Magic. It was supposed to be great. To be awesome. To be what every child dreamed of! Magic was supposed to be... magical. Something that described the unbelievable. The impossible. The kind of thing that most people who dived into some sort of VR-Game for the first time would most likely pick. Anyone could wield a sword in real life. Anyone could sing a song too. But nobody could use magic? This was the initial line of thought that the human being Matt had when he made Aselia. It didn't even matter what kind of magic, as long as it was magic. So why, why was it that the female Avatar picked the apparently worst of all choices? Making a contract with some extraterrestrial being? Aselia didn't even know to start. Sure, there seemed to be this... whisper in her ears that told her following: Į̵̛͡͠'̡͘͟͜m͢҉ ̡̕s͢͠o͟ ̷̷͟͢s̶̸͝i̶͟ć̴̕͠k̨̨ ̴҉҉̸̨o͠f̸̛͝͝ ̨̀t̴̢h̶̡̡̢i̸̕͏̶ş̵̢̢.̷̛ ͜͠͡R̨͜͟ȩ͜͏a̵̢̢͜͝l̶̸̀͡ļ͝y̡҉͝,̛͟ ̡͟Į͞ ̀̀͢͜͝k͘͟͏̕͢e̡͘͟è͘p̢͡͏̶ ̀͡͝t̀͟͞͡r̵̵̷͢y̴̢̨i͢n̢͢g͟ ͘͜͢͞t͡o͢ ̸̧m̨̛͢e̶͘͡śs͏a҉g̵̵͘͜e͡͏ ̶̧y̛͘o̴̶ù̸̕ ̢ờ͡v͜͢e̶̛͢͜r̶͜͢͡͞ ̸̀̕҉͝á̕ǹ̴̢́d̵̢̡͜͞ ҉҉o̡͢͠v̕͠҉̴͡e̶̕͠r̵͜ ̸̴͜͞a̛ģ̸̶̵a̵̡͟į̸̀͜ǹ̵̷̛ ̷̡̡҉a̸̢n͘͏͞d̵͞͏ ̴͘҉̕͟ỳ̵̷́͘o̡̢̧͘͜u̴̸̵͞ ̷̨͡a̡͟͞͝r̢̕͝͏̶e̸̵ń̵͡'̵̢͘t̶͘͞҉ ͜͡e̷͟҉v̶̕e̢̛̕͢͠n̸͝ ͏͏҉͠͠m̵̧͡á͘͟͠k͢͝͞i̸̡̕ǹ̴̢̢͞g̶̨͏̢̧ ̶̶̧͞ţ͘h҉̀ȩ̛͞҉̷ ̸̷̢͞s̷̸̡l̷͟͡i̶̶̸̕g̨ḩ̶̛́͝t͡͠e͏̵̴̡̀s͏̵t̸̷̢͝ ͜͢ą̶̧͠t͡͏҉t̶̷́͡è̸̵m̵̴͟͝p̸̷̴t͘͟͡ ̴̧̨͠t͢͡͞͠ó͏͡ ̡͝͡͡ǵ̨̡è̴͘͡t̷̴̸͢͝ ̧̡a̸҉̡̀͞n͝͏͝ỳ͠ţ̶͟h̵͘i̛҉͟҉n̴̨̨g͡ ̨҉҉͞d͝͡o͘n̴̢ę̴̨̢̕!̷͠ ̶̡Ẃ̢h̷̨͠y͟͝ ̴̛e̵͝͞͡v̢̡͢ȩ̕n҉͏̨҉ ̴̛̛b̨̀o̶̡͘͜͟t̡͏͏̢͠h̷̡͏̨é̸͢͞͡r͠͝ ̢p̨͏͜͠ļ̢à̸̶̡́y͢i͢͜ņ̵͠͝͠ǵ ̶t̷҉̶h͏͞í̢͡͏ś̶͏͢͢ ̛͜ģ͏̧̢̛a͘҉̨̡͞m̀͟͏ȩ͜ ̢͘͘į͞f̶̧͞ ̡̛y̴̨̕͜ó̶̸̧͟u͢͟ ͏̕͜͢ą̛͝r͠e̢͟͞͞n͘͘͢͡'̡҉́͝t̵̵́͢͢ ̸̶̕m͠a͠͠k̷̵̕i̴͟ņ̴g̵͡ ͠͠à҉̴̡͟n͟͞y͝͠ ̧̛͜a҉͠҉̧̕t͏̸̵҉t̷͟͝e̢͏̡̛̕m̴͢͢͢p͟͢҉̷͟ţ͜ş̷ ̴́ţ͟͝҉̢o̡ ̷̨͟͝g̡̀͘̕ȩ̨̧t́҉͞͏͠ ̴̵g̡u̴̶d̡̀͘͠?̕͏̢͞ ͏̡͠G̸̛͜͡͞o̶̷d͏͘,̀̕ ́͢͟͡ę̸v̨̡̧́e͝҉̴͟͜n̷̛͢͟͠ ̶̀̕͞͞B̸̷̧̛̕o̧̡͟͡b̵̶̨͢ ̛͝t̴̷̵͘͡h̴̨e̸ ͟͝͝҉M̡̢a͢͟͠g͝į̀c̨̧̕͏à̵̡͠l̷̡͟͜͞ ̶̢̛͡W͢͜a͡҉r̸̢͘r͢͢͟͡i̸̶̡͜o̢̡͜͜͟r̀͡ ̕͟ś͞͞e̷̢͡e̷̸͘͢m̶͜͞e̸̢̕҉d̷̴͘͟ ̢̀̕͝m҉͘o͘͜r͏͜e̶̛ ̛҉͜i̧̧ǹ̢͢t̶͢e҉́̕͜l̵̴l̨̡̀͘͝į͡͞҉g̵̕͡҉̵ȩ̀͟n̛҉͢͜t̨̡̧͜ ͟͢t̀҉҉̷̸h̶̷̨a̢̕n̢̧̕͟͞ ̶͡y̢͢͞ó̸͘̕͡u̢͝͞ ̢͏s̴̸c̷̷̕͟r̷̀͘͟u̵̧͟͢b̀̕!̛͜ ͝S̷̀͟è̵̛͟r̛̀͜͠í͝͠ơ̴̴͜͏u̵̶͡ś̨͝l̕y͜͞ ̵͟͟͡͏ţ̧͠͡h̢͝ì̷̢̧͝ş̷̸͝ ̵͜͝͝͞i͟s̕̕͘͜ ̵̶̷̷t̷͜͏h̷̡́͘͡e҉̶̡̕͢ ̷͘͘͘̕l͏͝҉a̶͜͠͞s͡͡t̸̨͜ ̶̵̛̕t҉̶i͞͝m̶̨̕e̵͏̶͏̛ ͟͡I҉̴͡'̴͜͠҉̷l̷̶̛l̸ ̶̴̡̡a̛̛͟c̸͡͡c̢҉̀͏ę̛̀̕͝p̴̵͟t̵̕͝͞ ̷̵h҉̴è҉̧҉̶l̨͜ṕ́̕͠i̵̧͟ņ҉̛g̴̨̡̀ ͠͏̷̨o͞ư͠t͠ ̢̛́̕͞t̡͡h̶̢͢e̢̛ ҉̧n̴͠ę̸́̀͝w͏͡ ̸̛̕̕o̸͟n̴̨e̵͡s͘͏.҉҉̵ ҉͠I͏̶͟͟ ́͠͏d͝͡ǫ͠҉̷̡n̢̢͘͜'͢͟t̶̷̨̛ ̷̕͞͡g͠ęt̷̕͝ ̵̸͠͝p͘͟͞͠a͠͏̀i̵͏̕͠d̀͞ ͢͢͞é̷̸̕̕n̶̛̕͞ó̶̵͜͡u̸̸͠g̶̷̢̧͢ḩ̵̕ ̧̢̀̕f̡͞͡͏o҉̵́͟r͏̵ ͏̷̧͟t̛́h̛̛͘͘͡i̵͏͢s͠ ̶̛͘͏ś̨̀͠h̡͜͡i͝͝t̷̷̛͡.̨͞҉̵͜ ́͘͞I̶͜͝ ̢͜҉͡d͏͞͏̷̡e̡͢s̸̢̀͟e̕r̶̴v̷̨̡͢͟e͞͞ ̷̡̧͘á̷̢͟ ̨͘̕f̴̨u̸̕҉̡c҉̀ķ̕i͝͏n̶̷̵̢͝g̡̕͠ ̢͜ṕ͡ŕ̸o̸̴͝͠͞m̛͡͏̵͝o̵̧ţ̴̷̛͢i̶̕o̷̵͢n͡͏͜.