Rules-Free VRMMO Life: Volume II - Beginning the Journey Page 2

  In the next moment, I was behind her, flipping up the mage robes she wore, and she was too delirious to notice until I had thrust inside her. She was a very tiny thing, only 5’ tall, but she was surprisingly accommodating. Well, she was a rabbit, so…

  Anyways, I let Euphoria wear off as I continued. The little rabbit looked like she was about to get pissed, but then I stroked her behind her ears as I thrust in, hard, and her eyes rolled back in her head. I might get in trouble for this later, but gotta admit I couldn’t care about that now. So I just allowed my mana to regen a little as I fucked the instructor from behind. And then I hit her with Euphoria again just as I was about to cum, blasting inside her as her back arched in pleasure, and she passed out.

  A few minutes later, the rabbitkin (Canae was it?) stirred, and woke up. And then she realized that I was letting her head rest in my lap. She sprung up like only a rabbit could, and began looking ROYALLY pissed. “Y-y-you!!!”

  Getting up, I smiled at her, and said, “Well, you did say to give you my best shot, didn’t you? I am an incubus. It’s what I do.” Smiling, I tried to use my Seduction to calm her down, or at least keep her from sending too many spells my way.

  She looked distinctly displeased, but managed to get control of herself. “Fine, I should have expected an Incubus to do such a brutish thing. And I’ve taken my potion for the month. But when did you learn silent casting? That is a high level skill.”

  I shrugged. “I am a Traveler. When I was given information about magic in this world, it said that words and gestures could focus the magic. Since it never said that they were required, I decided to figure out how to cast spells without them, and it worked.”

  Shaking her head, Instructor Whitetail sighed. “Damn Travelers. You do understand that most mages don’t learn how to do silent casting until they’re at least E rank, right? And being able to do it while fighting like that, that’s D rank, at least!”

  “Well, I was practicing by using magic and not getting killed by forest wolves.”

  This just caused her to mutter more, something along the lines of, “Damn Travelers!” After a moment, she shook her head, clearing her thoughts, and said, “All right. I’m willing to certify you as E rank, borderline D. You don’t have the power to go along with a D rank, though, so don’t get cocky. Go and amuse yourself elsewhere. Myself and the martial instructor will confer with the Guildmaster, and decide where to put you. Results will be ready by the time you get your guild card, so sometime in the evening.”

  Taking that as a dismissal, I slipped out of the room, and went back to the desk where I’d signed up for the tests. Looking at the clerk behind the desk, I nodded to him, and said, “So, finished my evaluations, and now I’d like to take the Class test?”

  The clerk looked up at me, and said, “All right, this one’s simple.” He pulled out a crystal orb on a stand, and said, “Place your hand on the orb, and it will give you suggestions on good classes for you. Pick one, and it will tell you where to go to get the class.”

  Reaching out, I placed my hand on the orb, and a screen popped up.

  Class Advisor

  Role: Face

  Analyzing…

  Considering your play style to date, there are several classes that may interest you. You may only have one main Class. Actions in game may give you the option to upgrade or change your main class.

  Subclasses are specializations of your main class, and are unlocked at level 30.

  Suggested choices:

  Warlock

  A caster class specializing in dark magic and enhancing their own abilities. Capable of using light armor. Can advance into Twilight Master, Hexblade, or Demon Tamer.

  Beguiler

  An oddity amongst other casters, the Beguiler specializes in Illusion and Charm-based magics. As such, their magical damage potential is extremely low. However, they can wear light armor, and make excellent spies, or politicians. Can advance into Reality Shaper, Mindbender, or Mystic Spymaster.

  Dominator

  A class focused entirely on stripping others of their free will, and turning them into mindless slaves. Often compared to necromancers, but with living beings rather than undead. Can advance into Legion Mind, Mindslayer, or Master of Thralls.

  Blackguard

  Often described as the dark twin of the Paladin, the Blackguard focuses on corruption and death where a Paladin might seek purity and life. Can use heavy armor and shields, as well as all simple and Martial weapons. Can advance into Death Knight, Slaughterlord, or Tyrant.

  Chapter 15 – Class Change

  It didn’t take me long to figure out how they’d decided on the four classes. Warlock was clearly focused on dark magic, and probably had some nasty debuffs and DOTs in their arsenal. Beguiler was like a magical con artist, focusing on charm magics. Dominator looked like a glorified pet class, where everything went into raising your army of minions (except instead of pokemon you had slave girls, I guess). Blackguard was clearly focused on melee fighting, which made sense since I had good sword skills by now.

  Each choice basically focused you on one route of advancement. Sure, I could, say, be a Beguiler and still use my Dark magic, but the Dark wouldn’t advance at the same rate as my Charm magic. Plus, you’d get special class bonuses, and maybe even unique spells and abilities. In addition, the three ‘advances’ all looked to be focusing on an aspect of the class itself. The Blackguard’s Death Knight probably focused heavily on survival and debuffs, while the Slaughterlord focused on DPS and the Tyrant probably focused on leadership or something, giving bonuses to party and raid groups.

