Re:Birth, A MMO Story

Just to note, I tallied and started writing this right when I warned I would be closing votes. 3 people voted after this time.

You had a few people in mind when Kitan asked that - but you weren't exactly sure how most of them would respond to being asked. But there was one person, frustrated and annoyed who you almost instantly knew would be willing to join in. Her class wasn't built to solo, and she seemed to realize that enough to not rush out in her anger. So you went back to Lightning Hoof, with both of your viewers behind you. She was still glaring at everything around her, but she wasn't yelling at herself anymore - or hitting her antlers against the wall.

"What the hell do you want this time? I stopped hurting myself, it's fine." She groused as you got closer with your group, glaring daggers at you all. "I know it doesn't help anything to do that, you don't need to come check up on me."

"Well good! Because that's not it at all! I wanted to come see if you wanted to, you know, come do stuff with us." You motioned to your friends... you didn't really need to. Fluffy-nee was literally holding onto your arm quite firmly, and Kitan was glaring back the second Lightning had dared to look your way. "Like I was saying earlier, I'm a streamer and these are some of my followers, but I thought... well, why not make some new friends too!" Made sense to you. "And if things are as hard as they sound, the more people we get together the more likely we are to win!"

She looked at the three of you dubiously, before shrugging a shoulder, "What the hell. Sure, I guess I can join you. My class doesn't seem super good at soloing anyways. What're you guys playing?"

"I'm an Armory Priest." You said it with a small smile, "I picked it because I thought my viewers would like a classic catgirl-like look, and well... Tiger Claw seemed a little too violent for my stream, you know? And I could interact with them more with a pet class!"

Fluffy lit up as you made you reasonings known, "My name is Fluffy-Nee!!!! But you can call me Nee~chan~! Iiiii chose Armory Priest because I wanted to match with my Hita-hime, and I knew as soon as I saw them that she'd pick it! The race, the class, everything! I was like, so super certain. Because I'm her biggest fan!" She held you even more tightly as she said that.

"I picked White-Gold because it was the only healer. And I knew that it would be my job to keep Hita-chan from being hurt." He glared at Fluff even as he said that, "And it being able to burn away unwanted pests was a bonus too."

"...Riiiight." She seemed a little more dubious after seeing your 'friends', but she introduced herself anyways, "I picked Windrunner because..." A scratch of her cheek, "I liked the sounds of the Kirin, but being a healer seemed boring?"

"I dunno, I thought being a healer sounded fun too! You get to make sure other people are doing good after all. But I'm sure a Windrunner will be super useful! We don't really have a lot of damage output between us. I think. We haven't actually tried. Anyways, I had another person in mind for the group. The more the merrier after all!"

"I mean, I guess..?" Lightning gave an awkward shrug.

As you started to back to where you remembered Dark-Blood sitting after you comforted him, you found him looking a little intimidated as two of the taller Dragon's you saw earlier sort of... loomed over him, their deep blue hair, pale vampire like skin, and sickly eyes not exactly making them look friendly... though Dark-Blood had looks much the same. "We just wanted to check in on you. We're trying to figure out who's going to need help going forward, and who isn't." Seto had a smile on his face, but due to the look of his avatar it looked sinister. Even you could see that.

"Are you alright, Dark-kun?" You spoke up from behind the two sickly Dragons, "I was just looking for you, and I almost missed you!" You butted into the situation without knowing anything about it quite readily, "Oh! Wait!" You paused for a second as you looked at the people 'harassing' him, "Oh, you two were the ones going around trying to help people calm down, weren't you? Nice to meet you! I'm Hita Von Fluffens! You can look me up on - well, actually, nevermind! You can't really look me up right now, since I can't stream! But hi!"

"Hello." Satoshi-san gave a little bow to you as he greeted you, "I am Satoshi-San... but ah." There was a light blush on his face, "You can just call me Satoshi. The name was just..." He mumbles as he trails off, trying to excuse his weebishness to someone he need make no excuse to.

"I'm Seto." The second one is less polite than Satoshi, his tone annoyed, "We're trying to put together a census of who we need to help most. You know, the ones who aren't gonna be willing to go out and fight."

