《World Master》 Prologue I grinned as Set appeared in front of me, finally proving to the people around me that I wasn¡¯t insane. I had accidentally let it slip around 4 months ago about the message and gotten myself locked up in here for therapy. Luckily. I had everything ready, and now all I had to do was leave. ¡°Hey, sport,¡± Set said, grinning at my new room at the hospital. I had been transferred here, along with all the information that I had prepared, in the therapist¡¯s attempt to prove that Set wasn¡¯t coming to get me. ¡°Is this all the stuff that you wish to bring?¡± Set asked. ¡°Were you expecting more?¡± ¡°I really expected less,¡± he said, shrugging.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have a godly memory. It is only to be expected that I would need a copy of it all.¡± I retorted, ¡°Actually, why did you get chosen to speak with me anyway?¡± ¡°I am your great great great grandfather and am also your closest godly relative.¡± At that moment, there was a pounding on the door as the doctor tried to get in. Ignoring the noise, Set asked, ¡°Are you ready to leave? You won¡¯t be able to send anything back here after you leave for at least several thousand years, your time.¡± ¡°Yeah, be sure to take everything in this room. I don¡¯t mind not sending things back.¡± Right in the instant between my saying those words and Set acting on them, the people outside broke down the door and 3 people stumbled into the room. The last thing I saw was before we disappeared was their shocked faces as they came to the realization that I had been right the entire time. Chapter 1 After what felt like an eternity and a few seconds wrapped into one, I saw the taste of a banana¡¯s sound and materialized in a seemingly endless void, with just Set and the papers to keep me company. Then as I opened my mouth to speak, the three people also showed up. There were two men and a woman, all of whom I had been introduced to in the last two days on earth. The men were Dr. Bastien, a psychologist, and Dr. Stanton, an MD called in case I grew stressed. The woman was Dr. Larkens, a teacher from my hometown who was apparently there for emotional support. As I watched all the colors on them faded to monochrome, leaving them with black hair and white skin, with gray eyes. ¡°What are they doing here?¡± I asked. ¡°They were in the room when we left. I figured that you would want to bring them, too.¡± ¡°Well I didn¡¯t, send them back.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do that. I already explained it to you. Nothing can be sent back for at least several hundred years. They are here to stay.¡± ¡°Ok, then what are they supposed to do here?¡± ¡°Keep you company? Do the things that you find too tedious to do?¡± Set responded. ¡°You realize that we can hear you, right?¡± Dr. Stanton spoke up, probably annoyed that we were discussing his purpose without asking his opinion.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Then you all can tell us what you can do,¡± Set said. Dr. Bastien spoke first. ¡°It is my understanding that you are supposed to be building your own world, based on the reports. Is this correct?¡± ¡°Yes. All these papers are the ideas that I have come up with for the world.¡± ¡°What kind of world do you plan on making?¡± Dr. Larkens asked. ¡°I want a fantasy RPG world.¡± ¡°Then that makes everything astoundingly simple. If nothing else, we can be your beta testers.¡± Dr. Bastien replied after a couple of seconds. ¡°We also each have our own specialties,¡± said Dr. Stanton, ¡°I understand the human body really well. I am sure that such a thing would be useful if you want people to inhabit your world.¡± ¡°I could help you understand their minds, which will help you know beforehand if there is a problem in the direction their society is headed,¡± said Dr. Bastien. ¡°And I can help you to steer them in the right direction if they are getting off track,¡± chimed in Dr. Larkens. ¡°Ok, so those all work for me, now I just need to know how to actually go about building a world.¡± ¡°Really, you just need to be able to imagine something in enough detail that it can exist,¡± Set replied. ¡°Well that¡¯s really helpful,¡± I said, ¡°You should totally teach a class on this stuff. Please remind me of the exact steps.¡± ¡°Just assemble your basic knowledge about something and this space will do it¡¯s best to imitate it.¡± Concentrating on what I really wanted right now, I smiled as I felt them materialize in my hands. ¡°Really?!? You made Thin Mints? You couldn¡¯t come up with anything better to make?¡± ¡°What? I¡¯m hungry.¡± Chapter 2 After they got over the fact that the only thing I could think to make was Thin Mints, I finally got to try them. They tasted exactly right, likely because I had once memorized the ingredients when I was feeling bored a few years before. ¡°Are you actually going to make something useful?¡± Set asked. ¡°Sure,¡± I said, imagining a rock, and when it appeared in my hands, tossing it to him. ¡°And what is this supposed to be?¡± ¡°The first rock in the world. I¡¯m sure that it will one day be some kind of holy relic.¡± ¡°How about something more immediately helpful?¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I said, waving my hand and causing a much, much, larger rock to appear, ¡°Now we have our first planet. What do we do now?¡± ¡°Maybe we should make it inhabitable?¡± ¡°And what is needed for that?¡± ¡°Start with an atmosphere. That will help with everything else.¡± ¡°Next?¡± I asked, creating it. ¡°A star for it to orbit would likely be helpful. Also, add a moon while you¡¯re at it.¡± ¡°Then turn the outside into actual soil, instead of solid stone.¡± ¡°Next after that, you can add plants!¡± Dr. Larkens interjected.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°And animals!¡± said Dr. Stanton, making sure his voice was heard. ¡°And¡ª¡± ¡°Whoa, slow down, I can only do one thing at a time,¡± I said, interrupting Dr. Bastien, ¡°And maybe I should add an ocean before I give it plants? I¡¯m no herbologist, but I don¡¯t think that plants can survive without water.¡± ¡°Technically,¡± Set said, ¡°you can do two things at once. You¡¯re just really bad at it.