Origin A.R.S. (12 page)

“Yeah, I like armor. It keeps my insides, inside.” replied Scott.

The short man smirked. “That it does, lad. Still, don’t pay attention to that shite about agility penalties being a problem.”

Scott stared at him in confusion. “Yeah, but every point of agility I lose costs me four points of defense...”

Daine snorted at him loudly. “Lad, do yourself a favor and think for a moment. Armor has more going for it than just raw defense points!”

“Well, I can’t really afford anything with options...”

“Options are good, but I’m talking about other things. Armor can intimidate enemies, or defend against critical attacks! Have you had to withstand any of those yet?”

Scott nodded at the man. “I’ve taken a few... all when a rat or rabbit managed to tag my exposed bits.”

The stocky armorer shook his head. “Exactly, lad. Armor blocks that shite! Which do you want more, the ability to bounce around like one of those fancy dancing fools, or to survive?”

“Well, critical attacks are how I won that fight today...So, you have a point.”

Daine acknowledged Scott’s response and went on to say. “Armor doesn’t feel pain, lad. Your flesh does. Critical attacks overload the nervous system and stun ya. Don’t skimp on armor because you’re afraid of a damnable agility penalty! Just train your bleedin’ agility more!”

“Is this armor really so bad?”

Daine spit again then shook his head. “No, not bad. Expensive to repair compared to metal or leather, but not bad.”

Scott felt his anal sphincter begin to clench. Money matters had that effect on him. “How expensive?”

“Just lookin' at ye, I’d say you’re gonna have to cough up at least twenty-four hunnid Fayth, reinforced ironwood armor can’t just be patched or welded back in place. You have to reinvigorate it and make it grow back. It costs me money to do it, because I ain’t no magical fancy lad such as you.”

“Twenty-four hundred?” Scott’s anus clenched so tight that he might never have a bowel movement again. The sheer expense of such a thing! He could buy new armor for that! He could live in the poshest inn in town for three days for that amount of money. That sort of luxury included scantily clad women bathing him and everything! Not that he cared for such services...

“Aye, lad. Do yourself a favor. Just go ahead and get yourself a set of full body iron. The penalty is higher than you might like, but the defense makes up for it in the end. That stupid penalty isn’t that much higher than what you have right now!”

“Wouldn’t the penalty be like, two or three times higher?”

“Aye, I’m thinking that it’d be round thirty-five, maybe forty, points.”

“I don’t even have that much agility!”

“Ye don’t?” Daine blinked. He stared at Scott crookedly for a moment then asked him if he would be willing to admit his level. It was rude, but Daine was not exactly one for social convention.

“After the fight with Gnarl tooth, I made it to level seven.”

“Seven! Lad, how many times have you reincarnated? How many people were in yer group? That’s incredible!”  Daine’s eyes widened in both shock and delight. He had never heard such a thing.

“Uh, I’ve never reincarnated... and I don’t have a group.”

Daine’s awe turned to outright disbelief upon hearing that. “Lad, I don’t take kindly to liars.”

“Who’s lying? I nearly died. If I hadn’t stunned him with a flash spell then fired off a few explosive blasts down his gullet, he’d be gnawing on my bones right now.”

“Down his gullet? Lad, would you tell me how the fight went down.” Daine was suddenly interested again. He was not a magical fancy lad, but he certainly enjoyed hearing about a good fight.

Scott regaled the not-quite dwarf with his tale of being whipped all to hell. Daine stopped him now and then to ask questions. Whenever Scott mentioned his withstanding attacks, Daine would look his armor over and nod.

“Well, lad. It’s a fantastic tale, something out of a book to be honest. Still, it seems you are tellin’ it true.” Daine scratched his scraggly chin for a moment.

“Most adventurers that come into this shop seem to want to treat me like I was their servant. Yet, there ain’t a one of ‘em that could tell me a tale true like that one. Tell you what, since you’re just getting started and you seem to have some sense about ya, I’ll do the repairs for two thousand. I’ll even customize your gauntlets with that fang you found, fair nuff?”

“I’d appreciate it! Thank you.”