"Oh! Well, I'm kinda doing similar. Sort of. The opposite? Yeah! I'm doing the opposite!" You went through the possibilities for a moment, speaking out loud and then giggling. Satoshi scratched his cheek as you spoke, while Seto just stared at you, "I don't want everyone to lose hope, so my friends and I are gonna start heading out. And I figured... why not ask some more people if they wanna join us? And then we can have more friends, and it'll be even better! And tada, now we have a Lightning Hoof!" You raise your hands like a girl on a gameshow showcasing a prize to show her off.

Dark Blade looked uncomfortably around at the now six people around him, his eyes a little wide. "You... you shouldn't go out there and get hurt, Ms Fluffens..." He seemed concerned about you, at least.

"Oh! That's actually part of why I wanted to ask if you wanted to come!" You said it happily to the younger boy, giggling as you did. "After all, you're a necromancer right? And you can summon a ghost? Aaaand that ghost probably doesn't feel pain! And that way none of us have to feel injured!"

"Aww, he's so cute too!" Fluffy chimed in, "I mean, not cute like you Hita-hime, but cute like a mascot! Though you're cute like a mascot too! Even cuter really!"

"Don't you think he seems a little nervous, Hita-chan? It wouldn't do if he broke during a fight and ran away. Then you could get hurt." Kitan was a little severe.

"Wait wait wait," Seto butted in, "You're just gonna invite a kid to come fight with you? No questions asked? Doesn't that seem a little... cold?" He was quirking a brow.

"I mean, it's better than being stuck here. And we could keep him safe! I mean, he'd just need to stand back near Kitan and heal his ghost. And that way he wont starve! It's like, a winwinwinwinwin for us all!" You nodded vigorously. Your logic was perfect.

"We were planning to simply buy meals for those who weren't willing to fight, so they wouldn't have to suffer." Satoshi looked a little sad at your logic for some reason, though he still avoided looking directly at you. "There's no need for them to be forced to go out."

"Oh!" You paused for a second, "Oh, yeah. That makes sense. If we're out adventuring, we could probably find food for you too, if you wanna stay here Dark! I just wasn't sure. It's fine if you don't wanna fight, I like, totaaaally understand." It had never dawned on you to just feed the kid without forcing him to fight.

But he looked btween Seto and Satoshi and you and... he pushed himself up off the floor, "I... I'd like to try to help. I-if you're going to be risking getting hurt, Miss Fl-fluffens... I-I'd rather help too. I... I can't just rely on other people all the time."

"Yay!" You wrapped the kid in a hug, pulling him right against you, "I promise we'll keep you safe! Don't worry! Fluffy and I are going to be wayyyy closer to the monsters than you. And with Lightning and your summon that'll be a lot of people before they can reach you!"

Seto and Satoshi exchanged a look, and then Seto said, "Fine. Then we're joining you too. If your goals are to help people, so are ours. And there is strength in numbers, like you said."

You weren't expecting them to just volunteer like that, but you left the hug with Dark - the boy looking extremely awkward after it ended, especially as Fluffy and Kitan both glared at him - to celebrate it, "Oh, yay! That'll be like... even better. Uuuuhhm... so we have Me and Fluffy-nee, and we're Armory Priests! And Kitan-Von here is a White Gold Priest, so he's our healer! And Lightning Hoof's a Windrunner, so she'll do big dps... and with Dark that's a necromancer and their summon... aand... two... Blesseds? Right? That's what you were called?"

"Blessed Vessels, yes. We actually bonded over making the same class choice before the announcement. It's how we got to know each other." Satoshi-san nodded to Seto.

"We don't need you two." Kitan said it seriously, "That's too much melee at once. With everyone included, that'd be two priests and their weapons, a necromancer's summon, a windrunner, and you two. And I'm the only healer, I can't be constantly babysitting you as you kill yourselves fighting." He was much harsher than you were willing to be... but as usual, he made sense.

At least until Seto's katana disappeared, and in its place was a yumi and a quiver on his side, "Luckily for you, we can use all weapons and armor. We start with a katana and a bow, so we can just stay at range if you need us to." Satoshi brought out his own as if to show that he had one too, just a moment later.

"See, Kitan! Stop being a meany, the more the merrier! Even if we all had swords, I'm sure we'd find a way to work together and make it work!"

He grumbled out a, "Fine. Just don't shoot anyone in the back."

"And stop staring at Hita-hime! She's mine, I've been following her for years!" Fluffy latched onto your arms as she glared at Satoshi in particular.


