Origin A.R.S. (3 page)

“Simply will them into existence. Think strongly of an image of what you want the spell to do. Then call out the spell’s name.”

“That’s all?”

“Yes, you are a sorcerer. You do not need to chant or implore a god to aid you. Your power is innate. It takes more mana than a mage or priest for you to perform a spell, but you only need to be focused and ready.”

Scott nodded. He might as well give it a try, right? He turned away from the diminutive woman then raised his hand. He thought of the flash spell. It was an electrical attack. He envisioned a bolt of lightning striking the field in the distance.  “Flash!”

He felt a surging sensation within his body just before a bright flash of light flared from his hand. It was no lightning bolt, but it was still impressive at this point. “Whoa!”

“Yes, whoa indeed. That was the first circle lightning spell, Flash. It discharges a week electrical surge and gives off a bright flash of light. You need to be close to your opponent to use it, as the actual attack requires you to touch your opponent to inflict damage. Try your other spells.”

Scott was eager to see what would happen, now! He envisioned a ball of fire forming in his hands and immediately cried out, “Burn!”

A tiny dart of flame erupted from his palm. After it traveled around twenty feet, the tiny spark rapidly expanded into a small, but fiery, explosion that continued moving for a short distance. His eyes widened then he started to positively shiver with excitement. That had been so cool!

“The burn spell is useful for attacking at a distance. It is fairly easy to target slow moving enemies. It will detonate on impact, however. You can use it at range or up close, though I caution you to be wary of the back-blast if you cast it at point-blank range.”

“Really? Good to know.” Scott nodded his head then took a deep breath. He had started to feel strangely tired despite his excitement. Was the drain on his mana somehow causing him to become tired?

He chose to persevere, however. He had one more spell to consider. Scott focused on the image of an iceberg floating at seas then raised his hand once more. “Freeze!”

A bright blue sphere of roiling light formed in front of his palm then a cone of energy shot outward about five feet, some might have called it a bit over a meter. The flowers in front of him were coated in frost after the spell ended.

Mid hopped forward then stretched her staff outward. A green beam of light shot out of the tip of her walking stick. The frozen flowers immediately thawed and seemed no worse for the experience.

“The freeze spell is an area effect spell. It moves in a cone and you can try to freeze several opponents at once.”

Scott had figured that much out on his own, but he did not want to say anything. The older woman was being quite helpful. “That’s all I can do for right now. I don’t have enough mana for another spell.”

“Ah, the curse of the young. I bet you feel quite tired too, don’t you?”

He nodded. “I feel like I just finished a hard run to be honest.”

Mid smiled. “Mana is a specialized form of energy exerted by your mind, body, and spirit. When you use your mana, you are forced to compensate. You’ll feel tired and sluggish until your energy recharges.”

“I see. How long does that usually take?” He had a horrible suspicion.

“Normally you will need to either drink a mana potion, or sleep for a few hours. A good night’s sleep is usually what it takes when your mana is emptied completely.”

Damn this old school system! It really was like those older games where you used up all your magic and had to sleep in an inn or a tent to replenish your life and mana. “So, my mana won’t just replenish if I sit around long enough?”

Mid chuckled at Scott. “In time, certainly. If you are awake, but resting, you might be able to regenerate one point of mana per hour at your level.”

Scott frowned. That seemed like a major problem. He did not know how long he would be in this weird place, but if he could only use three spells per day for the moment, he would be in serious trouble. He had no idea how his supposed martial arts skills would stack up in a world like this.

The wizened elder saw his expression then smirked. “Would you like for me to show you the basic method of recovering mana quickly?”

“Yes, by all means!”

Mid raised her staff. Dark red energy currents rose up from the ground and concentrated to a single point in front of her staff.

~Let life’s troubles become nothing but ephemeral memories. ~

Sleep!

A wave of energy washed over Scott and his body grew incredibly heavy. He tried to resist the sense of weakness that washed over him, but he collapsed to the ground anyway. His consciousness slipped away and he knew nothing for a time.

When he awoke once more Mid was sitting down. She had her eyes closed and a gentle smile on her lips. Before he could ask her why she had done what she did, the tiny old woman opened her eyes and said, “Sleeping is the best way to restore your mana. You can meditate in order to regenerate your mana, but it still only regenerates several times faster than simply sitting down.”

Scott had not expected to be rendered unconscious as a training method. “I see... so mana won’t regenerate otherwise?”

“Well, you can eat certain herbs, eat a meal, or drink potions. The only method that doesn’t require an outside source is simple rest. There are abilities that improve regeneration rates, however. If you learn the advanced meditation ability you can regenerate at a much faster rate. Sleeping is still best once you manage to gain a large mana pool, however. ”

“Is it the same for my hit points?”

“It is, unless you develop heightened regeneration ability.”

“You can’t quickly regenerate without healing magic, potions, food, or sleep. Definitely old school.”

Mid looked at hum curiously for a moment. “Well, some races have natural regeneration. Trolls do, so do various slimes and lizard folk.”

“Racial traits...?”

“Yes, every race has specific traits. Trolls can become nearly impossible to kill unless you use fire or extremely potent acid, for instance.”

“What about humans?”

“Ah, a curious race. You receive an experience bonus when fighting enemies above your level and enjoy average stat growth in all stats.”

