Chapter 119 - New changes (2/2)

2. Introduction of the new stamina gauge along with HP and MP gauges for the players of all races and professions. This measures the capacity of the player for physical exertion and a player would feel tired out without stamina value. It is required to complete special actions and fills up automatically on resting. It is introduced to simulate real-life exertion that occurs due to strenuous activities.

3. Lifting the cap on the number of trade professions that could be learned. A player can learn as many trade professions as he wants to. Need to learn the profession from an NPC or book before one could use them. Also need few basic tools or toolbox for every trade profession. The tools or the toolbox that are required for trade professions are to be stored in the bag.

4. Increasing the default bag size by 50%.

5. Introducing new weapons cache to store armaments aside from the space in the bag. This space is independent of the bag space and has multiple versions. It is not provided by default and has to be purchased. The basic version is readily available at the Adventurers Association and it has enough space to accommodate the gear required to fully equip three persons.

6. Introducing Bounty quests that enable a person to clear one's red name which happens on killing other players outside arena. Any settlement that prevent a red-named player from entering has a guard outpost where one can submit these quests without interference from the guards.

7. The fighting arenas for fights between the players at the colosseums in various cities are linked. Player could use them to challenge players irrespective of the races and their factions.

8. One can only use their hearthstones to return to the beginner village or beginner town or the city directly connected to it. For every other location, the player needs to gain enough reputation to become a third-class citizen to be able to use the hearthstone for travel.

Further details about each of these changes were provided in the other parts of the website, but Balthazar didn't care. He knew about all of them from his previous life experience. There were a lot of players discussing the changes, their pros and cons in the forums during this time, but he didn't care as he heard of them all in his previous like. In fact, he found these new rules more comfortable as he had played for five years with these new rules in his previous life

Balthazar wanted to join the Fight Club to which he was recommended by Merlin. He bought a new contact number to use it for the game account, registered the same as an alternate for him and opened an account with the name ”Shadow Tyrant” on Bicker. He went to the forums to accept Boris Blade's challenge before he went ahead to check out the details of the mass quest that Boris Blade had triggered.

Though it was a mass quest, it was quite simple compared to the ones in other games. It spanned over a period of three days where repeated invasions from the quingol bandits would occur.

Quingol Menace:

1. The guingol race managed to set camp at the Canterbury lake and have managed to set up a portal from which they are receiving reinforcements.

2. Provide support to the guards of the city. The guards have set up a line of control at the middle of the plains to prevent the quingols from causing damage to the town. A number of quest will be provided by the guards during the quest.

3. Reinforcements will arrive by the third day from the capital of the White Heart Kingdom. The special forces will serve as vanguard to conquer the quingol camp and defeat all of them.

4. Special rewards will be provided to the adventurers at the end of the mass quest based on their contributions.

The information from the website was quite informative and he realized that he couldn't capture the bandit camp with the guild. ”It looks like that Boris Blade's interference screwed up my plans with the bandit camp completely,” thought Balthazar as he saw the information on the website.

As the game didn't start yet, he contacted Merlin on Bicker and asked him to provide Boris Blade's information so that he could contact him for the challenge after the game starts.

”Contact me after you log in. He won't accept your request,” said Merlin. ”Right now, he hates you almost as much as he hates me and he would definitely not accept your friend request.”

”Ok. I am will be at the arena and waiting for him. Inform him to come to the arena at White Heart City,” said Balthazar.

”Ok. But don't start till I come. I intend to spectate it. There are also others in the Fight Club who are going to view your challenge. We need to wait for them to view it. At least one administrator should be there for you to be allowed into it,” said Merlin.

Out of boredom, he tired to log in to the game and was unexpectedly transported to a large hall, which was filled with the avatars (characters) of many players. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who tried to login before the upgrade of the game and they were all sent to some sort of waiting area. There was a large clock showing a countdown of the time for the upgrade to finish. As he was looking around, a notification popped up in front of his eyes.

”The upgrade of the game hasn't yet been completed. The communication features provided by the game is still available. You can either chose to remain here, go back or select to be put into sleep till the upgrade is finished. Then, you will be logged into vita-nova.”

Three buttons popped up in front of him for him to select what he wanted. Balthazar had entire forgotten about this feature that was provided when the game is getting upgraded. He could always select to sleep and get logged into the game when it starts up.

He immediately selected to sleep. He was in no mood to converse with the other players or his friends. Most of them would be interested in discussing the new upgrades for which he had been waiting for some time.

He went into sleep and after what felt like barely a second, he was in the game. ”It didn't feel like, I went to sleep at all,” thought Balthazar. He had never used the somnium technology to go to sleep without playing the game before.

Unlike normal sleep, the sleep with use of somnium tech without any activity provides a dreamless sleep which make a person lose his sense of time and feels like they woke up the very next moment. The feeling is only noticeable when the user takes catnaps for a small duration. It was recommended in the forums to avoid that as it gives a drowsy feeling to the user.