Isaac panted heavily as he placed the sword back onto its stand, his eyes gazed at the woman who had just beaten him into the floor with her superior skill, she was tall her bright red hair shining in the dim light of the dojo, and her sports bra and shorts fitting tight to her body. "I know you want me to get better but there has to be a better way of doing it than this…" He groaned, he had bruises all over his uncovered upper body.
"Isaac you're sixteen when I was your age I was already being considered for the Olympics, and yet you refuse to even go to a tournament." The woman spoke, her tone exasperated at trying to motivate this talented young man to use his talent for something other than getting into meaningless scuffles. "Look, I'm not your mother I get that but I've raised you since you were five the least you can do is show some enthusiasm towards something other than beating up bullies."
He'd heard this several times, he just sighed and nodded his head. "I'll look for something alright?" He walked out of the dojo and into the house proper, he needed a shower and some rest...
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"Hey Isaac!" Isaac jumped from his seat and raised his hand, not to defend himself but to give a high five to his best friend who had just entered the room. "What happened to you, thought we were supposed to meet up last night."
Isaac grumbled and winced, rubbing a few tender bruised bits of his upper body. "Ah, Brigid decided that I'd been slacking in training recently and gave me a 'private lesson'" Brigid had adopted him when his parents died suddenly when he was five, he didn't really remember and mostly just remembered the fiery redhead trying to beat some enthusiasm for something into the boy through training with swords and the like. She was a fairly famous weapons mistress, and was known as 'The Flickering Fire' Because of her speed and bright red hair.
"Ouch that sucks…��� Eric winced, he had been to Brigid's dojo once or twice once he'd become friends with Isaac and had taken a few…'lessons' "Anyway I was walking past that new net cafe that just opened and since you weren't there I went in."
Isaac raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Eric the only thing you use the internet for is printing out already done papers and porn, what could you possibly do there?" He had a bit of a smirk on his face even as Eric punched him in the shoulder his pale face lit up with a small blush.
"Dude shut up! At least I know how to use the internet you fucking geezer." Eric's shaggy curly mane moved as his hand drew back from the punch, the boy very rarely let his hair get cut, he seemed to have some sort of 'Viking' Pride as he put it, today was one of the rare days he wasn't wearing some old family heirloom metal hairbands. "Anyway, I went in and they only had like two rows of computers, the rest of the space was taken up by these huge fucking pod things, I was curious so I bought some time and hopped in one and dude you HAVE to come with me after school shit is insane."
"Language Mr. Lief." Came a snappish male voice from the doorway to the classroom, and in walked Mr. Hiddle bane of all things fun, his primly polished dress shoes made an awful clack against the linoleum floor of the classroom as he strode behind his desk. "Today we'll be learning about King Arthur and the Knights of the round table…"
Isaac sighed and ran his hand through his mop of brown hair, today was going to be a long day…
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"I'm telling you man it's nuts." Eric hadn't shut up since the first period ended, any time they weren't forced to pay attention in class he was talking about his eye opening experience in VR. The pods were from a newer company called 'Pantheon' they'd sort of cropped up out of nowhere while everyone was paying attention to the usual companies releasing their yearly console. "So it's kinda like an MMO and a MOBA rolled into one, on one hand you've got your MMO progression, your character taking on dungeons, fighting monsters and the like. Then you've got the MOBA front, where you use your character from the MMO progression, It's nuts dude."
Eric seemed very excited, as Isaac could tell from his repeated use of the word Nuts, and Dude. "Alright, I kinda get it I guess so you control your body in the VR space like you do your body in the real world?" He asked even as they stepped into the net cafe, Isaac, passed his card over to the woman and asked for a pod like Eric had done as soon as the door opened.
"Is this your first time using a pod?" The cute girl behind the counter asked, smiling at Isaac with what felt like a focused beam of pure cuteness. And Isaac being the hormone driven 16 year old he was just kinda blushed and stuttered.
"Uh y-yea." The girl's smile didn't waver and she slid a phone over the counter to him, it was sleek and as his fingers touched it he felt a small prick on his finger. "Pantheon gives a free 'Device' to all players of the game, this is more than just a normal phone, while it can do all of the things that your phone can, it also has functionality for the game Struggle of Deities." Eric pulled out his and held it up, grinning. Almost like he was saying 'Told you it's nuts'
Isaac had been using an old flip phone for years, it wasn't that Brigid didn't want to get him a smartphone, he just didn't seem interested in apps or anything, he was happy just using his phone to make calls and texts. The screen lit up after a moment and the logo for Pantheon flashed by, leading to a simple display.
