There was a moment of awkward silence after Bruce asked that rhetorical question. The wannabe-Mystics seemed torn between their eagerness to get that class and their apparent reluctance to get their heads scratched. Others were listening intently, itching to learn. Sean studied the group, hoping for some vocal support, a nod or two… or maybe just a pat on the back for asking the right question. Emma was typing on her phone under her desk – at this point she didn't seem to care if their instructor saw it or not.
"Maybe that's for the Reddit-legends, Boss ?" Michelle suggested.
"Naur, a load of garbage that mob," Bruce dismissed and thought about it for a couple of seconds. "Righto, but quick! Here's what you lot need to know for the first few levels, and I'll chuck in a few general hints. Class is much of a muchness, everything plays similar early-game: you find a starter mob… gremlin, rat, the local stuff – and you bash it until you get XP, too easy. Use whatever attack skill works with your weapon. Support classes got one too – though it works maybe for the first five levels, doesn't scale well, but."
He paused and stepped over to lean on the edge of the table again, then continued: "Heard partying early on is useless now, the first two-three levels you gain solo. Reckon get familiar with the skill– Oi, and don't be clever with skills – that gets you killed, ay? Focus on one, master it, then move on to practice the next during cooldown. Or just smash or kick whatever's in front of you, but." A tiny pause. "Skills and weapons aren't the only ways to make stuff dead, ay? Once you get a few skills you're comfy using, drop the weakest and practice the next – or whatever your spec or path will use." He nodded. "Plan ahead, prepare the skill you will be using after spec or respec – even if it works different, the mastery stays. Reckon party up around four-five, supports sooner – or just go near-DPS and respec back after a few levels, but."
"But where do we grind XP?" Caleb asked.
"Anywhere, everywhere!" Bruce explained. "Just not in the town – guards will sort you out quick, kinda OP that lot. Reckon don't attack farm animals either – that aggroes the pigs too. They fixed that ages ago. So reckon go out of whatever gate and there should be some starter mobs, ay? If you get scratched, come back to that gate for the healing booth. But that gimmick is free, so don't get scammed by players pretending to be NPCs by the gate – though floating healers in the field might ask for a tip, but." He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "That's about it. Oh, keep the neon-lights on for a bit – so folks can treat you proper, ay? It's like learner plates, or what you have… a student driver's sign, yeah?"
Bruce smirked for a breath, then continued calmly, "Don't bother with guilds now: respec a few times early on and find your style, what you like, then look for a proper guild that's taking on trainees for that role. Though don't count on anybody accepting starter Mystics, ay?" The summoner let it hang for a moment.
"How to tell a proper guild from others?" a new voice asked. Sean turned to check the player tag: Rebecca, Mage.
"Too easy!" Bruce answered with zero hesitation. "If they don't try to rip you off, it's probably legit, ay? So look out for any… joining fees, or farming fees, or even fees-fees. None of that, but." A small pause. "Righto, that's how things used to be – no clue what a low-level guild's like now, ay?"
"But then…" Juan asked, "how do they support themselves? Or even pay for the guild mansions or manors or–"
"Don't need 'em!" Bruce interjected with a shrug, but then looked to the side as if collecting his thoughts. "Unless you're talking instances, but that's– Okay, no idea what the new lowest instances are like. Used to be a mid-level thing, first-to-second spec, at least, ay? But then they added some low-level content too, so maybe– But then the guild wouldn't be raking in fees for instance-access." He scanned the confused faces. "Roight! It goes like this: you buy an instance stone, put it in the basement to open instances, get more stones after killing the boss, profit, but."
At that point, Sean wanted to ask 'but what,' since the speech mannerism was getting more than a little tedious. Other than that, it felt like every answer opened up even more questions – yet he didn't want to look like a fool, or simply get redirected to NPCs again. Emma seemingly didn't care, resting her eyes now. Everybody else either knew or was too anxious to ask.
"But…" Juan tried. "So you can only open them in a guild mansion, right?"
"Mate," Bruce elaborated, "you can put them anywhere. On the street, on the roof, in a ditch somewhere – it'll work. But when you're in there and somebody comes by to help themselves to your stone, well, that's profit for them, ay? And to your instance machine and all the stuff you left outside, ay? And tough luck to you stuck inside once the portal closes because they took the generator…" He trailed off and considered it briefly. "Righto, stones can be used a few times and there's a whole secondhand market. Good tradin'. So a safe spot like a guild place is probably best, or some kind of hideout – you'll see, but." He shook his head. "Naur, the guild stuff is boring. I wouldn't know, ay?"
