Arcane Thief 2. Awakening

            When Null woke he was floating. A mask covered his face, connected to a tube that let to the top of whatever contained him. Light leaked in from the outside, shining with a slight red glow from the resin pod around him. The liquid he floated in didn’t harm his eyes, so he looked around freely in his environment. The exterior of his pod was covered in what he guessed were branches, so he could only see outside through the cracks. From what he could make out, there were many containers like his hanging from branches, obscured figures held within. He guessed that they were going to be opened whenever someone made a character, but even so the sight gave him an uneasy feeling.

            His thoughts were interrupted by a loud ripping noise. Before he had time to look around, he felt himself falling, the mask detaching itself from his face. It was a gentle fall, almost a slide into another container shaped like a bath. He floated on top of the liquid this time, staring up ahead with a dazed expression. The red filter of the resin gone, his vision was met by a mix of vibrant greens, reds and yellows. His sight was mainly taken up by trees, but numerous large flowers and plants lay spread out amongst them, giving off a fantastical vibe. Some of the flowers, large, white ones that looked a lot like lilies, emitted light bright enough to take the place of lanterns, which were convenient, because while he could spot stars in the night sky, they did very little to illuminate his darkened surroundings. He was unsure if he was in some forest or an exotic garden, but the small bit of glass ceiling above made him believe that he was in a garden, which raised some questions.

            Questions that would have to wait, however, as his vision was taken up by a figure that peered down at him. It was a man with slight features, making him appear closer to androgynous than masculine, and from the pointed ears he had Null guessed that he was an Elf. His blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail, and he looked at Null through a pair of squinted blue eyes. From where he was laying, Null could see that the Elf was wearing a white robe with golden trimmings weaved through it in a manner that could only be seen as arcane in nature.

            “Arise Awakened One,” the Elf said, his voice more commanding than greeting.

            It took him a short while to find his footing, but eventually he stood up from the liquid, which sloughed off of him like jelly. It left him dry, though he couldn't help but feel a little wet. He stepped out of the bowl where the elf handed him a set of clothes.

“Put these on, we can hardly have someone walking around Retissia in their unmentionables,” he said.

Null frowned at him, then snatched the clothes from the man and wordlessly put them on. The clothes given to him were a long-sleeved black shirt and pair of work jeans. They fit snug to his body, but comfortable at the same time. He put on his boots last, tapping them against the ground as he did so to adjust the fitting better.

The Elf nodded, “Good, your name is Null, correct?”

“Yeah thats me,” Null said.

The Elf inputted something onto the tablet he was holding and nodded, “Acknowledged, follow me.”

The Elf turned and walked off before he could respond, bringing a grimace to Null’s face.

Well, reception is certainly cold…

He let out a sigh and started to follow the Elf, but as he took a step forward he started to stumble. He managed to catch himself, but paused for a bit. The Elf looked back at him.

“Something wrong?” he asked, his tone more annoyed than caring.

Null shook his head, “No, just give me a sec.”

The Elf frowned and continued on. Null frowned back at him.

Whoever programmed this asshole needs a lesson in hospitality.

He started to walk forward again, managing to keep himself steady as he did so. It had been a while since he was able to walk properly, so it took a moment to adjust his pace to keep up with the Elf. The sensation was absent so long from him that it brought a smile to his face, and he felt his vision blur. The Elf looked at him again with an apprehensive expression.

Null wiped his eyes, “It’s nothing… you know, I never did catch your name.”

“Carlyle,” the Elf said tersely, looking over his tablet as he walked.

“Well Carlyle, mind telling me why everyone is in a bunch of pods like we’re in the Matrix?”

Carlyle looked at him with a confused expression, “The Matrix?”

Null opened his mouth to explain, but closed it soon after. It wouldn’t do much good explaining pop culture to an NPC, or who he assumed was an NPC. “Nevermind that, just tell me about the pods.”