̴̸͠͠ But how the hell was she supposed to make sense out of this? It wasn't even human. Ultimately Aselia simply decided she had to put more Mastery Points into Astramancy to get anywhere with it. Thus, it came to no surprise that the white-hair was now in one of the beginner areas with the simple idea of trying to hunt monsters. While it wasn't the most difficult thing in the world it was nonetheless considerable made harder by the mere fact of having no Masteries to help. In fact, Aselia felt physically weaker than even in real life. Was that the suffering of having picked magical talents? That, and the mere fact Aselia was cocky enough to not only aggro one or two Slimes. No, Aselia was facing off against three of them AND their bigger brother: Slimey Slime Senior. Some might even consider it a rare mob! Aselia wasn't too prideful to not run away but... didn't feel enough in danger yet to do exactly that even if defeat was certain. Still, even now the white-haired Witch had a cocky smile on her face with nothing more but her mere, tiny, fists. The woman had long given up on trying to communicate with these beasts, too, and wasn't otherwise the type of person to monologue. @Neldo Dini
John had done his research. Read up on forums and found good advice to get started in the world. The only thing he had completely ignored as he created his character, was avoiding magic early on. According to nearly all the guides, magic was among the hardest starting paths. After spawning into the world, Neldo set out with one goal. Hunting every weak monster he could come across until he was forced to return to safety from exhaustion. The best way to start was getting to questing right away, but Neldo wanted to boost combat abilities first before he ended up on a quest that would cost him his life. His long ears twitched at some clamor in the distance. Likely a fight. It would be good to see how fighting was done in this world before attempting it on his own. He began to walk towards the fight, tucking one hand into plain gray robes. With a wave of his other hand Neldo opened his menu and flipped through his inventory. A lousy weapon was in his inventory, but it would at least help. A lump of coal materialized in his hand. Even as he read the item name 'lump of coal' he couldn't help but sigh and toss it into the air where it lingered and began slowly orbiting him at shoulder height. "Well that's fine, things won't stay this way for long." He smiled as he recited, "I'm a driver, I'm a winner. Things are going to change, I can feel it." With his 'weapon' equipped he picked up the pace before coming into range of the situation. There was a human. She stood her ground facing a large group of slimes, but strangely had no weapon equipped. The Yladian slowed himself, watching the girl. Surely, she had some plan and he was curious to see what she had in store.
