Book 1, Volume 2

Chapter 11

Michael woke up to the sounds of singing birds, the sky bright blue, the sun shining down on his body seemed to energize him. Ah, it was all just a dream... just a dream...

Unfortunately, he knew it was no such thing. He was really in a young girls body. How did this happen? What went wrong? None of this makes sense. The official information package that he read before coming here said that a person couldn't make their game body too much different from their real-life bodies, let alone a different gender...

[ DING ]

Ugh! That obnoxious dinging... how do I turn it off...

[ YOU GOT MAIL... box ]

Hmm... how do I get my mail? He sat there scratching his head for a bit before saying, “Mail...” That didn't seem to work... “...how about, Mail... box?”

A holographic mailbox appeared in the air before him. He reached out with his small soft hands Yup, I still have little girly hands and opened the mailbox. Inside he found a letter. Grabbing the letter he ripped it open and began reading:

Greetings Young Ms. Starblood,

This letter is a little guide to help you start your journey in the right direction in the magical World of Abrynth. [ Pro Tip: Think of this guide as your Yellow Brick Road. ] The few Starblood's that were lucky enough to be chosen as a Unique race [ talking about you here little miss lucky star... blood ;) ] each starts off in their own Unique starter area.

Everything you need to gear up for your journey out of the starter area can be found within your starting area. [ Just like that sweet, sweet divine weapon you stumbled upon. ]

We highly advise you [ We being me ] to look through every nook and cranny in your starting area before leaving to venture forth into the World of Abrynth. That being said, here are a few more pro tips to get you moving:

1. Get to know thyself by saying: “Show Status!”

2. You can learn new skills, spells, and abilities in the game through real-world knowledge [ like your martial arts ] to scrolls and grimoires to entering states of enlightenment to learning from others [ like trainers, hidden masters, and such ]. The path to capturing them is many so go on out there and catch them all.

3. Break out the Rocky training montage videos! All skills, spells, and abilities have proficiencies which you can increase through usage. Here is the breakdown: Five levels increases your skill tier by one. Five tiers increase your rank by one. Current skills, spells, and abilities are rank capped at five.

   Your personal rank cap is unlimited, but the higher your rank, the more experience you'll need to level up, so the slower you'll rank up.

   Bad News: As a newbie, you start off at the bottom: Rank 0, Tier 0, Level 1. Good News: There's nowhere to go but UP! And at a quick pace. [ btw... You earned 100 XP for finding that sweet weapon, earning a level up :) ]

   ("Nope, no bad news for me." Michael said out loud while clenching the virtual letter in his small hands as if it was his lifeline. "I've always loved growing my characters from weak to strong in games. That part will be fun... even if I have to do it again once I get this whole body mix up fixed.")

4. Loot what you kill. Think of all the bad beasties as fun little pinatas! Bust them open to get the yummy treats inside.

5. Don't fight what you can't kill. No seriously. There is no shame in running away to live another day. Dying is no bueno. You get resurrection curse when you're brought back from the lands of Yomi. This curse will weaken all your stats, damages, and defenses by a huge 30% for 8 whole hours.

   (Michael nodded energetically, his free-spirited hair bouncing up and down, "Yup, yup... no need to tell me twice... when in doubt run and hide.")

   The only way to get rid of this curse is to pay someone to do it or by using the right scroll. Either way, bye-bye gold. Also, each time you die there's a risk of you dropping gold or non-soulbound items that you have on your small slender body at the time of death.

   [ Pro Tip Plus: If you don't currently need what you're carrying, then how about leaving it in the bank, where it'll be safe. ] There are many tough baddies in this world. Don't be fooled by how cute or scary something looks. Which leads to the next step...

6. Get to know the power of monsters: Monsters, beasties, baddies, loot pinatas, or whatever you'd like to call them all come in different strengths of Rank, Tier, Level plus Stars. The Star ranking is as follows:

   Baddies with one-star are cannon fodder! They are there to make you feel like a demi-god! So group them up and blast them with your AOE skills... btw AOE means Area of Effect.

   Two-star baddies a bit tougher, stick to about three of these bad guys and gals at a time when fighting, unless you got mad skills.

   Three-stars are a little weaker than a Starblood of the same rank. It's okay to fight two of them, as long as you know how to use some crowd control skills [ i.e. stuns, snares, traps, and the like ].

   Four-star baddies are tough. Fighting one at your rank will require you to bring your A-game! You'll need to make good use of your offensive, defensive, and control skills. Also, support skills like buffs and debuffs are really sweet to use here too.

   Five-star baddies... run. No seriously, if you're alone run, unless you get extremely lucky like a star falling from the sky and landing on the baddie, bringing it to an inch of its life... yup, without a group of three or more people... run. Even if you have three to six people, if you don't have a tank and a healer... run and save yourself from the repair bills.