[Please register your Struggle of Deities Account]
His fingers moved before his brain could catch up, typing on the flat plane of the screen one word Airgetlam A small loading wheel appeared and disappeared just as quickly, the word Success! Showing. "Great, your Device is the only way to log into your account so please don't lose it!" The girl waved while Isaac was led to the pods by Eric.
The door hissed as it raised and Isaac was pushed into the seat by Eric. "Alright just put your device in this slot and it'll log you in without any problems, wne you get in add me my name in game is Skofnung" The pod hissed closed before Isaac could even ask for a spelling of that weird word but he sighed and places his device in the slot, where it lit up and he knew nothing but darkness.
A blinking sword insignia appeared in the darkness and Isaac reached for it, gently tapping it brought light to the world and he was suddenly standing on air, surrounded by just clear blue sky and gorgeous clouds as far as the eye could see. "Welcome to the world of Pantheon." He heard from all around him. "I am Janus, and as the god of Beginnings, I am responsible for helping you create your Demigod character."
A version of himself appeared in front of him, it was the spitting image of him right down to the few scars he had on his upper body. "Feel free to edit this as you please." He was suddenly flooded with a multitude of options, hair color, hair length, eye color, the option to add more scars the options seemed endless but he kept it relatively simple, he colored his hair silver and his eyes silver as well, if he was gonna have a name like Airgetlam he may as well somewhat look the part right?
"Please wait while Haphaestus uses your soul to create the perfect weapons for you." This was another feature that Eric hadn't shut up about, there were no weapon drops in the game, instead when you made your character you were given two to eight weapons that you could pick and choose between as you played, the weapons you were given were supposedly perfect for you.
Eric had been given a one handed sword and shield with twelve locked skills on it, and a greatsword, he was likely going to be a tank or heavy damage dealer depending on how he ended up speccing. And from Eric's research the night before apparently one of the current top players had received eight weapons.
A light flashed in front of Isaac and he gently reached out for it, wondering how many weapons he would receive! He felt excitement in his heart for some reason as the light faded and he found himself holding a very ornate looking revolver, it… was quite odd to be honest, it only shared the basic shape of a revolver, a grip, which was canted more like a rifle grip than a pistol grip, three cylinders in line, they were not as long as normal, but all three of them were the same size as a normal revolver cylinder. The barrel wasn't even a barrel; it was more like a block with no holes in it made out of crystal, the same oddly silver crystal that made up the majority of the gun.
He took a moment from staring at the gun in his hand to see if he'd received and other weapons and he was oddly surprised to find one other weapon waiting for his perusal, a pair of gauntlets. His eyes traced back down to the gun in his hand, his fingers tracing the metal that inlaid the gun, his thumb flicking a small lever above the grip which caused one of the three cylinders to begin spinning rapidly.
Three little hexagonal things appeared on his hug, one seemed to have different elements on it, another seemed to have the same but it was crossed out, he assumed it was one of the non spinning ones, and the third had shapes but only one wasn't grayed out… He flicked the lever that started everything and watched as the element cylinder landed on one of two options Wind. Pulling the trigger caused a quiet burst of wind to sound through the area as a bullet of pure elemental mana shot out into the clouds.
"That is a very special weapon, it's likely the most versatile weapon that I've seen given to a Demi-god. It's weak now but as you get stronger, like your other weapons, it will grow in power." Janus spoke in his almighty voice, causing Isaac to jump.
"I'll be honest, i kinda forgot you were here, got a bit too focused on the gun I guess." He felt something around his waist and upon looking saw that he had a nice holster strung across his lower back for the gun, which he slipped it into. His hands reached for the gauntlets next, taking them into his grip he pulled them on and squeezed his hands as if trying to get used to new gloves.
"Try thinking 'Inspect'" Janus said in a long suffering tone, as if he was tired of saying the same thing to every player that joined the game. Isaac did as he was instructed and saw a status window appear for the gauntlets.