A plan! Aselia needed a plan. The fact this entire game-world was so, well, game-y, was already quite the annoyance. But in an exciting way. She had no time to lay traps nor would she ever be able to as she did not own the skill. There had been no time to prepare anything, really, either. The girl simply had to do with what was given around her. As the Slimes crept closer Aselia was simultaneously taking a step back each time. Looking around to actually formulate a plan there were some trees: She wondered, was there a skill for climbing those, too? That just seemed... absurd for her, but possible. Then, there was also this other stranger with a flying lump of coal. Was he the Vengeful Spirit of the Coal Mine? Why wasn't he- !?!? In that moment one of the slimes decided to be the bravest of all and took initiative as it did a huge jump forward. It was one of those moments where Aselia's mind was fast enough but the system limited her in a fashion and ultimately got hit. Luckily, being beginner monsters, it wasn't all too much damage and she only suffered some slight burns as the acidic being made contact. If this would have been japan however... The surging feeling of pain wasn't something that the female's Avatars player wasn't unused to and seeing how her health only dropped by a little she now wondered: Why not just take a beating in return? As long as she didn't die it would turn out fine. Of course it still meant it was her alone versus the bunch but... her eyes, once again, wandered towards the Coal Miner. She had to make use of him. How long had he been standing there anyways? Behaving like the Slimes were no business at all Aselia now spoke up. "You gonna stare all day or do something? You see, it's a personal afternoon activity of mine to run around, gathering a bunch of weak trash and offering it to new players like you!" Hopefully, he was a new player who wasn't aware that the bit of damage these things dealt was the norm, or maybe the piece of coal was some kind of Legendary Artifact? And hopefully he wouldn't see through her pitiful bluff.
Neldo raised an eyebrow at the woman. Had she really brought the slimes for his benefit? It was true he had come here to farm the trash, but it didn't seem like she was even defending herself. Still, this was what he had come for anyway. He began mumbling in his native tongue and the lump of coal responded. Still orbiting at shoulder height, it began to crush and implode into a black sphere. It's surface cracked, and red smoldering fissures began to glow. Thrusting an outstretched open hand, Neldo launched his basic spell. The glowing ember ball flew through the sky and struck the closest of the slimes. There it sizzled and popped, buried in the soft gelatinous creature's body. The slime quivered, and with another gesture the ball tore out of the slime. The orb returned swiftly to hovering around Neldo's shoulders, and the slime quivered before popping into a puddle. "Neat." The spell was everything pyromancy has promised. High damage, high power, but taxing on his energy. He wasn't exhausted but he could certainly feel the lack of energy. Still, he should be able to at least burn out a pack of slimes before tiring out. He began reciting his incantation once again.
