《The Crystal Ring.》 Prologue: The Birth of a New World. 3,000 Light-years from Earth: Shouts could be heard from the pantheons main entrance, an enormous black expanse 10 meters high, by 4 meters wide. The darkness seemed to ripple with power in rythm with the ever prevelant shouts housed within. The exterior of the humongous building made of Rose-Quartz to symbolize the unity of energies shaped into huge columns, not unlike those of the ancient Parthenon in Greece. Hulking black parabolah-esque shapes govern the upper most edge of the milky pink expanse of a building, like an overbearing shadow constantly reminding one that death is always near. Two lone guards posted near the entryway were exhausted both dressed in resplendant platemail, one made from Obsidian, the other from Diamond crystals. Both sets of armor glistened in the low light exhuberantly showing the armor in as much detail as possible, allowing a passing observer to note the armor could only exist due to magic. These two men, if you could call them that had been posted in this exact spot for nearly two weeks now without sleep. The man in diamond tuned to his compatriot to discuss simple things to curb the boredom involved in this assignment. "Hey Jackal, do you think they are almost done bickering like children fighting over sweets. This assignment is so thrilling I might fossilize before its over." Jackal in his techtonic plate armor turned giving the other a look of disapproval. "I DON''T KNOW OSMAND! For the 3,242nd time I do not know." Jackal exasperated. Osmond clearly not accepting the large hint offered by Jackal continues his tirade. "All I''m saying is we''ve been here for two fucking weeks, if it wasn''t for our energy boosting equipment we''d have died from sleep deprivation. As it stands now I''ll die of boredom, I haven''t touched a tit in two weeks Jack, I''m going though withdrawals!" Cried Osmand tears forming in his eyes. Before Jackal could get a word in edgewise the immense force emminating from the boughs of the temple had ceased, causing both men to look into the darkness. There was light, and then there was nothing. Inside the temple of Heavan''s Edge, the Gods are also discussing their boredom and discomfort. Unbenownst to the guards outside, who could not hear through thesilencing enchantment carved in the foundation of the temple, the Gods shared theirexasperation on a much grander scale. Amidst amassive circular chamber images of constellations and planets are orbiting the interior, blinking in and out of existence.Eons passing as if they were mere seconds,but to the gods time had long since become a meaningless concept. Four members ofa minor pantheon were conducting a meeting in secret. The rest were lazing about their own domains uncaring of the passing of theirinfluence to younger gods. The minor gods assembled were all vying for more territory from the Millenium Gathering, hoping to take spots from those of the upper echelon of gods. Among the present deities standing the tallest was Amarith the God of Blood and Wine. Nearesthim sat Arelias the Goddess of Lust, even farther still stood Koris the God of Forrests and Wayward Adventurers. The most powerful of the group was Zorith''Khar the God of Pain and Analasys. These mighty beings felt their lives growing stagnant every eon it was the same thing destroy, rebuild, and wait in hopes that they will ascend farther up the pantheon ladder into the main pantheon.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. To do so however required impressing the upper echelon of their society, and so once every 10,000 years a contest was held where the minor gods worlds would be pitted against each other for the fame of their gods. This tournament these four decided to work together on a single world, and then either bring inhabitants from other worlds to participate or design new beings, and let them grow organically. Though the latter option could take longer overall, all agreed it may yield better results. With a blood curdling roar Amarth shouts to his bretheren. "DO YOU FOOLS UNDERSTAND ANYTHING?!" Collectively startled the group looks to Amarith, confusion evident on their flawless faces. Arelias was the first of her peers to speak, her face stagnant and void of emotions. "What seems to be the issue with our plan then brother, as far as I can see this tree will bear life most fruitfully." The others nodded with nothing to add themselvesonly giving cursory glances at their hothead of a brother, they may be God''s but they still feared his wrathful tendencies. Amarith unable to contain his rage as always decided to point out a flaw in their plan. "They will grow weak and stagnate in pools of their own blood and feces. We need to throw in outside influences, and reasons for them to grow strong." he shouted. Zorith standing idly by until now decided to show his brothers and sister amore recent plan he had been cooking up. "Brothers!...sister,we should combine the influences of each of our domains, and combine them to stand a greater chance of ascensionI have been studying a planet in my domain known as Earth, and the beings living there known as Humans. These beings afer much bloodshed, and struggle have adapted ways to cope with their miniscule, and painful existences." "Get to the point already!!" shouted Koris. "We may have forever, but that does not mean I wish to spend it with you". Annoyed at the outburst, Zorith''Khar continued as if nothing had been said. "These humans invented a thing they call "Video Games." These toys envelope the lives of over 65% of their population, so engrossed they are to get better than everyone else they forget the world around them. What I propose my dear siblings is a game."" Unbeknownst to the people who would soon be a part in a major game for the fate of their worlds, a new world began to blossom from random space dust into a newly birthed planet. Gravity Magic exerting its pressure on tiny particles of dust, andother random moleculesforcing themto fuse, forming amassive chunk of rockin the middle of empty space. Heat and compressed gas caused a Sun to burst forth from whence there was nothing. Water began to fill the planet as plants, and monsters began to ooze forth from the Primordial sludge. Soon those that walk on two legs, the beasts known as man would soon run amock on the once peaceful newborn planet. Smiling and truly worn out each of the higher beings began to make their way one by one to their own domains. They had a feeling, an emotion previous unknown to these lower tier Gods. They were proud of something they created for once, and not just themselves. They pride no longer would be their bane, as they learned to work together on something they deemed more important than themselves. Chapter 1: Watch out for that tree. Clothes strewn across the room next to a completely empty laundry basket; Ramen cups fill the overflowing rubbish bin to the top. If one were to say Eric had given up on his life from an outside perspective they''d be mostly right. "BAH...BAAH...BAAAAH!" The alarm clock tries to serenade Eric from his slumber. "Ugh just five more minutes you stupid alarm clock." As if to instigate the alarm clocks point the phone app on his O.P.R. starts to ring. Picking up his Opr''s wrist attachment he attempts to hit the answer call button through a groggy mental haze, and eyes still closed. Thumb barely touching the right button, he immediately regretted his decision, when the loud screeching voice of his land lady comes through the speaker. "You lazy piece of shit, I told you to have your rent for me yesterday, and I just got off the phone with your boss! He told me you were fired for incompetence !" Her voice wailed through several different decible records. "Mrs Wong I did nothing wrong; Theres a guy at work named Jeremy, and hes the bosses pet. To make a long story short he threw a party at the restaurant last week while Craig was out of town, and blamed it on me. I wasn''t even at work that day!" Eric sighs to even out his blood pressure, and keep his anger from spiking at his nasty Land lady. There is an ominous silence from the other end of the line before Mrs Wong goes on another tirade of injustice. "Damn...he thought to himself, such a brief moment of respite, this tyrannical witch has never let me forget a single months rent. Even a day late and she''d be on my ass like wool on a sheep." He finishes his own mental retort as she began to scream again. "This is the last straw Mr Kenwood! I not accept you any longer, you have two weeks to get out!!" She screamed into my ear. She hung up not even giving hm a chance to defend himself or even a chance to get her money! "Now what am I supposed to do?" Bitter about current circumstances in the last few days it was time to do something I knew I''d regret immediately after I tried. Picking up his old cellphone that was 10 years out of date, he only kept the damn thing in the off chance that he''d have to contact his mother, even though he still has not forgiven her. Only the elderly, and poor used cellphones anymore, it was all about O.P.R''S now or Optic Hollographic Receivers. Scrolling through the short list of old contacts of people who no longer deemed in necessary to stay in touch, he reaches the one number that had not been dialed in so long it was retaining cobwebs, and poor decisions. He called his mother, it pained him to be the first one to break since he had never truly forgiven her for remarrying so soon after the accident. Ten years prior Eric''s father had died in a lab accident involving the fallout of Radioactive Isotopes. Not long after that, six months to be precise his mother started talking to a man who used to be his fathers boss, a man Eric disliked more than anything else in the Universe. In the mind of 15 year old Eric he was a piece of shit that took advantage of a grieving widows emotions. One and a half years later he was forced to attend his mothers wedding with a man he had openly despised. This hate wasn''t a one way street Eric found out only too late. (10 years previously) Elaborately chiseled Gargoyles line the decidant, yet spartan interior of the hallway, ephemeral guardians of eternity, sometimes I amuse myself with my thoughts. I chuckled to myself. What was I doing in this hallway you ask? You see I was asked by the priest to find my step-father to be. Much to my chagrin I reached the end of the hallway, after climbing three flights of stairs to get to said hallway. A lone Oak door stood, the lone sentinal between me and the Balrog known as Blake Carter. As I went to reach from the Brass knocker on the door I could hear a muffled voice talking on a phone, or at least I assumed that was the case since I could only hear one voice in the room. Inching nearer to the door I slowly positioned my ear to the door, but I still couldn''t make out the words being said. Lowering myself to the floor I inch my ear closer to the 2 inch crevice where the door meets the floor, and the words become instantly clearer. "I still don''t understand why I''m being shackled to his whore, and brat." My mind instantly became intent on one thing, not letting this happen at all. I went to push myself up to go and alert my mother to this mans ill intentions when the door creaked open to reveal the incarnation of malevolence himself. A crooked smile crept upon his face showing off his shark like pearly whites, and then he begain to speak. "Well what do we have here....a little most spying on it''s betters." His words dripped with venom, but before i could even make a move a swiftly, and deftly aimed Armani loafer collided with my stomach. He then lifted me by the collar of my shirt, and pulled me closer to his face. "It does not matter what you think you heard boy, noone will ever believe you over me. The poor loving man who came to a grieving widows aide at the death of her husband, taking in a child that was not his and helping to raise it to be something in society. You see boy they praise me, even your mother!" He spat on me as he spoke leaving me even more disgusting, and disoriented. Eyes filled with contempt, and resignation, I spit into his face with as big of a bogie that my lungs could muster. A quick slap to the side of my head made the room start to spin. ******************** Blake smirked and dropped the brat onto the ground. "Know your betters boy, once your mother gives me what I want I will no longer have to keep you around. Once I have what I need the whole world will change, and none of this farce we call a world will matter. I have been in contact with some very influential people, but they need me to accomplish their goals, you see they lack a certain ingredient needed to change this world for the better. Let''s call this ingredient a catalyst if you will, that will alter this world to the core, and it just so happens that your father, and his research team stumbled upon this item in suspect without even realising it''s full potential." This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.