4 Chapter 4. The first quest and Stats
Judging by the encroaching darkness, it was already pretty late in the evening, and everyone was returning to their homes, children in hands. Therefore, Michael stopped exploring with the Map function and returned to his 'Batcave.'
Inside, he found the Old Man Al preparing his bedding, forcing Michael to notice the second bed across the 'room' from his. Through a quick explanation from the old man, it was found out that the bed he laid unconscious on for days in a row belonged to his now-deceased wife.
There was no drama to the story; the old lady apparently died due to advanced age, passing away peacefully and with no regrets.
He also discovered that the old man's only child had a shop open in a city called Kyovashad, which this small community usually bought provisions through.
The child was filial enough, according to the story, and it seems that, after getting him drunk one day when he returned home, the old man noticed a small notebook with prices for the goods they were buying through him.
It turns out that this son of his was selling goods to the camp at 50% less than the market rate, literally making a deficit with each product sold to the villagers.
When confronted, the man waved his concerns and said he was making enough money in the big city to feed himself and his children. Therefore, he would do what he could to help his birthplace survive the harsh seasons.
After this short interlude, both men went to sleep, though Michael couldn't exactly do that. His body felt saturated from sleeping four days straight, and he could only toss and turn for a good couple of hours until he gave up.
Sighing, he opened the Map again, and to its right, he noticed the 'Quests' subpage where the old man's request was active.
According to this 'system' he had, he needed to hunt 10 young and 25 mature wolves, bringing their carcasses to the camp. The quest was called 'Population control,' which probably explained why the villagers believed the wolves to go crazy.
'If the wolves' populations increased to high enough numbers and prey is insufficient to feed the entire pack, they would certainly increase their hunting grounds area and even invade human settlements in search of sustenance. Though... fighting wolves by myself? It's easy to do in a game, but how the hell am I supposed to kill 35 of them in reality!?'
Turning his head and looking next to the bed, he saw the scythe and shield old man Al had brought back. Touching them with his right hand, he brought up the sub-page he saw previously in the 'Character' interface.
[ Simple Scythe
Main Hand: Scythe
Item Power: 12
--------------------
18 Damage per Second
*(14-20) Damage per Hit
* 1.10 Attacks per Second (Fast Weapon)
+1 Life On Kill ]
It's probably only upon seeing this that reality set in for Michael, making him fully realize that he was indeed in the world of the game.
He tried various things since then, including testing all of his pain receptors, and, unfortunately, this body of his felt as real as they get instead of being just an avatar occupied by a transmigrated soul.
He theorized that he's probably going to meet other players later down the line. However, the game developers announced in advance that the players needed to complete the campaign quests before being able to play with others.
He was unsure if this was good or bad for him. The thought of dying to PVP maniacs made the blood in his veins freeze, while the idea of partying with other players from his world brought a feeling of belonging— a crutch to lean on, maybe, for mental comfort more than anything.
'Level 50 is around when I could meet other players. Therefore, I have lots of time to spare, considering I'm level fucking zero right now.'
[ Buckler
Offhand: Shield
Item Power: 14
-----------------
* 40% Blocked Damage Reduction
* 20% Block Chance
* +80% Main Hand Weapon Damage
* +1 Thorns ]
'Hmm... leaving aside the bland description of the two, I understand most things except for the last options. +1 Life per Kill and +1 Thorns? Life per Kill should be Lifesteal, though I'm not exactly sure how good a +1 is...
+1 Thorns should also be something like 'reflecting damage,' but then again, if the Buckler can reflect just 1 point of damage, regardless of how much I take, it doesn't seem that great. Hmm? What about my clothes? Does the system quantify them as Armor as well?'
The 'Character' interface showed ten slots for equipment to be worn, and the clothes Michael still wore on the bed were indeed recognized.
