The Skilled

Games, in general, made a lot of money. And if things went this new VRMMORPG's way, for a long time, it would be the only one of its kind in the world. When a game became that big, even information on it became worth money.

It was the same with the MMORPG that the One Country developed, 'Falling Realm'. In the modern age, where players were pampered endlessly with: 'storyline' difficulties, stat-check missions, pay-to-win items, and the worst of all, a 'skip' function; Falling Realm showed how one should really create an immersive world:

By putting things that the players had absolutely zero control over. Impossible tasks, undefeatable enemies, unsurmountable odds. That game was so riddled with unreasonable situations, critics and players alike cursed its difficulty.

But despite its initially negative reviews in only three months, Falling Realm became the most popular game in the world. That was because the seemingly impossible quests were being cleared one by one. They either required immense luck or rare requirements, but they could definitely be solved. And for the people who managed such feats, the rewards were immense.

The game was brutal, but people still flocked to it, pulled by its painful allure.

During its explosive rise in popularity, Falling Realm also showed the importance of information. How to solve certain quests, weaknesses of boss-monsters, hunting grounds with special drops or monsters... except for the players of the game, they were reluctant to simply give away their knowledge.

God knows how much they've struggled to learn these things? How many times they've died to succeed? So they started selling their hard-earned knowledge for money. Specialized information gathering guilds were born, and oddly, they were always one of the richest guilds out there.

Lorn was sure that the One World was going to develop similarly.

If he could learn as much as possible about the One World, he could sell his knowledge to newcomers. If he could make a guide of some sorts, he could sell that as well. And if technology somehow allows him to stream the game after everything's over, he would instantly climb to the top of the industry.

With such an advantage on his side, there was no way he couldn't profit. And unlike stocks and gambling, he didn't need to rely on luck to be successful.

As Lorn was grinning, imagining all the possibilities he had, the mayor interrupted him.

"Please read this," the mayor said, offering the letter.

Lorn nodded. The letter this time was much longer than the one he had at first.

[Hello! It's me, Reina, writing this guide to help you acclimatize!] the letter began. [Welcome again, to the One World. And congratulations, for becoming one of the first visitors of our fully immersive Virtual Reality game. But although we call this a game, remember that the choices you can make here are the same as in reality. We've granted you a world as an empty canvas. Your story is yours to write.

[If you wish to, you can remain inside Silt, interact with its residents and be awed at how 'real' they might feel to you. Don't worry about freeloading from them. Although the 10% that do possess 'Souls' will have their own thoughts and motives, the status of an Undying shall make it impossible for at least the Soulless to disobey you.]

'Impossible? That's not something you can say lightly,' Lorn thought. 'So if I tell some random Soulless to kill a random child, are they forced to comply?'

[Or if you feel that's too boring, you can talk to the mayor. Ask her about the Soulless, the One World, the Undying, the things you can learn here, what you could do to help them out… anything you want. There are countless paths you can take. As we said previously, the World is yours to explore.]

[But there are things you must remember. First are the three taboos you mustn't commit. Don't kill, don't instigate murder, and don't talk about the real world to the residents of the One World and not reveal to them that they're just a bunch of ones and zeroes. For the last part, the official story's that you're an otherworlder.]

[If for whatever reason, you're not fully sure whether you'll follow these rules, don't worry. The machine your brain is now inhabiting will forcefully stop you from committing these taboos. This forceful intervention is potentially damaging to your consciousness, so please remember that. As for other crimes, that's up to the jurisdiction of the mayor and the people.]

Lorn nodded. Of course, he had no problems with these bans. As long as these were really the only things that they banned.

As for the part about him being an otherworlder, he was actually happy about it. Revealing to the inhabitants here that they were lines of code… it would be funny to see their reactions, but soon the novelty would die out pretty quickly.

In fact, having them think that the world they were living in was real would give everything here a layer of gravitas. He couldn't imagine living in a world where every denizen is going through an existential crisis.

