*Flash*
After the white flash of light finally faded away directly in front of me stood a post apocalyptic scene from the medieval era.
Bodies of soldiers and civilians alike littered the streets, the air was filled with the acrid scent of iron and decay as the streets ran with blood, and excrement.
As I stood there in the square taking in the scene around me, pillars of light were constantly going off as the other players likewise began to sign in.
A new world, but really this is pretty shocking for the setting of the beta to be set at the end of the world from the looks of it... though I guess we did get chosen simply because we wanted to play in Hell Mode so I guess this is more like Hell on Earth, or rather Elysium.
Though with a setting such as this it's going to be thrilling for all the battle junkies who turn up, but as for me I'm a crafter so i should probably get started figuring out how to craft.
True to my limitations the only things on my person were a simple hemp shirt, and pants, and a pair of sandals.
Well it's only the start of the game so it's not like even beginner equipment is going to be worth all that much anyway.
So lets start investigating this game then.
With that i took off from the square as the other players were all starting to form up combat groups and discussing where they would head off to battle first.
Some groups were even being lead off by the NPC's who bore such a relieved look on their faces it was hard to believe they were simply a complex AI program.
"Status"
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"Menu"
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Hmm nope nothing I can find to open up my status screen and give me a character overview... maybe it's cause that's not being said in Elder Tongue... but is that really a form of magic?
Or perhaps I need a sort of Appraisal tool in order to view it.
Might be difficult if that's the case since I'd need to make one myself in order for it to work.
Having reached the edge of the city I was greeted with a platoon of armored guards standing at the ready, as I headed my way through the gate one of the men stepped forward to impede my journey.
"Just where do you think you're going? Don't you know we're at war kid?"
Kid?
Taking a quick look around i realized that my game avatar was that of around a 14-15 year old kid, though i guess since i chose an Elf type the age could be much greater.
"He's a long ear so you know that's not a kid, just let him go out to his death, looks like he's from the slums anyway, the less mouths to feed the better i say!"
"Oh yeah right sorry about that, you're free to pass through the gate but when coming back through if you bring monsters or anything else that could bring harm to the city with you we will cut you down along with them just so you are aware"
With that I didn't say a single word to the armed men, as I passed through the gate and entered the abyss that awaited beyond the stone wall, and heavy wooden gate.
Having only just walked through the gate what spread out before my line of sight was a hellscape, in orders of magnitude grander than the hell that was present in the center of the city.
The land itself was scorched black as if a great fire had raged through the entire area, the remains of trees stood in the distance as the charred husks loomed.
"Well not a lot to choose from i guess, so best to collect whatever I can find and then figure out what i can craft with it. Since it's the beginning of the game I should shoot for wood or stone equipment until i can get my hands on some Copper, bronze or iron.
Approaching the remains of the forest i scanned the forest floor looking for branches or logs that had yet to be reduced to charcoal, while at the same time picking up small and mid sized stones. along with plant materials that survived the scorched earth.
As my arms became laden with all manner of wood, rock, and plant life.
Having decided I'd collected enough for now, I found a larger boulder I could use as a worktable and set down my collected resources upon it.
Let's see... First up should be a Stone Knife, then next up would be a Stone Axe.
The knife for self defense, and the axe to assist me in collecting more wood.
Since the game system is not going to assist me, I started the laborious task of beat the rocks against one another in an attempt cause them to shatter into usable sharp pieces i could then use to sculpt the wood, and separate out the fibers of the reeds, and other plant material i could weave together to form a sort of rope or string.
Using all three of these components together should allow me to create a tool.
The hours passed as my work continued on, the beating of rocks was the worst of all the processes, countless rocks shattered in the wrong way or breaking down into to small of pieces that would be usable as arrow heads but not as knife, or axe components.
With that out of the way I finished my first pieces of work, a simple 6-inch stone dagger with a wooden cross-guard hilt, and a hatchet sized stone axe.
Neither of these will last for long as their durability is really low since they are only just bonded together with plant based string.
With my new meager equipment i continued my self imposed quest into the wild yonder.
Gripping my hatchet in one hand while my new knife was inserted into the simple rope belt i fashioned for myself.
The further away from the city i got the worse things looked, but far off in the distance there was some simple signs of greenery so with that as my goal i set off in search of new materials to strength myself with.
As i made my journey in the distance i could hear the various battlecrys and sounds of combat emerging, no doubt the other thousands of players had started their heroic march cutting swathes of blood out of the monsters or even npc's surrounding the city.
Well nothing there for me except to perhaps scavenge the corpses after they've taken what they want.
Could possibly use the bones in place of wood and stones.
Depending on the monsters their bones might well be stronger than that of the wood and stones of this area.
As my mind wandered around thinking about various things i finally arrived at the green area, there finally were lush trees with ample amounts of foliage.
Let's see what do i need first, since I've already got an axe, and knife next up should probably be something to help me with hauling more materials like a luggage rack, or a bag.
But given the materials the luggage rack is going to be my limit since trying to cross weave a bag would be difficult, though if I could manage it I might be able to do a simple form of basket weaving.