System notification echoed in Vivan's head.
Heart rate stabilizing…
95 bpm..
80 bpm..
70 bpm...
64 bpm..
Heart rate stable.
Then a male AI voice echoed in Vivan's head-
"Welcome to the Evaluation Zone GhostWalker."
Vivan opened his eyes. He was lying on the ground. A vast grass field dancing under warm breeze touched his skin. He sat up, and that's when the scenic beauty flooded in. Under a full moon light the grass field plateau was gleaming in silver hue. High mountains were peeking at the far east of the valley on the plateau and from the plateau a deep dense forest was barricading the way towards the mountains.
He turned his gaze around. A high flowing river at the west, a shimmering golden city at the north and a dark hued ruin at the south was beautifying the location to its zenith.
"The person who has designed this is really artistic."- Vivan praised the creator.
That's when the male AI voice spoke with thankful tone.
"This is the Beginner's Valley, sir GhostWalker. I'm really happy that you liked the creation of the game master."
Vivan got shocked.
"You can read my mind? Who are you?"
"Sir, I am Isaac. Your temporary AI guide for the evaluation zone and as I am a part of the EDS mechanic i.e. connected with your central nervous system, I can hear your thoughts and can also communicate with you."
Vivan was impressed.
"Wow! So you can guide me just by reading my thoughts like I don't even have to go and talk to game characters?"
Isaac responded with a gentle smirk-
"No sir, You have to talk to NPCs to get knowledge of this world. You can think of me as personal assistant. Once you complete the evaluation a permanent AI guide will be assigned to you for that."
Vivan smiled with an awe- "Well then! Shall we clear the evaluation section?"
Isaac- "Sure sir! Please pull up your quest window to check for evaluation."
Vivan- "And how do I do that?" – with a sarcastic tone.
Isaac- "Sir, kindly just pronounce the word Quest."
Vivan followed the instruction and a quest window opened up in a silver hue.
The window was divided into three categories- Main quests, Sub quests, Special quests. Under the main quest a single quest was visible – Assess yourself. As soon as Vivan touched his main quest assess yourself a secondary window opened.
Do you want to activate this quest?
Yes No
Vivan touched the yes button and a new window in hot red popped up. Inside this window there was a picture of a lava mountain and on the right side of the image followings were mentioned.
Ruins of the Fire Giant
Difficulty: Infinite [as per the player stats]
Clearance possibility: Impossible [as per the player stats]
Do you wish to continue in this location?
Yes No
Vivan blinked twice to that window. Then asked-
"What's the meaning of this Isaac? Why would there be an evaluation quest that is impossible to clear?"
Isaac was silent for two seconds, then with a worried tone –
"Sir, I am really sorry but events are designed by the creator, their purposes are not available to us. So in this situation you can select No and choose a different location for your evaluation."
Vivan's eyebrows wrinkled. A single thought came in his mind, parts of the instruction from Erina. Firstly, "You can gain stat points to allot to segments for general stat points through clearing events, taking actions" and secondly "Your mental stats are not just for character interactions or behavior. They directly influence your core gameplay, your performance as well as skill set."
He wanted to test these two. If, just if the system is designed where mental stats are gained through decision making, then there is a possibility to gain better stats to go with this impossible quest as evaluation.
"Are the Devs trying to assess player judgments? Why else they would keep an impossible quest in evaluation?" – the thought kept spiraling in his head and with that also the last instruction from Erina "If you die here, you die for real." .
"Isaac! As Erina instructed if I die here, I will die in real life too. Right?" – he asked with a doubtful tone.
"Yes Sir! That's the rule for the main game. But you are currently in evaluation zone here if you die in the quest you will respawn back here in the Beginner's Valley and have to choose a different quest with lower difficulty for evaluation."
Now Vivan was hooked. Just to confirm he asked –
"Once the evaluation is over and we get into the main game then?"
"Sir, then the respawn facility will be locked completely."- Isaac responded in a compose tone.
"So this is it. The only situation where I can test out different ideas and ways. The best way to understand the mechanics is here." – his eyes glowed with an wicked grin as if the gamer inside was grinning from his subconscious.
A system voice echoed –
You have gained new stat points +5 INT.
You have gained new stat points +10 Courage.
Now the grin that was glowing in his eyes captured his face. He could barely hide it. Just by making the decision he got 10 courage points and 5 intelligence.
"Well, well. Isn't it exhilarating! This EDS mechanic is really something." – he thought in his head while the gamer inside got hooked up by the game even deeper.
Isaac was going to say – "Sir, it is recommended to.."
But he could not finish his line.
A beep noise and a system voice interrupted his line.
Initializing Evaluation in the Ruins of The Fire Giant.
Vivan had pressed yes.
System chime: Quest accepted - Ruins of the Fire Giant.
And with that a circular circuit just the like the one over the ledge behind the introduction room activated under his feet with linear lights motioning upward from the circuit over the ground covering his entire body in cylindrical light way.
And some more system voice echoed.
Basic combat skills added.
Basic battle outfit added.
You have gained new stat points +90 courage
You have gained new stat points +100 resolve.
Once the light pillar ended the scenario of the surrounding got changed. Vivan was teleported to the ruins of the fire giant.
A volcanic mountain, lava was pouring out from every peak of the mountains. The atmosphere was burning hot.
