when I next opened my eyes, I found myself in the middle of a clearing standing in front of a wooden sign that read "lysebel".As I looked past the sign, I saw a number of What I could only a.s.sume to be elves, from their pointed ears, and sharp features, walking through a small village.
Most of the buildings were either made of live trees that were some how hollowed out to accommodate the tenants, or from a green canvas type of material that was being supported from vines that hung from the trees. As I was taking in all the sights and sounds, another sense struck me that I almost couldn"t believe worked in the virtual world. I could actually smell the trees, I could smell how fresh and vibrant the air was and it was almost like it was my first time breathing clean air... and in all fairness I"m not exactly Mr.Boyscout. So it is a pretty sad prospect to think that the first time I have ever entered a forest, or really seen anything green, other than the high school football field, was in a video game. but that"s a sad story for another time.
As I stood there marveling at the level of realism I heard Gias voice ring in my ears "this is your starting village for your designated race, here you will complete your tutorial and once you reach level 5 you may move on to the nearest main city, first to calibrate your movements please take 5 steps toward and 5 steps backward."
Wanting to get the mandatory physical abilities test over I oblige by bias commands and do as she so nicely asked.
"very good, now if you will please say Stat screen you can bring up your characters basic information, if you wish to change this feature to a hand motion or different command word you may do so after the tutorial "
intrigued to see what my stats would be I say "Stat Screen" and a floating opaque black and green screen appears in front me
Name: RedSparrow
Level: 1 100 exp to next level
Race: Elf
Cla.s.s: Thief HP: 100 Mp: 50
strength: 3
Dexterity: 6
intelligence: 5
Perception: 4
WillPower: 3
Luck: 2
Free stat points: 0
Items:
Ring of telepathy. Edens Ring (bound)
Spider walk boots. Mysterious Stone
Feather amulet.
Dagger fragment
Currency: 10 copper coins
as I was looking at my stats Gias voice continued "these are your individual Statistical characteristics, or stat points for short, you may do certain actions to enhance your stat points, for instance reading to enhance intelligence, or acrobatics to enhance dexterity. However you will receive 2 free stat points at each level up, and 5 stat points after every 10 levels."
"Sounds simple enough." i think to myself "when does the action start though?" I have always had a hatred for Tutorials, mainly because no matter what game it was or what genera, they were all the same. Walk forward, walk backward, put your left arm in, and take your left arm out, then turn all about.... the only thing that made this tutorial different was that you got to listen to gias sing song voice as she introduced the basic mechanics of the game. but even that just bearly made it tolerable. however I wasnt really listening to her anyway. I was distracted by the items that I had in my inventory. as I tried to click on one I got an error prompt in red letters "unable to activate while tutorial mission is in progress must wait till level 5" I tried on all the items and got the same response so I gave up, and just finished listening to Gia.
" and that covers the basic information of this tutorial if you need to review any of the information that we have covered today please say settings and tutorial recap. thank you and enjoy your adventure through the Garden of Eden"
And with that Gia disappeared, and I was generously awarded 50 exp just for surviving the tutorial. With nothing much else to do I headed into the village and took a tour around the small village when I happened upon a small pond and I took a minute to see how I actually looked in this game. and I"m not gonna lie I was pretty good looking except having pointed ears that is. my hair changed to a silver color that was tied back in a medium length pony tail. I had the same pair of blue eyes I always did but my facial features were more angular with a triangular chin that was different from my rounded one I was use to. I still had my pasty white two pack abs but I had grown a few inches and was encroaching on the fabled 6 foot mark I had always dreamed of reaching. I had on a Dark Green Leather jacket and matching pants. that covered a dark brown tight fitting shirt. I also had my pack slung across my shoulder which carried my I"ll gotten gains.
as I was admiring myself in the water I noticed an old man"s face appear next to my reflection. with a startled Yelp I jumped up and spun around mid air like a frightened cat and faced the old man. he was clearly startled by my reaction because because he took a few steps back and yelped also.
after taking a few seconds to collect myself, I finally suppress my racing heart enough to speak to the old man.
" what the h.e.l.l Gramps, you scared me half to death!"
"I apologize young man, i was only wanting to see what was so interesting about that pond to have caused you to look at it for so long. I ment no harm"
"ha ha that"s ok no harm done" I say with an embarra.s.sed laugh "I"m new to this village, and I was actually wondering what I was going to do next".
"well young man if you are looking for something to do I could use your help actually. i am a woodworker and I was on my way to collect some wood for making bows and arrows possibly a staff materials permitting. would you be willing to help me"
and with a soft ding a familiar opaque black and green screen appeared that read
Quest
Collect 25 pieces of wood from the forest for the woodworker
Quest Progress: 0/2. Reward: 50 exp
"of course I"ll help" I reply happily " I"ll head out now and be back before you know it" and as I turned around to leave the old woodworker stopped me and said
"I appreciate the help however you cant simply hack off limbs from the trees you must only collect what has already fallen on the ground and I would appreciate it If the wood was at least 2 meters long each and 3 fingers around"
I stop in my tracks and turn to clarify " so I cant cut or break any of the branches off and can only collect them from the ground?"
"yes that is correct young man"
with a heavy sigh I turn around and make my way back to the city gates and begin my first actual quest.