Paladin went silent for a moment, and his brow creased as he thought on the question. The moment passed, and the White Mage looked to the rest of the party, saying, "In some ways, it was instinctual." Pausing, Paladin took out his staff and looked at it. "But in other ways, it was like using skills any other time."
Charlie furrowed his own brow, "That's not all that helpful."
Paladin looked up, seemingly embarrassed, "I know. It's just difficult for me to describe. Like, I saw everyone and I knew the first thing I had to do was cast Protect. I just, kind of went for the skill on my hotbar like I normally would, but in my mind. I knew what animation to expect so…."
"The magic did the rest."
"Yes."
Well, that was somewhat troubling. Assuming the world now functioned as Paladin explained, the players were required to know two pieces of information if they wanted to use their skills. First, they had to know where the skill was on their hotbar prior to being flung into this nightmare; secondly, they had to know the animation. Both conditions required a level of instinctual knowledge that newbie players wouldn't have. Especially with any new abilities they would learn as they levelled - provided they were here long enough to level, and Charlie hoped they wouldn't be.
"Well, that's not any more helpful," Charlie muttered. Frustration and despair welled up within the Warrior, but he fought them back as best he could. He then turned to the newbies, Sun and Hahasay, and wondered what he might be able to do for them. Monk as one of the few classes he hadn't levelled, and dragoon wasn't much better off. Charlie had only recently gotten it to level thirty - the level where players unlock the job stone to finally become a dragoon.
I don't even know what abilities they might have. Damn.
"Roy...?" It was Sun. Something in Charlie's face must have worried her, because she looked a little pale again.
Charlie forced his face to relax and smiled again. "Everything's alright," He reassured. Then, hopeful, he asked, "Sun, Hahasay, how well do the two of you know your classes?"
The two newbies looked back at one another.
Hahasay spoke first, "Like we said earlier, we're pretty new to the game."
"We levelled up as much as we did because we figured this would be like any other RPG," Sun chimed in. "We figured: the higher our level, the less trouble we'd have with enemies."
"If only," Charlie replied with a chuckle.
"What do you mean?"
Paladin stepped in, "In the open world you'll find yourself handling enemies easily. However, dungeons have a level sync that force you to be at a certain level if you're too high. As you reach the level cap, you find your gear gets sync'd instead."
Sun looked as though Paladin's explanation hadn't helped. Sighing, Charlie clarified further, "Outside of a this dungeon, Paladin and I might be level sixty - the current level cap, or highest level a player can achieve. But here, in this dungeon normally, we're maxed out at only level nineteen. Our gear levels also drop. If they didn't you'd have players in low-level dungeons running around with powerful end-game equipment."
"And that'd be overpowered," Hahasay said. "Okay, I didn't realize our gear could be locked like that."
"It's not unheard of in MMOs," Charlie continued. "If developers didn't take measures like this, you could get players who dread doing older content because it's not a challenge, or they just do something silly like pull the whole dungeon's worth of enemies. Then you have newer players who can't get the help they need, or don't get to experience the dungeons as they're supposed to be. Furthermore, by forcing players to deal with the content as a challenge, even a nuisance-like challenge, it also provides them with the opportunity to teach new players like yourselves."
"Is it really all that important though?" Hahasay asked and folded his arms across his chest. "Would it really be all that bad just to drag new players through old dungeons like this?"
Charlie replied with a smile, "If you're trying to build a positive atmosphere, and a community that's willing to help one another, I think so." His smile faded, then, and his voice became serious again, "What do you remember about your classes? This is important so think hard."
Sun looked down at her palms for a moment, flexing her fingers and balling her hand into a fist. Hesitating at first, she said, "I… um… well I know I'm something like a martial artist. A Pugilist? I punch and kick things?"
"And I'm a Lancer," Hahasay followed. He took his spear off his back and looked at it. "I stick the pointy end into enemies."
Well, they're not wrong, Charlie thought dryly. "But you guys remember your abilities well enough, yeah? You were grinding to level twenty so you used them a lot."
"Sure," Hahasay replied with a nonchalant shrug. "I just spam 'Impulse Drive' right?"
"What?"
"...No?"
Charlie sighed. Impulse Drive was an attack that got stronger if the lancer attacked the enemy from the rear. It was a single attack, and to a new player the high potency - the measure of how strong an attack could be - made it appealing to just use repeatedly. Especially considering how much it cost to use at a glance.