"If we get stuck in an instance…" Chris asked, "we still get to respawn, right?"
"Yeah, hundred percent – but it just sucks, you know, getting stuck out there, ay?" Bruce answered. "But enough on the instances, you lot will figure it out with some guild or whatever. Let's get these classes sorted out and let you out of here. Every minute spent on boring lectures is one less mob sorted out, and that means less XP and–"
"Just quickly," Sean cut in, "anything else that's important and only experienced players know? That you're willing to share, of course!"
"Ay?" Bruce asked, then looked at him for a few seconds. Sean had already started brainstorming ways to retract that question gracefully, but then the instructor simply explained, "Fine, there's… It's been a while since the low-levels, ay? Reckon the most important bit: learn from other players. Not just what they're tellin' you, but what they actually do themselves, ay? And even more importantly, what they're doin' wrong – but that's what you'll have to figure out yourselves, but." A small pause. "Always take a quest with you lot, wherever you're off to. Cancel one if you can't find mobs of that type or…" He trailed off, staring at Sean.
Santiago asked after a moment of silence, "About those class changes, maybe we could–"
"Naur, patience!" Bruce interrupted, then sighed and looked left and right. "I probably shouldn't be telling you lot about this, so…" He glanced at the door, still closed, then lowered his voice to a conspiratorial tone. "You didn't hear it from me, ay? Not sure if it still works, but there used to be– You know these guiding candles you get for quests? Yeah nah, half of you probably don't – but you get these with each quest. Most newbies don't know that when it goes out, you can just re-light the candle from any spell or fire – makes finding the mobs much easier, ay? But that's not all…" He sighed again, then hesitantly continued, "There's… or was… You put it out and tell the NPC you lost it. You can do it right in front of them, doesn't matter. Then you take another quest, and do the same. And so on but– Righto, it needs to be a different mob – and no more than three… or five candles, once you get the hang of it. This stuff gets confusing fast. So if you're hunting boars and there's also wolves in that forest, you know what to do. Saves a lot of walkin', that's all, but."
Sean was listening, mesmerized. It sounded like a glitch or perhaps some quest mechanic abuse – either way, he wanted to hear more! Everyone else seemed to share the same feeling. Well, everyone but one person.
Bruce glanced at the door again, still closed, and continued, "But the trick is: when you hand in the quest, ay? You give the NPC the first candle, or what little's left of it, with all the parts. They'll complain, tell you to take it away, or just throw it out. You ignore that, hand them the other candle with the stuff. Then when you give the last one, the proper one… they should give you all the rewards, too easy!" He grinned for a second, then took four steps forward and continued even more quietly, "So the real trick is, other than giving these in order… you say nothing, don't engage with 'em at all. You'll need a quiet booth for this to work, no banter. Just keep laying stuff on the counter, from your belt or out of some bag – otherwise it won't work, wakes up their verbal somethings, but." A small pause, then he added, "Or maybe they fixed it, and it won't work now anyhow?" He shrugged, then commented: "That's what we used to do back in the day – I wouldn't know, ay?"
"But then," Juan followed up, "how do we know if we got enough kills?"
"You use your brain, mate!" Bruce said out loud. "Just keep track of the numbers – they still teach ya how to count out 'ere, ay?" He let that sit for two breaths. "Just try not to brag about it, ay? If it works anyhow. But hey, maybe– Roight! I was also supposed to tell you lot: starter gear in the back – use the door behind your desk, there's a…" He approached the semicircle by Caleb's desk and scanned the back of the room.
Sean looked back. He had never examined that part of the lecture hall, since… well, since he had assumed there wasn't anything there. But some twenty feet behind each desk, there were some concealed doors – or maybe they were just well-integrated into the wall's elaborate wooden paneling patterns. Each door clearly connected to the appropriate desk with a subtle line on the floor. If only he had glanced down, or up… or behind himself – he would have spotted it all. But no matter.
