My rough drafts

http://jusbcosnovels.blogspot.com/ I update more frequently there, I put all works that I haven't edited yet. This means typos and such, but you get it to keep up with the story and I always appreciate any input. Once again it's at http://jusbcosnovels.blogspot.com/ (yeah I forgot the t on just like I said typos....)

SEO vol 1 ch1 stats

Basic	Equips	Offense	Defense	Special
Title:
Guild:
Class: Novice
HP 100/100
MP 140/140
[STR 05]
[END 05]
[INT 11]
[MND 07]
[DEX 10]
[AGI 07]

Basic	Equips	Offense	Defense	Special
Cook's Jacket +3 DEF +5% Fire Resistance +2% Cold Resistance
Cook's Pants +2 DEF  +5% Fire Resistance
Cook's Iron-toed Shoes +1 ATK +1 DEF +1 BAL

Basic	Equips	Offense	Defense	Special
[ATK 10]+1=11
[M. ATK 22]

Basic	Equips	Offense	Defense	Special
[DEF 10]+5=15
[M. DEF 22]
[Blind Resist +5%]
[Poison Resist +1%]
[Fire Resistance] +10%
[Cold Resistance] +2%

Basic	Equips	Offense	Defense	Special
[SPD +5]
[BAL]+1=+1

SEO vol 1 (ch2 part 1 25% written will be done tonight)

Prologue - The Latecomer and the Testers

Part 1

I was mining mats, materials I need for crafting, in a local quarry, when I heard the distinct sound of fighting nearby. There shouldn't have been anyone around as most players should have moved on to higher level areas by now, but I started the game late. I started the game two months after the official release date and I had been leveling, though I use the term loosely, quite slowly. I can only think of one person who would be here, and he was supposed to meet me an hour ago. I store my pickax and start running towards the noise. Sure enough I see my friend and his party fighting a.... A GIANT ROCK GOLEM?!

"Yo Chris, we could use a hand over here" John said as he took a blow with his massive tower shield.

"How the heck did that thing get so big? It must be around 25 feet tall."

"Well SEO does have a feature that lets monsters level, this particular one must have earned quite a bit extra from defeating other golems and absorbing them into itself to get bigger. It's a level 40, my party is made up of level 35s so..."

"Well don't know how much help I'm going to be then, but I do know a trick to beating these rock golems hopefully it still works. I just need someone to hold down the arm and add me to the party."

"Right, added! Yuki use gravity magic and weigh slow that thing down then next time it smashes at me pin its arm down with ice magic."

"Got it! -Grav up-"

"Hey, hey, are we really listening to this guy?! Look he's only level 5!"

"Just watch he'll probably do more damage than your arrows Shani. UGH!"

John eats a kick from the golem as he turns away to talk to Shani.

"I've got you! -HEAL-"

"Thanks Belle."

"I see you added to your harem."

"Oh shut it and get ready."

"Yes oh great harem king, "I laughed as I took out my pickax.

Just then an arrow hits it square in the chest and explodes, as Shani used her -Bomb Arrow-. This draws the golem’s attention away from John. John roars at the golem using -War Cry thereby lowering its [Def] and gaining its attention again. The golem punches downward and as it makes contact with John's shield Yuki screams "-ICE PILLAR-!"

I jump on the arm and climb up to the golem's shoulder. I look carefully at its shoulder around where joint should be and found what looks to be the weakest spot. I channel my mana to my arms and my pickax reinforcing both with magic. I start mining away and as I do so I notice a large hand coming my way. I had to jump to avoid it and barely managed to stay on the golem as I landed.

"Hey quit staring, I need a distraction please!"

Just then and explosion hits right below where I'm standing.

"Hey watch where you're aiming!"

Shani glares at me, but I just pretend not to notice. I remember that -Bomb Arrow- is notoriously hard to aim, whoops. Anyways thanks to the blast a crack appeared right where I was hitting. I continued hitting at the shoulder like I was mining.

"Oi, whatever you're doing hurry it up the ice is giving way!"

"Ugh not help John!"

I say that but he's right, and the shoulder seems to be significantly damaged enough anyways. I raise my pick and with all my strength bring it down right at the crack. Just like that the golem's arm crumbles and cracks start veining outward from where I was hitting it.

"Wow! I didn't know you could do that!"

"Seriously that's impressive can't believe he's a level 5."

"Guys it's not over yet I may have chipped a good chunk of its health off but it’s trying to throw me off now!"

-Fireball- -War Cry- -Bomb Arrow- The three just used more skills to get its attention, it worked! Now it was standing still and just trying to hit John with its remaining arm. I took the opportunity to climb down to its back as they kept pelting it with arrows, spells, and sword. I get to the middle and see the crack did extend all the way there. I find a spot with decent footing, and channel my mana into my hands, using it to enhance my grip on my left hand and using the other hand to punch at the crack. I keep punching until the exterior falls away and I see a shining crystal and I reach in and yank it out. The crystal was a |Golem Core| and it was three times bigger than the others I had encountered. Normally after taking it out the golem would crumble, but this didn't seem to be the case here. Lucky for me it gave me the chance to climb down, or so I thought. As soon as I removed it the golem went berserk, this must be due to its high level, and all I could do was hang on for dear life. It was actually moving quite quickly now, and attacking at random.

"Chris what did you do?!"

Yuki, Shani, and Belle all had to dodge attacks now. John's -War Cry- wasn't working anymore. Nobody could manage to attack it, but still its hp kept decreasing gradually.

"I took out its core! Now I can't get off this dang thing. HELP!"

-Grav down- -Barrier- Yuki and Belle casts their spells on me and I felt lighter and saw a sphere of light envelop me and then disappear. I hope it's enough, and jump off the golem and crash into the ground. Lucky me, the fall only took half my hp. As soon I jump off though it sees me and the |Golem Core| in my hand. It locks on me and I barely dodge its punch. This is bad one hit and it will kill me. I take advantage of Yuki's spell and channel my mana to my legs, the combined effect was spectacular. I hide behind John in an instant.

"Go my meat shield!"

John laughs and blocks the next incoming strike giving me some precious time to get some more distance. Just in time, as the last of the golem's hp disappears and crumbles down, but John was still under it! -Barrier- -Grav down +Area- Wow an area of effect added skill impressive.

-SHIELD WALL- All of a Sudden there were several Johns grouped up together holding their shields up over their heads. That's new, as in I've never seen it or read about it online. It must be something unique that only John had unlocked. With all that he came out unscathed.

"So how do you like my new skill guys?"

"Is that what you wanted to show me? That's ridiculous is that the skill that pushed you to level 35? It's like my level 5 -Doppelganger- but what was that 5 of you? How long does it last? Does it move around like -Doppelganger-?"

"Yeah we're glad you finally got to level 35, but that skill seems a little overpowered." Everyone just nods their head in agreement.

"Well the pre-requisites for it were ridiculous. You're on the right track with -Doppelganger- Chris, though there are a few other skills needed for it at high levels too. It lasts for as long as it has hit points, and the default is it moves with me in a sort of side by side phalanx formation. The downside is that it can't use any skills or attack, only thing it can do is defend. It is powerful I tried using it in a two row formation and had the second row cluster in and guard from above and I took no damage from a Red Elder Dragon. The downside is it takes about 3/4s of my mana to summon so many, I have absolutely 0 left after using all those -War Cry-s beforehand. I'll tell you more about it later just grab the drops and anything else you needed to mine and lets head into the mine and do this bounty quest."

I just sighed confirmed the drops from the pop-up screen and mined the golem's body for some high quality ore. I have quite a ways to go to catch up to John and his friends, and to think I almost didn't play this amazing game.

Part 2 - Character Creation

Second Earth Online, it had come out two months ago now. It's no longer just another MMO, it's THE MMO to play. It boasted translation software that made it so that language barriers were never an issue. It is because of this that over half the world's population currently played the game. It's slogan to attract players was "A second earth means a second chance to be the you which you always wanted to be." Sounds pretentious and boring and it almost sounded like that old game that was basically just a regular old virtual world where the market was dominated by programmers and early gamers who had the capital to buy land and such. Then they started showing the previews, "Second Earth Online, the Earth that land limited only by your imagination." There was actual footage of α test, it had every single class you could think of showing all the different skills, so everyone thought it was just another MMO boasting but not delivering. Then it went on to show the actual system, and it got everyone excited. Monsters with unique AI that actually leveled! I had an unparalleled customization system, unique leveling system, and a crafting system where only the imagination is the limit. It showed avatars with all sorts of unique weapons, clothing, and even some weird looking structures made by testers.

