Our Cleric group started walking through the City still shocked that such a huge city can be on top of a tree and searched for the Cleric Guild.
While walking we asked passersby for directions as well as information that might be useful or just interesting. Surprisingly most locals were very friendly and often answered most of our questions.
The whole city was on a slight slope toward the center of the tree. The road was made of hardened and conjoined leaves which caused the road to have a crystalline structure ranging from colours of brown to a healthy green. According to the passersby the road regenerates when it's damaged, giving the city an even more magical atmosphere than before.
Every so often we come across canals crossing across the roads with small bridges over them allowing us to see where the canals go.
The road itself was surrounded by many branches, some vertical, some curvy with carved out doors and windows in seemingly random positions. Though the curious thing was that there were almost no stairs anywhere whatsoever, showing how 'specialised' this city was.
There were many different types of fairies prattling and flying about on the roads, some were without wings having their homes on the ground floor while others had them higher and the only way one could get to them is by flying.
While not as mystical, there were other types of houses made out of wood, stone or both which were owned by various other races like dwarves, elves and beastmen living in Willowshade City.
Accompanying them were large shops, stores and workshops made of bricks and other materials overgrown with branches and leaves around them. All the buildings were beautifully designed with carved symbols and runes giving it all a classy feeling.
"Although the trip was sudden, this city is really beautiful." muttered Ambulance.
"Don't get too comfortable, we're going to get our classes and start our combat training. it's really disheartening that war could break out anytime." Cookie sighs depressingly.
"Cheer up! You don't have to be on the frontline as a cleric if you don't want to. As long as you keep people from dying, you will be the backbone of the party. So let's try to be quick with it." Ambulance pats her back.
"I guess so, but still… we just appeared here without knowing anything and are told to find jobs, gain recognition and change races, it's frustrating. If nothing else, we had luck that Baldr and Black were here to lead and organize us. Thank you for that." Cookie forces a smile and thanks me.
"Thank you!" Yamila and Ambulance also smile and start thanking me.
'I feel bad now, since I thought badly of them at the start and kept them only because it's safer with more people. But now they are thanking me.'
˝No problem guys, let's try our best to advance, so we can start living normally.˝ I faked a happy tone hoping they don't see my guilt.
As if on cue, we arrive at a huge plaza at the edge of the city, on which stands a huge cathedral-like building with a completely different style to the other buildings.
The cathedral is mostly made from white stone with blue colored stone as accents all over. Their style is really defined gothic with a lot of angel like wings all over which gave it a holy feeling.
˝I don't think we need a map anymore.˝ Yamila smiled.
˝Can't argue with that.˝ Cookie chuckles.
˝Well, let's get inside and get our jobs.˝ I said and stepped inside.
As we entered we were greeted by the grand sight of an ancient church, the walls and ceiling were filled with countless murals, grand paintings, archdomes and statues. The lighting was taken care of by chandeliers, magic lights, stained glass and rosettes.
Further down the hall were stairs surrounded by guards that lead to the upper floors and balconies. On the left side of the hall there are common people lining up, most likely for treatment of diseases and wounds. On the right side there are a bunch of clerics which was limited only to the guid members. While in the middle was a stand which seemed to be an information point. Behind all the stands, rows of beautifully carved pews lead to the far back until where the elevated altar stands.
The clerics themself don't all have the classic cleric look of a robe and staff, some are muscular with maces, swords or wearing metal armour, while others have short swords with daggers and leather armour.
Looking at the stands we approached the middle booth seeing as it's the information stand and greeted the blond haired and blue eyed employee.
˝Hello! Can we apply here for the cleric class?˝ I greeted as nicely as I can with a smile on my face.
˝Yes, you can apply here. Just fill out this form and we will arrange you a teacher.˝ She answered with a lovely smile.
The forms given, want the basic information like name, race, age and birthplace.
We quickly fill it out since we know it all instinctually, besides leaving the last question blank. We handed the forms over to the priestess and she looked them over.
˝Oh, you are Nils! Then it's no problem with not writing a birthplace. But let me ask, have you rested your spirits yet?˝ She asks while glancing at us.
˝Rest our spirits?˝ We look at each other confusedly.