Action Vote: 1d28 15 - J, guardhouse tutorial(?) wins with 24 votes

You cleared her throat as she declared you were hers, "Before anything else, some of the Guards invited us to go to the Guardhouse for training if we wanted pointers. Since everyone's saying the combat is too hard and even killing one monster is difficult, I was thinking... that seemed like a good idea? Yeah?" You were a little worried that someone wouldn't like the idea of delaying going out... but to your surprise, it was mostly nodding heads.

"Yeah, that makes sense."
"Practice makes perfect."
"Better than getting injured."
"Whatever you wanna do!"
"How'd you already make friends with the Guards?"

With the group in agreement - and you pointedly ignoring explaining how Fluffy and Kitan tried to fight each other earlier and nearly got arrested for it - you made your way towards the large barracks marked with the Tiger's flag, just at the beginning of the Western section. You'd seen the guards dragging that Tortoise who tried to punch the shopkeep in here earlier, so you knew where to go!

One older Kirin looked at you blankly as you moved towards the door, "State your business." He said it in a bored manner from his chair. You could tell that he didn't want to be out there at the door. "If you don't have any official business here, please move along. We're too busy to deal with kids today. Four assaults and a robbery in just a couple hours." He glares for just a moment, "You Awoken aren't exactly living up to your storied standards."

You can tell Kitan is getting annoyed - and Lightning looks ready to start a fight. So you move yourself between them and the older man, taking up the job of acting as face easily, "Oh, I am so sorry to bother you while you are so busy today. I just had a lovely encounter a few hours ago with Kuga-san and Hyou-san! They were so funny, you know!" You giggled as you said that, "and they recommended that I come here if my friends and I wanted some advice and direction from those who know far more about fighting than us." You were a sweet talker, that was for sure - you could see his expression lightening, "Of course, if you're too busy I understand... but we just really wanted to learn all we could from the experience of you all."

He was practically grinning, a blush covering his old face as the young girl praised him and his Knowledge and Experience. A finger came up and rubbed under his nose, "Well, I didn't mean we're too busy for official business. If Kuga and Hyou offered our help, it'd be rude to their names not to fulfil that offer." He stood up, pushing open the door as he did, "Please, come in. I'll see who we can spare for instructors, and meet you in the training square behind the building. Hmm, and bring out some training weapons. We haven't had trainees in a long time."

"Oh, I would be happy to help you with that, Raji-san~!" You jumped at the chance, both to make a good impression and because he seemed old and making him carry everything himself would be rude. You read the black name above his head.

"I'll help too!" Fluffy said it quickly, before anyone else could join in. She clung to you tightly.

"Well well, diligent and respectful Tigers for once! I'm going to have to stop teasing Hyou about how rude his family is at this rate, you're making too good an impression! I can't believe Kuga told you my name, and you even got it right." He laughed one of those old man laughs. "Come with me then."

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You split off from the party as Fluffy and you went further into the guard house - it was really large, for how small the village seemed to be. And well decorated too. And warm - every room had a fireplace. Even though they were simply guards, the fact that these were Beastkin - and elder ones at that - clearly meant they were important people at one time or another, "Is it rude why if I ask why you aren't retired, Raji-san~?" You were curious. Why were some of the Beastkin working, when otherwise it just seemed to be humans running commerce for their families that were retired here.

"Oh, no, it's not rude. I know I'm old, young lady! Haha!" He laughed again - despite his age, you had to basically run to keep up with him in the hallway you went down, "I tried the whole retirement thing. But my wife said I was driving her crazy, walking in circles until I burned holes in the floor! So I decided to keep myself active by volunteering down here. It's the same for most of us. It's boring being retired!" He came to a stop at the door, "Right, this should be where the training materials are..." He pushed open the door... or tried. It took a moment, and then you jumped in to help before it started to slide open, "Oof... this thing hasn't been opened in years... lets hope it's all still in usable shape."

Despite the timeframe since it last was opened, besides collections of cobwebs and dust the training weapons were still in good shape. Wooden swords, bows, staves, blunted spears, they had it all. "Oooh... oh. Wait. I can't use any weapons!" You said it out loud, frowning. You were a priest, not a weapon user... even if you did sort of use weapons. But those had to have blades, so wooden ones wouldn't really work.

"Yeah we can, Hita-hime!" Fluffy had been right behind you the whole way down the hall, and when you stopped she was practically on your back - but now she had already made her way into the room, grabbing a staff from the wall mount, "We have a staff proficiency!" She swung it through the air a couple times, "They probably mean magic staves, but this works too!"