I sigh and look away from the old commercial running on the screen. The game looked fun, and the subscription fee wasn't that bad especially if you pay yearly, the problem was the hardware. It used a VR system that completely immersed you in the game, and the avatar was moved by your brain functions, it was like moving your own body. It wasn't something you could buy on a whim, especially not when that someone was in college. It had been a few years since the system came out, and now it's on its 5th version. I might have been able to afford it if I hadn't decided to live on my own instead of move in with relatives when my parents died. My brothers moved and they had wanted me to play with them on the system too, especially this new game. So many could have's, I thought as I started to walk out my workplace.

"Hey Chef, wait up!"

I turn around to see John behind me trying to catch up to me with a rather large sack in hand.

"Yo John, what's with the bag?"

"I'm playing Santa remember?" Oh right it's Christmas Eve I forgot so busy with work during the holidays that it’s easy to lose track of time. "I bet you forgot its Christmas again, don't worry I already grabbed the usual 'backup' envelops from your drawer and left you a note. I left the note yesterday, have you not gotten around to it yet? Anyways I know you're off for a little while, so how about we meet up on Second Earth later?"

"Ah yeah I saw the note, I just haven't gotten to read it yet what with all the business rolling in. I'd love to get on but you know I don't have the system yet, saving up for the next semester of college."

"I never really got why you stay in school when you're already a sous chef and up for a promotion as soon as Chef opens his new restaurant, but...." He pulls out the VR system from the bag after some shuffling around. "All of us decided to get you this so that we can all meet up online from time to time. Merry Christmas!"

"Oh man I don't know what to say, you guys are the best!"

"Hehe, well get it set-up and get started on learning the system. Your friends list in game should sync up with your contacts. Most of us were in the β and got started anew after the official launch so we're pretty far in already. Just do what you can, and we'll meet up sometime as there's no level restriction at the moment. S.E.O. is pre-installed so just boot it up and launch it and..."

"Enough chit-chat I can figure it out from here I think. Oh so excited! Thanks again guys!"

Before John could say anything I ran out the door and dashed into my car. A few minutes later I was in my apartment putting on the system and lying in bed while booting it up. I started to launch Second Earth Online, and I was in an empty space except for a mirror. I saw an exact replica of myself, black hair, brown eyes, medium height, plain face except for the flat nose and small eyes marking my Filipino heritage. It immediately prompted a character creation, but I just went with defaults and skipped it.

"Welcome to Second Earth Online! In Second Earth there are 6 main attributes. [Strength]/[STR] which affects [Attack]/[ATK], [Defense]/[DEF]] and how much you can lift and carry without penalties. [Endurance]/[END] affects your [Satiety]/[SAT], [Hit Points]/[HP], ailment resistance and pain feedback. [Intelligence]/[INT] affecting [Magic Attack]/[M.ATK], [Magic Defense]/[M.DEF], and learning skills. [Mind]/[MND] this affects [Mana Points]/[MP], [Mana Regen]/[MR], comprehension skills and status resist. [Dexterity]/[DEX] affects fine loco-motor skills and attack and aim correction. [Agility]/[AGI] affects [Speed]/[SPD] and acrobatic movement. All players start with 5 points to each stat. These 6 are the keys to learning your first basic skills. They are also unlocked by repetitive actions or understanding concepts behind them. More advanced skills have other requirements that you'll need to discover yourself to unlock. However, any skill can be learned as long as you meet the prerequisites, and there is no limit to the number of skills one can learn. Skills determine your level, skills are exponentially improved in various directions for example if a level 1 skill was crawling a level 2 skill would be running then level 3 would be something like running silently and acrobatically or running at almost inhuman speeds. This is just an example though and not actual skills. Furthermore every 5 levels you will be awarded a talent, a talent grows your character exponentially in a given direction. At level 1 you are given three talents, the first is {Language Comprehension} which lets you understand any spoken language. The other two is up customized by you, would you like to do so now?"

"Yes"

"Level one talents available are as follows: {Literacy}, {Attribute Enhancement}, {Specific Attribute Enhancement}, {Mana Manipulation}, {Crafting Knowledge}, {Market Knowledge}, {Born Rich}, {Specific Tool/Weapon Knowledge}, {Healing Knowledge}, and {Specific Basic Elemental Knowledge}. Which would you like learn more about?"

It looks like this is how you direct which way your life goes. I can see how some of the talents would fit together so that you can become a classic class in MMOs. There has to be more to it that that though, otherwise you just get stuck doing the same thing as other MMOs. It said understanding things unlocks skills I wonder...

"What does {Literacy} do?"

"{Literacy} grants the passive skills -Reading- and -Writing- granting the player the ability to write in and read the written language of Second Earth by auto-translating this form of media to their native language."

Interesting so it grants skills. It said you can learn any skill so that means you can learn to read in game. Which means you have to understand the letters of the MMO? So you can actually cheat and get this so called "talent" just by learning the letters? But it might be hard if it's an actual talent it must have to do with [INT] and [MND]. It said they affect learning and comprehension.

"What's the difference between {Attribute Enhancement} and {Specific Attribute Enhancement}?"

"{Attribute Enhancement} enhances one of the 6 main attributes by three points while {Specific Attribute Enhancement} enhances one of the sub attributes by 50 which would usually take 10 points of a given main attribute."

"Can I get two {Specific Attribute Enhancement}s one for learning skills and comprehension skills?"

"Yes"

"I'll take those two then please."

"Understood this has given you the skill passive -Fast Learner-. You are now being transported to the first town, Alpha. We hope you enjoy Second Earth!"

Part 3 - The Beginning

"Skills"

I bring up the skill window and check the description of -Fast Learner-

-Fast Learner-

Lvl 2

Prerequisites: learning skills and comprehension skills at least 25 points higher than accumulated [INT] and [MND]

Description: Increases codex entry acquisition and skill acquisition and skill leveling

Interesting, I might have stumbled into a true gem here. Wait a level 2 skill?! Does that mean I'm starting out as a level 2?

"Status"

A screen pops up with the following:

[Basic]

Title:

Guild:

Class: Novice

Level: 1

[STR 5]

[END 5]

[INT 5]

[MND 5]

[DEX 5]

[AGI 5]

HP 100/100

MP 100/100

[Equips]

[Offense]

[Defense]

[Special]

Wait I'm still level 1? It says -Fast Learner- is level 2. Wait that means that skill itself is level 2?! The skills themselves level and it can exceed your own level... Well this game is so interesting. Now let's take a look around. I look around and surprisingly there are a few people here in the first town. There are quite a few buildings too for a beginner town. At a closer inspection I can see several emblems on various buildings, looks to be guild halls of some sort. Must be in the first town for easy access, I peek at some of the buildings and they're all quite busy, considering it was Christmas Eve I'm surprised there were so many people on and in the first town too. Just then I hear a ringing, odd?

I see it's from John, how?

"Yo I just arrived in the first town. How is it you know my avatar already? For that matter I didn't even name it yet... And why are there so many people in town?"

"Haha, well first off you didn't name it because they made it like real life. You introduce yourself to people however you want and that's what registers as your name in their eyes whenever they see you. Second you had to register your system right? It also asked you if you wanted to import your address book. Whenever someone from your address book logs in the system will automatically send you a notification, though the default only notifies you when you bring up your friends list. If you bring up your friends list you'll see it's full of people from the restaurant. Second the town is busy because there are actually only 5 towns at the moment and a main capital. Most of the continent is still undeveloped. It should change soon though, if it's anything like β a month or so from now a few guilds will start trying to clear up a zone to and claim it as theirs to start a town. They'll then have to make some buildings and attract NPCs and other users. The NPCs themselves may start trying to make a few villages to live in too, especially as it's become much safer thanks to Adventurers. Oh you should register at the Adventurer's Guild once you've got your battle skills up. I assume you're going mage like usual? Which means you got {Mana Manipulation} and {Specific Elemental Knowledge} or maybe {Literacy}? If you got the first two go to the Mage's guild and you can get an apprenticeship with a mage there, if you got {Literacy} you can find out about the basic elements in the library. Just use the map in the middle of town and once you see it you can bring it up any time you want. It was made by a guild that helps novices, so one of them is actually in English."

"Well I didn't get any of those instead I got a skill called -Fast Learner-, know anything about it?"

