World Seed: Game Start (5 page)

“
Hmm?
I got gravity magic. Seemed like a good mix between planet usage and
space. Though I wish I had gotten something with a heal in it now.
I’ve only got two other friends that chose to play elf, and
they both went for the high variant.”

Once
more, I looked at him with a bit of hope. “I think my magic
should get a heal eventually. But did the net community only get one
magic? I was able to choose two when I got to that part.” He
nodded his head in answer. “Huh. Well, maybe we can share? I
mean, it’s not like those basic spells took ages to learn,
right?”

He
thought about it, but shook his head. “Not sure that’d
work. Devron said that training was accelerated in the tutorial, so
it may have just been easier for us to pick them up. Just imagine if
a bunch of people all got together and learned all of the basic
spells, then shared them like that? Would make a small group of
really versatile casters. There are probably other factors involved
with being able to teach skills.”

By
this time, we were finally coming up on the destination, a large
collection of trees that had twisted together to form a spiraling
tower overlooking the forest. Well, they sure know how to make an
impression.

Once
we got inside, we were separated into various groups based on the
types of magic we had learned. Since we were getting split up, Jacobs
and I decided to add each other to our friends lists. To my surprise,
I found that I already had two names on the list, and decided that I
would contact them later. Unless there was some glitch that made it
so random people appeared on the friends list, that should mean that
those two are my immediate family, my parents.

Anyways,
back to the tower, I was in a group of people that had been brought
up to the third floor. My group was focused on elemental magic, such
as my wind. I’m not really sure if Nature Magic qualifies as an
element, but it was the first relevant group that was called for me.
Our teacher this time was, of course, another elf. This one wore red
robes, and his gnarled staff gripped a ruby at its tip, as if it was
naturally grown with the gem in place.

“
Alright,
now all of you should be here for roughly the same purpose. You’re
all Travelers that have just entered our world, and the gods have
blessed you with the very basics of magic. However, it is up to us to
educate you on your future paths.” The man spoke slowly, as if
talking to a group of children.

“
There
are three types of casting in this realm, of which we will discuss
two. Runic, and Arcane. The magic bestowed upon you all when you were
born was of the latter category, which we will cover first. Arcane
magic is a practice which allows you to control your mana with your
will, and send it out to alter the world. This kind of casting has a
higher cost, but it is easier to achieve a desired result, as you
must simply practice with it.”

After
taking a deep breath, he continued, his eyes sweeping over the few of
us present. “Now, Runic magic is the opposite, being a sort of
programming language for the world. As long as you learn the rune for
a given command, you can incorporate it into any spell you wish. For
instance, the runes for Blast and Fire will make your typical
fireball. Now, in the past, these runes were kept secret, hidden in
various dungeons. Of course, that eventually came to an end when the
Guilds came together to compile a list of runes.”

“
Many
of these runes are used today to ‘program’ magical
devices, and are available to the public. Rather than relying on luck
to receive a rune you want after crawling through a perilous dungeon,
only to receive one you already knew, it is now merely based on the
intelligence of the user. Likewise, Runic magic is much cheaper to
use in terms of mana than Arcane, but will only perform the actions
programmed into it.”

Seeing
that he was finally nearing the end of his speech, I let out a
relieved sigh. “Not many choose to practice both Arcane and
Runic magic, as they are based in two different areas of focus.
Arcane magic requires greater control over your mana, while Runic
merely requires intelligence great enough to remember the language of
magic. For either path, you may either seek guidance for creating a
spell, or may attempt to do so yourself. Be warned, attempting to
cast a spell far too powerful for your skill and capacity may have
permanent effects on your body.”

Several
people looked like they were just about ready to leave before he
started talking, yet again. There were more than a few groans, which
he ignored. “Now, as all of you have chosen to focus on an
elemental branch of magic, there are things you should be aware of.
Your elements are part of the world around you, granting an increased
versatility compared to other casters. However, with every boon comes
a curse.”

“
Once
you leave this world, and explore the stars, you may find your magic
greatly impaired. As you become familiar with manipulating the soil
of this world, another may have a completely different composition,
making it more difficult. The same is true for wind, and even water.
The atmosphere may even cause fire to weaken in some planets. As
such, I advise all of you to either practice diligently to overcome
these obstacles, or seek to branch out into other fields which can
cover it.”

And
this time we were really dismissed, causing me to sigh in relief once
again. Of course, I made for the door as quickly as I could before he
had the chance to change his mind and start another lecture.

