The Art of Magic

The homins learned the art of magic from the Kami (Figure 3), and this art is especially cultivated by the ZoraÔ. Nomis Merclao first teaches you offensive magic, which you'll use to attack your opponents. Your first target is the baby Yubos in the north of the camp. Click one of the little animals with the left mouse button to select it as a target. At the top of the screen, you will find an action bar with small icons for the individual actions you can perform. Choose acid damage.

Figure 3: Learn the art of magic to attack your opponents or heal yourself and other players.

The homins derive their magical ability from the sap, a liquid from the interior of Atys. In the upper left corner you will see four bars under your character's name. The green one indicates your sap supply. When you cast spells, your sap supply decreases, but it automatically replenishes over time. You start with 200 points of sap. Over time, you'll exchange your experience points for magic with the magic teacher to boost your sap points. This means that you have more sap available, and your sap supply regenerates faster.

Once you have completed a mission, your magic experience points will increase. Return to Nomis Merclao to report your success. He will send you on more missions where you learn more about magic.

At the top of the screen, you will see icons for the right hand and for the left hand. You probably still have your dagger in your right hand. Click on the right hand icon and select the magic enhancers to put on your hands. Your character now puts down the dagger and puts the magic enhancers on both hands instead. This makes your magic even more effective.

You will also learn how to compose and modify spells yourself. In addition to the acid attack, study the rooting spell to root your opponents to the ground for a short time, the decay spell to attack plants (Figure 4), and the fear spell to terrify your opponents into flight.

Figure 4: Plants are best attacked with the decay spell.

Besides offensive magic, there is also defensive magic. At top left, you will see a red line showing your life points. If you are attacked, these points are reduced. If the line reaches zero, your character dies.

Fortunately, the Kami are skilled in the art of resurrection, so in such a case your character will wake up in the Kami enclave in the northeast of the camp. However, your development will incur a penalty point, which you need to work off by earning experience points (see the "Redeeming Penalties" box).

Defensive magic helps you regenerate your own health and that of other players faster, among other things. For example, you can support a team member fighting a powerful opponent. Nomis Merclao also introduces you to team building and your role in serving others. All missions on Silan can definitely be solved alone, so team building, which you are instructed to do in individual missions, is always optional. However, many tasks are more easily completed in a group.

Combat Training

Combat is the domain of the Fyros, with Guilan Guiter as your trainer. In the beginning, you'll only have a dagger, but later on you'll be given other weapons and a shield as a reward for completing missions. Click the right hand icon in the top bar to pick up a weapon. There are one-handed and two-handed weapons. If you choose a one-handed weapon, your left hand remains free for a dagger, which increases your attack power, or for a shield, which boosts your health points and your defense.

Start by training your fighting skills during a hunt (Figure 5). Left-click on your target and choose one of the combat actions from the bar at the top of the screen. Apart from standard attacks, you can choose a precision attack, which reduces the opponent's chance to dodge, as well as an attack type with greater damage, which helps you finish off your opponent faster. Once you have chosen a target, you will see its life bar in the upper left corner. If the life bar drops to zero, your attack was successful. What you will also see there is the skill level that your opponent has in the fight. Be careful and do not attack anyone whose level is too high for your own abilities.

Figure 5: Most animals on Silan (like the Mektoub shown here) are peaceful and do not attack on their own. Few attack you without you having attacked them first.

Fighting is taxing on your hero's stamina, the level of which you can see from the purple line top left (see the box "Faster Recovery"). Over time, you'll be able to trade experience points with your combat instructor for increased stamina and faster stamina recovery.

The last mission Guilan Guiter sends you on is the fight against the bandit leader Arken (Figure 6). He hides out on a hill between the ruins and the throne room, where he is protected by his gang. Your best chances against Arken are in a team with other players. If you are facing him alone, it is best to wait until he is standing on his own at the edge of the hill. Lure him away from the others by attacking him with magic. He will pursue you while his protectors stay behind on the hill. Once you have mastered this last mission, you are given a flaming two-handed sword as a reward.

Figure 6: The final mission of your combat training is to put the bandit leader Arken out of action. He hides out on a hill between the ruins and the throne room.

Raw Materials and Crafts

The Tryker are masters at finding and mining raw materials. Milles Dodoine will introduce you to this art. One mission takes you to a resource deposit in a region teeming with Javings. These birds of prey are some of the few animals on Silan that attack you without provocation. However, if you have completed your magic training, you will know how to face these pesky birds.

The crab-like Cray on the island in Sparkling Lake, where another mission takes you, may seem scary, but they won't hurt you as long as you don't attack them. You can exchange the raw materials you collected for Dappers, the currency on Atys, with the raw material traders in the Tryker camp (Figure 7). You can then spend the money you earned on whatever you need from other merchants. You can also keep the raw materials and refine them.

Figure 7: Silan is rich in raw materials.

The most skilled craftspersons on Atys are the Matis. Sterga Hamla will instruct you in this art, but you will have to flatter him terribly in the dialogs before he decides to pass on his skills to you. You can either collect the materials for your crafts yourself or buy them from the raw materials trader in the Tryker warehouse (Figure 8). Once you have sufficient crafting skills, you can create your own armor to boost your health points and give you better protection against attacks. To find out which materials you need for which craft product, click the book icon with the description Craft Recipe Book in the bar at the bottom of the screen.

Figure 8: You can collect materials for your crafts from raw material sources by hunting animals and gathering plants. Alternatively, you can buy whatever you need from the traders in the Tryker camp.