¡± ¡°For these purposes, no, I can¡¯t do two things at once,¡± I responded, before proceeding to ignore him as I did everything that was suggested. ¡°Are you going to have humans on this world?¡± ¡°Yes, It makes sense, since I know them the best. I will have Humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and beastkin in this tier of worlds.¡± ¡°Tier?¡± Set asked. ¡°Oh, yeah,¡± I said, stopping what I was doing, ¡°I never fully explained my plans. I plan on having nine tiers of worlds, with nine worlds each. In each world, the world will be best suited for a specific species. As you increase in world tier, the species grow more powerful, ranging from humans and elves to angels and dragons. ¡°It will be relatively easy to travel between worlds of the same tier. I am planning on installing 6 sets of portals on each world, one set on each major axis, and using those as transports to the corresponding circle on each of the eight other worlds in that tier,¡± by now, they were all staring at me with their mouth gaping open. Rolling my eyes at them, I continued, ¡°If someone has completed an important quest in each world, then they will be given the ability to, once per week, respawn if they die from unnatural causes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s rather well thought out,¡± said Set, regaining his composure. ¡°Why do you sound so surprised?¡± I asked, feeling slightly offended at his tone. ¡°Well, I am your closest relative and one of the most disorderly gods of all time. Do you even really need me here?¡± ¡°Really, all I need is to know how to fold space so that people can¡¯t easily skip between tiers. That would just put weak people where they couldn¡¯t survive, and strong creatures where they could easily dominate those around them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s easy,¡± he replied, laughing, ¡°You know that demonstration that they had on your old world that used a sheet of paper to show how a warp drive would work? How it would bend space in front of it to make the distance seem shorter? You ever notice how it creates a valley? Imagine folding it the other direction. Nothing¡¯s getting past that without a lot of effort. Toodles!¡± and then he disappeared, still laughing. Chapter 3 ¡°Hey, I still wanted to ask you¡ª¡± I yelled, then sighed, ¡°And he¡¯s gone.¡± Turning toward the doctors, I had a thought: ¡°Hey, since I¡¯m likely to send the next several hundred years with you, can I use your first names when talking to you?¡± ¡°Sure, I¡¯m Lucien,¡± said Dr. Bastien. ¡°I¡¯m Titania,¡± said Dr. Larkens. ¡°And I¡¯m Oberon,¡± Dr. Stanton. ¡°And I guess you already know that I¡¯m John. Also, really? You two are named after the High Queen and King of the Faeries?¡± I asked. ¡°Apparently, they are.¡± ¡°You two now have to be the beta testers for the Faerie race.¡± ¡°Please, please, tell me that faeries are an overpowered race that you won¡¯t get to for a few hundred years,¡± said Titania. ¡°It will probably be a few decades before we get there. They should be at least tier 3,¡± I responded, ¡°they are almost all magical, so they are rather strong as a race. Even as individuals they are at least tier 2, when they work together they are exponentially more powerful.¡± ¡°What kind of magic will humans have?¡± asked Lucien ¡°Humans will often be born with natural Aura or Qi abilities. They will also be very rarely born with mana affinity. I plan on making all the races in the first tier like that.¡± ¡°And what was it you said about RPG stuff?¡± ¡°Oh, yes, everyone will have stats, skills, classes, and other such things. They will even be able to create abilities. They get to name the ones that they make, but the names will go through us first,¡± Waving my hand, mainly for dramatic effect, I made a stack of nine sheets of paper appear in front of them, ¡°This is what an average young adult¡¯s stat table will look like for the basic races.¡±
Name John Smith Race: Human
Classes: Varies Level: 5, 500 XP to next level
Health: 200/200 Stamina: 200/200
Aura: 100/100 Mana(if applicable): 100/100
Fate: 0 - 36 Perk Points: 5
Spirit: 5/5 Karma Points: Varies, average 0
Vitality 10 Intelligence: 12
Endurance 10 Wisdom: 10
Constitution 10 Willpower 13Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Strength 10 Perception 10
Nat. Armor 1 Charisma 8
Agility 10 Focus 8
Aesthetic Appeal 10 Luck 10
Undistributed stat points: 40
Skills:
Cooking
Name John Smith Race: Merkin
Classes: Varies Level: 10, 1000 XP to next level
Health: 200/200 Stamina: 200/200
Aura: 100/100 Mana(if applicable): 100/100
Fate: 0 - 36 Perk Points: 10
Spirit: 5/5 Karma Points: Varies, average 0
Vitality 10 Intelligence: 12
Endurance 10 Wisdom: 10
Constitution 13 Willpower 10
Strength 16 Perception 10
Nat. Armor 3 Charisma 8
Agility 8 Focus 8
Aesthetic Appeal 10 Luck 10
Undistributed Stat Points: 80
Skills:
Swimming
Name John Smith Race: Tigerkin, 800 XP to next level
Classes: Varies Level: 8
Health: 200/200 Stamina: 200/200
Aura: 100/100 Mana(if applicable): 100/100
Fate: 0 - 36 Perk Points: 8
Spirit: 5/5 Karma Points: Varies, average 0
Vitality 10 Intelligence: 12
Endurance 10 Wisdom: 10
Constitution 10 Willpower 10
Strength 12 Perception 12
Nat. Armor 1 Charisma 8
Agility 15 Focus 6
Aesthetic Appeal 10 Luck 10
Undistributed Stat Points: 64
Skills:
Running Climbing
The tables for the other races* looked much the same, the races being Humans, Gnomes, Halflings, Dwarves, Orcs, Merkin, Wolfkin, Tigerkin, and Bearkin. *The other races¡¯ status screens won¡¯t be shown just yet, partially because I¡¯m still working on them, and partially because I would be accused of trying to inflate my word count if I displayed 9 nearly identical tables in a single chapter. ¡°Why are the levels different?¡± asked Oberon. ¡°They will live in different environments for one,¡± I responded, ¡°And a tigerkin would be more predatorial than a human or dwarf would be, while the most dangerous creatures live in the very deep oceans, where the merkin are the only creatures capable of easily getting to them, and are also the closest food source.¡± Chapter 4 ¡°What are these stats? Why don¡¯t I recognize all of them?¡± asked Titania, prompting me to wave my hand again, causing another sheet of paper to appear in front of them.
