The Crimson Peril, page 24
part #3 of Star Rim Empire Series
“Well, that sucks!” Justin really wanted to be a battle mage, not some stupid cleric or thief.
“The game controller assigns you a profession—based on a bunch of things, including your physical and mental aptitude, your personality and psychological profiles, and profession supply and demand within the game world.”
Now that Wyatt explained that all, Justin had a vague recollection of hearing something about that. But the briefing sessions hadn’t been game-specific, so the whole idea about being assigned a character class hadn’t sunk in.
He sighed. “Well, let’s get this over with then. What do I have to do?”
“Nothing really. Just step in front of each statue and see which one pops for you.”
“Great.”
The next statue in the line was an enchanter.
:::::. Enchanter. Role: defense/utility. Domain: magic .:::::
He stood in front of it for a moment, but nothing happened.
“Keep going. If it pops, you’ll know it right away,” Wyatt said.
Another brawny-looking statue was next. This one had a longsword. The plaque read simply “warrior.” Pretty generic.
:::::. Warrior. Role: offense. Domain: combat .:::::
When Justin stepped in front of it, nothing happened. Probably for the best.
“Three down, four to go,” said Wyatt.
Glancing over at the next statue, Justin saw that it was obviously a magic-user, but not the typical lanky wizard type. The statue was of a tall, buff guy with an aggressive stance. He glared down at Justin like he was just about to blast him with a fireball. This is the class Justin wanted to be:
:::::. Battle mage. Role: offense. Domain: magic .:::::
Heart pounding, Justin forced himself to walk in front of the statue of the battle mage. He held his breath and… nothing.
“Crap!”
“You wanted battle mage?”
“Of course I wanted battle mage. Who wouldn’t?”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Wyatt said. “Professions aren’t a real big deal in the long run.”
“I have a hard time believing that.”
“And I’ll let you in on a little behind-the-scenes secret. You want to hear it now or once we’re done here?”
“Is this secret a hack that will let me be a battle mage?”
“No, something better.”
“Whatever, then. Tell me now.”
“Well, now I’m not so sure that I should. You have a lot of anger in you…”
“Wyatt!”
“Okay, okay. I’ll tell you right after you step in front of the next statue. It’s the healer, and I have a good feeling about this.”
“No freaking way! I do not want to be a healer. I’ll commit suicide and re-roll.”
“Wouldn’t matter. The controller would probably assign you healer again. Unless, of course, we had a glut of healers for some reason.”
“This sucks. Have I mentioned that?”
Justin stomped over to the statue of the healer and didn’t even bother to overlay it. Thankfully, nothing happened. He was spared. Whew.
“Well, I guess I was wrong,” Wyatt said. “Funny, I would have bet my life that you were destined to be a healer.”
“Thank god for small miracles. Now tell me this behind-the-scenes secret. You promised.”
“Fair enough. So here’s the thing. The game controller wants you to be happy and have a good experience in the game world. Makes sense, right?”
“I guess so.” Everyone who applied to this first public beta of OmniWorld—all two million—had super high expectations. If there was bad word-of-mouth about the whole thing after this first group of five thousand beta testers got out, it could really hurt Loneskum-Alexander.
“So the little secret is that 99.9% of players end up loving the profession that’s chosen for them. That’s actual data, by the way. I’m not exaggerating.”
Justin sniffed. “I’m having a hard time believing that.”
“Believe what you want, but you’ll see. It might take a couple of weeks.”
“Everyone wants to decide their own fate,” Justin said. “It’s human nature.”
“You do get to decide your own fate, believe me. This is all about helping you realize your potential. But enough yakking. You’ve got two more possibilities.”
“You make it sound like Russian roulette,” Justin said. Then he stepped in front of the next statue.
There was a flash of light and a loud whooshing sound and Justin found himself on top of the pedestal.
Keep Reading
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Also by R.A. Nargi
THE STAR RIM EMPIRE
Quantum Dark
The Well of Forever
The Crimson Peril
THE OMNIWORLD ADVENTURES
The Iron Veil
The Eight of Nights
THE BANDER ADVENTURES
The Brawling Adventures of Bander
The Legendary Adventures of Bander
Learn more at randynargi.com
The Crimson Peril is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Randall Nargi. All rights reserved.
Published by Bogwood Press, a division of Bogwood, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Nargi, R.A., The Crimson Peril / R.A. Nargi. pages cm.
The OmniWorld Adventures is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Randy Nargi. All rights reserved. Published by Bogwood Press, a division of Bogwood, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Nargi, Randy. The OmniWorld Adventures, Volume 1: an OmniWorld novel / Randy Nargi. pages cm.
R A Nargi, The Crimson Peril
