Chapter 6: Ascent

The Mountain of Yune wasn't the tallest mountain on the continent. It wasn't even the tallest in the kingdom. It was, however, the coldest. Yune was on the northern edge of the Todos kingdom. The kingdom itself was located in the far north of the continent. The temperature could easily drop below freezing every day.

Therefore, Thadius was very fortunate that he had made his hike during the spring instead of fall or winter. Not only would it be below freezing around the clock, the snow would make it nearly impossible to travel. In Yune, once the snow set in on the mountain, no one would go up. Anyone trapped on the mountain after the first snowfall was considered dead.

[+1 Strength

+1 Stamina]

Thadius had gotten a few of those messages as he jogged up the mountain. After the first few minutes of his relentless climb, his stamina had fallen dangerously low. He hadn't experienced any fatigue, but he had a feeling that completely depleting his stamina wouldn't be a good thing. With that in mind, he would slow down to a determined walk or sit down for an hour to recharge before picking up the pace again, but he wouldn't wait until it was full.

In fact, his stamina hadn't been full since he left Tony's house. With every message, he could go a little longer before he needed to rest, and the hiking became easier. So he took in the scenery along the way.

The forest all around the trail was alive with wild life. It clear that regular animals weren't counted as monsters. Yet, no matter how far he went, he didn't see a single predator. Were carnivores counted in the monster category?

While lost in thought, he received this message.

[A mysterious pressure is being exerted. Stamina consumption will be increased by 10%.]

Just when he had settled into a rhythm, this sort of message pops up. Thadius sighed in exasperation. 'I can only keep going.'

Thadius reached the end of the trail after about 15 hours. If that mysterious pressure hadn't hindered his progress, he might have made it sooner, but Thadius wasn't to type to dwell on it.

[You've reached the end of the Yune mountain trail. Beyond this point, the air thins gradually. Stamina consumption will be increased by 2.5%. The penalty increases in correlation with altitude.]

Thadius sighed again. It was bad enough that some mysterious pressure was making it harder to progress, but now the air he breathed was working against him.

He was thankful that this was a game. Going at the pace he was with only a few short breaks, would have been extremely taxing in real life. If at all possible.

'Those stat gains really helped out.' he thought as he chewed on another piece of jerky.

[DEER JERKY

A quick snack for a weary traveler

For the next 3 hours:

+15% stamina regeneration]

While thanking a certain old man, he pressed on. But he hadn't gone far before his troubles increased.

[A mysterious pressure is being exerted. You are getting closer to the source. Stamina consumption will be increased to 15%. ]

'There shouldn't be any monsters, but has anyone actually checked beyond the trail? They wouldn't claim it was true without checking the entire mountain, right?'

A seed of doubt had been placed in Thadius' mind. As a level 1 player, an encounter with anything that could survive on the mountain would be hazardous at best. He wanted to get to the peak, but he now had to consider whether or not it was worth dying for.

Thadius looked back the way he came, then he looked toward the misty peak.

'I've already come this far, and I am a little curious about where this pressure is coming from.'

He set off again at a moderate pace. He couldn't jog with all the penalties working against him, so instead of trying focusing on speed, his new goal was to simply keep moving. With the evening sun on the horizon, he knew the cold would assault him as soon as he let his body cool.

Fatigue finally set in after several grueling hours. His stamina was still in the green, but it was mental fatigue that plagued him.

-Hey, Brandon. The doc has been nagging me about getting you out of there for some grub. Just say 'logout'

"Logout."

There was a bright flash as he was taken back to reality. The lack of feeling below his neck was an immediate reminder of his harsh reality.

"So, how was it?" Curtis greeted him with a smile as he took off the Dark Chariot. He had been watching the playback footage, but he wanted to hear about it from Brandon.

"If felt good. I never thought I'd get another chance to walk or run. Thanks, Curt." Brandon said with a satisfied smile.