"Oh geez a few people actually got that in β, but most of them gave up on it. I saw one guy in the forums post about it that he used it as a crafter and got surprisingly good results, because he was able to learn skills quickly after finally being able to apprentice with a blacksmith. He had to raise his strength up by 3 points first though; he said it took him 4 days game time which is about a whole day. From there he learned hammer mastery and further increased his strength and that's how he got started on using hammers as a weapon. The growth was fast, but he still fell behind other crafters and warriors because he didn't get talents specifically to go in that direction. He was however able to get his own materials later in the game unlike other blacksmiths who had to party to do so. He was doing well until β closed. Everyone wonders how much gold he had in the end as he never posted, but it seems to be hard early on. Everyone thought it would be good for mages, but it's become standard to get {Mana Manipulation} and one of the other two I mentioned. Nobody has been able to figure out how to learn the alphabet here without {Literacy} or if they have it's not in the forums. It's easy to reroll just say 'Reset Avatar' and you can go back to the creation area. Let me know when you're ready to go hunting everyone the restaurant was either in β or has been playing since launch so we're all waiting! No rush though we know what your schedule is usually like haha. Oh and if you don't want to call we all made a guild 'Everyone Adventuring Together.’”

"EAT?"

"Yeah haha everyone from the restaurant thought it was hilarious. People in food service adventuring together are bound to eat at some point. Anyways good luck!"

With that he hung up, well the name of the guild was a little lack luster, but the initials and inside joke was funny. Maybe I'll join, for now I have to figure out if I should reroll or not. I do want to craft, but not being able to learn mage skills isn't the direction I want to be going in. There has to be a way to learn how to read. For now let's check the map. For now let's look at this map John was talking about. I walk to the center of town and see a stand with several sides to it like one of those things you see in malls. I see that there’s a huge piece of paper stuck on it looking exactly like a mall map. There were little numbers where each building was and at the bottom you could look up what that building was. Wow very well made, this one was in what looked like Japanese as I look to the next side it was in English. Perfect! I study the map carefully looking at all there on it. Then I get a window the popped up.

Alpha town map acquired

Stored in Codex

You can now access this area's map as if you've explored the whole of it.

Well that's taken care of, but I still need to figure out if I can learn how to read in this place. I look at the map and there's several likely places the Library, an NPC run bookstore, the Mage Guild, and a few schools. Well most likely the other players have tried the Mage guild as that's what most people were aiming for. The Library is out too, John already pointed me in that direction, and so β testers must have tried that already. Let's check the bookstore.

"Welcome! Oh wow a newbie that's rare. If you're trying to get a clerk position for some gold sorry I'm filling it at the moment. The owner is in the back I could get him, we might need someone to stock shelves in do inventory, but I recommend you go do an apprenticeship somewhere they provide meals and you start learning whatever it is you want to do in this game. I'm only doing this because of the employee discount and I heard the owner gives a quest if you get on his good side for an extremely rare book."

I see a small red headed girl behind the counter of the bookstore. She's really small and cute, but the way she was smiling seemed so mischievous. I'd guess she's in her late teens early twenties, but I'm not the best judge of age. She was wearing a red robe and a red witch's hat.

"Oh, no I was just wondering what kind of books were here, I just started and was wondering there was a book on the alphabet or something here. How'd you know I was new?"

She giggled "Well you're still in your starting clothes silly. Even people in who have played the game for a day would either be in their uniform if they started working somewhere or in apprentice clothes if they found a master to train under. And you're one of the ones that didn't get {Literacy} huh? Finally finding out that reading helps around here a lot? Well sorry to tell you this, but if you want to read something you'll have to go to one of the player made shops that's in your language, Chinese I'm guessing? The books are quite expensive too. You'll have to secure some income and food first. What this bookstore sells are basic skill books and some rare books. Oh and skill books don't work like they do in other games. The books here just tell you the mechanics behind each skill and user made skill books tell you the prerequisite for a skill and how they went about getting the skill to activate."

"Ah so the one NPC bookstore doesn't even sell kids books or anything huh? Well it was a long shot anyways. I speak English by the way. Thanks for the info Miss....?"

"Oh I'm Sarah, and you are?"

"Oh where are my manners, sorry I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Chris."

"Well Chris once you figure out what you're doing look me up in the Adventurer's Guild sometime! I'm under Scarlet Sarah."

"Okay see you around!"

Well the bookstore was a bust, and it seems the info John gave me was right on the spot. Maybe I should reroll and grab {Literacy}. Ah well let's check the school.

I was literally laughed at when I tried to register for a class at the school. They wanted me to fill out a form and I told them I was there because I couldn't read and write. Once they stopped laughing they said bonehead Blessed, I guess that's what NPCs call the players, should just go and apprentice themselves to a craftsman or the guards. I was going to give up when I saw a bunch of little kids running out of a nearby building. I check my map and saw it was labeled as Daycare. Little kids even if they are NPCs shouldn't know how to read yet, but for some reason the school expects applicants to be able to read already. I wonder if?

"Excuse me ma'am?" I address a pretty young woman that looks to be a school teacher of some sort.

"Ah yes? Did you want to register a child with us today?"

"Actually I was wondering if you taught people how to read and write."

"We here at this daycare pride ourselves in preparing children to face whatever vocation that catches they're eye. So of course this includes the basics such as reading and writing as well as math, basic plant cultivation, and physical development. Rest assured your child will be well prepared for whatever challenges he or she faces."

"Well ma'am, I was actually asking for myself. I'm embarrassed to say this, but I never learned how to read or write."

"Ah such a sad predicament, I'm sorry to say that we don't take in adults."

"Isn't there anyway I could get you to teach me how to read and write? Please ma'am?"

"Tell you what you come by tomorrow before the children come for class and help me teach math. You do know math don't you?"I nod. "Good! Then help me teach the children math and I’ll teach you how to read and write. We'll say each session you'll do the same thing and pay me 5 copper is that fair?"

"Yes more than fair thank you! I'll see you tomorrow then!"

You have accepted a quest. Would you like to check the details? I hit yes.

Hidden Quest

Teach the Children Math

Help the caretaker teach the children basic math skills, in return he will teach you to read and write for a few hours.

Time limit: none

Quest Rewards: -Reading-, -Writing-, increased intimacy with the children and caretaker, and 5 fame

Quest Failure: If your knowledge of math and lack of teach skills fail intimacy with caretaker will decrease should it decrease too much she will refuse to try and teach you again

I leave merrily thinking that there really was a way to learn how -Read- and -Write-. Wait I need money to do so I wonder how much I start with?

"Inventory"

A screen pops up and all I see is a blank screen and 0 gold 0 silver 0 copper. Well looks like I'm broke; I wonder how I can make money with no skills? Maybe I should head over to E.A.T.? I check my map and start heading towards their guild hall. From the looks of the map their building isn't all that big. I was one building away when the smell from the open window caught my attention. It smelled like good food being cooked, I peek in and I see a busy restaurant. Oh? I remember there was a girl minding a store, so that means you can be employed in places. Maybe I just secured a good source of income!

Part 4 - Securing future operations

I walk in the restaurant, and was greeted by a hostess. I asked to see the manager about a job and she led me to the back. There I met a rather chubby bald Caucasian man that looked to be in his mid 30s. I was told he had a few errands that I could run for him mostly buying stuff from the market and he could pay a copper each. I thought it was just a basic delivery quest; I politely declined him and asked about working in the kitchen.

"Eh listen hear young fellow don't underestimate the food industry. Your hands don't seem like they have the skill to even cut the food without cutting themselves let alone keep up with everyone else. I can't afford training some random guy off the street and there's no way I'm letting someone cook that I don't think can even cut food correctly."

"Oh I think you'll be surprised how quickly I can pick this up. I'm not asking you to trust me on the line just let me do some prep work in the back. If I mess up too much you don't have to pay me, if I cut myself too much and can't keep up same thing."

"I see you have some knowledge of the kitchen well then we'll go with what you suggested then. I'll pay you 10 copper at the end of the shift if you can do what say can."

You have demonstrated knowledge of an industry

-Mercantilism- Acquired

You have started a quest

Help keep the kitchen stocked for dinner service.

Reward: Possible employment and 10 copper pieces

Time Limit: End of restaurant's dinner service

Failure: If you make too many mistakes and can't keep up with the cooks you will not be paid and possibly not ever be hired by the chef ever.