  Considering to myself for a moment, I queried the system for information on classes, subclasses, and professions.

  Class Information

  Classes in Age of Anarchy Online are not like those in other games. Because of how AAO is structured, most choices are available to players regardless of class, provided they put the time and effort in. Classes, however, provide bonuses to certain aspects, and may also include unique skills. Every ten levels, new class abilities are unlocked. At Level 40 players gain the option to advance their class to an Advanced Class. Advanced Classes have prerequisites you must meet before they can be unlocked. Special actions may unlock hidden or unique Advanced Classes.

  Subclass Information

  At Level 20, players unlock the ability to gain a subclass. This is not an extension of the primary class, but a second base class. Unlike with your primary class, you must meet certain prerequisites before being allowed to take a subclass. (Example: a Monk who wants to be a Sorcerer as his subclass must have a suitable level of INT, and at least Basic-level skill in one or more types of magic.) Subclasses unlock new abilities every 20 levels instead of every 10. At level 60, players may advance their Subclass into an Advanced Subclass.

  Profession Information

  Unlike in other games, where you must have a profession to practice a trade (i.e. must be a Tailor to make your own cloth armor), this is not the case in AAO. However, having a profession provides a bonus to certain skills, as well as potentially unlocking unique abilities based on the profession. A Tailor may gain a bonus to their Tailoring skill, and their works will be higher quality than a non-Tailor. Additionally, some recipes and gear may require the Tailor profession to use. You may only have one profession at a time. Changing your old profession to a new one costs more gold the higher level you are, and the more times you’ve changed professions, so it is recommended that players choose a profession, and stick with it. Professions unlock special abilities every ten levels.

  Huh. That was actually pretty cool, once you got down to it. Sure, your subclass got slower ability gains, but you could still build a lot of interesting characters. There were a lot of ways to go with that, depending on whether you were solo, a raider, or PVP. And the Professions made sense. Anyone could craft, if they had the skills, but a Blacksmith was going to turn out higher quality weapons than a guy who just took the Blacksmith skill. So, probably meant
a bit more damage, durability, or chance of higher grades with the same materials.

  That left me with the question of what being a Slave Trainer would give me, once I start working on it. I hadn’t visited the trainer yet, so some of my abilities were still locked.

  For now, Della and I needed classes, the two girls needed professions, and we all needed gear. Some of the gear I’d gotten from the dead guys back at the temple would do nicely, but most of it would get sold, and hopefully we could get more stuff. Oh, and maybe visit the slave market to see if there was anything worth getting that would add to the party’s strength.

  Well, classes first. I got directions from the clerk, but before we left, I stopped at the counter where you could sell old gear. Time to empty out my inventory a bit. After looking things over, I decided to sell almost all of the weapons and armor. They were all basic stuff, and not worth going to the auction house over. The only exceptions I made was the Priestess’s gear. Since they came off a level 10 area boss, that made them better than beginner gear, and would work fine for Della once she got her class change. Severa’s gear was better than any the cultists had, especially for a rogue like herself, so I left her gear alone for the moment. I kept all the jewelry and other accessories. I was going to grind my Enchantment on them, and put most on the auction house. Anyways, all told, the loot came to an impressive 20 GP. As I thought, that ‘tutorial’ really ramped up the difficulty because I was OP.

  Fathon was a decent-sized city for a medieval world, but there was no way they could have a temple dedicated to each of the gods here, even the main ones. Just too many. So they did something pretty smart, and put single building up, where all the gods were worshipped. This was the case in most towns, unless an area had a really high connection to a particular diety. Like a town in the tundra would have a temple of Auril, period. Even then, though, there’d be sub-shrines to different dieties.

  Religion in AAO was interesting. The gods were (for the most part) neither good nor evil, but more ‘natural’, I guess. Just like people, the gods had their good and their bad sides. Of course, some HEAVILY leaned one way or another, though. That said, picking a patron deity didn’t mean you couldn’t offer a prayer to other gods, especially when intruding on their domain. Anyone who took a sea voyage without offering a prayer to Poseidon was either an idiot, or one of the truly devout of another god. But having a patron, and praying to that patron, especially when embarking on ventures in their portfolio, was rumored to have an increased chance of good things happening. Like with the Luck stat, no one was really sure just how far that went, though.

  At the temple, it cost just five silver for a Priest of Moradin to bestow the class upon Della. It seemed she got bonuses to her divine spells, and some other goodies, I paid another silver to get her a holy symbol of Loviatar that she could wear around her neck over her clothes. That simple action gave her a +30% resistance against hostile divine spells! I was going to enchant that symbol later to help it provide more bonuses.

  Now that Della had her class, it was time for me to get mine. This required us to walk a bit, but not too far. Turning the corner into an alleyway just before we got to the marketplace, we descended a set of stone steps into the basement of a certain business. It was a pet store. Not dogs and cats, though they had stuff like that, too, but things like familiars, and even some pets that might be useful in combat. But familiars were pretty useless, except as something pretty to look at, and I had two of those already. And combat pets were expensive as hell, since they were actually damn useful.

