Origin ARS 3 (Origin A.R.S.) (23 page)

“Then make your own fun. It might save your sanity.” he said.

Sharde chuckled softly. “Thanks for your concern. I really do appreciate it.”

“That’s what friends are for, right?” said Scott.

The pony-tailed ninja nodded. “Yes, I suppose. My sister is my only real friend. Well, was...”

Ero faded into view then pouted at Sharde. “What about me?”

The red-head smiled at the tiny little fairy. “Of course you’re my friend. I wondered when you would pop up.”

“I wanted to see how you were doing, but you and Scott started talking and I did not want to distract you. Did I do good?” asked Ero with wide eyes and a hopeful expression.

“Yes, you did.” said Sharde.

The fairy giggled softly then fluttered over and gave Sharde a warm hug on the side of the face. “Good, because I want you to be happy.”

Sharde rubbed Ero’s back with her finger then closed her eyes. It was nice to know that someone truly cared for her.

Three long and grueling days had passed in the mountains. During that time Rhea had slaughtered her way through well over two thousand, nearly three thousand, monsters of much higher level. Her indiscriminate slaughter of the ecological system had allowed her to increase her level to seventeen.

Rhea stopped her constant hunt for fresh opponents and took a breather to consider her options. The spawn rate of the highest level monsters in the surface areas had dropped considerably since she had gone on her one elf crusade to cleanse the land and earn moderately epic loot.

The Fayth and ability points had poured in during that time, she had earned more in that short few days than the entire time that they had fought the undersea monsters. It was to be expected, however. Most of the creatures that she fought on the mountain had a level range that averaged between fifty-five and sixty. She had left the small-fries for Scott to pick off. His experience bonus made them much more viable as fast experience point generators.

She glanced down at her sword then sighed. “Why didn’t you pick a sword profession? We could be so much farther along...”

Of course, he could have simply learned to wield a sword through the use of lore crystal rings. Ultimately, he did not do that because it would short-change him in the end. He needed the ability points to boost his stats, or rather, he probably did. The monsters would become much stronger in time, not that it would really matter in the end.

Rhea gazed at her sword and sighed. Scott trained so hard, but she had still not told him what he would have to do if he truly wanted to protect ARS. The things that she had spoken of were all necessary in their way, but the truth was that he would have to do something far more difficult. She knew that she would have to tell him, and soon, but she did not want to have that conversation. The possibilities were too terrifying.

“There has to be another way...” she said to herself softly. She did not want to believe that the only possible way for him to become strong enough to fulfill his role was to undertake
that
method. Yet, she knew that there was no choice. He would not even be able to fight the Lords of Destruction as he was now. They would run uncontested across the world.

After she finished taking a moment to rest, she hefted her sword then ran off to find one of the local cave systems. The monsters were similar in level but more numerous. Hopefully she would be able to reach at least level twenty-five within the two week period.

Heart heavy with the burden of true knowledge, Rhea ran toward whatever monster she could find. She and Scott would need to reach level one hundred as soon as possible if he was to meet the destiny that she had chosen for him. How she cursed her heart for wanting to spend time with him. He would be in incredible danger and it was her fault! She already knew what his answer would be when she told him the final truth. He was that sort of person, she could tell.

***

Nearly one week had passed and no word had come from the ninjas of Crimson shadow. Time was running short for the mermaids. Scott had trained like it was a new religion. Ero had reached level eighteen and now he had to increase his level so that he could increase hers. Before that, however, he wanted to complete her power set and also acquire a class two spell from his own list.

Ero had five powers remaining at present. Their total ability point cost was seventeen hundred fifty points. He purchased them all then smiled.

Scott’s smile grew three sizes when he heard a loud gasp and an outcry of pure bliss from his fairy BFF. She had certainly loved the upgrade. She now had defensive abilities, greater healing capacity, actual magical attacking powers, and a few other things. As far as Ero was concerned, her skill-set was now complete. Rather, she was complete until she reached level twenty-five. There was no way to know if she had more abilities in the future or if the ones she had simply became stronger.

“So, five hundred six ability points left...” Scott looked at his available upgrades. He had five spells to choose from in the second-tier and three physical abilities that he could acquire. There were also four more basic element spells in the first tier that he intended to get as they would work well with synchronicity.

He looked through the class two spells for a moment then frowned. They had the same sort of set-up as before. Some worked through cone of effect; some worked on touch, and others were simply longer range spells. Was variation a crime? They were basically just stronger versions of five of his previous spells. Ah well, he needed at least one of them. By the time he was twenty-five and then forty he would be able to learn level four spells from his list.

He would probably be better off saving up to acquire at least one or two spells from level three and four before back-training for the weaker spells. He needed them all because he was that sort of person. However, he needed to maintain an edge even more. 

“I think I’ll go with Ar-Lita. Freeze is a little lacking but it does alright, and burn is still strong enough to do serious damage. A ranged paralysis ability is good and it might help out whenever we finally get back to the mermaid mission.” Scott chose the short-range lightning spell and spent four hundred of his remaining ability points. He brought up the spell information blurb to learn more.

<<<
Spells
>>>

[
Second
] Ar-Lita [LV. 0]
Force:
6
Mana:
12[0/100]

Ar-Lita is an elemental lightning spell that sends an arc of current outward to strike your foes. Higher levels produce more arcs.

Special:
Chance to inflict paralysis 50%, chance to inflict paralysis is double against opponents weak to lightning.

<<< * >>>

Scott grinned at the paralysis chance. He had been confused about that in the first few days of adventuring. After several long talks about world mechanics with Rhea he had learned that the percentages were not absolutes. They actually related to what were known as
hidden variables
.

