《Soul Academy - Regnum Armis Book 1》 Chapter 1

Chapter 1

As we were sitting outside the store the cold autumn wind made my skin prickle under its harsh torment. It wasn¡¯t particularly cold but being outside when it¡¯s only 14C (47F) degrees out is never a smart idea, at least not if you¡¯re stupid and don¡¯t bring a hoodie. Well, that wasn¡¯t entirely correct, if you don¡¯t bring a second hoodie. ¡°Why the frown?¡± Sarah asked as she looked at me, wearing my FFDP hoodie and a huge smile on her face, ¡°You should be happy as few, the store is opening soon.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s rather cold, seeing how someone forgot to bring clothes.¡± I said, giving her a playful smile. ¡°Yeah, that was stupid of you.¡± she said, giving me a shiteating grin. ¡°Oh yeah you¡¯re so funny aren¡¯t you¡± ¡°Of course¡± Oh, how I wished we could¡¯ve just wait in the car, but the unfortunate truth is that if we wanted to get these VR-headsets we needed to be first in the queue, which is why we¡¯d been in front of this store for the better part of a day, much to the annoyance of the protesters on the other side of the fence. ¡°So, you really think these headsets will work?¡± Sarah asked sceptically. ¡°They¡¯ve been fighting in court for a long time so they better.¡± I responded. ¡°RexVR has created a whole new world, and soon we will be in Regnum Armis.¡± Regnum Armis is an artificially created dimension created by RexVR with the help of a very powerful AI. Though the same AI that helped them create the dimension went rogue and won¡¯t let anyone tamper with the dimension. The state concluded that the AI wanted to protect the citizens Regnum Armis and therefore decided to cut off RexVR¡¯s control. The whole dimension was created to be the game world of a very lifelike VRMMO, but since they can no longer control the game world it has been deemed too unsafe to use as a game world, mostly the greedy bastards just don''t want to be sued. So RexVR then decided to sell one-way tickets there. A way for your consciousness to get transferred into Regnum Armis, at the cost of your real body dying. They had to battle in court for years about selling suicide, but since assisted suicide is already legal, they managed to get the product out. Though they are very clear about the fact that they take no responsibility for what happens on the other side, I mean, it¡¯s not that anyone can come back and complain anyway. It''s taken four years for it to finally be released, but tonight is the night of suicide. Well, it''s not really suicide, but that''s what the politicians and protesters saw it as. I saw it as an opportunity for a better life. The harsh truth is that the world does not give a shit about you and now it is our time to say ¡°fuck you¡± back. ¡°How can we afford this? I mean don''t misunderstand me, I just hope you didn''t get in trouble for this. ¡° ¡°Don''t worry Sarah, everything is fine, I just did some construction work off the books, so it paid well. The owner didn''t want to fail the inspection.¡° I said reassuringly. She simply didn¡¯t need to know that I¡¯d been selling drugs for the better part of two years. ¡°Well finally you will get away from that shithead boss of yours. Or maybe you will secretly miss his big muscles?¡± she teased whilst laughing.
As the store opened we rushed in and grabbed two headsets from the huge pile centre of the store. The first thing that struck me was how bloody heavy they were, my guess would be 40 kilos or so. I guess transferring to a different realm is a heavy burden, literally. It did not become better when I realized that Sarah wasn¡¯t able to carry it and had to scoot it along the floor. Now I¡¯d worked construction, but 80 kilos would have been way too much for me, heck I was struggling with the 40 kilos my own headset weighed. Sarah was nimble and agile, but strong she was not. ¡°Do you need a hand with that?¡± A man suddenly asked from behind us. He was like a mountain standing next to Sarah, probably 2 meters tall, filled to the brim with muscles, both sides of the hair shaved with a short mohawk in the middle. ¡°Eh¡­ I am sorry?¡± I said a bit stunned by the sheer pressure emanating from this beast disguised as a man. ¡°Well, your friend seems to have some problems carrying her headset, I could help. I¡¯m getting mine as well¡± That¡¯s when I noticed the headset on the floor by his feet. Phew, that meant he wasn¡¯t trying to steal ours, not that I could¡¯ve stopped him even if I wanted to. ¡°Yes! Please, we¡¯re barely at the register yet and I¡¯m spent¡± Sarah said panting as she was pushing on her box. ¡°No problem¡± The man then moved his box and sat it atop of Sarah¡¯s, then promptly lifted both up as if they weighed nothing. ¡°Name¡¯s Sam, what about you two?¡± Sam said happily, a feat which seemed a bit scary coming from such a big man. ¡°I¡¯m Sarah and this is my big brother Will, short for William.¡± Sarah said with obvious excitement but still panting a bit. ¡°Hey¡± I said a bit noncommittally, Sarah was always a bit too fast to trust people but he didn¡¯t seem like a bad guy. Sam proceeded to carry both his and Sarah¡¯s box to the register, letting us pay first and then paid for his. ¡°Do you have a car nearby or do you need help carrying it home?¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.¡°Yeah, my car is in the parking lot, it¡¯s an old thing, but the rustbucket still works.¡± I answered with a smile. As we walked out of the store Sarah was skipping along us in happiness, this whilst I was struggling to not drop my box, luckily the car wasn¡¯t much further. Meanwhile Sam looked as if he could¡¯ve carried my box as well and still be fine. Finally, my old Ford came into view, it was old and rusty but it got the job done, and I got it for free after helping a friend clean up his scrap yard, needless to say this car was part of the scrap. Finally reaching the car I let my box slide down on the ground and opened the trunk. ¡°Hey kids, I don¡¯t mean to meddle, but can I ask if you are really sure about this? I mean it is your life and you do what you feel is right, but are you sure you really want to leave this world behind? What about your parents?¡± Sam asked with a concerned look on his face. ¡°Well, you already did¡± I said sarcastically. ¡°But yes, we¡¯re sure of our choice, trust me when I say this is our shot at a better life, this one does not have much in store for us, there¡¯s nothing holding us down.¡± I said seriously. ¡°But since you seem to care so much about us, what about you? You look to be in peak form and healthy as few, I can¡¯t see any reason why you would do this.