Stats: Purpose Additional Effects Gaining
Vitality Affects total health 1 vitality is 20 health Leveling, getting hurt until near death
Health Hits you can take
Endurance Affects total stamina 1 endurance is 20 stamina Leveling, pushing your limits on how long you can work
Stamina Amount of time you can work
Strength Affects strength that you can put behind your movements 1 strength is 12 lbs of force you can output Leveling, pushing the limits of what you can carry
Constitution Affects passive healing ability 1 constitution equals 0.01 health regen per second Leveling, resisting poisons
Resistance Affects the durability of your body 1 resistance means -1 damage from all attacks, costs 8 points to increase by one Leveling, getting hurt continuously
Agility Affects the precision of movements involving your legsThis book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Leveling, running, dancing, stuff that requires it
Aesthetic appeal Enhances physical appearance 10 makes you an average person Leveling
Intelligence Affects mental processing ability and total mana 1 intelligence is 10 mana or aura Leveling, learning, stuff that requires it
Wisdom Affects mental flexibility and mana regen rate 1 wisdom equals 0.01 mana regen per second Leveling, finding hidden truths, constantly reducing mana so it is used
Willpower Allows you to go beyond your natural limits, albeit with severe recovery debuffs 1 willpower is 15 points of mana, aura, or stamina beyond limits Leveling, pushing beyond the imposed limits, modifying abilities
Perception Ability to experience things more clearly Leveling, searching for stuff, admiring artwork
Charisma Amplifies your natural charm and beauty Leveling, being social
Spirit The energy of your soul 1 spirit equals 25 mana/aura, can¡¯t increase with free points Leveling
Luck Allows you to participate in random probability events Critical hit chance Leveling
Karma What goes around comes around again. Used by higher powers to give you rewards and punishments as needed Doing good things increases it, bad things decreases it
Focus Allows greater focus on specific things Leveling, focusing on things
Fate Can be used to force an event to upgrade itself to impact other people more You have a simple gathering quest and use 100 points to upgrade it and so meet a prince who you can either befriend or make an enemy of Leveling, 1 every six months
¡°I might add more stats later, especially for different races that will be able to do more. I might also remove stats for some races.¡± ¡°How does the Karma system work?¡± asked Lucien, ¡°Is it random? If someone goes through something horrible, will they have better karma?¡± ¡°If someone does a lot of minor bad things, they might just have a day where birds think they look a lot like a statue and be covered in shit. If they are a good person who went through the same thing, they might find a gold coin on the ground. If they then turn around and give it to charity, they might get more Karma points. Additionally, we can take control of their karma directly to give punishments and rewards.¡± ¡°What if we give them too much?¡± asked Titania ¡°They will be fined a certain amount of karma, but it will not affect them seriously, regardless of how much they lose,¡± I responded, ¡°After all, it isn¡¯t their fault if we interfered with them.¡± ¡°What will all the races look like?¡± Oberon asked, finally looking away from the stat tables. ¡°The races will look basically like you would see in fiction on earth, you won¡¯t have any major changes just yet.¡± ¡°When will we build the remaining worlds? And can we actually build worlds without your assistance?¡± asked Lucien. Turning towards the next area that a world would go, I responded, ¡°There¡¯s only one way to find out really. Oberon, you want to try to make a world for the Dwarves?¡± He stepped forward, nodding and waving his hand. Chapter 5 A world appeared in front of us, already built, with nothing else to add to it. ¡°I went ahead and added everything at the same time,¡± he said, by way of explanation. ¡°Do we want to finish these worlds so that we can test them? I want to try exploring these worlds and test the system.¡± A few minutes later, we had built all the worlds in the first tier. The tigerkin got a jungle style world. The merkin world was rather similar to earth since the merkin were able to survive outside of water, we could have plenty of land for the more limited races. The orcs got a savanna, while the dwarves and gnomes had mountains, though the gnomes also had some forest. Halflings and bearkin also got forest worlds and the wolfkin got a fairly even mix of forest, tundra, and mountains. At the end of it, we accelerated the worlds, so that a day passed every minute for us so that they would begin developing while I finished the system I had designed for advancement to the next tier. ¡°The people who wish to advance to advance to the next tier will have to pass through a special dungeon located on their own world,¡± I explained, ¡°The dungeon will have a portal in it that will lead to a world full of Genii Loci, which are basically dungeon spirits, however, a Genius Loci can also be a force of good, and help those people. This will be the dungeon world. If you get through the world, you advance to the next tier. If not, you die and stay dead, regardless of if you have a respawn waiting.¡± ¡°If these Genii Loci are sentient, does that mean that they have the potential to advance as well?¡± asked Lucien.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea,¡± I said, realizing I¡¯d never even considered the possibility of dungeons advancing, ¡°Any suggestions?¡± ¡°What about them being able to advance to the next dungeon world after they¡¯ve either substantially helped or defeated enough people?