First Day Training [P]

This is a story of Jace Vale, a 15 years old apprentice to a great sorcerer who longs to travel around the world. In doing so, he dreamt of having a fulfilling adventure while learning many magical arts along the way.

Well, that was what his character's backstory when he made one during character creation. But in Kyle's honesty, most of his character's personality was very similar to his, so he can't call it a true roleplay. Though he hoped this was another way to immerse himself in this already immersive world of Terrasphere. So far, he enjoyed every moment of his first day here. From fighting monsters with his spells to interacting with NPCs with a surprisingly good AI, he can't imagine how huge this virtual world was. Sure, it did come from an email after that strange commercial, but so far, this was not like the SAO incident he heard about.

While he did learn the combat mechanics through trial and error against the monsters during his arrival, he felt he was still not good enough to cast them. In fact, just using the panel ruined the whole experience for him. So he might need to practice chanting and casting the spell with his staff. Not only that, he wanted to explore more spells that he had available as a newcomer.

Though when he entered the training ground in Stokbon, Kyle (or Jace as he preferred in-game) was overwhelmed by the number of players training here. From swords to spears, he felt that he won't able to find a perfect spot to practice. Eventually, he managed to find one and started working on his execution to cast his first spell. But it might not be easy than he thought as he ended up flubbing his incantations, which didn't enable him to cast the spell at all. Guess there was a difference between hotkeys and manual invocation.

@Harveste

 

Practicing her new ability to sing a spell into existence instead of normal invocation, Harveste the self-proclaimed harvest fairy was making up songs as she went as she'd come to learn was the best way to really make the plants listen to her. The training ground was extensive, perfect for just about any kind of training- and, for a rogue naturamancer, that there was a great area of dirt in the outer parts was a great aid.

Her song brought forth a small field of flowers. Unfortunately, this time, the flowers weren't what she'd intended. Cursing under her breath, the faerin let out a soft grumble and moved to pluck one of the scarlet blooms, their numerous petals tickling her finger. She did love spider lilies, but this wasn't the poison she intended to grow!

"I must have them on the mind again subconsciously...I mean, I was singing about Cerbera Odollum. This looks nothing like the pictures I saw of it on the net..." The flower, literally nicknamed the 'suicide tree', was a unique white flower far different from that which she managed to grow. "Well...I guess it's better not to try to grow poison in a big city anyway...But..."

A soft sigh escaped her as she pulled the flower closer. It wasn't so bad, growing her favorite plants as she pleased- but sometimes, something a bit more helpful would be nice. Apparently, her clumsiness was not so keen on helping her, even if she had already strengthened her music and magic skills a bit by now.

Turning around, she lurked the training grounds curiously, looking for someone who looked a bit newer, who might find some encouragement helpful. Seeing someone who hadn't caught her attention before- a mage, she could only assume, in some way- she rushed to his side. "Sir, if I may offer you this flower? You look a little more in awe than most I see for an onlooker. Is this your first time to the training grounds? Ah, don't worry though. Despite it being considered a corpse flower of sorts, it's not actually that dangerous."

 

Again with another mispronounced incantation. Jace sighed in dismay that he wasn't getting any progress at his training. He wanted to use a panel like any newcomer, but his desire to be like a real mage made him feel against using it as he saw it as a cheating tool to cast spells. Though, another reason was to avoid some windows and a spider lily right in front of his face.

Wait, a spider lily. As he saw this, he looked up to see a young woman offered the said flower to him. From his first impression of her, he thought of her as some kind of a cute fairy girl. Although, there was a saying, "Looks can be deceiving". Especially how she compared that flower as a corpse flower, which he was aware its existence and its harmful effects. Still, he felt that there's nothing dangerous about her for now.

"O-Oh yes... I'm actually a newcomer to Terrasphere," he said as he shown his flustered state as he stared at the young Faerin. "Are you one of the veteran players in here?"

 

His slow reaction to her had worried her slightly, but as he opted to finally pay notice of her, she smiled brightly. "I don't think I'm anywhere near good enough to be called a veteran. I'm only a month in myself...And I'm still constantly learning things about the game."

Though she tried to ignore it, her face was a touch pink at the very idea of being a veteran- in some aspects, she did have 'veteran' qualities. She'd been part of at least one or two major events, which she usually thought was only for more 'hardcore' players of MMOs. However, even if she took part in fifty, she probably would never call herself one. No, she was too forgetful to keep track of such things as wisdom from time.

"This place is a pretty good spot to meet them, though, I think. You meet all sorts of people in Stokbon...And with training halls around, you can really learn a lot, whether it's on your own in experimentation or from talking to other players around. Speaking of...What were you practicing? I'm kind of curious. You were so deep into it!"