[Bestial Gleipnir]
[Level: 0]
Attack: 10-20 Physical 5-10 Magical
Defense: 20 Physical 20 Magical
Skill 1: Locked
Skill 2: Locked
Skill 3: Locked
Skill 4: Locked
Skill 5: Locked
Skill 6: Locked
Skill 7: Locked
He seemed less than impressed, he didn't know much about the game but considering his friend had received a sword and shield with twelve skills? He figured that was the norm. He pulled the gun back out and the gloves glowed for a moment.'
[Skill 6: Spittle of a Bird | Unlocked]
[Passive: You are not weighed down by decision, you may use one handed weapons while wearing these and gain the benefits of all equipped weapons]
He gazed at the window and hummed, so skills that were locked didn't all need to be unlocked through levelling and you simply needed to figure out what they were to use them? It was interesting but his eyes landed on the gun again as he thought 'Inspect'
[The Answerer]
[Level: 0]
Attack: Based on Spellpower
Cylinder 1 (Origin Element)
Force
Wind
Locked(x4)
Cylinder 2 (Modifier Element)
Locked(x6)
Cylinder 3 (Shape)
Bullet
Locked(x5)
He saw why it was so versatile already, it seemed like this was going to be a hard weapon to master, especially considering he'd never used a gun before in his life, how on earth did the game think a GUN was the perfect weapon for him? He sighed and looked up into the empty sky. "Anything else I need to do to finish character creation?"
"Just one final thing and then you'll be placed down in the beginner town. You'll be receiving your Demigod boon! Every player gets one skill that only they receive. It'll be up to you to figure out how to best utilize this and your weaponry to grow strong." As Janus finished speaking Isaac got another notification.
[Passivity]
[Demigod Boon]
[[Active] skills cost 200% more Resource, but can be marked as [Passive] Skills at reduced effectiveness instead]
That was… Well it didn't sound good by any stretch, now if he wanted to use any skills, even the most basic abilities he'd have to weigh the pros and cons of blowing his whole Mana bar on his skill…
When he looked up to talk to Janus he found he was no longer in the world of clouds and clear skies, he was standing in the center of a bustling town, he saw players all meeting up and talking, he saw NPC's either going on with their daily lives or trying to sell their wares at stalls all around the fountain square. "He was right… This is nuts." He felt the wind on his face, he could smell the water in the fountain behind him. It was almost like he had been transported to another world. "Menu"
He gazed through his options and quickly moved to the friends page, adding his friend after a few failed attempts at spelling the weird name he'd given himself, not that Airgetlam had any room to talk. \Skofnung: Where you at?! Feels like it took you forever to get out of character creation! See that Big tree in town? Come over there.\
Typical Eric, barely giving him time to get his bearings before tugging him in some new direction, he gazed at his gloves and then his gun and nodded his head. The streets weren't too bad to navigate, NPC's generally got out of your way and players while they were paying attention, would do the same but before long he'd reached the base of a huge tree, and when he got there he half wished he hadn't gotten there at all… Around the base of the tree was a massive serpent, curled in the exposed roots it seemed titanic in scope but it also seemed to be sleeping.
"That's Jormungandr." Skof said, running up to Air, he looked much the same as he did in real life, though Air noticed the addition of a braided and well taken care of viking beard to his friend's face. "According to some of the players that have been playing way longer than us, he's guarding the entrance to the first dungeon we should be trying to clear 'Ratatoskr's Roost'" Air looked up and saw that the tree extended up far further than his eyesight could even hope to manage. "But first I guess we should do some of the newbie quests so you can get your early skill books." Clapping Air on the shoulder he led him towards different parts of the town, showing him places that they'd probably need later, like the Crystal Smith and the Blacksmith, along with the Auction house.
"The Crystal Smith is a very important building, he sells crystals that can buff and add things to our weapons and armors, like Unique passives that makes Crits cause bleed and make enemies take reflect damage when they hit you, that kind of thing." Neither of his weapons had any Crystal slots, it seemed like they'd need to level up before he could do anything with that. "Crystals found in dungeons are apparently supposed to be loads better too."
The blacksmith was pretty obvious, that was where he'd get armor and the like, ammo if he was an archer that had to worry about that kind of thing. Same with the auction house, that was where players could trade things for either in game money or out of game money, which Isaac found more nuts than the realism of the flagstones under his feet…
Skof led him to three NPC's and he got a quest from each, the reward for them all was a [Skill Index] One was Common, another was Uncommon, and the last was Rare. "Skill books in this game are slightly different to others, skills have a rarity and instead of the book teaching a specific skill you get to choose which skill you gain from the books rarity, I looked last night and a Legendary skill book was like 2.2mil real cash bruh."
