Level Is Everything

Beginner's village

「Welcome to the beginner's village no.1302」

When Ryou opened his eyes, it was a brand new world for him. As any other new player, Ryou appeared at the beginner's village. As for the number of the beginner's village, it was to divide the millions of players into smaller tutorial map first before finally entering the world map of Aaru. Contrary to Ryou expectation, there's no non-player character (NPC) that is controlled by artificial intelligence (AI).  There's just an air screen in front of him with some video explaining the basic commands of the game.

Even though the level of AI has advanced to the point it makes no big difference from a real human, the game Aaru is using a video as tutorial. This is taking into consideration that some of the people that decided to play the game might have just played a VR game for the first time just like Ryou. It was also more appealing for children and easier to use for the elderly.

"So, this is the basic commands. Alright, I guess I should head to the archery range and find the instructor. What's the command again? Ah, right. [Map]! "

After watching the tutorial video, even a first time player like Ryou is starting to get the hang of it. The game basic commands itself are pretty common in online games such as [Status], [Inventory], [Equipment], [Skill], [Friend], [Party], [Guild], [Map], and [Options]. To access it, a player just need to direct their intention to execute the commands in their mind or easier by speaking to the system. It was also the same for skill execution inside the game, a player just need to chant the skill name in their mind or by simply saying it. As for some spell that needs to be channeled, there will be a spell chant that need to be finished and this time can be reduced by increasing their DEX stats.

"This is amazing."

Although it was called a beginner's village, the place itself is quite developed. Aside from the thatched hut buildings, the beginner's village have everything that the players will need. Starting from the village chief hut where players can get beginner quest, to the profession instructors where players can get their class if they haven't done so from the character creation. It was all for the purpose of making players become familiar with the game.

Ryou however have another purpose to join the game so he doesn't really bother by taking some quest from the village chief and head directly to the archery instructor. It was only a three-minute walk and Ryou have reached the archery range.

As the game enabled the player to browse the web in game, it didn't take long for Ryou to find the game promotional video and captured the image of the figure that he believed to be his father. The game company itself make it easy to navigate between the web and the game because taking into consideration that some players will be using the official game forum to interact or finding information about a quest.

After looking around for some time, finally Ryou found an NPC that he believed to be the archery instructor. It was due to the yellow exclamation mark above his head that indicating that it was an NPC that can give quest.

"Excuse me, are you perhaps the archery range instructor?"

"Oh, that's right young man. It looks like that you are an archer. Are you coming here to polish your skill at the archery range or are you looking for some job?"

The archery instructor NPC replied to Ryou just like how he will reply to any other archer. Looking for some job from the NPC meaning taking some quest and polishing his skill are practicing some archery skill. The skill of the game Aaru can be levelled up using skill points which will be gained every time a player levelled up but there's still something called skill proficiency. The higher the skill proficiency, the better the skill effect or execution. The skill proficiency itself can be increased by using the skill frequently at the practice range.

"I'm sorry, I am not here for that today. I was wondering, do you know about this man?"

Ryou immediately showed the instructor the image that he screenshotted from the promotional video.

"Ah, of course I know about him. He is 'Master Archer Sasaki'. He is one of the 'class pioneers' that founded the archery guild."

Hearing about that, Ryou seemed to be shaken for a bit. When the name Sasaki left the archery instructor's mouth, he can't hide his shock. It was the name of his father and he didn't expect the name of the archer in the promotional video to be the same.

「Was it a coincidence? Or is it really you? Father…」

"Young man, are you alright?" Seeing that Ryou isn't answering for some time, the archery instructor asked him.

"Ah yes, sorry for spacing out there. Instructor, do you know how can I find him?"

"Oh, are you looking for master archer Sasaki? Since he is one of the 'class pioneers' I believe you can find him at the pioneer's city 'Archion'."

「Pioneer's city Archion? 」

After hearing the name, Ryou decided to look for the information on the web but he found nothing. It was something to be expected as the game itself was just launched today and the game forum was mainly filled with information that the players contribute. The game official website doesn't provide any information whatsoever except from the game basic mechanics, commands, and some class. Realizing that he wouldn't get anything from the web, Ryou decided to ask the archery instructor.

"Excuse me instructor, do you know how can I go to Archion?"

"How to go to Archion? Hmm… I am not sure. But even if you managed to go to Archion I believe it will still be hard for you to meet with master archer Sasaki. After all he is one of the class pioneers while you are just a weak archer. To meet with a person like him, not only you need to have a high reputation in the city, you also need to be strong. Why don't you train some of your skill first at the archery range and hunt some monsters to increase your strength after?"

"Thank you for answering my answer instructor but I need some time first for now."

"Alright, I'll be right here if you need anything else."

From the instructor's reply, Ryou have got some precious information. The figure that he is searching indeed exist inside the game and goes by the same name as his father. Secondly, his 'father' is located at the Archion city. Thirdly, he needs reputation if he wished to meet with his 'father'. Last but not least, he need to be 'strong'. It seems that there is still a minimum required level if he wanted to meet with his father.

「I guess I need to get out of the beginner's village first before I can find more clue on how to reach Archion. I also need to become stronger in order to meet the requirements to see 'father'. So, let's do some leveling? 」