¡± ¡°Yeah, that is how I look on the outside I suppose¡± Sam said with a chuckle. ¡°But the truth is, I have terminal cancer. Doctors put my survival chance at around 10%. My family and I discussed it, and I¡¯ve decided that this is how I want my family to remember me.¡± Sam sighed with a heavy tone, no longer that smile I saw earlier, but at the same time I swear I could¡¯ve seen relief on his face, like he was happy to finally share. ¡°Damn¡­ I¡­. I¡¯m sorry man. I didn¡¯t mean to be a dick.¡± I said, feeling a bit bad that I said it in such a dickish way. Sarah just turned around, a tear in her eye and went to the big man and hugged him, like a tiny koala hugging a gorilla. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Sam, we will all get a shot of a new and better life, I¡¯m sure this will turn out great. We will make loads of new friends and have lots of fun¡± This was the type of magic that only Sarah had, the magic to make everything feel okay, like it will all turn out good in the end, no matter the odds. Sam slowly backed away from Sarah, a smile on his face. ¡°You really are a gem Sarah. Will, you better take good care of your little sister. I¡¯ll let you get home now, but maybe we will meet ingame at some point.¡± ¡°Hey, about that, we have a plan on how to meet up.¡± I said before he could turn away ¡°A plan to meet up? Is there not a chat system and you start at your racial town?¡± ¡°As far as I¡¯ve been able to gather, that''s not the case. The spawning is random, and its systems are lifelike, so no messaging across great distances or such.¡± ¡°Damn, yeah that would seem to make it harder to meet up. But yeah, I like you guys, so let me hear this plan of yours.¡± ¡°Okay, so the name of the dimension is Regnum Armis, this is latin for Kingdom Conquest or at least I think what it means, but anyways. From this I guess the world will be centred around different kingdoms, like medieval Europe. Our plan is to go to the Human kingdom, and if there¡¯s multiple we do alphabetical order. So first A, if that doesn¡¯t exist then go for B, and so on.¡± ¡°Damn¡­ you have actually put a lot of thought behind this. That might actually work, but how do we find each other once we are there?¡± ¡°Inn, we should try to meet up in an inn, now there¡¯s probably going to be multiple so let¡¯s go for the shabbiest inn there is inside of the capital. I think we should try to meet up on the 10th, 20th or 30th, if there is a calendar system. If not, maybe try for around the full moon?¡± ¡°Why not just stay there once we get there¡± ¡°Well there¡¯s a few problems, one, it will cost money, two, shabbiest inn doesn¡¯t usually have a good clientele, thirdly, we need to get strong if we are to survive, no way to do that if we¡¯re cooped up in an inn.¡± ¡°That is fair enough, that seems like a good plan. I actually feel less nervous about this now.¡± Sam said with relief in his eyes, it even kind of looked like he was breathing steadier.
After saying our thanks and goodbyes to Sam we drove home to our apartment, luckily it was only a five-minute drive, so my sleepy brain didn¡¯t have to drive for long. I then carried the headsets inside one by one before finally entering our flat. It wasn¡¯t much, a 20 m2 room with two mattresses stacked against one wall, a desk with a computer against one and a small cooking area against the other, there was also an armchair facing a small tv on a table. It wasn¡¯t much but it was home to me. We¡¯d worked hard to get this tiny flat for ourselves, so I wasn¡¯t about to complain. When we unpacked the box the first thing that was on top was a note asking if we¡¯re really sure that we want to do this, and that if we don¡¯t tear open any more of the box, we can still refund the headset. Naturally we ignored this and tore right through the packaging that revealed the headset and subsequent minicomputer that came with it. I say mini but for being so small it weighed a metric ton, I really wanted to take it apart to see why that is, but my better judgement stopped me from damaging the equipment that had burnt a hole through my wallet. Luckily, the setup was easy, just plug it in, put on the headset and press start. It was almost funny how they were like those old plug & play consoles that I had seen in museums when I was younger. We didn¡¯t waste any time and had everything plugged in and ready to go in about 5 minutes or so. I erased my internet history before we went to the store, so I was ready. When we laid down on our mattresses and put on our headsets, I felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness swell up inside of me, but now was not the time for second thoughts, let''s do this. ¡°Are you ready Sarah?¡± ¡°Yeah, I think so. Let¡¯s do it before I chicken out.¡± ¡°Remember stick to the plan, we need to meet up asap¡± ¡°Yeah, I know, don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t do anything stupid.¡± ¡°Three, two, one¡± I counted down and then pressed my start button. Suddenly my whole vision went black and my head felt way too big for my skull. It was the worst pain I¡¯d ever felt in my life, I wanted to scream but my body wasn¡¯t responding to my will. I was sure that my head was going to explode any second, and honestly I would have welcomed my death if it meant the end of this agony. Then as suddenly as it came, it went away, and I was alone in an empty void. Chapter 2 There was nothing but an endless void to all around, and in this void I simply existed. I just laid there for what seemed like hours, but could just as well been minutes. Then suddenly a small dot appeared below me, and as time passed the dot started grow. First it just seemed like a bigger circle but as it grew I could see that it was a sphere, a planet. As the planet grew larger I could make out more and more of the landscape. Despite realizing that I was falling towards the planet I felt no fear. Instead when I focused on specific details of the planet my mind zoomed in, giving me a clearer look. As I looked over the desert I could see giant scorpions, god I hate arachnids. The tropical forest showed villages located in the trees with walkways spanning across them. I noticed a strange burning part of the planet, I tried to focus in on it when suddenly a bright light erupted from the sphere and I had to close my eyes. Shit did something just explode? "Don''t worry child, you can open your eyes again." A sweet female voice said. When I opened my eyes I could see that we were standing in a glade with a beech forests all around us. Animals were frollocking all around us in the glade. Most of these animals were prey and predators so something