Read TheirWorld :: Chapter 19

In the School of Good Books, watching Grimhai sleeping at his desk. For the first time in an MMO, Guin wondered if NPCs had homes and beds to go to. She wasn’t sure what she should do. Should she wake him up? Did NPCs need sleep?

Scribe Marlon walked over with a disdainful look on his face. Guin lifted a hand to stop him, but she was too late. He’d taken a rolled-up piece of parchment and smacked Grimhai hard across the head.

“Wake up, you fool!” Marlon roared. The young teacher shot up, glasses askew, drool running down his chin, muttering unintelligible noises. “Don’t keep the girl waiting when she has been running ridiculous errands for you! What nonsense. These young teachers....” The scribe didn’t even glance at Guin as he walked away, muttering obscenities.

Dazed, Grimhai stared out at the room, his eyes glazed as he licked his lips. Guin giggled. His glasses were hanging by one ear, his hair was flattened on one side of his head, and there was ink all over his fur from the paper he had been sleeping on.

“Hmhmph...” He went, blinking and looking around. His eyebrows rose slowly as he began to realize what was going on. “Ah—”

He squinted at Guin, who was covering her mouth to stifle her laughter. He adjusted his glasses, appearing shocked that they were half-off his face. “Ah. Ah!”

As if realizing suddenly what had happened over the last few minutes, Grimhai scrambled to make himself presentable. “I — ah — Do forgive me, Miss Guin; it appears that I fell asleep at my desk last night!”

“It’s okay! Don’t fuss! I wasn’t even going to wake you, but....” Guin couldn’t help but laugh as he smudged the ink further into his fur. “Y-You should probably go wash your face!”

“Eh?” He looked at a shiny metal object on his desk and gasped in horror. “Do excuse me...” he quickly got up and disappeared behind a door. He returned about five minutes later, looking considerably more professional, and sat back in his chair. “Now then,” he said. “Where were we?”

Guin smiled at him. “I have done as you asked and obeyed the request of Pastor Jormund.”

“Ah! Very good, then! Why don’t you pull up your faction page so we can look at what you have gained?” He rubbed his hands together.

Guin pulled up the screen:

<<>>

FACTIONS

<[Church of The Lady] 250>

<[Mist] 1500>

<[Mist – Bade] 250>

<[Spirit] 1000>

<[Spirit – Fox] 500>

<<>>

“I see!” he said, looking it over. “Very good. Now, how do faction points work? Any one faction begins at 0, which is considered average, and it will rise and fall from there depending on your choices in the game. You can lose or earn main faction points on a scale between 40,000 and -40,000, and sub-faction points between 10,000 and -10,000. Keep in mind that it is easier to lose points than it is to gain them.

“Now you can see on your sheet that factions have sub-factions, similar to skills and sub-skills, but sub-factions work differently.

“Let’s use the [Mist] faction as an example. The [Mist] faction itself is a general faction for all things related to the Mist Clan. Should you remain in Mist Clan territory, the majority of the NPCs you will meet will be influenced by this score. Quests you receive from the Mist Clan will almost always result in a change in this number. However, sub-faction points are only earned from certain places and in certain areas.

“These sub-faction points can be very beneficial because, unlike skills, the sub-faction points function as a bonus to the main faction skill in relevant circumstances. For example, you have a faction score of 1500 for the [Mist] faction. In addition, you have an extra 250 points for the [Mist - Bade] faction, which means that your total faction score in the Village of Bade is 1750. While this number makes little difference now if someone achieved the highest possible faction score of 40,000 and the sub-faction score limit of 10,000, they would have a total of 50,000 faction points for a given faction. A score between 40,000 and 50,000 has special unlockable quests, interactions, dungeons, and more. Benefits that only a devoted player might earn.”

If Guin’s head wasn’t spinning before, it certainly was now. At least the math was simple.

“So...” she started. “Each town in the game has a faction?”

“Indeed,” he answered as if it were perfectly normal. “Each town, each race, each trades-guild, each company. Some base factions have nearly one thousand possible sub-factions.”

As she struggled to imagine what her screen would look like with all of those factions, she asked, “So, is there a way to organize them, like with skills?”

“There is; much the same system as skills,” he told her. “But you don’t have to keep track of these numbers unless you want to, and I would suggest you don’t at this stage. Like your stats, faction reputation points will change naturally as you play.

“The way you play should reflect on your character, and the world will react to that character as it is — which may or may not be as you think it should. Trying too hard for one thing or another may have the opposite effect on your goal. Do you have any other questions?” Guin shook her head, and Grimhai nodded. “Then let us move on to your next task.”

<<>>

A quest has been updated!

It is time to start your lessons!

Accept this quest to begin a series of game tutorials.

You must fulfill the basic five lessons of the teacher Grimhai Kidalmar.

You have finished the third lesson.

<Reward:>

UPDATE: The Fourth Requirement: Listen to Teacher Grimhai’s introduction to training and combat. Follow his instructions to learn basic combat.

This quest is REQUIRED.

<<Difficulty: E><XP Reward: N/A>>

<<>>

Guin accepted the quest with excitement. Though she didn’t consider herself a particularly violent individual, there was a certain romance about game combat that was more thrilling than anything else. While she didn’t have the time or resources to learn a martial art in the real world, anything would be open to her here, from hand-to-hand combat to actual magic.

The magic-like abilities of the valkyrians made it even more interesting. They had spent tens of thousands of years researching and developing their craft, and those findings made their way into TheirWorld for everyone else to enjoy.

“I’m ready!” she said, sitting on the edge of her chair.

“Good,” he said. “This tutorial should be relatively easy. I’m going to send you right outside to speak with Qii. You should know whim when you see him; he has a vendetta against shirts. More importantly, he is Bade’s foremost combat expert. He should be able to give you some basic instructions for combat and ability use. Come back to me once you have gained a few combat skills.” With that, he waved her away.