Oh a skill! I ignore it for now and get to work. It seems what they need right now are some small diced onions. I see 2 people trying to cut up a huge pile of onions that didn't seem to be disappearing. I see them cutting them like amateurs, I later find out they were relying on their skills called -Knife Mastery- and -Cooking- instead of actual knowledge. They weren't cutting themselves surprisingly and they were cutting quite quickly, but they were using weapons not kitchen knives and cutting them so roughly by using both hands equipped with knives. Well I see an open spot near them and grab a kitchen knife and a cutting board. I grab some containers, and start peeling lots of onions first. After finishing that I start by slicing the onion in half and then without cutting all the way through cutting it evenly horizontally. Then vertically leaving the same end uncut and next I just slice away at the other end making almost perfect 1/4 squares. After I finish an onion it starts to hurt my eyes, ouch I forgot that this isn't my own body it’s not used to onions yet ugh. I also acquire -Cooking-, -Knife Mastery-, and 2 [DEX] points for demonstrating knife skills, cooking skills, and great dexterity for not cutting myself. Awesome I push on! After the third onion I get a notification that [Blind Resist] and [Poison Resist] went up 5% and 1% respectively. It seems it counts onion juice as blinding and a mild poison. After the fifth onion it gives me another [DEX] point and both new skills level up. I finish my 20 onions I peeled and it looks like my [DEX] went up 4 points total, but my -Knife Mastery- went up level 8 and -Cooking- to 9.

I was about to grab another onion, when all of a sudden the onions disappeared! Between the other two were a pile of green peppers, on the opposite side of me was a container containing 10 whole chickens.

"I need those peppers cut, julienne, and I need those chickens quartered." I hear the guy yell

"Yes, Chef!" I answered.

My onions seemed to have disappeared, definitely game like, still I don't know if it cleaned the onions off from the cutting board and knife. I wash my knife and dump the cutting board on the cart where a guy was washing dishes, who glared at me. Grab a new cutting board, cleaver, and a boning knife. I start of by using the cleaver to cut the chickens in half, right down the center. I then take each half find the small section that separates the dark meat and light meet and quickly cut through them all. I gain another level of -Cooking- after doing so. I put each section in different containers and expected them to disappear like last time. Not seeing any changes I shout:

"Done with the chicken, Chef!"

"Oh that was quick, go ahead and separate the wings from the breasts then, and then skin and bone the breasts."

"Got it, Chef!

I half expected this, which is why I grabbed the boning knife instead of the filleting knife. A few quick steps and done! Quick and easy. The dark meat and chicken breasts disappear and some empty pans replace them along with some eggs.

"I need those wings ready for the fryer!"

"Sorry Chef, I don't know how you season your flour."

"Oh right you're new, Jihoon go show him the seasoned flour."

One of the cooks running around which I assume was an NPC went and showed me how to make seasoned flour, while he did so I made the egg wash ready. And just a few seconds later they were ready for frying. All of a sudden they disappeared along with the cutting board and knives.

Quest Complete

Go see the Chef for rewards after dinner service

Sweet, looks like I completed everything I needed to before service was up. I wash my hands and decide to help out the dish washer while waiting for the dinner service to finish. Made quick friends with the NPC named Raul. He wants to run the restaurant one day, which he might get his chance if all the prep work is done so lousily by players. I seriously think the AI on here is surprisingly deep and the restaurant is programmed very well they must have had someone from the food industry consult. We were washing dishes quickly, thanks to that my [SPD] went up 3 points before service was over and I could go see the chef. Well looks like I didn't waste any time waiting, more stat points and I can keep building my reputation with NPCs, if it's anything like other MMOs it sometimes helps with discounts or quests. If not well it never hurts to network! I go see the chef and he thanks me for the exceptional service, I'm the first to provide such exceptionally high service so quickly and he pays me an extra 2 coppers. I asked if anyone else had provided really good service, he said most of the Blessed were like the two I met earlier scraping by with mediocre products from working there. However there was a group that came in and swept through the restaurant with exceptional skill, but not quite as good as mine. They did however take over most of the jobs in the restaurant for a week which is why the restaurant is so popular now. Haha I know who those were. I tell him I'll see him tomorrow for dinner service then. He just tossed me some clothes.

Cook's Jacket

+3 DEF +5% Fire Resistance +2% Cold Resistance

Cook's Pants

+2 DEF +5% Fire Resistance

Cook's Iron-toed Shoes

+1 ATK +1 DEF +1 BAL

Oh sweet equips! Naturally anything is better than what I have on, but these look to be really good. They look too small though, well I guess it's because all I have to do is put in on the equip screen. As I do so my appearance naturally changes so that I have them on, except I still have my pouch around my waste where I store items. I head out the door and it looks like it's still dark out, I should pop by the guild hall before going to the daycare.

I enter the guild hall.

"Welcome to 'Everyone Adventuring together.' My name is Maria. We currently have 3 unoccupied rooms in the hall with plans for expansion in the coming week. We have a big public area where we serve 3 meals a day, and members are encouraged to help with the meal by cooking and/or livening up the atmosphere with music and whatever crafts they know. Our current guild tax is at 10%. This guild welcomes both Blessed and regular people, and has no requirements other than abiding by the rules. The rules of the guild are as follows:

1. Members must participate in at least one guild event a month First Earth Time. This can easily be done by helping with the served meals.

2. Members must party up with a group of 4 at minimum and do something to contribute to guild growth once a month First Earth Time.

3. Resolve all internal conflicts peacefully, however duels are allowed if sanctioned by a guild officer.

4. Do not mock other members on which skills they choose to cultivate. Our overall goal is to have fun adventuring together, and we do so by growing freely in the direction we want.

5. Most importantly have FUN!

If you think you can abide by the rules, then you are free to join. If you are just visiting feel free to join us in our common area, we charge a 5 copper entrance fee and a guild member will take your food order."

Wow quite a greeting, Maria seems familiar, but that can't be she doesn't seem to be anyone I in the real world. Ah she has a slight familial resemblance to Raul the dishwasher.

"Hello Maria, I was told by John to stop in is he in per chance? Also are you perhaps related to Raul?"

"Ah yes, I take it from your uniform that you started working next door? I work as a hostess there. John the guild master? He went out hunting with some members to ingredients for a 'Christmas Feast,' I'm not exactly sure what that is but he had someone pulling a cart with them so he might be gone a while."

"Ah well then please tell John that Chris stopped by." As I turned to leave I hear a voice call out.

"Chef! You got your present!!!"

"Well if it isn't Yuki, I'm surprised you're not out with John." I greet a petite Japanese woman rushing down the stairs as she came flying down to greet me.

She blushed, "I actually just logged in, I took a nap right after work. Do you not have your notifications set-up?"

"Not yet, actually exploring the game I haven't even decided in what direction to go other than securing some income."

"Ah so you went next door? The rate gets better the more you work, the chef there will offer you a full position later on. Many of our NPC members are actually workers there, some of the restaurant staff that is concentrating on crafting work there; you'll recognize some of the dishes."

"Yeah I was wondering about the NPC members?"

"That's the big thing here, it's a great feature. Space is limited in the town and to travel to the capital or even the other towns is quite dangerous. It's much cheaper for NPCs to be part of a guild and travel with them rather than to keep hiring them for guard duty. Also as guild halls have rooms, because trust me you don't want to log out just anywhere and leave your in game body undefended, we can space by having them live in the guild hall if they so choose. It's also much cheaper that way as it’s required for a guild to have enough rooms for their members. Are you going to join us?"

"Not yet, I want to explore this game a bit. Besides you've all been playing since β or launch I don't want to drag you guys down with my lack of knowledge."

"Oh you wouldn't do that we made the guild so we could all have fun together! Just join whenever you feel like it okay? What are you aiming for after?"

"Sure sure, I don't really know. First I need to secure some skills so I can be self reliant. Then see if I can't go hunting and see what fighting here is like."

"Then the easiest monsters at launch were the plains just a little bit north out of town. Nobody has hunted there in a while though. Everyone is busy trying to gather ore from the mine southeast of here. This is so we can finally build a transport gate, it's a town effort. Everyone from the second town is doing the same. Right now the only transport gates are in the capital transporting you to different continents. By the way there are 21 continents in all and starting continent was based on which continent you logged in from and if you chose human, demi-human, or beastman. We have only 3 people from the restaurant who went demi-human and 4 who went beastman. I here they have the same set-up as the 13 of us, well 14 if we include you."

"Cool, thanks well the sun is almost up I've got to be somewhere! I'll come by from time to time."

"Alright have fun Chef!"