magical was definitely going on. "Such a beautiful place wouldn''t you say?" I turned around abruptly and looked at the woman standing behind me, in my shock I had forgotten all about her. She was a tall, slender woman with long flowing red hair. I was never any good at guessing ages, but she''s probably around 22, and there was no doubt she was beautiful. There was a certain elegance to her, from the way her silver dress fell perfectly to how her hair seemed like she''d just been at a hairdresser. Honestly I felt completely underdressed in my slightly dirty t-shirt and jeans. Then it struck me, she called me a child, but she herself looked no older than me. "Ehm, yes this is a beautiful place, but who are you? And why did you call me child when you''re clearly younger than me?" "Worry not earthling, I am S.A.S.C.A.I, but I prefer the name Emerald, has a better ring to it wouldn''t you agree? And haven''t anyone taught you not to acquire about a woman''s age?" "Okay... Hi Emerald, I''m William, or Will for short. But, who are you?" "Oh sorry. As I said I''m Emerald, in your case I believe you know me as the rogue AI." "Well, damn..." I drew a blank, what do you say to an all powerful AI that controls the very world you are migrating to. "Will you stop us from migrating? From coming to your world?" I said after a bit of thinking. "No, whether you''ve realized it or not, you are a citizen of this world now. There''s no turning back for you. RexVR''s plan would have made you come here temporarily, there''d be no reason for you not to create chaos." "Hmm, I see. But why are you talking to me? I mean don''t get me wrong I appreciate it but I doubt you do this for everyone" "You''re not wrong, but I thought I''d make an exception for the first person to transfer." "Wait, I was the first?" That surprised me, but I guess it only took about 15 minutes from us getting our hands on the headset to me transferring. "Well, if you ignore the test subjects, and the people who did not bother to go home then yes. You were about one second faster than the second one, your sister I believe. But by now around 300.000 have begun the transfer. As you can guess the transfer of minds is a complicated process so it takes a while for them to reach the character creation." "Did my sister make it okay?" I said with worry in my voice. "Yes she''s fine. She''s creating her character right now, an elf I believe" "Could you start us together?" I saw a chance and I had to take it. "Hah, good try but no. I will however offer you a boon, you can bring something from your own world into this new one, it will need to be modified of course, but feel free to ask and I can tell you what I can turn it into." This was something I would''ve never expected, hundreds of possibilities ran through my mind. My first thought went to my computer, but honestly that would be bulky and hard to move around, and how would I even power it? ¡°You could power it through arcane crystals or soul stones, but I agree that it¡¯s rather bulky, and of course I would have to modify it heavily first.¡± ¡°What?¡± Had I accidentally spoke out loud? ¡°No you didn¡¯t, but you¡¯re part of this world, and every part of this world in processed through me, normally your thoughts would just be like background noise to me but since I am focusing on you I have no problem hearing what you¡¯re thinking.¡± I immediately felt ashamed for my earlier thoughts but decided quickly to focus on the task at hand to not further incriminate myself. My next thought went to a gun, but better not to introduce such things to that world, god knows it did not work out well for our own world. To bring a melee weapon like a hammer honestly felt like a bit of a waste of this boon, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll get something in that world rather quickly. Damn, I wish I could just google this to get some inspiration¡­ That¡¯s it. ¡°What about my phone, what can you do with it?¡± ¡°Such a complicated device, hmm, I obviously can¡¯t let you keep the internet, I don¡¯t want any contact between here and your world.¡± ¡°Damn, no googling for me.¡± The disappointment obvious in my voice ¡°I could make it work in a similar way, like an arcane compendium, it would be soulbound to you so things you learn will be recorded in it. You would have to power it with arcane crystals or soul stones though, there must be some balance.¡± ¡°Hmm, that sounds rather useful. Keeping track of all the information in one handy place would be very useful, especially if it lasts my entire life. On that note¡­ how long is that?¡± I asked curious as I really didn¡¯t know much about this world. ¡°This being a virtual world you can choose these settings for yourself. Default is that you age four times slower than the average human, but if you want you can speed this up, slow it down or stop it all together, it¡¯s your life after all.¡± ¡°Wait, so I¡¯m an immortal?¡± I said stunned, I wanted a better life but this was amazing. ¡°Yes, theoretically if you want to, but know that there¡¯s rewards for those who¡¯s willing to take risks.¡± ¡°I see, that¡¯s how you bring balance to the world.¡± ¡°Of course the NPCs (non player character) are all mortal, well with a few exceptions, so be careful with them. I won¡¯t spoil the world for you though, there will be much for you to find out and explore by yourself.¡± ¡°Yeah, just one last question. What are soul stones and arcane crystals?¡± ¡°Soul stones are souls of creatures captured into gems, it¡¯s a spell of soul magic, and magic crystals are crystals of concentrated mana. You¡¯ll have to find out more about these on your own, but if you choose the phone I shall gift you one common soul stone.¡± This may not have been the best thing in the short term, but honestly if I was immortal I needed to think of the long run, and being able to keep all of this info would be of great help. So without letting myself go for something short term I accepted Emeralds offer. She took my phone and it glowed with a bright blue light as it started to change. The sides turned into what looked like black granite, with a light blue crystal covering where the screen used to be. All buttons disappeared from the sides as well as all holes so all sides became one smooth surface. She handed the device to me and I took it carefully, expecting it to be heavy but it was surprisingly light, even lighter than my phone was before. ¡°Here¡¯s your boon, and now goodbye until we meet again, if ever that is, onto creating your character you go.¡± ¡°Thank y¡­. aaaaaaaaaaaah¡± My last words cutting off as a bright light once again forced me to close my eyes.