The first quest they left town for, it was from the butcher for his common skill book, he simply had to hunt for ten pieces of meat. "Alright man I can't wait anymore, what weapons and boon did you get?!" It seemed Skof had been holding back to get the important stuff out of the way before pestering his best bud for the info he craved.
"Well I got two weapons like you, these gloves and this gun." He said pulling the crystalline revolver from his holster. "The gloves have a skill on them that lets me benefit from both weapons at once, which is pretty cool, and the gun seems like it'll be pretty decent when I unlock more stuff on it." He flicked the lever and the cylinders began their little dance, he settled on Force for his element for now. "As for my boon… I dunno it didn't seem too good, it makes my active skills cost three times as much but instead I can make them passive skills at reduced effectiveness."
Skof just kinda gaped at the information on his friend's boon, to them it didn't seem like a boon at all. "That's… Kind of a shame Mine was a berserker like passive, The lower my health the more stats I get." His only had positives, but he knew that Isaac would eventually learn a way to use his Boon well, hopefully.
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After about half an hour of killing the boars in the starter zone Air wished he'd gotten something like a sword rather than this gun, sure it was cool being able to shoot magic at stuff but that didn't help when you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, at first he'd tried just pointing it in their general direction, he landed a few hits but his DPS was abysmal, then he held it sideways like a gangster, that just made it worse, he didn't hit a single shot, eventually he got tired of just dodging the boar and swung the barrel of the revolver down like a sword, striking it with as much force as his Level 1 body could muster.
[Shape: Sword Unlocked]
[Bladed Spell Shape of The Answerer, it allows close combat in ways that other shapes cannot. Reserves 30 MP]
He dodged to the side from a boar again as he read, all his training in real life really helping him keep from losing all of his HP while his best friend sat on a log nearby guffawing like a lunatic anytime he missed a shot. He heard a click as he pressed the lever 'Force | Sword" The words left his mouth in a different language and soon a long single edged blade appeared looking like a pane of glowing glass, Force was the element of Physical spells, and as such the sword was very sharp…
The boards regretted ever aggroing on the boy now as he dodged and sliced them to ribbons like he was born to it, his face seemed to relax, no longer a scowl of thought, trying to gain some secret to precision, he just let his body move through the motions serenely. Before he knew it he had killed seventy-two boars and had only just gained his tenth slab of meat, Isaac had never really had much luck in games in the past, anything with RNG tended to favor literal anyone else.
"Alright so we just go turn this in and I get my skill book?" He asked, turning away from the bloodied battlefield of slowly dispersing boar corpses, he noticed that he hadn't levelled at all as Skof got up and nodded. During the long trek back to town Isaac took the time to look at his Status screen for the first time.
[Airgetlam]
[Level 1]
HP: 100/100
MP: 72/100
Aether: 720
Physical
STR: 10
AGI: 10
CON: 10
Magical
INT: 10
MANA: 10
LUCK: 0
Aether was something that dropped every time he killed a boar, each boar was worth ten. "Hey Skof what's Aether?"
A simple question of course, easily answered if Skof had been paying attention to him rather than the fine rear ends of the female party walking ahead of him, Air just grumbled and elbowed his friend in the side. "Hey hungry eyes, what's aether?" He'd dealt with his friends' lechery for a long time and he knew it wasn't gonna change anytime soon.
"Oh! Aether's easy, it's experience points and money, basically you can either use it to buy equipment and such, or you can use it at the monolith in every town to level up, the price of a level goes up with every purchase though, which is why people recommend seeing how many +1 level missions you can do before you start spending. After you get your skills of course, skills are very important since we technically don't have 'classes'"
The butcher grinned as his arms extended when they entered the shop. "My friends! You have brought me a great many boar flanks I hope." He had a thick accent, european in nature but he couldn't quite place it, so he simply nodded and placed the ten flanks on the counter. "Oh my you didn't waste any time did you? Here's your book lad." The gray covered book appeared in his hand and Isaac grinned, he was gonna get his first ever skill...