“Well we removed you Awakened Ones from those dreadful capsules, something those fools from Gram opted not to do. We decided to place you in these Cultivator Pods instead, so your latent magical talents would be brought to the forefront while you slept.”

“So you just moved everyone without their permission? Seems kind of presumptuous, don’t you think?”

Carlyle huffed, “Would you rather wake up stuffed in some metal tube?”

“I can’t say I liked being birthed again either,” Null said in a biting tone.

Carlyle opened his mouth to say something, but just shook his head and continued on. Null looked around the garden some more, noting that the thickness of the shrubbery and trees obscured the actual size of its range. He saw other players interacting with NPCs in white robes, though their interactions seemed more jovial in nature. He guessed he drew the short straw with Carlyle. That was something he was familiar with.

He noticed a variety of races emerging from the pods around him. There were the familiar one, the Elves and Humans, and even a Halfling he could spot. The other, more unfamiliar races caught his eye. There were the Beastmen, which encompassed a number humanoids possessing a variety of animalistic traits. The one he was looking at had skin that was for the most part human, but there were patches of green scales up and down his arms, leading to the sides of his face that indicated he was one of the lizard-types, made even more evident by the large tail that lay sitting on the ground. He had read about wolf-types and even dragon-types, though he wasn’t sure if players chose their types or were randomly assigned to them when their character was generated.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted another player. It was hard not to notice her, for her skin had a pale blue hue to it that gave off a slight glow. Her hair was silver, and her eyes possessed no pupils, instead appearing as a blank white color. These were the common traits of any Celestial, but his eyes lingered on her longer than he had intended. She seemed to notice, and looked at him. He cut his eyes away from her quickly, but not before catching a wink and a smile from the woman. He coughed and continued to follow Carlyle, who led him out of the garden and into a stone building with wooden interiors. The wood was dark brown, almost dark enough to be mistaken for black, and was filled with rows of couches covered in a maroon, cloth-like material. Numerous other players sat in them, idly chatting as they waited to be called up to the counters that lined the walls of the room.

“This way,” Carlyle said, walking towards a door that lay off to the corner of the room. That raised some questions, but Null kept silent as he followed the Elf into through the door.

The door led into another, smaller room that looked like an office. A desk sat on top of a red and gold rug in the center of the room, made of wood a shade lighter than the floor, and was littered with all sorts of devices that Null could only guess were magical in nature. While it was the simplest looking, the one he noticed the most was an hourglass that had the sand going up instead of down. Numerous bookshelves lined the wall behind the desk, the books on them a variety of colors and thickness but all lined with a golden text. He didn’t have time to focus on them however, for his attention was occupied by a woman who sat in a large leather seat at her desk.

She was a Celestial, possessing a slight green tint to her skin and having short black hair that matched her lips. She gave him an inquisitive look, one that made him more uncomfortable than most, given that her eyes held no color. She wore robes similar to Carlyle, though they hugged her body more than the Elf’s did, and also wore a pair of small spectacles that rested on her nose. That part confused him, since he wasn’t even sure if Celestials saw things the way the other Races did, but he brushed it off as some Video Game logic and moved on.

“Please, take a seat,” she said in a pleasant voice, in the same sentence she signalled Carlyle to leave, who did so promptly.

Null sat down on one of the smaller chairs in front of her desk. It was surprisingly comfortable. The Celestial waited for the door to close before she continued on, “I hope your awakening went well?” she said, more as a question than a statement.

Null shrugged, “It was interesting I can tell you that much,” he said, and when he thought of Carlyle he frowned, “Could do with a little bit more hospitality though.”

The woman let out a sigh, “I must apologize for that. Carlyle has never been very good with people so I thought bringing him over to the Gardens would help that along some.”

Null gave a dismissive wave, “I’m used to the attitude, don’t worry about it.”

She gave him a polite smile, “Thank you. Now then…” she tapped a small pyramid on her desk, which shot up a holographic display in front of her, “Null is it? Allow me to introduce myself, I am Estella.”

“Pleasure to meet you. Now then, mind telling me why I’m here instead of out there?”

“Straight to the point are we?” Estella said with a wry smile, giving the hologram a few taps and swipes.

“Just itching to get going is all.”

“A perfectly reasonable feeling, but there are a few things we must go over before I am comfortable with letting you out into the city.”

He raised an eyebrow, “That being?”

“Particularly your chosen class, or rather, your lack of a class.”

“Is that going to be a problem?”

“No, in the grand scheme of things it does not mean much, but I felt that I needed to confirm you truly wish to pursue such a path.”

Null leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, “I mean, yeah, I don’t really see why being a freeformer would really be a problem.”

“Well, it would not be such a problem had you awakened in Gram, where such things are rare, but fairly more common. In Retissia however, being a freeformer can be more of a hinderance than normal.”

“How so?”

Estella left her chair and walked towards the bookcases, running a hand over the covers as she looked for something. “Skills in Retissia are more magical oriented than the hands on approach of many of Grams Skills,” she plucked a book from the shelf and continued to search through the bookcase. “While we have practitioners of artisanship in Restissia, the majority of Awakened Ones in the city are those that practice the magical arts, so much so that we’ve delegated our trainers to teaching classrooms at a time. The Awakened Ones that have chosen a class are usually assigned a certain curriculum to follow for a short while, just so they get a hang of things without being overwhelmed.”

Null nodded, “Makes sense, but I still don’t see why that should really affect things for me.”

She shook her head, “It's not that simple I’m afraid. The curriculums that we have made for these Classes are highly tailored for synergy between magic, combat, and artisanship based on which branch of magic their class chooses to follow. Finding such a balance is difficult for a freeform Awakened One, for with the freedom of your choices there are a lot of chances for you to make mistakes in your selections. So what I want to ask is… do you want to continue on as a freeformer?”

He gave her a quizzical look.

She picked up a few more books from the shelf, “It is possible for us to assign you a curriculum that would be identical to one of the available Classes, so even if your identification is a freeformer your skills would be no less lacking than say… a warrior or an elementalist. You would have access to the finest teachers that Retissia can offer, other Awakened Ones being among them. If you stay your current course, you must learn many skills yourself for our trainers will be occupied teaching student for most of the day.”

“So you’re telling me I can skip school and do what I want? Sounds like a sweet deal to me,” Null said with a coy grin.

She smiled as well, though he couldn’t tell if she was being polite or sincere. “That's a bright way of looking at things, but please, be serious about this.”

He took a moment to consider the options. Sure it would be simple to just follow a set of classes to get a grip on thing here, God only knows how much there was in this virtual world that would overwhelm him. But… he was done with following a regiment, there was enough of that he had to do in the real world. Right now he just wanted to let loose, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

“I’ll stay a freeformer,” he said with a serious tone, “I feel like stretching my arms out, and being a cooped up in some classroom definitely isn’t going to do that for me.”

She nodded, but instead of the frown he was expecting Estella was smiling.

“Something funny?” He asked.

She sat down at her desk, “You are the first in a while to actually stick to this path, it’s kind of exciting.” She lay down the books on her desk.

Null looked over them, “Those for me?”

“Yes, well only one of them honestly, these books contain instructions to mastering the basics of the four branches of magic. However, I will only allow one of these to be taken.”

“Why is that?”

“For the sake of simplicity really, trying to learn four branches of magic at once will only hinder your progress. It is best to learn one, then pick up another supplementary branch of magic that synergizes well with it.”

“And those would be?”

“Those would be ones you must discover on your own, there are many forms of magic hidden throughout Ellios, some that are hidden even to those at Retissia.”

“Right… so you want me to choose one of these?”