But the only thing that was going on in Vivan's head was the EDS mechanic. He hurriedly pronounced Stat. Opening his status window to check. His eyes couldn't believe what he saw.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General stats: Mental stats:
STR – 10 Courage –100
AGI – 10 Resolve – 100
INT – 15 Blood thirst – 0
LUK – 0 Empathy – 0
SPD – 10
HP – 1000/1000
MP – 200/200
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"I got 100 resolve and courage just for choosing the impossible quest? What the hell is this?" – he shouted in joy inside.
"I still don't know how these mental stats affects the game play performance but still just making decisions and taking actions give me numerical stats?" – he was emerged in deep thought.
"The difference in level was huge so that defines the amount of the stat I gained but still what is this EDS?"
His line of thought got interrupted with Isaac's voice.
"Sir, We are in a critical zone. It would be best to gear up and stay focus." With a worried and disappointed tone as if he has never seen or heard of a player who gambles by taking drastic decisions without analyzing the threat.
Vivan opened his inventory. Clicked on the newly added dress. A white tunic, over the tunic there is leather jerkin and leather bracers as forearm guard. The lower part covered with a leather trouser tied up to his hip with a utility belt and high ankle boots. Before clicking to wear, he read the information slab of the dress-
*** A simple battle outfit that allows the user to move as free as possible without restricting player's capabilities. Can be upgrade able with proper materials and upgrade scrolls.***
Then he clicked on the basic sword and read the information –
***A simple sword made out of purest iron core that allows the user as freely as possible without restricting player's capabilities. Can be upgrade able with proper materials and upgrade scrolls.***
"Well these two does not give me any boosts." – he thought with disappointment but he was curious about the second part of the information both of the items does not restrict player capabilities.
Then suddenly Isaac's voice came sharp-
"Mind your right Sir."
Before he could prepare a sharp and heavy tackle blew him few meters away. His body dropped on the ground by his chest.
His HP dropped from 1000 to 800.
The bone shattering pain made him focused. He crouched up from the ground on his knees, blood spilling out of his forehead and the warning of death came back to his mind as he felt the brutal fear for the first time in this world.
He looked in to the eye of the monster that attacked him. A fire hog. Flames were burning from its teeth, tail and the linear fur line across its back. Eyes were as cruel as a demon hungry for a soul.
Over its body two stats with respective bars were visible.
HP – 10000/10000
MP – 5000/5000
Vivan gripped his sword tighter. The beast leaped forward, Vivan rolled to right to dodge it's charge and by the end of his rolling motion he used his sword in a horizontal slash activating one of the three basic skills he got - Simple Sword Strike.
The system voice echoed –
10% multiplier activated due to courage.
10% multiplier activated due to resolve.
20% damage reduction activated due to difference in level.
The beast groaned in rage and its HP dropped by 8.
The beast's Stats –
HP – 9992/10000
MP – 5000/5000
GhostWalker Stats –
HP- 800/1000
MP-200/200
The Damage was too low comparing to the hog's stats but what got Vivan curious was the multiplier system.
"So my general stats are being multiplied by 10% of the stat twice due to mental stats? That's epic boost. "
Isaac's voice came supporting his thought – "also the damage is reduced due to level difference, Sir."
Vivan responded – "Yeah! But who design a boss monster that suddenly jumps to attack without warning like that Isaac? I could not even read my skill set."
Isaac responded to that calmly.
"Sir, Fire hogs are weakest monsters in Ruin of the Fire Giants. We have not reached the boss room, so please do not worry of a boss attacking suddenly."
"That's the weakest monster?"
Vivan could barely acknowledge his sarcasm while the fire hog charged in again. This time he flipped over its body activating his second skill – Mana Strike.
Again the system notified-
20% boost in strength due to mana usage.
10% multiplier activated due to courage.
10% multiplier activated due to resolve.
20% damage reduction activated due to difference in level.
The strike landed on the hog's back leaving a shallow wound from its tail to neck. Blood spilling out like molten lava from the wound.
Vivan's MP got dropped by 20 and his sword got covered in a pure blue light of mana.
The fire hog groaned in light pain.
Vivan and the hog stood face to face gauging each other.
Hog's Stat-
HP – 9979.5/10000
MP – 5000/5000
GhostWalker Stat-
HP – 800/1000
MP – 180/200.
Vivan quickly checked his third skill – Mana Recovery [successfully evade 5 consecutive attacks of enemy to recover 5% of your MP.]
"So I can use Mana strike 9 more times before I run out of MP. I need to come up with a good strategy fast. "
But the beast already charged at him rolling itself this time coating its whole body into flames.
System voice notified –
Fire hog has activated innate skill Flame Roll.
The attacks speed was so fast Vivan could not dodge it properly. His body spun across his right flipping him by his back to the ground. His sword got dropped from his hand.
His HP dropped by 500.
He barely dragged himself to his sword, then with the help of his sword he stood back. But the damage was big enough to drop him back to his knees, bleeding heavily by his right shoulder and burned across his right torso. But still he looked at the hog with sharp observing eyes, supporting himself by his sword.
And the Beast Stomped on the ground with proud "OINK!"
And the system voice echoed –
Extreme courage detected.
Extreme resolve detected.
Analyzing…
Morality threshold exceeded.
**Initializing: Living Morality Engine.**
… To be continued.