Emerilia Box Set, page 4
part #1 of Emerilia Series
Passive Skill: Perception
Level: Novice level 3
Effect: 9% chance to find hidden details.
His Stamina wasn’t all that impressive, but it was good enough to get him to Darryl’s without coughing up a lung.
An older-looking human, with spectacles on the end of his nose, sat behind a desk. He looked up as Dave walked in.
The place was filled with books all over the walls. Shelves bowed with their weight.
“Can I help you?” Darryl asked.
“Brenna sent me. Said that you might help me with a map?” Dave asked.
“Caves, trolls, dungeons, and loot, huh?” Darryl looked tired.
“I was looking more for settlements, looking for a place to settle down away from this all,” Dave said.
“Ah, a man after my own heart.” Darryl tapped his lips in thought. “Well, I might have two things for you then.” He moved around the store, pulling out a book and then a scroll.
“This Map of the Traveler scroll is imbued with magical currents. Once you look at it, a map will appear in your vision; you can manipulate the map with thought. When you look at other maps, they can be added to the one that you see. With a thought, they can disappear. Now this, sir dwarf, is a rare gem. The Book of Surveyor. It will allow you to look at a map and possibly see more than you hoped. Possibly a vein of material, or well of magic. This skill is more potent the higher the level you achieve, how updated the map is, or if you are looking at an area. Simply looking around an area from an unobscured vantage point might add new symbols to your map,” Darryl said.
So books can give skills as well as magical spells. Coolio! I need that friggin’ book.
“It costs three gold pieces; the map five silver,” Darryl said before Dave could open his mouth.
Well, that cuts into the reserves some!
“Together that is three gold and three silver.” Darryl’s fingers traced over the cover of the Surveyor’s book.
Dave scratched his head in thought, weighing the pros and cons.
Darryl let out a laugh. “Oh, I’m sorry, lad—should have seen your face! Don’t worry, we’ll do normal price—one gold coin. Those travelers deserve the fleecing they get for the damage they cause. Sorry about that.” Darryl was still smiling. “Couldn’t resist.”
“No worries.” Dave smiled. The NPCs charge people more if they think they’re a Player? So, what the hell do they think I am?
“Here you are.” Darryl put the items on the table. Dave dropped a gold coin into the man’s hand. It disappeared into his robes.
Darryl pushed over the two items. Dave opened the Book of Surveyor first. The first page was normal; then pages just seemed to rush by as his mind filled with knowledge. Finally, the book stopped; the rear of the book slammed shut and turned into ash that floated upward and disappeared into nothing.
New Active Skill: Surveyor
You are a creature of the land; you look upon it and its secrets become facts to you. Sometimes.
Level: Novice level 1
Effect: 5% chance to see surrounding landmarks.
Range: 530 m
Cost: 5 Stamina/second.
“Nice.” Dave grinned, and opened the Map of the Traveler.
Map of the Traveler
Do you want to access the Map of the Traveler? Imbuing its magical circuits to your body for all of eternity?
Y/N
“Come to Daddy,” Dave said, pressing the ‘yes’ at the same time. Light glowed as the scroll opened all the way. It blinded him for a few seconds. When his sight returned, he saw a map in the top right corner of his sight.
He moved the image around with a thought and noticed that the map on the scroll moved as well.
“That’s neat,” Dave said, able to move the larger map with mental commands. He noticed something, as though something wasn’t quite wrong, yet not quite right. He zoomed in on it. The sense got stronger as he reached an area in what looked like the middle of nowhere. It looked like some kind of structure.
Quest: What Lies Below
You’ve found something of interest on your map. It might just be an odd hill or something more.
Reward: ???
Will you investigate?
Y/N
Maybe later. Might as well have it active in the quests. Dave tucked the map away into his bag, accepting the quest anyway.
“I wish you luck on your travels. I wish I was able to get away from all these players, but my books keep me here,” Darryl said.
“Well, if you get bored of it sometime, come around. Though I’ll have to find some place to settle down first!” Dave said.
“I wish you luck.” Darryl grinned and shook Dave’s hand.
Dave headed out of the store.
Quest: Shopping Spree
Quest complete
Reward received: 1,500 XP
Level 2
You have reached level 2; you have 5 stat points to use.
Active Skill: Surveyor
Level: Novice level 2
Effect: 7% chance to see surrounding landmarks.
Range: 560 m
Cost: 5 Stamina/second.
Not bad, Dave, my son. He was hungry and it was about time he was off and looking for a place to settle down. That hill-looking whatever seemed interesting.
