"Alright, no take backs now... You already made the choice days before entering the game, so don't get cold feet now..." Ashton whispered to himself, as he was staring at the entrance of the small church building in front of him. The path he was intending to walk for was the path of a healer and if someone from the future were to ask him the reason for taking that path, when he could walk the same path as before, but with a much better stat distribution, he would answer as such: "Being a healer is a lot easier than being a vanguard fighter."
Ashton was a man who would always try make his work as easy as possible, since he was incapable of performing complicated actions and he knew that it would be no different in the past, since he was born with such a disadvantage. If it were on his normal day-to-day life, it would barely inconvenience him, but in this game, half a second was more than enough of a difference to turn the battle around, so for him whose reactions were delayed by an entire second, it was even more dangerous for him, especially if he were to fight in the frontlines. Aside from that, the other reason was due to the fact that during the first patch, there wouldn't be many healers and that way, he would guarantee himself the capability to join any party he wanted.
Now, he could have chosen the path to go solo, but there were three major issues that made that option impossible. The first reason was the way enemies worked during the first year and since the game was called Teamfighters Online, the main thing about this game was, obviously, teamwork through many people working together and the way they did it was through giving enemies a 300% stat buff, when fighting players on 1v1 battles, a 200% stat buff in 1v2 and a 100% stat buff in 1v3. Basically, the developers forced the parties to be 4 people large, as a way to "create teamwork".
Even if the enemy stat buff was taken into account, it wouldn't be too much of a problem, as long as he made his character in such a way to be able to handle enemies far stronger than him, but that would lead to another problem and the second reason, no experience gain. He would still be able to get items from enemies, but no experience would mean that he wouldn't be able to grow his stats and currently, the more stats he had, the stronger he could be, even as a healer. Not only that, even if he were to join with some solo player who is a close-combat genius, the amount of exp he would gain would be substantially lower, than if he were to join a team of 4 or 5 and making a party of 3 is no different than a party of 2.
Since going solo wasn't an option currently, he would have to join a team, but he wouldn't join whatever party he would lay his eyes on. The last reason and one of the many things he also needed currently, was some sort of backing for the future and if he needed to do that, he would need to do it through the role that would be the scarcest of all, the healers. He intended to join into one of the professional teams or guilds, while their main members hadn't been decided and get himself a free-of-sorts, ticket to much easier life
As far as he had seen though, he hadn't seen any familiar or popular names, so he didn't know if any of them had joined, since one of the things he knew about the first version, was the fact that there was only one starting town in the entire world and it wasn't known how many or if any big names had joined the game yet, since most of them were still focused in other VR games currently. For now though, he decided to focus on getting his preparations and the first thing he needed to do was to gain his first skill and specialty stat, as he gathered his courage and entered the church.
The church itself wasn't anything to special to talk about. There was a tall statue of an angel at the end of the main room, rows of chairs and 3 people in the church, those being an old priest in black robes and two nuns in similar clothing. One would think that talking with either the priest or any of the nuns would provide you with a healing spell, but all 3 of them provide a different skill and not only them, but all of the NPCs provide their own unique skill, but there weren't too many of them, so the total number of all those skills, would amount to around 30 different skills.
"Welcome. May the goddess bless your path. How may I help you?" One of the two nuns spoke politely with a bow, as she saw Ashton enter the church.
"Good morning sister, may the goddess bless your path as well. I request to learn a healing ability." Ashton responded politely with his own bow as well.
"I understand. Do you wish to learn how to heal one's wounds in the heat of the battle, or during your travels?" The nun asked kindly, as she was waiting for Ashton's response.
"I request for the ability to heal during the heat of the battle." Ashton answered calmly.
"Understood. To learn how to do that, you should speak with the other sister, but if you change your mind, you are free to request the ability to heal on the field from me. May the goddess bless your day." The nun explained kindly once again.
"Thank you for your help sister. May the goddess your day as well." Once Ashton finished his conversation with the first nun, he went towards the second nun, who was currently cleaning one of the windows.
"Good morning. May the goddess bless your path. I've heard from my sister that you wish to learn the ability to heal, even during the heat of combat. Are you sure you wish to learn this ability?" The other nun greeted and responded in a slightly more mysterious tone, as a panel appeared in front of Ashton.
[Do you wish to learn the spell: Lesser Heal?]
[YES] [NO]
"I'm sure of it, since I intend to learn this ability." Ashton responded politely, as he nodded.
"Understood. With the goddess as my witness, may this man learn the ability to heal the man in combat." The nun responded with a serious tone, as her hand glowed with a golden light that washed over Ashton.
"Thank you sister. May the goddess bless your heart for you kindness." Ashton thanked her, after getting the prompt that told him he obtained the spell.
"You are welcome and free to return, should you ever need our services. May the goddess bless your path to glory." The nun responded with a bow, just before Ashton left. After Ashton left though, both nuns said something he wouldn't have expected to hear:
"May the goddess bless your path."
"May the goddess bless your soul."
"So she may be saved from her woes."
"We will be awaiting for the day of your return."
"I'll be waiting for you, Ashton."