¡± ¡°There was this book, written by some Romanian, called I Was Reincarnated As A Magic Academy, in which the main character is a Dungeon Lord, which is basically a dungeon that has a humanoid form, is able to explore, conquer other dungeons, and if they wish to, they can choose to settle down and build a new dungeon at almost any other location.¡± ¡°That sounds like a decent idea,¡± I responded, ¡°Though it might be difficult to implement, and there will need to be several limiting factors to them, otherwise they would be absolutely OP.¡± Once the dungeon world was built and populated, we returned to the main area in time to see a soul arrive from the planets below, reminding me that I had given everyone souls, but no alternative afterlife, which would mean that any souls would come straight to my personal area. I went and created a new type of world, an infinite plane, and filled it with spiritual energy. For the moment, reincarnation isn''t a necessary part of the world, so I left it so that they had plenty of art supplies and basic entertainment so that they might be able to give me ideas. Actually, that was a good Idea. I modified it so that everyone who entered the underworld would receive a quest to submit their criticisms of the system in exchange for a 2 point boost to a single stat if and when they reincarnated. I finished all of the 1st tier world stuff in a single week, and then we skipped the world ahead about 300 years before we went down to test the worlds, so that people would get past the tribal-state and establish proper governments (the original people we placed on the planet had the donated souls of people from the worlds of the other gods. As a result, they had some residual memories of civilization, which accelerated development). We each descended as a different species, with me as a tigerkin, Lucien as a dwarf, Oberon as an Orc, and Titania as a human. Chapter 6 I appeared in the jungle just after nightfall, about a 3 miles away from the large city that had been established in at the world portal. I was only wearing pants, due to the fact that tigerkin around here don¡¯t need or want to wear shirts since they live in a tropical climate, and they were often climbing trees anyway, and extra clothing increases the chance of something being snagged. As a tigerkin, I had a tiger¡¯s ears, eyes, tail, and claws. I had the coloration of a golden-furred variant and had made this body a 30-year-old male at level 18, which was a little bit above the average. I was white, since while there were black tigerkin, there were mostly white ones left, due to, you guessed it, racism. While they had stopped killing each other, this group wouldn¡¯t be as helpful if I was black, and their actions weren¡¯t what I wanted to test. I opened up my stat sheet, preparing to distribute my stats.
Name John Pitcher Race: Tigerkin
Classes: Jungle Runner, Crafter, Beta Tester (hidden), Aura Master, Mana Manipulator Level: 18, 1800 XP to next level
Health: 200/200 Stamina: 200/200
Aura: 150/150 Mana: 150/150
Fate: 60 Perk Points: 18
Spirit: 19/19 Karma Points: 3
Vitality 14 Intelligence: 15
Endurance 11 Wisdom: 12
Constitution 13 Willpower 10
Strength 12 Perception 12
Nat. Armor 1 Charisma 11
Agility 16 Focus 6
Aesthetic Appeal 15Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Luck 12
Undistributed Stat Points: 144
Skills:
Running lvl 8 Climbing lvl 5 Unarmed Combat lvl 7 Repair lvl 4
Beta Tester Passive (hidden) Aural Shield Lvl 3 Aural Blade lvl 4 Aura Manipulation lvl 6
Mana Manipulation Qi Spiral lvl 2 Mana Shield lvl 2 Qi Reinforced Body lvl 8
The passive for Beta Tester was something that I had added for the purposes of expediting the testing:
Skill: Description:
Beta Tester Passive Greatly increases the chance of someone to give you a quest of great importance. Increases speed of skill leveling
After distributing my points and modifying my skills using perk points, this is what I had:
Name John Pitcher Race: Tigerkin
Classes: Jungle Runner, Crafter, Beta Tester (hidden), Aura Master, Mana Manipulator Level: 18, 1800 XP to next level
Health: 520/520 Stamina: 400/400
Aura: 300/300 Mana: 300/300
Fate: 60 Perk Points: 0
Spirit: 19/19 Karma Points: 3
Vitality 26 Intelligence: 30
Endurance 20 Wisdom: 20
Constitution 24 Willpower 15
Strength 24 Perception 25
Nat. Armor 3 Charisma 24
Agility 25 Focus 14
Aesthetic Appeal 20 Luck 18
Undistributed Stat Points: 0
Skills:
Running lvl 6 (Main) Climbing lvl 4 (Main) Unarmed Combat lvl 7 Repair lvl 3 (Main)
Beta Tester Passive (Hidden) Aural Shield Lvl 2 (Main) Aural Blade lvl 4 Aura Manipulation lvl 6 (Main)
Mana Manipulation Qi Spiral lvl 2 Mana Shield lvl 1 (Main) Qi Reinforced Body lvl 8 (Main)
Jungle Movement lvl 3 (Sub) Tree Climbing lvl 2 (Sub) Magical Repair lvl 1 (Sub) Magical Aura Shield lvl 2 (Sub)
Mana Reinforced Body lvl 1 (Sub)
The only reasons that I was able to get as many extra skills as I had were due to the synergy between several skills and me accepting them at lowered levels. With that taken care of, I took off running towards the city just a couple miles away. * * * * * Arriving at the main gate on the nearer side of the city, Agrath, he wasn¡¯t surprised to be challenged, as it had become full dark while he was distributing his points. ¡°What are you called when among friends?¡± one of the guards called down. ¡°I¡¯m known as John Pitcher, a Runner and Aura Master, seeking battle in the Arena,¡± I told them, using my prepared excuse. The Arena was a sporting area, where warriors would battle in a competition event for gold rewards, and the winner of the tournament and the direct runner-up got to meet the king and get important quests from him. I planned on using this to show the people in this tier how they could advance, by going through the process myself and bringing people along so that they could return and share the process. Hopefully, I would eventually make it so that everyone is aware of the ability to ascend. One of the guards opened the small door and beckoned me forward into the light of his torch. I complied, and he studied my face for a minute before letting me through. On the inside were several wanted posters, showing why he examined me, to see if I was a criminal in a disguise. ¡°Know of a good place I can stay the night?