In a humble village that looked completely ordinary, an abundance of people wielding different weapons and wearing various clothes could be seen roaming around.
Some wore witch-like hats while others were merely a pair of shorts while their chest was exposed. They carried dozens of types of swords that gave them an imposing look.
Jin Xing, just now entering the game, was amazed by such a scene.
"This is how a game should be! Despite the game being out for half a year now, there are still tons of people at the beginner village." As Jin Xing looked around, he noticed a screen.
[Welcome to Prism Online, Sage of Mysteries, Jin Xing! To get started, say 'Status Panel' or 'Help' for additional information.]
Thanks to Qing Lu shouted various pieces of information for a week straight, Jin Xing had no need for the help function as he already knew most of the basics and mechanics.
He quickly opened his status screen to see how his stats were arranged.
----
[User: Sage of Mysteries, Jin Xing.]
[Titles: None]
[Level: 1]
[Class: Mage] | [Subclass: None] | [Subclass 2: None]
[Bloodline: Divine Majester Bloodline(Divine Grade)]
[Health: 100]
[Mana: 200] (20x15)
[Strength: 10]
[Defense: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Stamina: 10]
[Dexterity: 10]
[Wisdom: 200] (20x10)
[Luck: 0]
[Stat Points: 10]
[Skills]
[To get your first skill, buy one from the shop in the village or create one in Independent Mode.]
----
Just as Jin Xing read on the forums, every player starts out with 10 stat points that they can randomly assign. And with every level up, the player gets 10 stat points, though 5 of them are deposited in the 5 primary stats.
In the middle of inspecting his status panel, Jin Xing froze as he noticed something he didn't expect. There was one page in particular on the official game website that he eagerly read up on.
Bloodlines. Every player started with a bloodline and it was randomly assigned. Not to mention there were no double bloodlines, so no one would have the same benefits as someone else.
Jin Xing jittered when he read his bloodline stat.
'Divine Grade?!' He thought as he recalled the universal rarity rankings for all items, classes, bloodlines, and everything in between.
Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Ancient, and Divine. Needless to say, the last 4 rarities were on the high-end side and any item with such a rarity would definitely sell for a pretty penny.
Jin Xing was overwhelmed with excitement but didn't show it on his face since he was surrounded by so many people. If he were to proclaim that he had a Divine-grade bloodline, who knows what would happen.
Thankfully, no one has been capable of hacking the game yet despite it coming out half a year ago. Although, that was expected by the masses since the game itself was a revolution.
Full-Dive gaming had been a fantasy in the hearts of many, and all of a sudden Prism Online appears, ushering a new wave of gaming into the world.
Everyone was hyped for such a game, and rather than trying to hack or exploit it, even the hackers put away their devices and decided to just enjoy the game.
It was like a second life for everyone after all.
Jin Xing had trouble finding the shop at first, but when he noticed a crowd of people around a certain building with a '$' sign on it, he approached the crowd immediately.
In the midst of looking for a spell to buy, he recalled the other option of getting skills.
'Independent Mode, was it?' Jin Xing opened his settings menu and tapped on the 'Modes' button. There were only two options available.
Assistive Mode, and Independent Mode. Jin Xing was reluctant to change modes since he wasn't keen on risky moves. But, since he already went and paid 2,500 dollars for a single game, he might as well keep the streak going.
"Okay, let's do this!" Jin Xing tapped the Independent Mode button and a screen appeared.
[Are you sure you want to enter Independent Mode? For some people, the difficulty of the game will increase tremendously while for others it will become more realistic. This is your only warning.]
Jin Xing suddenly felt uneasy when he read the message on the screen but eventually, he agreed to the change. After the screen disappeared and another one appeared, informing him of the successful change, he didn't notice anything different or new.
But when he moved, he felt strange energy located inside his entire body. From the tip of his fingers, to the tip of his toes, he could feel the energy coursing through him.
"So this is what mana is supposed to feel like? I've only played computer, mobile, and VR games so I couldn't get the best experience. But this is just amazing!"