Melee fighters, like damage dealing classes such as Pugilists and Lancers (and their respective jobs of Monk and Dragoon) paid to use abilities with what was referred to as "Tactical Points" or more commonly TP. In much the same way that magic users such as Conjurer or Thaumaturge (and their respective jobs of White Mage and Black Mage) used Magic Points, or MP, to pay for their spells, TP was a resource that players had to constantly watch or else they couldn't use abilities.
And being unable to use your abilities was often a death sentence. Raw damage from a player's weapon was never enough to take down an enemy who out matched you, and it's only with the help of abilities and weapon skills that players could be such powerhouses within the game's world.
But Hahasay was missing out on damage, and actually wasting TP by spamming Impulse Drive. "Look, you should have had an ability called 'Heavy Thrust' and at least one other 'Thrust' ability as well. Impulse Drive isn't bad, but right now you should be using the others. Impulse Drive will be more useful to you when you get higher and can do 'Disembowel' but for right now just forget it."
"Oh… okay." Hahasay sounded a little disappointed, but nodded his understanding all the same.
"What about me…?" Sun's squeaky-nervous voice drew Charlie's attention, and his stomach dropped. How was he supposed to help her when he hadn't even levelled the class?
Thankfully, Paladin swooped in to save them, "Your primary focus should be getting through your stances to keep your buff 'Greased Lightning' going for as long as possible. Though, unlike Hahasay you need to worry more about where you stand."
"How do you mean?"
"Currently, Hahasay only needs to worry about delivering his Heavy Thrust ability from the sides. All other abilities he has can be used from the rear of an enemy where their defense is lower."
"Oh! Right, and I've got abilities that require both the side and the rear, don't they?"
"That's right." For a moment, Sun looked not only reassured, but happy. As though she'd forgotten their situation for the briefest second. It warmed Charlie's heart to see a newbie being so involved in the game, but then her smile started to fade, and so too did the warmth Charlie felt. "But… I don't remember what abilities did what."
Stepping forward, Paladin rested a hand on Sun's shoulder and gave the closest thing to a reassuring smile that a male au'ra face could manage. "Sadly, neither do I. However, should Roy and Hahasay do their part faithfully, as should I, then you should have ample room to figure it out as we go along. But we cannot remain here."
With that, Paladin looked up at Charlie and in return the Warrior nodded a silent understanding that passed between them.
It was time to take on the first mob of enemies.
Charlie turned to face the hallway before the party and swallowed back a lump in his throat. Down the snaking hallway, barely visible from where they all stood, two enemies stood waiting.
I guess we can assume that the NPCs act more or less to their original programming, he thought. For Charlie, at least, this was reassuring since it meant they wouldn't have to worry about strange roaming enemies that could make battles much worse. Still… he worried that things weren't all as they appeared. Only way we'll know is if we go. I need to set the pace.
Inhaling deeply, Charlie reached back behind himself and closed his hands around the sturdy handle of his axe. Though it carried the blood-splattered appearance of the fabled weapon Bravura, it was something else entirely. And if not for the level sync mechanics that likely limited his abilities now, Charlie could rip through every enemy in the dungeon effortlessly.
There was a strange feeling of familiarity when the axe was resting in both of his hands. As though he knew it better than a childhood friend, or had carried it with him through countless struggles.
And in a way, he had.
Just one more challenge to face, Bravura.
With that, Charlie lumbered forward, his heavy armor announcing his presence to the whole dungeon. And to any thing that couldn't hear the heavy clank of his armor, when the two enemy lancers were near enough, Charlie let out an inhuman roar.
He let instinct take over, shifting his hands on the handle of his axe as he hefted it high over his head and felt a surge of something roll through him and into his weapon.
Charlie didn't think about it. He didn't spare a moment to follow the train of thoughts and speculations that branched out from one another like forks of lightning. Instead, his mind began filing away details.
The swirl of colors that danced under his feet.
The small wave of exhaustion that followed after the surge of power found its way into his axe.
The hum of his axe in his hands as he brought it down, swinging as hard as he could, envisioning a wave of energy slicing through the air and rushing straight towards his enemy.
Power left him, and the force of that power bursting from the blade of his axe carried him off the ground for a second before he was back down and charging forward.
Something else rose up in Charlie at that moment. Something he'd never felt in his whole life. It was an alien sensation, one that he only recognized because it came from some primal part of his brain.
Thrill.
He was wading into battle for the first time… and he was excited.
Not scared, like he knew he should be.
He was smiling.
And in the back of his mind, the part filing away careful notes for later review, a cold shiver worked its way into there. The shiver was familiar. Not quite as primal as the thrill he felt, but he would recognize it all the same.
Fear.
Fear of the unknown.
Fear that something was not right.
But not a fear of death.
