Artisan Knight 1. Getting Started

He was standing in the void, a black, open space that stretched out with seemingly no end in sight. He tried to look down at his hands, but he saw nothing there. It was a strange sensation, to have the feeling of a body but no visual feedback of it.

“This is… new,” the man said, a mix of amusement and curiosity in his voice.
Moments later the void began to fill with a mix of green and blue light, swirling underneath his feet like a platform. A textbox appeared in front of him with a soft boop noise, hovering in mid air but following his head movements to where it remained in the center of his vision.

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Avatar generation in progress.

Would you like for your avatar to reflect your real life appearance?

Yes / No

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He considered the option. On one hand to have an avatar that looked like him would eliminate the usual meticulous detail he would put into a character creator, but on the other there were perks to having an avatar that looked completely different to from him. Anonymity was a great draw but… he wasn’t the type of guy that had anything to hide.

He reached out and selected “Yes”. The textbox disappeared and in its wake numerous motes of light flooded into the the center of the platform. At first they gathered into the shape of feet, building up into a rough silhouette of a person. The light faded from the figure, leaving behind a human man.

He was tall, with a toned but not overly muscular physique, and had tan skin. He felt an unnecessary sense of comfort in seeing that the game had given his avatar some undergarments to wear. It was a standard feature in any character creator, but with the added aspect of virtual reality there was a certain connection there that made him feel relief. The avatar’s face held a blank expression, though it held features that gave off the impression that he was smirking even if he wasn’t. It wasn’t an overly handsome face, nor one that was too average, but there was one thing that was certain about the man’s shape.

“Yeah, that’s definitely me,” he said, feeling a smile creep up on his non-existent face. He tried to ruffle his own short, brown hair, but before he could another window popped up.

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Avatar generated, would you like to make additional changes?

Yes / No

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He took some time to look over his avatar again, checking for any oddities that could have resulted from automatic generation. There were none, and for a small moment he considered making some variations to the avatar. He eventually opted to up the muscle tone a little bit after searching through a series of sliders that appeared in front of him, but otherwise he left the avatar the same as his real life appearance. As soon as he finalized his appearance another text box appeared.

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Avatar adjustments recorded.

How would you like character progression to be Class Bound or Free Form?

Class Bound / Free Form

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Another choice, this one more important in his eyes. From what he understood Class Bound character development allowed player to pick a class and progress through a skill tree as they leveled up. There were some variations, of course, and the pathways that followed were competent for the entire game. It was a good development track for those that wanted to go through the game without much thought or for those that were not really used to the rpg scene, and from what he heard from the little digging around he did classes tended to be viable even in the late levels. Free Form was a different beast entirely though.

From what he could recall, Class Bound players progressed through the beginning of the game under the tutelage of a Master. Said Master could be an NPC or even another player if they were so kind to do so. Free Form players, however, did not have an assigned class and as a result needed to learn their skills from Trainers, which again could be NPCs or other players. The advantage to this was that Free Form players truly had freedom to learn the skills that they wanted, with the added uncertainty of how well classes would synergize with one another. There were numerous horror stories on people having to restart their progress due to terrible builds, but almost as much as there were of synergies that were considered valuable across the game world.

For someone like him, there was temptation to play as a Class Bound player. It was convenient, and it would let him just focus on enjoying the game. However, while enjoyment was probably his main goal of the game, he had other things in mind. He reached out and selected “Free Form”.

As he did the avatar split back into motes of light. They lingered in the air for a short while they lingered in the air. He admired the sight like he would a night sky, until the lights surged towards him. In an instinctive action, he raised his hands, even if he could not see them. A moment later there was a flash of light, and something was very different about what he was seeing.

His hands were very visible to him now, following his movements as they normally would. For one who had just gotten used to being incorporeal, it was jarring enough to make him feel lightheaded. He recovered seconds later, examining the rest of his body to make sure the avatar transfer went well. Everything was exactly the same as it was before, with the added exception that he was now clothed in a simple shirt and pants. They left a soft sensation on his skin, prompting him to whistle.

“Wow, they went all out with the sensory programming didn’t they?” he said to himself as he moved his body around. He snapped his fingers, smiling with satisfaction at the sound it made, “Right then, what's next?”

As if on command another window appeared before him. This one showing two pictures side by side with paragraphs beneath them.

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Please select a starting city.

Retissia

City of eternal night. The stars above the city shine down upon the citizens with endless brilliance. Rich in magical power, its surroundings are home to numerous magical beasts and plant life that aid in development of magical skills and practices.

Gram

City of crafters, situated in the Chobin Valley between the Chobin Desert and the Deepwood. Though mostly void of any magical power it serves as a seemingly endless resource node, its surroundings hold many materials essential for any artisan, leading the city to become a marvel in technology and craftsmanship.

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He looked at the two pictures. True to its description, Retissia sat under a clear night sky full of stars. More than just stars, as he could make out a large multicolor streak that went over the horizon. The city itself looked to be ripped from the pages of Tolkien, with brilliant white buildings towering the streets below. It wasn't all fantasy, however, as there were some noticeably modern looking structures situated around the towers, and the people in the streets were dressed in clothing that, while not exactly like real world clothes, wouldn't be out of place if worn in public. The city as a whole sat on the coast of a very still lake, its surface almost mirror like even in the picture. All in all, very magical and to him, very tempting.

Gram was a different beast. The city sat at the bottom of what looked more like a basin than a valley. Surprisingly, for an industrial city numerous trees and stretches of green lay interlaced throughout the streets. At the same time, machinery and large, imposing structures were just as numerous. Some of the machines were easily identifiable: cranes, holographic displays and the like; while other machines looked so obscure that he could not really tell what it was designed for. The building's themselves were a hybrid between architectural beauty and industrial efficiency. Even the most basic square buildings had noticeable flourishes to their walls such as paintings or carvings, and it gave the city an odd sort of beauty, but captivating none the same.

We're he a man interested in magic, he would have jumped into Restissia right away. The odds of Gram having any Trainers specializing in the magical arts were slim, but it seemed to be the place to be if one were interested in working with their hands, something he was familiar with. Still, the temptation of magic was still there,but as he thought long and hard about his choices he realized that what could be done with magic would probably just be as possible with machinery in this world as well. He wasn’t hopping into some medieval type of world. With that in mind he selected the city of Gram. Another window popped up.

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Please enter your Username:

__________

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Thankfully, his choice for this wasn’t difficult.

“Gabriel,” he said.

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Username, Gabriel, selected. Is this correct?

Yes / No

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He selected yes.

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This username is currently in use by 1408 players, would you still like to use this name?

Yes / No

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He selected yes again. Having a unique name didn't really matter to him.

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Understood, username finalized.

Would you like to enter the world of Ellios now?

Yes / No

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A strange sense of anticipation built up in his chest as he read those words. He could only guess what would be on the otherwise, but the prospect brought a smirk to his lips.

“Yeah, yeah I am.”
He pressed on yes, and was enveloped by light.

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