************************* I could only see in vague shapes, and colors he must have slapped me with the big ring he keeps on his right hand. He always wore that damn thing, and sometimes I could have swore that I had seen that thing glow. I then was ripped from my thoughts as I felt a tug on my collar, and could hear him mumble something into my ear, but my brain was too shaken to make what he was saying into a coherant thought. Disdain filled Blakes voice once again. "I guess it''s time to rectify the situation, after all who is going to believe the boy who tried to kill himself after his mother moved on while he was still mourning the loss of his father." ************************* He opened the third stoy window in the church to relieve himself of his burden. "We are going to have a nice happy life together son. Let me give you some life advice before we part today, watch out for the tree on your way down, afterall it''d be a shame if you wound up dead so soon." He hefted the young boy face blank as a starless sky, and threw him out the window right towards the Maple tree that stood tall and strong behind the church. *************************** Eric felt the sensation of falling, and then nothing as he collided with a three inch thick branch on the ancient tree. Blake watched as the nuisance hit every branch on the way down. Time to finish this he thought to himself, amost too giddy to keep a straight face. After all he had to get this wedding over with before someone happened upon the boy and his unfortunate attempt at suicide. The very thought made Blake shiver in anxiety, it could cause the wedding to be canceled or post poned until the boy wakes up. That could be very bad for him. *************************** 8,000 years earlier.... The minor pantheons plan was coming along quite nicely, until the other pantheons found out. Once word got out, an Inter Pantheon Congress was held between the leaders of the two highest pantheons, and the three minor houses. Merelia the Goddess of Love and Reincarnation was the shortest member in any of the pantheons at 6''1" was however not detracted by her height difference. The statuesque Turqoise haired goddess wore a knee length black dress, with elegantly placed Runes of Gold dotting the dress like the stars in the night sky. The dress hugged her curves in all the right places, as it caressed her Caramel toned body in a warm embrace. Amethyst colored eyes sparkled as she postured herself for a long debate she hoped to win, though she knew how stubborn, and power hungry present company could be. A determined smile plastered her face as she moved to speak her peace. "Brothers it really has been too long, Zeres and I called you here for more formal reasons unfortunately." Her smile began to waiver as she could feel the anger radiating from the others. "Called us! Don''t make me laugh, you forced us to attend this joke of a congressional meeting to tell us you are going to try and steal our project for yourselves!" Zorith''Khar seethed in rage. Zeres the God of Space and Time rose to defend the decision of the upper pantheons. Standing to his full height of fourteen and a half feet tall head bald as a newborns arse, two golden pools of Magma for irises in his eye sockets. Naked as the day of birth he relied on well toned muscles, and his rockhard....distended gut as a natural defense. Eyes positively glowing as he gloated his authority over all present we he saw as his lessers. " My dear siblings you act as if you a choice to begin with. We left you to your own devices to see if your ideas had any merit." He smiled as his voice boom through out the small enlcosure. "I just thought it pertinent for you to know we''ve already began seeding the world, and have sent seed catalysts out to other planets to join in on your parade." It was Impieres turn to speak standing 10''11" tall always wearing an Oni mask. The rest of him constantly cloaked in a robe of living shadows that writhed in anxiousness as he stood. "Think many truths, speak may lies, but soon Zeres it will be you who dies." Imediately enraged Zeres swings a right hook at the insubstantial being as he fades away. "Is that a threat you Impish bastard?! You''re the most cowardly of us all, all you do is play tricks and fight from the shadows." Zeres fumed his indignation for the whole congregation for not stepping in on the affair to defend his honor. Zeres turned to leave as he had no reason to believe they could really challenge his right to what he pleased. They were after all of a lower class, but a small spark of fear ignited like a torch in a dark and very rarely felt part of his mind. Once the new system was fully in place even they as gods would be forced to participate in some capacity. It was time to start searching future timelines for champions in his name, and they will tear the rest asunder. ****************************** Andria Blake was lounging in her den when her son contacted her out of the blue. Her heart started to flutter since she hadn''t talked to him in 7 years. He had never really forgiven her for remarrying so soon after his fathers death. She mentally prepared herself, and steeled her jittery nerves for what was to come. She accepted the call on her O.P.R, but before she could say anything he started to speak. Chapter 2: Into the Wild Blue Yonder. Eric could hear his mom''s hesitation as she answered the phone, so he figured that he might as well break the ice first. "Hey mom look I know it''s been a long time since we have been in contact, and for the most part I am over it, but I can never forgive that man for what he did to both of us." A long resignated sigh escaped his mothers lips before she cut into what would have been a soliloquy. "Eric I have heard what you have had to say, but I will not sit here while you badmouth the man that stepped in and kept this family from collapsing. You may see him as the bane of your existence, but you must believe me he was the light in my dark and stormy sea." "MOM! I didn''t call to talk about your new husband and his shortcomings, I know that no matter what I say to you, you won''t believe me. He tried to kill me, and whenever you weren''t around he treated me like dirt. You still didn''t believe me and to this day act like I was looking for attention. Here we are though having the same argument from 7 years ago, and I didn''t call about this; I need to see if he can give me a job." Andria knew something must be wrong if her son was contacting her to ask about a job through Blake. "Honey I know we haven''t even talk in 7 years, but you must know its hurt me all this time. I brought you into this world with only the best intentions, but I guess the road to hell was paved with good intentions. What I am trying to say is if youre calling me out of the blue like this something must be wrong in your life, and I am here to help you. I''m your mother you need only ask." Eric frowned as he listened to his mother expertly dance around everything he had say to put the blame on herself. It always ate him up inside when she''d do this to him as a kid. He decided before the waterworks could be loosened from the grips of his mothers eyes he would intervene. "Look mom I am sorry I haven''t been around, but I really would appreciate it if you could get me a job at dads old company, even if I have to work under the man I hate." He smiled as he could almost hear the gears grinding in his mothers head to avenge herself in the eyes of her son. It had been silent for nearly 5 minutes before his mother started to speak again. "Alright sweety I will help you, I sent a ping to Blake and will have a conversation with him later to see what we can do. Until then maybe you could come over and visit your poor old mother before..." She didn''t get chance to finish speaking before he interrupted her in a stream of mumbled and almost indecipherable words. "Sorry Mom can''t right now, I have to find a place to live or I will be stuck in the cold. BYE MOM!" One whole week had passed before Eric heard from his mother. It had been so long he was starting to get nervous since he really didn''t have another option at the moment he had wasted too much time waiting for his mother. "Eric honey good news! Blake is going to take you on as his assistant on the project they are currently working on. He tells me you can help change the world! Isn''t that great sweetie?" He could hear how excited his mom was for him, but he had a tingly feeling in his spine when his mother said Blake''s project would change the world. He couldn''t really remember why. "Sweetie? Eric honey are you there?" His mother had gotten nervous that maybe he had hung up the call. "Yes mom I am here, I am just as excited as you are." His mother giggled a little, oblivious to her sons sarcasm. In fact he was not very happy about this at all, but knowing that the lab he''d be working in was also the one his dad had ran when he was alive made him a little bubbly inside. It also helps that they should pay well too, considering Raven''s Loft Technologies are the company that invented the Optical Hollographic Receivers implanted in most people anymore, well if they could afford it. "Well I am glad I could help my not so little man when he needed me, It''s the least that I could do." She did seem genuinely happy, but was it self serving happiness, or was she really happy to help me. I couldn''t really tell so I figured I''d go along with it for now just to see where I needed to be. "Thank you mom really, but when am I supposed to meet Blake to begin working?" "Oh yes dear, I had almost forgotten. I got too excited telling you the news and spaced out a little hun I apologize. ummmmm... What was it that he had told me again? Oh yes thats it in two days