Origin ARS 5 (2 page)

“Damn, must be hell on solo players.” said
Scott.

“Absolutely! Though, in more populated areas
and common battlegrounds there are healers who specialize in
finding and reviving corpses. So, it’s likely you won’t be forced
to restart at level one. That counts as a reincarnation by the
way.”

“Wait, it does? Isn’t it limited to three
here?” asked Scott.

Mid nodded. “Yes. So, if you are killed and
forced to restart three times your character will be deleted. In
the case of players that means that they have to create a new
avatar.”

“What about me?” asked Scott.

Mid looked to the soul mirror. “Scott, I
highly suggest you don’t run out of reincarnations for now.”

“Are you…. If I have to restart more than
three times I’ll die for real?” he asked.

“Yes. You aren’t actually a player. You’re
considered something like an ascended local. They die and aren’t
resurrected in time, they stay dead. They can reincarnate three
times, but they aren’t protected by the restart system in case of
death.”

She looked him in the eyes. “You die and
aren’t resurrected, you restart. You’re limited to three restarts,
though. You don’t have an existence outside of yourself, like a
player does.”

“Probably best not to reincarnate at all
then…” said Scott.

“For now, that’s best. Also, your class is
set, but you can still choose a new race. You might want to
consider a long-lived one even if leveling is slower.” said
Mid.

“Is there no way to get more reincarnations?”
he asked, nervous about the possibilities.

“Well, not easily. If you do enough work for
one of the religious organizations, you can occasionally end up on
quests that allow you to acquire to request a boon or a divine
favor. You can save those favors up over time and trade them in for
things like an extended life span, auto-resurrection, or even an
extra reincarnation.”

“I assume I would have to do a lot of quests
for a religious organization for either of those favors?”

“Yes. There is no doubt about that, though
you at least have an easy in when it comes to that.”

“The whole champion of Origin thing?” he
asked curiously.

Mid chuckled. “Why yes, exactly. My dear
sister cannot show you any special favoritism of an official
capacity beyond the little things that she has done, but she can
certainly reward you appropriately for completing quests in her
name. Even the board cannot complain about that.”

Scott nodded to her. “How likely are they to
come after me?”

“At the moment they can’t really. You’re
blocked from being searched out through divine magic and several
other means as you originated from outside the system. They have no
reason to bother you for the moment even if they could search you
out, though.”

“I’m not sure that I’ve heard Rhea mention
that.”

“Yeah, the only one who can really check your
files in the system is Origin, though I suppose our father could
order them pulled for his perusal.”

“So, they wouldn’t be able to find out where
I am?” he asked.

“Well, now. It doesn’t keep people from
simply following you around physically, or tracking your movements
through something like survival lore. They could also just look at
Origin’s work station without her realizing it, like that silly
girl Shara did.”

“Shara did that?”

“It’s how she found you originally. Clever
girl.” said Mid with a chuckle.

Mention of Shara caused him to think about
the sweet, but slightly crazy, youngest sister of the family. They
had not heard from her since they entered hardcore training mode in
preparation for leaving the casual server. He hoped that she was
doing well with her community service project.

His thoughts turned back to the task at hand
after a moment. “How do I choose a race?”

“Look into this mirror, it has a unique
function for class and race resets. That function only exists here
since this field is outside of the same time-space as ARS
proper.”

Scott looked at the mirror and several
options appeared on it. It took a moment to realize what he was
looking at, but the interface was simple enough that he did not
take long to get an idea of what needed to happen. “Will I have the
same appearance on Earth as here?”

“Yes. Keep that in mind when you choose.”
said Mid.

“Oh! What about on Earth? Am I restricted to
three reincarnations there too?”

“No, dear childe. That is a separate system.
It was lightly recoded on your behalf. Die as much as you like
there.”

Scott grinned at her. “I’ll keep that in
mind.”

He looked at the mirror again then sifted
through the various options. There were hundreds of race options,
but most of them were not compatible with a human appearance or
life on Earth. He dropped the number of options to sixty-seven by
removing anything that did not have a humanoid appearance. That
number was cut further by focusing on races that could pass as
human in public.

Of the remaining races, Scott removed
anything that had an actual limit to its lifespan. All that was
left for him to choose from were races such as elves, certain
undead like vampires, demons, and one race that caught his
attention due to its divergence from the fantasy norm.

Scott looked the racial choice over for a
moment then grinned. “This could work!”

“I don’t blame you. It’s a post-reincarnation
only race as well, so you would not have been able to choose it on
the casual server when you first arrived.”

“I think it would work out well for me as a
sorcerer as well. It adds bonuses to health and mana growth.”

“Most reincarnation races do. Still, you’re
right that it would help a great deal. That race is specifically
tied to magic wielders of the sorcerer, paladin, and summoner class
lines.” said Mid.

Scott made his choice then felt a strange
shimmering sensation flow through his body. When it stopped he was
registered as his new race. He was a Lunarii, a race of ascended
humans who had developed an affinity for starlight and could use it
to manifest unique racial abilities. All of his physical changes
were internal as it was something like a second-tier human race
upgrade.

He checked his status in the mirror.

[Status]

Scott Jacobs

Race:
Lunarii |
Class:
Twilight
Master

Age:
18 |
Max Lifespan:
Ageless

Level:
1 |
Title:
The
Reborn

Attack:
140 |
Defense:
140

Strength:
100 |
Agility:
100 |
Vitality:
100

Intellect:
100 |
Charisma:
100|
Attunement:
100

[—]

[Racial Abilities]

Health and Mana regenerates four times faster
when under the light of the sun or the moon.

