Origin A.R.S. (4 page)

“Probably?”

“You won’t know till you do it.”

“Alright, I’ll do it. Money is still money, anyway.”

“That’s the spirit!”

Scott quickly set about gather up red violet steps. His first few times were mistakes and he gathered petals instead. However, he tried to pull the flower up from near the ground and he ended up receiving petals and a stem. It took a bit longer for him to gather the stems, and he ended up having to drop the petals from his inventory when Mid declared that she had enough of those for now.

Roughly an hour passed before he had enough stems. He took them back to the old sage and passed them along. He noted that the money entered his account automatically. He now had sixteen Fayth.

“Good job! It’s nice to see such a hardworking youngster. Are you ready to learn something useful?”

“Oh yes.” Scott was more than interested in learning anything right now.

Mid chuckled at him then called up her inventory screen. A small ring appeared in her hand. “This is a Survival Lore ring. It’s a ring with a lore crystal as the gem stone. A lore crystal is an item that will allow you to learn new skills.”

She presented the ring to Scott and he accepted it gladly. “Thank you.”

“If you equip that ring while fighting monsters it will absorb all of the earned experience. When enough experience has been absorbed, the ring will grant you the Survival skill-Set. Once you have that skill you can choose survival abilities from your tree of skills.”

Scott looked at the ring. This was a lore crystal, the skill customization item that the game information had mentioned? He had thought that it would take quite a while to get one.

“When you first learn the skill, you’ll be granted one new ability automatically. That ability is known as Forage. You’ll be able to detect things such as hidden items, edible plants, and other things. The information you can acquire through foraging is rather basic, but you can at least tell the difference between food and poison.”

Scott smiled brightly at the older woman. “Thank you! That does sound useful!”

Mid Chuckled. “It’s one of the most basic abilities, and one that many new arrivals do not learn until after they have died a few times. You took the time to humor me with my simple requests, and seem quite bright.”

Scott looked down at the ring then smiled. “This thing works automatically while I am wearing it?”

“Yes. If you remove it from your finger, you will acquire experience normally. Once you fill the Lore Crystal with experience, it will grant you the skill embedded within it, and it will fall apart. Only the first person who starts to learn the skill while using the crystal can equip it. You won’t be able to wear the crystal otherwise.”

“So, if I find a crystal in a chest or someone drops one after we fight, I can’t use it?”

“Yes and no. If it’s something you acquire after defeating an opponent or you find it in a chest in a dungeon you can probably wear it. If you pick someone’s pocket or rob their house, it probably will be keyed to them and you can’t use it.”

“Why won’t loot drops or crystals found in dungeons be keyed to someone?”

“Loot drops? What a strange term...”

“Ah, things an opponent drops when I beat them.”

“Ah, yes. If the crystal goes for a few years without being charged with experience it may become inert. If that happens, someone else can use it. Also, if you kill the one keyed to the crystal, you can bond with it.”

Scott was both thrilled and disturbed by that last fact. “Do people go around murdering each other for rare crystals?”

Mid laughed loudly. “Yes, they certainly do! Childe, if you find a rare and powerful crystal do yourself a favor. Tell no one. Learn its secret as soon as possible or you’ll find a knife in your back. Worse, if they know that you are a Champion of Origin and they don’t get the crystal on the first try, they may camp out where you are likely to revive and repeatedly murder you until the item drops.”

“That sounds like a living hell. What happens to me when I die, anyway? I want to avoid it if possible, but I do want to know.”

“When you die, you lose a level, half your Fayth, and suffer a small temporary status reduction. That is no great loss early on. However, once it takes you weeks to gain a level, losing dozens of them while being repeatedly murdered and robbed can be quite a terrible thing. Worse, if you die more than once in twenty-four hours the status loss for the previous death becomes permanent.”

Scott decided to take that message to heart. He had no idea how long he would live in this world, or what this new life would include. He was incredibly excited, but he knew that he had to be careful. He would try to avoid telling people about his status as a man from another world, if he could help it.

Mid and the Noob sorcerer continued to discuss many things for a while. Eventually he had learned everything that she was willing to share and it was time to go. She did grant Scott one parting it of advice. “Everything in this world wants to grow stronger. Even the smallest of creatures will murder you if given the opportunity. Remember that.”

Scott nodded to her. He would have to consider everything to be a deadly menace for a while. He headed off into the great unknown, his heart full of concern but also hope for the future. What adventures would his new life bring him?

Once he reached the edge of the flower field a new message screen popped up.

<<<*>>>

You are now leaving
The Field of New Beginnings.
Beyond this point lies the real world. Many adventures await you, young Champion.

You have awakened new powers!

Auto-Resurrection
has awakened! - If you die, the gods will automatically resurrect you at your chosen place of salvation, the place where you have chosen to be saved. A cost will be paid, however.

World Travel
has awakened! - Once you enter a new location of significance it will be added to your world map. You can directly travel to that location once more if you are above ground and outside. Please note that time will pass when you use this method.

<<<*>>>

“Neat, I can fast travel... sort of. Hmm, but what’s this about auto-resurrection awakening now?” Scott thought for a moment about Mid’s earlier warning about fighting him with all her might and skill. Would he have actually revived if she had killed him? He did not want to think about it. He truly did not.