“Bah, no need to go thankin’ me for takin’ ya money. Besides, I could use the experience from the commission. Unique items used for materials will give me a lot of experience points.”

“Is that how it works?”

“Aye, you people who run round killin’ things and raidin' tombs do it your way. We artistic types does it our own way.” Daine stuck his nose up into the air while referring to himself as artistic.

Scott laughed at the man’s antics then shook his head. He was the first person who he had really spoken with at length besides the general store owner and the friendly guard sergeant. Erido did not really count, since that had been all business. Well, there was also Regal Alice but he still did not know what to think about her.

He handed his claws and the fang over to Daine then took off his armor so that the man could repair it for him.

“Repairing ironwood takes a while lad. I can start the process but it has to finish on its own.”

“How long will it take?” asked Scott.

“Hmm, this level of damage... I’d say it’ll be done maybe in the morning. There are a few dings and cracks, but they are surface things for the most part.”

“That’s good. I was afraid it would take weeks. I can’t afford not to hunt that long.”

“Why’s that lad?” asked Daine.

Scott bit his lip for a moment then confided to Daine regarding the fact that he was in need to money to repay a debt. He felt foolish, but it did help him grow stronger.

Daine quirked one bushy eyebrow then frowned. “That damned loan shark Erido is at it again, huh?”

“Loan shark?”

Daine sighed. “Yes, it’s legal of course. Still, those loans of his are designed to keep you on the hook for years.”

“Yeah, I figured that. I just didn’t know what else to do unless I wanted to hunt rabbits and rats for a few years.”

“True, the adventurin’ gets in your blood and you got to go. Till I settled down as an armorer, I did a bit of it. That’s why I don’t take kindly to random wet-eared snots talking down to me.”

Scott could understand that. There were probably people who went adventuring when they were young just to reach level one hundred. Afterward they would settle down and when they were old and ready to start over they would reincarnate and try to do it all over again. There were probably many level one hundred shopkeepers in the world.

“I’ll fix your claws right up lad.” Daine went to work on Scott’s equipment.

The sorcerer watched as the armorer placed the items side by side and inspected them. After a few minutes passed, he went to a chest in the corner of the room and pulled out a few random looking items.

Daine etched a symbol on the gauntlets then carved it onto the fang, before he loudly proclaimed, “Custom Upgrade!”

Scott expected some fantastic lightshow to occur. Instead, a window opened in front of Daine and the man looked it over. Scott could not see what was on it, but the man nodded his head a few times then made a few selections.

The gauntlets and the fang began to glow. The expected lightshow occurred not long after. The gauntlets and fang turned into balls of light that merged together. The light roiled around for a moment before elongating and forming into bone-white gauntlets with a single blade on each piece.

“Ah, good news, lad! It was a critical success!”

“Oh? What happened?” asked Scott.

Daine offered the gauntlets back to Scott. “Check for yerself.”  

Scott equipped the gauntlets then looked at the information screen.

<<<*>>>

Fangs of the Rat [Unique]

These gauntlets were the creation of master armorer Daine, of Victory Station. Using the unique item of a powerful named monster, and common steel claws, a unique weapon was crafted.

Attack:
40

Defense:
30

Value:
12479

Special:
Deep-Puncture - High potential to cause a bleeding status effect.

Additional Bonus:

Improved Critical hit % 0.1

+ 10 Agility

<<<*>>>

“Holy shit!” exclaimed Scott. Additional agility was great and always appreciated. That would virtually eliminate his agility penalty for wearing his armor! However, it was the high probability to inflict a damage-over-time status effect on top of increasing damage that he truly liked.

Daine laughed. “It’s a good weapon for ya, for now lad. Claws and the like don’t have a very high attack rating, but at least they have good defense. That special function should do you right till you find better.”

“Man, this thing is worth about half my armor-set combined.” Scott shook his head. That was amazing to the man.

Daine snorted. “It’s worth more than that considering the increased durability.”

“Durability? I can’t see that stat.” Scott had honestly wondered why he could not see such things about his equipment.

“Aye, no doubt of that. You’re no armorer and probably don’t even have any survival skills.” Daine spit into a bucket then sighed.

“Well, no.”

