Within a few scant seconds, the impenetrable whiteness fades, replaced by the interior of a large cathedral. I quickly move out of the raised platform to allow whoever's next to spawn in the chance to do so, though nobody does even after a minute of waiting.

The Cathedrals of the Starlight Truth Faith are massive, extravagant buildings. There's one here in Meteo City, and another in The Empire of Stone's capital city, at the other end of the empire. High gothic architecture combined with a rather over-indulgent use of precious gemstones as stained glass murals and an overbearing star motif. Each alcove is home to a statue of either a saint or a hero, and the air is heavy with incense and burning tallow.

Slowly descending a long staircase, I'm stopped by a priest NPC, dressed in a gaudy purple-gold robe.

"Greetings Newborn! Welcome to Merrow! Can I provide assistance in any way?"

He stares soullessly at me with a fixed smile I guess is supposed to be welcoming and friendly but just comes off as stiff and creepy, his posture completely still.

I sigh. The difference between the major NPCs with dedicated high-level AI and the random schmucks is stark and uncanny. Between this and the difficulty of movement, I'm remembering just why I gave up on Astral Reckoning within a week of play.

Reminding myself that it gets much better in the future, I calmly and slowly ask the NPC for my starting equipment.

"But of course, Newborn! Let it be said that those of the Starlight Truth will never send a babe unswaddled into the world! I see you are a...<Fighter>...Please choose from the following list."

His hand waves in front of me, and a window materialises, showing a catalogue of items that I can choose from in exchange for a fixed total point quota. For example, a simple bronze dagger would cost me 4 points out of the total of 50 I have to spend.

There's no point in hoarding these points, so I spend some time optimising how close I can get to the cap.

• Beginner's Lumber Axe - 10 Points
• 3 Cloth Sacks (6 Inventory Spaces each) - 21 Points
• One set of beginner smithing tools - 11 Points
• 1 Stone Silver - 5 Points
• 1 Tiny Cloth Coin Pouch - 2 Points
• 1 Empire of Stone Citizenship Pin - 1 Point

If I wanted, I could have kitted myself out with some basic combat equipment, but that would be a waste. The Beginner's Lumber Axe isn't really intended to be used as a weapon, but it's cheaper than the Beginner's Greatsword by 4 Points and has roughly the same combat effectiveness. It's not my speciality, but at Levels 1-9, the enemies in the game aren't really much more than ambulatory punching bags with a few exceptions like boss monsters. There's also the added bonus of it being a gathering tool, so I can get some lumber outside the city for a number of different purposes - from sale, to crafting, to fuel.

Thanks to The Jewel, I'll get even less than normal gathering lumber selling to the merchants willing to buy it around here, but I wanted it for my own purposes anyway.

The most valuable item, despite being the cheapest - probably to incentivise people taking it - is the Citizenship Pin. Depending on which of the four available starting zones you choose, you have the option to spend a single point on being recognised by the NPCs as an official citizen of their territory.

If you for some reason, don't get the pin at this stage, not only are your options for trade and travel within the zones controlled by that government restricted, you are also treated as a foreigner, and enjoy fewer rights and protections. Getting this pin after - or indeed, the citizenship rights for any country - is a long arduous process of reputation grinding followed by a large sum of local currency.

For an Empire-sized power like The Empire of Stone, which is the second most powerful nation on Firmament behind The Enduring Empire, the requirements to gain citizenship and the benefits you get are appropriately higher. This is especially true as a Silva, since the closer you get to the Enduring Empire, the higher the discrimination against non-Firm. Being handed a method of skipping all the extra hoops I'd have to jump through is irresistible.

Laden down with new equipment, I sidestep around the gormless NPC, ignoring whatever canned dialogue he's scripted to spout off next and head over to one of the benches for worshippers, taking a seat and closing my eyes.

"<Introspection>, <Improve>," I incant after a few seconds getting into the right state of mind, and my stat screen appears with a secondary tab showing my free attribute points.

