Ivory Online - The Dragon Knight: A LitRPG saga Read online

  Name: Clarent

  Age: 21

  Title: Legendary Warrior

  Liege: Lord Jax

  Class: Dragon Knight

  Alignment: Neutral

  Level: 1

  Exp: 0, 200 to next level

  HP: 2100 MP: 2100 SP: 2100

  Strength: 34

  Speed: 45

  Intelligence: 62

  Endurance: 67

  Charisma: 25

  Defense: 65

  Luck: 32

  Primary Characteristics:

  Fire Breath

  Dragon tongue

  Scaly hide

  Blessing of Fire

  Dragonkin

  Breath of Fire

  Secondary Characteristics:

  Blessing of Vena

  Burst

  Anti-venom

  Skills:

  Swords level 13, 56% to next level

  Fire magic, mastery

  Unarmed combat, level 20, 47% to next level

  Dual wielding level 10, 34% to next level

  Spears level 12, 87% to next level

  Description:

  Dragonkin hybrids are born from a union of a human parent with high spiritual energy and a dragon parent with the racial ability to shapeshift into a humanoid shape for survival. As such, the rare offspring are kept from the public’s eye, undergoing intense training to make sure they are ready for the world outside. A Dragonkin is said to come of age when he is granted his Dragon Knight class.

  Hmm, Clarent was a bit too powerful at level 1. Of course, it stood to reason that when you changed class, your level reset, but not your stats.

  Obviously, Clarent wasn’t born a Dragon Knight straight from the womb, armor and all… I didn’t think his mother would quite appreciate that, no.

  So he must’ve had some form of training in a racial class? I have no idea what classes were available to Dragonkin minus Dragon Knight. It might be easy enough to ask him right now, but I’d rather not have him dump his life story on me, and rather discover it over time.

  Checking the mileage again, I noted that we were short of 2 miles to our destination. Out of curiosity, I looked at my legs from the corner of my eye and the plains before us. Instantly, I felt dizzy and faltered for a bit, only to be caught by Clarent.

  “Whoa there, are you alright? Are we under some sort of attack?” He asked, one hand on his sword, eyes roving the area rapidly in search for a visible or concealed threat.

  “No, it’s fine. I was trying to judge how fast we were moving. For some reason, I felt a wave of dizziness hit me all at once,” I answered him, rubbing my temples softly. Luckily my stunt hadn’t woken my slumbering familiar.

  He sheathed his sword and eyed at me askance. “Ah yes, that. Well, as I’m sure you know, time and distance are a bit weird in this realm. But uh… any child knows that, so uh… please don’t try that in public, Jax.”

  Hearing him try to mince words as best as he could told me exactly how stupid what I did was to natives in this world. Despite knowing there was no way for me to know this beforehand, I felt heat enter my face. Thankfully, my companion was tactful enough to give me time to sort myself out. To take my mind of my own stupidity, I opened my character page.

  Name: Jax

  Age: 21

  Title: Lord

  Liege: Queen Erea

  Alignment: Neutral

  Class: undecided

  Level: 2

  Exp: 30, 300 to next level

  HP: 210 MP: 200 SP: 200

  Strength: 20

  Speed: 20

  Intelligence: 20

  Endurance: 20

  Charisma: 20

  Defense: 20

  Luck: 20

  AP points: 10 SP points: 2

  Primary Characteristics:

  Blessing of Vena

  Burst

  Seamless

  Secondary Characteristics:

  Fire breath level 1

  Minor scaly hide level 1

  Mental connection level 1

  Dragon tongue

  Minor Blessing of Fire

  Skills:

  Construction level 6, 64% to next level

  Perception level 2, 2% to next level

  Examine level 2, 0% to next level

  Fire magic level 1, 0% to next level

  Description:

  Humans are the most prominent race in the realm, with a great aptitude to all fields they endeavor in. Eventually becoming the most populous, humankind has yet to reach its full potential.

  Hm, it seemed the page had changed quite a bit. Was it because I’d switched to the RPG section of the game? There was a lot more detail in the display than when I was inside the township. It seemed that thanks to the Minor Blessing of Fire, I gained the fire magic ability, although it was just level one. I didn’t think I had any spells, so it came down to the fire breath then. Since I was here already, I might as well see the details of the page in full.

  __________________

  Title: A rank achieved within a certain class. Denotes level of progression/accolades in the class.

  Liege: The sovereign to which this character owes loyalty to.

  Alignment: The moral alignment of the character. Measurement of morality is based on intention, not outcome.

  Class: The path the character has taken in life. Ranges from combat classes to craftsman classes.

  __________________

  __________________

  Strength: The stat that directly influences how much damage a character can make with melee weapons. Raising this stat also increases carrying capacity.

  Speed: The stat that influences the swiftness of your movements in and out of combat. Raising this stat also increases your ranged damage.

  Intelligence: The stat that influences your magic capacity and regeneration. Raising this stat also increases your base intellect.