He actually had stats that he could not directly influence other than through a level increase, new spell acquisition, or through equipment upgrades. The fact that spells also provided a hidden increase or decrease in specific variables attached to them; had made him wonder if he should have focused more on spell acquisition. In the end, he had realized that he had gotten by just fine without them, and he had decided to continue on with his life without regret.

His ability to paralyze via magic actually had a hidden stat number. The fifty percent paralysis chance related to how much of that number would count when attacking a monster, plus a constantly randomized modifier that occurred with each cast. The monster’s hidden magical paralysis resistance stat would then be used as a counter. Basically, the higher number won.

Each time he acquired a spell of a specific element his hidden variable attached to that element increased. Lightning spells added to the hidden paralysis modifier. Wind added to an ability to move objects through kinetic force, Water increased the chance of asphyxiation.  Each of them had a special stat related to it. This factor was the reason why higher level spells were necessary.

As monsters grew higher in level their natural resistance factors increased as well. It was also why sorcerers were deemed to be so weak despite the fact that they actually seemed a bit overpowered in the early levels. Their innate spell-list ended at level seven at most. They could learn spells beyond that point, but they had to do it via specialized lore crystals that were for specific spells. They were rare treasures or even rarer drops. Few stores carried a spell crystal beyond fourth level and those were hideously expensive...

A non-mage class using magic would have terrible effectiveness when using spells because their hidden stats would not be high enough to matter. Things actually made more sense to Scott after he had learned that tidbit.

Of course, that also worked on other things besides spells. Weapons had certain effects as well. He had not inflicted the
heavy bleeding
status with his spear even once. Sure, monsters bled when he stabbed them, but it was not the same thing apparently. His unarmed skills staggered monsters and broke bones all the time, but his weapon attacks rarely ever did anything special other than straight damage.

Warrior classes could do that sort of thing easily. Rhea had a tendency to stagger and inflict heavy bleeding all the time, though he had not realized that was what she was doing. She would aim for critical areas to increase the chance of paralysis or to render a limb useless.

Actual skill with a given weapon and a focus on strikes to a critical area of an opponent would allow for any of these status effects to potentially occur. A higher hidden variable for a given effect would allow the system to reinforce it and cause the effect to happen more often.

Scott looked over his list. He could purchase another weak level one spell, but he also had other options. He could increase the force of his spells one more time. He could reduce the mana cost of his spells as well. However, there was one side of his skills that he had largely ignored. He needed more physical combat capacity. He had around ten abilities that sat undeveloped, and eight of those abilities were physical.

He looked at the physical skills he could learn. He chose improved counter, improved critical chance, and Rapid Strike. They were his most basic skills and cost little in the way of ability points. Improved counter and critical chance were passive abilities that added to his so-called hidden variables. Rapid Strike, however, was his first sorcerer physical attack skill.

<<<
Abilities
>>>

Rapid Strike
- Level 0 - Mana: 3 [0/100]

Strike an opponent repeatedly with supreme speed. Higher levels increase the speed, precision, and damage of the skill.

Special:
You will be able to attack with a minimum of 50% more speed than normal. However, total attack damage will be lessened by 50%. An increase in level will lessen the damage reduction and increase attack speed.

<<< * >>>

“Not bad. I will definitely need to train it before I get to the point that I can use it properly in a fight.” said Scott.

He called out to Ero. “Hey, can you use your healing spell to allow my mana to regenerate faster?”

Inside his mind the only response he received was a warm sensation and a softly whimpered, “Oh my goodness... Oh my
goodness...
Oh...”

“Damn... she’s still dealing with having her powers unlocked.” said Scott. She was such a sweet little perverted thing, but he would have liked to have had his mana regenerate more quickly. He decided to just use his mana restoratives instead. They cost around ten thousand Fayth and they only restored fifty points of mana; but he did not care about that. He would be able to replenish his supplies later and training quickly was more important.

He experimentally worked with his new skill to see how it worked. It would be weird to activate it vocally. Thankfully, however, he discovered that all he needed to do was to visualize the name of the ability and it activated.

Scott blurred forward two steps and then haphazardly punched at the air with great speed. The sudden shift in position caused him to fall over and he hit the ground with an embarrassing thump.

“Man that was severely uncool of me...” He stood up and dusted his backside off. That skill needed to be practiced. Scott grinned. It had been fun though!

He set about training it as much as possible. He managed to use it over seventy times in the course of a half hour and his mana had been depleted. Ero was still unable to anything but babble about her
goodness
so she would be no help. He chugged a mana restorative then waited for it to take effect. A few minutes later he began to train once more.

It did not take long for his new ability to reach level one. He checked the information for his rapid strike ability then grinned. It had increased to one hundred percent more speed and a forty percent reduction in damage. “I have to use it another two hundred fifty times?” he asked. It seemed that physical skills required more training than magical ones. He was not certain that it made sense, but he suspected that it had to do with his hybrid nature. He was more magic oriented than physical combat oriented as a class.

He chugged two more mana restoratives then went back to work. He planned to try and master his new physical ability as soon as possible; followed by mastering his two new and still unmastered spells.

After Scott blurred forward and punched furiously a few more times he had an idea. “I wonder...” he said lightly.

He knew that synchronicity worked with his regular unarmed attacks, though the effects were different than when he used his boomerangs or his spear. He decided to see what would happen if he tried to cast a spell while using rapid strike.

Scott blurred forward and cried out, “Flash!”

Tiny bolts of energy raced around his fists as they struck out in a blur. Scot grinned like a moron. “Now this is something I can use!”