¡± I asked ¡°If you want good food and board for cheap, I would suggest The Wandering Inn. If you want a truly luxurious stay, you can go to the Jade Dragon. It¡¯ll lighten your purse quite a bit, but it is the best place in the city. As a competitor in the Arena, you¡¯ll be given a room in the barracks for the duration of the event.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, heading into the relatively uncrowded streets, though there were a few people walking about, taking advantage of the racial night vision. Chapter 7 I ended up heading towards the Wandering Inn, as I didn¡¯t want to make myself seem like a good target for any thieves. Walking in, I went and spoke to the girl behind the food bar, who I noticed was human, not tigerkin, ¡°Hello, I¡¯m looking for a room, are you the innkeeper?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m Lyon, the barmaid, you need Erin,¡± she explained, pointing behind me towards another human girl that I hadn¡¯t noticed before, who was sitting at a table chatting with the customers. Going to the table, I asked, ¡°Are you Erin, the innkeeper of this place?¡± ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± she said, getting up and excusing herself from the conversation, ¡°What can I do for you?¡± ¡°I would like to rent a room here.¡± ¡°No problem,¡± Erin said brightly, ¡°We¡¯re fairly empty right now.¡± ¡°Right this way,¡± she said, leading me upstairs to the second floor. My room was just a couple doors down from the stairs. ¡°Would you like to take your meals in your room, or in the common room downstairs?¡± Erin asked. ¡°In my room. How much will it cost to rent the room for just the night and to get food?¡± ¡°2 gold coins,¡± she said, ¡°If you need something, I¡¯m downstairs the entire night and Lyon is the first room on the right from the stairs.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I said, paying her before going into my room and closing the door as she left. A couple of minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and I opened it to see Lyon holding a tray of food, namely beef stew, and salad. Taking it from her, I closed the door again and took the tray over to the table in the corner of the room before quickly eating the food. Picking up the tray, I brought it downstairs and gave it back to Lyon. After that was done, I went back to my room and went to sleep.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. * * * * . * In the morning, I woke to the smell of bacon and sausage. My stomach rumbling at the smell, I went downstairs, yawning. Stopping by the kitchen, I let Lyon and Erin know that I was awake and would take my breakfast in the common room before proceeding to sit at a table near the door. A couple minutes later, I received a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and french toast from Erin. Thanking her, I dug in, eager to get to the arena. Leaving the inn, I headed towards the large arena which was visible throughout this half of the city. There were market stalls set up near the entrance to the arena stands selling various concessions, from steak-on-a-stick to candy apples. There was even something that looked like popcorn. Near the competitor''s entrance, there were also vendors, but these were either healthier food items or the typical ¡°strengthening¡± elixirs and oils. I ignored these people as I walked through the entrance and into the admissions area. ¡°How do I sign up for the arena matches?¡± I asked the clerk manning the desk. ¡°What do you wish to sign up for?¡± he asked in response, ¡°We have armed and unarmed matches, team and individual.¡± ¡°Unarmed individual combat,¡± I responded. ¡°Are you comfortable with fighting women?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I said, shrugging. ¡°What do you prefer, fighting until submission or unconsciousness?¡± ¡°Either,¡± I responded, ¡°It will be good fighting either way.¡± ¡°Are you planning on fighting in the main tournament tomorrow?¡± ¡°Yes, what else would I be signing up for?¡± Clearly taking my question as rhetorical, the clerk filled out a form before speaking to me again, ¡°You¡¯re signed up for it, you just need to fill in your name on the form,¡± he said, sliding the paper across the desk. After filling out my name, I slid it back to him, ¡°Anything else I need to know?¡± ¡°You¡¯re expected to show up at the free-for-all at three this afternoon,¡± he told me, ¡°They will evaluate your ability, figure out the odds for betting and rank you on the charts.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be there.¡± Leaving, I decided to go out of the city to hunt for a few hours before it was time for me to compete in the arena. Along the way, I saw a weaponsmith and bought a bronze dagger and a skinning knife. I also got a quest from the leather worker and butcher I saw along the way. Apparently, horned rabbit meat and hides were quite popular, due to it being considered rude to other races to kill and eat bears and wolves. After getting the quests, I left the city. Chapter 8 I encountered the first horned rabbits about a mile out from the city. They were about twice the size of normal rabbits and had little nubs of horns in the center of their foreheads. The appeared to be omnivores, as while several of them were nibbling on the grass, there were also around a half dozen rabbits tearing into an unfortunate wolf that appeared to have stumbled onto them last night. I pulled up the quests that I had received from the craftsmen I had encountered on the way out of the city.