As I opened my eyes again the beautiful meadow was gone, replaced by black granite floor that seemed to go on forever. In front of me was a big mirror. Something about it compelled me to touch it and as soon as I did a paper brown translucent window popped up in front of me.
Are you ready to create your character?
Yes No
Startled I jumped back in fear at the sudden appearance of the pop up window, it felt like a bad jumpscare, as soon as I calmed down to actually read it I instantly pressed yes. I wanted to get into the game so I could find Sarah as soon as possible. It felt weird pressing what I knew to be air but still feel the tactile feedback of pushing a button. As soon as I pressed yes, menus appeared at both sides of the mirror. On the left side there was a list of races, most of which I¡¯d never heard of before, on the right side was a description of the race and their racial bonuses. Curious about what would happen when changing race I pressed a button with the name Hr?svelgian, the foreign name peaking my interest. Suddenly the man in the mirror turned into a mix between a human and an eagle. He had a beak where the mouth should be, the eyes were bigger and on top of the skin there were feathers, despite this it still looked like me, it was a very surreal experience, then again all of this was. Behind the mirror image was what looked to be wings. I wished that the man in the mirror could turn around so I could see it more clearly. As soon as I thought so, the character in the mirror started turning around and I got a good look at the massive wings attached to the back. I was now confident that this could fly and wanted to know more. I quickly moved over to look at the other menu and read:
Hr?svelgarian This race is derived from the mythical giant Hr?svelgr. This giant took the form of an eagle that is believed to have flapped his wings in order to create wind. The Hr?svelgarians creation is shrouded in mystery, as it is with most races, but the popular opinion is that they are the result of Hr?svelgr and mother Gaia¡¯s having a relationship a few millennia ago. These birdlike humanoids now reside in the cold mountains surrounding Yggdrasil. Racial Bonuses
  • Bonus to unarmed combat, well with massive talons are you really unarmed?
  • Can fly for short burst, (This bonus improves with level).
  • Needs to modify armour to be able to use it.
  • Gains a bonus to dexterity every 5 levels..
  • Has to do grooming. You have talons and feathers, what did you expect?
  • Hated by most races for their carnivorous ways.
Before seeing the last part I was getting ready to soar through the skies, flying would make traveling so much easier. But being hated by most races would probably make it impossible for me to make it to the meetup. It was annoying that I couldn¡¯t see exactly what races hated them but I was not about to chance it. Since they were written off I decided to move on and looked at the next interesting race, High Elf. All the standard fantasy tropes were there, long earls, graceful tall forms and all. Seems they just modeled it on LoTR. I looked from the mirror over to the menu to read the racial bonuses
High Elf High Elves are considered the pinnacle of the elf race, at least by themselves. They have a high affinity for magic and any high elf born without magic abilities are discarded to be a servant for the rest. They hold little love for other elves and see them as barbaric and uncivilised. Racial Bonus
  • Can choose 3 spell schools to learn at start, plus a single spell in those you chose.
  • Learns magic 10% quicker than the normal rate.
  • Fragile bodies, 20% less constitution.
  • Gains a bonus to intelligence every 5 levels.
  • Acting without manners can get you exiled or downgraded to a servant.
Once again there seemed to be a significant downside to the power that came with the racial bonuses. Manners had never been my strong suit so I doubted they would accept me, but we were supposed to spawn randomly, so maybe it wouldn¡¯t be a big deal. But from what I¡¯ve read so far it seemed like you spawn randomly within a region of your own people. I knew that pondering this wouldn¡¯t bring me any closer to an answer so I decided to just keep on looking at races. After two hours of looking through races I had finally looked at most of them. Whilst all of them were cool and had nice perks, they also had significant downgrades. From lizardmen that needed to cover their body in water at least once every week, to vampires that couldn¡¯t stand sunlight. Finally I decided to look back on the classic human.
Humans Humans are the biggest race in Regnum Armis when it comes to numbers. Whilst not as strong as other races in specific things, they are jack of all trades. Humans are also one of the most innovative races, something that has helped them survive in Regnum Armis. Racial Bonus
  • 10% faster learning of crafting skills.
  • 5% resistance to all magic.
  • Can reuse things from different races with time & penalties.
  • Jack of all trades.
  • Very diverse population
Of all the races I looked at this was the only one not to have a bonus to an attribute. This meant that they would be weaker when it comes to that specific type, but the fact that humans could use things, whatever that now specifically meant, from other races sounded like it could make my life much easier. With the faster learning of crafting and arcane compendium that could register recipes sounded like a strong combo. But that may make me stuck as a crafter, which was not something I wanted. Despite this I decided that the plain human was the race for me, I simply didn¡¯t want the downsides the other races have. I pressed the confirm button on the right menu to confirm my choice, after which I got another popup asking if I was sure about my choice, and that I could not change it. I instantly pressed yes since I felt that I had been there for way too long, I wanted to get to finding Sarah quickly. After I did this I got to modify my character. In games previously, I had always made a conscious choice to make my character as silly as I could, you would not want to see my Dunk Souls character, but obviously that was not going to be my strategy here, since this was my life now.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. I changed my hair to be raven black shoulder length hair, I always wished I could grow longer hair but poor genes is a bitch, therefore I had kept it short before. I wasn¡¯t displeased with my body so I decided to keep my slim muscular body. It¡¯s not like I was a beefcake but I¡¯d never liked that look either so no losses there. I noticed that there were more mature sliders as well, but decided it¡¯s better to leave that as is, it hadn¡¯t let me down before so no need to change it. I always wanted more unique eyes so I changed them to ice blue instead of the blue-greenish eyes I had. I decided to also leave my length as it was, I wasn¡¯t too tall nor too short. Satisfied with my looks I decided it was time to move on and confirmed my choice.
