After Cherry left, the declared Player 46 equiped her Arcane Spellbook. The book slotted itself onto a satchel attached to her waist. Picking the leather bound book up, its stats appeared on a small transparent screen ahead.
Item: Arcane Spellbook
Rarity: Starter
Lvl: 1
Description: A beginner spellbook best suited for those inclined to the arcane.
Spells: Arcane Burst, Rune of Containment, Runic Shield.
Arcane Burst: Comet-shaped missile which deals damage.
Mana cost: 30 MP
Damage: 40 HP
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Rune of Containment: Craft a runic circle which restricts and damages the creatures inside.
Mana cost: 40 MP
Damage: 5 HP per second
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Runic Shield: Envelop yourself in a dome-like shield which defends you for a certain amount of damage.
Defense time: 10 seconds
Damage negation: 50 HP
Mana cost: 30 MP
Cooldown: 25 seconds
'So theres a pure damage spell, a bind of sorts and a defensive spell. With high mana costs but high damage and versatility is a secent trade off at least.' Elya thought. She dismissed the stats and opened the book.
It was written in a sprawling runic language which she could not read except for the title which was the first spell: Arcane Burst. The next two pages were the other spells, and the rest was blank.
Walking through street after street, she noticed plenty of players
-identifiable from their starter clothes- talking and recieving quests from NPCs, most likely to recieve a bloodline.
As she wandered around for someone or something to catch her eye, she saw a radiant man. Enshrouded in ethereal light with large white wings covered in feathers, standing on a patio of a large wooden house. Most likely the largest in the town.
'An angel! I need that bloodline!' Elya hurried towards her however before she could take another step, she was harshly shoved into an dark dingy alley way by a beautiful girl.
Hitting her head harshly on the ground, she lay there dazed for a couple of seconds. By the time, she realised what had happened, she shot up and saw the angelic man and the girl talking excitedly.
"That was my chance!" She whispered, clenching her fists harsly together. She sat back down on the floor, hiding her head in her legs.
An angel bloodline would let her rise in the world. It would be influential. No matter if it was good or not. People would want a person with angelic blood to be on their teams.
'I will remember you and I will crush you one day' She cursed.
"Your chance for what? A good bloodline? My child, I could provide you with a much rarer one." Turning around, the black-haired girl spotted an old greying woman step out the shadows. A cane supporting her weight.
Slowly, the woman wobbled forwards, her shining gold eyes illuminating the area. Offering her hand out, a dim golden light emitted from it.
Grasping the hand, three
consecuative notifications from the system rang out. At the same time, the fragile-looking woman pulled her up.
'You have recieved a bloodline quest'
'You have completed the first quest: Gaining a bloodline.
Reward: Map of the town and its surroundings.'
'You have recieved an item'
"I need you to go and get something for me. There is a gem dropped from mid-level demons, which has somehow found itself in the den of wolves. If you get me that gem I'll reward you greatly." She detailed the quest before turning around and walking away.
"What bloodline is it?" Elya called out but the woman ignored the question completely.
"I've already marked the location on your map" As she spoke, the shadows she stepped in seemed to blur and she vanished.
'Bloodline quest: Acquire the Blood-soaked ruby guarded by mundane wolves in their den
Reward: 1000 EXP and the Bloodline: ???????'
'Even the quest is hiding it from me. Is that a bad or a good sign? Time to find out' She decided.
Going in her inventory, she equiped the map and looked at the marked path towards the cave. Unsuprisingly, the town and the area around it was quite small. The trek to the cave was around an hour walk with not much danger on the way there.
In order to reach the mountains which the cave lay at the bottom of, you had to cross through the ratsfield. Which, true to its name, was a field infested with low level rats, which are abnormally large but other than that have no other dangerous traits.
Elya left the alley and made her way out of town. Heading west towards the mountains. 'Shadow something. What's a shadow bloodline? Is it something to do with shadows or can she just use shadows as magic. Does she even need to be the same race to gift me it? Probably right?
She has gold eyes. Maybe it's something to do with eyes. Seeing the future? Am I going to become an oracle. She's an old woman. That'd be too cliche.' As she was pondering, she neared the outskirts of the town, staring at the fields and the distant mountains ahead. The sun had begun setting, weirdly in the north in this world, illuminating the fields in a purple ray.
'Should I wait until morning? No I can't. I spent too much time wandering around, I need to get ahead not fall behind.' She reminded herself. Stepping off the town's cobbled path and onto the grass.