 

For him, he thought of a month-old player was a veteran for him. As long they knew the game mechanics and the lore, he was okay with treating her as a veteran. Though he might want to avoid saying this in front of her for the sake of her dignity. "Yeah. It might not be fun if you know it all. Maybe that's another thing about RPGs is that you always discover everything." He can't lie about it since he was portraying a sorcerer's apprentice.

Speaking of which, he frowned upon she asked about his actions. "Just practicing reciting my spells' incantations. I know they have a hotkey-like panel just for beginners, but I feel it might ruin my experience here in Terrasphere. But so far, I still not able to pronounce my incantations at the right speed. You know, since any of my future battles may have a chance for me to mispronounce the words when I tried to cast a spell." Although he was great at memorizing any words like speeches and songs lyrics, the problem was his pronunciation. The game seemed to sense the right one in order for him to cast a spell, but reciting a short incantation during an intense battle may have a chance for him to mess up his words because of this.

 

His caution with her wasn't even noticed because of her lack of ability to read others. No, Harveste rather just assumed he agreed with her, just like he had with the concept of the fun of having things to learn. "I'm gonna guess you're the curious type too. Have you figured out the tool tips yet? That took me a while, but it's super handy." Her hand moved in conjunction with her thoughts, trying to find UI information for the flower she'd offered. She smiled as the flower was fairly easily written about. A nice little explanation was an explanation nonetheless.

"There's all sorts of ways to cast spells in this game. I started out using the hotkeys myself, then worked on trying to memorize things...But recently, I learned how to use the Music mastery to use songs to grow plants instead of having to remember incantations. It's taking more practice, but it's a lot more fun for me now, and it feels a little more fluid that way. I think the game is so open to differentm ethods just because it let's everyone play the way that suits them."

Still, she knew what it was like to worry about learning controls. The pronunciation, for Harveste, was never really an issue- she had an innate sense for languages, and generally, the game had let her automatically learn the primary ones she needed without taking up an extra skill slot. "Depending on the type of magic you use, I can probably help teach you some hacks to help you out in the heat of the moment situations. There's lots of ways I've seen others do things, and there are different tools that have different effects on your spells, too, so..."

 

"Somehow. The only tip I got so far was an advice to take it nice and slow before speeding up my pronunciations. Although, I am going to take another look at it just in case." Jace then pulled up his palm menu to check up the said tips. Since he played RPG games ever since he got his first game console, participating tutorials and reading tips and tricks became a habit for him. Plus, this lets him avoid any beginner's mistakes in the process.

However, he was a little reluctant at her offer. It was not just because of his month-old experiences, but the hacks she mentioned worried him a little bit. "Are you sure? It might sound a good way to help me out, but I really don't want to destroy an illusion of being a real sorcerer or mage." Despite his worries, he was curious at the different methods to cast a spell.

 

"From the start, all we see is essentially an illusion isn't it? Though those of this world see it as real, for those of us who come here to play, it's just a fairy tale. That goes for my race itself, too. I'm not really a fairy, and I know that. It's just fun to play as one." Though, as she thought about it, was it as fun as she'd initially thought it would be? Faerin were, after all, often treated like second class citizens by the local NPCs.

She moved her hand again, sending a request to become friends towards the man before she began to adjust her posture, hands now hidden behind her. "I think it's important to help each other, especially in the beginning. If players don't help each other learn the mechanics, who will? I mean, the people of this world don't even see it as a game. The mechanics aren't the same for them...You know what I mean?"

 

Well, RPG video games originally came from a tabletop role-playing games, so it's no surprise that there are some who loves to become a hero in their dreams. And while it's not a true roleplay character, he was happy to portray his very own hero. "Yeah. Plus, it's a great way to escape from the hassles of reality for a while. Beats doing nothing after homework, you know."

Upon he saw the woman's friend request, he was surprised at her in-game name. @Harveste? He might guess that she might be a Naturamancy user or something. Either way, he pressed "YES" on the panel as his way to not only accept her friend request but to accept her suggestion to help him. "I can attest to that. I played many RPGs with different mechanics before. But I'm still surprised at how different they are from the previous games I've mentioned. Guess I should need an extra help to help me cast some spells more easily without losing my role-playing experiences in here."

 

"I know what you mean. I've been playing games a pretty long time, but this one's pretty darn different." Then again, saying she'd been around the world of games for a long while would probably be hard to believe to those that saw her, especially with only her in game form alone. "I may not look it, but I'm an adult. I probably should've tried to make my character look less like a kid than I do..."

Grumbling at the memories of people being rather adamant to have her small stature sit on their laps- even when in game as well, her age was that of an adult in setup- she was more ashamed she was getting used to it. Heck, the head pats were becoming enjoyable, and the fact people liked to give her rides on their shoulders meant she could let her real life laziness set in more in this world!