Rather than a Coal Miner it seemed like the new arrival was a Coal Magician! Taking one of the Slimes out in a clean hit before already chanting for a second strike. Was this... magic? Maybe Aselia herself required some sort of tool, too? What would that have even been? A Kaleidoscope or something? After all the description of her combat mastery could have also been interpreted as a space-magician. Regardless of that, now that the Coal Mage took care of the Slimes and Aselia lied herself into the shoes of a tank it was only a matter of time until they would all die. Except, as the group of Monsters realized that the white-hair wasn't all too keen on actually trying to get aggro in the first place, they suddenly changed their target of attack to be the Coal Mage. Amusing. As they creeped slowly closer to Neldo, the red-eye simply shrugged. "Don't worry, outside of the pain they actually don't do much damage." Though ultimately ended up helping nonetheless: Using nothing but her naked fist to punch one of the Slimes. Clearly, the damage output was way, way lower but it did seem to work. Not to mention it took at least one of the Slimes now away from the Coal Mage.
The slimes began advancing at Neldo. The large one and one of the lesser, but he was already priming his next spell. Yladian chanting came to a stop and once more he thrust his hand out casting the scorched coal into the smaller of the two slimes. Since this slime was the same as the last Neldo wasn't surprised that the outcome was the exact same. But as Neldo retracted his focus item, the large slime put on a burst of speed. The tall mage, began back pedaling to try and maintain his distance while he began to cast his next spell but it was too late. He should've kept distance from the start but he had let himself get too caught up in the game and forgotten some basic strategies of being one of the most vulnerable classes in the game. Neldo instinctively close his eyes and raised his arms as the slime attacked. Fortunately the girl's words proved true and it wasn't nearly as bad as he had braced himself for. In fact it didn't hurt much at all. He grinned, and finished incantation which once against caused his burning icon to crash into the large slime. It sizzled inside but didn't bring the monster down. Once more the beast attacked, and Neldo raised his arms to ward off the feeble attack. Again he began his incantation and cast the ball once more into the great slime, which quivered in pain but still wouldn't go down!
Punch after punch the Slime's health was gradually decreasing until only a friction was left. Clearly their attack speed seemed to be rather low, and by now, the red-eye wondered if she actually needed a hand in the first place. Treating your opponent with care and all that. Regardless of how harmless they might appear. Now, however, the white-hair got another idea. Stopping in her tracks, she waited. Waited until the Slime Monster finally decided to attack with another, slightly acidic, hug. ... The Sensation. The pain Aselia felt was, in comparison to before, a lot more vivid. Nothing that would make the Player admit to cry out like a wuss, but nonetheless, it was intense enough to be helpful. Not batting an eye a swift kick finally gave it the rest. The damage she had received was roughly the same. Yet the realistic pain simulation made it pretty clear that, even if the numbers wouldn't change, making any attempt to defend was recommendable. Unless one were to be a masochist. Not to mention considering the beginner level of these mobs there were a lot of unknown variables left anyways. But that was exactly what made it exciting, no? With the threats now gone, Aselia stepped closer to the Pyromancer. "Not too shabby. Guess work in the coal mine finally paid for itself?" It was a tasteless joke and, in one way or another, already overstayed its welcome. Aselia however couldn't care less. "Aselia's the name." The Blanc part wasn't something that, retrospectively, she wasn't too keen on sharing now. It was the simple fact of not being able to think up any fine sounding last name, thus Blank, and simply changing the K with a C. Obviously he was a magician and maybe he held the secret to unlock her own powers as well.
Once more he cast the spell, and once more the slime scorched and wavered for a moment. But Neldo was simply not taking chances and gave it a quick jab with his right fist, stepping back fast to avoid the squelching puddles collapse. The burning coal went out and began a simple unimpressive lump He sighed as he waved his hand attempting to rid his sleeve of some of the slime that had gotten on it. Focusing on the upper corner of his vision he noticed his health bar was in great shape, but his energy was beginning to run low. With quick mental math he noted that he could only cast that spell, his only spell, six times consecutively before his energy would be drained. The woman walked up and started up a conversation. Neldo turned his head toward her but his focus was still on his own stat bars as began to tap his foot to the music in his head. He counted the number of taps with the small amount of energy regeneration he had. "Well met, I'm Neldo." His energy regeneration rate was absolutely appalling. This one fight alone had set him back almost half an hour until his energy would be at full. That broke down to a rate of 12 slimes in an hour, or 6 big slimes. That was the weakness of spell casters in the game though. At first they were weak and couldn't stay in the fight long. Later things would get interesting but for now Neldo had to think of a new strategy. Without realizing it, the song in the back of his head ended and despite no longer using it consciously his foot continued tapping to the new beat. "So then, do you make a habit of being unprepared? Or was your plan to snare someone with sympathy in the beginning?"
"Heh..." Her small grin, that had given way to displeasure thanks to the pain earlier, now appeared again. "I wouldn't call I was being unprepared, though, preparation is a bore unless the task at hand happens to be a challenge." The red-eye simply responded with her honest feelings before continuing. "Sympathy, huh?" What exactly did she do to be deserving of that anyways? "Well then, tell me Oh Great Coal Magician Neldo, may I use that boundless compassion of yours to make you tell me how to use such fancy gimmicks?" Because, really, apparently Magic was a lot harder than Aselia liked to admit.
Neldo crossed his arms and cocked his to show his confusion. "Fancy gimmicks? Nothing fancy about what I did, I simply made use of my basic and only spell. Surely, you have some talent you're pursuing. . ." The pyromancer took one arm away from his chest and held out an open palm. The lump of coal drifted gently to his open hand and lay there for a moment. "I can't give away secrets I don't have to give, so I'll just explain what should already be pretty apparent. This item in my hand is known as a charm. As a pyromancer I use fire based magic. When I make use of my charm, it enhances my spell. Does that answer your question, or do you have something more specific you want to know?"
"A charm? Eh? I got natural charm, isn't that enough?" Aselia said in what seemed to be pure amazement. "So can any piece of coal be a charm? You see, I'm a great Witch, too! Or... at least... I should be!" With those words the white-hair now crossed her arms before nodding multiple times as coming to some sort of realization. "Do you hear voices in your head? Because I hear voices in my head!"
Neldo's foot stopped tapping. "You hear voices in your head? Are you some sort of Astramancer? Or simply crazy? Well, either way you'd have to be crazy to start a fresh character at this level as an Astramancer. I don't know much about them or how to teach you to use these skills. I only know the speak to... things on different planes of existence. That's going to be a tricky school of magic to learn." He looked her over. She had a difficult path ahead of her, but she could surpass him in time. That's how games tended to work. "Good luck with it." He added sincerely.
"I take that as a compliment." Aselia simply stated. "Yeah, Astramancy, something like that. Still, does it require me to have a piece of coal or something, too? Maybe Stardust? Sure let me just go right up to space and grab some magical Stardust. Maybe a Unicorn will lend me something. How am I supposed to talk with those things anyways if they aren't even in the same... room?" Despite sounding like the woman had been going onto a rant she sounded rather calm the entire time. "Maybe I should have gone with Pyromancy. Burning things is always fun."
Neldo started laughing. He couldn't help it. She was so bizarre. "Yes, Pyromancy is perfect for just that. I chose it because it seemed like the perfect school of magic to start with just to get a lethal edge early in the game." He managed to stop laughing and continued, "No school of magic requires a weapon like mine. I could still cast a spell without my coal. The charm simply amplifies my magic to do great damage than the spell would do without one." "As for Astramancy and communicating with your.... whatevers. I'm afraid I can't help you even in the slightest. This is my first character in this game, so I have no experience with that school of magic. I kept this character simple. My only advice is vague and general. Keep on playing. The more time you spend in here gaining experience from the game, the more skills you've used will be achievable. So, keep on playing and I'm sure you're abilities in Astramancy will become second nature to you.
Aselia nodded. "So, what you're saying is. You have no clue about my stuff outside of all Astramancer's being crazy and try to smooth-talk your way out of it? Alrighty then." She shrugged. Unlike certain others this guy seemed alright, leading to the following. "I don't mean to insult. I wouldn't care about things that don't catch my interest either." Aselia now looked around, being a beginner field the Slimes weren't all that aggressive to begin with and countless were still going about their usual business. "For now, simple brute-force has to do. How about it? Wanna party up so you can do all the hard work?" The red-eye paused for a second before adding. "This thing has a party option and all, right? Right."