He wandered to the markets again, getting a ton of food and water. After some thought, he also got a bow and sleeping gear. He wanted to live peacefully but sometimes you had to defend that, and maybe he could sustain himself with pelts. Sleeping gear would allow him to save anywhere.
Simple Bow
It’s not elegant but it will do the job.
Quality: C
Damage: 10
Durability: 50/50
Satisfied, Dave started jogging out of the city he’d found out was called Omal. Once he was clear of the crowds, he upped his speed, running as fast as he could.
New Active Skill: Sprint
While you look like you actively fear running, it seems that when needs must, you can still run.
Level: Novice level 1
Effect: 5% increased speed
Cost: 5 Stamina/second
Not even the snippy game could get him down as he continued to run, taking in the beauty that was Emerilia.
Here he was free from work: the constant phone calls, the late-night meetings and conferences. He might live on Earth, but his people on the Moon didn’t like having normal schedules.
He went through settings, turning off notifications when he was in combat and other necessities so he could actually fight instead of having a letter in his eye.
That done, he pulled up his map and set a way point for his destination. Even if it was just a hill, there was a nice river going past with fresh water from mountains a few kilometers past it. There was plenty of wood and the Dwarven side of him promised those mountains weren’t just for show.
Yeah, how the hell did I turn out to be a half-dwarf? I thought that there would be some ability for me to choose things. He opened up his browser, asking his question.
Many people got human, though there was a spattering of different characters. It seemed that the game picked out what it thought you were most aligned to. Even if you restarted, you usually got the same character. Some people were annoyed; most were interested what this meant.
Dave felt the need to move sideways; he did so, narrowly missing a tree.
“Interface and running, bad idea—got it.” He continued to read but looked around to make sure he wouldn’t run into any more trees. He was pretty happy that he got that Dodge skill now!
After twenty seconds, he dropped down to jogging. It was going to take him hours to reach that hill at his current pace.
“Time to do something with those points, I guess.” Dave opened up his character sheet. He dumped two points into Agility and another 2 into strength, bringing him to a Stamina recharge of 0.60/s and 120 stamina.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
1
Class:
-
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
-
Unspent points: 1
Health:
1100
Regen:
0.28 /s
Mana:
100
Regen:
0.50 /s
Stamina:
130
Regen:
0.85 /s
Vitality:
11
Endurance:
9
Intelligence:
10
Willpower:
10
Strength:
13
Agility:
17
Dave moved around, he opened and closed his hand, feeling more strength in his grip but also much lighter on his feet. He couldn’t run a marathon but he felt like he could run much faster for longer with the increased agility.
“Okay, that’s strange,” Dave looked at his sheet, he had put 4 stat points into his main attributes but he’d stayed at level 1.
He put the last point into his agility, studying the sheet once again.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
2
Class:
-
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
-
Unspent points: 0
Health:
1100
Regen:
0.28 /s
Mana:
100
Regen:
0.50 /s
Stamina:
130
Regen:
0.90 /s
Vitality:
11
Endurance:
9
Intelligence:
10
Willpower:
10
Strength:
13
Agility:
18
“So, I only increase my overall level if I put all five of the stat points from that level into my attributes?” Dave frowned, he would have to do some experimenting with his stats later on.
Dave expanded the map in the top right of his vision with hand gestures.
“Well, this is going to take a while.” Dave waved his hand, dismissing the map and watching his Stamina bar grow slowly. He continued to jog, heading off the beaten path and into the forest that grew on either side of the road. The road fell away as Dave started to sprint again.
Moving through the forest was slower but Dave took the time to look around. He saw a flicker of fire, he turned to face it.
“The hell is that?” Dave started to walk towards what looked like a sea of fire.
He walked into a small clearing where there were a number of flowers moving in the wind. Their blooms looked like fireballs, the wind turning them into a sea of living fire.
“These graphics are aweeesome!” Dave crouched down and looked the plant over. His notifications flashed. He opened it up.
New Active Skill: Herb Lore
Stop and look at the pretty flowers once in a while. Who knows—sometimes you can use them to make a real fire, or whiskey!
Level: Novice level 1
Effect: 5% chance to discover valuable plants in your area. Faint idea of what the plant might be useful for.
“Well, maybe I can make some Stamina potions. I hate being slow.” He picked up the plant, studying it, and moved around, grabbing others. He had a faint idea of what they did, as if he had once known and now it was just locked away in his mind. “Maybe later, I’ll figure it out,” He tucked them away, looking around the area trying to find if there was anything that might improve his stamina. He found a sort of moss that he felt might help him.
“Might as well give it a try, he pulled it off the rock and started chewing on it.