On the other hand, it was only really players that found her small body 'cute' and fun to tend to. "For me, I ended up taking on music because it seemed like a easier way to spell cast, but it's actually not much easier than memorizing the spells to me- just more fun for me that way. There are some people who can cast with special gestures, I think, too." Clasping her hands together, she took a deep breath before smiling up to him, some surprising wisdom leaving her lips.

"It's not always about how you cast it, though. What really matters is learning what spells you have, and learning to control them so you can use them even in the heat of the moment. That's the hard part. But also, just remember that it's still a game- well, for us. So also focus on having fun."

 

While most of the players will be shocked at what she said, Jace quickly understood her words very quickly. He was actually 18 years old in real life and his character was 15 years old, so he was aware of how different their appearances are comparing in real life just for role-playing or to escape reality. "To be honest, I tried making a character that is closer to my age and even older than me. But considering this game has a mastery system, I decided to go with this kind of character. It might be a little hard for me to move in at first, but at least it's worth it."

Now that he thought about it, most of the shows and anime he watched tend to have wizard and sorcerer characters recite some short incantations to cast a spell. Most of them just shout out the spell's name just for the sake of time constraints. Also, he can't forget what she told him and that was to have fun in Terrasphere. "You're right. If I think too much about it, it might suck the whole fun about it."

He then picked up his staff until his eyes widened when an idea popped up. Heeding to @Harveste's words, he wondered if he can combine gestures with incantations. It's pure contradictory, but maybe it might be a good way to help him cast his spells without destroying his role-playing experiences. "I'm just wondering. Can imagining a gesture can cast a spell in this game?"

 

"I mean, to some degree you can assign gestures, but I don't know the real mechanics in that. I know there are people who, for example, can heal people by focusing the energy of their healing magic into their hand and use touch to do the work. However, I don't know if they actually do it without incantations or anything like that..."

She'd seen a few during big battles, people going without actually using much in the way of words to cast damage and aid to others over the course of a long boss fight. But Harveste wasn't like those people- she didn't really know how to do it without a little help from her spell book, still.

Speaking of, what kind of magic did he use again? "Magic varies from person to person and type to type. Like for me....I use naturamancy. My magic works best around earthy areas with dirt as is. By using music, I essentially just am singing to the plants to work with me. Your magic has to be done based on your type of magic too. A hydromancer can manipulate water, for example, or bring it upon a crowd to heal thirst. However, they need to be able to do it as fluidly as the fluid itself, don't you think?"

 

"Alright. I'm actually trying to find a way to toggle how I cast my spells by switching tools. You know, spell books for incantations and staff for imagining symbols or creating gestures. Better yet, I want to assign a very short incantation along with a gesture to make casting easier. Although, that would mean I have to find a perfect spell book and rod to make it work." They might be the craziest ideas he came up with, but from what he watched from the shows, movies, and anime, it might be a unique way to cast a spell with incantations and special gestures.

And now that he thought about it, he didn't manage to explain what kind of magic he has beforehand. "Makes sense. Unlike you, I chose Arcanamancy since I wanted to use a non-elemental magic so I can have my character decide on another elemental mastery later down in the road. But as far as I know, they are somehow easier to use due to being energy and stuff like teleportation, but it drains my energy a lot if I repeatedly use it."

 

"Actually, the kind of magic tool you use effects how your magic effects you a lot. An NPC told me this...So, I use a grimoire- or rather, a magic book. When using my book, it collects energy from the area around me and gives it to me to help restore my energy when I use it. Rods and staffs like you mentioned, make your spells more powerful. That'll help in the long run, but I think if you use a type of magic that requires a lot of energy, a book would be better to start with..."

She took a breath, finding her long-winded speech a bit overbearing even to her. Eyeing the man with timidity, she felt a timid laughter leave her lips. "Erm, there are other types too...Those are just the ones I remember. I'm sorry if it was hard to follow that. I feel like a tutorial...A really, really bad one! Heh."

 

In most of the fiction, he usually watched, he often saw characters used spellbooks just to read out their desired spells. But he never knew that grimoires can store mana (or energy in game mechanic terms) like a battery. Still, that gave him some inspiration. He still wanted to use a staff just to enhance his magic, but he planned to use a grimoire during a long-term battle so he won't worry about the high consumption risks of his Arcanamancy magic.

"No, that's okay. In fact, your explanation helped me a lot for my build!" He said with a small smile just as he opened up his palm menu's inventory. From what he knew about the game, he often started out with his beginner-friendly items, which he noticed how old and distressed they looked. However, he wondered if he also started with other tools since he also has Magical Tools as his starting mastery. Much to his relief, his inventory also has an old grimoire, which may inspire him to add in his backstory that he got it from his master. "To be honest, without your full 'tutorial', I wouldn't able to decide my main tool for my character. So thanks! Although, I hope the game allows me to write some spells I want to cast in my grimoire. Besides, I also took Magecrafting as my third starting mastery as well."