Freelance Saga: Learning Curves (2 page)

The same issue was true for all of the
monster races. He could be a very powerful monster, but outside of
those specific skills and benefits he would have nothing else to
show for it. It was tempting, but one of the more traditional races
would have to be his choice.

He considered the remaining races then shook
his head. For all their advantages they had powerful drawbacks.
Dwarves were stocky and could only wear armor or use weapons
designed specifically for them. The same was true for giants and
half-giants. Elves might be a good choice but the lowered vitality
would cause problems if he wanted to be anything but a mage or an
archer.

Scott had to consider his options from the
perspective of a game player. He really hated it, but the human
race offered the best overall choice if he wanted to really
experience and choose from a wide variety of this game’s
options.

“I choose human.”

The image on the pedestal disappeared and
then reappeared. It looked no different than before. He was
prompted to make a few decisions regarding his appearance. Just for
kicks he decided to have bright green eyes and shockingly blue
hair. He increased his height slightly but he could not do much
else for his features.

“Due to choosing your native race, you will
be granted two additional starting skills. Is this alright?”

“Yes.” Why would he choose not to get free
skills?

A new message window appeared informing him
that he had learned two new skills. They were the skills of
observation and identification.

A loud fanfare erupted from the air around
him. Scott looked around in surprise but did not know where it came
from. A new window popped up to reveal that he had gained a level.
“I’m already level two?”

The old window screen disappeared and a new
one arose. Scott read it over and nodded. He had received ten
attribute points to distribute. However, he was required to expend
them in strength and agility.

“Well, it is a tutorial after all.” Scott put
half of the points into strength and the other half into agility.
He immediately noticed a difference in his body. The burdensome
weight lifted somewhat and he was able to move around with greater
ease.

The image on the pedestal changed a little as
well. It became slightly more muscular and toned. It was a barely
noticeable change, but it was something.

More window screens popped up. He needed to
practice his new skills until they reached a minimum of level ten.
“That seems pretty arbitrary.”

Scott shrugged and picked up a rock then
looked at it. The message screen instructed him to recite the name
of the skill that he was using. “Identification.”

“Well, no kidding. It’s just a rock. Good to
know that it has a durability rating, though. That probably means
that this game has equipment that can be damaged.”

Scott checked his identification skill to see
if he had gained any experience. “It increased by eighteen percent
just from identifying a rock?”

He immediately set about identifying
everything in sight. Different rocks, random leaves, and the
occasional twig or branch were easy items to identify and his skill
rose to beginner level ten rapidly. “Hmm, it’s at level ten but
nothing special happened.”

The man shrugged then considered the
observation skill. The only things in the area were grass and
trees. So, he tried to observe a tree.

“The hell, this tree is smarter than me?”
Scott snorted then checked his observation skill. It had increased
by twelve percent. It was lower than the increase in identification
skill. Still, he persevered and observed trees or the occasional
insect until his skill reached level ten.

Once again, nothing special happened. Scott
shrugged then went back to the pedestal.

A new message popped up. “Now that you have a
basic idea of how to use your new skills it is time to move
on.”

This was becoming quite interesting to Scott.
He was not sure how much time had passed, but this game world was
incredibly detailed. Was it really a virtual simulation, or did
they find a way to add an augmented reality system to the real
world in a remote location? That would have been interesting as
well. The thought that this was a legitimate fantasy world based on
role playing principles was still not something he was willing to
accept.

Scott followed the arrows and learned many
things. He gained three more levels and was required to add five
points to each of his other main stats. This put everything at six,
except for intelligence, which was at eight.

“I wonder how many levels there are in this
game? I’ve been here for only a few hours and I’m already level
five.”

He reached an outdoor training area with a
punching bag, bales of hay with targets painted on them, and wooden
dummies. The message that popped up informed him that he would be
allowed to gain a single combat skill here.

Scott looked around but saw no weapons to
choose. While he walked through the area he happened to punch the
heavy bag on a whim.

“You have gained the unarmed combat
skill!”

He snorted then could not help but laugh.
“Well, that takes care of that, I guess.”

New messages began to pop up one after the
other. He was instructed to reach level ten in unarmed combat by
attacking the heavy bag ten thousand times. A counter appeared
above the teaching instrument.

“Well, I admit the hand-holding in this game
is certainly blatant.” Scott waited to see if anyone answered him,
but no new messages appeared.

He turned to strike the bag. He casually
smacked it with his fist, but the counter did not change. Curious,
he struck again. There was still no change. Finally, he squared his
shoulders and struck out with a serious intent. The counter
decreased by one.

“I see, so that’s what you people want.”
Scott proceeded to strike the target repeatedly. However, he had no
real knowledge of proper punching techniques. While he had briefly
studied a few different martial arts and had wrestled a little in
high-school, it had been years since he had seriously punched
anything. He hunted and fished, but that wasn’t even remotely the
same thing.

Several minutes passed as he struck the bag.
The counter decreased rapidly during that time. He began to sweat
heavily, and his body began to ache. After a half hour he realized
that he’d only reached thirty-percent of his goal. After the hour
point he had reached his limit. He was not used to this level of
dedicated activity. He was half way to his required goal but he was
having trouble continuing.

A new screen popped up and he chose to read
it aloud. “When you are tired you should rest. If you sit in a safe
location your stamina, mana, and hit points will regenerate.”

“I have hit points? Well, yeah I did see them
on my status menu I guess.”

He called up his status screen and noticed
that his hit points had dropped by thirty. That was not a good
sign. “I can lose hit points just punching a bag?”