"Yeah, just follow the line from your desk, too easy! Oh, and since I'm here, I brought some goodies." The instructor patted his pockets and retrieved a small leather pouch from the back of his pants, then opened it. Coins clinked against each other, now clearly audible. "Courtesy of your friend Bruce, and just to get you going, ay?" He gave Caleb a gold coin and then rummaged through the pouch a little more to retrieve something else. "Maybe these two – a couple of grafts, too. Good for another few days, just keep 'em in your pocket."
"Uhh, thanks?" Caleb said, more than a little confused – as could be said of everyone.
"No wukkas, mate!" Bruce replied and moved to the next desk to the right. "Just remember to leave that review with the priests, ay?" He repeated the same activity: giving the new players some gifts, apparently.
Sean was completely baffled – this was THE weirdest game introduction he had ever heard about or seen, let alone participated in. Even back in his video-game days. What was this, bribing new players for– What! It also occurred to him only now that he had come through one of these doors – would there be a white rabbit inside one of these rooms or–? No, it didn't make sense – it had been an entire hallway where– Of course! Omega must've used a back-door shortcut to get him here in time.
But it was all so weird.
"I'm sorry, but…" Juan started, equally confused. "Is this part of the introduction or some kind of–"
"Naur, that's on me!" Bruce interjected from the end of the desks on the right side.
Juan tried, "But how–"
"Just shut up and take it, bro!" Caleb cut him off.
"But the grafts, how…" Juan wondered out loud as the instructor was on his way to the left side of the arc of desks, "aren't they applied by the priests and–"
"Yeah nah, that–" Bruce cut in. "These are secondhand ones, just don't tell nobody, ay?"
"Juan, shut up already," Michelle commented.
Juan pressed, "But… how does–"
"Nah yeah, it does," Bruce interjected. "Just keep 'em on ya person somewhere, might be the panties, rawr !" After that remark, he winked at Emma, who pretended not to notice it. Or maybe she actually didn't notice it?
"But the priests…" Juan trailed off. His Reddit knowledge was clearly insufficient for this.
"Look-mate," Bruce hushed the Latino, already standing by his desk, "their previous owners aren't using them, ay? Like, uh…" He hesitated briefly, then explained, "Maybe upgraded or changed 'em, alrighto? Now, you want 'em or not?" Juan nodded at this, so the instructor handed him a coin and the grafts.
It was strange for Sean to see him up close. The elite summoner was… shorter than he had assumed – or maybe it was his high level and the scary summon?
Bruce moved to Emma's desk and gave its wooden leg a nudge with his foot. "You with us, lass?" he asked as she looked up from her phone. "Here, little buff for your phone, ay?" The instructor put three small items on her desk.
She glanced at Sean, but he had already leaned forward with an outstretched hand. He spoke up before receiving the gifts : "Bruce, you're either the best game instructor I've–"
"That's the spirit, mate!" the Australian cut him off as he deposited a coin and two small, flat objects onto his open palm. The coin felt heavy, easily two or three ounces – it would have been worth a lot on Earth before the Singularity. And the secondhand grafts felt odd: light, metal objects coated in wax, mostly flat, maybe stamp-sized. There was a bit of leather underneath them – it looked like padding or insulation, but why would grafts have that if they were meant to be carried in a pocket? In any event, Sean shrugged and slid all three into the pocket of his sweatpants.
Bruce moved a couple of steps into the room and turned to the right to address everyone: "There we go, enjoy! You should bank 'em coins and– Roight! Always bank the quest rewards, always. You shouldn't carry more than a third, maybe half tops, of what your gear is worth. That is, unless shopping or moving between banks. Pickpocketing is a thing – sucks to lose the currency, ay? Also, there's… some kind of manual in the rooms, for your skills. Should be set to your current class already, but you can just scroll up and down for Mystic…" He snorted at this and shook his head, but continued promptly, "Take a look in there – maybe try some skills and attacks on the training dummy, and let me know if anything's wrong. The logbook should show you how the XP is earned – just whack the dummy a few times, you'll see, but don't waste too much time: your level is being reset to one once you leave here. Better spend time learning and XP-ing on the outside than on some boring lectures here." He turned to the right side of the room and offered, "Now, let's try to sort out your classes, ay?" Bruce waved at Santiago while turning around toward the orb.
Some players had already risen from their seats and were now either stretching or approaching their respective doors in the rounded wall. Four people got up and cautiously headed to the orb up front, then a fifth. A sixth. Sean quickly decided to follow in their footsteps. For science!