˝So that's a no. Guess they forgot to explain this, everyone that is born as a Nil has to 'rest their spirit' every now and then. It can be a day, or several days, which also can last up to weeks. When it's time, you will become tired and in some time your body will disappear from this world. But you don't have to worry because you will return and can choose any point near where you left to appear, so you can't be trapped or anything. But one thing is widely known, that after exactly one day after appearing in the world, you will rest your spirit, so you can adapt to the new environment.˝
˝That… sounds very awkward. So some from our group may just be missing for a few hours while others for weeks?˝ Cookie sounded very uncomfortable.
"Don't worry, since there are four of you here to be clerics there are also others in other guilds, right? You just have to group with those that aren't currently resting. I will register you in the guild and give you some basic knowledge books that you need to read before the training. You can go sit on the pews behind this booth and read while waiting for the 'rest'.˝ She carefully explains to us.
˝But what about the other groups? We need to remind them to not gather today.˝ Ambulance asked worriedly.
˝Don't worry, the employees at the other guilds will explain it the same way, so they will also stay there, so don't worry about it. Now let's get your books.˝ She searches under her desk and gives us some books, parchment and crude pencils.
The books are called:
'The races of the world and their anatomy'
'Holy magic theory'
'Self defense arts'
'Materials and their healing properties'
'Wounds, diseases and how to treat them'
˝You need to study these books, but it's not that much of a problem since Nils have a good memory. Just make sure to return and not share them with others, or there will be consequences.˝
Suddenly a dagger flies past us and sticks into the wood of the booth. We turn around and see a rogue-ish cleric looking with a somewhat sadistic smile.
'Yep, this must be the knowledge guarded by the guilds.' I thought about the warning from Misty.
We thank the priestess and bring the stuff with us to the pews. We sat down together and each of us took one book to start reading in turns, I take the holy magic theory. But soon I began to have a headache.
'It's the thickest book and would probably be especially needed. But the concept of magic is too foreign to me.'
The whole process was very complicated but in simpler terms
First you need to sense the mana inside your body. The mana has its own path system but it's extremely hard to start it. After finding the mana you need to follow it to find your mana core which is the source of the mana inside the body.
At the start the mana core is inactive and the mana path is random which floods the body in random ways. To control it you need to activate the mana core with an external influence, like a magic item or you can try to control your mana by medidation and activate the mana core manually, however this method takes a long time and it's much harder than using a magic item to activate your mana core.
Secondly, for Holy magic, after you activate your core, you start the mana circulation which also increases your mana amount slowly, which is called accumulation. For basic Holy magic there are no requirements besides the amount of mana. For Holy Magic which is of higher level you need karma strings, the higher quantity of positive karma strings you have, the higher the level of Holy spells are available to the caster. Of course the amount of mana you have is also important as it's used up everytime one uses a spell.
As long as there are more karma strings than the required amount the positive karma strings make Holy spells stronger passively regardless of their level. To gain positive karma strings you need to make various good deeds which would reward you with a corresponding amount of karma strings which gather inside the mana core.
Holy magic is one of the more difficult types of magic, only classes that are linked to deities have it easier in using it as they get bonuses for their faith.
Lastly all spells use an incantation to help concentrate the mana and form the spell. Further about spells and incantations will be learned the instructors
With the hours passing by I suddenly started becoming sleepy. I look around and see the others also yawning and starting to fall asleep in their own pews.
'So it's time for the 'rest'?' I ask myself as I hold the book and parchments to my chest as I start to doze off and disappear into thin air.
I suddenly wake up in a grey room with all my memories back.
[Playtime has ended. Scanning character memory files… Does the host want to keep all memories or want the summary to be uploaded to your computer?]
"…"
"Of course I want to remember the gameplay!" I yell at the pop up.
[Extracting character memory files. The memories are extensive, and might cause the brain to overload because of the 12:1 time difference. Excluding unnecessary character memories and compacting less important ones. Injecting into the brain… Successful!]
[For longer gameplays we recommend to use the five minute memory filter and save. It filters and injects the memories every 5 minutes and minimizes the strain. Do you agree?]
˝This game is really dangerous... Alright, use the 5 minute filter and save function. Not like I will play this death trap again anyway.˝
[Changes are saved. Deleting memories about the risk of the game.]
"WHAT!? STO-!"
[Completed. Logging out.]
----------
I take my helmet off and sit there blankly staring at the ground for a moment. I suddenly jump in cheer.
"This game is cool! Damn, and it's realistic to boot too! Now this is what I call Immersive roleplay!"
I cheered once again and anticipated my next play through, while oblivious of the danger of the game as all the memories compromising of what the system did were deleted.