[ Hide Boots
Feet: Boots
Item Power: 14
-------------
7 Armor ]
[ Hide Pants
Legs: Pants
Item Power: 12
--------------
12 Armor ]
[ Hide Tunic
Torso: Chest Armor
Item Power: 11
----------------
21 Armor ]
Smacking his lips at the confirmed theory, Michael wondered about his total stats.
There should be a window showing that somewhere...
'Holy shit! System, you're awesome!'
New words were being etched in his 'Character' interface as he happily licked the boots of the system. It started with a simple word at the upper left corner of the interface, showing his name, 'Michael.'
There seemed to be three empty slots under his name, undoubtedly some game options he hasn't unlocked yet, just like the 'Abilities' interface next to 'Character' at the top of the page.
However, right under those three empty slots stood what he was interested in.
[ Attack Power: 33
Armor: 47
Life: 40
--------------
Strength: 7
Intelligence: 10
Willpower: 8
Dexterity: 9 ]
Looking at the very game-like statistics, he couldn't help but sigh loudly again. He furtively glanced at the old man, and noticing that he was snoring softly, he patted his chest in relief. What if the old man thought he was a nutcase after hearing him toss and turn for hours on end, only to start randomly sighing after.
After thinking and planning again for tomorrow, he focused on the four core stats in most games, hoping to see the exact mechanics behind them.
[ Strength: 7 (Item Contribution: 0)
*Increases Armor by +7 ]
It was pretty cut and dry: 1 point of Strength equals one point of Armor. He currently had 47 Armor: 21 from the Tunic, 12 from the Pants, and 7 from the Boots.
On top of that, the extra 7 from Strength stat adds up to 47.
'Interesting. As for Attacking Power being 33... I honestly don't know how that works. Is it a combination of damage plus other things?'
[ Intelligence: 10 (Item Contribution: 0)
* Increases skill damage by 1.0%
* Increases resistance to all elements by 0.5% ]
Skill damage was something very common to all gamers. It should refer to spells and skills used by different types of classes. Surprisingly, Intelligence didn't directly affect his 'Mana' or whatever his skill resource pool was called, but instead impacted the damage dished out and provided resistance to elemental types of damage, such as Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, etc.
'Seeing how Life is fixed at 40, it's not affected by Strength, and there's no mention of Mana or anything else in the description, I'd say that HP and MP are separate from the usual four core attributes. In that case, it does make things rather complicated...'
[ Willpower: 8 (Item Contribution: 0)
* Increases resource generation by 0.8%
* Increases healing received by 0.8%
* Increases Overpower Damage by 2% ]
If anything could describe Michael's current mental state, it was confusion. This stat seemed to affect mana regeneration while also increasing the healing received.
'Motherf... *Sigh* I knew I should've played Diablo 2 and 3. It's been 10-15 years since I played Diablo 1, and it's obvious now that I do not know how the game mechanics work. If the core stats don't affect the actual numbers on HP/MP but rather affect their regeneration, it means that... Hmm? What DOES it mean? Also, what the fuck is Overpower Damage?'
[ Overpower is a bonus damage mechanic with a three percent chance of being applied to every attack but not on most damaging passives, damage over time effects (poisons, bleeds), or channeled effects. ]
'???'
Michael's confusion intensified further, as the explanation was as good as not getting one. All he could yell in his mind was, 'Where are the actual numbers?' or 'What are the actual damage modifiers?'
Remembering how Critical Damage usually dealt somewhere between 150 to 200% of the usual damage, he wondered just how much this Overpower Damage does. Also, how do you stack it? Do you get it from items, skills, and other crap as well, or is it just Willpower?
He could feel his head spinning, amazingly annoyed at the lack of additional information. All this intel-gathering session was needed to ensure he won't die in the belly of some goddamn wolves the following days. He could ask the old man what was what, but something told him it wouldn't be a good idea for now.
It was akin to someone from Earth asking how to breathe or how one sees. It should come naturally to the natives of this world, or it should at least be common knowledge. By asking, he will undoubtedly alienate himself further from them.