You rushed into grab one too - instantly trying to pull off a cool move by attempting to twirl it through the air in front of you. Except by the third rotation you missed as you moved to switch hands and instead sent it flying up into the air, where it hit the ceiling - and then forced you to run out of the way before it came back down.

"It's always good to know how to use a weapon even if you're more of priestly type, girls." Raji had a happy smile as he looked at you two, like a grandparent watching their child play around, "Too many place all their eggs in the basket of their magic, and then... well, then they don't get to make it to live here. And I'd hope in fifty, sixty years you'll be here yourselves!" He laughed as he said that. "So feel free to take whichever of the practice weapons you think people would like back out to the training square. I'm gonna go round up a few more of us to share our experience and knowledge with you." He rubbed under his nose again as he said that, clearly happy.

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A spear for Lighting Hoof, sword and bow for Satoshi-san and Seto, staves for you and Fluffy... you weren't sure what to bring back for Dark or Kitan, so you just brought back an assortment really. All of the training weapons had the same stats - a damage range of 1-1, particularly.

"My class weapon is 'rods', apparently. None of these qualify. However, my starting rod," White light appeared in his hand as Kitan pulled it from his inventory, a small silver rod about half the size of a baseball bat, or a little larger than a magical girl wand, "also has a physical damage range of 1-1. Perhaps they will allow me to use it."

"...I... I use tomes." Dark frowned, pulling out a beaten up book from the same light that Kitan just had, "Tomes and Scrolls. I-I doubt I'll be able to block anything with these."

"Correct!" A very loud yet hoarse woman entered the room - and if you thought the other three Guards you had met looked old, this woman looked practically ancient. Her face was sunken in to the point where you could make out every bone in her body. And yet she was still moving, and still quite loud, "You'll be with me, kiddo. The important thing for us is learning how to support our spirits. Not physical training. I can help you with that."

Raji came back with an unfamiliar tiger woman, as well as Kuga, the tortoise from earlier in the day, "Which means the other three of you will be with us. We need to get a feel for your capabilities, so we know what we're working with. So to start off, you're going to show us your basics."

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You had fairly good physical stats despite your priest class, probably due to being a Tiger... but you weren't a professional fighter or anything. Most of the time when you played games it was with groups from your chat and while you wouldn't say you got carried fairly frequently, it was more just for fun than for winning. So you weren't surprised when your evaluation was less than stunning... but neither were most of the group's.

"I understand that three of you are priests but... that's no excuse. What were your parents thinking, your training is so lacking. The program I was expecting to use for you would be way too advance. Only one of you shows even close to the ability to follow it... but as a Dragon I can't okay it unless we get some more basic training into you, Seto." The tiger woman, Momo was harsh with you.

"Yes ma'am." He was panting for breath just from the demonstration. Him and Satoshi definitely had lower stats than you - when you asked them their physical stats, you were shocked to hear they had six in all three of them. That meant you had eight points of strength on them, and you weren't even a weapon class.

You weren't given the chance to say no as Raji said, "Instead, we'll be working on the most basic of basics. You will follow my instructions." He twirled his training staff in one hand, while Momo played with her claws absently, "And maybe in a week you'll be ready for Momo's."

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You had spent the whole day without even using your staff. You'd mostly exercised and been told to move your feet better while Raji aimed at you. He never really hurt any of you, but the practice was meant to show how flatfooted each of you were. Seto instead just exercised until exhaustion... and then returned as soon as he could. But at the end of the night Raji gave a nod, "Well, none of you gave up in the middle of it. So that's praiseworthy. I know my grandkids would probably have given up and gone home before lunch time." He gave a little laugh.

"I... didn't know... that was... an option..." You tried to make a joke, but you were exhausted. Literally - another pop up had appeared moments before.

Rest

As the day goes on, your rest meter will slowly decrease over time. Physical activity and strenuous tasks will decrease your rest meter more quickly than non-strenuous tasks. Your rest meter can be recovered by sleeping, and better sleeping arrangements will recover rest more quickly.

When your rest meter reaches twenty five percent of its usual capacity, you are considered tired. Your movement, attack, and casting speed is reduced by 25% when tired. When your rest meter reaches ten percent of its usual capacity, you are considered exhausted. All of these statistics are reduced by an additional 50% when exhausted.

When your rest meter reaches zero, you will fall unconscious no matter where you are, until you reach the ten percent mark.

