The Daughters of Eros or as it was formally called, Erothyria Adventures, was unlike other MMORPG games or even VRMMORPG where the character got sucked in with other real players.
The game was a simple one-person adventure with a single story that they would choose how to complete. The story was that of the only son of Eros who was born into the royal family as an anomaly.
All his siblings and step siblings were daughters and he was the only son amongst all of them.
It was structured like a normal fantasy story. In fact it was Whitlock’s initial plan to write it as a story. But in order to give the readers a chance on how to accomplish the objectives of the only Son, he developed it into a game.
In the game, the player is born into the Starlight Region and he chooses a name for himself. Dagwood had given himself the name Aeric and that was what Guinevere had named him after birth.
Everyone in the game was called a Player, some were Awakened and others were Dormant. Awakened were the people who had a Divine Core, the space in their soul where Divine Energy could be stored.
This Divine Core awakens at one’s eighteen birthday, after their Coming of Age ritual when they break their virginity on that same day. If one loses their virginity before or after their eighteenth birthday, they will not awaken a Divine Core ever and will remain Dormant.
Of course performing the Coming of Age ritual doesn’t instantly mean one becomes Awakened. It’s still a matter of Divinity Affinity. If one has an affinity for the Divinity, then their chances of awakening after the ritual was pretty high.
However, even if one has the highest affinity for Divinity ever recorded in history, they would still remain Dormant if they failed to perform their Coming of Age ritual on their eighteenth birthday, or if they were too sex-crazed not to keep their legs closed until then.
Naturally, the people of Erothyria did not know that they were in a game. They believed themselves to be true living beings of a real world, just like the people of Earth do. Who knows? Earthlings could also be a game being played by a supreme being, or just one big simulation.
Just like Erothyria.
When one awakens their Divine Core, their Region is first indicated. Regions acted as Bloodlines, which meant that their powers or classes will originate from their different Regions.
After the Region has been determined, the Player then chooses a Class.
Classes are determined based on Regions such as the Elementalist Class for Starlight Region, the Illusionist Class for Moonlight Region, the Solar Knight Class for Sunlight Region, and the Druid Class for the Elysium Plains Region.
In the normal structure of the magic system, a Player would select a Class and then attain a Main Skill that comes with the selected Class. However, Aeric had entered the game world with his own personalized system, the Celestial Depravity System which had overriden the main magic system and granted him a special class, the God Tyrant Class.
With the God Tyrant Class, Aeric gained his Main Skill, [Claim]. Although not seeming like much at first compared to Mother Guinevere’s [Bend] which let her bend elements, or Mother Aurora’s [Illuminate] which let her control light, [Claim] was a very functional Main Skill.
In fact, as Aeric came to realize, it was an overpowered Skill!
When one gets their Main Skill they unlock their Skill Tree which starts from the Main Skill and branches out to other Skills called Sub Skills.
Sub Skills are the simpler abilities the Player can use that roots from their overarching Main Skill and Divinity.
Sub Skills can be unlocked using Skill Points which can be gotten alongside Experience Points from completing Divine Quests, killing beasts and other Players and exploring Divine Dungeons.
However, with Aeric’s Main Skill being the [Claim] Skill, he didn’t need to gather Skill Points to unlock Sub Skills. All he had to do was [Claim] the Main Skills of others and make them his Sub Skills.
Aeric realized this with a stroke of surprise and disbelief, he was truly in a game now and this was what he had to do to survive.
He could [Claim] others Main Skills as his Sub Skills!
This realization was only towered and trifled over by the dead woman lying on the floor before him, and the interface floating in front of him.
[You have killed Erimyra of Moonlight, Gold Ranked Player]
[You have received 100xp]
[You have received 30sp]
‘Gold Ranked Player,’ he panicked in his mind, now understanding what that meant. ‘I killed a Gold Ranked Player.’
There was a difference between Ranks and Levels, and there were also tiers.
Ranks were the hierarchy between Players, measured by their success and accomplishment as a Player.
They were from Bronze, Aeric’s rank which was early-game level where the character is still learning, Silver, Gold, Platinum and finally Diamond which was the rank for top-tier Players who are literally unbeatable with god-like mastery.
For Levels, it was the hierarchy as an Awakened, each named after a phase of growth in Erothyria, testifying to the Awakened’s level of power, not necessarily experience.
From Initiate to Adept, Master, Grandmaster, and Ascendant. Each Level has 10 Tiers, Players must gain Experience Points (XP) from quests, battles, and other game events to increase in Tiers and level up.
[Use XP gained to progress through Tiers?]
Aeric, still in shock, blinked. “Huh?”
‘It’s asking if I would want to use the XP I gained to progress through my Tiers. If I finish all ten Tiers of my Initiate Level I could become an Adept.’
In a surprising moment to any onlooker, Aeric sat down on the floor calmly, as though Erimyra’s dead body was not just in front of him.
‘Let me see.’ He scrolled through his progression interface. ‘Hmm. 20xp for one Tier, which means if I use all 100xp I would be in Tier 5, halfway to Adept.’
He thought of it for a moment and went to his Skill Tree. There, Erimyra’s [Insight] Skill which he had claimed hung by one of the branches as a Sub Skill.
‘I could purchase some Skill Points with the XP and unlock another Skill.’ He placed his finger on his jaw. ‘But why do that when I can just Claim the Main Skills of others and use them as my Sub Skills?’
He returned to his progression interface. ‘For now, I think it’s smart to spend the XP on my Tiers progression.’
[Use XP gained to progress through Tiers?]
Aeric chose [Yes].
[Tier 1 Complete]
[Tier 2 Complete]
[Tier 3 Complete]
[Tier 4 Complete]
[Tier 5 Complete]
[Congratulations! You are halfway to becoming Adept!]