he wants you to meet him at the company lab B-317. He said to tell the main receptionist, and that she would give you directions to where you are supposed to be." "Great thank you mom! you have been super helpful, maybe someday soon we could meet up, just the two of us to have lunch together or something." He felt nervous bringing this up, because he hadn''t been the nicest to her over the years, what with the isolation and all that. He really did hope he could learn to forgive his mother for everything she didn''t seem to this was actually happening. On a side note though he really hoped he could get proof of Blake abusing him in some way to prove to his mother however infentismal it might be that the man had always hated him. Two days seemed to fly by as he got everything in order to go to his job. He stood outside the sleek black tower soaring over 40 stories tall to prominently display itself life a giant Raven defending its nest. Giant sliding glass doors keeping all light out of the building slid open like a sleek sarcophogi entombing the entryway to hell, and preventing the light from penetrating its insides. Two giant ape like men guard the doorway to keep all unwelcome visitors from entering the premises. "Geeze this place could only be better with a flambouyant man in a tuxedo talking about the beauty of the moonlight, and asking to drink from my neck." As he got closer to the doors, the two Gorillas moved closer to block passage to the complex, and began to grunt. Well ok maybe they didn''t grunt, but I have an over active imagination I mused to myself. Then I was pulled from my self inflicted revelry as the two behemoths began to speak. "Who are you , and why are you here?" Geeze this guy sounds like Lurch I am half expecting him to say you rang. Before one of the men could get their hands around my neck to throw me off the stairs leading up to the building I spoke up. "Sorry Gentlemen my name is Eric Kenwood, and I am hear to meet up with Blake Carter to start a job today." ''Man these guys have me questioning myself, that almost came out of as a question.'' The mountain of a man began to talk into his OPR''s wrist attachment. Seemingly satisfied he began to move away from the doorway to let me inside. "Stay out of trouble young man." He smiled at me in a sickening manner yellowish teeth prominently on display. "I would hate to have to make you leave the premises." I could hear no jovialness to his voice, so I had no doubt that he would in fact love to throw me down the enormous set of 15 stairs. "Yessir, I have no intention of causing problems." I smiled at him hoping to alleviate some of the tension that seemed to pool in the air. I walk through the black portal of an entryway into the main foyer of the building, it was deftly quite aside from the constant click clack of the keys on a keyboard echoing from the main desk. Blood red accents on the furniture, and floor seemed to almost decidantly cover a majority of the room giving it an almost Dracula like quality to the place. Walking up to the main desk the secretary slowly looked up at me but didn''t stop her excessive typing. "Yeah I am here to see The Count, I mean Blake Carter." She didn''t seem to find my attempt at humor funny, when she began to tell me where I was supposed to go as her eyebrows stay continuously raised. "Yes Mr Kenwood, the boss said that you would be arriving today, First I need you to sign some H.R. paperwork, then we can get you an I.d. badge and get you on your way to work." An aura of malisciousness seemed to radiate off of her person as she spoke to me. I wasn''t sure exactly how to deal with the situation so I began to smile awkardly hoping we could get this shit show on the road. Three hours later we finally managed to get all of the paper work and the I.d. Badge settle, she sent me on my way to a back wall set of elevators. Stepping into the elevators enclosed space I began to recount her directions mentally. ''Ok hit the button for floor b-3, and when the doors open back up I need to go left, left, straight, and then right. Man thats a long way to go, who the hell builds a maze like basement in a business like this seems like a fire hazard if you ask me.'' The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.??Finally reaching the door to the lab he was supposed to be in Eric had to steel his nerves, for behind this door stood the creature of all of his nightmares. The man he had loathed for the last 10 years of his life, even more so after the incident. Using his I.d. badge the door slid open to one of the most brightly lit rooms in the entire place. A massive computer lined one entire wall of the inside of the lab, lots of small computer stations were set alongside the main computer. In the middle of the room was a hover pedastal with a floating ring stuck in stasis, it was an unbelievable sight, as the ring looked to be entire made of crystalized diamond. Almost appearing as if the ring had been grown that way as it did not look like it had been cut in any way. The door opened again, but Eric was too enraptured with the jewelry to notice anyone coming in. "How nice of you to join me boy. You know I was surprised when your mother told me that you were asking for my help. I almost couldn''t hold in my laughter, the utmost joy that I felt you had finally fallen enough to the point to ask me for my help!" Eric knew who it was right away but kept himself steady so that he didn''t lose his only chance at a decent paying job. I put on my biggest fake smile I could muster, before turning around to look at the man who disgusts me. "Howdy Blake, yeah sorry about that I never thought I would ever have to ask you for your help, but you know life is crazy like that sometime." That didn''t seem to make him happy, but it sure made Eric happy to see the mans frown so prominent on his face. "Anyways dear boy we have a little experiment to work on, and don''t worry you won''t come to any harm. WHat you were looking at before I came in is what you fathers team managed to discover in the Antarctic ice shelf. What your father didn''t know about this fine specimen is that it has interesting properties, it can power an entire city block on the amount of solar energy it can absorb, but that is only a minor benefit." He began to smile again as he continued talking. " Why do you go ahead and pick up that ring, and put it on." Unsure of what to do Eric froze as his brain and body seemed to fight itself, he didn''t want to please Blake at all, but he did want to feel that ring around his finger. His body won the fight as he seemed to inch around and slowly grasp the ring in his right hand. The ring itself seemed to seemed to radiate power as he fingered the ring excited to penetrate the depths of its power he slide the ring slowly over his finger.
?The God''s are ready to Play Eric....Are you?
He was shocked when the blue screen seemed to appear from nowhere into his line of sight, no matter where he turned his face it seemed to permiate ever space his eyes moved to. Uneased by what was happening he turned to speak to Blake to get grasp on whatever was happening, only to see the biggest smile on his face, and the same words were present on the big moniter behind him. "Blake...what exactly is going on, and where did this blue thing come from?" "To answer your question young Eric let me first tell you story of when I first found the ring." "You see it was last year when I finally managed to find where your father had hidden the ring. Then the people who had been in contact with me since the day I killed your father revealed who they really were and what they wanted from me. You see they told me that they were Gods, and they wanted me to help the catalyst plant its seeds on our planet, and that I would gain more power than anyone on our puny little planet would think possible. They told me that all I needed to do was find the one destined to enact the enchantments on the ring that would allow its inherent power to be unleashed upon the world. If I could manage this one task then they would reward me with power unimaginable to either you or me. Erics heart started to beat faster, the only thought on his mind was that Blake had killed his father. The fact that ''Gods'' had told Blake to do it seemed unimportant to Eric as that thought to prominence in the forefront of his mind. "As I am sure you have noticed there are strange symbols written on the floor, now let me tell you it wasn''t easy to write all that strange jibberish in accordance to their wishes, each letter would make my skull throb with pressure. Eventually I got tired of being the one to do it, and tried to get my assistant to do it, well let''s just say that was a mistake, because his head exploded the minute that he started to carve the symbols with my blood on the floor. This of course meant that I head to restart now that he had ruined the ritual with his own blood." He paused and turned around when the big monitor behind him became a flurry of activity as new words appeared on the screen.
The time is upon us mortal, you must enact the ritual stop showboating, and enact our plan...or DIE!
TSK...Blake clicked his tongue against his teeth, seething in rage that would not be allowed to continue his speech, and gloat over his nemesises son. Calming himself enough to continue his speech at least calm enough to form coherent sentences. "As you can see boy our time here is short, I''d like for you to have known that your sacrifice would bring upon a great change to the world, for the better. I wish I could say I am sorry for doing this, but really I am not, like father like son I do this with great pleasure for my masters." Eric could barely believe what he was hearing, in fact he didn''t believe any of it, even the blue screen could be some kind of sophisticated OPR hack. He always knew Blake was a psychopath, but now he had even more proof of that if he ever would have doubted himself he would be wrong. "What the hell are you babbling about you nutjob. What is all of this talk with gods, and the greater good? What do you think is going to happen aside from going to prison if you hurt me." Eric started to feel sick to his stomach as the pressure from the ring intensified. "My dear boy, I would say you would see soon enough, but you''ll be dead in a few seconds." Blake pulled a tranquilizer gun from his waist band, and shot eric in the forehead. "That dart is filled with concentrated mixture of heroin, and ketamine, your heart will stop long before you can say another word child." What Blake couldn''t have account for was just as Eric hit unconsciousness his face with the dart slammed into the ground releasing a spray of blood all over the meticuously crafted runes on the flooring. "NO NO NO NO NO..I was supposed to be the one to receive the benefits!! This is not fair! all the time it took for this plan to come to fruition, and it was ruined by this boys inability to die the right way!!!" Eric heard none of this as his black world became filled with blue, like a turbulant ocean his thoughts ebbed and flowed in many different direction. As all of his thoughts began to fade into oblivion, a glow brighter than the sun boomed into existence, and over took the darkness in a blaze of turquoise.
Catalyst Accepted, Seeding process beginning.
50%...65%...89% 99%.....100% Seeding finished
Eric Kenwood: Rebirth Imminent.
