Above each pod there was a light indicating it's current condition. Green meant it was unoccupied, red meant it was occupied and yellow meant that it needed to be cleaned, although for now there was no yellow light.
Leon just grabbed a random one that was free and climbed inside, the hole was pretty spacious so he didn't have any trouble getting in. He pressed a button and the pod closed on him, his vision turning dark.
It felt a bit similar to when he had met god, before he knew it he was floating in a dark space with an altar in front of him. It immediately brought back some bad memories as he shuddered for a moment.
' I might need therapy but if I tell them I met god it might just make things worst.'
He sighed as he approached the altar, a familiar yet unfamiliar blue screen appeared in front of him.
[Welcome to Tales Eternal! In Tales Eternal there is multiple worlds, each filled with their own tales to be completed by the players in whatever way they want. Each tales affect its own world in some ways, sometimes even affecting other worlds.
This mean that players will be competing against each others to create their own adventures. With that in mind please create your character.]
Leon was already aware of the base concept of the game, in a broad sense it could be called an MMORPG however the Azur company created this game based on the tabletop game called dungeons and dragons.
This mean that the focus was more about creating stories than simply constantly killing monsters to become stronger. Killing monsters was still an important part of the game but completing tales was the main objective.
The slogan of the game was " A tale written by humanity to be sung for all eternity", which was pretty inspiring. Everyone hoped to leave a mark in history, something to be remembered by and this game offered just that.
Leon looked at the list of classes that were available, carefully reading them since the only way to change his class was to start over from the beginning.
There was 12 class to choose from, barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, engineer, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, soldier, sorcerer and wizard.
He had planned to be a wizard or a sorcerer but a paladin seemed to fit perfectly with the idea of a magic swordsman. Clerics and bards weren't bad choices either since they could heal themselves however they had a bit more restrictions too.
The cleric would have to pray to his god to be able to cast spells while the bard would have to play music, both didn't really sound appealing to Leon.
Paladin was just as weird but a bit more manageable. They didn't have to pray all the time, instead they had oaths to follow. They had to think of those oaths at all times to make sure to not break them, something like always helping the weak, never harming the innocents, never lying and so on.
While paladin looked enticing in the end Leon was playing this game to be free in a way, to be restricted at all time would just be counterproductive.
He decided to pick the wizard class simply because they had access to more spells and they had more mana.
As for the next part he had already planned everything else in advance. He had a pretty large list of basic spells he could chose from however at level 1 he could only bring 4 cantrips, which were weak spells that required no mana to cast, and 3 tier 1 spells per tale.
He would still be able to change to the spells he didn't pick in between tales so this choice wasn't too important, he chose a few utility spells then a few damage spells with various effects, prioritizing crowd control effects since he was planning on playing solo.
There was many races, all of which had different special abilities and stats, but Leon picked the human race.
Humans started with less stats overall but they could place them anywhere they wanted, as for their ability they could chose between a list of special skills.
Those special skills could be earned in the game by completing special tales or a player could exchange 4 stat points in exchange for one but overall they were just as strong as they were hard to obtain and it was the main reason Leon picked human as his race.
The skill he wanted was called magical warp, by channeling the skill for 5 seconds he could change the element type of his next attack or magic into any basic element. As a wizard this would definitely be useful in many situations.
The stats took him a bit more time to decide, there was a few stats that wouldn't be useful for him in combat but that could still help him in other situations however it was better to play to his strength than trying to be a jack-of-all-trades. He distributed his stats just like he had planned.
[ Please enter your character's name. Please be warned that the residents of Tales Eternal might not appreciate ridiculous nickname so think carefully before choosing.]
Leon didn't have to think for too long for that one, he just went with his usual username. He typed in 'Lionheart' and confirmed his choice. His parents did very few things right in regard to Leon but he always liked the name that they gave him because it sounded like lionheart, by giving himself this nickname he had always reminded himself to be brave.
[ Are you sure this is the character you wish to play with?
Name: Lionheart Race: human
Class: Wizard Subclass: none
Health: 70/70 Mana: 7/7
Strength: 10 Dexterity: 15
Constitution: 14 Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 10
Skill: Magical warp
Cantrip: Earth manipulation, ice spike, lightning spark, Light trick
tier 1 spell: Detect danger, Thorn lock, Wind rush ]
Mages had few defensive options so Leon decided to invest into dexterity which gave him some dodge chance. Constitution only gave health but it was something that every class needed and intellect was the main wizard stat that would make his magic stronger and more accurate.
He confirmed his choice then soon after the dark space was filled with hundreds of images of all kind. Another game window appeared to tell him how to choose a tale. It also explained that he could give up on any tale but anything that he had earned during that tale would be taken back.
With a simple movement of his finger he could browse through thousands of tales, it was impossible to read about all of them and those were only the ones recommended for level 1 players. There was also the possibility of forming a party or to be grouped with random players but Leon never really had luck with people so he ignored that.
At the moment there was only a single thought in his mind.
' With so many tale I wonder what a gem of luck can do?'
He was also curious to see if his system would work inside of a game so he tried to summon the shop and sure enough the window appeared in front of him.
' I hope nobody else see this thing or I might get into trouble.'
He was a bit nervous but either way he was sure that the system would appear by itself inside of the game even if he didn't do this so it was better to know in advance. He would look at the record of his gameplay later to see if the game could see his system but for now he had something else to do.
He looked at the selection of gems and he decided on buying the strongest one with the shortest duration.
[ Concentrated gem of pure luck.
A gem contained the luckiest aura of luck, concentrated together to amplify its effect at the cost of a very short duration.
Effect duration after breaking the gem: 5 minute of extreme luck
Cost: 150 favor points]
He had no plan to try and win the lottery, he doubted that a single instance of luck would win it. What he was planning was a bit more simple.
He activated the gem from inside of his inventory then he made the tales around him spin at full speed before closing his eyes. After a moment or two he simply stretched his finger randomly to select a tale. When he opened his eyes one of the images was enlarged, showing a mountain that looked like a sleeping dragon.
It was called ' The tale of a broken sword' and the only information on it was the restrictions and a simple recommendation. The player's level would be restricted to level 1 and all equipment apart from clothes couldn't be used for the duration of the tale. It recommended at least one magical player in the team.
At the very least it seemed to fit Leon's current condition perfectly, he was already level 1 and he had no equipment. He had no way of knowing if the gem of luck worked but considering that he was a wizard it did no harm to try this tale.
He quickly chose to start the tale, refusing to be paired with teammates. The world around him soon changed into a gloomy open plain. The sky was a sad grey and the grass seemed to lack vitality. After looking a bit further ahead he saw something that looked like a city.
Giant walls that seemed to have a frame made out of giant monster's bones, some intimidating white parts stuck out of the bricks, creating something that seemed like a spike wall. It didn't look friendly at all but for now it was his only lead to the broken sword handle so he made his way toward the gate.