Chapter 1 - Learning

Part 1 - The Library

Two sessions, that's how long it took to learn -Read- and -Write-. It was great that it went by quickly, but surprisingly the kids grew on me quite quickly. The caretaker said I could comeback anytime and help teach as my teaching methods seemed to reach the kids. After each session I went to the restaurant and worked, got to know the staff. I was actually paid 15 copper per shift, and Raul is now learning how do some prep work from the other staff members and dish washing has become a new quest for players. I tried it on the second day; it increased my [SPD] by 2 and got 5 copper as a reward. I guess it's more for people down on their luck. I did stop by the guild between work and class the first day and got in touch with John not much happened just asked what I was up to and I said just fooling around. The after work on the third day I got tired and found an inn so I could go log out, take a nap, and eat something. It cost me 2 copper, not bad, food would have been an extra 3 copper but I was entitled to a free meal at the restaurant now which I took full advantage of. So I'm now up 35 copper and also got an extra level in -Cooking-.

Once I logged back in I immediately sought out the library. It cost 2 copper to get in and another 2 to borrow books. I don't think I'll be borrowing anything, but I did decide to spend the 2 copper and take a look around. I set-up an alarm for when I should be heading to work just in case I lose track of time while reading. Upon entering I immediately ask a librarian for some books on mana and how to wield it. She led me to 4 books and was going to go get more advanced ones, but I declined and said I'll start with these thank you. She smiled politely and told me not to hesitate to ask if I needed anything else and went back to stocking shelves. Oh I've been looking forward to this! The thing that I love about fantasy MMOs is magic; it's the thing that really distinguishes it from the real world in my opinion. Which is why I mostly play magic classes, but how is wielding magic with your own body? I look at the books the librarian gave me. Mana and You: A Beginner's Guide to Understanding Mana, Absorbing and Expelling Mana, The Elements and Mana, and Magic 101: Manipulating Mana with Chants and Runes.

Well it looks like it's in the exact order I need. The first book explains that mana resides in everything, that it was the fundamental make-up of the world. In living beings it is the sheer force of will inside. That it can be felt for the first time either by someone helping pull it out for the individual, or by meditation and feeling the individual's will inside themselves. It can then be pulled out by concentrating that will outward to the body. As I read I get an update on that I had gained knowledge and a codex entry had been made on mana. The more I read the more the codex is updated. I wonder if -Fast Learner- would work if I just skimmed through so that I can try this out in an area where I wouldn't damage anything. I try with the next book, and bring up my codex as I flip through and find that it does and makes a great job summarizing things. It even has subcategories! So I flip through the other two, and return all the books back and look for more books to flip through. I end up flipping through basic chants, basic runes, healing magic, botany, medicinal plants, poisonous plants, curses and hexes, how to shorten or get rid of chants for spells, basics of crafting, enchanting, a monster encyclopedia, and tons of other subjects right up until it was time for work. All the accumulated information gave me an extra 6 points in [INT].

Part 2 - The Training Hall

Work at the restaurant in game was uneventful, afterwards I dashed into the guild hall so I could dash out and grab a quick bite to eat and keep playing. I checked the map to see if there was some place to figure out how to make use of the knowledge I had acquired. I didn't want to go to an open field outside of town, Yuki had told me of the open plains but it had monsters in it and I'd be wide open for attack. I was going to give up and just find a quiet place when I my eyes looked caught the words Training Hall.

The Training hall looked like a large rec center, on one part of the building a range was setup with targets for people wanting to practice ranged attacks. There were also 3 bigger ranges with dummies arranged in various spots behind obstacles. On another part many dummies and scarecrows were set in an open area. In a corner there were rooms of various size that one could not see into. There were also rings and open areas in which one could spar or try out various group tactics. As always it was a busy place. I took all of this in and was thoroughly impressed; it looked like even higher leveled users found a use for this place. I approach the counter, and a burly man looking like a body builder covered in scars was manning it.

"First time?" I nodded. "It's 5 copper for entry and you're free to use whatever you want except the closed off rooms. Private room starts at an extra 5 copper and you'll also need to rent any equipment you need to use. If you need a sparring partner of a similar level there's a signup sheet there, the staff will help find one for you for another 2 copper."

"Then I'll take the cheapest room please just the room." I take out 10 copper and put it on the counter.

"No targets or anything? Alright follow me."

He led me to one of the rooms that nobody could see in, the smallest one. Just as I had hoped, the room was sound proof and I couldn't hear any noise from outside. It was perfect place to try and reach for mana like the book said. I sit on the floor and meditate, feeling a bit silly. I did as the book instructed and looked inside myself. In my mind I saw a small bright amorphous light shining in the middle of darkness. I felt it; it was like standing in a hurricane or being in the vicinity of a tornado. It was just sheer force and I could only stand in awe of it. I tried to grab in inside my mind, instead it just slipped away and I felt blown back. I guess it's not something you force out by grasping it, the book said to pull it out into the body though. Hmmm... Maybe you don't actually grasp mana to wield it. I imagine the force flowing out into my body covering me. Slowly I see the light flowing outward and I feel my body overcome with tremendous energy, I start feeling a lot lighter than before. I hold the image of the light flowing at the a steady pace as I stand up. I try running and jumping around and feel that my physical abilities has increased slightly. I feel the light getting dimmer, so I imagine it folding back into itself.

Skill acquired

-Internal Mana Control-

lvl 1

Allows user to control mana inside their body

Skill acquired

-Physical Enchant- (Self)

lvl 1

Increases [STR], [END], [DEX], and [AGI] by using 10 mana per minute. Current boost 1 point

[MND] has increased by 1

Skill level up

-Fast Learner- has increased to level 3

Wow! This is great all that with just one action. I feel like there's more to -Physical Enchant- though, I know I can control the output of mana to control it and what if I concentrated it to one point? I sit back down and try again. I do the same thing feeling that the light inside got back to full strength. This time I concentrate and make the light flow as slowly as possible. I hold it and see that there is almost no drain from the light left inside me. I hold and see that the light was regenerating faster than the output it used. I feel no change in my body. Then I pull out even more mana and as I do my body starts feeling lighter and lighter. I then let go, but I feel that the light is still trickling out very slightly.

Skill updated

-Physical Enchant- (Self)

lvl 1

Active: Increases [STR], [END], [DEX], and [AGI] by using 10 mana per minute. Current boost 1 point. Boost can be increased by using more mana per minute.

Passive:  Increases [STR], [END], [DEX], and [AGI]. This has reduced mana regeneration by 1 mana per minute. Current boost 1%

Oh a passive! Not just some sort of mastery, but 1%? My stats aren't even in the double digits except for [INT], so the boost might as well be 0. Well it should prove useful in the long run, which means I need to get a stat to 100. The increased boost on the active though should prove useful in emergencies. Now to concentrate it on a body part, hmm how about the legs? I could easily test that here. I try the same thing, and this time concentrating the outflow of mana from inside me to my legs. It worked, and as I stand up I could feel my legs so much stronger than when I used -Physical Enchant-. I try it out by running and jumping around. I ran faster, and I jumped twice as high the feeling was amazing almost like flying. Speaking of flying I wonder if you could fly here. Flight, ah that would be wonderful.  Anyways try this out first, with so much height he felt it would be easy to try flipping around. In the real he never could with his bulky body, the best he could do were cartwheels, round-offs, and some rolls. Now he had [AGI] and awesome legs to try it out. I tried it, and couldn't quite get the landing right with my hands. So I tried again and this time as he flew into the air moved the mana to his arms. This time I got it right and it was hard not to fall down as my arms had increased sense of balance and strength. I pushed off and was back in the air, moved the mana to my legs and rotated around for fun and landed back on my feet. Ah so much freedom! It really was a thrill. I tried running up walls, getting four steps up and feeling like I was being pulled back down so I flipped off and landed back. WOW! That was amazing, I know it's impossible in the real life, but I hope one day I can at least do one or two steps up and flip just to see if it felt that good. Before I knew it the light died down, and I was out of mana.

Skill acquired

-Body Part Enhancement-

lvl 1

Boosts physical capabilities of enhanced body part. Consumes 5 mana per minute. Boost can be increased by using more mana per minute.