[Another thing you will need to learn is your Status. If you see your reflection on the mirror in the altar, you'll be able to see some text and some numbers floating beside you. (We are working to make this more easily accessible, but for now, you'll need to make do).]

Lorn picked up the mirror and saw his own status again.

[Anyway, on the Status screen, you'll be able to see your general stats such as strength, stamina, dexterity, etc. If you're confused about what the numbers mean, '1' would represent the average male. So if your Strength is 1.5, it means you're fifty percent stronger than the average man.]

Lorn nodded, though he was surprised his stats other than intelligence were so high. He soon realized he was a healthy 25-year-old, so probably that put him on the high end of humanity.

[If you're curious about the Spirit and Affinity stats, which are currently locked, we'll get to that soon enough.]

'Since it's a game… surely I'll be able to use magic or something from now on, aren't I?'

[Next, let's talk about your Innate skills. On default, you'll only be able to see two skills and then a number, but if you tap twice on the mirror, you'll be able to see the whole list.]

Lorn tapped on the mirror twice and the 'Innate Skills' section expanded.

[Innate skills: Nimble hands Lv.4; Flexible Body Lv.3; Basic Self-defense Lv.6; Knife Mastery Lv.3; Gun Mastery Lv.5; Heightened Senses Lv.1; Light Sleeper Lv.3; Stealth Lv.2; Parkour Lv.1; Pick-pocketing Lv.7; Poker Face Lv.5; Gambling Sense Lv.1; Lying Lv.8; Eloquent Speech Lv.4; Logic Lv.7; Suppressing Emotions Lv.5; Capacity for Violence Lv.7; Meditation Lv.4; Practical Psychology Lv.6; General Education Lv.7; Military Tactics Lv.5; Battle Analysis (general) Lv.3; Training of Units Lv.5; Unit Management Lv.6; Resource Management Lv.3; Political Sense Lv.2; Political Maneuvering Lv.1; Sociology Lv.3]

'Huh…' Lorn read the full list and frowned. 'It contains way too much info about my past.' He looked through the list again. 'Isn't this too little, considering it contains all the stuff I studied?'

[Surprised? Your own subconsciousness created most of it using our system's capabilities. That means that everyone has their own unique skills and skill names because your consciousness decides which skills are important enough to list and which aren't. For example, boxers would have stuff like: footwork, dodging, tenacity, pushing one's limits, etc; while cooks would have skills like: baking, frying, improvising, imagination, and so forth.]

Lorn was genuinely surprised by how the system worked. He looked at the list again with a different mindset, and felt like he was looking deep into his own psyche.

The only thing he wasn't really surprised to see were the first five skills, plus Psychology, Suppressing Emotions and Meditation. He understood these skills the most and was familiar with them deeply.

From Light Sleeper and Pick-pocketing, he could tell that he was proud of his homeless lifestyle. Of course, he wasn't proud of the status, but he was proud he could live comfortably despite being completely broke. If he wasn't, Pick-pocketing should've fallen into Nimble Hands.

From the one level of Gambling, he could tell that he still had attachments to his addiction, but he was offended that it was only Lv.1. He felt it should at least be Lv.4.

Lorn sighed and looked at the various skills representing his education. Perhaps he still had lingering feelings towards his birthplace, Tyvat. It felt bizarre to him, but since his skill list showed his pick-pocketing skills, he supposed it had to show the skills he got his teen years.

Then, he looked at the eyesore in his skill list.

'Capacity for Violence? What's up with this edgy-ass name? I don't what this! Don't tell me people can check my status as well!'

Grumbling, he continued reading the letter.

[But that's only your innate skills. Then what about Obtained ones? Well, to answer that question, you'll need to attach that shard of crystal you see to your forehead. I'm sure you're angry at us for ruining your face, but trust me, this was the easiest way for us to unlock the true potential of your consciousness.]

Lorn could almost see the smug face Reina must've worn writing this letter.

[But seriously, to continue reading this letter, you need to lodge the damn thing on your head.] There was some empty space beneath the sentence. [Some pretty serious stuff down there. And it's not like what I'm asking of you will hurt you or anything.]