[ Dexterity: 9 (Item Contribution: 0)
* Increases Critical Strike Chance by 0.2%
* Increases Dodge Chance by 0.8% ]
'*Sigh* Again, modifiers but without the template numbers I'm starting with. Even if it said that I have a 30% Dodge Chance by default, it doesn't mean I can dodge every 1 in 3 strikes from every boss, demon, and whatnot. So, it should be a bit more complicated.
Maybe it has to do with the action itself. High Dexterity makes an attempt to dodge an incoming attack a lot easier. It makes sense since Dexterity is supposed to represent how agile one's body is.
Same thing with Critical Strike Chance. A critical strike could be considered an attack upon the enemy's vital points. Therefore, having higher Dexterity implies a more agile body, and your hand-to-eye coordination would make it much easier to target your enemy's neck, for example.
Following the same logic and its name, maybe Overpower Damage is just that? Overpowering an enemy at the moment he attacks you? Or maybe use the enemy's attack and turn his force against him by adding yours on top of it? Or perhaps just penetration damage that breaks through Armor and Resistance?'
At this point, Michael's brain was almost turned into soup by all the theories his mind was cooking. He felt his Intelligence stat wasn't high enough to process all the possibilities, so he stopped thinking about it.
After messing around with the Character page, he could finally turn on a secondary interface showing his HP and MP. Or rather, the word 'Essence' was ingrained instead of MP.
[ Life: 40/40
Lose it all, and you're dead. ]
'...'
[ Essence: 100/100
Generated when using specific Skills and over time. Used for attacks and Curses. ]
Pondering momentarily, the only class he remembered hearing about that used Curses was the Necromancer. Maybe that explains why it's called Essence instead of Mana or a different name.
Not one to judge just because of a profession, Michael kept messing around with the new interface and soon found a small pouch with four vials.
It looked like a pocket dimension, similar to an inventory of sorts. Upon opening it, the Character page started receiving an overhaul again, but he ignored it momentarily and focused on the vials.
[ Weak Healing Potion
Type: Potion
Heals 17 Life instantly and 35% of your Maximum Life over 3 seconds.]
And there it was! The fabled HP potion. Seeing how none of the four vials was giving MP, or instead, Essence, Michael figured that maybe his possible Necromancer class focused on Willpower and skills to regenerate resources quickly—that, and perhaps, items.
Now, there was one last thing to check: a small row of six slots, two of which were already occupied. This was, undoubtedly, his means of attack! His skills!
[ Attack: perform an average strike with your weapon. ]
*Cough**Cough**Cough**Cough**Cough*
A sudden coughing fit almost made him drown in spit. What the hell was wrong with this system? 'An average strike' your head!
Hearing the old man turning around, he did his best to calm down and not bother his sleep further.
Instead, he focused on the second skill, hoping it wouldn't be as idiotic as the first description.
[ Raise Skeleton
Type: Summoning
------------------
Raise a Skeleton from a Corpse to fight for you.
Once all of your Skeletons have been summoned, Raise Skeleton briefly summons a Skeletal Priest to empower your Minions for 5 seconds, increasing their damage by 20% and healing them for 10% of their Maximum Life.
------------------
Summoning type - Skirmisher Warriors
Sword-wielding skeletal minions that deal 30% increased damage but have 15% reduced Life.
Maximum summons: 4
Damage type: Physical Damage ]
Doing everything possible to contain his excitement, Michael closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. He was torn initially about his Necromancer class, as he was in the real world now and not a game.
Suffering from bullying and social estrangement because of his class should be an actual thing, given that he was working with real corpses. Prejudice would exist for sure.
Yet that didn't do much to dampen his ever-growing excitement at all. Instead, he was doing everything he could to stop himself from using the skill here and now.
Unfortunately for him, it appeared that these skills require mental commands instead of vocal ones, and a string of information flowed inside his mind.
The skill Raise Skeletons activated inside the cave!!!