“Ugh,” Dave spat it out, rubbing his tongue as if to try and remove the wet taste of dirt and pine-sol. “Tastes like floor cleaner! Or, like I chewed one of those tree air fresheners for my car.”
Dave swilled water trying to get the taste out of his mouth. Forgetting his pursuits as an alchemist as he checked the other updates to his status; at such a low level, it was only natural his skills were racing higher. He was at Novice level 3 for sprinting, a nice 9% increased speed.
“Time waits for no man, even a half-dwarf half-man.” Dave checked his way point and continued his journey.
He started to get hungry, so he called up some dried meat from his bag. He chewed on it and continued his way. The hunger fell away as his Stamina took a nice boost.
System Message
You have been playing for eight hours. As per regulations, you have twenty minutes before mandatory log off. Please preselect actions to occur when you log off.
“I spoke too soon,” he said, chewing on the food. “The hell are preselected actions?” Dave wandered into the forums, finding out that his character could still operate as he was away, like some kind of bot. If it was making goods or something, then it’s abilities were degraded, but things like walking, or simple manual labor, it was all for.
Dave wanted to use it but reconsidered it with the forest potentially having animals in it. He didn’t want to appear back in Omal.
Dave forewent the sleeping save option and picked the manual one in his interface before hitting the logout. He didn’t want to make his character walk around in the middle of a forest he didn’t know. He wanted to take in the journey, not race through it, and there was the threat of animals and creatures that might kill him while he was offline.
Emerilia disappeared in a flash, returning him to the lobby. He exited the lobby and felt the helmet on his head.
He pulled it off, stretching.
“Well looks like I should look up how to make a house after all of this,” Zane moved to his computer and looked up the information on his computer.
Chapter 3: Taking in the View
Dave stared at the rocky outcropping that rose over the forest, giving a great view of the land. For two in-game days he had been running towards his destination, when he logged off he looked up how to make houses and crossed that against what Emerilia had in the way of materials.
He would’ve made it to the way point if he had run his avatar in bot mode but he wasn’t willing to risk it.
“Good time as ever to give that Surveyor skill a second chance.” Dave changed direction and headed up the outcropping. It took him a while but he finally got to the top. He let out a low whistle.
There was a blue and red moon visible in the sky; the sun bathed Emerilia in her warm rays. Trees spread for miles, with glades and the occasional farm here and there. In the distance, he could see Omal and trace out the road that connected it to the rest of Emerilia.
A fresh breeze rolled over him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and the landscape seemed to change. Without conscious thought, he slowly turned in a circle. His eyes locked onto various items he couldn’t see with the naked eye but he could sense. It was if the land was talking to him and he’d just opened up his ears to it.
For a few seconds, it went on until his Stamina bar was drained. Dave took a drink from his canteen and grabbed some food from his pack. His mini-map was filling with new markers. He wasn’t about to stop yet; he knew there was more out there. A quick look at his map showed that he had a half-dozen new markers.
“So worth the gold.” Dave grinned.
As he waited for his Stamina to recharge some more, he looked at his interface. Notifications were up to the top right of his view. With a click, it would cascade and tell him his latest skill levels.
Down at the bottom left, he had his Health, Mana, and Stamina. The last one was slowly growing. There had been a chat window above it but he’d removed it.
He was looking to get away from things, and having a bajillion messages scrolling past his eyes every minute was not getting away, in his mind.
In the bottom right, there was a mini-map with a compass around it.
His Stamina bar filled three-quarters of the way. Again, he closed his eyes, letting his troubles fade away and feeling out toward the area around him.
His eyes opened; the land was speaking to him. He turned in a full circle, seeing items that he hadn’t noticed the first time. He opened up his map, looking at the various greyed-out items that were littered around him in a five-hundred-meter area. There were ore, animal dens, various plants. What caught his attention was a building; he focused on it.
> Abandoned Cabin.
He checked his map. It was a slight detour, but there might be something useful there. The map went back into its corner with a thought. Dave started his way back down the outcropping and toward the cabin. He looked at the notification panel. The drop-down opened.
> You have found Merriroot
> You have found Yip Fox Den.
> You have found Fresh Spring
“Ugghhh, this is worse than cleaning out my spam filter!” He changed settings, he’d only be notified about his skills, levels and main quests. They would also be hidden away under the notification tab instead of jumping out in front of him.
Stat Increase
Many would have bought a horse or used a portal to travel. You like to move the old-fashioned way.
+1 Strength
“Holy crap! That’s awesome. If I continue training or using one thing a lot, then it will increase. Makes sense—the more you fight, the more Stamina you get, or the more you cast spells, the more magic you get.” Dave winced at a thought. “Ughh, that would really suck to level up your Vitality that way.”