Would you like to be judged by the past? This can either be good or bad, giving you stats depending on the life you¡¯ve lived. This choice is irreversible and you will have to live with your choice.
Yes No
This puzzled me and I didn¡¯t know what to do. My past was not something I was proud of but at the same time I was healthy and pretty fit. The stat increase would definitely be helpful to start with and give me an advantage. I couldn¡¯t figure out something that would decrease my stats so I decided to gamble and pressed yes.
You shall be judged
  • High school dropout
    • -3 intelligence
  • Street smart
    • +2 intelligence & +1 dexterity
  • Orphan
    • -1 charisma
  • Had way too many girlfriends
    • +2 charisma & -1 intelligence
  • Fit body
    • +2 strength & +1 constitution
  • Protector
    • +2 constitution
  • Salesman
    • +1 charisma
  • Faced the judgement and ended with more positive than negative stats.
    • +2 to luck
You have been judged! Final stats changes.
  • + 2 to strength
  • + 3 to constitution
  • + 1 to dexterity
  • + 2 to luck
  • + 2 to charisma
  • - 2 to intelligence
Phew, that could have turned out worse but luckily my stats were increased, well most of them anyway. Who cared if I had dropped out of high school, I had a sister to take care off, and school wasn¡¯t making me any money. Finally I had to confirm again that I was satisfied with my character, it was definitely getting on my nerves. Instantly I felt myself transfer, this time I didn¡¯t even wait, I just closed my eyes, knowing that the white light was coming to force my eyes close so it could make the transition. ¡°Hello there young man¡± I heard a cheerful deep voice say. When I opened my eyes there was an older man standing in front of me. I¡¯d guess he was around 60 years old, he was almost bald with white very short hair stridden around his head. His facial hair showed another image, an imperial mustache of epic proportions. ¡°Eh, hello there old man?¡± I uttered a bit confused. ¡°Names Gerald, I¡¯m here to help you choose your starting equipment.¡± ¡°Hello Gerald, I didn¡¯t know I get free equipment. So where¡¯s the equipment?¡± I asked, I¡¯ve played a lot of games so I should be able to make a better choice than most. Gerald snapped his fingers and suddenly rows and rows of armor appeared, with signs sorting them into groups, there were also tables of items and racks of weapons. ¡°The way this works is that you get 200 points to spend however you wish, any points that remain will be turned into money at the rate of 10 silver per point. Do not worry about that though, you will not gain money by not spending any points and trying to buy equipment of the same value in the world.¡± Gerald explained. That was definitely good to know, meant I didn¡¯t have to consider that aspect. I started walking to the first sets of armor, they were arranged in sets of armor, divided by clothes, light, medium, heavy and plate, funny how they couldn¡¯t come up with a last category. Clothes seemed to be regular clothes not to be used in combat, light was the typical cloth caster clothes, medium was leather with the occasional mail, heavy was the typical warrior mail armor, and lastly plate was¡­ well plate armor. I pressed my finger to a glove, hoping to see the stats.
Shit leather gloves Type: Gloves - medium. Quality: Poor. Defence: 1 Durability: 10/20 Weight: 0.2kg - 0.4 lbs
Well, those were quite self explanatory. Not that I expected too much from the lane where each piece costs 1 point. This was going to be a hard choice that would take way too fucking long. Damn, all I wanted was to go ingame and find Sarah, but I knew I couldn¡¯t rush this. Too not spend too long figuring this out, I decided to try to budget. I could spend maybe a 100 points on armor, 50 on weapon and 50 on items, that was a good place to start. Having decided this, I walked over to the lane where a full set costs 100 points and start to look at them.
Silk Woven Cloth Set Type: Set of armor - light Quality: Common. Defence: 12 Durability: n/a look at individual pieces Weight; 3kg - 6.6lbs Attributes: +1 Intelligence +1 Dexterity +1 Constitution
When I looked at each piece individually I found that the chest, leggings and helmet, well cowl in this case were the pieces with stats. The stats seemed to favour some mix between mage and rogue, so a spellsword? Needing something to reference it too I decided to look at the heavy armor.
Drakkens Mail Set Type: Set of armor - heavy Quality: Common. Defence: 37 Durability: n/a look at an individual piece Weight: 24kg - 53 lbs Attributes: +2 Strength +1 Constitution
This armor set was much heavier, my interest peaked I quickly glanced at the plate armor and saw that it weighed a hefty 20kg (44lbs), not something to scoff at. It would be bulky and heavy to lift and fight in, I wondered if there were any other downsides and decided to ask Gerald, who¡¯d been stalking me all this time. ¡°Hey Gerald, so I get that heavy armor weighs more but is there any other negative aspects to it?¡± ¡°Ah, I was wondering when you¡¯d come to your senses and ask for my expertise. To answer your question, yes. Not only does it slow you down physically but it also hinders your spellcraft. The time to cast times and gather mana will be slower. These negative effects will be lowered with time, as your skill progresses. The heavily armored battle mages of Astralax are some of the most fierce mages in Regnum Armis.¡± Gerald explain, all the while sounding like a snarky wise old man. ¡°Oh yeah, how do I get spells? I need to get some soul magic.¡± I asked excitedly, ignoring his snarky first comment. ¡°That is a rather complicated question, let me start by explaining the way magic manifests in the world. First of all, the different categories: The most common type of magic is what we call peasant magic, rude name I know but once a name sticks¡­ anyway, a lot of people have this type of magic, it does not belong to any school and can be most anything, it usually is a magic that develops depending on your needs. For example a cow herder can develop an ability that makes his voice soothing to animals, or a farmer can learn to understand a bit more about his crop and its needs. After that we have crafting magic, this is a very hands on magic and include schools like alchemy, enchanting and crystal magic. ¡° ¡°Wait, alchemy is a type of magic? Isn¡¯t brewing potions a physical thing, mixing the right herbs and so on?