NeoRealm – Staring Back Into the Future

What first hits him is the noise. Even while his vision is still whited out Jason hears the cry of gulls and numerous people. Soon he can see and his first view is out onto a massive body of water. Likely this is the river but he can’t even see the other side of it. Turning around a busy dock is visible. Though with a second look there seems to mostly be trading vessels.

Suddenly a man that seemed to be lazing around nearby shouts out, “Hey you! Newb! Come buy your starter pack here!”

‘Not even a minute here and they spot me. It uses most of the money you start with but the gear is worth it though. Maybe I can haggle him down a bit.’ Jason sighs and goes over to the man.

When Jason gets to him, the man drawls out what is obviously an oft repeated greeting, “Welcome to Shine Town! My name is Dall. I don’t know why you ended up here but let me outfit you with a new set of gear. Long as your weapon isn’t too odd I can offer you the whole shebang for only 5 silvers. Anything fancy is extra if I have it and even more if I don’t.”

“Hello Dall. Can I get a bit off, say 3 silvers, if I don’t want a weapon? That’s where most the expense comes from what with every beginner and their pet getting rabbit leather for the armor.”

Now it Dall’s turn to sigh, “Look kid, you and I both know you aren’t allowed to have friends from outside pop by and gift you a weapon. Even my guild who has been at it for decades is barely allowed to do this and the system limits what we can sell and for how much. If you chose this town just because someone was here you in for a spot of bad luck.”

“I don’t need a weapon. I plan to use martial arts and what not.”

Dall upon hearing his answer gets a devious light in his eyes, “Ah, your cocky! Ain’t nobody get far without a weapon upgrade boy. Even crafter types go for it as early game needs it. However let me give you the deal I have in my pocket for this as you aren’t the first. You offered 3 silver but instead of that I will take 2 but with a condition. Just sign a contract with me that if you need to buy a weapon before level 10 then you will buy one of mine at double the price.”

“That isn’t a bad deal but I have a condition of my own. Change the wording of the deal to remove that tricky little ‘need to’ you slipped in there. I wasn’t born yesterday and have read up on the common newb targeted scams. No one wants to be caught by a group of bandits the second they step out of town just to be tied up so they ‘need’ a dagger to cut themselves free.”

Looking a bit disappointed Dall shrugs his shoulders, “Well you can’t catch every fish in the sea. Sure here's the changed deal” and with that a screens pop up in front of both of them.

After looking it over and making sure nothing else would force him to buy a weapon Jason clicks yes, then accepts the trade request that comes soon afterwards. Now down a couple silver but up a set of decent armor he walks away to look around town.

Dall watches him leave and once Jason has left earshot, he bursts into laughter he thinks to himself, “Got another sucker! Everyone knows about that stupid forced buy scam. The money isn’t in that anyway as you still have to hire someone to trap them. I don’t even bother with that anymore. Now I just have my shop only contain a bunch of dirt cheap weapons at ridiculous prices. No one gets past the level 9 bottleneck without a good weapon and nothing has any weapon drops within miles of this place”.

Sadly for Dall two can play at that game because at about the same time he laughed so did Jason, “As if I can’t tell what up. Probably stuffed his shop full of overpriced junk. If I had pushed though he would have backed out of the deal. Now to look at my new getup. From the quick glance I saw in the trade screen it seems he didn’t even try to cheat me on it as they are all top grade commons.”

‘Sheesh, I knew what it would be, but it still is quite the impressive setup. Looks like each piece is giving me the max 5 to defense and 5 to something else. Amazing what they can do with no magic involved at all. Well guess I should look around the town a bit if I am going to be stuck here for a month in game.’, Jason thinks to himself before wandering towards the main street.

A short walk later and Jason can see all the town has to offer. There are of course shops selling the basics. It wouldn’t be a starter town if it didn’t have them. Besides that though the major locations were somewhat lacking. A small All Gods church, likely only there for players was on the edge of town. The blacksmith was actually decently setup though only because proper ships need a good bit of iron tools and parts to keep them working. Same for the tailor who seemed more setup for repairing sails than turning out clothes and equipment. There wasn’t even proper buildings for the various basic skill trainers. All of them seem to be shoved into the Adventurers Guilds building. Even the rogue trainer was there instead of hidden away in some thieves guild. From asking around he had even found out they could only even do that because the player who setup the connection to this town requested it as his only reward for saving the shine fish population. Having nowhere better to go Jason heads over to said Adventurers Guild.

The building itself is relatively impressive being twice as big as a town this size would support. This extra space of course is only there because of the so termed ‘training emporium’. He had even heard a rumor that if this works many smaller towns may try it as a cheaper way to support more paths. The entrance is a big wooden double door setup which is open and actually doesn't look like they have closed in years.