Name: Silver Nosster

Title: Beloved Blade

Race: Silva

Level: 1

Class: Fighter

HP 200/200

Stamina 140/140

MP 60/60

Attributes

• Strength - 4
• Agility - 5
• Dexterity - 7
• Resilience - 3
• Imagination - 5
• Wisdom - 8
• Charisma - 5
• Perception - 5
• Willpower - 5

Looking at the starting attributes makes me grimace on reflex, but I quickly allocate my points and lock them in, my meditative state dissipating swiftly after.

Attributes

• Strength - 10
• Agility - 5
• Dexterity - 12
• Resilience - 3
• Imagination - 5
• Wisdom - 8
• Charisma - 10
• Perception - 6
• Willpower - 5

It's still a little janky, but I need a minimum of ten charisma to overcome the penalty for having the gall to not be a Firm and to help convince some of the NPCs on my mental list to give me quests and so on. Once RotA drops, I won't have to rely as heavily on a high base Charisma stat, but for the time being I've got to take the hit to my early combat effectiveness and make up for it later. By my estimations, I should need no more than twenty-five to get everything done, which is two more levels of free points at ten per level - after which I can start pushing more points elsewhere.

In particular, I need to shore up my Perception and physical stats. Willpower and Imagination are also important, but not until later and I can compensate with items. Wisdom is largely useless to me, however, being more about comprehending arcane texts and so on for non-mages, but I can't afford to make myself a jack of all trades, master of none, so it's going to be one of those things I have to rely on other people for.

With all that taken care of, it's time to head to my first destination.

---

 

Truth District, Cathedral of the Star Truth Faith Exterior, Meteo City.

The exterior of the cathedral is perhaps even uglier than the interior, and looking at it for too long gives me a headache, but the district itself is, in contrast, a beautiful vista overlooking the city's stonework buildings. To the south is the merchantry district, home of a large number of craftsman and NPC vendors; To the east is the residential district and City Hall; While immediately below is the local branch of the Pioneer's Alliance, immediately along the path down this hill, as if to say 'Hey, Newborn, over here! You like quests and adventure, right? We got lots of...quests'.

I'll stop by there later, though, once I've gotten some equipment together.

I can more or less defend myself with this gathering tool, but because the local guards are actually halfway competent, most kill quests that get posted in the Pioneer's Alliance here are for problems they either can't deal with, or don't want to deal with. Even some of their innocuous-looking gathering quests can put you in the path of an Elite five levels higher than you, so obviously, me and this single axe aren't going to accomplish much.

Instead, I pass the building by without a second glance, noting a couple of Newborn Firm loitering outside the door, arguing about whether or not they should go in.

"Come on, man, we need the money!"

"I just joined the game, I'm not ready to leave the city yet, I wanna explore a bit first"

I shake my head. Ah, the eternal struggle of efficient growth versus meandering side-content. Well, the wimpy one has the right of it, as they'll soon find out, and far be it for me to take away the magic of discovery. The magical experience of being torn apart by a pack of pissed off dire wolves. Good times.

Persistent discomfort with my Vessel aside, it feels strange to be back here after being present for Merrow's presumed annihilation. Hell, that awful twenty-foot tall statue of Menace Maxie isn't here yet, since Hammer Holdin won't try to take over the city for another four years. Always wanted to smash it, but that narcissist actually got a grandmaster enchanter team to inscribe a Farnham's Enduring Cycle array into the foundation, which is on top of the whole thing being sculpted out of divine adamyth. Even after the Empire reconquers the city, they never managed to shift the thing. Short of blasting it with Tier 9 magic and wiping out the city along with it, there's nothing anyone could do. Not for lack of trying mind you, since there was an infamous quest issued by the new magistrate that promised a mansion to whoever can destroy it - and even twenty years later, nobody managed it.

Note to self, don't let Hammer Holdin take over Meteo City.

My trip down memory lane lasts long enough for me to arrive at Boulder Gate, the main gatehouse in the south of the city. After flashing my pin to one of the sentries on duty, I leave the safety of the walls and enter Fander Field, a large stretch of hilly grassland, with Ujax Forest clearly visible in the distance, crawling along the slope of Ujax Hill like back hair.