Skill level up

-Internal Mana Control- has increased to level 3

Skill level up

-Fast Learner- has increased to level 4

[AGI] has increased by 2

[DEX] has increased by 1

Level 1 and I have two stats that are in the double digits! Now I'm out of mana though, I did flip through something about mana absorption. I sit down and open up the codex and look through the mana page. I see an entry about absorbing mana from the surroundings. The practice can increase mana regeneration, increase spell and skill effects, and reduce internal mana consumption. According to the codex I just have to feel the mana and draw it into wherever I'm using mana or to regenerate mana into my own source. I close my eyes and try to feel for the mana, I am shocked that it is all around me. Such tremendous amounts, but not as concentrated as when I had it inside me. I focus on gathering it all and imagine putting it all back inside the place I found the light inside me. As I do I feel tremendous energy filling me, and the light starts sparking back to life, soon it is completely filled up. I then try pouring the mana back out onto my body for -Physical Enchant- and reduce the flow a bit. At the same time I pull mana in from all around and pour it on to the mana enshrouding my body. The mana inside diminishes slower, but the effects feel the same. I try to increase the influx of mana, but could not do more. I increase the output of my internal mana to the max and fill much more power than before come out. I cut it off and resume gathering mana back to full, and then open my eyes.

Skill acquired

-External Mana Control-

lvl 1

Allows the gathering of mana from surroundings. Current maximum rate 5 mana per minute.

-Physical Enchant- (self) has leveled to 2

Does this mean I can use -Body Part Enchantment- strictly through external mana? I try it, and find it to be true. I can enhance one part of my body just by gathering mana from my surroundings. I can then use my internal mana to boost another part of my body! My [MND] went up by 1 and -Body Part Enhancement- by 2 as I figure this out, I was going to practice some more, but I found that my alarm went off and it was time for work.

Part 3 - Practical Training

I found out I could put mana into my knife while I was working. Doing this it became super easy to cut, almost a little too easy if I put too much pressure I could cut the cutting board. It gave me -Item Enchant- which consumed 5 mana per minute and a level of -Fast Learner-. It increased [ATK] and [DEF] of the item. After experimenting around I just used -Physical Enchant- with -External Mana Control-, letting my mana drain to almost nothing before turning it off. I'd keep using -External Mana Control- and regen my mana and redoing the process while working. It gave me 2 levels of -Physical Enchant- 3 levels of -External Mana Control- and 1 level of -Internal Mana Control-. After work I decide to see how I'm progressing.

"Status"

Basic	Equips	Offense	Defense	Special
Title:
Guild:
Class: Novice
HP 100/100
MP 140/140
[STR 05]
[END 05]
[INT 11]
[MND 07]
[DEX 10]
[AGI 07]

Basic	Equips	Offense	Defense	Special
Cook's Jacket +3 DEF +5% Fire Resistance +2% Cold Resistance
Cook's Pants +2 DEF  +5% Fire Resistance
Cook's Iron-toed Shoes +1 ATK +1 DEF +1 BAL

Basic	Equips	Offense	Defense	Special
[ATK 10]+1=11
[M. ATK 22]

Basic	Equips	Offense	Defense	Special
[DEF 10]+5=15
[M. DEF 22]
[Blind Resist +5%]
[Poison Resist +1%]
[Fire Resistance] +10%
[Cold Resistance] +2%

Basic	Equips	Offense	Defense	Special
[SPD +5]
[BAL]+1=+1

I feel like a super novice at level 1, but I'm worried I haven't gotten a weapon yet. Usually by now I'd get a weapon. Where are my stats for -Fast Learner-? Is it hidden? Does that mean there are hidden stats in the game? How strong are the beginner monsters? Should I test my skills in practical combat now, or should I try and procure a weapon first? I have 51 copper, but do I really want to use it on a beginner weapon? Let's go with how I usually play first and see how well that works. That means I wouldn't buy equips, but only rely on loot and crafting until I get to the highest level, unless this game has growth items. Enough thinking, best way to go about things is to do a practical test.

When Yuki said it the plains were a bit north outside of town, she meant it. The north gate out of town was right before a river, and once you crossed it there it was an open field with a forest right at the end of the horizon. There was plenty of vegetation around, and some animals munching on them. Perfect, I even spot a rabbit nearby, which should be a pretty easy target right? I use -Body Part Enchantment- with external mana on my legs and try to close the distance. I was just about to hit it, when it just zoomed off. Huh? It was several feet away already. This thing is fast! Maybe this unassuming rabbit is actually level 2 or something? I wonder? My [DEX] is high, so I should have some pretty good aim for a low level right? I grab a nearby rock and use -Item Enchant- using mana from around me, while using -Body Part Enhancement- on my right arm only. I concentrate and double the mana output onto my arm while aiming, this should be enough right? I wait until it starts eating again, and as it does I throw the rock. At the last moment, the rabbit moved out of the way. It gets mad and ran at me at a high speed, jumps up at me and kicks me in the stomach. Ouch! It hurts badly, I run away back to the bridge; I find that it didn't follow me. Good, I concentrate a little and think of my HP, it looks like it's at 50/100, half my health in one hit! WHAT?! At least -Body Part Enchantment- leveled up, so it wasn't a complete loss.

I start replenishing mana with -External Mana Control- as I think of what to do next. If I use -Physical Enchant- it'll decrease the damage a bit right? That still doesn't solve my problem of trying to hit the thing. What if I use a boulder and throw it at it? No, it's still too quick. I need a different target as I don't have the speed to take on that crazy rabbit. Do I go for a larger target? If I do that means it'll be much stronger if we go with the usual MMO logic of rabbits being one of the weaker targets to hunt. Well let's see if there is anything else that I can try fighting. I don't see anything except for the rabbit; maybe if I concentrate my mana on my eyesight will improve.

Skill Acquired

-Analyze-

lvl 1

Able to see stats, mana flow, and other miscellaneous information about a target. Consumes 20 mana per minute

Well that would have been handy before I engaged the rabbit, let's see... Rabbit lvl 4 HP ???/???. What, how is that an easy target? Ah got to look for others, maybe there might be something easier, besides I've got time I don't know how to recover HP faster as of yet. I scan the field and I kept finding new targets, but what I saw befuddled me. Wolf lvl ??? HP ???/???, Goblin lvl ??? HP ???/???,  Raccoon lvl 4 HP ???/???, Fawn lvl ??? HP ???/???, ??? lvl ??? HP ???/???.... What kind of starting area is this? Do I need to level up in town before I can fight? I should get some better equips at the very least if I'm going to go hunting, at least a weapon... I'll call it a day for now and head to the inn and log out. This is just insane I guess I'll check online later to see if there are any tips or anything.

Chapter 1.5 - An offline meeting

I had a text from John was waiting for me saying some people who didn't have work were going to a restaurant. I hop into my car and drive to the restaurant; it wasn't a long drive which was good as the message was 30 minutes old. I get there and find that they had already ordered a bunch of wings for the table and drinks. It looks like John, Yuki, Belle, Kelly, Jessica, Chelsea, and Cory. I'm always amazed by how many girls John can bring and I know three of them are aiming for him for sure. That would be Yuki, Belle, and Kelly. Our ongoing joke is that he's the harem king. This is due to the fact that John used to be really fat and made fun of by girls and he said to watch has he makes a harem. 120 pounds less later and girls swarmed him; this makes us laugh so hard especially because he's really a one woman type of guy. Truthfully I envy him sometimes; he's got three different types of girls with him right now! You've got the petite Japanese girl Yuki, buxom southern redhead Belle, and then you're atypical girl next door with an average height blonde hair and eyes that were a mix of blue and green. Jessica was Kelly's younger sister a waif of a girl, most people thought her less attractive than her sister because of the lack of curves. Her face though was beautiful; whatever curves she lacked her face more than made up for if she was competing with her sister. You'd think she didn't eat much with her figure, but she sometimes even out ate me when she was hungry, which was a great quality in a girl if she were trying to go out with any cooks. John and I always agreed that a big appetite on a girl especially when it was the food we cooked was attractive as long as they weren’t too overweight. John was sitting right next to the window as always and the three girls were trying to sit as close to him as possible. Jessica of course was sitting beside her sister. That left the Chelsea and Cory the couple sitting next to Yuki who was right beside Belle. Chelsea and Cory was an odd couple if you didn't know them. Chelsea Singh was a first generation American who still held onto Hindi beliefs from her country of India. Cory Silberstein on the other hand was raised a traditional Jew, but now went to a more modern temple. Their engagement gave both their families a shock. Such a motley crew, it'd I took the only open seat next to Jessica and across from Cory.

"Chris, you're here!" Jess said as she gave me a quick hug.

"Hey, I see you got my water with no ice already, thanks!" (Me)

"Glad you made it didn't know if you were going to be here before the entrees arrived." (John)

"Yeah sorry about that I forgot to reply, I was in game when you sent it and didn't log out until 30 minutes after. Mind if I grab some wings?" (Me)

"Well unless you think we could finish the 50 wings and our entree without you eating some...." (Belle)

"Depends how hungry Jess is," I replied as I put some wings onto a plate."