“I suggest you learn some soon, lad. Crystals are expensive, but there are so many things in the survival skill-set that are vital to surviving as an adventurer.”

Scott definitely wanted to use his lore ring, but after he had checked the amount of experience necessary to learn it, he had cringed. Enemies did not give him enough experience yet to warrant the time it would take to learn it! He hoped to rectify that soon.

“I appreciate the help, sir.”

“I ain’t no sir, lad. Name’s Daine. You know that.”

Scott smiled at him. Yes, he knew that name and would remember it. “Well, let me pay you for your work. I wouldn’t want to bother you all night.”

Bushy eyebrows waggled a little and Daine held out his hand. Scott pulled two thousand Fayth from his inventory and handed them over. They looked like little coins with rabbits and rats engraved on them.

Daine looked them over and smirked. “Lad, you’ll definitely want to start hunting better paying monsters if you owe ole’ Erido money.”

“Any suggestions?” asked Scott.

The armorer rubbed his chin and took on a thoughtful expression. “Well, yer a fancy magic lad. I say head to the slime forest for a while. They drop interesting things and give a bit more Fayth and experience than rats.”

“Good to know. The rats started to get stingy with the experience points.”

A barking laughed signaled the return of Daine’s mirth and good humor. “Aye, they all do. Stick with the slimes for another few levels, then consider heading toward Askrida. I hear they are having trouble with a different kind of rat.”

“A different kind of rat?” asked Scott.

“Yeah, a bunch of bastards called corpse rats. Jes’ a bunch of low-level trash, no offense.”

“Gee, why would that offend me?” asked Scott sarcastically.

Daine snickered at the low-level sorcerer then waived him off. “Git. I got work to do, lad.”

After Scott left the armorer’s shop he received a few updates to his map and a quest lead. Quest leads were not actual quests, but reminders that something has been said that might lead to a quest. He actually had five such leads at present. None of them were for the local area, though.

Scott’s stomach growled fiercely. “Guess I should go eat and rest for the day.”

The sorcerer wandered off toward Neerdles. He would pay for his shower and dinner then head to bed. Tomorrow promised to be the start of a brand new adventure, and he wanted to be ready for it.

The laughter of the experienced adventurers pierced like a knife. Scott threw up his hands and walked away. There was no point in seeking to join an adventuring group in order to journey across the land. His equipment, though good for his level, was low-tier. His stats were considered to be a joke, even without checking them. He had never reincarnated and as such, he was not worth taking.

“Well, if you change your mind come find us at the Prancing Bunny.” said the middle-aged man in a sarcastic tone.

Scott frowned as the group of adventurers sauntered away, laughing. That was the fifth group he had approached in the last few days. It had proved to be a pointless endeavor. “Seriously, who asks for that kind of money and expects you to carry all the cheap loot drops?”

The novice sorcerer had run afoul of a common issue for new adventurers. If you did not start with a group, it was hard to join one. Experienced adventurers would treat you like dirt, or try to milk you for a lot of money.

The last group had asked for forty thousand Fayth just to be allowed to carry the cheap drops. He would not even be allowed to go into combat and would have to sit in the rear where only minimal party experience would come his way. It might not be a bad idea for a priest or low-level mage, but he could fight on his own to some extent.

The problem was his class. He was neither as capable as a warrior, though his heavy training had helped with that to some extent, nor as versatile as a mage. Neither sorcerers nor monks were that welcome in parties until they could use mid-level spells, or they had reincarnated into an advanced class. They ran out of mana too quickly, and did not have a lot of solid physical damage skills or buffs early on.

“So, that’s going to be a problem.” said Scott. Would he be forced to solo for a long time? He actually preferred that, but the logistics of his profession and the fight with Gnarl Tooth had opened his eyes.

Healing potions were costly for him at the moment. Even cheap potions cost fourteen hundred Fayth per dosage and the smallest bottle held three doses. An alchemist would not sell a single dose in a bottle, but the healers in town often charged two thousand Fayth per dose. They made a fortune off of adventurers and people who actually had enough sense to save money before starting their career.