Scott took a seat on a nearby bench and
closed his eyes. After roughly one minute he felt a slight electric
tingle skitter through his body. “What the hell?”

Suspicious, he checked his status again. He
had regained a single hit point. “I see. Interesting.”

He waited a few minutes and discovered that
every time the tingle occurred he regained one hit point. He
decided that this meant that either he would always regain one hit
point, or he regenerated one percent per minute. He would have to
wait until he had more than one hundred hit points to find out.

Scott felt completely refreshed after the
thirty minute mark. He went back to the bag and started again. He
punched, kicked, and used his elbows just to test the current
request. Whenever he struck with focused intent, the attack
counted.

He grew tired again, with roughly
twelve-hundred attacks remaining. He realized that using more than
simple punches wore him out faster. This game was very realistic in
that regard.

The air smelled sweet, he noted, before he
sat down again. He had not paid too much attention to the sights
and sounds of the world until now. There was a subtle fragrance in
the air. He could hear a soft noise that sounded like quiet
background music as well.

“This place, it’s nice.” Scott smiled then
looked up at the sky. He had not had a workout like this in a
while. At first he had seen this as just a sort of job, albeit a
strange one. However, even if this was a virtual reality it felt
very real.

It was no wonder that they insisted that this
place was real. His body ached. His knuckles were red and raw. The
sweat made him feel sticky. If the truth were told, he enjoyed it
immensely.

Idly he decided to check his new unarmed
combat stat. “Holy shit, it’s already at level eighty-eight!”

When he was well-rested once more he stood up
and went back to the bag. He checked his hands and noticed that
they were no longer red and sore. That was certainly interesting.
It seemed that not long after reaching full hit points he was
completely healed.

Scott started pounding on the bag again. The
counter dropped rapidly, and it only took a few minutes to finish
up. He started to grow tired after a few hundred punches, just like
before, but since he only had twelve hundred punches left he stuck
it out till the finish.

Three hours and a few minutes after he
started, Scott landed his ten-thousandth attack. The counter shut
down and a brief fanfare erupted. A message screen popped up that
announced that he had reached novice level in unarmed combat. His
unarmed combat skill level had reset to one, but he had gained an
additional point in strength, agility, vitality, and durability.
His attacks were ten percent more damaging as well. The best part
was that he had gained another level!

“Sweet. I wonder how much I still suck?”
Scott looked at his status and noted that the points had been
applied to his stats. He had to admit that he did feel slightly
stronger overall.

The message screen popped up requesting that
he apply the new points he had acquired from leveling in a very
specific manner. “So, I need to raise intelligence, charisma, and
luck, to ten.”

He did as instructed. There was little choice
since he was not able to add them anywhere else. Another arrow
popped up. This time he was led to a charming little shack on the
edge of a pond.

A new screen popped up. He chose to read it
aloud since he was a little lonely. “You have spent several hours
at hard labor, training. Please rest inside. If you take a nap you
will be pleasantly surprised.”

Scott followed the advice of the message
screen and entered the shack. The interior consisted of a table, a
bed, and a small kitchen. He saw food on the table and immediately
gravitated toward it. “Ah, this is for me then?”

There was a note left on the table. When he
opened it up he was informed that the food was his to eat.
“Strange, that they did not use a message screen.”

He washed his hands in the kitchen sink. The
water turned on and off by itself. This little shack was quite
modern if it had motion sensing technology for the sinks!

The food proved to be quite tasty. He had not
realized just how hungry he was. Now that he was stuffed, he
believed that the message screen had the right idea. He needed to
rest a little.

He slipped into the bed, pulled the covers
tight, and took a little nap. When he woke up a new screen
appeared. He had gained three points in strength, agility, and
vitality for his hard physical exertions! He would be able to
increase his stats after hard training whenever he rested for the
evening. Since he was in training mode currently, that process had
been sped up. Usually, this sort of increase would require a full
night’s rest.

“That is great to know. It seems like
everything but faith and durability has reached ten points.”

Scott had a strong suspicion that this was
the goal of the training exercise. He would probably reach the ten
point mark in all stats, possibly even reach level ten.

A new message screen appeared. This one
warned him that he would now have to fight a monster. If he chose
not to fight monsters in the future due to taking up a non-combat
profession, that would be his choice.

“So, it has come to this?” He followed the
arrow and read the various messages that popped up. Monsters were
elemental creatures that manifested in this world at various points
known as spawning sites. Each monster species had its own territory
and rarely left.

Monsters were essentially immortal, just like
player characters. They lost a level when defeated but respawned in
their territory. This meant that monsters near human habitats were
often quite weak due to constant hunting, but monsters in distant
locations would be numerous and much stronger.

He reached a location that reminded him of a
back yard arena. It was a large circular area made of dirt and
sand.

Scott walked into the arena and a column of
light surrounded the area. He pressed his hand against that light
and realized that it was a barrier. There was no way out.

The message screen that appeared told him
that he would have to fight a weak monster here. When the monster
was defeated he would be able to leave.

“What, I’m supposed to punch or kick it?”
What kind of crap was that? Sure, he had unarmed combat skill, but
that’s because he had not found a weapon when he first went to get
the training this stupid tutorial offered!

Motes of light appeared suddenly in the far
side of the arena. They drew together and formed into a radiant
outline of a four-legged creature. When the light faded a small
turtle-lizard thing had appeared.

It did not immediately attack, so Scott was
uncertain what to do. It was not in his nature to just walk over
and punch a random lizard. He wasn’t hungry so he didn’t see a
reason to kill it, either.