Outside,
I found that the other classes were also letting people leave now,
and I began wondering why we were even split up in the first place.
Three quarters of that lecture had nothing to do with our specialty,
so they could have just as easily told it to everyone at once. Maybe
they were just starting a routine, expecting more players to show up
later? Still, this makes me hopeful for learning new types of magic,
since all it should take, according to the instructor, was practice.
That isn’t to say I’ll be good at it, or even get what I
want, but I can still be hopeful.

Taking
a look at my character information, I was still fairly disappointed
with myself. Normally, by now, there would be some overpowered way to
quickly train up my stats to surpass my level. However, that did not
seem to be the case with me. And what is with that pitifully low mana
regen?

Chapter 4: Practice
makes Perfect… Eventually

Now
that I was out of the magic class, if you could really call it that,
I spoke a bit more with Jacobs before he went to go practice.
Watching him walk away, I pulled up my contact list and went to the
two names I didn’t personally add. “Damn fantasy names…
can’t tell which of you is which… Oh well, just do a
group chat then.”

With
that in mind, I set up a group chat between myself and them. “You
guys enjoying the game so far?” I asked curiously, waiting for
their response.

A
few moments later, the first to reply was Dravin, apparently my
father. “Ah, there you are. Was wondering if you had gotten
into the game yet, kiddo!” His voice sounded fairly normal, so
it was likely that he either held a humanoid race or had one that
possessed telepathy.

And
of course, after him came my mother, whose voice was a bit off.
“John! It’s good to hear from you.” Her voice
sounded a bit phantasmal, as if a ghost was speaking.

“
Yeah…
it’s Falenel here, apparently. Can’t introduce myself
otherwise.”

It
took a moment before they responded to that, making me think that
they hadn’t interacted with anyone else yet like I had. While
we talked for a while, I managed to learn a few more things about the
game. First of all, despite my surroundings there was still a heavy
technology setting in the game. Likely, this was just a traditional
starting area. For instance, my father chose to play as a mutant
human with psychic abilities, while my mother chose to play a Shade,
some sort of darkness elemental. Where my father started sounded like
a large modern city, complete with hover cars and holograms. However,
my mother was spawned in the middle of nowhere, some dark cave.

Strangely,
it wasn’t all bad, as my mother didn’t spawn at level 1,
but 20. She also had quite a few racial skills that let her survive
despite spawning in a secluded area. According to her, Shades are a
race not born from breeding, but from natural magic giving life to
shadows. So, even though she may find other Shades eventually, they
never really spawn together. I started wondering if that was true for
all elementals. But really, my focus wasn’t as much on them,
since I was here to level up and farm loot to sell. Since elementals
don’t have a standard body type, and in most cases aren’t
even corporeal, I didn’t need to concern myself too much with
the details.

Now,
I knew how to make spells, so I had to focus on that. My performance
so far has told me that I am terrible at wielding weapons, so my only
option is to make an attack spell or two. Right now, I just had the
basic Gust and Nature’s Grasp spells, giving me a knockback and
a hold. Since I wouldn’t be able to get a class until level 10,
I had to focus on what I could do on my own.

Slowly,
I made my way to the edge of the village, where I wouldn’t be
disturbed while practicing. There were several different
possibilities for attack spells in either of the fields of magic I
already knew, but the trick was making one that wouldn’t be too
much to handle at my level of skill. Wind blades took far more
control than I had right now, same with poison darts or root spears.
However, I could come up with simplified ways to get attack spells.

First,
I decided to focus on wind. Since a wind blade wasn’t possible,
I’d try for a wind bullet instead. Closing my eyes, I brought
my hands out in front of me in the same motion as when I had first
practiced my two current spells, allowing the mana to travel between
my hands and circulate. Then, like before, I started attuning my
mana to the wind, causing a small breeze to build between my hands.

Focusing
my control, I condensed the breeze as tight as I could while making
it spin, before I shot it off in front of me. When I opened my eyes,
the barely visible ball of wind impacted a nearby tree, making barely
an impact. However, it seemed to be enough to satisfy the system.

A
star? Guessing that’s how they rank spells here? I’m
going to assume that one star is terrible. I glanced helplessly at
the window that appeared, before realizing something. Both of the
spells I learned in the tutorial came with a chant that made the
spell easier to cast. However, there was no such thing when I cast
the spell this time? Making my way quickly back to the mage’s
tower.