“That’s good, I suppose. It would have been nice to be given an option to change my race before playing.”

The woman looked at him strangely once more then chuckled. “Playing? What a strange statement. Well, if you don’t like being human there are ways to become something else.”

“Oh?”

“Certainly! You can be killed and resurrected as one of the undead prior to reviving. You can be turned into a vampire or a werewolf. Someone might transform you into something else, such as a hamster. There is also the reincarnation option if you desire.”

Scott did not care much for most of those so-called options. “Reincarnation?”

“Yes, it requires several thousand ability points, and you must be at least level one hundred. After those restrictions are met, you can ask any high priest about the trial of rebirth. If you pass the trial, you can restart your life at level one as a member of a new race, or even the same race with improved stats.”

“Ah, so that is definitely out for the moment.” It was nice to have the option, though. He wondered how many people simply reincarnated to increase their stats.

“True, most people only reincarnate if they get old and want to reset the clock on their life. It’s a hard thing to give up one hundred levels otherwise. Some adventurous types might do it frequently, however.”

Scott found that to be curious. “What happens when you get old? Can you die of old age?”

“Ah, yes. That is one of the few means of dying permanently, even for you. Every race has a maximum lifespan. If you don’t reach level one hundred and reincarnate before you reach that limit, you die. You’ll spend time in the underworld then reincarnate as an infant of a random race, the same as most worlds.”

“Is it difficult to reach level one hundred?”

“Oh, my. Yes, childe. There is no actual level limit in this world, but you’ll have to press into dangerous areas and survive countless battles to reach that level.  Gaining a level is a time consuming thing once you grow beyond the opponents that you might face near town.”

“Oh, I see. So, only people who actively pursue a life of battle and struggle will be able to reach that sort of level?”

“Absolutely! If you live for the thrill of battle, and spend every available moment challenging monsters that are strong enough to slay you outright, you can reach level one hundred in a year or two. The average adventurer might make it to level twenty or thirty in the same amount of time.”

Mid took a breath then released it before continuing. “A normal person who wants to live an average life might never even make it to level two. Of course, you are the Champion of Origin, so you might be able to do it even faster depending on your nature.”

“Alright, that makes sense. So, what do I do now?” Scott did not bother to ask about what being the Champion of Origin meant. He was fairly certain that it related to being a player character or something similar.

“Anything that you want, pick a direction and travel young sorcerer.”

Scott looked around and was not certain what to do. He was in a new world, or a game very much like a real world it was impossible to tell at the moment. Either way, it was a new place and he had no idea where to start his life. “Do you have any suggestions?”

“Well, I do have a few small tasks that you might perform if you want a little pocket money.”

“Oh, like what?” Pocket money sounded like a good idea. He did not even know what kind of currency this world used.

The tiny old woman clucked her tongue once then bit her lower lip. “Let’s try something simple. I need a certain type of wildflower to make medicinal tinctures. If you can bring me some I’ll pay you one Fayth for one hundred petals.”

A new message screen popped up.

<<< Quest! >>>

Gather Red Violet petals for Mid the Sage

Difficulty:
F-1

Pay Rate:
1 Fayth for one hundred petals

Time Limit:
Six Hours

Success:
Bring Mid at least one hundred petals.

Failure:
Run out of time, or insult Mid

<<<*>>>

Scott looked down at a red flower then asked, “Is that a red violet?”

“Ah, yes. The only red flowers in this field are red violets.”

Scott grinned. It would not be so hard to find plenty of petals then, though he did wonder at how a red flower could be called a violet. That made him think about how silly it would be to look for a green pink flamingo.

He leaned down and plucked a flower from the ground. Bright yellow words appeared above the flower and it disappeared.

<<< Red violet petal +5>>>

“Where did the flower go?”

“Check your inventory, childe.”

Scott grinned at Mid then said, “Check Inventory.” Another screen popped up.

This time he saw a traditional looking inventory screen. There was a flower icon in the top-left inventory slot and the number five below it. He also saw that he had zero Fayth, currently. That was expected, but depressing.

He left the screen open and picked another flower. The number rose to ten. He repeated the process several more times and the number of flowers quickly rose to one hundred. However, once he reached ninety-nine red violets the left over petal appeared in another slot. Due to the easy access to red violets he was able to gather up the necessary petals in a little over ten minutes.

When he returned to Mid, he received a quick tutorial on how to take items out of his inventory. He simply had to click on the slot, or he could link all related items together and trade them in bulk. If he had the trading skill he could trade in bulk from multiple slots of the same item, but he did not. He had to transfer them all ninety-nine at a time. Mid did not mind and even granted him the same quest several more times.

“You’re fairly reliable when it comes to easy jobs, but would you like to do something slightly more difficult?”

“Sure, if it pays slightly more.”

Mid chuckled at his mercenary nature. “I like that attitude. Tell you what. Bring me one thousand red violet stems and I’ll pay you the same thing I paid for petals.”

“How is that paying me more? It sounds like the same amount.”

She hopped back and pointed her staff at him. “Ha, good response. Fine, I’ll pay you the same amount and teach you something useful.”

“What would that be?”

“I’m not saying unless you agree.”

“Fine, but if it’s not useful I’ll think less of you.”

Mid smiled then waved him off. “Trust me, you’ll like it. Probably.”