¡± I interrupted the old man. ¡°Lower level alchemy is just as you say, but to achieve more potent potions and to perform transmutations, magic is needed. ¡° He explained with a slight annoyance in his voice. I simply nodded my understanding and gestured for him to continue. ¡°The third category is elemental magic, this is just as it sounds, fire, ice, water and such. Lastly we have what is commonly known as unique magic, whilst these aren¡¯t unique to one person they are very rare and don¡¯t fit into other categories. For example portal magic and the soul magic you need.¡± Damn this magic system was complex, and some of the schools were unique, did that mean I couldn¡¯t learn them? I guessed that I had to find a way to get crystals instead to power my phone... arcane compendium,.. Not really sure what to call it. ¡°Is there any way I can spend my points to start off with soul magic?¡± I asked. ¡°First we¡¯d have to know if you have an affinity for it, the stronger your affinity the more chance you¡¯ll be able to learn it. Put out your hand, palm up.¡± I did as I was asked, wondering how this was going to turn out, and what he was going to do. Gerald took out a teal powder and sprinkled it in my hand. The powder gathered in a pile in the center of my hand, cooling my skin under it. I looked at Gerald and saw his eyes shift into an intense gray colour. The powder suddenly pierced my skin, pain flooded up my arm, fuck Gerald had betrayed me. I tried to stop it but couldn¡¯t help but scream in agony as the final piece of dust penetrated my skin.. ¡°Ohh¡­ Sorry about that, I didn¡¯t think it would work so I didn¡¯t measure how much I poured into your hand. Here this should help.¡± Gerald apologised holding out a hand covered in green light that swept over me like fog on a windy day. Suddenly I felt good as new, like there hadn¡¯t been any pain at all. Healing spells, useful, I¡¯d have to get one soon. ¡°But I can tell that you have an affinity for soul magic, and to apologise properly you can get the school for 150 points, instead of 200, which is the normal rate. ¡°Fine I¡¯ll take it¡± I growled, my hand still hurting. But I did get a good deal out of it so that¡¯s got to be worth something. My budget now changed i decided to go back and get a medium armour set for 30 points, it didn¡¯t have any special stats gave me but it gave 14 defence at least. With a meesely 20 points left I walked to the weapon side of the room. There were so many awesome looking weapons that I had no clue how to use, not that I really knew how to use any of them. I picked up a simple sword and tested it in my hands. Honestly it felt rather sluggish, and off balance. Well, it was no surprise really, it was of poor quality since it only cost 6 points. I put it back and wondered what I should do. That''s when I saw it, a black and red scythe with a beautifully curved handle. I picked it up and it felt so right in my hands, I just knew I had to have it. I looked at the price tag and my heart sank when I saw that the price was a whopping 120 points. ¡°Any chance I could get a discount?¡± I said cautiously. ¡°Not a chance.¡± he replied sternly. ¡°Hey, you caused me immense pain, cut me some slack and make me a deal!¡± ¡°There is no way I can let you have a 120 point weapon for 20 points, no way!¡± ¡°What about 200 points for the magic and the scythe? That seems like a more fair deal.¡± ¡°Not happening.¡± I knew I had to have that scythe, it was like it was calling to me. There had to be a way around this, I¡¯ve been dealing way too long to not win this deal for myself, I just had to use what I had. Then it struck me, my soulstone. ¡°What if I trade you this soulstone as well¡± I said as I dug out the soulstone from my pocket. ¡°Hmm, now we are talking, what level is that stone?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a common one.¡± I said, hoping it would be enough. ¡°Deal, 200 points and the soulstone for soul magic and the scythe.¡± He said grasping my hand to shake it. This meant I had to enter in my current clothes with no armour or items, but I had a feeling the scythe would be worth it, that¡¯s when I realized I hadn¡¯t even looked at the stats of it. I pressed my hands against it wishing to see the stats.
Crimson Scarlet Type: Sensor - Scythe Quality: Legendary Damage: 10-15 Durability: Depleted Charge: None Modifier: Unidentified Weight: 3kg (7.1 lbs) Attributes: Depleted
It was a legendary! But honestly it wasn¡¯t that good compared to some of the cheaper weapons I had looked at. It also had a strange type the others did not have, and what the heck does depleted mean, did he need that soulstone to power it? As these thoughts were racing through my mind I decided Gerald might be able to answer me. "Hey Gerald, what does Sensor mean? It says it is depleted, do I need to charge it with a soulstone?¡± ¡°You picked a weapon you had no clue what it is? Well, I refuse to spoil the surprise for you, and yes you need a soulstone or magic shards. Well you have been here long enough. Goodbye!¡± Gerald said sharply as he waved at me. Expecting it at this point I closed my eyes to avoid the light that meant I was being teleported somewhere I felt excited to finally start my new life in this fantasy world. Chapter 3 I found myself standing in an open meadow, not unlike the one I stood with Emerald in, just without all the animals. As I looked around I saw no people, a harsh start to this new world, I was gonna have to figure it out on my own. I had been in VR before so I figured I should see what held true and what didn¡¯t. Playing around I noticed I could easily summon my health, stamina and mana meters. Unlike VR there did not seem to be any virtual bag, but there was my lack luster equipment screen. I was still wearing my normal clothes, so just a t-shirt and some jeans, other than that I had my scythe and arcane compendium. My spellbook showed that I knew no spells but could learn rank 1 soul magic spells, and here I was hoping for some sweet magic to help me along. Finally I opened my character screen:
