Origin A.R.S. (5 page)

Scott looked at the board for a moment then noticed that there were several job notices seeking someone who could use elemental attack magic. “Slime core hunting?”

“Ah, yes! The bread and butter of a young mage or sorcerer! Slime monsters in this area are only about as tough as those rabbits you were hunting. However, they are largely resistant to normal weapons. They need to be attacked with elemental magic.”

“Oh! I see, and there aren’t enough mages in the area?”

“Well, there are a few, but not enough. The alchemists who use the slime cores to make potions are often forced to gather the ingredients themselves. Many would rather pay a young magic wielder to go collect them on their behalf.”

Scott looked at the various slime hunter jobs and noticed that they all paid around four Fayth per core. At his current level, if he could one-shot a slime he would be able to take down three per trip. “How dangerous are the slimes around here?”

The man rubbed his chin. “Most of the slimes around here are low-level because of overhunting. They have no special abilities outside of their weapon resistance. They probably hit about as hard as one of the bigger wild rabbits in the woods.”

Scott bit his lip. A stronger slime monster could possibly one-shot him as well, then. The second rabbit that he had fought would have killed him if he had taken another hit since its first kick took out three of his health points.

He had gained two experience points from performing the quests for Mid, combined with the rabbits he had earned six total experience points. He needed fourteen more to reach a new level. He would want to be at least level three before considering moving on to those slimes.

“Slime hunting sounds like a good idea, but I really need to gain a level or two first.”

The leather-clad man nodded. “True, if rabbits give you trouble then slimes can be tricky. Try doing small jobs around town like delivering packages. Those sorts of jobs are on the board too, and they don’t require you to run around and fight.”

“Is there an inn in this town? Some sort of hotel, perhaps?”

“An inn? Certainly, there are several places for adventurers to stay during their travels. The best is the Prancing Bunny. The cheapest is Neerdles.”

“Define cheap, if you would?” Scott had practically no money to speak of.

“Hmm, Neerdles is about thirty Fayth a night. The Prancing Bunny would charge you that much just to walk in the door and sit down for a few minutes.”

Scott groaned. “Great, I’ll be sleeping in the woods if I don’t get to work.”

The man smirked at him. “Life is hard, yet the day is young. A few of those package delivery requests could earn you enough to find a room at Neerdles.”

“Thank you. Hopefully I’ll be able to find something a bit more long-term soon. I am not exactly swimming in money.” said Scott with a laugh.

“Someone might hire you to work at their store, but that isn’t a guarantee. Most people like to hire locals instead of random adventurers.”

“That makes sense, actually. I’ll just have to work hard and see what I can do.”

The guard smiled at the young adventurer, nostalgia arising within him. He could remember his early days of fighting rabbits and dreaming of fighting wolves. Of course, he had been six years old at the time. What grown man had trouble fighting rabbits? ”You do that, lad. The people here are friendly if you aren’t the lazy sort.”

“I’ll keep that in mind!” Scott and the guard talked for a few more minutes then they went their separate ways. Scott went on to locate a few package delivery jobs to learn about the town and to gain easy experience. The guard went back to the gate that he should have been guarding instead of socializing with travelers.

The loud ringing of a church bell echoed through the air. The sounds of soft laughter and joyous voices wove together with the ringing of the bell to create a festive atmosphere. It was a beautiful day in the town of Victory Station. Scott could not help but smile as he watched the people stroll through the market place.

Even after spending the last few days in town doing odd-jobs and trying his best to scrape up enough Fayth to live on for a while, he had not completely acclimated to the nature of the world. Wherever he looked there was some vibrant and exciting thing to see.

A girl with cat ears walked by, a basket of laundry clutched in her hands. A man twice as tall as any man Scott had ever seen sat at a table outside of the nearby tavern. He challenged all comers to a game of arm wrestling. The loser paid for the next round of drinks. He had not lost once, but people kept trying to best him.

The alien atmosphere of the place was both unnerving and soothing to the man. Everything was so vibrant, so alive, here. He thought that the best part of it all was the background music. It was definitely top-tier. He had heard some of the same songs repeated, but he had never once wanted to find a mute button.

Whoever, or whatever, had decided to suffuse the world with beautiful sounds had obviously been a master composer. On more than one occasion he had sung along to the music. It was usually instrumental. He had to make up his own words, but the songs were still lovely.

Scott smiled softly when a group of children ran by, their laughter was infectious and he could not help but laugh as well. He had never in his life known this sort of general contentment. Was this what the world had been like before the modern day haze of life had taken over? Back on Earth, everyone seemed to be in a hurry to do the exact same thing every day. Here, he could see that people actively enjoyed their lives.

