Daniel felt restless as he watched the group of orcs marching on, which couldn't be heard soon afterwards. He wanted to start looking for the treasure chests as soon as possible, but knew that stepping outside right now would be suicide. He heard screams outside and he knew that the night of slaughter had commenced.
*Ding*
Daniel heard a tone through all the noises which came from outside and immediately a notification window popped up in front of him.
[Quest Notification]
Register an username!
Rewards: class specific beginner item
Registering your name would be start of everything that was yet to come. The reward people would get was an item box, giving you a weapon which suited their character class. As soon as they accepted the reward, a small box will appear in front of them, whose opening would get them the item.
Depending on the character class, everyone would receive a different weapon, for example Daniel, who was a [Sword Knight] in the past had received a sword. Magic classes would receive a staff, but there were some classes that would receive more than one item. Archer classes for example would receive a bow and a quiver filled with arrows. There were also guardian classes, like shield knights, who would receive a shield and a random one handed weapon.
As soon as the window popped up in front of him, he wanted to register the name Havoc, like he had done before, but he stopped. Somehow it didn't feel right to him. He had used the name Havoc in his previous life because that was the name he used for all game the characters he ever created, but it felt weird now. He felt like not only had he as a person died, but the name he used had died too. When he remembered his death he got angry, remembering the pain and the humiliation. He remembered Lillith kneeling next to him. Azmodeus and Belial, standing there and watching him quietly. And Zartar, standing above him with that smug grin on his face. It made him boil with anger. And then he remembered.
"You should have picked the name Joker instead of Havoc, it suits you better because you are a joke."
A huge grin could be seen on his face, which turned into laughter, he thought that for his second life, he deserved a new name.
[Username 'Joker' registered]
[Quest fulfilled]
[Will you accept the reward 'beginner's item box'?]
"Accept!", he said and immediately afterwards a small box, looking like a birthday gift, appeared in front of him.
When he opened the box, a small light rose from the box, which turned into another notification window.
[Unique class detected, weapon choice granted]
"What?", Daniel was confused. A list of weapons appeared in front of him, with every weapon there was. He saw spears, axes, bows, staffs and every other bgeinner weapon that was available and after scrolling a bit he found what he was looking for. Swords! He now had the choice between a short sword, a long sword, a great sword and a bastard sword.
The differences between the choices would determine ones fighting style. In the past Daniel had been a master swordsman, he knew how to use all of these, now he had to pick the one he wanted to use. He immediately gave up the idea of using a great sword, as that would limit his speed to much and he was used to a quick fighting style. Out of the remaining choices he picked the bastard sword. A bastard sword could be used with either one or two hands, which gave Daniel more choices during battle. The bastard sword was lighter than long swords, which made it possible to be used with one hand, but also heavier than short swords, so it would deal more damage. The combat style he preferred was using it in combination with a shield, tossing the shield aside and using the sword with both hands if necessary.
[Weapon choice accepted!]
[Beginner's bastard sword granted]
The window turned into a light, which then turned into the bastard sword that he grabbed out of the air. It was a regular sword made from iron and he felt that it wasn't balanced very well, but it should be enough in the beginning.
Now it was time to check the items description, even though Joker knew it would be nothing special.
[Beginner's bastard sword]
Grade: normal (white)
A regular sword which can be used by beginner classes.
Joker knew that beginner items weren't very useful and that he could gather better items of higher quality, so he was not too disappointed.
Normal grade items had their names written in white letters and were the most common found items and usually had either one effect or none at all, like Joker's sword. They could be used for a long time, either until they broke or you found a better item, as there was no durability or level restriction on the item itself, just like there was no class restriction.
Magic items, whose item name was written in blue letters, were better. They could have more than one effect on them and could also be used by all character classes, with some exceptions, like some very specific items which could only be equipped by a specific class. Magic items were also the first rank of items, which could be part of a set. An item set could gain more effects, depending on the number of items the set had and the number of set items the user had equipped.
A grade beyond that were rare items, with yellow letters in their names. Rare items could have more and better effects on them than magic items, but rare items had some character restrictions. Depending on the item, you either needed to have the correct character class, high enough stats or both, in some cases. Most of Daniel's gear in the past had consisted of rare items, with the exception of two items, which were a grade higher.
Then there was epic ranked items, with purple letters in their names. Epic ranked items were so rare that some people had lived their lives withour ever having the chance to see one of these. In his previous life Daniel had acquired two epic ranked items by sheer luck. The first time he had seen the purple letters in the items description he had been overwhelmingly exited. Epic ranked items had unique names and were so rare and powerful, that different groups or guilds had gone to war to acquire them. If you acquired one, you needed to either shut up about it or have the strength to defend it. Daniel had known to keep quiet about it.
His exitement had been even bigger, when he had once seen a legendary ranked item, that one of his superiors in the past had used. The shield had been one of the biggest secrets in their guild and Daniel was told about it when he had become one of the elders of that guild. The golden letters and the amazing effects were incredible, but so were the restrictions to use it. Not only did you have to have the right character class and stats, but there was also a level restriction and in some cases you had to fulfill some task before you could use the item. Legendary items, just like epic items, were unique but so much more powerful. The difference between them could be described as the difference between a dog and a wolf, even though there were cases where an epic item was as strong as a legendary.
That was all the items ranks he knew of for sure, but he had heard that there was an item rank beyond that. He had heard that the rank beyond that was the highest anyone had ever seen, that it was called mythic and was supposed to have red letters. He had never seen a mythic ranked item, so he wasn't exactly sure if they really existed, but imagining items stronger than legendaries was hard for him.
The sun was slowly rising and Joker knew he could set out soon, so he went to get dressed. He chose a pair of knee ripped blue jeans, a simple black t-shirt and a pair of white sneakers, the ones who were his favorites in the past. He left his phone on the table. As all ways of communication were blocked by the system there wasn't any use of carrying it around anyway. He grabbed his cigarettes, a lighter and his keys before setting out.
"Let's do this!", he said, before opening the door and stepping out into the mess the world had become..