"Hey!" Jess punches me on the shoulder, as everyone laughs.

“Geez relax that was a compliment.” (Me)

"Oh so you haven't customized your notifications yet, been too busy with other things? How are you like the game?" (Yuki)

"Yeah it's fun, but I don't know what to do next. Usually I go follow the beginning quest line, but I haven't seen any yet. Now I don't have a weapon yet or a class even though I have three skills at level 4, and one at 5. Then of course because of all the work at the restaurant knife and cooking skills at 9 and 10 respectively." (Me)

"Wow that's quite a bit, so -Unarmed Mastery- and -Martial Arts-? You must have gone hunting in the plains quite a bit to level up so much or did you go and challenge some wolves in the forest or something?" (Chelsea)

"Unarmed route huh? I thought you'd go the magic route. Or did you not change your class yet? If you haven't you can still do so, or at least take a basic course and get some basic skills. -Meditation- is particularly helpful and most people go to the mages' guild just for that skill. A free mana regen skill you can use whenever you're resting really helps." (Yuki)

"Going unarmed against wolves? Pretty impressive for a level 1 going against level 3 mobs."(Cory)

"Wolves are level 3? What level are rabbits?" Hey that can't be right those wolves were definitely higher than 4. Wait the monster leveling system, is it because nobody has been hunting them that the mobs have been leveling up? Well aren't I in a pickle if everything is going to be that much harder if I'm going behind all these β testers.

"Did you not get the -Analysis- skill from the adventurers' guild? Geez you're doing everything backwards Chris. You get quests there too." (John)

"You get used to shouting the skill names yet? It feels so weird like we're in an anime or something. I attack you with my skill muahaha. I activate skill, now you know what's coming." (Jess)

"I know right? I know you didn't play the old games, but it used to you clicked it or hit a button. They can't very well do that, so vocal activation works." (Cory)

"Yeah screaming something like -Speed Boost- in town is embarrassing, I wish you'd get experience from it for doing such embarrassing things." (Belle)

"Well you have to think about the game balance, if you could level up a skill without having to battle out mobs wouldn't you just spam certain skills in town?" (Kelly)

You can activate skills by just saying them? Man that's a lot easier than concentrating where mana is going, but they don't level up outside of combat? Does that mean I get experience for manual activation? So it's worthwhile to know the basis of the skill so that you can activate it manually huh. Guess learning from the library books may be slower, but because I have a foundation on the skill I know how to level it up. I wonder?

"Hey have you guys ever tried using a skill without saying it?"

Everyone just laughs, "Sorry Chris it's just a well known story in β. Someone wanted to do the same thing and spent time in the mages' guild reading books, all he got were the chants for the skills. It takes so much longer to do that, but he did stumble across a fact that you could create new spells that way. Most people think it's just not worth it, I mean you don't even know if the chant will work or if you're creating a high leveled spell or not. Too much trial and error and the mages' guild have NPCs that try to create new spells all the time. You can always hope the master you chose will have necessary spells to level, but usually you can get them through a quest or paying them to teach you. Anyways the head of the mages' guild is level 119 so everyone is set to learning spells until that level."(John)

Well then I think I'll keep that bit of information to myself then if they're just going to laugh.

"Well I'm progressing without a class, what's the benefit of choosing a class anyways? Do you have to join the guild?" (Me)

"Well the novice class only has skills up to level 10 and it's all through quests in the adventurers' guild. You get stat boosts and if you join the guild you can apprentice yourself to a master. When you do the master will guide you to whatever skill is next that they know. They'll tell you to train certain skills in order to unlock the new skill. It's much easier to level that way rather than questing for skill books or randomly leveling up skills." (Yuki)

"Hey what class are you thinking of becoming?" (Jess)

"I don't know yet, but enough about me what about you guys? What are you guys doing in the game?" (Me)

"Well we just got enough materials and money to expand the guild, and now we're recruiting a lot more members. As we do so we're going to try and make a new town. It'll be to the southeast following the river, it's a great spot. There's a water source, a mine nearby, and it's in the middle of the woods. The only problem will be clearing out the space, and getting some of the NPC members to move so that we have some support staff and residents. We've already gone to the capital and bought the title to that area." (John)

"Yeah I can't wait hopefully we can do it soon so that we can start using the gold to pay for our subscription fees!" (Chelsea)

"Wait you can pay the subscription fee with gold?"

"Wait you don't know? That's why so many people play the game! The game company actually has an in game to real world currency trading system. You can actually make a living off playing the game. The company actually makes most of its money from broadcasts not subscriptions. Companies pay to broadcast the game; there are 3 whole networks in Japan that do nothing but in game news. Which is probably one reason the Asian demi-human servers have the most progress. 2 players have already gotten to be the lords of a pre-developed town; they have all of those connected by a portal network already too. Then they have 3 towns developing rapidly too. You should watch the Second Earth Network some time." (John)

"I don't have a TV, you know that. Been too busy working and with college to have had time to watch TV. I'll get one soon though classes have been easy lately. Where's our waiter? We're almost out of wings and I haven't even gotten to order yet." (Me)

"We already got you your usual from here." (John)

"Brian is cooking, so we got you the tacos with lengua (beef tongue) meal with black beans, extra rice and molé." (Jess)

"And you're going to ask to for a bite of molé and the beef tongue again?" (Me)

"Yup I’ll give you a bit of tamale?" (Jess)

*Sigh* "I guess why don't you just get my usual instead of asking for some all the time?" (Me)

"Because I want tamales and some of the food you're getting. Quit complaining you know you like having some of my food. (Jess)

"You two act like an old married couple, you sure you're not dating?" (Chelsea)

"Who would want to go out with this ugly mug?" I point to my face, “Then there's my schedule with work and school, a girl would have to be really patient to go out with me. Jessica's only here is tagging along with Kelly anyways right?" (Me)

"Right...."(Jess)

"When the hell are you going to clear things up with him? You know the guy is thick," Kelly whispers to her sister.

"Concentrate on your own battle," Jessica whispers back.

"Well I've at least told John I wanted to go out, but he said he wants to get to know a girl before he goes out with him. So I'm working on it, how about you? You know a lot of girls in the restaurant like Chris, he's just a little too thick to figure that out and makes comments like he just did. You never know though, one of them might actually get through to him," Kelly whispers back.

"Are you two whispering about Chris? It's obvious you like him you know Jess, just tell him straight out already or ask him out on a date. I wholeheartedly support you dating my best friend, “John whispers.

Of course I didn't catch all this and I was chatting with Chelsea about how she doesn't do the same shtick with Cory, when they're so obviously in-love with each other. They laughed at my face because they said they do so a lot. I did catch John saying Chris, so I turned to them and asked "What are you three whispering about?"

"Nothing in particular just wondering if you're going to figure out that the food is on the window." (Jess)

"What food's here?"(Chris)

The rest of the time we talked about work and food. They talked about guild stuff and when I was going to join. We also went to a movie afterwards, but Yuki and Belle decided to go home saying were tired from working earlier. I felt so awkward it was like I was with two couples on a double date, and I was tagging along as a friend and then there was Jessica tagging along with her sister. As I watched the movie all I could think about was how I couldn't wait to put into use some of the things I learned!

Chapter 1.5 - An offline meeting

I had a text from John was waiting for me saying some people who didn't have work were going to a restaurant. I hop into my car and drive to the restaurant; it wasn't a long drive which was good as the message was 30 minutes old. I get there and find that they had already ordered a bunch of wings for the table and drinks. It looks like John, Yuki, Belle, Kelly, Jessica, Chelsea, and Cory. I'm always amazed by how many girls John can bring and I know three of them are aiming for him for sure. That would be Yuki, Belle, and Kelly. Our ongoing joke is that he's the harem king. This is due to the fact that John used to be really fat and made fun of by girls and he said to watch has he makes a harem. 120 pounds less later and girls swarmed him; this makes us laugh so hard especially because he's really a one woman type of guy. Truthfully I envy him sometimes; he's got three different types of girls with him right now! You've got the petite Japanese girl Yuki, buxom southern redhead Belle, and then you're atypical girl next door with an average height blonde hair and eyes that were a mix of blue and green. Jessica was Kelly's younger sister a waif of a girl, most people thought her less attractive than her sister because of the lack of curves. Her face though was beautiful; whatever curves she lacked her face more than made up for if she was competing with her sister. You'd think she didn't eat much with her figure, but she sometimes even out ate me when she was hungry, which was a great quality in a girl if she were trying to go out with any cooks. John and I always agreed that a big appetite on a girl especially when it was the food we cooked was attractive as long as they weren’t too overweight. John was sitting right next to the window as always and the three girls were trying to sit as close to him as possible. Jessica of course was sitting beside her sister. That left the Chelsea and Cory the couple sitting next to Yuki who was right beside Belle. Chelsea and Cory was an odd couple if you didn't know them. Chelsea Singh was a first generation American who still held onto Hindi beliefs from her country of India. Cory Silberstein on the other hand was raised a traditional Jew, but now went to a more modern temple. Their engagement gave both their families a shock. Such a motley crew, it'd I took the only open seat next to Jessica and across from Cory.