Scott mused over his situation for a moment. He wanted to go slime hunting. They should be about as strong as a large wild rabbit. That put them in a slightly higher range than rats. His bestiary had told him that rabbits ranged from level one to level four in this area. Grass rats ranged from level one to level three.

What had shocked him was the information that he had received from Gnarl Tooth. Thinking about that caused the man to bring up his bestiary screen once more.

<<< Bestiary >>>

Name:
Gnarl Tooth

Species:
Black Grass Rat

Tier:
Two

Level:
11

Status:
Overlord (Deceased)

Gnarl Tooth was an overlord of the black grass rat species. He was slain by the adventuring sorcerer, Scott. As an overlord, Gnarl Tooth had twice the power of a normal black grass rat of his level.

Health:
1544

Mana:
78

Attack:
310

Defense:
135

Strength:
118

Agility:
132

Accuracy:
125

Intellect:
87

Luck:
62

Racial Trait(s)

Strengths

Ice Resistance:
+50%

Fire Resistance:
+50%

Weaknesses:

Light Resistance:
-10%

Electrical Resistance:
-10%

Loud noises can cause a stun effect:
5%

Special Trait(s):

Strong Pelt
- Null Critical Attack; Resist physical attack 30%

Large Body
- +1000 Health; +30 Attack; +30 Defense

<<<*>>>

Scott shuddered every time he looked at that bestiary entry. The oversized bastard was equal to a level twenty-two black grass rat! It was a second tier monster. That meant that it had upgraded status compared to a lesser grass rat. Normally you would not find that monster with a level less than one hundred one, because that was when the second tier started. Monsters did not typically reincarnate.

However, an overlord was different. Those types of monsters were what could be considered boss monsters in a game. They were granted special status by the gods. They were given a position of champion and used to prevent extermination of a given species. In short, they were like monster heroes. An appropriate overlord might be summoned to battle any aggressive hunter or adventurer who sought to overhunt a specific species of monster.

Once summoned, it could go about slaying the foolish mortal and then develop its powerbase. Named monsters in dungeons were overlords that had been summoned and defeated adventurers. That was how they became a boss.

A named monster was bad news for the local non-monster populace. Monster spawn rates for the same species of monster would increase dramatically over time, and those monsters would grow more aggressive. Said monsters would also be of a slightly higher level than normal, and even grow stronger over time.

When the little rats had prayed for justice, the gods saw fit to send them something with raw stats just a little higher than the one they faced. Yet, had made sure it would be a monster that drastically reduced his effectiveness. The defense was high enough to negate his normal attacks for the most part, and since the rat’s intellect was higher than the possible capacity of his magical attacks, it had largely neutralized them altogether.

Gnarl Tooth was specifically chosen to murder him. There was no doubt of that. The null critical effect alone had nearly been a death sentence. He could have punched and kicked Gnarl Tooth all day and it would not have mattered. Only hitting him in his single weak spot had been effective. The pelt had only covered the outside, not the inside, of the overly large rodent. Had Scott relented even slightly, the oversized rodent would have killed him with little effort.

Scott shut down his bestiary screen then sighed. “What now? I can only hunt seven slimes before I need to rest. If I could have found a party, it might have worked out. It seems like a waste of time just to hunt a handful of slime monsters.”

He would normally hunt grass rats, but they were terrified of him. The fearful little bastards would not even spawn in his presence. They had prayed to the gods to destroy the evil one slaughtering their people, and the gods had answered. Yet, their champion had been slain. In short, they had no desire to go after Scott any longer.

The sorcerer frowned. What was he going to do? What he needed was good advice on what to do next. After he thought about it for a time, Scott made a decision. He hated to bother Arne further, but maybe he had a few ideas.

It took the better part of an hour to find the guard sergeant. They traded pleasantries for a moment then Scott got down to business. “Arne, do you have any idea where I should hunt next? The grass rats are terrified of me, and rabbits won’t cut it.”

The sergeant chuckled. “Ah, you’re at that point. The nearby wildlife isn’t good enough and you have to go adventure out into the world.”

“Yeah, but I am not sure where to go. I would hunt slimes, but I can only use my spells seven times before I run out of mana.”

Arne raised one of his dark eyebrows then smirked. “Have you actually been training your spells?”