Curtis shook his head and patted his head. "Don't thank me. All I did was make a suggestion. It was better than having you watch T.V. all day in my opinion."

"Definitely better than T.V." Brandon quickly agreed.

"And now that you've experienced it for yourself, do you have any questions?"

Brandon had plenty of questions, but the rumble of his stomach interrupted his train of thought.

"Ah, that's right. Let's talk while you eat." Curtis brought over the tray that had a hearty looking meal on it. Thadius was ravenous after Chaos Online had awakened his long-lost appetite.

During the meal, the two conversed between every spoonful. Though Curtis did most of the talking, Brandon was surprised by how little he knew about the game.

"So all I have to say is 'status' and I can see my progress?" he asked.

"Yeah. It shows you everything, from your class skills to stats." Curtis nodded.

"And how do I get a class?"

"Depends. I'm a Squire right now, which is categorized as a pre-class. I got it by volunteering.

If I fulfill the requirements, then I'll become a Knight. At least I hope so, the guy I'm serving is an asshole." Curtis sneered as he mentioned his in-game lord.

One of the main selling points of Chaos Online was its class system. In most games, once you pick a class, it's disadvantageous to switch. Sonsoft went the extra mile and developed what they call the 'Lawless' class system. While the game supports a full roster of beginner, hidden, rare, and unique classes. The Lawless class system introduces hybrid classes for even greater chaos.

Hybrid classes are exactly as they were advertised. They're classes that are born from a specific combination of classes and abilities. A Mage that has learned a specific number of spells and switches over to a Soldier has the possibility of unlocking the Spellsword hybrid class. Most people would think that a Spellsword wouldn't be able to cast spells like Mage or fight as well as a Soldier. With the Lawless system, that way of thinking is incorrect. A Spellsword is both a Mage and a Soldier while also being able to learn all the abilities of both classes. The Spellsword also has the benefits of said classes.

Unfortunately, the requirements for getting a hybrid class are hidden, and the skills from classes outside the formula, cannot be used. Most importantly, once a hybrid class is chosen, the player can no longer switch classes. So if the Spellsword also learned Healing from the Priest class, the skill can no longer be used since the Priest class was not included in the pre-requisite classes for unlocking it.

"But wouldn't that just cause people to get a bunch of classes and level up the skills?" Thadius asked after Curtis had finished his explanation.

"No. Unless it's a hybrid class, using skills from different classes won't be as effective. You can still use them, but you won't have the benefits from the class, and the skills will level up slower than normal."

"But a knight throwing fireballs is still dangerous..."

"But a Spellsword throwing fireball is deadly." Curtis countered.

"So hybrids are better?"

"Of course, but they're hard to get since you'll never know the requirements. Not only that, if you plan on getting a super hybrid, you'll be spending most of your time playing other classes anyway."

"Super hybrid?" Brandon frowned. The number of new terms he just learned was beginning to overwhelm him.

"It's just a term people came up with for hybrids that have advanced or rare classes a pre-requisites."

"You can combine any class!?"

"No. Unique and pre-classes like the Squire will never be pre-requisite classes for hybrids. That has already been confirmed."

"But the rare and advanced classes can?"

"Beginner classes too. I just told you I'm a Squire right? Knight is the next level, so it's an advanced class. If I switch to a Mage and advanced to a Black Mage, I could probably get the Dark Knight hybrid class." Curtis explained with a thoughtful expression.

"Nice."

"Right? But I have no idea if the class even exists. I'd basically be playing by faith alone. So even if hybrids are powerful, getting them is a pain in the ass. And if you jump the gun and get one early, you might miss out on a better one or cut yourself off from classes and skills you've already learned."

"So it's basically an investment." Thadius thought out loud.

"A blind investment." Curtis nodded in agreement.

"With enough time though, it really will be Chaos Online..."

Curtis laughed. "That's what I said!"

They had talked for about an hour after they had eaten. Brandon was excited about the possibilities and was anxious to get back in the game.

"Set me up. I'm going back in."