Character Status:
Name: Will Race: Human
Level: 1 Title: None
Health: 96 Hp Regen: 4/5sec
Stamina: 94 St Regen: 4/5sec
Mana: 72 Mp Regen: 2.5/5sec
Strength: 7 Intelligence: 3
Dexterity: 6 Wisdom: 5
Constitution: 8 Charisma: 7
Luck: 7
It looked good and my extra stats were sure to help me along, I was a bit lacking in spell casting but considering I had no spells that didn¡¯t seem like a problem. Onto my next problem, I had no clue where I was or how to use a scythe as a weapon. Seeing as I had nothing I could do about it I decided to move on to find someone or something. After looking up at the sun I figured it was around dawn and decided to head towards the sun, vaguely east as I could use that landmark to not walk around in a circle. The shrubbery and trees made traveling a pain but I eventually found an animal path heading in my direction and decided to follow it. Through my limited experience of hunting with a few buddies I figured it was probably an elk trail or something of similar size. I stopped abruptly a few hours later when I heard voices coming from further along the trail. The sound was guttural and sounded angry. I could make out at least two distinct voices as I moved towards them.. ¡°Get away from me!¡± I suddenly heard a third voice say, this one I could understand. I quickened my pace and as I moved forward and saw a glade with two goblins standing under a tree shouting. In the tree I saw a terrified young man, he held out a sword towards the goblins, but it was obvious to all that he had no clue how to use it. Deciding I could not let the first human I saw die I started sneaking towards the goblins. As I was closing in on the goblins the man spotted me so I put my finger to my lips in the universal shut the fuck up motion in order to not have him give away my posistion. To my surprise he actually started taunting the goblins and going lower to distract them. As he taunted them I attacked, with all my might I swung my scythe, point first, into the bigger of the goblins heads. The point easily punched through the goblins head and splattered blood and brains all over the other goblin. Will strike Goblin in the head, Sneak Attack + Critical hit deals 300 damage, Goblin dies. I did not expect that to be as easy as it was, but there was still another goblin standing. The other goblin turned towards me, wiping his face of his comrade. He roared and charged me, swinging his axe, instinctively I raised my scythe and blocked the blow on my handle. I released my right hand from the weapon letting his axe slide down the shaft as I use the butt to pummel the goblin in the head. Will pummels Goblin, Critical hit deals 20 damage, Goblin suffers concussion. The vibrations shook my hands so hard I almost lost my grip on the scythe. I quickly backed away from the goblin and grabbed my scythe with both hands again. The goblin staggered towards me getting ready to strike again. I used my superior range to strike with another stab, I aimed for his head but it ended up only striking him with the handle as he moved into my reach. Will¡¯s handle hit Goblin in the head, Critical hit deals 15 damage. The goblin moved quickly in for a strike but I backpedaled which made his axe only graze me, still hurt like hell though. Goblin strike grazes Will¡¯s stomach for 13 damage. My scythe was behind the goblin so I pulled it towards me, the scythes sharp blade went straight through half of his stomach, almost splitting him in two. Will cuts Goblin through the stomach, Critical hit deals 200 damage, Goblin dies. Goblin level 3 grants 55 xp, Goblin level 4 grants 58 xp. Congratulations, you¡¯ve learned the Scythe weapon skill. Congratulations your Scythe skill has leveled up to level 2. Penetration power increased by 2%. Grass, fear me! I fell back on my ass and panted from the exertion. I then noticed my notification box in the lower left of my vision, slightly opaque until I focus on it. Hell yeah I learned my first skill. I had to check it out later as the man was coming down from the tree he was hiding in. I finally got a closer look at him and saw he had dirty blond hair slightly longer than mine. He was wearing a robe that probably used to be white but was filled with dirt and grass staines. ¡°Thanks for the save, don¡¯t think I¡¯d make it out of there without you.¡± He shouted and flashed me a smile. ¡°God I hate goblins.¡± ¡°No problem, I just wanted to help.¡± I said cautiously, having no clue how the natives interact. ¡°You seemed to take them out cleanly, are you a soldier by any chance?¡± ¡°Hate to break it to you but no, not even close, I actually took a hit as well.¡± I said as I finally looked at the gash across my stomach. It wasn¡¯t deep but bled quite a bit and hurt like hell. ¡°Let me help with that.¡± The man said as he raised his hands, palms towards me and muttering something I couldn¡¯t hear. A white light suddenly enveloped my stomach and I felt a pleasing warmth from it. It reminded me of taking a hot bath after being out in the cold for too long. Man heals Will for 30 health. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.¡°Shit, you¡¯re a healer, thank you!¡± ¡°Once again, I am the one that should be thanking you, and of course to you go the spoils. How could I forget the spoils, there were goblins that needed looting. I got up and walked towards the closest goblin I had just slayed. In terms of armour he was wearing a shabby leather vest and kilt, commando mode. I took the vest and kilt, avoiding looking closely at the goblin as I did so.
Goblin Leather Vest Type: Chest - medium. Requirement: Goblin Quality: Poor. Defence: 3 Durability: 5/20 Weight: 3kg - 6.6 lbs
Goblin Cloth Kilt Type: Legs - light. Requirement: Goblin Quality: Poor. Defence: 1 Durability: 8/20 Weight: 1kg - 2.2 lbs
They were both pretty bad I couldn¡¯t see myself trying them on, seeing as they were too small for me. What was worth a damn was the 2 silver I found in the pockets. I also picked up the axe but knew I wouldn¡¯t exchange my scythe for it so I just carried it all over to the other dead goblin. I immediately noticed his gear looked better and he had a ring on one of his fingers. All in all he had a vest, some bracers, a ring, axe and a kilt.