   Six-star baddies are what's known in the biz as raid bosses. Yup, if you don't have tanks, healers, support, damage dealers, good leaders, and sound strategies just forget about it... I think you have a good idea of how to read baddie's strengths by now, so Happy Hunting and be safe out there.

   (Michael's face scrunched up, then lightly tapping his head, "This is really good to know but how do I see their Stars?" He gently rocked back and forth for moment or two, then his golden honey eyes lit up like a new moon breaking through clouds on a stormy night; Ah, it's probably a skill I haven't found yet. That one in mangas... appraisal or something like it.)

7. And the last tip of the guide: How Ranks Work.

   For every rank a baddie, beastie, or opponent is above you, they'll deal 20% more damage to you and take 20% percent less damage from you.

   This means if you're rank 1 and your opponent is rank 2, you'll deal 20% less damage to them. And they'll hit you for 20% more.

   On the flip side, if you're the one that's rank 2 and the baddie is rank 1 you'll be at the advantage of taking 20% less damage from their attacks and dealing 20% more damage. I think even the old giant obtuse you would get the picture, so I have no doubt that the new lovely delicate pretty you know what this means.

   (Michael's cute little cheeks puffed out as his soft gentle voice released the complaint in his heart, "I was never obtuse... that was just Cara's teasing...")

Well, there you have it. A highly intelligent, simple, easy to understand, well thought out starter guide that any new Unique Starblood can follow to get them started off in the right direction. We here wish you many happy adventures and new self-discoveries [ keep them PG-13 please, it's a family-friendly Livestream you know ;) ].

(Michael's body squirmed about a for a bit, forcing him to avert his bright eyes, to not look down as warmth spread to his cheeks turning them red. Focus... focus... focus...)

So pick yourself up, pull yourself together, set your plan of action, and go out into that great big beautiful world and show them how strong you are [ Girl Power Activate! :roar: ].

(Michael covered his face with his hands, a cold shiver ran up his spine as he rocked his body back and forth once again, trying to get rid of a bad dream, "Good grief.")

With Love from Above,

Anari

Daughter of the Goddess Lokaini

P.S. Bonus tip: Don't overlook professions. They are highly rewarding and allow some to express their artistic sides.

P.S.S. Almost forgot the paths out of your starting area will reveal themselves once you reach Rank 1 [ as well as unlocking your Soulryn ]. Once you're out of the starting area you will have access to your friend's list, Help Me button, and Logout button

(Michael sprang to his feet, pumping his fist in the air, bouncing around up and down in a small circle like some sort of cute little dance. Yes! Just what I wanted to know.)

P.S.S.S. [ Don't you just love P.S.S.es? ] Be adventurous and try doing many different things because doing so may unlock useful skills... be sure to train them up. Then reach Rank 1 and summon your Soulryn before taking on any strong opponents that may [ read that as most definitely will ] pop up to block your way out. [ Will you look at that, a mini-guide within a little guide... who would've thunk it ;) ]

"Thank You Anari!"

[ DING ]

Storymask

Author's Note:

I was really torn as to whether I should provide so much information in this chapter (in the form of a guide) or not... afraid of information overload. But the reason I decided to go ahead and do so is threefold:

1. Doing so felt real to me, a natural thing to do for the story. It fits the situation of playing the first of its kind VRMMO (and fits my idea of a light novel lit-RPG genre story). It reminded me of when I first played an MMO. I spent quite a bit of time learning about the game and reading guides to make sure I started off on the right foot. And the guides I read were way longer so I condensed it to what I wrote above.

So seeing as how Michael has just woken up from such a shock, and the situation he's currently in, I believe he would welcome such a useful and timely guide.

2. There are some lit-RPG light novels that I've read that do similar: In one of them, a pair of brother's sat in a restaurant, enjoying a meal in-game, while the older brother explained the basics of the game to the younger brother.

Yes, this did slow down the flow of the story at the time but made it easier to follow (understand) the story the rest of the way. Also, the authors were then able to focus on the story from then on leading to fun adventures... and stories.

This is sort of similar to that but in the form of an in-game letter sent by the A.I. Anari.

3. I'm able to flesh out and further introduce Anari's character through the humor and emoticons she uses in the guide.

As for the readers, I do hope the chapter provided the information in a simple, easy to read and entertaining (through Anari's humor) style.

As for my readers that do not care for chapters such as this one, all I can only say is that now that the foundation of the game world has been set, there won't be any more like this one to follow. From here on out, new features about Michael's game world will be discovered in small easy to swallow bites.

Well, that's about it for now. Thank you all for taking the time to read my notes and I hope you enjoy the many chapters of the story to come.

P.S. Next chapter we'll take a look at Michael's status which will reveal his unique race and give some hints as to his future class.