Jin Xing was astounded and felt it was unbelievable that a random company managed to create such an amazing game like this.
'Prism Online is really a revolutionary game.' He thought in admiration as he left the shop and approached the training dummies that were contained by a small fence.
He saw an abundance of people practicing against the training dummies and was surprised.
"Most people ignore traning dummies games, so what's changed now?" Jin Xing said to himself. Someone next to him overheard his statement and chimed in.
"An announcement on the official website of the game was made yesterday concerning the traning dummies. Appearently, you can increase your classes's respective stat if you train against the dummies. Though, it takes longer and longer to increase the stat the more you train." The man said.
He had wavy blonde hair and sky blue eyes. Jin Xing was startled to discover that the man had heard what he said despite him muttering it.
The man looked as if he knew what Jin Xing was thinking and immediately explained.
"I'm an assassin and my senses are naturally hightened, which explains how I heard what you said." He had an amused expression on his face and thought of Jin Xing as a noob.
In reality, Jin Xing was just dumbfounded at how realistic Prism Online was. After talking with the man for a few more minutes, Jin Xing approached one of the training dummies.
He stood there for a moment before realizing he was in realistic mode and had no skills. Jin Xing felt embarrassed for a moment before closing his eyes and channeling the mana in his body.
Since he was an avid reader of manga and chinese novels(manhua), he knew how the process of manipulating mana was performed. He strictly followed the instructions he'd commonly see in novels and eventually produced a small fireball.
Just as he did this, a screen appeared.
[A new skill has been created, what do you wish to name it?]
"Fireball!" Jin Xing said.
[Name set successfully to Fireball. Check your status panel to see additional information for the skill. Or you can say 'Skills' to see only your skills.]
"Skills!" Jin Xing was in a good mood after discovering that his way of going about manipulating mana was indeed the correct way to do it. A screen then appeared listing his skills.
[Skills]
[Fireball] : [Conjure a fireball made of mana that can fire at the selected enemy. Does 150% of the user's total WISDOM stat. 150% chance to cause the burn effect. Requires 20 mana to use this skill.]
Jin Xing was surprised by the increase in mana per usage of the skill. He then realized that the amount changed based on how much mana it took for him to conjure the skill.
"In theory, if I managed to cast the skill with only 1 mana, that's how much the mana requirement for the skill would be fixed at." He became jittery at the thought of casting devastating skills without using nearly a lot of mana.
Jin Xing immediately began casting the skill and aiming it at the training dummy. He shot the fireball out and when it hit the training dummy, it caught on fire just as the skill said.
"This must be because I'm in Independent Mode. If I were in the Assitive Mode, I bet the effect chance would be fixed and unchangeable."
After casting the skill a few more times, he finally realized how much more powerful it was than the fixed skill he observed in the shop. In the shop, the fireball skill would only deal 50% of the user's total WISDOM stat, yet Jin Xing's fireball did more than double that!
He was utterly delighted and continued to spam his skill over and over and watched in ecstasy as his mana stat went up over time.
[Mana + 10]
[Wisdom + 10]
[Mana + 10]
[Wisdom + 10]
[Mana + 10]
[Wisdom + 10]
Thanks to the effect of his bloodline, the original +1 Mana he should have received was multiplied by ten each time. As Jin Xing was lost in farming the training dummy, he felt someone touch his shoulder and he looked back.
To his surprise it was a familiar face, and name as well.
"Shadow of the Night, Lin Mei!"
"I see you've already started farming the training dummies. The others are on their way, they were reading up on the forums a bit. Trying to find any potential good hunting spots." She explained as she walked over to one of the training dummies next to Jin Xing.
"I bet I'll surpass you in stats in a single hour by farming this dummy. I have the aid of an...overpowered bloodline, on my side!" Lin Mei boasted. She made sure to whisper it ever so slightly into Jin Xing's ears.
She knew there were multiple assassins mixed with the crowd that had enhanced senses.