He could not help but envy these people, just a little. They had grown up in a world where nearly anything was possible. That had to do wonders for your outlook on the future.

***

The town square was alive with people early in the morning, just as it had been for days. Victory Station was a town filled with friendly and energetic people. As the main stop-over point between the kingdoms of Arnette and Eizen, Victory Station had grown from a small fort into a true town over time.

You could find many of the services usually reserved for larger cities in Victory Station. Scott could not afford any of those services except for the inn. Lack of money was a concern. He had scouted the local weapons and item shops over the course of the last few days. The prices were quite exorbitant for the average homeless drifter, which Scott happened to be at the moment.

The cost of simple leather armor that increased defense by a paltry five points was over two thousand Fayth. Unenchanted cloth armor was a bit cheaper, but it increased defense by merely two points and would still cost twelve hundred Fayth.

Neerdles inn provided a single cot in the middle of the common hall for thirty Fayth per night. Their private rooms were over two hundred per night. Given that sort of price scale, he could afford to sleep on a cot for nearly a month and a half at the same cost as cheap cloth armor.

From what he had learned, the minimum wage that most people in town would expect from a job was around two hundred Fayth per week, slightly more if they worked more than five days out of that week. At the moment, Scott was not even earning minimum wage despite all of the delivery jobs that he had taken. He was not far from it, but he was barely scraping by as it was.

That monetary concern was what had brought him to the job board today. He needed to try his hand at something that would pay a little more and hopefully provide experience. The delivery jobs had only provided experience points after he completed several of them. Doing work for Mid had apparently been considered to be the same level of work as doing six or seven package runs in town. Even as things stood, he was still two points away from gaining that first precious level.

Scott looked over the board. Slime hunting was still available, but he was a little leery of actually going after the slime monsters yet. He had heard that they were primarily located in the mountain forest about a half day’s walk from town. That was a long distance to travel with no supplies and a pitifully low level. He might get lucky and find a few along the way. They did stray from the forest, but they only appeared in large numbers in the area referred to as Slime Forest.

“Wait, what’s this?” Scott thought. There was a message listing a need for an exterminator. Scott snatched the job up quickly.

<<< Quest! >>>

Exterminate the rascally rabbits!

A local farmer, John Haskill, has offered a bounty on all rabbits. Bring him any part of a rabbit, such as the pelt or whiskers, and he will pay you for your trouble!

Difficulty:
Easy

Reward:
20 Fayth per rabbit slain

Requirements:
0/40 rabbit parts.

Time:
1 week

Success:
Slay up to forty rabbits and bring their dropped loot to Farmer John.

Failure:
Give up the quest, or allow one week to pass.

<<<*>>>

Scott nearly laughed aloud! He could make eight hundred Fayth doing such a simple job! He knew that he could kill rabbits. They kicked the crap out of him, but he could take them down. They also would be able to give him a bit of experience. It was the perfect first hunting quest.

“Behold the fearless rabbit slayer!” Scott’s somewhat deranged laughter caught the attention of several people walking by. More than one mother pulled their small children close and bid them not to gaze upon the strange and obviously troubled man.

After he calmed down, he decided to check his quest status. His grin reappeared. The whiskers and pelt that he had acquired a few days earlier were counted toward quest completion.

The only thing about the quest that bothered him was the fact that the rabbit parts were worth more than slime cores. Did farmer John hate rabbits that much, or were slime cores just not worth anything? It made no sense that a slightly harder to acquire substance would be worth less than something common like a rabbit’s pelt.

Scott walked swiftly toward the town gates. He had some hunting to do. Along the way he passed several people who seemed to be travelers. They paid him no mind, but he noticed their clothing and gear. They were wearing items that would probably bankrupt a small business owner. Were they advanced adventurers or traveling nobility? He could not be sure, but he envied them their equipment.

Once he left the gates, the background music changed from a whimsical musical score to a more adventurous tune. He bobbed his head along to the sound for a moment, before heading off into the grassland near the town. If his previous experience was an indicator, he would not need to track down the rabbits. The rabbits would come to him.

Off-road adventuring was not much different than traveling on the road, at least not at first. However, it did not take long before he ran across his first monster encounter. The creature seemingly popped up out of nowhere. Had it been hiding in the tall grass, or had it magically appeared? He did not know. Given the nature of this world, it could be either one of those answers.