Achievement Received:Kissed by a Goddess(1)
Chapter 3: These are the days of our lives...Well mine anyway. ''Man what happened, and why do I feel so cold the last thing I remember is confronting that asshole, and then everything went black.'' I interrupt my own inner monologue, mostly to convince myself I''m not crazy, and two so I can begin to understand where the hell I am. Opening my eyes felt like a monumental feat, it felt like I hadn''t moved in decades eventually I managed through some built up reservoir of inner strength to pry the two sides of my personal eclipse apart to reveal the Sun. ''Wait that actually is the Sun, what the...what the hell is going on! Where am I?'' Turning my head slowly from left to right I could see stars, passing comets, and of course the Earth, well at least it looks like the Earth. I have no frame of reference for this considering I had never been to space, and only had pictures on the internet to rely on. I went to go stand up, but it was at this point that I realised that I did not have any arms, or legs, or wait. "WHERE THE HECK IS MY BODY!!! AM I some kind of ghost? Did I die?" Not realising that I had somehow said all of this out loud I began to hyperventilate at my untimely demise. Mid existential crisis I head the most angelic, and velvety voice I had ever heard. It was comforting and seemed to carress my ears, as well as soothe my growing panic attack. "Worry not young one, for it is not your time yet, it seems that my siblings bit off more than they could when they were told they would be sharing the fruits of their labors with all. Not only did they ignore the rules that we had already set up to prevent unnecessary death, they took to corruption, and coercion to bring their plans to fruition much faster than should have been necessary." The beautiful voice seemed to perforate my entire being, and fill me with confidence i began to look for the source of my newfound happiness. Learning to move in this form was tedious, and seemed to take a lifetime in itself. ''Who knew being incorporeal would have such a downside, oh wait probably every ghost ever if the could speak, wait are ghosts real? Stop stop I''m gettin sidetracked here. I was supposed to focus on something what was it, it''s on the tip of my tongue." I sigh and resign myself to the fact that I could not for the life of me remember what I was trying to accomplish, until the voice came back. "Worry not young one learning new things is always hard, but worry not you have plenty of time to figure it out, after all not many have the chance to rationalize being dead as well as you have. Well at least not as fast as you have, you seem to have adapted quite well even I am surprised." Even though I loved this voice with every fiber of my being I was beginning to get irritaed being talked down to like a child, I am 25 years old dammit, well at least I was now I don''t know what I am, or how long I have existed since my death. I began to speak to help figure some things out, and release some pent up agression. "Listen voice lady I will have you know I am 25 years old, and I refuse to be treated like a child. I don''t know who or what you are, but you could at least use my damn name when talking to me, its a little condescending to be referred to ike a child." Ok that may have been a little excessive, for all I know this voice could make me disappear altogether, and I had the gall to yell at it, her, whatever it is! I began to panic again when a soft booming laughter seemed to permeate the air around me like a slowly moving warm fog of contentment. I just realized I had not even given the voice my name, I should probably apologize for my rudeness. "I am sorry mam I just realized that I yelled at you about using my name, and then didn''t even give you my name in return, and now I feel like a moron. You can call me Eric; Eric Kenwood." "Worry not Mr Kenwood all will be revealed in time, for now just focus on what makes you, you so your being doesn''t cease to exist. I will be here waiting for you to finish." I breathed a sigh of relief until my brain processed what was just said to me. '' What, wait I could just cease to exist if I don''t figure this out? I better focus and redouble my efforts so I can get out of this sticky situation.
For overcoming you existential crisis you will be awarded for your perseverance.
INT +1 END +1 Awards will be updated to user after their consultation.
''Wait what the hell is that?! Oh wait yeah, the weird screens are back. I had almost thought those were some kind of hallucination I witnessed from loss of blood. Hold on a second how come I can''t remember how I died, but I can remember seeing these blue screens while dying? That is something I am going to have to ask this being when I am done learning how to walk again, or at least stand up.'' Three whole days passed as I struggled to figure out how to stand up without a body to support me. Its alot harder than you think! I was about to give up again, when during one of my weird mental soliloquies I ran along a different line of thought than use legs move forward. I was taking my mental frustrations out on imaginary balloons, popping them and what not, when a thought came to me. "What if I am like a balloon filled with Helium in that I require some semblance of shape to contain myself and lift myself to new heights." ''New heights? That was a lame ass line even for me, wait I am getting sidetracked again think Eric think.'' I began to imagine what it was like to be the gas trapped in a balloon, slowly filling it up, too much too fast and it would burst so slow and steady became the goal. Inflating myself took way long than I had ever hoped that it would, when my body finally gained some sense of self, I began to rise up to my old height of 5''10". Learning to move this new construct body was the hard part. It took me what I learned later to be the equivelant of 6 Earth weeks to fully gain control of my sense of self to turn around, and finally address the voice that has kept me company this whole time. Slowly but surely with the grace of the Hindenburg I managed to finally see my nurturing guardian. She was the most beautiful creature in all of existence, at least by my mortal eyes'' standards. ''Wait I don''t have eyes, how does any of this work. Im confusing myself again I just need to shut up and listen to what she has to say.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Caramel skin draped in an ocean of black silk seemed to ebb and flow across her entire body. Long flowing turqoise locks of hair drape across her face like the leaves on an ancient willow tree, protecting two softly glowing Amethysts from the harsh elements in the universe. A soft giggle escaped the lips of this angel like a welcome home party after being lost in the woods for months. She smiled and began to speak. " Congratulations Mr Kenwood, I knew you could do it. You just needed to believe in yourself." I couldn''t believe someone could have enough faith in me to sit here, and encourage me for some indeterminate amount of time. "Wait how did you not get bored sitting here watching me struggle for God knows how long, and not decide to put me out of my misery." I tried to seem as confident as possible when making my point, mostly because if I started to lose myself in her being like a meteorite being pulled into Earth by gravity. This brought another smile to her sultry lips smooth as polished granite. "The six weeks that have passed were no more than a mere blink of the eye in the grand scheme of things, but I also had your amusing inner monologues to keep me entertained as well. You truly are a fascinating human." I smiled at her compliment of my ingenious humor noone else seemed to acknowledge before I realized most of the things I had said were only said in my mind. Jaw dropping faster than a bowling ball from a cliff I start to stammer out whats on my mind. "W.WW....WHAT! You can read minds?" '' Yes Eric that was so damn eloquent, you are master of your own domain, dumbass.'' She starts a long harmonious chuckle as a single tear forms in the corner of her eye, but instead of careening down the side of her face the tear began to float into space gaining new life as a shooting star. After her laughter began to fade she made an effort to speak without continuing to laugh. "My dear child I cannout read minds, I can hear prayers from my worshippers, but not read minds." I tried to process this because I had not prayed to anyone, I didn''t even know her name so how could I have prayed to her? ''Wait why would I pray to someone I just met, does this mean she is God? That can''t be right God is supposed to be a chiseled old man with a huge white beard, and a stricking white as snow mullet.'' I can''t help but chuckle at my own inner jokes. After realising I let myself be sidetracked again I realised she was waiting for me to finish my thought process before contininuing to speak. "Eric you may believe that I have been reading minds to some degree, and I have no Idea where you Humans get this idea of God from he looks nothing like us, and that being said there is more than one of us." She smiled as my jaw once again broke itself on the floor, and I was trying to reel it back in before I began to look too much like a Boa Constrictor trying to inhale a small boar. "Dear child when you are incorporeal, you dont have inner thoughts, you have been projecting everything out into surrounding space. That is neither here nor there though I really should explain why you are here, since we have wasted time getting you a new body for long enough. This is going to sound weird to you but since I stole your soul from my elder brother to keep him from destroying you to feed his champion power, I have had to supress myself to some degree to keep my brother from finding me, and trying to take you back." I nod along with the purple eyed goddess as if this is just a normal everyday thing that happens to me. ''I think my brain shortcircuted a while back, but I''ll be ok, because she promised me a new body!'' She once again has trouble hiding her humor of the situation, and my lack of mental self control. "Eric you were an innocent soul stolen from your own path of life to further the goals of a twisted, and corrupted soul bent on taking over the known multiverse." "Fear not however, because I have a plan that I hope will prevent the more villainous portion of my family from finding you right away, and if all goes according to plan you will have a better life thant you ever had before. I wish to ask you to be my champion in the upcoming Apacolypse games. These games are held by us higher beings in order to establish rank, as well as area of influence. Normally we would just influence from both sides to fight each other, but a more ingenious system developed by you Humans has decidedly made the games more fair, as well as interesting." " You will have a chance to rebuild your old body or try for something new, you never know what you may desire until it is right in front of you. The only downside is I will have to throw you back in the timeline far enough that my family doesn''t notice you appearing, but we''ll talk about that later. I am sure you have lots of questions, but we have alot to get through, and not much time left to do so. Please take a read through this list of beings you wish for a chance to reincarnate as." An immense list of creatures, and races appeared most of which I had never even heard of before. I had a feeling I was going to be stuck her for a long time, so I might as well hunker down and get to reading. After spending the next 4 hours reading through names, and statistics about the races involved in this giant video game, for lack of a better term. I think I may have finally narrowed it down to 2 Possibilities.
Demi-Godling
A mix of elfling races that descend from the bloodline of an elfling that had won the favor of a God or Goddess long ago, and ascended to Godhood themselves. This race permeates all subspecies of elflings on the planet as his descendants began to filter into other clans and subspecies.
Koresians
A race of dwarves that began to learn how to shape metal from metorites that had fallen to the face of the planet. Bursting at the seems with magic these metals began to form and shapes the dwarves as they had done with the metal. Taking on a semi translucent obsidian color these dwarves learned they could make magical weapons better than any other dwarf.
''Yuuuup this was going to take a long time.'' Chapter 4: Is this real? Am I real? (Adult language used) Staring at the two blue windows of death trying tof igure out the rest of my life was alot harder than one would have thought. I really do not know what I was thinking when this all started, or that this would be that hard but the presence of the goddess has kept me relatively calm while I try to make my decision. Turning to the goddess whose name I really have to ask for, but it just seemed impolite since she never offered it to me, but has helped me get this far. I decide to ask her if she can help me on my current task. "Excuse me Miss Goddess, could you please tell me more information on these two races?" She smiles as she gives me the look a mother would give their child when they are truly ignorant to the world. "Eric, you may call me Merelia. I am the goddess of love, and reincarnation. As for your question you can just stare at the window of your choice, and think [More Information]." At this point I just kind of lose myself in my own stupidity. I could have done something so simple? I must be the dumbest person in the whole universe. Well it''s not like most people really get to have experience with this sort of thing, but I can''t help but be disappointed in myself as I mentally think more information on the Demi- Godling race.