Improved Health Growth

Improved Mana Growth

Racial Power:
Celestial Attunement
(Sorcerer Only)

Racial Power:
Starburst Sword (Paladin
Only)

Racial Power:
Summon Nova Beast
(Summoner Only)

Ageless

Experience Requirements are Four Times Higher
than a Standard Human

[—]

[Class Abilities]

Improved Unarmed Combat Development

Improved Magical Development

Unarmed Combat Attack Power Base is Equal to
140% of the Strength Stat

Unarmed Combat Defense Power Base is Equal to
140% of the Agility Stat

Twilight Sorcery Development

Innate Synchronization

[—]

“That looks fairly badass for level one.”
said Scott.

Mid chuckled softly then gestured with her
staff. “You are definitely better off than the first time that you
stepped out of this field.”

“What are those racial abilities that I’m
seeing?” he asked. He had primarily chosen his new race for the
fact that he would be able to regenerate his health rapidly instead
of waiting solely for his enhanced vitality to heal his wounds.

“Well, yours allows you to attune to the
energies that celestial bodies radiate. Basically, it works the
same as your other elemental abilities except that celestial energy
overshadows the four basic elements.”

“Overshadows?” asked Scott.

“Only celestial energy resists celestial
energy. It’s something only reincarnated individuals with advanced
classes or races can use.” said Mid.

“Are you saying that it negates all
defenses?”

“No, there are defenses against it. You can
develop celestial resistance, or avoid being hit by a celestial
attack. Otherwise, you have to weather the damage inflicted.”

“Sounds awesome, but wouldn’t a lot of people
try to develop resistance?”

“Most can’t due to race and class
restrictions. They tend to use items that add such resistances,
though those are rare.”

Scott thought that it still sounded a bit
broken. Even in a generally imbalanced system like ARS had been on
the casual server, there had to be a balance. “What’s the catch?
Why wouldn’t everyone just play as a character with celestial
abilities?”

“Well, for one thing you can easily kill
yourself. Celestial attunement abilities drain mana and health
simultaneously at a far more rapid rate than elemental abilities.
Even a basic aura generation will drain you at first.”

“Well that makes sense. What do those other
racial powers do? You know, the starburst sword and the nova
beast?”

Mid smiled at him. “So curious. Well, the
sword is a manifestation of celestial energy that a paladin can
wield, a real sword of light. It works exactly the same as your
ability except that it is manifested in a single way, and provides
both perks and penalties to friend and foe.”

“I can see why a paladin would want that! A
sword made of magic that can ignore elemental defenses would be
hell to deal with on a battlefield.”

“Yes, but don’t forget that it bolsters the
abilities of friends and weakens opponents at the same time. At
higher attunement levels it can even occasionally produce an effect
that instantly kills an undead opponent regardless of level or
defenses.”

“Are all second-tier races like this? The
overpowered abilities?” asked Scott.

“Yes, for the most part. Those locked races
were unlocked for you due to your champion status, as well.”

“So, favoritism leads the charge.” said Scott
evenly. Whatever he could do to get a little help in defeating the
Lords of Destruction, he would take. Though it did seem strange to
get such treatment when Rhea had implicitly stated that too much of
that type of behavior would be construed as cheating. It would
result in forfeiting to the board members before the entire ordeal
even began.

“Usually a player or a local has to undertake
a quest to unlock the races they are interested in prior to
reincarnation.” She touched her nose with the tip of her finger.
“You’re technically considered something along the lines of
in-world system support so it was allowable. That’s not favoritism,
that’s just the way the system works.”

Scott started to make a snarky come back
about that, but stopped mid-sentence. If it was legit, he should
just accept it. He was not a normal player anyway. If he died
because he refused to accept whatever help he could get, he would
be an idiot.

Mid took a breath then pointed the head of
her staff toward him. “I know that seems like favoritism to you
anyway, but look at it from the perspective of someone who has to
do tech support.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Do you think every single new avatar made to
manage the system’s upkeep should have to level manually to level
one hundred and go on multiple quests just to do the job of system
maintenance?”

“Well, no…” said Scott.

“Exactly. Despite what you are starting out
with, you are not a game breaker by any stretch of the imagination.
Besides that, there are still locked races for you to discover. The
ones you can choose here are simply those that are easy to unlock.”
She poked her staff toward him again in order to emphasize her next
point. “If anything, you are fairly weak for someone who just
reincarnated because you are forced to deal with the limitations of
transferring from the casual server.”

Scott smiled at her. “I should work on
that.”

Mid tapped the brim of her hat then pointed
her finger forward. “Sounds about right.”

A moment of confusion arose. Scott had a
general idea about the process of skill creation, but he did not
know the actual process. His look of confusion caused Mid to roll
her eyes gently then gesture at him with her staff. “Just think
clearly about all of the skills and spells that you had when you
were on the old server. They all still exist in memory. Use those
memories to create unique new abilities as your starting skills.
You can also use the mirror to select miscellaneous skills not
related to your class.”

“Miscellaneous skills, I can have up to four
right?”

Mid nodded. “That’s true.”

Scott moved back over to the salvation mirror
and looked for an option that mentioned skills. “Is it true that I
can only increase the number of miscellaneous skills when I
reincarnate?”

“Yes, but they can be activated or
deactivated at any time, unlike class skills. Those are permanently
added.”

“Oh, so it’s four interchangeable skills that
I can use at any time?”

Mid nodded. It was a fairly simple concept.
“You have to use a salvation mirror to change skills. Otherwise,
that’s the way it works.”

“How does that work, though? If I change
skills do I just forget how to do something?” Scott was used to his
brain being toyed with by now, but he wanted to keep his memories
intact at least.