Quest: Collect 5 Horned Rabbit Skins
Difficulty: D
Quest Information: Thomas, the Leatherworker, has asked you to collect the skins of 5 horned rabbits, Repeatable
Rewards: 15 XP, 3 silver for every 5 skins delivered intact to Thomas
Quest: Collect 5 Horned Rabbits
Difficulty: D
Quest Information: Jason, the butcher, has asked you to bring him the bodies of 5 horned rabbits, Repeatable
Rewards: 15 XP, 5 silver for every 5 whole rabbits turned into Jason
They were both relatively easy* quests, plus I would be able to continue working on them until I ran out of time. And had to return to the arena. *here is the chart for the difficulty levels of quests and monsters. I meant to add it earlier, actually in the story, and I forgot. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Difficulty
Label Description
F Effortless
E Near Effortless
D Easy
C On Level
B Mildly Difficult
A Hard
S Heroic
SS Nightmare
SSS Legendary
SSSS Legendary Nightmare
I charged in, using the knife to stab the rabbits at the base of the skull, in an attempt to preserve the skins. With my high agility, I effortlessly killed 5 of them before they had even noticed me. When they did, they turned towards me, letting out what sounded like a high pitched squeal of rage. Wincing at the sound assaulting my feline ears, I distractedly noticed that the ones that had been eating the wolf had fangs in their mouths as they charged at me, clearly intending to bite me. The other rabbits were charging with their heads down, intending to ram me. I was in the center of the clearing, so they were coming at me from all sides, and so I decided to try something that I¡¯d always thought would look really cool. I waited until they were about to reach me then I did my best standing long jump to the edge of the clearing. Now, let me explain. While I was never a long jumper in my life before then, I was now tigerkin. As a tigerkin, I was able to nearly effortlessly jump six feet vertically and twenty feet horizontally. I landed at the edge of the clearing and immediately turned around, just in time to see the rabbits charge into each other, followed immediately by a kind of general melee as they attacked the ones that hit them, or they thought had hit them, causing the others to join as they tried to get revenge. There were around 40 rabbits in the fight, so to speed things up I started picking off the ones at the edges of the battle. After about half an hour, there was only one rabbit left. When I approached it, a identifier tag showed up above its head, something that only happened if a creature was an elite mob or greater (as compared to the other creature nearby). [Bloody Bunnicorn, lvl 8 elite mob] As an elite mob, it was 50 percent more powerful than a regular creature. As I watched, its fur changed from white soaked with red blood to solid red. Meanwhile, its horn turned black and extended to be around five inches long while its body increased in size till it was just over a yard long and three-quarters yards tall. This was a creature that I felt I should leave alone because while I could most certainly defeat it, it likely wouldn¡¯t be worth the effort, though there was a potential bonus to it due to the elite part. I ultimately decided to capture it and sent it to my general area, after putting it in stasis in order to allow me to study it in the future, so that I could send more of them to populate the forests, so that rabbits wouldn¡¯t be quite so easy to defeat in the future. I spent the rest of the time before I had to go to the arena fighting, skinning and collecting rabbits, though there weren¡¯t any more incidents like the first one. At around two o¡¯clock, I turned in the quests, getting 150 silver from the leatherworker and 300 from the butcher, as I wasn¡¯t able to salvage many of the skins after the melee early in the day. I had also leveled up, putting the points into strength and agility. After turning in the quests, I went to the arena to wait for the free-for-all that was happening in an hour. Chapter 9 ¡°The free for all is starting in 5 minutes,¡± the announcer said. I was waiting in the tunnel behind the gates into the fields. The rules had already been explained and were basically fight until you were done, and then there were pills that you could bite that would turn you gaseous, which would allow you to get away from the fighting. These were actually surprisingly advanced for the relatively low number of magic herbs that I left. My best guess is that someone had residual memories in their soul of being an alchemist. ¡°One minute remaining until the battle to determine the fates of the contestants in the tournament begins,¡± the announcer says in an overdramatic tone of voice, ¡°The betting tables are taking bets for up to three more minutes on how long the free for all match will take.¡± I grin as they finally open the gates, allowing us to exit onto the field. From what I could tell, there were just over a hundred people, which likely meant that it would be about seven rounds of the singles tournament. ¡°3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ FIGHT!!!¡± Almost a dozen people were knocked out in the first five seconds after it began. I almost immediately find myself facing an older tigerkin, who really looks like he would have been a Navy SEAL if they existed in this world. However, he also clearly couldn¡¯t use Mana or Aura shields, which would have created a tell-tale shimmer around him, which left him at a rather large disadvantage against me, though I¡¯m pretty sure that he would have crushed everyone else there given the chance. Why am I so sure of this? Probably because two hours later, we were still fighting, and it was another hour after that that I defeated him, thanks in large part to the shields and enhancements I had put on myself. Likely if he had been a single level higher, I wouldn¡¯t have beaten him.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Sir, we have been instructed to take you to one of the Arena bathing areas to wash off,¡± one of the staff told me as I left the ring. Looking down at myself, I realized that I was covered in blood, dirt, sweat, and bile from when I threw up after a bad blow to the gut. I likely would have been taken out then and there, but three other people in the free for all attacked him immediately afterward, giving me just enough time to recover before he was free to attack me again. ¡°Yeah, I could really use a bath.¡± They led me through the training area, leaving me at the entrance to the baths. Going into the bathing area, I stripped down before stepping into the water. I sighed at the relaxing warmth of the water and spent around 30 minutes in it. After that, I went through a process eerily similar to that of the Roman Baths. I was steamed, sweated, oiled, scraped off, then finally cooled, and left the bathing area feeling extremely refreshed. I was also forced to use the gaseous pill, which it turns out is not perfected, as it leaves behind everything that you have on you. Luckily, this does include dirt being left, unfortunately, it includes any armor you might be wearing as well. ¡°When do I need to be back?