  Endurance: The stat that influences your stamina capacity and regeneration. Raising this stat also decreases the amount of food, water and sleep you need daily.

  Charisma: The stat that influences your ability to sway minds and get better prices. Raising this stat also increases how the opposite sex favors you.

  Defense: The stat that influences your health capacity and regeneration. Raising this stat also increases your natural armor.

  Luck: The stat that influences everything. Raising this stat has unseen benefits that can be discovered over time.

  __________________

  __________________

  Fire breath level 1

  Can breathe fire for 20 seconds

  Cooldown: 1 hour

  __________________

  __________________

  Minor scaly hide level 1

  Natural armor increased by 10%

  __________________

  __________________

  Mental connection level 1

  Can communicate with soul familiar psychically over 250 yards

  IQ share: 25%

  __________________

  __________________

  Dragon tongue

  Can speak/read and write Dragon tongue fluently

  __________________

  __________________

  Minor blessing of fire

  Aptitude with fire magic increased

  __________________

  Well, that was certainly enlightening. The stats had the same base effects as in the original IO. What was new was the secondary effects, like with Charisma. I mean, Keith did say you could get laid in the VR mode, but that was with player characters only. This seemed to hint that now, I could knock up NPCs!

  Hm, I wondered what offspring between myself and Mira would be like? I mean, let’s be honest, who didn’t want cute bunny daughters? Though I would prefer the ‘Prince’ of my upcoming empire to be manlier in a Hugh Jackman kind of way as opposed to a Justin Bieber. Yeah, no.

  But then again, how could that be possible? I wasn’t physically here, so how would the game codify my g
enetics? Eh, I’ll just assume that there might be no way for player characters to bear offspring, at least, not traditionally. Maybe options would become available later. For now, there was a more pressing issue.

  We had arrived at the edge of the forest.

  The trees were huge evergreens with wide canopies that simply blocked out all but tiny filters of sunlight on the forest floor. Instead of giving the whole area a spooky vibe, it rather highlighted the beauty of it all, as the spots blessed with sunlight had a myriad of colorful flowers sprouting within. The ambient noise alone told me that this forest was alive and teeming with life. My body practically itched.

  Rightly, my companion tapped my shoulder and asked the most pressing question anyone in his position would inquire.

  “Uh, Jax. I didn’t want to mention this earlier because I thought you had some stashed somewhere, but I don’t see any weapons or armor on you. How do you plan to fight in case of a skirmish?” Clarent queried with genuine curiosity.

  “Tsk, tsk, my brother. Never doubt me. I have my ways. Let’s enter and conquer this forest like the chads we are,” I replied with an excited grin. His face mirrored mine as he nodded and we both took a step into the shadows of the woodland.

  The prompt I’d been waiting for appeared the very moment I did so.

  __________________

  Enter forest level 5?

  Note: as this is your first time exploring, you will go through an obligatory class selection tutorial.

  Y/N

  __________________

  Selecting yes, I mentally rubbed my hands as my being was transported into the training area by a strangely familiar white light.

  Chapter 5

  Class change

  “Augmented reality training online,” spoke a distinctly female yet robotic voice from the surrounding blankness. But wait, augmented reality? This should be virtual reality. Augmented reality was leagues ahead of simple virtual reality and I highly doubted I want to be a part of such a thing. I was hoping it was a bug or they were copying the voice file from another game, because AR simply cannot mix with VR.

  Immediately, the area around me became slightly clearer, displaying a field of misty white ground for about a quarter of a mile across on each side. To my left were three pedestals, similarly there were three to my right and three in front of me. I looked behind me to see a portal that showed the forest I was just in. So, I was in the class selection tutorial of the game.

  “Welcome Adventurer, to the training room. Here, you may select your class that you would like to start your journey with. I am Mirea and I am here to guide you through your choice in any way I can.”

  I turned to regard the RPG advisor, Mirea, who was – unsurprisingly – styled the same way as the RPG advisor from IO. Unlike most advisors, who were humanoid, Mirea was a floating blue cube with markings all over her surface. A powerful blue light was emitted from her core showing her vitality. Most importantly, she was about the size of both my palms.

  “Thank you. I assume you will be able to give me information on the classes arrayed before me?” I asked the tesseract clone.

  “Yes, simply walk up to any of them and they will be highlighted. I will immediately give you all relevant information on the class.”

  Hmm, not a bad arrangement since I lost absolutely nothing. I walked up to the set straight ahead of me. Immediately, they lit up and displayed myself in three different stilled forms; A robe wearing mage with a staff casting a spell, A medium armor fighter with a sword in one hand as well as a spell loading in the other and a warrior with heavy armor, a long sword and a shield. Before I said anything, Mirea spoke. Instead of words, it came up as prompts.

  __________________

  Mage class level 1

  Bonuses: increased skill gain in magic, boosted intelligence, lower cost for spell casting

  Requirements: None

  Exp gain rate: 100%

  “Mages are the staple class for those born with the spark of magic and seek to explore that talent.”

