Return to Level 0

Chapter 3 Dive In

While Luck logged in with the batch of morning players, a certain sword wielding player in the game was waiting for his friend to join in. Not long after the world announcement, his friend finally spawned into the starting area.

The swordsman’s friend walked up to him with a confused look on his face as the recent announcement was out of the norm for their first day in the game. Wanting to get his curiosity off his chest, the new player asked his more experienced compatriot.

“Hey so, what was that? And just what the heck is a hidden unique class?”

“I don’t know, but whoever got it must be the luckiest person ever. This game has been out for years and I can’t believe we’ve only scratched the surface.”

The swordsman then put his hand on his head and began to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. It was like the man was trying to drive off some unsavory memories but his attempt seemingly failed as he continued to grumble.

“What are you talking about?” His friend asked.

“Ah, forget about it. I’m just grumbling at how unfair this is.”

“I’m not sure I know what you mean. But really?! What kind of class is a Creationist?”

“Dude I have no clue, but I can tell you that people are going to be in an uproar after this. In any case, come on, let's get going before this place starts breaking out into riot.”

The swordsman motioned to his friend and they left the starting area which was filled with an ever uproarious gathering of players. These players marveled at the world announcement as it was a well known fact by casual players that they represented a turning point in the game's progress. 

So much so that world announcements were as rare as finding a needle in a haystack.

They would only be announced when the game would undergo a large-scale change which brought both a thrilling sense of foreboding and a chilling sense of fear for the future enemies and challenges they would encounter.

But, this sentiment was not shared by all as the more serious and competitive players grumbled in complaint at how unlucky they were. What they were complaining about was not related to the new declared class but was instead the royal edict and expansion quest announcements made by Queen Flamerath.

Competitive players would froth from the mouth to have a chance to have a royal edict from someone as powerful and influential as the Queen. For some random player that they had never heard of, to be given such an opportunity made many of them incredibly jealous.

They began making plans on capturing this Luck person to get him or her on their side, but this would be difficult. A level of personal security was ensured for all players because the real name and player details were hidden from each other to add a sense of realism. 

This worked to Luck's favor, as the competitive players had passed by him without even batting an eye in his direction. Luck stiffened up when they approached but after they passed him, he let out a sigh of relief.

Ducking into an alleyway, Luck opened his menu to get a better understanding of what was happening. In his chat feed, he saw the following.

[World Announcement: Congratulations player Luck for meeting the hidden and special requirements to obtain the hidden unique tiered class, [Creationist].]

[World Announcement: The Queen of the Kingdom of Primera has issued a royal edict to player Luck to come meet her.]

Luck then looked to his personal notification in the top right of his field of view. Tapping the bell icon, he was flooded with messages.

[Player Luck has obtained the first Hidden Unique Class]

[Player Luck has been automatically assigned Class [Creationist]]

[Due to initial data scan and analysis being inconclusive, Player Luck has been given the maximum benefit allowed by the system for Player’s initial stat allocation.]

[Additional initial stats and skills will be obtained as the administrative system AI attempts to compensate throughout game progress]

[Player Luck has obtained Class skill [Eye of the Creator]]

[Player Luck has obtained Class skill [Pocket of the Creator]]

[Player Luck has obtained the following Normal skills: [Alchemy], [Blacksmithing], [Fighter], [Mental Recovery], [Physical Recovery], [Mana Recovery]

[Error–Mana Recovery not applicable at current system [Age of Expansion]–Mana Recovery will be locked unless restrictions are released]

[Important Notice - detecting large amount of knowledge from user - compensating tiering of normal skills]

[Error - information overload - all normal skills will be set to default Beginner Tier]

[Message from Queen Flamerath - You are on official summons from Queen Flamerath (Time limit: None)] 

What caught Luck’s attention first was the number of skills he had. While all were at their lowest tier, this was a sight for sore eyes as these were some of the exact same skills he had from his future memories playing the [Supporter] class.

While these skills were only a fraction of what he had, they would serve him well as these were the most versatile. Building upon his good fortune, Luck reviewed his stats and was amazed at the system's initial evaluation of him.

***

Player Name: [Luck]

Class: [Creationist Lv0]

Titles: [None]

Class Skills: [Eye of the Creator] [Pocket of the Creator]

Normal skills: [Beginner Alchemy] [Beginner Blacksmithing] [Beginner Fighter] 

[Beginner Mental Recovery] [Beginner Physical Recovery] [Beginner Mana Recovery (Locked)]

HP: 100/100

Mana: 1000/1000 [Locked]

Strength: 10

Vitality: 10

Agility: 10

Dexterity: 10

Intelligence: 100

Wisdom: 100

***

An average new player had stats that were between 5 and 20 which was to represent the human body’s limits. Professional MMA fighters would have strength stats between 15 and 20, while college geniuses would have intelligence and wisdom stats in the same area as well. 