¡± I asked the person in charge of organizing the competition. ¡°You need to be back by midday tomorrow in order to compete in your first match,¡± he responded, ¡°You will compete in up to six matches over the next two days, as a result of the odd number of contestants, while several people will have to fight seven matches. ¡°If you get to the top sixteen, the prize is ten gold, top eight is twenty-five gold, top four is fifty gold, top two is a hundred gold and an audience with the king, champion in two hundred fifty gold and an audience with the king.¡± ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll be here at eleven to get ready then,¡± I said before going back to the Wandering Inn. I didn¡¯t care if I got free sleeping areas while competing, it would be far more rejuvenating to sleep in an actual bed and eat real meals. Luckily, I had at least been able to confirm today that the leveling system was working like intended. Chapter 10 ¡°I¡¯d like a medium steak, please Miss Lyon,¡± I said later that evening when I returned to the inn, ¡°Also, a tall glass of beer and whatever side dish you¡¯re serving. Maybe some cake later.¡± I had decided to try to be polite to them because I knew if I won, I would make a lot of enemies, and they were the ones cooking for me, so they would likely get more than a few bribes to slip a little something into my food the next time I ate there. When I came in, I had noticed that several of the people eating had steaks, which reminded me that I hadn¡¯t eaten much since breakfast, and I had been doing heavy work all day, in addition to throwing up in the Arena. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll bring it right out,¡± said Erin, who was in the kitchen today, unlike yesterday. I sat down at one of the tables, glad for the chance to relax from the grueling work I had been doing. Before the food managed to get out to me, I was approached by another patron. ¡°Hey, did you win the free for all at the arena earlier?¡± the wolfkin, the first I¡¯d seen here, asked. ¡°Yeah, were you there?¡± ¡°No, I had a couple of friends who were and they told me what you looked like,¡± he responded, ¡°Between the similar description and the new arena clothing, I figured you were him, and I was right! Did you really fight Adrian for two whole hours?¡± ¡°Was that his name?¡± I said, curious, ¡°But it was really closer to 3 hours that I fought him.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know who he is? He was an Elite Commander during the last big war. He was Honorably Discharged due to Mental Health reasons. I¡¯m George by the way,¡± he said, sticking out his hand.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Shaking it, I ask, ¡°John Pitcher. What were his problems?¡± ¡°I heard that he was convinced that he had died and come back to life,¡± he said, ¡°Why do you ask?¡± ¡°I just like to know if there might be some sort of crazy powerful psychopath after me for beating him in public.¡± It does make me wonder if there is any truth to those rumors though. ¡°No, Adrian isn¡¯t really like that,¡± George said, ¡°though some of his students would say that he¡¯s a sadist.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad he¡¯s not going to come after me,¡± I responded, ¡°Looks like my food is here,¡± I said, spotting Erin walking towards us. ¡°Cool, I¡¯ll leave you to it then. Hope you win tomorrow,¡± he said, before walking away. ¡°Thanks for the food, Miss Erin,¡± I said, seeing as Erin set down a 13-ounce steak, large helping of mashed potatoes, and a mug of beer on the table. ¡°No problem,¡± she said with a smile, ¡°Be sure to enjoy it.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± I said, digging in. It was remarkably good food for a medieval society, and I found myself going back to ask for seconds. When I did, Lyon just laughed and said it wouldn¡¯t be any trouble at all for me to have seconds, though I would have to pay double. After I finished off the second course and got the cake, which was also really good, though the frosting was applied strangely and in different flavors throughout the cake. When I went to pay for the cake, I was told it was free, and instead was given a sort of survey form to fill out. The survey asked questions like Was your cake capable of retaining structural integrity? Did the cake taste sweet? What time did you eat the cake? What did you eat before the cake? Have you taken revenge on someone recently? Is the cake a lie? Are you actually reading these questions? ¡°Why all these weird questions on the survey?¡± I asked Lyon ¡°Oh, Erin is using a new magical flower in the icing and is trying to figure out what kind of effect they have on people as it seems to be quite mixed.¡± Later that night, after I went to my room, I open my menu and say, ¡°Admin Code Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot: List of people who have been respawned.¡± And there it was, second on the list, and the first living person on the list: Adrian Whitefang. Chapter 11 Unfortunately, there was an effect to my cheats that I had forgotten about. Why did I even add this class? I thought, sighing.
New class unlocked: Admin
Description: You are an administrator of these worlds
Bonuses: Infinite Health, Mana, Stamina, Qi, and Aura Full Analysis skill Detect Effects skill Identify Items skill
Requirements: Use an Admin Command
When I see the second skill, I am struck by a sudden idea and use it on myself.
Name: Enhanced Epiphany
Effect: Greatly increases the chance of coming to a sudden realization.
After I read this, I use the commands to modify the class (can¡¯t tell you the passwords (the information gathering ones are one thing, the world-changing ones are another))
You have modified: Admin
Description: You are an administrator of these worlds
Bonuses: Infinite Health, Mana, Stamina, Qi, and Aura Full Analysis skill Detect Effects skillThe story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Identify Items skill
Requirements: Ascend to the world of the gods
You have lost the requirements for the class: Admin
Your menu access has been reduced from [Administrator of Design] to [World Moderator]
¡°Close menu,¡± I said, before going to sleep. * * * * * In the morning, after I ate, I realized that I had slept in and it was already ten-thirty. I ran over to the Arena, ready to fight in my first match. I would be able to tell Erin what the effect was later. ¡°You¡¯re here early,¡± the man behind the counter told him. ¡°I wanted plenty of time to warm up,¡± I said in response. ¡°We have a room full of practice dummies if you want to use them,¡± he told me. ¡°Where are they?¡± ¡°Down that hallway and to the left,¡± he said. ¡°Thanks¡­¡± ¡°Jacob,¡± he said, supplying his name. ¡°Thanks, Jacob,¡± I said. ¡°No problem.¡± I walked down the hallway, going to the only door on the left. When I opened it, the room was empty and had a glass ceiling, something I wouldn''t expect in this civilization. At least they didn¡¯t have skyscrapers yet, and they likely wouldn¡¯t. Regardless, the ceiling made it so that I didn¡¯t need a lamp, light spell, or something similar. I pounded the dummies into the ground, trying to figure out my own strength. About an hour later, I had just started figuring it out when I heard someone open the door behind me. ¡°Sir, your match is next,¡± the young boy who came in told me. ¡°Where do you need me to go?