“Well, I’ve used them... but it seemed wasteful to do so recently since the rats were dying in a single hit.”

Arne nodded then pointed at Scott. “That’s your problem. Have you even raised the level of a single spell, yet?”

“No... My freeze spell is close to the next level, but the others are not. It takes forever for my mana to recharge, so heavy training has not been possible.”

“You want to train your spells, but can’t because of the mana regeneration... Yes, that’s a common issue for young sorcerers.”

Scott looked to the man in the hopes that he had an answer. “What can I do about it?”

Arne rubbed his chin. “Well, normally I would council against taking short cuts. However, you can kill two birds with one stone, and the town does owe you a debt of gratitude.”

“It does?” Scott had not heard that. People had waved at him more often in the last few days, but he did not think anything of it.

“Certainly, the grass rats are a pain in the ass; if you don’t mind me saying so. You defeated an overlord. The little furry beasts are hiding in their holes at the moment and have rarely bothered anyone since then, even when they have to travel at night.”

“I had no idea that killing that thing would be good for more people.”

The sergeant nodded. “Yes, honestly the mayor was considering putting up a hunting bill on the bulletin board. They were becoming incredibly hostile.”

“Ah, well I’m glad that I could help. You said something about taking a shortcut?” Scott cursed inwardly, however. He could have earned extra for hunting the little furry jerks.

A hearty chuckle was the man’s initial response, but Arne soon told Scott of a secret. “There is an old and abandoned temple two days walk south of town. Inside that temple is a statue of the goddess Origin. She’s the goddess of love, fertility, and reincarnation. Her statues are sometimes found in larger cities.”

Scott nodded, but failed to see the point of going to visit a statue. Though, the name Origin piqued his interest. He was the champion of Origin after all. Maybe there was a connection?

“Offer a prayer to the goddess. If she accepts it, you’ll receive a blessing. Health and mana will regenerate much faster. Sometimes other things happen as well. Though, usually that just applies to her devoted followers.”

“Great! How long does the blessing last?”

“About four hours, at least that is what her temples and shrines usually provide. You can usually only receive the blessing once per month. Yet, you’ll restore your health and mana at an incredible rate. You train your spells there for a little while and you’ll see a remarkable difference in how often you can use them.”

“Really, that could work!” Scott wanted experience points and money, but if he could realistically train his spells faster, that was even better.

“Be careful to keep to the road, and buy a tent before you go. You don’t want to sleep in the wilds without one. When you can afford to do so, consider buying a lot of them for adventuring.”

Scott nodded. He did not want to tell Arne that he could not afford a tent. They were around four thousand Fayth, and lasted only a single day. “How do I reach the shrine in the quickest way?”

“Head south for about two days if you walk. You might be able to get there by morning if you sprint through the night. You wouldn’t need a tent.” Arne looked at him carefully.

Scott winced. The man had guessed his current state. “Do I just follow the road?”

“Yes, follow it till you reach the third fork in the road. The first fork is right at the edge of the forest to the south. Head straight the whole way to the third fork. Go left at that fork then turn south again when you see the waterfall. The shrine is behind that fall. You might get wet.”

Scott received a message telling him that his map had updated with a new location. That made him incredibly happy. He would be able to use his map to find the place, now.

They chatted for a short time then Scott trotted off to buy food and water for the trip. If he was going to run the whole way it would sap his energy frequently.

***

The midday sun beat down upon the innocent earth as Scott came to a stop at the point in the road where he needed to be. In the distance, he could see a waterfall feeding into a small lake. Something about the sight seemed strange, like it was not a natural bit of geological creation. He put the thought aside immediately. What was natural about this world?

Soft and cheerful traveling music permeated the atmosphere. As he drew closer to his destination, that music changed to a more serene and beautiful tune.

<<< You have entered the Serene Waterfall area. >>>

“Interesting, this spot counts as a fast travel location.” If he entered a location and this sort of screen popped up, he could use his world travel ability to reach that location quickly in the future. He had not used the function, yet. The lack of usage was due to being so close to town most of the time, and his desire to get as much experience as possible. However, this would be the perfect place to test it out later.