<<< A wild grass rat appears! >>>

The background music changed to a familiar sounding battle score while Scott assessed the situation. The grass rat was a peculiar little creature. It was a rat the size of a small dog, but its most notable feature was not its size. It was the grass skirt that it was wearing. Why would a rat wear a skirt?

Scott wasted no time in further speculation. He had to act quickly.  He had never faced this type of rodent before and did not want to experience any surprises.

The rat lunged forward, but it had no chance. Scott immediately thrust his hand out and exclaimed, “Freeze!”

He felt a powerful surge of energy flow up and out of his body. A sphere of roiling blue and white energy formed in front of his palm. In the time that it took him to insta-cast his ice spell the rat had covered half the distance between them. It was not enough, not nearly enough.

A cone of freezing cold magical energy radiated outward from the man’s outstretched palm. The rat chittered loudly in pain and a bright red number six appeared above its head.

Scott ran toward the rat while it tried to shake off the bitter cold. He kicked out strongly and the rat flew back like a hapless soccer ball. The number twelve wafted upward from the tiny beast and it screamed out in agony before dissolving into motes of light.

<<< Victory! >>>

You have slain a wild grass rat!

+1 EXP

+1 Fayth

+1 Ability Points

Items(s) Acquired:

1 Grass Skirt of the Aggro-Rat [Rare]

<<<*>>>

“Grass Skirt of the Aggro-Rat? It’s rare?” Scott stared at the message screen for a moment then could not help but laugh. That was hilarious to him for some reason. He had already gained a rare item, it seemed.

He chose to call up his inventory screen and take a look at his loot.

<<< Grass Skirt of the Aggro-Rat [Rare] >>>

A crudely made skirt of grass worn by the grass rats living in the grasslands near Victory Station. This skirt is considered a sacred object to these aggressive rodents.

+1 Defense

+1 Agility

<<<*>>>

“Oh, that will do nicely. Free armor that increases defense and agility? Oh, hell yes.” Sure, it was pathetically low-tier for a rare item. Still, it was better than nothing and it had cost him only a little of his time and mana.

Scott equipped the thing over his pants then shook his hips experimentally. “Sexy.”

Suddenly, an ominous sensation crept along his spine. His body shivered involuntarily.

<<< Your blasphemy has been noticed... >>>

“What? Blasphemy?” Scott blinked. He was momentarily confused until the background music changed into a hardcore battle sound track. It was similar to the one from before, but this time there was a much more dangerous edge to it.

Three grass rats suddenly lunged out of the grass. One flew toward Scott like a demented rocket while another flanked him. Strangely, the third grass rat stood up on its hind legs and began to shake its little rodent booty in a bizarre dancing motion. Its little grass skirt swayed in time to a rhythm that only it understood.

Scott did his best to dodge the incoming rodent missile, but the rat flanking him caught him in the thigh. The man cried out in pain as razor sharp teeth tore through his miniscule defense to draw blood. A red number two appeared over his head.

He danced with the rats for a few brief seconds while trying to avoid another attack. However, his distraction proved to be a severe downfall. The dancing rat stopped dancing.

<<< The third grass rat has called for a friend!  .... Four more grass rats appear! >>>

“Shit!” exclaimed Scott. He took a hard hit to his thigh once more, and lost three more hit points. Out of desperation he leapt back with all his might. Mid-leap he prepped his freeze spell.

“Freeze!” He unleashed his freezing spell and caught all seven rats in its icy grip. Immediately, he kicked and stomped at the closest rodents in the hope of finishing them off. He needed to get away from the things, but they would overwhelm him anyway if he left it like this.

He managed to kill one of them and a brilliant light erupted around him! A victorious fanfare occurred and a screen popped up to tell him that he had gained a level. He could not bother to look at it at the moment. The rats had nearly shaken off the effect of the spell.

Scott cast his spell once more after fending off a leaping rat, and caught five of the remaining six rats in its cone of influence. Four of the rats died outright, but to his horror the sixth rat had started to dance.

That dance was a problem for the man. The rat was a good thirty feet away. He might be able to make it in time to disrupt its dance, but if he did not get there in time he would be right back where he started and with less health than before!

He did the only thing that a brave adventurer such as himself could do in this situation. He screwed up his courage, fixed his resolve, and then bravely ran away at all possible speed.

Scott only managed six steps before the dance ended. This time five rats appeared.

The terrified sorcerer ran for his life as first six, and then a few seconds later ten, rats gave chase. The damned dancing rat continued to dance even while the man fled as fast as he could go. By the time he came up to the road, there were twenty rats nipping at his heels.