BXBX NOVEL Chapter 21: Mages' tower
He looked down at his hand that now had a thin metallic bracelet, a purple accessory made of a thin metal thread that did not feel anything special.
"Just some item? Did you just say… \'just\' some item?"
They were walking out of a tall building that almost resembled a castle and covered one of the largest land masses in this town.
There were few buildings as great as this one, and even among them, this place held a special meaning to this town, to the townsfolk, as well as to the players.
"It\'s VERY rare to get any kind of item from the Rare reward box since it gives money. People only open it with the wish to obtain a few silver coins that would let them have a few good means and if they are lucky, some people even end up with tens of silver or hundreds of bronze.
That\'s what people normally consider to be a great stroke of luck. While getting any kind of item means obtaining something that one can use, or something they can sell at a fairly high price."
She shook her head with a sigh as she looked at the Bracelet in his hands.
"When a sword user gets a good sword, they are happy. When a mage gets a good spear, they are a little disappointed but not sad. However, regardless of the class, social rankings, or levels, when someone gets an Accessory item, they know they have struck it big time."
The accessory items were the hardest to come by in this world, and the good ones that possessed a skill were even more rare.
And yet, the thing he had obtained on his first box along with Three silver coins and a little experience was something that shocked her big time.
"Just look at that item and tell me it\'s not good."
They were finished registering Elio and connecting the in-game accounts the two of them had– which was almost the same as marriage where one could access nearly everything that the other had permitted them access of, but since the [Marriage] existed in <NO> people only considered connecting accounts something like showing their trust in the other person.
Well, of course there were cases where people betrayed this trust of their partners, but after years of experience, the players have learned what they should do in a virtual relationship and what they should not.
"I never said this is bad." Elio looked at the simple yet pretty bracelet on his hand with a happy smile.
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[Brocade key] ★★☆
-Intelligence +3
-Slightly increased energy regeneration.
{Skill: Light chain}
—Create a chain of Light that heals non-lethal wounds by consuming Stamina/Energy/Mana.
(Healing will be proportionate to input power used.)
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When they got this item, Alex was only a little surprised. But after she used a (High) grade appraisal scroll to reveal the details of the item, she herself got stunned by the presence of a healing skill on the accessory.
"That right there is what I\'d call one of the best things one can get from the Rare grade reward box."
Healing skills were rare in this game and had to be learned from the Temple.
Normally, it took someone a few months just to learn a simple healing skill so people avoided it, which made the presence of Priests and Paladins even more crucial.
Good healers were hard to come by and since one needed to leave the starter town to become an official priest, one hardly found a healer in the beginning stages of the game.
"People will come running if they know about that skill so don\'t be careless with it and cherish it. You can easily use it until (Level-100) and probably even after that."
"Yes ma\'am."
In the later stages where the wounds one received gets highly difficult to heal, this item was not going to be that useful.
There was an inherent limit to all items and, when someone of a higher level uses a simple item like this, the chances are very high that they will end up breaking it instantly.
That\'s why he would have to be careful with it. She had pressed this warning on him ever since they got out of their inn, walked to the registration office, and then walked all the way to the mages\' tower.
"This place looks quite something…"
"It\'s the mages\' tower. Duh he looks amazing."
But she had seen some of the grandest structures of this world. Something as simple as this towering triangular brown tower that had many people coming in and out of it was not nearly enough to surprise her.
"Let\'s go in. I\'m excited to see if you really have the qualities of a mage." She smiled at him excitedly as a sigh escaped his mouth.
"Why is it that not everyone can become a mage in this game? Why must they make it so that people with only the \'inherent\' qualities of a mage become one?"
In <NO> everyone including the players had to first check if they had the affinity for handling Mana.
Only the people who possessed the talent to become one are officially granted permission to go through [Mana infusion] a process that opens up the Mana circuit in their body and opens up the ability to use Mana.
"Doesn\'t this just make it like the other luck based game where one might have the talent for it and someone might not?"
It wasn\'t like people who did not have the talent to become a mage could not go through Mana Infusion, just that they would have to pay more for it and the chances of their deaths increased significantly.
The natives of the world only had one life even if the players could revive back so the Rules were made to fit everyone equally.
"The \'talent\' in this game isn\'t based on luck, El. It is directly derived from the physical body of the players and is more than just something based on luck.
With the portable gears, it is difficult to track everything but even with the simplest chariot, it is possible to completely scan the physical body and they use a complex data recreation method that even I don\'t understand yet.
And besides, it\'s not like those who do not have talent to become a mage could never become a mage or have no chance of ever using magic."
There was a lot of freedom in this world if there was a lot of realism.
Even if someone could not go through the [Mana infusion] or fail many times, they could use external means to use Mana, use magic items, or become wizards or some other kind of magic user.
There were a lot of options and becoming a mage that used Mana was not the only one… people just had to either stubbornly follow the path they liked, or search for the one that suited them the best.
"They should have made it like the other games where one can just choose the path they want."
He was never very happy about this aspect of <NO>. But, he found it comforting to know this pretty and happy world also had flaws like these.
"No world is perfect, mister artist."
And this was a virtual world. If anything, she knew very well just how far this place was from the utopian \'perfect\' mortality wished to be part of…