For Luck to have 100 intelligence and wisdom to start was incredible and meant that the system recognized his vast knowledge from his future memories. The addition of the Mana stat was also surprising as this stat was only unlocked in a later [Age of Expansion].

Luck did know how long he spent in that alleyway as he was so engrossed with reviewing all the notifications and his status screen, and he soon lost track of time. Noticing how high the sun was in the sky, he was broken from his thoughts and shook off the surprise that tried to still pervading his mind.

“I don’t have time to dilly dally. This doesn’t change the plan and it doesn’t change my goal.” Thinking back to his sister Chancy, Luck balled his hands into fist as he swore an oath in his heart before dashing off to a destination in mind.

Reaching it, Luck looked around at his surroundings and saw numerous piles of junk and scrap littering this large plot of flat land. This was Primera’s capital city junkyard where any unusable items were disposed of.

Getting straight to it, Luck rolled up the sleeves of his standard tunic and began to dig through the piles of trash. Other passing players looked on in disgust and ridicule as they thought he was just a bottom feeder in the game.

It was common knowledge among the players that there was nothing of interest or of use in the literal junkyard Luck was rifling through. Some, seeing how fervent Luck looked, cracked a passing joke.

“You think he got some kind of class that works with trash?”

“Yeah. Maybe a garbage man. Bwahahaha!”

“Now that would be fitting, Bwahaha!”

As the passerbyers left and began to ignore the unusual sight of a dumpster diver at work. Luck was unaffected as he had a determined focus and continued to dig with a purpose.

What drove him to such a futile act was his extensive knowledge from his future memories. The world of the game, Level 0, has a system of updates through what was called the [Age of Expansion]. The game first started at the [Age of Stone], then moved to the [Age of Bronze], then the [Age of Iron], and now the [Age of Kingdoms].

Each age added to the open world features of the game and allowed for the creation of new tools, new game mechanics, new monsters, and new areas to explore. New ages also allowed for access to new classes which were divided up into the currently three known categories of rarity.

Normal Classes, Unique Classes, and Hidden Classes. This was going in order of power and required specific parameters to be met in order to obtain them. These could be through in game quests or meeting certain parameters measured and monitored by the game. 

To progress in the game, crafting was just as important as fighting skills because the right materials or recipes must sometimes be gathered and created to advance in many of the quests. For the questline for the transition from the [Age of Bronze] to the [Age of Iron], players had to find and create the recipes for making sturdy iron weapons.

When the system measured that enough related items to the next [Age of Expansion] were found to be in circulation, it decided to advance the game. 

This was the same for the [Age of Kingdom] as it involved a certain number of people obtaining the knowledge and establishing a certain parameter in the player economy that would incite an advancement in the [Age of Expansion].

This game world had a quantum AI running behind the scenes, which made it possible for the game to update in real time to all the players collective actions. The fast pace change was what brought players in and benevolently the game allowed that the initial expansions were easy to achieve. 

This was made easier due to the game's initial starting number of players, but this was not true when they reached their current expansion.

 For the last two years since the last expansion, the players of Level 0 had been stuck in the [Age of Kingdoms] and had been metaphorically slamming their heads against a brick wall in an fruitless attempt in trying to figure out how to advance the game. 

In Luck’s memories, the next age was the [Age of Magic] which would have its requirements discovered and triggered a year later when some bored delinquent teenagers made the kingdom’s junkyard their hangout. After constantly visiting the junkyard and messing around with the place's trash, they discovered the key to advance the game.

After lifting a heavy crate full of scraped and broken weapons, Luck found a wooden box in the mess of piled junk. He smiled in delight at finding what he needed. 

Opening it, he found what looked like an ordinary gray rock that fit snugly into the palm of his hand.

It was at this moment that his class skill, [Eye of the Creator], activated and a new world notification rang out.

[Eye of Creator detects magic energy in the vicinity of the player. Analyzing - analysis complete - discovery - Defective Magic Stone (Large) - Rare Item obtained]

[World Announcement - Magic has been discovered - Mana Stat has been unlocked for all players]

The passerbyers of the junkyard stopped in their tracks and were surprised at the third world announcement of the day. They moved to open their status screens but before anyone got the chance to see the newly added stat, their attention was drawn to a sudden feeling of foreboding power that emanated from the junkyard.

Upon the highest pile stood an average looking man with his clothes stained with dirt as he raised his right hand up to the sky with a stone gripped tightly in his hand. This ordinary stone began to emit a golden light and a beam of golden magic power descended from the sky to bathe the man in its glow.

Everyone saw this from a distance and looked on with glittering eyes of idolatry because the very sight of the once random player had caught the attention of all in attendance. Men marveled and women swooned at the outstanding spectacle that radiated sheer power and authority.

The man’s black ponytail fluttered majestically with the golden light he was bathed in and made him seem like a gallant man to those with better sight.  

From Luck’s point of view, he smirked at the heavens as his personal notifications rang out so much that it drowned out the incessant chatter of a gathering crowd.