"Chris, you're here!" Jess said as she gave me a quick hug.

"Hey, I see you got my water with no ice already, thanks!" (Me)

"Glad you made it didn't know if you were going to be here before the entrees arrived." (John)

"Yeah sorry about that I forgot to reply, I was in game when you sent it and didn't log out until 30 minutes after. Mind if I grab some wings?" (Me)

"Well unless you think we could finish the 50 wings and our entree without you eating some...." (Belle)

"Depends how hungry Jess is," I replied as I put some wings onto a plate."

"Hey!" Jess punches me on the shoulder, as everyone laughs.

“Geez relax that was a compliment.” (Me)

"Oh so you haven't customized your notifications yet, been too busy with other things? How are you like the game?" (Yuki)

"Yeah it's fun, but I don't know what to do next. Usually I go follow the beginning quest line, but I haven't seen any yet. Now I don't have a weapon yet or a class even though I have three skills at level 4, and one at 5. Then of course because of all the work at the restaurant knife and cooking skills at 9 and 10 respectively." (Me)

"Wow that's quite a bit, so -Unarmed Mastery- and -Martial Arts-? You must have gone hunting in the plains quite a bit to level up so much or did you go and challenge some wolves in the forest or something?" (Chelsea)

"Unarmed route huh? I thought you'd go the magic route. Or did you not change your class yet? If you haven't you can still do so, or at least take a basic course and get some basic skills. -Meditation- is particularly helpful and most people go to the mages' guild just for that skill. A free mana regen skill you can use whenever you're resting really helps." (Yuki)

"Going unarmed against wolves? Pretty impressive for a level 1 going against level 3 mobs."(Cory)

"Wolves are level 3? What level are rabbits?" Hey that can't be right those wolves were definitely higher than 4. Wait the monster leveling system, is it because nobody has been hunting them that the mobs have been leveling up? Well aren't I in a pickle if everything is going to be that much harder if I'm going behind all these β testers.

"Did you not get the -Analysis- skill from the adventurers' guild? Geez you're doing everything backwards Chris. You get quests there too." (John)

"You get used to shouting the skill names yet? It feels so weird like we're in an anime or something. I attack you with my skill muahaha. I activate skill, now you know what's coming." (Jess)

"I know right? I know you didn't play the old games, but it used to you clicked it or hit a button. They can't very well do that, so vocal activation works." (Cory)

"Yeah screaming something like -Speed Boost- in town is embarrassing, I wish you'd get experience from it for doing such embarrassing things." (Belle)

"Well you have to think about the game balance, if you could level up a skill without having to battle out mobs wouldn't you just spam certain skills in town?" (Kelly)

You can activate skills by just saying them? Man that's a lot easier than concentrating where mana is going, but they don't level up outside of combat? Does that mean I get experience for manual activation? So it's worthwhile to know the basis of the skill so that you can activate it manually huh. Guess learning from the library books may be slower, but because I have a foundation on the skill I know how to level it up. I wonder?

"Hey have you guys ever tried using a skill without saying it?"

Everyone just laughs, "Sorry Chris it's just a well known story in β. Someone wanted to do the same thing and spent time in the mages' guild reading books, all he got were the chants for the skills. It takes so much longer to do that, but he did stumble across a fact that you could create new spells that way. Most people think it's just not worth it, I mean you don't even know if the chant will work or if you're creating a high leveled spell or not. Too much trial and error and the mages' guild have NPCs that try to create new spells all the time. You can always hope the master you chose will have necessary spells to level, but usually you can get them through a quest or paying them to teach you. Anyways the head of the mages' guild is level 119 so everyone is set to learning spells until that level."(John)

Well then I think I'll keep that bit of information to myself then if they're just going to laugh.

"Well I'm progressing without a class, what's the benefit of choosing a class anyways? Do you have to join the guild?" (Me)

"Well the novice class only has skills up to level 10 and it's all through quests in the adventurers' guild. You get stat boosts and if you join the guild you can apprentice yourself to a master. When you do the master will guide you to whatever skill is next that they know. They'll tell you to train certain skills in order to unlock the new skill. It's much easier to level that way rather than questing for skill books or randomly leveling up skills." (Yuki)

"Hey what class are you thinking of becoming?" (Jess)

"I don't know yet, but enough about me what about you guys? What are you guys doing in the game?" (Me)

"Well we just got enough materials and money to expand the guild, and now we're recruiting a lot more members. As we do so we're going to try and make a new town. It'll be to the southeast following the river, it's a great spot. There's a water source, a mine nearby, and it's in the middle of the woods. The only problem will be clearing out the space, and getting some of the NPC members to move so that we have some support staff and residents. We've already gone to the capital and bought the title to that area." (John)

"Yeah I can't wait hopefully we can do it soon so that we can start using the gold to pay for our subscription fees!" (Chelsea)

"Wait you can pay the subscription fee with gold?"

"Wait you don't know? That's why so many people play the game! The game company actually has an in game to real world currency trading system. You can actually make a living off playing the game. The company actually makes most of its money from broadcasts not subscriptions. Companies pay to broadcast the game; there are 3 whole networks in Japan that do nothing but in game news. Which is probably one reason the Asian demi-human servers have the most progress. 2 players have already gotten to be the lords of a pre-developed town; they have all of those connected by a portal network already too. Then they have 3 towns developing rapidly too. You should watch the Second Earth Network some time." (John)

"I don't have a TV, you know that. Been too busy working and with college to have had time to watch TV. I'll get one soon though classes have been easy lately. Where's our waiter? We're almost out of wings and I haven't even gotten to order yet." (Me)

"We already got you your usual from here." (John)

"Brian is cooking, so we got you the tacos with lengua (beef tongue) meal with black beans, extra rice and molé." (Jess)

"And you're going to ask to for a bite of molé and the beef tongue again?" (Me)

"Yup I’ll give you a bit of tamale?" (Jess)

*Sigh* "I guess why don't you just get my usual instead of asking for some all the time?" (Me)

"Because I want tamales and some of the food you're getting. Quit complaining you know you like having some of my food. (Jess)

"You two act like an old married couple, you sure you're not dating?" (Chelsea)

"Who would want to go out with this ugly mug?" I point to my face, “Then there's my schedule with work and school, a girl would have to be really patient to go out with me. Jessica's only here is tagging along with Kelly anyways right?" (Me)

"Right...."(Jess)

"When the hell are you going to clear things up with him? You know the guy is thick," Kelly whispers to her sister.

"Concentrate on your own battle," Jessica whispers back.

"Well I've at least told John I wanted to go out, but he said he wants to get to know a girl before he goes out with him. So I'm working on it, how about you? You know a lot of girls in the restaurant like Chris, he's just a little too thick to figure that out and makes comments like he just did. You never know though, one of them might actually get through to him," Kelly whispers back.

"Are you two whispering about Chris? It's obvious you like him you know Jess, just tell him straight out already or ask him out on a date. I wholeheartedly support you dating my best friend, “John whispers.

Of course I didn't catch all this and I was chatting with Chelsea about how she doesn't do the same shtick with Cory, when they're so obviously in-love with each other. They laughed at my face because they said they do so a lot. I did catch John saying Chris, so I turned to them and asked "What are you three whispering about?"

"Nothing in particular just wondering if you're going to figure out that the food is on the window." (Jess)

"What food's here?"(Chris)

The rest of the time we talked about work and food. They talked about guild stuff and when I was going to join. We also went to a movie afterwards, but Yuki and Belle decided to go home saying were tired from working earlier. I felt so awkward it was like I was with two couples on a double date, and I was tagging along as a friend and then there was Jessica tagging along with her sister. As I watched the movie all I could think about was how I couldn't wait to put into use some of the things I learned!