  __________________

  __________________

  Hero class level 1

  Bonuses: Increased skill gain in magic and combat, all stats boosted, lower cost for spells and stamina based attacks

  Requirements: None

  Exp gain: 50%

  “Heroes are those special warriors born every few generations. Destined to be leaders of men, they grow slower than others, but once they reach their potential, become unstoppable.”

  __________________

  __________________

  Warrior class level 1

  Bonuses: Increased skill gain in combat, Strength and endurance stat boosted, lower stamina cost for heavy attacks

  Requirements: None

  Exp gain: 100%

  “Warriors are the most common class in the realm. As they are a combat only class, they observe tremendous growth in their skills, but are very useless in matters of the mind.”

  __________________

  Hm, the staple classes were here. Those classes that everyone chose from initially, disregarding the other options. Every MMO had those classes. Some even called them ‘beginner classes’ because only those well versed in MMO related lore choose the other available classes. I angled to the left to see a new set of classes highlighted; myself in a crouch, wearing leather armor and holding a dagger, myself with a wolf by my side, drawing tightly on a bow and myself in studded armor wielding a lance over my shoulder with a Clarent like smirk.

  __________________

  Thief class level 1

  Bonuses: Increased loot from slain enemies, easier attempts to lockpick or sneak, extra bonus damage to backstab

  Requirements: none

  Exp gain: 100%

  “Thieves are adepts at moving silently on their feet, picking their marks with extreme care – lest they end up without their arms attached.”

  __________________

  __________________

  Archer class level 1

  Bonuses: Animal familiar summon, Speed stat boosted, Far sight ability.

  Requirements: None

  Exp gain: 100%

  “Archers are the marksmen every combatant fears. Able to pick targets off from a distance, true Archers can find gaps in armor than the common eye cannot see.”

  __________________

  __________________

  Spearman class level 1

  Bonuses: Leap ability, Charisma stat boosted, increased skill gain with throwing, bonus piercing damage.

  Requirements: None

  Exp gain: 100%

  “Spearmen are a semi-common combat class that is favored by the common folk over any other due to the often snarky attitudes of spear wielders and their ability to wield such a long weapon with such grace.”

  __________________

  Without making a final choice, I took in the details before me with a nod, turning to examine the final set of available starting classes. To the right, the three remaining classes lit up and displayed myself in different garbs and positions; me with a hammer in one hand and a battle axe in the other, me in a sort of ‘Animorphs’ loop, slowing changing from man to animal and me with two flintlock pistols wearing a trench coat and shades along with a bandana, a terminator sized minigun strapped to my back.

  __________________

  Maverick class level 1

  Bonuses: Increased skill with blunt weapons, Defense stat boosted, increased armor penetration.

  Requirements: None

  Exp gain: 100%

  “Mavericks are fighters with a predilection to caving heads in and starting meaningless fights. Sometimes called ‘crazy buggers’ by everyone else, these fighters are treated cautiously by anyone with a head, as they’d prefer not to have it re-designed by a hammer.”

  __________________

  __________________

  Shapeshifter class level 1

  Bonuses: Ability to transform into animals and beasts, pack leader skill, call of th
e wild skill.

  Requirements: None

  Exp gain: 100%

  “Shapeshifters are a sore spot for society, as those equipped with the class are generally disliked and distrusted. This is because they eventually adopt traits of the beings they transform into, making them often… wild.”

  __________________

  __________________

  Gunner class level 1

  Bonuses: Increased skill gain in ranged abilities, Boosted luck stat, access to pseudo-modern and ‘steampunk’ weaponry.

  Requirements: None

  Exp gain: 100%

  “Gunners are the oddballs in the realm. Possessing knowledge of weaponry far ahead of their time, they employ a varied means of attack including traps, grenades and mini cannons. Some attribute the class’s existence on the appearance of strange ‘otherworld’ adventurers.”

  __________________

  So that was all of them. The same classes presented in the original IO with a few modifications here and there. I’d played every single class in IO at one point in time. Sometimes with new accounts and sometimes in the same account, just to get a feel for each and see where they took me. The only one I truly clung to was the mage class and its evolutions.

  But I’d already played that class to its end on my computer. Yes, it may be advantageous to utilize the same class here because I knew the ins and outs of it, but I didn’t come here solely to win Vena’s gift. I came here because it was a way to play my beloved game in a new form – by mixing elements from other games and bringing a wave of players from other games as well, meaning new competition.

  If I was going to do this, I wanted it to be memorable. I wanted it to be as fun as a teen’s first kiss. Anything less would just be a waste of time, I might as well log out and stick to my old IO account.

  So no, the mage class and its spawn were definitely out.

  The warrior class however would be an interesting play. With its focus on combat and this VR mode, it would be awesome to fight like I was in Lord of the Rings! Unfortunately, the class reeked of Keith, which made it a no go. Not because I hated him or anything, but because he’d never let me rest if I beat this thing using his class chain.