Chapter 8: Stooverij

“What does that even mean? Our mission was to kill Kobolds!” Mike voices our concern. Indeed, why? What is happening?

“It’s strange. It looked like a species evolved from mice, but what was it doing working with Kobolds?”

“Why wouldn’t they?” Exactly! I don’t understand either, Rand.

“According to the lore, rats and mice had a falloff ages ago. They wouldn’t work together unless something or someone united them.”

“Where did you learn that, Dorian?” I look at him, surprised at the revelation. “Then... maybe we have a bigger problem than we thought. We should return to the city and notify the commerce chamber.” I really don’t think it’s a good idea to go deeper into the mine when we can’t be sure what we’ll be facing.

“I guess you are right. Then let’s call it a night. We should find a place to log-off safely tho.”

Leaving the game here in the middle of enemy terrain is seeking certain death. We might be off the game, but that doesn’t mean it has stopped. When we return tomorrow, we might find ourselves surrounded by enemies.

A quick vote amongst us seals the deal; we go outside before finishing, we can’t risk it. Retracing our way is easy, most of the traps are useless by now. Mainly because we have already triggered and suffered them. But useless after all. We didn’t take any fork aside from the first one, so we soon find ourselves outside.

“See you tomorrow at 10!”

Hell, if my past self knew I go to sleep at 10pm, he would be ashamed of what I have become. How can you go so early instead of playing? Little would he know I’ve fallen prey to a VR game.

I must admit tho, this is nothing like I played before. I can hardly think of going back to the old games. There is noth- Fuck! Once again, I forgot to check my level-ups! Should I go in? Ah, screw it, I’ll login before the others and that’s it.

And now to work… how amazing would it be to live off the game? I mean, it might be impossible right now, but I’m quite confident they’ll want to introduce a healthy economy. Probably even gateways for real money. I have to discuss this with the others.

What is it today? I still have some pending commissions… I guess I’ll work on that website.

And so, I spend the next 4 hours doing what I find the most boring job ever, web-development. I’m no artist, so my job mainly consists of putting together the pieces artists give me. BORING!

Not wanting to cook dinner, I order a few of the specialties from the place in front. I guess I have never talked about my homeland. I live in Sector 4 of Duna. Duna was built after the Great Unification, around the same place Belgium used to be.

The others don’t live far from here, actually. Rand lives in Sector 15, which is on the south, maybe 1 hour from here. Lillia lives in the neighboring hypertropolis, which might seem like it’s nothing, but it’s actually more than 5 hours away. Then again, you must know that one hypertropolis can have more than 50 million citizens. Get one of those old countries, densely interconnect it, and voilà! Mike and Dorian are a bit further, 6 and 7 hours from here, respectively.

Is it strange that we have never met? Maybe, but not for us. It might sound cliche, but our friendship is above this kind of trivialities. We already have fun. We already see each other. Even when games were plain 3D, we never had the need to meet.

Short story long, the stooverij they prepare here is simply delicious. I bet you have never tasted anything like their sauce. I don’t know which beer they use, but it’s simply genius. That plus the tenderness of the meat, oh my, it melts in the mouth.

While waiting for the meal, I set on finding out the story between rats and mice. I might not be as informed as Dorian is, but I don’t want to fall behind.

Information on the game is scarce, as the developers decided to keep most of it hidden. While basics for players are disseminated with the user guide, history, maps, events, and even enemies are not.

Still, the official game forums are bursting with activity. The information here must be taken with a pinch of salt. Still, you can get an overall idea when composing different views.

• HIDDEN CLASSES, what we know

Huh? I bet what I have is one of those. Let’s see.

We know for a fact that there are classes beyond those offered by God Jonas. Those classes can only be unlocked after meeting a certain number of hidden requirements, hence the name.

Known so far are the following:

• Paladin: Devout priests who battle at the frontline and receive more than 1000 points of damage may choose to follow this path after a revelation from God.
• Alchemist: Gatherers that tinker with their spoils can convert to Alchemists once they successfully mix a concoction.

Strong evidence suggests that Blacksmith, Tailor and Woodworker also exist. Their requirements have not yet been made public.

It’s confirmed that taking a production-related class overwrites your current class. These classes receive experience from their work, especially if they manage to produce high-rate items.

If you know of a hidden class, answer this thread and I will update the main post.

It definitely is. You’re crazy if you think I’ll share how I got it. Not only is it embarrassing, but I can’t be seen blaming God. I don’t hope to be the only one with my class, I’m sure more people will discover it, but there’s no need to speed up the process.

• Irisgarth shops
• Newbie’s guide
• Quick tip for assassins
• Dominion hunting grounds

There is an endless list of posts. But none of them are related, no even close, to the subject at matter. I suppose this kind of information is too new. Most people have yet to encounter Kobolds, let alone those mice. How did Dorian find about it, then?

*Ding* *Dong*

Oh, that must be my stooverij. I greet the delivery man and take my launch, which I already paid for. I’ve not even taken it out of its box, and the smell is already intoxicating me. The warmth of the box goes right through my hands and straight to my belly. Anticipating the meal, my mouth is already watering.

There sure are a lot of interesting posts. One day I’ll have to get back to them. Is there any video I can watch while eating? Let’s see… maybe that guide I should have read has its video counterpart... There it is!

With my mouth already stuffed with meat so tender that there is almost no need to chew, I hear about everything I was supposed to do. For instance, going to the city and finding an instructor was the most critical step. Closely followed by winning the favor of the church, ups.

The cardinal at Irisgarth will seal your soul to Jonas, making the bound stronger. That, while unknowingly meaning being servant to a false God, gives you one benefit. If and when you die, you will be resurrected at the church instead of wandering the earth as a soul. In a way, it is better than my stasis, as you can rejoin the battle if you are close. But at the same time, in cases like mine, the team would lose a shot-caller. Which won’t happen with my class.

All the information regarding stats is also in the video. There are modifiers for how much damage, both physical and magical, you can resist. Also attributes to boost magic damage, magical effects such as heals, barriers, speeds, etc., and of course to increase damage dealt by physical attacks.

It would seem that the typical attributes of defense, agility, wisdom, and company are non-existent here. Your class boosts your capacity in those regards, but it is up to you to fully use their potential. Something along the lines of ‘Only if you train your mind and body to keep up with the gifts given to you, will you be able to harness its powers.’. I paraphrase in my mind, half-mocking the epic voice of the video.

Given I am some kind of mage, I don’t think I’ll have to pay special attention to any physical development at all. Time will tell tho. Ah, that was delicious… 10 minutes, maybe I should eat slowlier, whatever!

The video goes on with item inspecting and how different classes should itemize. For example, they discourage mages from going with plate armor. Not because they can’t, there are no class-requirements in this game, but simply because it would limit their mobility too much. They don’t have the strength to carry that weight around.

The game revolves around freedom, so it won’t force you to do anything for the most part. There is not a single quest-line, the story can take unexpected turns, and the world will evolve as their players interact with it.

Well, enough of this. I must get back to work. I stop the video and command my body to work, but my mind wanders off to the game. Just 5 more hours and I’ll be in!