  Sidetracked again. Down the stairs, we opened a door, and walked into the place where I would be able to get my class, the Dark Shrine. The place was dimly lit, but I could tell this was a one stop shop for dark magic. Almost like a food court, but with one counter selling Dark Magic spellbooks, another covering rituals, one with ritual ingredients, and one with special class gear. In the center was an altar, and I could see fresh blood on it as I moved forward. Being a Warlock didn’t immediately make you evil, but you stare into the Abyss…

  Anyways, I went to the trainer, who was this human guy dressed all in black, with a hooded robe and everything. Cliché much? His name was Varric Bane, and was apparently a Level 60 Warlock, according to ‘Observe’.

  “Greetings young one. And what brings you to this place of shadow today? And with such lovelies behind you, too?”

  “Elder, my name is Zayn Darkmore, and I am a Traveler. I have come here this day to set out upon the path of a Warlock. I captured these two ladies in battle, and they are now bound to my will.”

  “Well, well, manners, and yet you’re also willing to embrace the dark! Such a rarity these days. Tell me, boy, what is it that you seek?”

  “I wish to do as I please. For that, I need power, both to defend myself and to ensure that any who cross me will regret it for the rest of their lives, however short that may be.”

  “Ah, a good answer for one setting out on the paths of darkness. Most of you Travelers that come to me simply look for a chance to slaughter the innocent. They do not realize that dark and light are not the same as good and evil. It merely reflects how far you are willing to go in order to achieve your goals.”

  Zayn nodded. This followed much his own thoughts in real life, even though he’d spent ages playing a righteous type in his last game. “Then how should I begin?”

  “There is nothing without a price, my child. To become a Warlock, blood must be shed, and you must take in the power of the lower planes. Are you willing to do this?”

  “How much blood, and from whom? And what effects will this power have upon me?”

  “Hoh! So you know how to ask the right questions, hmm? Well, don’t worry, it isn’t anything like sacrificing someone. Sure, high level rituals call for a sacrifice, but this is just a pittance in comparison. Just cut your arm, and allow a few drops of blood to spill on the altar. And then hold on.”

  Right, so this is going to be painful as hell, probably. Oh well, might as well get on with it. I pulled out my knife, and made a quick cut across my palm, before holding it over the altar. Before long, the blood began to drip down. When the fifth drop of blood hit the stone altar, green flames rose up on the altar, and then they rushed into me. Oh yes, this was going to SUCK!

  Getting roasted alive is not on my list of top ten ways to go out. And I didn’t even die. Hell, I didn’t even lose any HP, other than what the knife had done. But the PAIN! I thought I heard screaming. Oh wait, that was me. Everything went black for a second…

  When I came to, I was sprawled on my back next to my slaves. Neither one had moved to help. In Della’s case, it was probably because I was on fire, and she saw my HP wasn’t moving. In Severa’s case, she was probably hoping my death would free her. It wouldn’t, of course, since I was a Traveler and not a Native. But she didn’t know that. Not yet.

  Class Changed!

  New Class: Warlock

  Class benefits:

  +20% with Dark Spells

  +20 MP per Level

  Light Armor Proficiency

  Hellfire Proficiency

  Hellfire Mastery Skill

  New Spells added!

  Chapter 16 – Professional Opinions and Work History

  I was pleased with the boosts the Warlock class gave me, so I decided that I'd check the other abilities out later. Looking over to Varric, I said, “My thanks, Elder. I will be leaving the city in the next day or so, and may not be back for some time. Is there a Dark Shrine in the elven kingdom of the Wyrmwood?”

  “Ah, so those princesses asked you to escort them back? Oh, don’t look so surprised. The rumor mill’s been quite active since their carriage was found sacked, with their guards slain. And then a Traveler shows up out of the forest, with the princesses by his side.”

  “Heh. I guess I’ve made a bit of a name for myself, on accident.”

  “Well, don’t worry about it. At any rate, yes, there’s a Dark Shrine in the capitol, but I don’t know where. T
he elves tend to drop the hammer on things that border on… less pleasant facts of life quicker than human kingdoms do, so it is hidden. But I’ll send word through certain channels, and the Keeper of the Shrine there will get in contact with you if he has any requests.”

  Well, that made sense. Nodding my head, I thanked Varric, and then moved over to the tables, to see what was for sale. The spells and rituals were interesting, but I really needed to work on the ones I already had before buying up lots of variations. I did grab one spell, though, for 5 silver (though I paid in copper). It was called Dark Portal, and it allowed me to open a portal to any Dark Shrine I’d been to before.

  The books of lore were neat, but not anything I needed right now. The armor, on the other hand, was something I could definitely use, since I could now wear armor. I didn’t want to blow all my money, especially since we still needed to get some supplies for traveling, get professions, and so on. But I was willing to make a good investment on some decent armor.

  Some of what they had was beginner trash, and some of it was way above my level. However, I did see a couple things that worked well. After purchasing them (total of 1 gold), I enchanted them, so I had: