The World R:3 [T-M]{PM}

Races: - ** Races will sometimes affect what class you choose. A beast with low magic might not want to pick a magic using class, because then he/she will be weak. **
Humans - The average race that has multiple appearance choices. Whomever has chosen a human must also choose from a set of designs or symbols to have their characters tattooed with, to create an individuality between characters that might have similar character models.

Ya Tribe - Ya Tribe beasts appear large and intimidating, boasting high strength and defense. However, they have low magic defense and attack stats.

Lei Tribe - Although Lei Tribe Beasts usually have the size and shape of human characters, they tend to have canine or feline appearances. Lei Tribe Beasts have high speed and agility, but poor defense.

Tu Tribe - Small animals in appearance. They have limited defense and strength attributes, however, their magic attack and defense are are very high.

Classes:

Adept Rogue - The Adept Rogue is a type of class that allows the player to have 3 weapon classes instead of specializing in one class like all the other types of classes available. While this does seem like an advantage, Adept Rogue's are usually looked down upon as a terrible class choice because Adepts are the weakest they can be in their beginning stages as they only have one weapon class available to them until they unlock their other two classes through job extension quests. another disadvantage of Adept Rogues is that there are limitations as to what 3 classes they can be so that things that contradict each other are not placed along side each other(like harvest cleric and shadow warlock). One advantage of Adept Rogues is that, once completely mastered in all three classes, the Adept Rogues can be the most powerful players in the game.

Blade Brandier - The "middle class" as some say, as the swordsman-style class is not as fast as the Tribal Grappeler or Twin blade, but stronger than those two classes, and the Blade Brandier is faster than the Edge Punisher and Lord Partizian classes, but weaker than those classes. This class is accustomed to those who like to use all of the different styles of fighting and magic(status, combat, and healing). This class is weaker in the magics because it can use the three magics, and can use the magics more potently than a class that can learn the magic but is not skilled with it.

Edge Punisher - Edge Punishers are a job class that prefers to wield giant swords, and although they can learn magic, they can only use the lower leveled spells.

Flick Reaper - This class specializes in attacks meant to keep multiple enemies away. However, they are ineffective at long range. They wield giant scythes that are meant to keep enemies away from them, and the closer the enemy, the more damage can be done. A useful member for arena matches to guard spell casters.

Harvest Cleric - The healers of The World, Harvest clerics use staves to fight and cast their spells. Extremley weak in physical attack and defense. Harvest Clerics specialize in healing spells in their starting levels, but as they grow to their mastery they can use support spells and attack spells(although not very good/useful versions of the attack spells)

Javelineer - This class specializes in using spears and javelins to fight. A longer range version of the Blade Brandier, but not long enough to be considered a long range class. Mostly piercing skills, and less than average speed.

Lord Partizan - Lord Partizans wield giant lances that resemble large, hand held drills. No other class can match its piercing power. They have high defensive power compared to other classes, but are weaker against magic. This class is the perfect class for those who fight monsters as they have many air and pierce attacks.

Macabre Dancer - Macabre Dancers are proficient in healing and attack magic. They wield large fans in both hands to fight with. Their dancing form is said to enchant those who watch.

Punisher - A new class to The World that specializes in whip combat. Whips are classified as medium and long range weapons(whips are able to hit more targets if used at long range), which makes Punishers like the opposite of Flick Reapers. Punishers are also able to use attack spells.

Shadow Warlock - Mages specializing in attack spells and magic, they wield spells books known as Grimoire's that can be used to physically attack and enemy, although it is highly advised the Shadow Warlock not even attempt this. They would leave themselves open and not even do much damage. Stick to spells.

Tribal Archer - They specialize in long-range attack and are weak against close encounters, but if necessary their bows can be used as powerful melee weapons which keep most enemies away. High HP values, but not as much as Tribal Grapplers.

Tribal Grappler - This class specializes in using a players own fists to fight, and they wield gauntlets to fight with. They have high agility similar to Twin Blades and possess high HP. However, their low defense value makes it crucial to pay attention in battle.

Twin Blade - the most famous class in the entire game, because Twin Blade is the only class to be in all three revisions of The World. With great speed these warriors wielding dual blades fight. They don't have much power, but high speed and high number combos make up for the lack of strength.

Magic Guidelines

There are three types of magic in "The World" which are Healing Magic, Attack Magic, and Status Magic. The rule of magic in the World is that there is a recharge time between spells to make the game fair. A character may not cast more than two spells in a row without the general recharging time it takes, which can be altered using customizable items, or regular inventory items. Now for a more detailed look at the types of magic:

1. Healing magic focuses on healing the player and other players in a party, whether it be restoring their HP values or curing them of ailments(Poison, sleep, curse, seal, paralysis, confusion) A list of healing magic can be found in the OOC thread.

2. Attack magic focuses on combating opponents such as other players or monsters using spells based on the 6 elements(fire, water, wind, earth, dark, and light.) A list of spells can be found in the OOC

3. Status magic focuses on spells that affect other players, and the player casting. Spells include the ability to raise and lower certain stats(such as attack, magic attack, defense, magic defense, and speed) of monsters, players, and the caster.

All players can learn magic, however if a player is not a class that specializes in magic, they must find scrolls(which can usually be bought or found on monsters after killing them) to teach them the magic. The magic scrolls never exceed low level spells however.

Guilds

There are guilds in The World, which are always created by the players. Any player can create a guild once they get to a certain level and can buy the Guild @Home("@Home" is the term used to describe the base of operations in which a guild is run). Once a guild has reached a certain level of popularity, and has reached a high guild ranking, the leader can request the Administrators of The World to move their @Home to an area(areas are places that can be accessed by Chaos Gates in root towns using three key words) just for members of the guild. In the past there were two major guilds that had their own worlds, Moon Tree; the anti-PK guild, and Kestrel; the PK guild. Any player can join any number of guilds as they want, there is no limit. Currently in The World R:3, there are 4 major guilds that "run" how things go in the World(although really the Admins do that, but the guilds have more access to the public).

ZAF Cult - A guild formed around the idea that PKing is awesome, there's nothing wrong with it, and only the strong can get in! The leader of this guild is named October, a female Shadow Warlock who's nickname is "The Storm" because of the way she kills her enemies. The area words used to enter the ZAF Cult @Home is "(Delta) Crazed Queen's Castle"

Legends Unite - A guild formed around the idea that PKing is wrong, however the leader of the guild advocates Player Killer Killing(PKKing - a term used to describe people who only hunt and kill player killers). The leader is a Punisher named LegendX, and the area words to get to the @Home is "(Delta) Forged Evil's Bane"

The Market Guild - A guild designed by people who understand the economy of the game and use their knowledge to make themselves richer by holding a sort of "black market" instead of an actual guild, based off of a former market guild known as TaN back in the beginning of The World R:2. Their leader is a male Macabre Dancer named K1ng, although his nickname is "Golden Crown". Their @Home can be found at "(Delta) Flowing Rivers of Gold" (please note that "of gold" is the last keyword, even though separated by a space they are still in the same menu of key words)

Aegis Knights - A big guild, but not as big as ZAF or Legends, that has been trying to get it's own area for the last few months, although the Admin's still deny their request. The idea of this guild is that only the elite fighters can join, and they go out on quests to find the rarest monsters, the rarest items, and to get their own area. This guild's @Home can be found at the @Home entrance in the root town Breg Epona, located in the Sigma server. The leader of this guild is named Rona, A female Blade Brandier.

Root Towns and Areas

Mac Anu - A Root Town located in the Delta Server of The World. The dungeons and fields located in it are the lowest level in the game. A map of Mac anu can be found in the OOC Thread. In order to travel to the fields and dungeons, one must go to the Mac Anu Chaos Gate, and either manually place three key words, or randomly set key words(in Mac anu, all areas created by the three key words are in the (Delta) server, because Mac anu is the (delta) root town). Mac Anu is a slightly large city that has retained its beauty even though the game had been slightly modernized with electricity instead of steam power. The most notable locations in Mac Anu are the multiple districts and the large bridge that connect two parts of the city together. This bridge is important because it looks on at the never setting sunset, making the city a golden color.

Lumina Cloth - The only root town that you cannot access any dungeons or fields in. Lumina Cloth holds the Arena, which means that this root town is frequented by players of all levels. The arena sometimes has contests and tournaments for people to join the "Icolo Guild" which can only be accessed by those who are, or have been arena emporers. Lumina Cloth is on the Omega Server.

Dol Dona - A root town that holds the @Home entrance for guilds that have achieved medium rank. In R:2, Dol Dona was a beast-dominated area in which all players would have to interact with the duck like creatures to buy things and/or save. In R:3 however, the city of Dol Dona has been cleaned up and now looks like a paradise with many shops and stalls for various selling and buying needs. Medium leveled dungeons and fields can be accessed from the Theta server Chaos Gate found in Dol Dona. Currently Dol Dona is closed due to some malfunctioning.(Check the OOC often to see if Dol Dona can be accessed or not)

Breg Epona - The Sigma Server Root Town, can only be accessed by players who complete a certain quest, which only becomes available when players hit a certain level.

Dungeons: Dungeons can be held in either caves or forts, in which The party must either go deeper into the cave by fighting their way through monsters to find the staircase leading further down into the cave, or in the forts, the players must find the entrance to the next section of the fort. At the end of each dungeon, players will find a treasure chest, also known as "The offering to the gods" Each player in a party may take one of the three items in the chest and then use the warp point near by to exit the dungeon back to the Chaos Gate in whatever root town they had entered from. A player can leave dungeons at any time you find a warp point, which are only found at the start of each floor. Low levels dungeons only have up to 3 floors max.

Fields: Fields can be held on either rocky cliffs or sets of islands connected by bridges or warp points. Fields work a bit differently as Dungeons, as there are two types of ways you can play in a field. 1. You find and kill the boss, and 2. You find the three fragment pieces to create an artifact that opens a hidden tomb, and inside the tomb is "The offering" as seen in dungeons, with a warp point right next to it. In fields, a player can leave at any time by finding one of the warp points scattered about the fields(low level fields only have about 3 or 4 warp points to be found)

• In order to go into a dungeon or a field, you must go to a chaos gate either by yourself, with a party of two people(including yourself) or a party of three people(including yourself) and no more. **

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Create your Character!

Neo-Name:
Name of character(in the world):
Name of character out of the world:(optional)
Level: 1(you will always start out at level 1)
Gender:
Age:
Race:
Class:
Weapon: (check the ooc for the list of weapons that you can have at level 1, your weapon depends on your class)
Guilds/Factions: (completely optional! You don't need to be in a guild if you dont want to!)
Appearance: (What your character looks like in the game(and out of the game if you so choose)
Personality/characteristics:
Other Details: (what else is there about your character that you haven't seen a good place to put the info?)

code

[b]Neo-Name:[/b] [b]Name of character(in the world):[/b] [b]Name of character out of the world:[/b]( optional) [b]Level:[/b] 1 [b]Gender:[/b] [b]Age:[/b] [b]Race: [/b] [b]Class:[/b] [b]Weapon:[/b] (Check the ooc for a list of weapons) [b]Guilds/Factions: [/b](completely optional! You don't need to be in a guild if you dont want to!) [b]Appearance:[/b] (What your character looks like in the game(and out of the game if you so choose) [b]Personality/characteristics:[/b] [b]Other Details:[/b] (what else is there about your character that you haven't seen a good place to put the info?)

Edit: Jul 19, 10

Ian walked about his apartment trying to figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his day, as he had just gotten back from work and finished his lunch. He would have logged into The World if his friend hadn't quit a few days prior, but he had already bought the game, and didn't want to go through the hassle of selling it back to CC Corp or any other kid that lived in the apartment building. Sighing, Ian grabbed a drink from the fridge and walked over to his computer to check his e-mail. Nothing was new, but Ian decided to re-read the e-mail his friend had sent him from The World, explaining why he was quitting, giving the main reason that he was tired of being unable to go anywhere without getting PKed. It was a confusing thought for Ian, as he hadn't been PKed before, and he had gone into many fields before, so he thought that his friend just had bad timing, or became a target through various methods and variables. Whatever the case, if he ever logged back into The World, he would be alone.

Just as Ian was about to close the e-mail window, a small ping was heard, and a notification popped up saying the ever famous three words; "You've got mail." The mail had no subject, and the sender left an unlinkable nickname instead of a link to the users profile. The nickname read "the world" and Ian knew that it wouldn't have been CC Corp sending this, because they had a link, and they would always capitalize the "T" and "W" in "The World". Ian opened the message and read the mysterious message that was sent to him;

Dear World Player,
We are here to inform you of a great offer we think you might be interested in! Have you heard of the MVS Beta in--

Ian cut off the message as he delted it, thankful that it was just spam. Still bored, Ian decided to boot up The World R:3, he put on his headset and entered The World.

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A swirling blue light quickly dissapated from Fox, Ian's Player Character(PC), and he began to take a few steps forward before a small group of people rushed straight towards him, but a swirling blue light enveloped them right before they ran into Fox, and they quickly dissapeared along with the blue light. Fox looked behind himself to see that there was the Chaos Gate, and figured it was a party or two of people going on an adventure, a common sight. Exiting the Dome, Fox made his way along the very long and very wide walkway that connected the Dome area to the central district; home to the guild shops and the ever famous fountain. As he walked, Fox overhead may different convorsations from the people just standing and talking to a few other people.

"...probobly gonna join the Legends Unite, maybe then I won't get PKed!" Said one human character who wore bright yellow robes, who was talking to a nearby, cat-looking character. Fox kept walking and saw another small group of people and eavesdropped a little as he walked by.

"Yeah! We just got back from trying to finish that one quest, some moron Shadow Warlock came out of nowhere and PKed us all, it pisses me off!"

"Well you should bring me along so I can protect you!"

"How can you protect me when you're five levels lower than me?!"

Fox laughed tohimself as he heard this little "back and forth" but continued forward until he reached the Central District. He walked along the sides of the plaza looking about at all the guild shops' wares. He didn't have any money, but he still liked to browse the selections. Across the tables he saw various weapons of all shapes and sizes and colors. But besides the weapons, he also saw vases, plants, and other decorative items that he guessed served the purpose of decorating guild @Homes. As he walked along the stalls, someone called out to him.

"Boy in the orange armor! Come here!" Fox turned around and pointed to himself, the shop clerk nodded and beckoned him to come over to him, and Ian did as he was asked, to go over there. "I noticed you eyeing this as you walked by, and while you left I saw the tattoo on your hand. You like the wind, correct?"

"Im very fond of the element, and I would buy that feather, but sadly I don't have the money to buy it..."

"Well how about a trade then?"

"I don't have much, just a few potions the game started me off with, minus one that I gave to my friend who recently quit. I've only just started the game so I don't have much."

"I see, well when you get the money, come back here ok? I'll keep it on hold, just for you."

"Thanks, that's very kind of you."

"There isn't much kindness in the world right now, so I spread it where I can, while still trying to do my job and sell things! Hahaha! I would give it to you had we met under a circumstance where Im not selling items and you aren't browsing shops, but such is fate! Hahaha!"

"What guild is this shop from? If you don't mind me asking that is."

"Ofcourse not! Haha! This is the Aegis Knight Guild shop!"

"Aegis Knights? You're quite the popular guild from what I hear." Fox lied, he didn't know anyhting about the Aegis Knights except for that one guy talking back on the walkway, talking about how they could protect him from being PKed...Fox kind of wishes that he had told Zepheye about the Aegis Knights, and maybe then he wouldn't be alone.

"Ofcourse were popular! Were the best guild ever! We don't deal with PK and PKK, we focus on just the game, going about killing monsters, getting rare items, going on quests, all of it! We are the guild of the game. We treat The World like it is a game, unlike all those other guilds who focus too much on eachother than the actualy game! Haha! Oh, wait, I didn't mean that we don't care for eachother but--"

"Heh, I know what you mean, no worries."

"Perhaps you would like the join the Knights? I can talk a few higher ups and maybe pull a few strings?"

"No thank you. I do appreciate your offer, but I am fine for now. I'll be back for that feather another time, hopefully later today. It was nice meeting you."

"You'll be a great player one day, in both personality and in strength! You can count on that! Haha!"

Maybe I will...If I don't quit this game before I get a chance to be great Ian thought to himself as he waved and walked away from the stand. He walked back towards the dome, he was going to go fight some monsters and maybe rack up a few gold to buy the feather. Fox remembered someonething Zepheye had told him, that at level one, he wouldn't find any shield or airborne monsters, and that he would only find goblins in the level 1 areas because those are the weakest monsters, give the least ammount of gold, and least ammount of experience. Zepheye had also told Fox that in certain elemental areas, he would have chances of finding elemental items such as finding feathers in a wind elemental area. Fox walked down to the Chaos gate and searched his worlists until he found a level suited wind elemental area. (Delta) Wonderous Rushing Forces. A blue light swirled around Fox and when the light vanished, a loading screen popped up. After the loading had finished, a blue light swirled over an open space near a blue platform, the warp points used in fields to teleport players back to root towns. Once the blue had faded, there was Fox where the blue light had just dissapated from, and he took a few steps forward, looking about the area. It was nighttime, although it was still kind of light out because of the full moon in the sky, and he could see some players here and there off on different islands probobly doing the same thing he was doing, killing the monsters, grabbing the key pieces, and finishing the area.

Again, Fox remembered something Zepheye had told him earlier about areas. Zepheye had mentioned that when in a party, you can only see your monsters, and other parties can only see their monsters. This was no one field can be ruined by a million players trying to do the same thing. Fox walked through the island he had started on, looking for any trace of monsters of the small chest that would be gaurded by a party of three monsters. The chest gaurded by the monsters would contain one of the three key pieces. Figuring that nothing was on this island, he found the bridge, and right infront of the bridge was a small barrel. Looking inside of the barrel, Fox found a potion which when he touched it, dissapeared as it went into his invisible inventory. Happy with his find, Fox moved on to the next island, but right as he took his first step off of the bridge, the battle music began to play, and a large blue circle appeared around him and a group of two golbins that were walking nearby. This circle was known as "The Battle Zone" and it prevented players from entering the circle, or players from leaving the circle(unless an item known as smoke screen is used, then players can flee from the battle).

To start off the battle, Fox activated his skill "Wicked Strike" and Fox's body began to glow as the large scythe formed in his hands, holding it behind himself as he dashed towards the two golbins. As Fox got close, he unleashed the scythe and spun around in a quick circle, knocking both goblins in opposite directions. Fox ran towards one of the goblins and began to repeatedly slash at the goblin from a distance, continueing to knock the goblin into the battlezone wall causing the goblin to take extra damage until it had finally died. During the repeated attacks on the goblin, the other one had attempted to attack Fox from behind. When this happened, however, Fox performed a charge attack, which was like a very weaker version of the wicked strike, and only made a small spin attack that knocked the goblin behind him back a ways while also damaging the goblin he was trying to kill in the first place. Fox performed another Wicked Strike which ended up killing the second golbin, and a small victory screen appeared showing what Fox had won from defeating the goblins. Experience points and 20 gold it had said, which Fox was happy with seeing as the feather cost 100 coins, so if he defeated four more goblin parties of two, he would get enough gold to buy the feather, but also there was the possibility of gaining 30 gold from a party of three goblins. During his thinking, he hadn't noticed that he was walking towards the edge of the island, which revealled to be a a beach. At the edge of most parts of an island area there would be small beaches, and he had found one. It wasn't very rare to see a beach, but it was the first one Fox had seen, and he liked it. Sitting there on the beach he was looking at, was a male human PC with a glowing white tattoo on his back, although it was strange because the tattoo was shining through the clothes that this PC was wearing. He noticed the shine of the moon on the golden armor, which appeared a dull gold color because of the nighttime setting in this area, but when Fox was about to leave, the man spoke.

"Would you please sit with me?" Considering many thoughts and questions Fox was having, he decided that it really wouldn't matter if this guy was going to PK him by tricking him to sit down so that he could stand up and slash at him, or if this guy just wanted to have someone to enjoy company with. It didn't matter what this mans intentions were, because Fox was just curious to see what the rest of his PC looked like. Fox quickly took a seat a foot or two away from this man, although Fox did sit on the beachwith the man, and looked out to the background programmed into all areas. "Tell me, what do you see out there?"

"Ocean, and land in the distance on the horizen...It's easier to see the land that way in a daylight field though."

"Thats good of you to say what you've said. Many of whom I've asked that simply say "The Background of this field" or "What is out there to see?" But you...You appreciate it, which is good. :) And yes, I know you can see it better in the daytime, but some say that the moonlight offers much more to see than the bright sun."

"Are you talking about seeing stuff at night, stuff that cannot be seen during the day?"

"Exactly!" The man said, almost shocked to hear Fox say those words, as if he was praying to hear Fox say these things. However, as shocked as this man's voice expressed, the face of this character never changed nor moved from its staring at the open space infront of them. Fox knew this because he kept checking out of the corner of his eye to see if the man was looking at him. "In the history of The World, man created a large weapon known as the Crest Gun, and they used the power of the goddess Aurora to power the gun."

"That's a big gun, I wonder what that would be targeted at...Did the humans try to destroy the moon? Is this why you bring the moonlit area up?"

"You've never read the backstory? Eh...I guess it may just be from the backstory of The World R:2, seeing as R:3 takes place a good 100 years in the future of R:2. The gun was used to strike and kill the other gods themselves. The gun worked, and all but two gods were killed in the war versus the gods. Folset is one of the gods who still remain, giving his gifts to those who can find his chambers, such as areas like these. And then there is the god of death, Cernunnos, who still remains."

"Whenever I looked, it seemed like the gun was...broken, you could say. Why is it like that?"

"Well, the gun broke after it was used to shoot the gods, but after a hundred years, you could say it began to "wear and tear" or you could say the programmers thought that it would seem more time appropriate for the gun to have begun to destroy itself as time passes on. What do you say then?"

"I think...both are plausible. Its a game, so the latter would make more sense, but you can't base everyhting on pure logic, so both are equally possible to be the reason."

"I like you, you seem to understand things better than most, which is always a good thing. Maybe soon you can see the things that cannot be seen in the daylight? Who knows. I'll probobly see you again sometime."

And with that speech and convorsation over, The man immediatley teleported out of the field, which was a little strange seeing as in order to do that, people would have to go to a platform to leave the area, or have their computer shut off. Whatever it was, Fox continued to go through the area, since he did want to either get enough money to buy the feather, or find a feather of his own.

Two more golbin parties down, and Fox was really starting to get a knack for the game. For the past few days when and if he did log in, all he would do would be to hang out in the root town Mac Anu, or simple watch some arena matches. He already had 20 gold before, but now he was up to 80, since he defeated two groups of three goblins, which gave him 60 gold entirely, and he also gained two key pieces from the chests they gaurded. All he had to do was find the last group of goblins, kill them, get the last key piece, and head down to the beast temple to claim his reward for gathering the three pieces. In his search for the goblins, he saw a group of players starting a fight. He would have continued to watch, but the large blue barrier formed around them, so he quickly moved on to search for the goblins. Once he did find them, however, there was a group of three people hanging around the area, not in the sight of the goblins, but in clear view for any player to see that they were waiting to strike anyone who came by. Fox decided to test out the morality of these players and walk closer to the goblins, when all of a sudden he heard a shout;

"There's another noob! Get him!" Obviously it was the leader of the three PK's, charging after Fox. As they got closer, Fox cringed and looked away, not wanting to look as he got slashed to death by ruthless PK's, but after a few moments passed, he looked up to see a PC with armor that looked as if it was made of the moon, a shining silver color that reflected the moonlight, and the black swirling designs over the armor gave it a multitude of shades of light shining off it. Whomever this PC was, he was helping Fox by holding off the three PK's with just his one blade.

"What are you waiting for, get out of here!" The boy shouted, he could tell it was a young kid, but he was trying to help, and Fox respected that. He took a few steps back and watched as the blue barrier formed around the group of three PK's and the player who wore dazzling silver armor. Quickly rushing into the battle with the goblins so that, if that knight were to be killed, the PK's wouldn't be able to attack him. Fox spent nearly twenty minutes in the battle against the three goblins, a fight that could easily take two to four minutes maximum to defeat, hoping that the PK's would get bored of waiting for one 'noob' and just leave. After killing the goblins, he received a message from the game stating that he got the 30 gold from killing the goblins, which gave him a total of 110 gold, some experience points, and a notificaton that he had obtained all three keypieces, and the door to the beast temple would now appear open to him. He looked around quickly, and when he saw that the PK's were no where to be found, Fox quickly rushed back to an earlier part of the field that he had travled to, seeing the temple, he went to the entrance and went inside of it to see the statue of Folset, floating in an amazing scenery of an alter like background, and a large chest infront of the statue. Fox knelt down and opened the chest slowly, looking inside to see that he had obtained a "Zan Orb", an item capable of casting the low level wind spell on the target the item is used on. It only has one use, but at low levels, these items, even by themselves, can be life savers. Pleased with his find, Fox smiled and walked back to the platform waiting outside of the beast temple, and teleported back to Mac Anu, heading for the central plaza district to see if the merchant was still there, selling the feather for 100gold that he said he would hold off from selling until Fox returned. When Fox got there, the man noticed him right away and called out to him,

"Boy in the orange armor! Come here! Did you manage to gett 100 gold?"

"Yes, I did, can I buy the feather now?"

"Haha! Yes, here you go! Thank you for shopping with the Aegis Knights!"

"So this is where the shop is? I miss the shop in Breg Epona, but with this new character I'll be stuck here." A familiar voice sounded as a large, bear like creature approached the Aegis Knight's stall. Fox and the Knights' eyes met, and a shine of hope sparkled in the Bears eyes. "You...Was I able to help? did you get away from those PKer's?"

"Yes, I did, thank you so much for helping me. I was able to kill the monsters and get the gold I needed to buy an item here!"

"Hmm? Jared, you know my orange friend here?"

"Well, no, I don't know him, but I saved him from some PKers in a field just half an hour ago. It was a close call too, if I hadn't heard them shout I would have never noticed they were puppy gaurding the furthest key piece spawn from the start of the field. They weren't very smart, just openly shouting 'Hey look a noob' but what can you say, heh, PKers are getting dumber by the level if you ask me." The Bear known as Jared responded, looking down at Fox because he was much taller than him. "My name is WhiteKnight J, but you can just call me Jared."

"Nice to meet you, my name is Fox, but I would prefer you call me that."

"Ah, haha! Introductions are good! Good job protecting this player Jared. Oh, Fox, my name is Shep12, but you can just call me Shep if you'd like! Haha!"

"Shep and I have been in the Aegis Knights for a long time, although he's always a much higher level than me because this is the fourth character I've ever made."

"Have you got it right this time, Jared?"

"Well, im Ya Tribe, that's how it always is, but I like the idea of an Adept Rogue class, if I do the job exstensions when they come out I wont get bored of having the same type of weapon always! So, Fox, how long have you been playing?"

"Not long, I only recently started playing because my friend was playing and he needed some help, but then he got PKed alot and he quit."

"So you only played for your friend, but now that your friend is gone, why do you still play?"

"Im not sure, this is the only time I've actually played the game in a few days, mostly because of Shep. After my friend quit, I just stayed in Mac anu and walked aroud not really sure what to do, but then earlier I met Shep and he offered me a deal, so here I am. I also couldn't be bothered with selling a game I had just recently bought without giving it a good chance."

"Shep, you've found a good one, you have. He's a perfect candidate for the Knights!!"

"Hold your horses, Jared, I've already offered, and he's already declined, theres no point shoving the guild on him."

"Well, you can have my member address then, Fox! You can send me a flash chat message any time if you want to go adventuring, or we can talk about the guild! Well, I've got to go, my mom says I have to do my homework. See you around!" Jared held out his hand to Fox, and a small notification came up saying "Obtained WhiteKnight J's Member Address" on Fox's screen. After the notification went away, Jared's character gave a small wave and faded away.

"Oh, I never gave him my member address..."Fox said, looking down at the ground.

"Ah! Don't worry about that Fox, haha! Once you send him an e-mail, he'll see an option that will ask him if he wants to accept your member address or not, so long as you select the right option before sending the e-mail that says "send member address?" But I'm sure you'll understand how that works when you actually mail him."

"Uhh...How old is Jared?"

"Jared? I think he's 12, but he could be 13 since I don't know when his birthday is. Why ask?"

"Im just curious. He jumped into that battle so quickly just to save me, and he didn't even know me, and he is six years younger than me, should I be depressed about that?"

"No, you shouldn't be! Haha! He just has more experience fighting other players than you do, since this is his fourth character, he has played the game before. His first character got up to level 30 or so before he decided to make a new chartacter, and he's been in the guild for a long time, so he knows how to respect other players and he had adapted the guilds goal to just play the game while also helping out others. It's how he has fun in the game, and anyone who tries to tell him that he shouldn't be doing what he does, all he says back is how that person must not be having fun in the game, because they are spending their time trying to take other peoples fun away."

"That's a strong philosophy." Fox said, obviously shocked at how Jared is and acts and feels about so many things, even though he hasn't even hit puberty yet. "Well, thank you again for the feather, I should get going now."

"Let's exchange member addresses then, and I'll see you another time then." Shep said as the two PC's held their hands out to eachother, exchanging the addresses, and then Fox's PC fading away as he logged off of The World.

---

Ian took off the headset and opened up the BBS, looking for any information about the man with the golden shoulder pads and the white shining tattoo. The only info he could scavange from the very few posts about him were peoples stories about meeting him, and peoples replies of "Oh yeah I've seen him around before, whats so special about him?" One persons post in particular striked Ian as something odd, but also familliar,

"I met a strange player today at "(Delta) Bright Shining Hope" at the Folset Statue. He was just standing there admiring the statue, but it was that tattoo that caught my attention to him in the first place. He was wearing clothing, and yet his tattoo was glowing white, and shining through his armor. This is when I also noticed he was wearing several small peices of golden armor; Golden braces on his wrists and ankles, and even golden armoer pieces covering his shoulders with tiny black spikes protruding from them. As I began to approach him, I head him talking, it was like he was tlaking to someone, but he wasn't facing anyone, and then he said "...Are you listening?" I was shocked to even realize that he was talking about me, even though I wondered how he would even be able to see me since he was so focused on the statue. I asked him to repeat himself, and he did like a nice man should instead of acting rude about it because I didn't realise he was tlaking to me, like I knwo some of The World's players would act towards me if I asked them to repeat themselves. He talked about Folset, and Folset's importance in The World. But, when I asked him why he even cared about it, since it was just the games history that no one even bothers to read because they just wanna hack and slash at the monsters and players of the game, he turned around and glared at me. Then he said somehting that didn't make sense to me, "It's because you people don't care that causes all of these problems." So im asking you readers what you think this guy's deal is, and what he was talking about because I don't understand it at all!"

The post date for this message was the same date that Ian's friend had been PKed and quit the game, and the poster's username for "The World" was AaNogi. The name wasn't familliar, but Ian told himself silently that he would check tomorrow to see if anyone replies yet, and if not, he would reply to the message himself, and hope that he could find this player in The World one day to talk about the mysterious player with pieces of golden armor. Getting out of the BBS, Ian checked his e-mail, and even though there was nothing new, he just sat and looked at it for a short ammount of time, and then finally decided to send Jared an e-mail asking him if he intentionally forgot to get Fox's member address before leaving.

The two goblins stopped, just as the first did. Rekhyt planted his feet firmly in the ground, his body a barrier between them and the frail healer. "Come on then!" He taunted. The goblins charged at him, their eyes blood red with rage. It was as if they knew about their slain comrade and are trying to avenge his death. Rekhyt raised his fists, preparing to unleash another crippling Rapid Attack. The first goblin was unlucky, it took the full brunt of the attack; the final blow sent the goblin flying into the wall, dazed. Rekhyt switched his attention on the second goblin, which had already begun its assault. His skill on cooldown, he began to pummel the poor goblin with his autoattack. His injuries soon became critical, the first goblin created enough of a distraction for the second to inflict sufficient harm. "Repth!" Phi shouted, her staff waving in the air. Her tattoo glowed brightly, as light enveloped Rekhyt. When the light had faded, his injuries slowly faded away, leaving him fresh and renewed. He grinned at the goblin. "Time to die." He whispered, unleashing a final Rapid Attack. The goblin died before the finishing blow was launched, it's body falling at Rekhyt's feet. A message popped up: "experience and 20 gold earned." Their training went smoothly, as they slew mob after mob of goblins. Rekhyt dealing and taking the brunt of the damage, with Phi supporting him. After one, particularly hard fight against a trio of goblins, Rekhyt found an odd stone shard.

"What's this?" He asked Phi.
She inspected the object, then handed it back to him. "It's a gravel shard." She said, a matter-of-factly.
"Ok... So what does it do?" He asked, still confused about the object.
"You really need to brush up on your 'Worldly' knowledge." She teased, a lighthearted laugh erupting from her lips. "You can use them to add elemental damage to your weapon."
"And how would one go about doing that?"
"Here, give me your gloves for a second... And then hand me that rock." She instructed him.

"Now watch carefully." She said, placing the rugged stone into a small opening on the right glove. The rock disappeared, then a light flashed from the opening. She gave the gloves back to him. Rekhyt put the gloves on. They felt heavier for some reason, though they still moved with the same fluid grace as before. "Neat..." He stated, staring intently at his new gauntlets, like a child would stare at a new toy. "Are you coming?!" Phi called back. "The boss is just up ahead!" Rekhyt looked up and, upon seeing how far ahead Phi was, made a mad dash towards her. "Don't do that, what happens if you get into a fight? I can't help you if I'm too far away." He told her. "Now where's that boss? I'm getting tired of wandering around this dreary old forest."

After eating dinner and cleaning his apartment, Ian decided he would just go back onto The World. It was a weird feeling, almost childish in a sense. He was eager to see if that 12 year old boy replied to his message, and he could feel a sense of dissapointment already in just thinking that maybe he didn't respond yet. Ian only ever felt this childish eagerness when he logged on for the first time, sitting there akwardly waiting for Zepheye to log on so they could adventure together. Checking his e-mail, Ian noticed that Jared indeed sent an e-mail reply, which Ian hastily opened and read over.



Ian smiled, and then logged into the world placing his headset on.

---

Fox stepped out from the blue light, motioning towards the door to the dome. Once out, he looked out towards the walkway that connected the two areas, but then he turned his head a bit to the right, noticing the green warp point that resembled a miniture chaos gate. Placing his hand near the warp point, a menu popped up asking him to choose one of the districts in Mac Anu that was not the dome. He decided to go to the alchemy district, and a green light enveloped him as he made his selection. The green light dissapeared and Fox foundhimself in the alchemy district. To his right was a small bridge that crossed over a river, and further right, he saw that it looked much like the central district, except there were no shops around, all there was, was a fountain less decorated and smaller than the one in the central plaza, and a balcony further dwon from the fountain. Fox quickly checked his friendslist to see who was online, but it was only Shep, so he would be busy with the shop and not able to help Fox with a field or dungeon crawl. Deciding that he didn't really want to do anyhting, Fox traveled over the bridge, past the fountain, and over to the balcony. Fox places his arms on the railing and let his weight fall forward, completley relying on the railing to keep him balaced. Looking out to the sun that was frozen in place, halfway set, the golden sky surrounding the sun sometimes made you wonder how big the actual sun really was to this game, and the slightly orange and purple skies above gave Fox a warm feeling, but also chills. He could hear someone behind him moving closer, but he was safe in a root town, so Fox didn't bother looking behind him, or next to himself when the person took a place next to Fox.

"It's a nice sight, don't you agree? The way they captured the setting sun is brilliant." Fox asked the stranger, still not looking at them.

---

OOC: This person can be anyone, but if no one steps up to take this person's place by the time i post next, I'll make it some random person.

"Yes, the rising sun blesses my mind with joy. The setting sun blesses my heart with peace." The woman said, which gave Fox a little shock although he did not express his shock. He was expecting that man in the gold armor pieces, but there are alot of people in The World, so the feeling slowly died.

"Can there be peace in a world developed around war?" Fox questioned the female player, although the question was mainly for himself. After thinking about it for a little while in the silence between them, the woman finally spoke;

"Peace will always exist in one form or another, no matter what world we live in." Fox's eyes lost their shine and became a dull green color as he continued to watch the sunset, trying to register his own thoughts into words, and also the womans words.

"Have you heard of the player with the golden pieces of armor on his wrists, ankles, and shoulders? The player with the glowing white tattoo on his back?"

"No, whats his username?"

"Im not sure...I don't think anyone knows his username. How about a PC known as AaNogi? Do you know him?"

"No, why?" Before Fox could answer her question, a small notification appeared at the bottom of his screen saying "You have one new e-mail." Whenever a notification about e-mails appear in the game, it means someone e-mailed you from The World, and not anyplace else like an actual e-mail site.

"It's complicated, but what isn't these days? I have to go, but thanks for talking with me." Quickly after saying his farewells, the PC Fox faded from the game, and Ian removed his headset to check his e-mail, shocked to see that it's sender was a player named Zepheye. "It couldn't be! Could it?" Ian said as he opened the mail, reading those strange words;

Did you know you can touch the beast statue in (Delta) Bright Shining Hope ? ~Zepheye

Even though it was so strange, to first off get an e-mail from his friend, but also the contents of the message were strange. Ian wasn't sure of how to react to it, did Zepheye want to meet him at the beast statue? That's when Ian remembered the post on the BBC from AaNogi, how it talked of the area that Zepheye just mentioned. Connecting the two things in his brain, Ian remembered that Zepheye was in that area when he got PK'ed and quit the game, and that in the message, AaNogi described the man with the white tattoo staring intently at the statue! As it all began to make sense to Ian, he placed his headset back on, logged back into the world, and entered the area (Delta) Bright Shining Hope.

---

"Send a message to all of the guild members. Tell them...to continue about their bussiness, but if they are called for watch duty at (Delta) Crimson Soul Shattered, they had better obey my order." October said to one of her officials as she brushed her blonde hair over her ear, and standing up from her throne.

"Shall I explain to the members why we are guarding this area too, my queen?"

"No, there is no threat yet, so there is no need for them to know. If people must know something, then say that we are preparing areas for battles with Legends Unite before a war breaks out there, and we have to prepare the field while fighting them."

"What kind of object is there that you are after, my queen?"

"It's not an object, it's a person. An extremely important person for our guild to have, and I would rather not have any kind of distrubances when talking to him. That is all for now, you may go and message the members now, and I will see you at the area shortly."

---

"He's been spotted again, LegendX."

"Where now?"

"(Delta) Crimson Soul Shattered"

"What's he doing there?"

"Im not sure, but I am sure that ZAF Cult is already on the move."

"Well ofcourse they are, they are run by a silly child, rushing to what important, instead of taking their time, carefully planning things out, and using tactical strikes to succeed."

"What should we do, Ray?"

"For now, send a message to all members telling them to stay away from that area until further notice, no matter what rumors they hear. I will go there myself later in the day and see what I can do, her guild members won't stand a chance against me, and I highly doubt she would have even thought that I would go in there on my own right off the bat. Stupid girl, I will end her menace over The World!"

Upon entering (Delta) Bright Shining Hope, Fox rushed forth, running past a few other groups of players just kind of chilling in the area, all staring at him as he rushed by. Fox made it through the first block, dodging all the monsters that he could, although as soon asd he got to the second block, a group of three goblins stopped him in his path. Not wanting to miss the oppritunity to possibly see Zepheye again, Fox rushed forward and hacked and slashed at the goblins until they died, ginaing his 30 gold, and a message telling him that he had leveled up. Now level 2, he would be able to enter level 2 areas and also gain access to new items in the level 1 and 2 areas. With the goblins defeated, Fox began to ran as fast as he could, dodging all battles with the goblin parties up until he finally got to the statue of Folset. As he ran closer to the statue, he noticed that someone was there, looking at the statue. Thinking it was Zepheye, Fox called out his name and ran up to the PC, only to see that it wasn't Zepheye, or the player with the glowing white tattoo, but it was a male PC with a whip in his hands.

"Are you the one I was told to meet?" The man said, turning to face Fox, still holding the whip in his hands while Fox's scythe wasn't out in the open yet. "You look the part, a tired child looking for someone. Are you looking for someone?"

"Well, you could say I'm looking for many people."

"One of them is a player who did not listen, another is a player whos intentions are not known. The third would be me, the player who could not see, but you...You must be the player that listened."

"What do you mean?" Fox questioned, realising that this male PC infront of him seemed to know more about anything than Fox did.

"Just do you part and be the listener, and I shall be the one who cannot see."

"What is your name? Can you tell me that?"

"My name is AaNogi, and any other questions will be answered so long as you do your job and listen. What did your message say, I wonder...But you should go ahead and do whatever it said."

Fox, now knowing the PC's name, understood what he had meant by him being the third player he was seeking. The flick reaper nodded as he walked past AaNogi, and reached his hand out towards the statue, although he couldn't reach. When Fox tried again to reach out and touch the Statue, he felt someone push him and fell into the abyss beneathe the statue. As he fell, he wondered how this was possible, since it wasn't in the games programming for people to go over edges and fall into unprogrammed areas that would simple consist of darkness. Soon, a white flash woke Fox from the daze of everlasting darkness, and he appeared to be in a graveyard, a creppy music tone playing in the background. As he walked, he tripped over a few rocks that couldn't be seen under the heavy fog that rules over the lower half of the area. Fox kept walking through the graveyard though, for he saw a strange light in the distance that he tried his best to get to. As he got closer though, the light faded, and below where the light would have been, he saw a small building with the door opened just a crack. Fox walked forward into the building, but as he entered, the door shut behind him, and with the sound of the door slamming shut, the music stopped completely, and the figure of a man in the back of the room moved slightly. The man wasn't facing Fox, however, because the glow of a white tattoo greeted Fox's face, and dimly lit the room, showing that this was infact a tomb, with the coffin on a platform in the cetner of the room, laying between the mysterious player and Fox.

"I can answer your questions now, if that's what you came here for." The man spoke, a darker tone in his voice than Fox had remembered from before when they had chatted on the beach, but perhaps it was Fox's lack of memory for the voice.

"Where is Zepheye? There must be some connection to him and you, how else would he have messaged me something like that, leading me here?!"

"I sent you that message. I sent it so you would come here."

"You...You're a hacker?! That explains the tattoo and the armor then...What do you want from me?"

"There is alot I need, but mostly, I need time, can you give me that?"

"What exactly are you trying to do in The World? Answer me!" Fox was growing impatient, he just wanted answers but this guy wasn't making any sense at all.

"There are too many problems in The World right now, and I want to fix them, and you can help me. It seems as though we have to cut our convorsation short, we have an unwelcomed guest. I shall keep in touch." Fox turned around to see who the intruder that the player was tlaking about, but when he turned back to the hacker, he noticed he began to fade.

"Wait! What's your name?!"

"Just call me Alex." Alex whispered, finally fading from the area. Fox turned around and opened the doors to the building. As he stepped out, the music began to play, and a platform was seen in the distance with a player right infront of it. The light from the platform enveloped whoever was there standing, and the played had returned to the root town. Scared of who it might have been, Fox decided to rush for the platform, teleport back to the root town, and log out before his body would fully appear in Mac Anu, just incase whoever was there was waiting for him to return.

---

At the beast statue in (Delta) Crimson Soul Shattered, October walked closer to the staute only to see the player with the white tattoo standing there, admiring the statue. She walked closer to the player, but soon the man spoke.

"I can answer your questions now, if that's what you came here for."

"Someone sent me a message that you would be here, and that you needed something. So yes, I came here for you to answer my questions!"

"I sent you that message. I sent it so you would come here."

"So what do you need then? Gold? Equipment? Items? Or perhaps something...out of the ordinary, much like yourself? Well, I can tell you that nothing is free and that--"

"There is alot I need, but mostly, I need time, can you give me that?"

"Time? Time for what?"

"There are too many problems in The World right now, and I want to fix them, and you can help me. It seems as though we have to cut our convorsation short, we have an unwelcomed guest. I shall keep in touch."

October, as confused as ever, turned around to see LegendX standing right there at the entrance to the statue chamber of the dungeon. October quickly turned around back to see if the PC was still there, but he was already fading, and LegendX ran up to try and stop him from leaving.

"Wait! Alex stop!! Dang, I missed him. So what did he say, October? Has he decided which of our offers he is going to accept?"

"I...I don't know." October said, too confused to even make a hassle about talking to the leader of her rival guild. "It was like...he was talking to someone else..."

LegendX gave a small snort of anger and teleported out of the area using the platform nearby, for there was nothing left for him in that low leveled area so long as Alex wasn't there anymore.