A hiss accompanied the light as my pod opened up. "Welcome back, Mr. Morningstar.
We have established a connection with the player set up under your account. Here is your tablet with your stat info. We hope to have you continue with us at Adventure Online."
I took the tablet. Sure enough, my starting stats and information was blinking at me from the Plexiglas frame with a bronze border.
My character profile was blank. My levels and class levels were visible and my skill list had a tab for opening it to view them.
*All new students, please make your way to the Auditorium for Orientation.*
The announcement rang out from a speaker in the ceiling of my apartment. "Please make your way to the Auditorium, Mr. Morningstar."
I quickly walked out of my apartment and into a hallway filled with the other students. I guessed that this was the first year students because they all looked frightened and shell shocked.
I was already forming a game plan. I would party up with Persephone so we could communicate outside of the game, and I'm guessing that school grades depend on our progress in the game.
The Auditorium was one big ass theater. A man in his early 40s was standing on the stage with five students. I'm guessing they were the top students in the graduating class.
"Welcome First years, to Rising Star Academy, where stars are born. We will teach you the fundamentals of the game world we live in. It's up to you as to which direction you wish to go. Classes will consist of Daily quests to be completed as assignments, any class specific quests will be counted as extra credit. We don't have a favorite student or a student council. All students are monitored by an assigned mentor. There is only one mentor per student. Their job is to guide you and answer any questions about the game. We can't give out quest information or class specific information. That is up to the student to figure out. Group messages can only be shared within your party or Guild if you joined one. Guild members can see where their fellow guild members are located. Party members can use a phone interface for better communication and coordination."
A hand was raised. "What if you play solo?"
"Solo players are required to complete group assignments in the form of raids if or when they are announced. No one is allowed to solo a dungeon or party quest."
The man then went on to explain how quests are received.
We had to either speak to the NPCs or look at the quest board in the guild hall.
"Next, we will assign you to your dorm based on which guild you joined"
There was a commotion as we were called one by one to stand behind on of the five students on stage.
"Mordecai Morningstar, Silver Wolf Guild, come up and stand behind me!"
A tall woman with silver hair and grey eyes spoke. I stood up and walked towards the stage. People whispered around me.
"That's the heir to the Morningstar fortune."
"Some say their wealth was stolen from nobles long ago and they amassed more wealth by scamming people."
"He looks so handsome!"
"Damnit! I'm not in his guild!"
I ignored the whispers and looked for Persephone. She was standing nearby. I nodded to her once. She nodded back then looked forward again.
I was behind the woman now and looking out at the crowd of people. "Persephone Olympus! Come up here!"
Persephone stood and walked towards us. From the look of pure confusion on the rest of the students faces, I guessed nobody else joined a guild.
A blonde man beside me chuckled. "Dumbasses probably didn't know they could join a guild when they went into the hall. Idiots."
The man in his 40s spoke again.
"If your name wasn't called, next week will be another class Orientation for those who didn't join a guild to be offered the opportunity to join one. But note that the guilds present today will not be present next week." The faces fell with that last statement.
Mentors will be reassigned to better assist their student. Now, go forth and explore!"
"Follow me kids!"
The woman shouted to us and we hurried after her.
"Alright kids, I'm Your Teacher and Guild Master, Silver Wolfe, you can call me Ms. Wolfe. Our dorm is a shared house. Play time is only at night, class time will consist of status revisions and how to work the tablet. I can't tell you which quests are good or bad and I can't tell where to allocate your points. I can help you learn how to work your tablet, which is connected to your game pod. There is only one game in the pod. Adventure Online. No new games are allowed. Updates are once a month depending on how well you progress through the game. You fellow guild members will not be helping you with year one quests.
Guild promotions are purely game based. Depending on how well you do in game is how well you do in real life."
Ms. Wolfe walked fast and talked faster. She told us the guild rules and how breaking the rules will be an automatic termination from the guild and if severe enough the Academy.
The house we were assigned to was a three story log cabin with a stone foundation and a fountain in the front. She walked us into the massive living room. A giant stone hearth sat in the center of a circle made from over stuffed armchairs and sofas. "Room assignments, Mordecai, your on the second floor, third on the left of the stairwell, Persephone, the third from the right on the third floor. Girls and boys are only allowed to meet in the common area, no privet meetings allowed in rooms. Your stuff as already been sent over. You have your tablets?" We both nodded.