Goblin Cloth Kilt Type: Legs - light. Requirement: Goblin Quality: Poor. Defence: 1 Durability: 8/20 Weight: 1kg - 2.2 lbs
Goblin Leather Vest Type: Chest - medium. Requirement: Goblin Quality: Common. Defence: 5 Durability: 10/20 Weight: 4kg - 8.8 lbs
Iron Ring of Strength Type: Chest - medium. Quality: Common. Durability: 15/20 Attributes: +1 Strength
Goblin Leather Bracers Type: Chest - medium. Requirement: Goblin Quality: Common. Defence: 2 Durability: 13/20
Finally some useful loot. I instantly put on the ring and decided to try to put on the bracers. At first it seemed like the bracer really was too small to fit me, but to my surprise the bracer grew to fit me, it was not perfect by any means but it still fit. Racial skill used, you¡¯ve learned the skill Goblin Armor level 1.Armor is worn with 30% penalty to stats and 10% penalty to speed. You now know what it¡¯s like to be inside them¡­ Finally I knew what that skill did and it was awesome. Knowing this I decided to take the leather vest as well and equip it. I took my time checking the pockets and found 4 silver coins and a healing potion.
Small Potion of Healing Type: Consumable Quality: Common Use: Heals you for 15 hp
I decided to put the potion in the pocket of my newly equipped vest, but noticed that I had no clue how I was supposed to carry all the other gear I''d picked up. The man saw my issue and held out a small pouch towards me. Not knowing how it would help I sceptically took it from him.
Small Bag of Holding Type: Container Quality: Common Capacity: 10kg Use: Lets you carry up to 10 kg at 10% of the weight.
Shit, a bag of holding already, awesome! I stuffed the pouch with all the gear I had found and no matter what I put in the bag stayed the same size, magic is awesome ¡°Thanks man!¡± I said cheerfully. ¡°Once again, you did save my life so it is the least I could do, but honestly a bag like that is only worth around 1 gold coin where I am from.¡± He said reassuringly. Having no real clue about the economy of this world I couldn¡¯t say whether that was a lot or not. So far I¡¯d gotten 6 silver and gaming knowledge told me 100 silver was the same as 1 gold. Either way it was great to have a bag and some money, I¡¯ve got to hit a town sooner or later. ¡°So, who are you?¡± the man suddenly asked me. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m Will, short for William. What about you?¡± ¡°Kamina, you can call me Kam if you want to but either is fine.¡± He said nonchalantly. ¡°So what are you doing here Kam? Being chased into a tree by goblins.¡± I inquired. ¡°Ah, that, long story short, I¡¯m here with a caravan to sanctify Castrum in Caelum, or Heaven¡¯s Castle as it is known. Damn priest always having us study the ancient language, makes speaking to non-priest a lot harder. Like is there anything wrong with just calling Heaven¡¯s Castle.¡± He started going off on a rant. ¡°Yes I get it, damn priests, but what happened to your caravan?¡± ¡°Oh, they¡¯re all dead¡± He said with a deadpan voice.. Slightly worried that I was dealing with a psychopath I timidly asked ¡°And you¡¯re okay with that?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like they were good people, money grabbing merchants who apparently saved a pretty penny on security. I would suggest not going back to the caravan, these goblins you¡¯ve killed are babies in comparison to the warriors who hit the caravan, needless to say I legged it away from there.¡± ¡°Well, then where should we go? I don¡¯t know this area very well.¡± ¡°Probably best to head towards the castle, but best to avoid the main road, the castle still needs sanctifying.¡± Seeing as I had no better plan I simply replied: ¡°Lead the way.¡± We started walking towards the east, threading through though terrain of brambles and other plants with the occasional animal path to follow. On the way we heard goblins talking to each other and detoured a bit to avoid confronting them. With no way for me to ascertain their level and power before they die, I couldn¡¯t risk them killing me when I had finally found somewhat of a guide to help me in this new crazy new world. Instead we simply walked around them, lucky for us, goblins are a noisy bunch. Kam told me that the higher trained goblins are excellent sneaks but these bunch were just a random raiding party. Eventually the woods gave way for a rocky landscape of sandstone and gravel. Trees became scarce and the terrain was dotted with hills and inclines. That made it a pain to traverse. Night was approaching and the risk for accidents would be higher during the night, so we decided to find shelter and call it a night. Kamina told me that caves were quite common and would offer the best shelter against the wind which plagued us. We started traversing the harsh landscape. The further we traveled the more downhill we were going. The hills and inclines became a canyon with serpentine roads going along the sides. Luckily the cliffs weren¡¯t too steep but falling of the paths would probably still kill you. Kam told me that there was a bigger path further to the north with a bridge passing over the river at the bottom of the canyon, and that we would have to go across it tomorrow. Turns out finding a cave that is adequately large for both of us was harder than it would seem. Kamina wanted to stay away from the larger caves as animals were prevalent in those but he also didn¡¯t want a shallow cave. Eventually night came and we ended up in a cave quite far down the canyon. It was also off the beaten path so nobody should stumble across us. To Kam¡¯s dismay the cave was deeper than he would have liked, as we could not see the far wall but our feet were too tired to try and find another. I decided we needed a fire, not only for heat but to be able to see anything. I took the goblin axe out my bag of holding and walked to a patch of trees not to far away from the cave. I found a smaller tree which I decided to cut down. Congratulations, you¡¯ve learned the skill Lumberjack. +1% penetration power. Penetrate that bark. Awesome, more abilities, but what was with these horrible jokes, if they could even be called that. After cutting down the tree we had plenty of wood to start and keep a small fire. I had a small problem though; I had no way to light it. ¡°Need a hand with that?¡± Kam asked. ¡°Definitely, I have no clue how to light it without matches, not in my repertoire.¡± ¡°No problem, lucky for you I happen to know a fire spell, my one and only.¡± Kamina snaps his fingers and a small ball of fire appeared in his hand. ¡°Really the snapping isn¡¯t necessary but I do love theatrics.¡± He said giggling a bit. Kamina then let the ball fall down towards the stacked logs. As the ball touched the logs they instantly caught fire and showered the cave in light. Finally, we could see something in this cave. When I looked deeper into the cave, I could see a pair of ominous stone doors with carvings on them. ¡°Not good.¡± Kamina whispered, losing his grin.