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll show you,¡± he said, walking out the door. We went down several hallways before we arrived at one of the smaller gates into the arena. We arrived just in time to see the end of the previous match. The tigerkin that I had fought for so long yesterday, Adrian, was fighting against a bearkin that I hadn¡¯t noticed yesterday. He finished the fight almost as soon as we arrived, knocking the bear out. ¡°The rules are easy,¡± the boy who had guided me said, ¡°Fight to either unconsciousness, submission, you¡¯re knocked off the podium, or the judge decides it¡¯s over.¡± ¡°The next match, John Pitcher, the free-for-all winner, versus Garm Blackblood.¡± The door opened and the boy pushed me into the Arena, giving me my first sight of my opponent. Garm appeared to be a half-orc, half-tigerkin. He likely came from one of the few tribes in this world, as I didn¡¯t remember the orc world having found the portals. I had made it so that a world¡¯s portal wouldn¡¯t activate unless there was a civilization at least a few thousand strong within a couple of miles of the portal, to ensure that a race wouldn¡¯t be overtaken and eradicated on their own world. Garm was abnormally short, even for a tigerkin, nevermind an Orc. He appeared to be about four foot eight and was built like a wrestler. Based on his name, he was a black-blooded orc, which are considerably stronger, but slightly less agile than the orange-blooded orcs, but not as intelligent as the green-blooded ones. I would have to make sure to not let myself get grabbed, or he would crush me like paper. Arriving in the staging area that had been placed in the center of the area, I waited for the mark. ¡°3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ FIGHT!¡± As I expected, Garm immediately charged in trying to grapple me, forcing me to duck under his outstretched arms. I then kicked him in the back, nearly sending him over, before he managed to recover his balance. Turning around, Garm roared at me, trying to grab me again. This time he almost got me, as I was a bit late getting out of the way. As I dropped to the ground to dodge, I accidentally tripped him, causing him to actually slide to the edge before falling off the platform. ¡°The winner is¡­ JOHN PITCHER!¡± Chapter 12 I left the arena, surprised at the difficulty of the fight. It was far from the difficulty of the fight with Adrian, but plenty difficult compared to what I had seen in other people in the free for all. I went out through the gate I came in through and was intercepted by the boy that had gotten me from the training room earlier. ¡°Do you need anything, sir?¡± he asked me. ¡°First of all, don¡¯t call me sir. My name is John.¡± He nodded in response, asking, ¡°And second of all?¡± ¡°Why did I not see my opponent previously during the free for all?¡± I asked him, ¡°And what is your name, anyway?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Tristan, sorry for not introducing myself earlier, si¡ª John,¡± he answered, ¡°You didn¡¯t see him because he skipped the free for all.¡± ¡°You can skip the free for all?¡± I asked him. ¡°Yes,¡± Tristan responded, ¡°The top four in the last two challenges can skip the free for all, though they can only do it once per win. So can any royal family members who participate, in order to protect them from anyone with grudges teaming up against them. High tier military leaders can also skip it, though they rarely do. Garm was one of the top four during the last tournament.¡± ¡°Did anyone else skip the free for all this tournament?¡± I asked as he lead the way back to the practice room. ¡°Only a few that I know of, there are a couple of people who could have, like Adrian, but they rarely do,¡± Tristan told him, ¡°The third prince, Dagon, is participating, though he¡¯s likely to get knocked out early on. I think that one of the previous champions, Sir Elton, is participating as well.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s Sir Elton?¡± ¡°He has won a tournament twice and been runner-up in several others. He¡¯s part halfling, part gnome, and was a member of the Royal Knights until a few years ago,¡± he explained, ¡° He left because he was tired of the politicking, and wanted to invent new things, as gnomes often do. He created a magical device that he calls a ¡®table saw¡¯ that helps speed up building in the city.¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. At this point, they had already arrived at the training room. ¡°When is my next fight?¡± I asked him, hoping to get in a little bit more practice. ¡°Your next fight is scheduled to be in about two hours, as long as the other fights don¡¯t drag on too much,¡± Tristan said, before leaving the room. I got back to punching, actually practicing for another two and a half hours before Tristan returned to bring me to the next fight. ¡°Why was the fight delayed?¡± I asked. ¡°Prince Dagon and Miss Evangeline were being rather flashy as they fought, and it distracted the other fighters enough that they forgot they were supposed to be fighting.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s Miss Evangeline?¡± I asked, curious. ¡°She¡¯s a pretty Dwarf girl that he¡¯s rumored to have been courting for a few years now,¡± Tristan said, ¡°She¡¯s the daughter of the Assistant General of the army, Arkon Glaivebreaker. As a result of disrupting the tournament, they were both disqualified.¡± We got to the gate and stopped talking as we waited for the fight in the center ring to be over. This time it was a pair of unknown beastkin, a wolfkin, and bearkin, who were fighting. The wolf appeared to have the upper hand, being able to dodge all of the bear¡¯s strikes, but then the bearkin managed to properly land a strike, which was powerful enough that the wolf was knocked out of the ring. My next fight was actually going to be against a merkin, which was surprising since there wasn¡¯t much water nearby, and the corresponding gate in the Merkin¡¯s world wasn¡¯t open yet, as it was on a small island in the middle of the ocean, which in and of itself wouldn¡¯t have been a problem for merkin, but that area of the ocean was inhabited by a large group of krakens, and there was a pair of lesser water dragons that had made their nest on the island. There was no way they could have come from there. He couldn¡¯t have even been born here, as merkin actually had to lay eggs, and needed a fairly large body of water in order to procreate. ¡°Where did he come from?¡± I asked, ¡°There aren¡¯t any large bodies of water nearby.¡± ¡°He came through the portal from the dwarves,¡± Tristan answered, ¡°He lived in a large lake over there.¡± Oh, right, the other worlds could have a good place for them to live. There was no reason why they would choose to remain in their original world when they could easily go elsewhere. Then there was no more time for discussion as I was called into the arena for the fight. The match went by relatively quickly, as did the rest of the fights that day. Before I left, I was told that I would be fighting first thing in the morning, and all but the final match would be fought tomorrow.