Chapter 20: Beginner Village. (1/2)
Following his level up notification, another notificationappeared
「You've been granted the title, "The Tutorial's Champion"」
"A title already?" This notification surprised Merlin, titles were one of theno such thing as assignable stat points in this game, titles were one of the fewequipe
There were a few methods outside of those four to increase stats, but they were thetoo unique to even bother
Merlin checked the title he just received, aappeared before him
┌───────────────────
[The Tutorial's Cha the quest, "The Tutorial's Challenger"
• Vitality: +1
• Strength: +2
└───────────────────
"Wow, those are soenuinely happy with this reward At level zero, all of your stats started at one, you gained one point into every stat per level up After reaching level one, Merlin's strength was only two, and his health enty
This title added an extra ten health, raising Merlin's current health pool to thirty, as each point in vitality granted you ten health His strength score was also doubled, strength contributed to things such as your carry capacity, load bearing ability and physical dae
"I never expected to see such talent here, I'hout the endless field once more, followed by a notification that even surprised Merlin
「You have earned +1 fa familiarity was soer quests for most NPCs But to earn familiarity with Gaia herself, it was unheard of As far as anybody knew, she was just the AI designated to run the game While yes, she had backstory within the world, everyone just thought it was flavour text for the world's lore nobody stopped to think that she would be an actual NPC within the game, not even Merlin
"Traveller, before I can allow you to run free in an speaking, Merlin already kneas the part where they explain the use of souls, but there was unfortunately no way to skip the tutorial
"When outsiders travel to our world, part of their existence is lost during the transfer" Gaia's voice took on a rants you a rare opportunity not present within the world's natives"
"This right here is a soul" A strange wispy red orb suddenly appeared a few metres in front of Merlin "This particular soul holds the lived experiences and abilities of a young adventurer as talented with the blade"
Twoaround the red orb, a blue and a green orb "While these are the souls of a legendary seaoblins you had just slain"
The souls maintained their positions for severalGaia spoke up once more "Souls are the embodiment of a person's accoh to manifest"
"Souls are an uncommon yet valuable resource to the people ofmaterials that master artisans can use to create artifacts" Gaia continued "However, travellers such as yourself have found another use for souls, forging thee, and using their body as the forge rate with souls by forging the the experience and abilities of those souls, butwhole once more" Gaia explained, "There are risks to such a feat however, but if you are interested, feel free to visit a soul forge for further explanation"
Eventually Gaia stopped talking, and a flash of white enveloped Merlin once more, "Traveller, I welcome you to my world" Gaia spoke one last tirassy fields
When the light faded away, the first thing Merlin noticed was that the temperature had dropped tre a s, Merlin found hie hill
Merlin was standing in the centre of so abandoned place of worshi+p, soned with rows of worn stone bricks laid in a radial pattern, and on the furthest edge of the structure were several weather-worn Greek pillars Some were in better shape than others, with a couple still retaining the Corinthian style ornamental pillar caps
This was the spawn area for new players in the beta test Merlin walked towards the edge of the structure, and stared down the hill There was a village at the foot of the hill, as well as an overgrown staircase that lead down the hill in the village's direction
Realising that the other players should be appearing soon, he decided to make his way down the stairs, any kind of lead over the rest of the group would benefit hie
As Merlin reached the half-way point on the stairs, flashes of light began appearing atop the hill, it seeet a lot rab what he needed and leave before everyone started swar up the pace, Merlin dashed down the staircase, eventually reaching the village Merlin's first order of business was to visit the soul forge Although he didn't have any souls yet to use the soul forge'sand closing of soul slots
Souls were a unique aly infinite a its own abilities, bonuses, the part of New Genesis was that there wasn't a class system, you weren't even restricted to what souls you could use, these souls could be swapped out at any soul forge, at any time
If someone who had played tank for several years decided he wanted to tryfor a ic based soul Alternatively, if he had an extra soul slot to spare, he could keep the tanking soul enabled and add the ic soul
That is where soul slots cast players, even thirty years into the future Soul slots were an expensive trade, they granted the player the option to have ressively ress for power
Merlin was travelling through the village, eventually he arrived at the soul forge The building looked like any other blacks the building Merlin could instantly see where the differences were Thethe massive obsidian obelisk in the middle of the workshop, this was the soul receptacle, it was a glorified global bank exclusively for souls
Merlin walked over to one of the NPCsthe counter "Good day, I'd like to modify my soul vessel"