***

The road was a place for journeys. Scott had left the wild flower field roughly an hour ago and the trip had been quite uneventful. The jaunty background music was quite invigorating. The fact that he was alone in an alien reality worried him greatly, but he was interested in what he would find in this strange and interesting place.

At the moment he was following the road, as Mid had instructed. As long as he took the road, he would not run into as many monsters during the day. Bandits were a possibility, but monsters tended to avoid the public highways near towns due to constant militia patrols. They did attack on occasion, but not as frequently as they would if you wandered off the road.

The world was vibrant and alive with sound and color. Everywhere he looked there was something interesting to see. There were colors that he could not properly describe, and small insects that looked like nothing that he had ever seen before.

Scott sighed softly. It was a wonderful day. He did not know if he could ever go home, but at the moment he did not even know if he wanted to go back anyway. He had little to look forward to back in his old life. He would be a fool not to explore this world. Who would not want to see what there was to find in a place like this?

Suddenly a rustling in the brush on the side of the road caught his attention. A dialog box popped up.

<<< A wild baby rabbit appears! >>>

“What...?” He stared at the little white bunny that hopped out of the underbrush. It was about the size of a cantaloupe, a tiny little thing. 

“Well, hello little guy. Are you lost?” Scott had never seen such a cute rabbit. The thing practically sparkled with the pure power of adorableness.

The rabbit twitched its cute little bunny nose then stood up on its hind legs. Scott smiled down at it. The darling thing was so adorable. Part of him wanted to reach out to try and pet it. He remembered Mid’s warning, and the fact that she had claimed that everything wanted to be stronger. Yet, it was such a sweet looking little bunny. It was not a monster. It was just a baby.

It stopped being cute the moment it launched itself toward him. The rabbit did a quick spin maneuver and kicked Scott square in the jaw. He fell back, shocked by the power and swiftness of the attack. He could not see it, but a red number appeared in the air, signifying that he had taken health damage.

<<< -1 Health >>>

The little white rabbit danced from side to side for a moment. One of its adorable ears flopped over in the process. Scott tried to right himself, but his attacker leapt into the air then did a somersault before crashing down atop him. Despite its tiny size, the creature drove the wind from his lungs. A red number one appeared above the man as he took another point of damage.

Out of instinct more than skill Scott slammed his hands together and gripped the fuzzy little fiend tightly. It squirmed and kicked with all its adorable might, but it had no chance without its agile movements to back it up.

Scott got back to his feet while holding the rabbit, then took it by the ears and slammed it on the ground as hard as he could. He kept doing that till the tiny little thing cried out in agony and went still.  

The bloody mangled corpse of the wee rabbit dissolved into motes of light not long after. Several items appeared out of thin air and the background music changed to a victorious tune.

<<< Doo-da-da doo da doooo! >>>

<<< Victory!! >>>

You have slain a wild baby rabbit!

+ 1 EXP

+ 1 Fayth

+ 1 Ability Point

Item(s) acquired:

Bloody Rabbit pelt (Small, Poor Condition)

<<<*>>>

Scott panted and wheezed. That rabbit had nearly killed him! He only had ten health points and such a tiny little thing had taken two of those points without any effort. His jaw was sore, and his chest felt like he had been hit with a hammer. “Note to self: If it’s adorable, it dies first.”

He staggered forward, and decided to hope for the best. If he saw another rabbit pop out it would be getting frozen the minute he saw it. He still had a long walk till he reached Victory Station, the nearest town.

Two more hours, and another rabbit battle, had passed before Scott dragged his aching body up to the town entrance. The second rabbit had been an adult and managed to sneak in a much stronger kick before he was forced to unleash his freeze spell. That one had been worth three experience points, but the Fayth and development points were the same. He had received rabbit whiskers as a reward.

“By the heavenly maidens, what happened to you lad?” asked a man in leather armor.

Scott looked at him and wondered if he was one of the city militia that Mid had mentioned. He decided to be honest. “I thought that I was hunting rabbits, but they hunted me as well.”

The man laughed loudly then nodded. “I see, lad. That does happen. I take it you are a new comer to these lands? Most people who have trouble with wild rabbits will not travel alone.”

He saw no reason to deny it. He was incredibly weak after all. “Yes, I am a traveler who somehow wound up in this area.

The armored man looked Scott up and down then said, “You’ll want to get some proper equipment. What class are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“A sorcerer.”

“Sorcerer is it! That’s wonderful news, lad!” The man’s eyes widened with excitement.

“Why is that? I’m not much of one yet, anyway.”

“No, no. Any mage or sorcerer is practically a godsend at the moment. That is, if you are looking for paying work?”

Scott was definitely interested in paying work! At the moment he was more interested in sitting down, and possibly crying a little. However, money would be nice. “I’m not that skilled, but if I can find some paying work that would be nice.”

“Good! Follow me and I’ll take you to the town bulletin board. There are several small tasks that are best suited for someone with elemental magic related abilities.”

Scott followed the enthusiastic, possible, guardsman to a wooden poster board in front of a large fountain. It was covered in dozens of different sheets of paper, each of which seemed to contain one task or another.

“This is the town notice board. If you see a job offer on the board that seems to be within your capabilities, feel free to accept it.”