After turning on the headset, Hegen saw his vision fade to dark before appearing in a small cabin with a timer. The timer was counting down from 5 minutes, and he realized that this was the timer announcing how long was left until the game servers opened.
After waiting for the timer to count down, his vision faded to dark again before he saw a war scene. Judging by what he had read in the manual, he surmised that this was the tutorial scene that laid down the storyline for the new players. There were battles between varying humanoid species, monsters versus humans, and even humans against one another.
After the short scene ended, he was greeted by an angelic-looking figure behind many more miniature figures and a slight holographic popup in front of him.
[Please select a class]
Without any hesitation, he selected the Mage class. Although he was predominantly geared toward melee combat, Hegen knew very well that melee alone wouldn't be enough to win every fight.
[Please state a name out loud]
"Hegen"
"Very well, Hegen. Welcome to the Whispers of Elysia!"
Following this small popup, his view distorted before slowly becoming focused inside a small building.
In front of Hegen was a popup listing his character's statistics.
[Name: Hegen
Race: Human
Titles: N/A
Level: 0
Exp: 0/100
Skills: N/A
Strength: 10
Vitality: 10
Agility: 8
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 8
Free Attribute Points: 0]
'It seems my cultivation does indeed transfer over.'
Hegen knew that an average human would start with 5 for every stat and a peak human would have 10 for every stat. So, after familiarizing himself with his panel, he looked around and observed the building he was in.
There were people bustling about inside the building, all wearing mage robes. Looking down at his attire, it seemed so was he. There was also an older man sitting on an antique rocking chair, seemingly dozing off.
"Greetings, elder. I am Hegen and am wondering if you have any advice for me?"
The man slowly looked up and stared for a while before finally acknowledging him.
"So you're here to become a mage? Very well then, go to the fields and bring me 10 boar tusks and I shall help you on your path to becoming a legendary mage."
[Quest Received: The First Step
Rank: F
Description: The first quest on your journey to becoming a mage!
Task: Collect 10 Boar tusks
Reward: +1 Uncommon weapon, +200 exp]
After the old man said his spiel, he went back to napping.
'Well that wasn't much help, how are new players supposed to get boar tusks without a magic skill?'
With this thought in mind, Hegen made his way out of the building. Exiting, he noticed himself near the center of a small rustic village. Players ran from building to building, trying to get an early advantage against their fellow players.
Hegen, however, unbothered by the frantic actions of the players, left the town by the exit on the outskirts. Now, Hegen truly was surprised as there were even more players outside the village than inside. Moreover, they all seemed to be in parties of 3 or more players for one boar.
'Really? Are these monsters truly so difficult to face alone?'
Hegen didn't think these small boars were so challenging to face, but to test his thinking, he made his way toward a boar that nobody was killing yet. Finally, after collecting his thoughts, he walked close enough for the boar to notice him, prompting it to instantly charge toward him.
Hegen was unbothered and swiftly sidestepped the boar's attack before landing a solid punch on the boar's side. After the hit connected, he noticed a small health bar appear above the boar's head.
[Boar (Fodder): Lvl 1
HP: 75/100]
'So much damage with a single attack, they really aren't tough at all! I should try to create some skills while I'm at it.'
Shortly after he finished strategizing what ability to create first, the boar charged once more. This time, however, instead of sidestepping the boar, Hegen firmly planted both feet on the ground and struck out with a flurry of punches, stopping the boar in its tracks.
Following the boar's death, a flurry of messages appeared in front of Hegen.
[System: Boar (Fodder): Lvl 1 killed.
+10 exp, +1 Boar's Tusk.]
[Congratulations on creating a new skill! Please choose a name for your skill!]
Without hesitation, Hegen titled the skill, 'The 9 Trigram Fists.' This was a skill that many practitioners from his original world learned when they were starting out so he only saw it fitting to start in a similar fashion.
[Congratulations on creating the skill, 'The 9 Trigram Fists.' (Rank C).]
[Congratulations on being the first player to create a skill D-Rank or better! Would you like to broadcast your name? Yes/No]
Hegen immediately selected no as he didn't want to stand out too early on. There would come a time for the world to know his name but now was not that time.
[Congratulations to Player 'Anonymous' for creating the first D-rank or higher skill. Rewarding with +1000 exp, +10 Attribute Points, +Title: He Who Creates.]
After this announcement was sent to every player, there was only one thought shared by most players.
'God D*mn that's fast!'