okay I get the point,” Tristen said, shielding his eyes. “Do you really show up like that to everyone? Don’t you think it’s a little…I don’t know, over the top?”.

  This is how I first appear to new users in the game. It is definitely over the top, but all of the players seem to love it, said Sai as she began to shrink back down to the floating ball of light.

  Tristen felt giddy, he was actually having a conversation with his creation about the liberties she’d taken to make herself larger than life and about the personality she had incorporated into a part of herself. Sai far exceeded his imagination so far and he had yet even experience the larger world.

  Looking back at the choices before him, Tristen realized he was in for another long selection process. Tristen wondered if he could talk to his friends like in the race selection, but Sai quickly informed him that communication had been turned off during this process. Alright, he might as well get started. He was pretty sure which magic schools he would choose, but it would be prudent to read all of them just in case his mind was swayed in another direction. Combat was pretty straight-forward, he just had to choose which weapons or weapon combinations he wanted and the skill selection would appear. He had already chosen which weapons to use, so it wasn’t going to take a whole lot of time for his choices there. Magic schools and spells on the other hand, was going to be a much harder choice for Tristen. Walking over to a row of orbs marked “magic schools” he started walking down the line reading each description:

  There were so many cool options to choose from, but Tristen already had his mind made up about what type of character he wanted to create. After reading the description for Summoning Magic and the ability to summon light creatures, he almost changed his mind. It would be so cool to summon an angel, but he knew that wasn’t what the party needed and decided to pass on it for now. Perhaps if he ever rolled a new character he could try that path. He had never even heard of light creature or angel summoning. Every summoner class he had seen chose to summon demons. Tristen had no idea what the appeal was to summon demons. He would much rather find some sort of beast or animal to take that could evolve into a wrecking machine. Well, Tristen supposed everyone had their own play style. Speaking of play style…Tristen decided to get a move on or his friends would be waiting on him.

  “Sai, I would like to learn both Illusion and Enchantment Magic.”

  With a smirk in her voice that said “I told you so”, Sai said,

  Place your hand on the orb of your choice and you will receive a prompt asking you to confirm your decision.

  He did as Sai instructed and received notification window that said,

  Wait, if only two magic school were allowed at any given time, did that mean he could switch school later in the game?

  “Sai, if I choose two magic schools today, would I be able to choose a different school in the future?”

  Yes, you will be able to learn two schools now and will have the option to learn a new one in the future. Just know that if you decide to switch schools, you will lose any progress and spells you learned following the other path. You will retain your personal knowledge of the magic school, but any ability to perform spells will be lost. Some individuals choose to pursue new schools after mastering one and using the knowledge acquired to advance their studies in a new magic school.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Wow, thought Tristen, that would allow him to choose the Summoner magic school later. He would definitely need to keep that in the back of his mind if he ever got tired of his current choices. Originally, he assumed that once a magic school was chose, he would have to start an entirely new character if he wanted to change schools. The biggest issue he saw to changing magic schools, was they he would add stats to his character based on his selections now, instead of another school

  “Is there any way to reset stats in the game?” Tristen asked Sai.

  I can tell you that there is a way, but if I told you how that would be violating your wishes about not giving you hints and unfair advantages in the game.

  “Thank you Sai, I really appreciate you honoring my wishes about that.” Tristen though about the possibility to completely change up his character, but retain his earned stats, levels and equipment. This opened up a whole new realm of possibilities. He would continue as the group had already planned, but should they get tired of the builds and team composition, there was a possibility to alter their characters completely. This would essentially make any type of end game near impossible since there would there would always be a new realm of possibilities with new paths to choose.

  Choosing “yes” on the prompt to learn Illusion magic, Tristen felt like a library of information was instantaneously uploaded to his brain. Somehow, he was able to understand the concepts of illusion magic. He didn’t yet know how to form anything into a thought or cast any sort of spell, but he could feel something at the edge of his conscience. Pausing for a minute to absorb the new sensations, Tristen felt like there was an ethereal cloud stirringly around at the core of being being. Reaching out with the knowledge he now found himself recalling with perfect clarity, he could sense the energy, but couldn’t quite access it. It was a strange feeling and one that he hadn’t felt even when his MP had increased from a high Intellect. It had to be the knowledge and ability that was unlocked when he chose the magic school. He was curious how the spells were going to work and how he would be able to cast them. Next up, Enchantment Magic.