Demi-Godling
Little is truly known about the Demi-Godlings as they mostly keep to themselves. Some notable Elven texts say that they are the mutts of their species, though some believe differently. Some believe they could be the next evolution of the pure Elves as they liked to call themselves. The Demi-Godlins all stem back to a single progenitor by the name of Aurelius Longvine. Demi-Godlings come in many subspecies as their ancestors spread from the Wood Elves through the Drow. This race is considered a jack of all trades when it comes to magic. Due to their inherent Demi-god powers, and their natural inclination to magic, they have a longer average than most of the races at 2,000+ years. The make ecellant magical craftsmen, as well as magicians of all kinds. This race receives a bonus of +5 to Intellect, and wisdom, as well as a 15% increase to natural mana regeneration.
Well that is alot of nonsense, but magic does seem like it would be pretty badass to wield; Like all of those fiction books my father used to read to me before he died. The memory still brings a tear to my eyes, well I no longer have eyes, but I think you get the point. I sigh, and brush off my sadness if only my dad could have known that one day his discovery could lead to something like this I like to think that he''d be happy. Anyways time to move on to read the next description as I have kept Merelia here longer than I really should have with my inability to act intelligently.
Koresians
At one point Koresians were dwarves just like any other clan, until one day the great rocks began to rain down from the heavens. One such space rock collided with the mountain of the Mithrilbeard Clan, killing 1/3 of their population in that one instance. The remaining dwarves began to retaliate trying their best to destroy the rock from the Heavens, but to no avail. Try as they might they couldn''t even dent the giant rock. Life began to move foreward for the clan, until they started to gain access to ambient mana, and learn the secrets of magical forging. Something that should have been impossible for dwarves became a reality. Years went by as the ambient magics slowly began to change the dwarves at their very core. One such dwarf by the name of Belloc Bronzeflower belonging to a minor house of the clan noticed that the rock would become malleable to his touch, changing the dwarves far more than they ever thought possible. This race gains a natural bonus of +6 to strength, and a +3 to intelligence. Koresian''s also gain a 10% bonus to all crafting skills, but suffer a -2 penalty to their agility.
"UGGGHHHH.. I thought this would make things easier for me but how am I supposed to make a decision for the rest of my life when both are so appealing to me." Ok think Eric you have to make a decision you have wasted entirely too much of Merelia''s time with this crap. Thin think think if only there was a way to mix the two races. The thought barely left the recesses of my mind before another blue screen popped into existence scaring the crap out of me in the process.
Hybridization requirements not met; Divine intervention required.
At this point the goddess seemed slightly bemused again before pulling out a bright purple see through dagger, and slashing her finger open. Wincing slightly at pain a feeling she has not had physically in a long time she began to swirl the blood with my incorporeal form. There was a flash of light as the universe disappeared in a blinding white expanse, and Merelia''s voice projected through the nothingness. "Very well it seems you have made your choice Eric Kenwood I wish you luck on your journey as a newly born Immortal. To keep my indescretion from my siblings I unfortunately have to send you to the beginning of civilization to protect you. May you prosper, and save the Multiverse young one." Confused at her statement I began to lose conciousness. Then it hit me that she had said I was immortal. Wait WHHHAAAAT! WAIIIT Merelia what does that mean!? There was a soft chuckle, and then nothing. Merelia sat inquiet contemplation of what she had just done. ''I didn''t even know I could create another God, I should keep this from everyone else especially Eric as far as he knows hes only immortal.'' This illicited a small chuckle from the goddess. Only immortal I imagine the tiny once mortal is having trouble unterstanding that himself at the moment. She began to feel a pull on her magic that let her know she was being summoned to a meeting where they would discuss in more detail what the plans for this budding world are. "Goodluck young one youre going to need it." Eric was awoken to the feeling of the Earth itself vibrating under some immense force. Thinking it was just a construction crew working on the roads outside his parents house he yelled for his parents to make it stop he needed more sleep. He suddenly came to himself as he realised what had transpired in the past few weeks. He died, and met a goddess who gave him a new life, despite the ever rising pounding eminating from the Earth he refused to open his eyes and accept what fate had given him as real. "There is no way any of this real; It can''t be." As he was suffering from his delusional rants in his head something very large had landed beside him causing Eric to jump to his feet in a panic. Looking around him he noticed fauna that was unnaturally large. Trees standing 50 meters tall with gigantic blue leaves fanning out into a canopy, and an immensely large leg right beside where he now stood. Following the tree trunk like leg all the way up to its owner he noticed that it belong to a Brontosaurus. Gigantic charcoal colored legs seemed to mottle the beast to its body where it met the brilliant ruby colored skin that cascaded acrossed the rest of the beast. Standing at 42 meters tall the monsters neck undulated as it began to eat leaves from the tree tops.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Sadly to say my awe in the being didn''t last very long s my mind caught up to me. "HUUUUUH... A BRONTOSAURUS? Theres no..no way I must be dreaming, yeah thats it I''m dreaming, and I''ll wake up in a few minutes." My delusions made sense to me, and I was willing to accept them as fact until I was staring intently at the beast making sure it wouldn''t step on me, and a blue screen appeared.
Biraxilus Lizard (Level 40)
A giant acid spitting herbivore. Level Appraisal to glean more information.
A loud resounding ding penetrated me ears vibrating every fiber of my being, as yet another blue screen appeared before me.
New skill learned: Appraisal
Curious about my newly obtained skill I decided to ask the magic blue boxes of doom for more information. "More Information please." I barely got the words out when I was bombarded with a new window that seemed to shimmer into existence like a flag waving in the wind. Great now whatever this is is messing with me, that was totally a powerpoint transition. I better look at this information before arguing with the blue box, or the giant lizard monster decides to drip a loogie onto me.
Appraisal: Level 1
A new skill obtained by over enthusiastically staring at something long enough to understand it. Just as exciting as watching paint dry, congratulations dumbass you can look at stuff. This skill allows the user to understand the soul or being of whatever they are looking at, with more levels comes more understanding. Observe well moron.
I was outraged that the blue box had decided to start treating me like I was stupid, but before I could start an argument the Biraxilus lizard decided to make its move. A shadow covered me entire body as I was lost in my thoughts that I almost didn''t realize till too late. A gigantic foot began to descend intent on crushing me into a pancake. Freaking out I dove out of the way hoping that this thing didn''t crush me. I rolled through the bushes at an alarming speed until I hit a tree causing me to come to an immediate hault. It was at this point I realized as I was laying in the dirt dazed, and confused that I was almost entirely naked, and that my skin was a semi-translucent black color with tiny lines of purple in a crack like pattern ascending up my forearms, and acrossed my chest. Try not to freak out, try not to freak out you knew youd have this type of skin whenever you were picking a new body for yourself. "Yes brain, but I didn''t know how the body would look, it''s not like I got to see it in person only in text form." ''Wait why am I arguing with myself, I think the stress of this situation is finally getting to me. I need to figure out what my next move is, but I think I should figure it out quickly. I also need to climb out of these bushes, and try to figure out where I am persay.'' Tip toeing through the massive trees to the tree line the landscape opens up into a wide expanse of tall grasses flowing in the wind like a sea of green. Blue sunflowers the size of a telephone booth stretch across this endless field dotting it like stars in the nights sky. At the very end of the field was a mountain the size of Everest back on Earth. I think that I will head towards that mountain for now, it seems like it would be safer than these fields. I mean seriously theyre taller than me they almost look a forest all their own. Brilliant emerald Dragonflys the size of mopeds flew to and fro amongst the giant blue flowers. "Im beginning to think this may be harder than I expected but thats fine I can do this as long as Im stealthy, and make my way slowly I should be there in only a couple weeks." I whisper to myself, and then laugh from a mix of exasperation, and anxiety. ''Maybe I could find a way to make some crude weapons and tools to help me out along the way, or maybe even magic the boxes did say my race would excel at magic. That would be so rad! I can picture it now flinging giant balls of fire, and crushing things with gravity I''ll be such a badass!'' During my delusional mental soliloquey a blue assaulted my vision.
Master the plane.. the plane!
Ring Ring...Hello? delusional thoughts from Fantasy Island calling for dumbass. *Stares intently at phone for a minute before turning to Eric* Hey idiot it''s for you. They said snap your crazy ass out of it, and check your status, and maybe find a safe place to sleep before the real mosnters come out to play. You should also find some food before you starve to death; I swear you''re like an infant.
Dumbfounded I stare at the blue box for a little bit before I snap back to reality insulted by the nerve of the blue box. "You''re way to rude for your own good you blue bastard! I am new here so maybe cut me a little slack. I didn''t exactly wake up expecting to be in Jurassic Park, nor did I believe any of this was real to begin with. You do make a good point though, as much as I hate to admit it I should check my stats out before I die."
*Mental face palm*
"You don''t even Have a body how are you going to...You know what nevermind I don''t care I need to figure this out before you get me killed." I think status as loud as I can in my head, and another blue box flashes into existence.