I'm not about to go anywhere near Ujax Hill though, as I don't feel like committing suicide by dire wolf.

Instead, there's a copse of trees about a mile east of the city that's both monster free, and full of low-level lumber trees. A rough mix of Sad Oak and Blue Birch trees. Sad Oak is exceptionally brittle, but makes for ok fuel, while Blue Birch is a very early level crafting material. I'll need at least fifteen stacks of Sad Oak to get started, and as much Blue Birch as I can carry.

"Hey, mister? You uhh..you're a player right?" A voice calls from behind, and I recognise the group of loiterers from before. By the looks of it, two Fighters and a Scout, all in basic combat gear.

I raise a brow, "Yes?"

It should be noted that differentiating a player from an NPC is only possible by observing their behaviour, so their hesitation is understandable, "Do you need something?"

"Are you doing the Dawn Daisy Collection quest? Do you want to join us?"

Shaking my head in the negative, the group glances at one another, "Are you sure? It'll be safer with more people."

"I'm not going to Ujax," I deny him, a little firmer this time, "I need to go fetch some wood from elsewhere, so you're better off doing it yourselves. I've got about a mile of walking to do, so take care."

So saying, I wave goodbye and march off east. Daylight's burning and I do not want to be trapped outside the city walls after dark. Besides which, the NPCs I need to talk to will start to close up shop around sundown, hence I can't afford to take any detours.

---

 

Approximately half an hour later, I crest one last hill and arrive at my destination: Killigan's Copse.

There's no greater story about it I'm aware of, it's just a conveniently placed location for Newborn woodcutters like myself to get started. Ordinarily, you'd have to ask around in the city until an NPC pointed you over here, but that's not necessary for me to bother with considering this is one of the top ten places to start woodcutting.

Fishing the two-handed Beginner's Lumber Axe out of my inventory, I jog the rest of the way over, coming to a stop under a fairly short and skinny Sad Oak tree. Giving it an appraising look up and down, I estimate that this node will generate about thirty logs before it's exhausted, and it'll be an hour before it replenishes. Going by the number of similar trees nearby, I should be able to gather five stacks from the Juvenile Sad Oaks, which is more than enough skill experience to push me into a 1-Star Novice Woodcutter and unlock the ability to harvest the Adolescent Sad Oaks which make up the rest of the Sad Oak trees in the area. Adult ones can be found the fringes of Ujax Forest, but I have no need to risk it.

Coincidentally, 1-Star Novice is also the minimum skill level for the Juvenile Blue Birches here, and filling my inventory should get me a good chunk of progress towards 2-Star Novice. For now, I'm just interested in the material harvest, but it's still a decent spot for my level, so I might come back for more Blue Birch just as an excuse to train more.

Gathering in Astral Reckoning at this stage is, much like crafting, extremely simplified. You simply find a suitable node, and go to town with an appropriate tool, without having to worry about permanently destroying it. Success is random and according to the skill level attainment and tool quality rather than any specific technique. Come RotA, gathering nodes become far more competitive, as there's a high possibility of permanently damaging or destroying a gathering spot, and many materials become finite as a result.

This is especially true of mining and rare herb gathering since they don't just magically regrow anymore. Combined with the updated territory acquisition options, it heralds the beginning of a massive race to acquire resource-rich land.

An hour later, I receive a system notification mid-swing.

 

 

Surprised, I rest my axe on my shoulders. Getting a World Announcement wasn't something I set out to do, but it will definitely help boost my reputation amongst the playerbase. To be quite honest, I'm surprised I've not seen more World Announcements originating from beta testers already, but I suppose it's nothing to complain about.

For a mercy, private player to player communication requires mutual agreement, a magical communication item and prior face-to-face contact, so I don't immediately get bombarded by messages from noobs and bitter beta testers.

Regardless, I should move on to the rest of these trees.

 

 

I nearly drop my axe in surprise, "H-how the fu-"