She nodded, but her eyes widened soon afterwards, “Ah, almost forgot…” she reached into her robes and pulled out a small black box no bigger than her smart phone. It held a diamond symbol in the middle, made of smaller, interconnected diamonds and gave of a soft purple glow. “This is your Smart Box, it will serve as your inventory and communication device throughout your travel. Not only that, but it will glow in proximity to other Awakened Ones, letting you find each other better.”

He took the Smart Box and examined it for a moment, pressing all the buttons to familiarize himself with their functions. He eventually fell onto his status screen.

+++

Name: Null

Class: Freeform

Title: N/A

Health: 100

Mana: 10

Hunger: Sated

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Intelligence: 10

Constitution: 10

Speed: 10

Wisdom: 10

Total Attack: 10

Total Defense: 10

Combat Fame: 0

Merchant Fame: 0

Craftsman Fame: 0

+++

            He took note of the information and closed the screen.

            “Seems simple enough to use, now these books…”

            Null picked up one of them, and as he did another window popped up in front of him.

+++

Basics of Arcane Magic

A book with the basic instructions to learning the Arcane branch of magic, which specializes in utilizing arcane energy to cast spells ranging from the elemental to protective-based magics. Instant use magic, ideal for skirmishers and agility based characters.

+++

That description alone was enticing enough for him, but he looked over the other three as well. There was Ethereal magics, which were ritual based and focused on otherworldly energies for their spells. That was enticing, but the fact it was ritual based turned him off from it. Those spells would take time to cast, meaning he would have to stay still and leave himself open to attack. There was also Light magic, which was also instant use but very specialized in only one type of magic and didn’t have the range than Arcane magic had. It probably synergized with more Tanky builds, but that wasn’t what he had in mind. There was also Internal Magic, which sounded very similar to the concept of Ki. It utilized the energy inside the body, which meant it spent both health and mana in its execution. Interesting, of course, but it seemed more suited for the brawler type character. He needed something that would let him move around freely but still be versatile. From what he looked up, Arcane Magic was the most multi-purpose magic, but lacked in some of the potency present in the other branches, which suited him just fine. He wasn’t aiming to be a wizard.

“I guess it's this one then,” Null said, lifting the Basics of Arcane Magic again.

“Are you certain?” Estella asked.

“Yeah, seems like it's the most versatile out of all these.”

She nodded and pulled out another book with a blue cover. This one had an illustration on the front, one of a silhouetted man meditating and surrounded by a light blue aura. It’s description window popped up.

+++

Magic Cultivation

A book specializing in teaching the basics of Magic Cultivation. Learning the Magic Cultivation skill will allow you the ability to increase your mana pool and spell efficiency through the process of meditation.

+++

            “We offer this book to all Awakened Ones. While merely practicing spells will increase your mana pool and spell efficiency naturally, practicing this skill accelerates the process a bit.” Estella explained.

            He looked at the book for a moment, mulling that over. “Does it offer anything else?”

            “To be honest, not many Awakened Ones have actually picked up this skill and those that have abandoned its use after raising its level a few times. Consensus says it's a waste of a skill, but I thought it would be best to offer it to you anyhow.”

            He didn’t recall there being a limit to the skills that a player could learn, but still, the time sink of learning a useless skill didn’t really seem worth it in the long run. If magic naturally grew with the use of spells, then mastering such a skill seemed redundant. But…

            “I’ll take it. You never know, it could come in handy,” He said as he picked up the book.

            That made Estella smile again, “You truly are unique Null. I can’t say I’ve interacted with an Awakened One like you in a while.”

            “Eh, I’m nothing special,” he said, “just someone who’s a bit curious is all.” He looked at the two books in his hand, and experimentally held his Smart Box up to them. The symbol on it pulse with light, and scanned over the two books before they disappeared in a flash of digitized light. He made an impressed face and place the Smart Box into his pocket.

            “Now then, I think we are done here,” Estella said, “I imagine that you are jumping at the chance to get going.”

            He grinned, “You bet I am.”

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