Name: Eric Kenwood Race: Koresian-Godling (Hybrid)
Healthpoints: 250/250 Mana Points: 500
Stats Affinities
CON: 12 STR: 14 INT: 25 WILL:17 LUK: 6 ING: 15 Agi: 11 Fire: 55% Light: 65% Creation: 80% Water: 35% Earth: 36% Void: 0% Spacial: 5% Dark: 10% Wind: 12%
Spells: None Abilities Mineral Mastermind: lvl 1 Disasterpiece: lvl 2 Immortal instrument: N/A Metal Detector: lvl 1 Nature of all things: lvl 1
Ok so far no skills really I need to figure out what these abilities do, and try to get some magic, I''m kinda sad that I don''t have any magic. I was broken from my contemplation when the ground started to shake a little bit. This wasn''t the same as when the Biraxilus got too close, this is mor elike something underneath me. I look down and began to analyze the ground I''m standing on. DING! NEW SKILL LEARNED
Skill Detect Traps learned: Detect traps allows you to notice minor discrepencies in your surroundings that may be a trap. Higher levels will allow you to see more traps of a higher level, as well as the type of trap. I guess the old saying is true Einstein you should look before you leap.
Just as I finished reading the ground stops shaking, and starts to tilt a little bit. One moment I was on the ground, the next I was catapaulted into the sea of tall grass. Twisting around I manage to see a spider the size of an SUV crawling back into its trapdoor lair. Air blasting across my face as I begin my unwilling descent into the grass, I yell out in vain to the blue demon boxes that got me into this mess. " YOU''RE SO UUUUUSSSELESSSSSSS" Chapter 5: To burn or not to burn that is the question. Flying through the air really didn''t give me a chance for quiet contemplation, as I was screaming at the useless boxes as a flew towards my death. The breeze on my hair felt quite nice almost to the point that I began to enjoy it, until the ground came up to meet me with a whole body high five. BAM! I began to slide through the grass eating all the dirt inmy path like some kind of sick all you can eat buffet. It''s not like I had a choice really the velocity that I was launched off of that trap was ridiculous, I wonder what level that spider was. ''Well at least I''m not hungry anymore, but I don''t think I can survive on dirt it tastes pretty disgusting.'' I think to myself hoping that the system cannot read minds, and bite back with some unwanted criticisms of my intelligence. Dirt caking the entirety of my front half I almost forgot that I was butt naked. ''Wait how did it take me this long to realize that my dongle was hanging out.'' It more than likely had to due with the fact that I was woken up by a giant dinosaur, but thats besides the point. This was all too surreal for me I had a shitty life up until this point, but I wouldn''t exactly call this an upgrade. I can at least take solace in the fact that I wont ever have to deal with Blake Carter ever again. I was taken out of my quiet revery by the rustling of the grass. If I wasn''t a battle hardened warrior I would have already been pissing myself. Wait whats that warm feeling on my thigh....Ok maybe I am not a battle hardened warrior, but I need to man up or die. I know the nice goddess told me I was effectively immortal, but I don''t think that exactly makes me immune to death, and I am really not one to test that theory out. Try to concentrate on a possible escape if necessary I look around for anything at all I could use as a weapon, but to my avail there is nothing. Not even a damn stick to swing at whatevers coming so I can feel that I at least tried to defend myself before my untimely demise. Sitting down I accept the fact that I am going to die. ''Weird I go from pissing myself to a calm resolution in the face of death. Something must be wrong with me if I am capable of Switching through emotions so quickly.'' The sound of rustling began to pierce my ears as it grew in pace, and closeness. Running out of the edge of the grass was not a big scary monster like I assumed would have to my relief. However I didn''t know if I should be scared of not whatever this little guy was supposed to be I am almost certain that it is a velociraptor so I decided to put my appraisal skill to good use.
Baby Verocidon(lvl 5)
This baby carnivore is usually heavily guarded when they first hatch from their eggs. A very territorial species normally found in magma marshes. These beasties have a strong natural affinity with fire, and with age will grow to learn to use its affinity. A fully grown verocidon will grow to be 3 meters in length, and 2.5 meters in height.
The little verocidon is black in color with large swatches of red mingling between the upper thighs along its back all the way up to the top of its head where it has a built in crown of bone to protect its skull from bigger predators. This dangerous little guy moved with a rocky yet elegant gate right up to where I was sitting. Looking at me expectantly it makes a mewling screetch like a hurt cat. It''s description had put me on edge not only should it not be here, but they are always with an adult. "Look little guy I have no way to defend myself if your mother shows up so shoo!" I went to go shoo the animal away, but then my stomach decided to remind me that I was starving to death. With a deafening gurgle my stomach had startled the small creature with its roar of defiance demanding that I eat the infant dinosaur, little did my stomach know I had no such plans I could forage for edible plants if I had to but maybe having a little dino nugget on standby might not be too bad. Attempting to ignore my angry stomach, and the little dino I try to figure out how to unlock magic like I''ve read about in the many web novels I had read in my downtime. Concentrating on my inner self I began to meditate, but lets just say it was the most boring thing I had ever had to do, which is sit still and do nothing while pretending to forget that this alien planet eists. After an hour my angst begin to hit its boiling point when out of no where I was greeted by a new box with a relieving tidbit of information. DING! New skill learned!
New skill obtained: Meditation
Meditation allows one to enter a state of ignorant bliss whenever activated no matter the circumstance. This skill increases mana regeneration, and health regeneration to 10 mana a minute, and 35 health a minute respectively.
''Well thats pretty a pretty useful skill too bad my mana, and health regen are hidden stats apparently so I have no idea what my usual regeneration rates are hopefully I can unlock that at some point.'' Thinking about the have nots right now won''t get me anyway so I suppose that I should try and get Mana manipulation to hopefully manipulate it into fire mana, and learn some neato pyrotechnics. Remaining seated I began to feel for the energy deep inside of me that is known as mana. I try to mentally twist, and pull on it as if it were a piece of salt water taffy. I began to grow impatient when I had gained nothing for an hour and a half of concentration. Thinking about wasted time has got me on edge as the sun sinks ever farther towards the tree tops. " Well I guess I should some how hunt me up some grub, and try to find a nice spot to bed down for the night." It was at this time that I noticed the little Verocidon curled up next to me purring softly. ''Huh I guess this little guy has nowhere else to go, and decided waiting near me would give him a chance to leave if a bigger predator had showed up. I mean what would you go for the chicken nugget or the stuffed turkey if you were starving. I know what my choice would be, but thats just me I think. Come to think of it why did I think it was a good idea to sit here meditating when I could''ve been an easy target for this things mother?'' Scolding myself for my own stupidity, and general lack of understanding of my environment had apparently caused this lapse in judgement. Admonishing myself a little further I began to scan for a rock big enough to hit something over the head with. Fifteen minutes later I managed to find what I thought was the perfect rock for clubbing with. ''Next I need to weave some grass fibers, and hopefully find a branch somewhere on the ground before running into something deadly.'' Turning around to make sure the little dino is still asleep I began to crawl through the tall grass in hopes of finding a stick to use for a primitive axe handle. Hopefully I don''t run into some dangerous monster wall I''m on my hands, and knees looking for this stick or it''d be the ultimate irony. Dying in a field unable to defend myself because I couldn''t find the tools to allow me to defend myself. It was such a catch-22 that I wasn''t willing to argue with myself over it, after all I needed to find a stick so I can get back, and try to weave some grass into primitive rope. It took me 30 minutes give or take to find a damn stick, and 15 to get back to my little makeshift campsite. Thirty minutes of squirming through the savannah like a grub hoping a giant bird doesn''t descend to make me into a meal. Thankfully nothing had happened. It still hurt my pride a little not being able to grasp magic better, but I am sure if I have a safe place to work on it Ill be more capable of figuring it out as of right now I am too stressed. Sitting back down in my now comfortable hidey hole I begin to pull blades of giant grass apart to weave into fibers. I guess all those years that dad had me playing boyscout are finally paying off.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Thinking of my dad had put me off of my game a little bit, as I sat and stared at the grass remembering something I wish that I could forget, like my death. I guess the death of others is harder to get over than your own death. The absurdity of that last thought had made me smirk sourly. ''It''s not like you have much to worry about if you are dying, you won''t have enough time. I am possibly the only one who came back from death.'' I shrug as this isn''t really something I want to think about, and go back to trying to make grass rope. My patience is rewarded unlike mana maipulation I gained a new skill. DING! NEW SKILL LEARNED!
New skill learned: Craft Primitive Technologies
Due to your extreme perseverance you have unlocked the skill branch of crafting known as Primitive technologies. This skill allows you to quickly assemble primitive tech that you have the recipes for at a much faster rate of speed than possible without. Recipes unlocked: Primitive Rope: Requires 30 grass fibers, and 25 seconds of time to twine the rope.