"Good. Here." She tossed us two wrist watches. "These sync to your tablet to monitor your health while inside or outside of the game. You can increase stats in game or even outside the game. By doing specific daily activities, such as running or studying. Each stat point coincides with an activity. Choose them wisely because those will be you class assignments. I want you both to increase each one of your stats in the real world by five points. You have one week."
She then made us Open our tablets and show her our stats.
"Mordecai, focus on raising your strength, defense and dexterity, get them all up by five points. Persephone, you need to bring up your strength and defense, just because you're a mage class doesn't mean you need to be a glass cannon. With a high enough strength stat you can wield a sword and use magic." Miss Wolfe stood up then. "Alright, that's as far as I'll go today. You have full use of the house, including the library and gym. I suggest you make use of them." She left us to ourselves after that.
"Those other classmates are so screwed." I commented to the air.
"Why do you say that, Cai?" I raised a brow at the nickname. She blushes but said nothing.
"Because, Seph, they have a disadvantage. They won't have access to the required curriculum for a full week, where as we will have a significant jump in base stats by the time they catch up. She gave us one week to increase our stats, I say we do it in one day."
"But we have to log in tonight to make a grade today."
"Yes. We have all day to push our limits, then meet up tonight at the guild hall for lessons."
Persephone nodded, finally understanding what I'm asking her to do. "But don't just work on the specific stats she said, do all of them." I stood up and stretched. "Ill be in the gym if you need anything." She pulled out her tablet and synced her watch up to it. I did the same thing and put it on.
It blinked a couple of times then my base stats appeared on the small screen.
[Name: Mordecai Ferdilance Morningstar
Hp: 100
Mp: 50
Str: 15
Def:10
Dex:15
Stamina: 50
Int: 50
Luck: 25]
Under that was my heart rate and O2 levels.
I grinned. "Time to grind."
For one full day I pushed my body to its physical limits then read everything I could on the game that was in the library. I discovered that once I reached a certain number of minutes on a specific task, a stat point for that task would be added.
Running for one mile, +1 to Dex
Lifting 50lb weights for one hour, +1 to strength
Hitting a bag for one hour, +1 to strength.
Allowing Seph to hit me for one hour, + 1 to Defense.
Yoga poses for two hours, +1 to agility.
Reading any book for two hours, + 1 to intelligence.
Continuously running, +1 to stamina/ hour.
By the time I was done, I had increased every stat by five, except for luck. I still couldn't figure out how that was increased. I would have to ask Miss Wolfe about it when he met up with her in the game.
Persephone was no slouch either, she had also increased her stats to the required level by five points. I left her at her door and went into my room.
The room itself was plain, I guessed that this would change as I went. The bed was a queen size with a sleek black helmet attached to it by a cord. It was different from the first pod. A simple headset would be all I needed to dive into the game. A school uniform hung on the hook next to the closet. I opened the closet and placed it on the rack next to my other clothes. I then took out the black silk sleep pants and a towel. I went into the bathroom to wash up and get ready for to play.
Once I settled down on the bed and put on the helmet, the helmet started up the game.
*Welcome Back Player Mordecai Morningstar.*
[Name: Mordecai Ferdilance Morningstar
Hp: 100
Mp: 50
Str: 15
Def:10
Dex:15
Stamina: 50
Int: 50
Luck: 25
Sp:0
Guild Rank: Copper
Class: Archer
Level: 1/???
Exp: 0/100
SP: 5
Skills:
Shadow Walk- 5mp/sec (1/10): Can move between shadows within 5ft of you
Trap setting (1/10): Able to set basic snares
Trap detection (1/10): Able to detect traps within 5ft
Hide and Seek (1/10): Unnoticed as long as you are hidden well
Steal Skill (1/10): Can copy any level 1 skill for 1 use.
Sure shot (1/10): %.5 damage
Quick draw: %.5 loading speed
Long Shot: %.5 to total damage if target is 30ft away.
Sub-Class: Alchemist
Sub-Class: Blacksmith (1/10):
Repair: (1/10)
Light armor crafter (1/10)
Ranged weapon master (1/10)
Fletcher (1/10)]