  Choosing yes once again, Tristen immediately the same swirling energy grow or…deepen? It didn’t really feel more substantial, but it felt like there was…more. He couldn’t really put a finger on the exact feeling only that these two energy pools were two different types of magic and he could feel which was Illusion and which was Enchantment. Not wasting any more time, Tristen brought up the list of beginner spells and started reading.

  Cost: 20 MP

  Cost: 75 MP

  Cost: 30 MP

  Cost: 10 MP

  Cost: 20 MP

  Cost: 25 MP Individual / 100 MP Group

  He could only choose one spell per magic school at this level and they all sounded like cool abilities. Tristen immediately ruled out illuminate as the party already acquired some torches for that and he though that it would be a relatively cheap skill to learn from an NPC trainer. Heck, he could probably figure out how to cast it on his own after he got a feel for the magic system and casting. At this point, he didn’t even know how casting would work, let alone how to go about creating new spells. Going back over the skills another time, he decided to learn [Fury] in the enchantment school. At level one, Trsiten was going to be pretty weak on attack and that was the only attack spell available at the moment. It could potentially backfire and it cost a lot of mana compared to the other skills. He would likely only be able to cast it once per fight for safety of the party and to conserve mana. Triten then chose [Distract] for the Illusion skill. He liked the [Silence] spell, but the cost to cast on the whole party was expensive and they already had stealth in the group thanks to Tyler. Distract on the other hand, could distract an entire group allowing the party to sneak away. Also, the idea of being able to craft his own illusions for distractions as the skill leveled up, sounded really cool.

  Immediately after selecting yes, it felt like information had been uploaded to my brain once again and he instinctively knew how to cast the spells chosen. He knew exactly how to form the words and hand gestures for each of the spells as if he had been practicing for years and it was all muscle memory. He could feel how to access the swirling pools of energy and use them to fuel the spells he had just learned. Before, it was just an unformed mass of undecipherable energy. Now, he could feel the distinctive nature of both Illusion and Enchantment magic. Illusion magic felt…mischievous and ethereal. In contrast, Enchantment magic was like a the feeling of being with a loved one or a close friend, but also had a dangerous undertone to it like it could be twisted in on itself and repurposed. The feeling was so surreal and Tristen could feel the energy infusing his body. Looking at the skills in his character sheet, Tristen saw that only 8 spells could be active at any time. That could get interesting depending on how many skills he was able to learn in the future. He would have to make careful choices for the active skills. He assumed that they would only level if he actually used them. Tristen thought about the implications and how eventually he would need to abandon some of the spells he had leveled to include better ones, that may start out less effective. This was shaping up to be a very difficult game and would take a lot of thought and strategy to navigate.

  If you wish to learn more skills, you will need to visit with an NPC trainer. You may also attempt to learn and unlock skills on your own, but it is advised that you seek out a trainer before attempting to develop your own as incorrect methods may result in harmful magic feedback.

  “Thank you Sai”, Tristen said, “I am ready to choose some combat skills for a sword and shield combo.”

  Acknowledging Tristen’s choice, Sai removed the other choices from the room, leaving only three remaining orbs associated with a sword and shield combo.

  These were some very basic skills and Tristen figured he would need to rely on regular melee damage quite often. He looked at the skills to see if any of them offered some defense and attack. Only [Parry] seemed to accomplish that task and would allow him to deal damage above his base physical damage per second or DPS. Based on the sword he had purchased from Knife’s Edge he could hit for about 6 to 7 damage per sword strike. That wasn’t accounting for an enemies armor or defenses. With parry, he could not only avoid a direct hit, but deal almost twice the base damage at level 1 of the skill. The rest of the skills would cause or prevent more damage than this skill, but it would be one or the other and he needed flexibility being so weak. At 25 Stamina per use, he could use the skill a decent number of times before running out. His choice made, Tristen selected the skill.

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