''Well alright finally some of my hardwork is being noticed by the system, this will allow me to do so many things, like make my axe, as well as a makeshift hammock.'' I can barely contain my excitement as I looked down at my poor attempt at making rope, "Huh maybe the system decided to take pity on me, who knows. At least I can make rope now!" Using my access to system aided crafting I was able to create a perfect rope in less than a minute. It took alot for me to not yelling out in joy, this made life so much easier, well as easy as it could be on a strange planet surrounded by dinosaurs. Using my new found burst of energy I used my pet rock to dig a groove into my makeshift weapon handle, and begin to strap the newly made rope, rock, and stick together to make a primitive axe. Twenty minutes later I tied off the last of the rope hopefully securing the weapon together. This netted me a new recipe for my Primitive tech skill. Ding! New recipe learned: Primitive Axe(poor) Well I can''t argue with that it really is a poor excuse for a weapon, but hopefully it will let me at least hit something a few times without falling apart damning me to die. Looking to the little dino I see now that the wee beastie has woken up, and was staring at me intently, almost demanding food. "I get it, I get it you are hungry, well so am I little buddy. If we''re lucky I''ll be able to snag us some dinner, and we can find a nice little place to sleep tonight. I hope you''re not afraid of heights, because we might be sleeping in the trees tonight." Prowling foreward, me and Quarky as I''ve decided to call the little velociraptor-esque beast began to look for some animal we could fill our empty bellies with. Rustling up ahead stops us in our tracks only 50 feet from where we were sitting in a life of lavish safety. The rustling begins to move in the opposite direction than us prompting me to continue foreward or else lose the chance of dinner, and my stomach would never let me live that down. Looking down out Quarky I have to admonish his brazen attitude towards danger by reprimanding him, and asking him to sit there while I try to score us some food. Only 10 meters ahead of us is a large clearing in the grass where our prey is hopefully grazing on some grass or tiny animal. Nearing the edge of the clearing it opens up into a 30 meter expanse of mushed down grash, and a tiny stream flowing through the middle. Near the edge of the stream I notice a 1 meter tall giant boar maroon bristle like fur sticking up at all angles like some sort of otherworldly porcupine. I can''t see it''s face so I have no idea how big its tusks are, but my stomach is screaming at me to kill it by this point, so I guess some allowances have to made in terms of survival. Looking back on it, it was a terrible idea. Moving at a snails pace I slowly creep towards the drinking pig, stopping everytime the animal gave an odd twitch hoping that this wasn''t the time that he noticed me. At 2 meters away the boar finally notices my approach, but seems just as shocked to see me as I am that I had managed to get this close without detection.
Skill Leveld up: Sneak has leveled to Beginner level 5.
''I guess the system forgot to remind me that I had even learned this skill.''
I did no such thing, you''re just bad at noticing things! Unlike that Boaradillo there..Oh look hes charging.
Dammit, I had let my self be surprised by the blue boxes self righteous indignation, and had completely forgotten about the Boaradillo in front of me. The beast came quickly, as I jumped out of the way my leg slid across the now pin straight bristles of the boars back Intense stabbing pain had invaded my mind, it felt like a million little needles had been dug into my skin then scraped across my leg. It was almost too much to focus on at once. I had no time to focus on the pain however as the boaradillo had turned around ready to charge again I tried to stand on my leg to defend myself against the attack to no avail. Bracing myself as best as I could on the ground I got ready to smash my axe into its skull. At the last second Quarky came charging out of the bushes I wanted to yell at him to stay back, but it was too late the stubborn little guy would not give in at this point I could see the determination in his eyes. The boar noticed his new opponent at the last second, and tried to come to a stop stumbling over its own weight, and velocity. Running head long into the boaradillo Quarky seemed to burst into flames at the last second casuing the beast to roar out in pain. Quarky quickly backed off sensing his opponents rage at being hurt. I felt relief, but at the same time anger he hadn''t listned to me and was now in danger. I had to do something fast or I could lose the only thing that hasn''t tried to kill me yet since I got to this god foresaken world. Ignoring the pain in my leg I stood up to prepare a charge of my own, a notification popped into my face but I willed it away without looking at it, opting instead to focus on my prey. The boar was now back on its feet I made a headlong charge with my homemade axe in tow, bringing it up over my head I swung down as hard as I could onto the creatures spine making a deep cut, and one big ass bruise. Now seeing me as its target the beast squealed in rage as he pawed at the ground readying a new attack. The bristles on the boars back flattened down almost appearing to fuse with the monsters back. Focused on this weird behavior I almost didn''t notice the giant pig running towards me at full speed. Waiting till the last second I stepped out of the way, and attempted to bring my axe down onto the boaradillos head as resounding CRACK! filled the air. My attack had been futile as the axehead shatterned on the beasts skull. "Well shit that rules out my axe, and makes me realize why it is called a boaradillo. The damn thing can flatten, and harden its bristles at will making a steel like shell to protect itself." ''What to do the dang this is turning around again, but where is Quarky dammit!" The boaradillos charge had begun with a new fervor, as Quarky apears of nowhere headbutting the boaradillo in the face with a flaming headbutt. Then he was gone again I guess fire is the creatures weakness. ''That makes me useless in this fight since I can''t do magic.'' Brought from my internal struggle as Quarky attempts to attack again when the creature turns faster than I thought possible, and kicks Quarky with his hind legs. Quarky flies six meters before rolling to a stop unconscious. Now I was pissed off I reached for the mana inside me unconsiously willing it to compress, and burn itself like a raging forest fire. I could feel the pressure building in my arm, and not taking the time to think through how I had achieved this little miracle I ran at the beast. Before the boaradillo could even react I launched a fireball at point blank range into it''s face. Squealing in rage the monster flew back several feet before taking its final breathe. Three more notifications sweep my vision as a massie headache ensues causing me to almost black out. ''I have to check on Quarky!'' This is the only thought consuming my brain as I slowly attempt the massive task of walking to my little raptor without losing consciousness. The world starts to dim as I see Quarky stir from his unwanted slumber, and then nothing as my forehead arrived early for his date with the ground. Chapter 6: Welcome to Jungle! We have fun, and flames! ''I was having the most wonderful dream. I had just roasted a pig by a bonfire. Everything was perfect, well it was until my pet chicken decided to stand on my chest, and peck my head off of the ground repeatedly. I didn''t stop him at first because I thought what harm could a chicken do to me. Every peck felt like a frying pan to the back of the head, but the weird part was that he was pecking me in the forehead.'' "Ok somethings wrong here....OWWWWW. Stop hitting me you damn chicken! I don''t know why I even bought you. Wait, why did I buy a chicken...." My world began to fade dimmer, and dimmer with every hit of my little chicken turned traitor. ''I will eat you, you little bastard just you wait.'' One final slam causes the entire world to flash orange. ''I''m not sure if this is because or internal bleeding, or that pig wasn''t cooked right but something feels off.'' As I am contemplating the state of my new world I''m brought back to reality with a flash of searing pain colliding with my skull like a lit m80 taped to the back of my skull exploding. Immobilized by the brilliant flash of light something wet begins to slide across my face in quick swipes. Acclimating to the new predicament I have found myself in I notice Quarky is mounted on my chest, and licking my face with his hot lizard tongue. It was literally hot, his tongue was like rubbing acid on your face. I couldn''t help myself and began to scream. "Quarky stop that burns like hell!!" My screams fall on deaf ears as the little guy just seems happy to see that I am alive. However It appears that I am moving, groggily I move my head foreward too see I am being pulled by a little woman. This woman however was sporting a dark green, and brown skin. ''Maybe I should try and get her attention since you know I''m kind of being kidnapped here, hopefully she doesn''t wish to eat me that would be rather awkward to explain.'' Before my mind can continue to wander into no man''s land I notice that the woman has stopped dragging me. Not paying me any mind she starts to move her head around frantically, seemingly confused by her current situation. Before I can even open my mouth again she starts to pull me in a new direction. ''Ok I''ve had about enough of this I need to say something before this goes any farther.'' "Excuse me miss, but do you mind letting me you know Uuuuh go?" She stops midstride almost tripping over her own feet, it seems as though I surprised her with my abrupt return to conciousness. Turning around slowly I notice a weary look in her eyes, almost as if she''s been up for days at this point. Her mouth opens but no words escape, only an exasperated sigh of defeat as she sits down on the ground, and begins to stare at me intently, like some kind of zoo animal. Not one to turn down a challenge I accept her awkward as fuck staring contest. I''d like to think of myself as good at staring contests I never lost once as a kid, but I found myself distracted by the most beautiful amber eyes I have ever seen. Blazing golden orbs that seem to radiate warmth, and innocence; This was soon replaced by a cold calculating curiousity. '' Huh, her mood changed pretty fast I wonder what thats all about.'' She opened her mouth to speak, but I interjected. " Ummm you mind telling me why I am all tied up like a huntin prize?"'' She looks confused about what I am asking her, so I gesture to the ropes I''m bound with by stretching my face towards the musty, wet rope. Comprehension seems to dawn on her as she scootches herself closer to me on her butt. "Gorba''dak tsull?" ''Great she can''t understand me, no wonder she looked all confused. I don''t know why I thought that we''d be able to understand each other.'' I berate myself for how stupid I have been over the passed couple of days. ''I really need to get out of these ropes so I can work on a way of getting out of here, or understanding her. Understanding her would be my best bet, since she obviously lives here, and could help me learn more about this strange world that I now call home.'' "Hey blue box guy, you mind helping me out here? maybe give me a skill to either escape, or a language translation skill. I mean don''t you think it''s a little ridiculous to drop a man on a planet with no way of actually defending himself, or better yet understanding the local peoples?" Fuming my anger begins to dissipate when I realize it was dumb of me to lose my cool like that, for all I know I doubt mr blue skies whever he is had anything to really do with me coming her ein the first place. I should be happy that I''m not still on Earth dead. As I am coming to terms with my own self worth the blue boxes make a triumphant return to my vision...
Awwwe Thanks buddy, maybe you''re not such a bad guy after all, but I can''t help you this time; You''re on your own mister.
