"You swiftly and cleanly defeated the enemies before you. You have gained 260 combat experience points. Your first battle has received an 'Excellent' rating. You will gain an additional 10% combat experience bonus in your next fight."
The system message appeared across Aldric's retinal display.
Ignoring the system prompt for the moment, Aldric knelt beside Terry and inspected his wound. Seeing that the injured man was gradually calming down, he asked, "You've seen me before? Are you one of the sailors who escaped from the ship?"
"My name is Terry. I saw you on the ship! I worked for Captain Emmus Rockfell!" Terry finally managed to take a deep breath, feeling his strength drain away as pain from his leg wound flared. "Please… help me… the captain and the others were captured by the orcs. I'm the only one who got away…"
"How many people escaped from the ship with you? Were the others all captured?" Aldric tore open the fabric around Terry's wound and quickly fashioned a makeshift tourniquet from the leather on a dead greenskin's body. Tying it tightly just above the wound, he said firmly, "Hold this tight if you want to stay alive."
Gritting his teeth against the agony, Terry grasped the tourniquet with trembling hands. "There were eight of us. The captain led us into the forest to find shelter from the rain, but we ran straight into a group of orcs. They caught everyone else. They might have… already been eaten…"
"Do you know where the nearest town is? How far?" Aldric examined the broken spear that had impaled Terry, noting its material and length. "Hang in there, my friend. This might hurt a little."
"What—?"
Before Terry could react, Aldric yanked the spear out in one swift motion. A stream of dark red blood gushed from the wound. Aldric quickly uncorked Captain Rockfell's flask, pouring half of its contents—strong liquor—over the injury to disinfect it. Then he tore strips from his silk undershirt and wrapped them tightly around the wound, layer after layer.
"Consider yourself lucky," Aldric said after examining the wound. "It didn't pierce a major artery. The good news is, you won't bleed to death right away. The bad news is, with how filthy this place is—and the poor state of that weapon—you're almost guaranteed an infection. Every ten minutes, loosen the tourniquet for two minutes, then tighten it again. Otherwise, you'll lose your leg before the infection even sets in."
He could tell from Terry's pale, ashen face that even if he survived, keeping that leg would be a miracle.
"Th-thank you…" Terry managed weakly, his lips nearly colorless. "The nearest camp is Rogue Camp, less than a day's journey from here. There's a priest there—they can heal me. But we'll have to cross the entire forest to get there…"
"Here, Terry, have a drink," Aldric said, offering him the flask. "This was your captain's favorite. You need rest now. I'll see if that monster's corpse has anything useful on it. We'll figure something out."
He gave Terry a reassuring pat before standing and walking toward the one-eyed orc's corpse.
At that moment, a new optional quest notification appeared before his eyes:
[Optional Quest: Survivors in Peril]
"Under Captain Emmus Rockfell's leadership, several sailors and passengers narrowly escaped death in the storm. But misfortune strikes twice—while luck spared their lives, it also led them into the hands of an orc patrol. Their situation is now dire. Will you risk your life to save them?"
Difficulty: Dangerous
Reward: Advanced Background Class
…
In Unreal World, every player is randomly assigned a background class based on their base attributes upon entering the game. Common class included thief, farmer, or merchant. Players with slightly higher stats and better personal data scans might instead be assigned roles such as adventurer, scholar, or mercenary.
What was the purpose of a background class?
Before a player obtained a main class, all experience points went into leveling their background class. Different backgrounds also granted different skills and skill point distributions. Most players would acquire their first official class around level 4.
For instance, take a player whose main attribute is Intelligence. Suppose his background class is Scholar. When he reaches level 3 and officially becomes a Mage, his level would appear as Scholar (Lv.3) / Mage (Lv.1)—a total level of 4. However, the Mage class has an experience penalty of 1.5×. This means that when the player levels up to level 5, choosing to upgrade the Mage class would require 1.5 times the normal experience to reach Scholar (3) / Mage (2).
Alternatively, he could invest regular experience into his background class instead, reaching Scholar (4) / Mage (1)—still a total level of 5, but with different benefits.
While the total level is the same, the difference in skill points, talents, and abilities gained from each choice can be enormous. A player who is Thief (3) / Assassin (7) at level 10 might be capable of slaughtering ten Thief (9) / Assassin (1) players of the same total level. However, due to the experience distribution, the latter player might actually be Thief (12) / Assassin (1) after the same amount of playtime—making battles between them long and intense, sometimes lasting ten minutes before one falls.
Every new player in Unreal World also received a challenge-style optional quest upon arrival. Completing it rewarded them with an Advanced Background Class. Those who succeeded would unlock stronger, rarer background classs—but at the cost of heavier experience penalties.
Certain high-tier class even required specific background types. For example, to become a Sword Saint, the player's background class had to be that of a Young Warrior or Skilled Swordsman.
…
Aldric returned to Terry's side carrying a trimmed tree branch.
"My friend," he said honestly, "I won't lie to you. I don't think you can make it to Rogue Camp on your own."
Terry took the makeshift crutch and hobbled forward a few steps. His face turned even paler, his expression defeated. "You're right… Even without those damned greenskins in the forest, I doubt I could reach the camp…"
"I don't abandon the wounded, Terry." Aldric steadied him to prevent him from collapsing. "Here's my plan: I'm going to check whether there's a chance to rescue your captain and the others. If we succeed, we can take turns carrying you out of here. But honestly, there's a greater chance that all of us will end up in the orcs' bellies. Are you willing to take that risk?"
"I… I am," Terry said after a moment, his voice trembling. "But it's unfair to you. You could just leave me and save yourself. I don't even know your name yet!"
"My name is Aldric," he replied with a faint smile. "Don't get too worked up, my friend. Without a guide, I'd never find my way out of this cursed place anyway. Besides, good sailors don't abandon their captains—and good passengers shouldn't abandon those who saved them, right? Let's give it everything we've got."
(End of Chapter)