You'd expected it after you found out eating was a thing, but sleeping was also something. And you'd spent an entire day practicing with the guards instead of doing anything to get money, food, or knowledge about what was going on.

Raji laughed at your joke regardless of its delivery, "You can always give up. But I'm very proud of all of you for making it through the day. I've already arranged for one of my servants to prepare the old barracks for you tonight, if you wish to stay here. Though it is only one room, so you will have to sleep co-ed. If that would be a problem, there are also two inns I could suggest for you to stay in, so you could have private rooms. Feel free to discuss it over your dinner together."

As he gave a short bow before leaving, another window popped up.

You have completed hidden quest 'The Guard's Basics step 1 of 10'.

Reward: +1 to strength, dexterity, and stamina.

You have began the hidden quest 'The Guard's Basics Step 2 of 10'

The guards of Asahi have taken a liking to you, and have begun training you despite - or perhaps because of - your failure to impress them with your prowess. Make them proud by attending to their lessons each day, and improve yourself.

Goal: Practice with Raji daily until he is satisfied. 0/1
Reward: ???

On quest failure: 'The Guard's Basics' cancelled.

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The food Raji's servant had provided was much tastier than the beginner meal kit of dried meats and veggies with rice that was undercooked and cold. It was fresh, first of all. The fish in it tasted real, and it tasted good - you had eaten most of it before you could even start discussing what had gone on during the day. Or the surprise quest completion at the end of it all. You were tired, and you were starving.

But Seto brought it up anyways, "Maybe we should try to convince more people to come train with the Guards. They're providing us food and beds for free just so long as we're training with them. It's hard work, but it's better than starving."

"If they can train with the guards, that is." Kitan said it with a small bit of hostility, "Don't forget that we only got the chance because Hita-chan convinced them to train us. They weren't interested in us before she stepped up.

"Well, maybe she could convince them to train everyone!" Seto replied to that hostility with a bit of his own, the two of them bumping heads already.

"Uhmmm." You butted in as you sensed the conflict, "I'm right here. I'd be happy to try and help, but I don't know if they'll be able to take everyone. There only seems to be like a dozen of them... and theres like, fifty? of us? Not including us six!" You tried to think hard about it.

"I doubt their barracks could even fit everyone." Lightning Hoof was happy to make her own two cents known, "I think we should just be happy we have this, and take advantage of it while we can."

You'd finished your food, but Fluffy was trying to feed you from her chopstick now, as the talk went on. She giggled the second you ate the bite of the fish, wiggling in her seat next to you.

"The rewards are... nice, and all." Satoshi spoke up from his own meal, which he'd devoured almost as quickly as you, "But if it's really one of ten, and we need to do ten days of this... people would be running out of food by the time we're done. We need to be out hunting, getting gold and food for them, if rescue really doesn't come for that long."

"It's not our job." Kitan was more than happy to play the bad guy in your chat, and in the game, "This is a chance Hita-chan earned for us - and who knows what tomorrow's rewards will be. I wouldn't be surprised if it got better each round of it we completed."

"Wooow, that's meaaaan Vonny-von. You're so cruel!" Fluffy taunted him from her spot - you right between them. "I'm happy to do whatever Hita-hime wants to do~ be that staying here or going to fight monsters!"

"He's right though." Lightning Hoof huffed as she said it, "They're teaching us how to fight, providing us food, providing us beds, and we're gaining stats for it. Who knows if we might lose this chance now."

"W-wait you guys gained stats?" Dark Blade spoke up from his position down at the far end of the table you were using, "I-I just got some experience points for my Call Spirit skill, and a bit of affinity for my Ashigaru. Toyo-san was really nice... b-but I want stats!" He seemed jealous... and like he wasn't that concerned over whether or not you supported everyone.

How do you want to approach the situation?

A. Agree with Kitan and Lightning Hoof - you don't want to see your friends get hurt by being unprepared. Stick with the training hidden quest.
B. Agree with Kitan and Lightning Hoof, but try to work out a compromise to keep Seto and Satoshi from potentially leaving the group. Write in your idea if you have a specific plan you think would work for this.
C. Agree with Seto and Satoshi - while the quest is nice, getting people to a more comfortable and stable position is more important.
D. Agree with Seto and Satoshi - but try to get more days of training in before you leave. You should comfortably have 7 days until people run out of food.
E. Try and convince the guards to let more players train with them, and try to convince the players to train if they say yes, to make both sides happy.