Heading through the door Jason feels a slight tingle as he passes through the door. While he was expecting it the feel of the magical barrier makes his hair stand on end. That barrier more than anything else will be why other towns will switch over to a centralized training area. Not only does it keep the weather out so the Guild can keep their open door policy but it also detects anyone that has a criminal record with the Adventurers Guild. While not the most expensive magic formation it isn’t like a normal town could afford to upkeep one. Only a monolithic organization like the Adventurers Guild would consider having one on their front door as just a matter of fact. Having that barrier though would let even small towns keep the common ruffians and bandits from getting training.

The inside is actually quite lively. Though that might just be because half the main area is a fully stocked bar. This might not be the only tavern in town but it is selling the best brews at a decent price. The floor appears to be made of a single piece of wood and seeing as there isn’t any stains or marks it likely costs more than any other building in town as a whole. Directly opposite to the bar is a relatively roughly hewn arch leading to the Trainers. However most important to Jason right now is a long desk setup like a bank teller's. There is even a person devoted to questions and people wanting to join the guild.

Manning the desk is a harmless looking tortoise girl. However all of Jason’s instincts are screaming at him that of everyone in this room she is the one to never mess with. Not having much of a choice though he makes his way over to her. “Hello Miss, I’m a new player and I would like to join the Adventurers Guild please.”

The girl looks up at Jason and gives him a piercing glare. “Okay, but first some ground rules. Of course there is the basic stuff like don’t steal from, murder, or disrupt guild employees. Next up while not required we do prefer if you follow the local laws for the most part. Finally for some local rules which all boil down to don’t mess with the shine fish. Oh and my personal rule, don’t be a dick”. She then takes out a light blue egg shaped stone, “Now all you have to do is either drop some blood on this or if you know how to, infuse some energy into it. I recommend giving the second option a try just to see if you have a talent for it. If nothing is wrong you will see your character sheet with the addition of being an F rank member of the Adventurers Guild. Don’t worry no one else but me will see anything and all I will see is your name and if it worked. Though do note that while you can advance to C rank with just this any higher ranks will need a deeper identification.”

Jason takes the stone then concentrates on himself to try and sense any ‘energy’ that might be in him. This takes a few moments but eventually he feels something in himself and pushes it towards the stone. Suddenly his character sheet pops up.

Having looked at his sheet Jason mutters, “Huh, a bit empty and my Energy is only 1”. Looking up though he sees that the girl is smiling at him with quite the expectant look.

Then she speaks up, “Well that's unexpected. Let me introduce myself. My name is Penny OrichalcumShell, the guild master for this branch. I would like to congratulate you on being one of the few players to manage using your energy before level 10. Now this will not give you too big of an advantage but I do have a quest for you if that would suit your fancy.”

‘Well that was unexpected. It isn’t a secret quest, but that is probably because she has been searching for a bit. Probably only still around because of the harsh requirements. Might as well try it’. Smiling confidently Jason starts to accept the quest when Penny speaks up.

“I will warn you. Don’t accept this on a wim. Energy is what the stat gets called before you decide on whether to use mana or qi. You could get locked out of both of them. Mana is required for spells and Qi for weapon arts. Losing access to them isn’t a small matter.”

“Wait so what does Energy do then?”

Penny thinks for a moment before responding, “It just reinforces the body a bit. Many people have actually gone down this path before. My favorite story is of the blacksmith who felt forging an item out in the air was a bit slow. He went and trained in Energy to the point that normal fires couldn’t hurt him. Apparently it was quite a scene to see him stand in his special made forge. Though do note that it was only like that because he focused on fire resistance.”

“That actually works for me. I am willing to do whatever you need of me.”

Penny nods, “Okay then, here is what you need to do”

Akhier

Things I wanted to mention but didn’t:

Jason’s armor really is amazing. It is the limit of what the gear can be and still be sold to new players. Anymore stats on it and one of two things would happen. The normal one is that it will have requirements to wear such as needing a certain level, have enough in a stat, or possess a skill. To have no requirements at all (and the lowest requirement something can have is level 10), a piece of gear can only give +5 to two stats, +7 to a single stat, or have a low level ability. If the crafter is skilled enough though they can reduce the requirements to wear something. However if they tried this then the other option would happen. To put it simply the system doesn’t like it when people try to unbalance the new player experience. The in-game justification is that they are ‘unbalancing the karmic flow’ and the backlash disrupts their own karma. That all just means that they try to mess with people below level 10 and suddenly anything that can go wrong will. Especially bad for crafters as it means they can’t ever successfully craft anything with the slightest chance of failure. The game is designed to make the first few levels not depend overly much on gear and instead focus on personal development.

Mind you this doesn’t mean there isn’t some truly epic gear with no requirements. A popular ‘going away’ present from a crafter who is about to pass away in real life is to make the most amazing requirementless gear they can and pass it onto someone related to them that is just joining the game. The first few made the best gear they could but then everyone realized all that did was bring misfortune to the one they gifted it to as major wars would start over the gear.