Dumbfounded I stare blankly into the sky, shocked that the box might have just took pity on me. Wait though he said sorry maybe there are some rules that even the blue boxes have to abide by. Resigning myself to being stuck hogtied in the middle of a jungle with a tiny dinosaur, and a goblin lady who may or may not have kidnapped me. "Great could this day get any better." I sigh throwing myself yet another pity party. ''This is happening alot lately I really should stop feeling sorry for myself, and actually try harder to survive. The last thing I need to do is figure out an immortal can die.'' I must''ve been really focused on the windows, because after I dismiss the blue box I see the goblin woman standing over me staring with a confused expression on her face. I wriggle in shock yelping at the same time, not very manly I know, but she scared the crap out of me. ''Well what do I do now, because I don''t think she''s going to just cut me loose if we can''t talk, and understand each other. More than likely she''d try to stab me with the big sharpened stick that she has slung across her back. Really the last thing I need at this point if I do say so myself stabbed by a beautiful green midget during a jurassic sunset. Yeah super romantic....''
Somewhere in an unknown region of space, an under paid minimum wage god arrives at his new job.
Standing 3 meters tall the god of time arrives at the headquarters of blue box llc. Hes not happy with what he considers a downgrade to his already waning authority within the pantheon, plus the pay was pretty shit. ''I''m a God for fucks sake, but here I am working underpaid I.T. work for the new competition between the pantheons.'' For eons we just raised one hero/champion to fight as our representatives, but now it has grown into an alternative method suggested by a few of the smaller pantheon gods. This game per say would make the power struggle between us a more constant threat than millenia between conflicts. "I can''t say I am necessarily happy about all of this, but at least I am given some sort of authority on the game world itself; Plus I have found myself Merelia''s little toy. I can get myself a little bit of joy messing with this little ones new life a little." Laughing to himself he struggled with the concept of a god taking so much interest in one tiny little mortal being. ''Oh how the mighty have fallen, once we were worshipped by many throughout the multiverse, but those of us too weak to gain enough influence are now stuck in what would be considered minimum wage jobs on a small planet in the Tsargoth System known as Earth.'' He wanted so much to hate his job, but if he was honest with himself it was a nice little break from ruling over all of time. Chronus the God of Time, yes that Chronus. Once a mighty God with billions of followers that feared his ever passing presence. Now mortals no matter the Universe only feared each other most of them having long forgotten that the Gods even exist. Sitting down at his terminal on the far side of the Office Planet ''World''s best God'' mug in hand he was excited to see what Eric had been up to since he almost killed himself fighting a boaradillo, and starting a massive field fire; If that little Goblin hadn''t been there to drag him away he might have been dead already. "Oh Merelia would have been so pissed. I wonder if she would have tried to break the rules and steal his soul back. I suppose only time will tell now." He chuckles to himself getting some weird looks from his intern Demi-God Alise. ''No difference to me if she thinks I''m cray cray in my bray bray It''s time for my favorite television show, ''''What will he do next: An Eric Kenwood Story.'''' That ought to keep me busy at least for the next 32 hours.'' Musing to himself for his favorite feature of the planet was the day night cycle, it had taken him a good while to find the right balance of day, and night. He wouldn''t consider it to be exactly perfect, as some of the participants being from other planets, and galaxies might have a weird time dilation getting used to this new world. Luckily though the only current player in the game is Eric, and only Merelia, and I know he is even there. The planet isn''t supposed to open up for at least another 800 years SPT (Standard Planet Time). With the acutal fluctuation of time running at a rate of 1:250 for every year outside of this Solar System that passes 250 will pass here. It really is quite extreme on the difficulty scale, and rather cruel if any of the players actually manage to save their planets by winning, only to come back and notice way less time has passed than they have been alive. ''oh well'' was the only thing he could think in this predicament, not that it would matter they should be greatful to me for getting to live such a longer lifespan than they normally would have. Realizing that he had been spacing out he decided it was time to help Eric in his little death game. "You know maybe I should give him some kind of transation ability if he plays nice with me, I mean he''s not such a bad kid after all just a little bit of a dick, but who isn''t anymore." He said to noone in particular drawing more strange stares from his intern." "Alise fetch me more coffee I have a long day of obervation ahead of me." he demands to the young girl. "Yes Mr. Chronus sir, right away sir!" Alise scurries away from her semi insane boss to fetch him a new cup of Joe, she didn''t understand why he forced her to call it that when it made absolutely no sense to do it. She sighs exasperated at her boss. She couldn''t help herself though, because no matter how crazy he seemed she still idolized him. She was also the only demi god who had chosen the path of time at a young age so he could teach her alot. It wasn''t even her affiliation that had attracted him to her though, ''He''s the freaking God of Time, no matter how many times she said it to herself she would still gush over all of his accomplishments, and no matter what anyone tried to tell her she would remain steadfast, and determined!''. She consoled herself on his misgivings, but they were not enough to make her leave his employ. Rushing back to her boss she quickly handed him his coffee, but he doesn''t so much as even acknowledge her existence; He''s too engrossed on watching this tiny elfing black as night with an elaborate web of cracks that faintly gave of a violet pulse of life. Her bosses disregard for her existence caused her to frown slightly, but she was aso intrigued at this tiny man attempting to wiggle free of bindings as he is drug along through the jungle by a Dar huntress. His predicament caused her to smile absentmindedly thinking to herself. ''Hmmm this creature appears to be in quite the bind, hehehe, but if the boss is interested in this one life on a planet of millions maybe there is more to him than meets the eye.'' She resolves herself to keep an eye on the elfing, sitting down at her desk she attempts to do just that, however the phone picked that precise moment to go off.
Meanwhile, back in the denseshrubbery of the jungle .....
One long sleepless night dangling from the canopy in his rope prison was enough to make Eric mad. "OKAY SERIOUSLY.... YOU HAVE KEPT ME UP HERE HANGING UPSIDE DOWN ALL NIGHT, AND I KNOW YOU CAN''T UNDERSTAND ME, BUT IM STILL PISSED OFF!!". He had screamed his head off for the past 10 hours while she ignored him sleeping soundly 5 branches below him. He seethed taking deep breathes and releasing them through clenched teeth hoping to convey either anger or a sense of pain to her;Maybe she''d take pity on him eventually. Yawning the goblin girl stretches, and begins to descend the tree leaving Eric literally hanging. "Great I guess she''s leaving me here to die, maybe there is something in my notifications that keep flashing in the corner of my vision that can help me escape my fibrous prison." ''Thinking "Notifications" brings up quite a decent silist of missed accomplishments. I really should have checked these sooner, but with all of the trouble I''ve been having it''s really no wonder I have forgotten to check up until now.'' New Recipe Learned: Primitive Axe
A Primitive Axe of horrendous quality, but it saved you a few bumps, and scratches. Be thankful you managed that much with your poor skills. These throwback to the stone age devices vary in durability, and damage based on the skill of the crafter. Baseline durability, and damage of subpar quality is 5/5, and 1-4 damage respectively. Increasing this recipe through hard work will also increase its quality. Remember practice makes perfect.
Primitive Axe
Atk Dmg: 1- 4 Quality:Subpar
Sighing to himself he shrugs off his poor crafting skills for now, having resolved himself to work on that later, considering it could be the difference between life, and death for him; He''d rather not die. ''Moving on I guess I should look at the next one before I die hanging from this stupid tree, hopefully it is something that can help me get out of here since I can''t really make an axe to get me out of here with my hands all tied up, and dangling from a damn tree!'' The next box made him a little bit happier though.
Congratulations! You have gained a level. Level 1->2 You are now level 2!
You have gained 5 new attribute points, and 10 new skill points to distribute.
"Time to bring my stats up baby! I feel like a kid on Christmas, I really really really hope this works!" "STATUS!"
Eric Kenwood: Level 2 (22%) Race: Koresian- Godling(Hybrid) Age: 20 Sex MaleIf you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
HP: 260/260 Regen: 10 hpminute Mana: 525/525 Regen:15 mana per minute
Attributes Affinities
CON: 13 STR: 14 INT: 26 WILL: 18 LUK: 8 ING: 16 AGI: 12 Fire (Beginner): 60% Light (Beginner): 65% Creation (Beginner): 80% Water (Beginner): 35% Earth (Intermediate): 36% Void (Beginner): 0% Spacial (Beginner): 5% Dark (Beginner): 10% Air (Beginner): 15%
Spells
Fist of Volcanic Fury(Beginner): level 3 (14%) 		Abilities
Mineral Mastermind(Beginner): level 1 (0%) Mineral Mastermind: A racial ability of the Koresian peoples, this ability allows for an increased chance of finding rare minerals in the ground. This ability gains a 1.5% increase every level; Rank will not increase chance, just the rarity of the minerals found. Rarity increases by 13% per rank.
Disasterpiece: Level 2 (33%) Disasterpiece gives the user''s luck a chance of being bad all the way up to level 10, when the users luck is 55% luck, 45% bad luck. Decreases Bad luck by 6% per level. Current luck: 14% good luck; 86% bad luck. Luck bonus from Luck stat: 8% Increases by 1% per every point in LUK.
Immortal Instrument:Level, and ability description currently N/A
Metal Detector (Beginner):Level 1 (0%) Metal Detector allows the user to detect the metals used in an objects creation. A higher level allows for a greater chance of success. Increase in rank allows for more valuable metals to be detected, and the percent of said metal in the compound.
Nature of All Things (High Adept):Level 1 (10%) A blessing from the Goddess of Life, and Reincarnation. This Blessing allows the user to comprehend the nature of all things through interaction. After a period of time the user will be able to understand almost everything about a person, place, or thing. Increases by 10% per rank up. Current increase to observation speed: 50% less time required. 10% Chance to learn more intimate details, and habits. Note from Merelia: Dear Eric I know journeys to a new place may be an uncomfortably, and sometimes eye opening expierence, but I hope to help you adapt faster, that is why I have given you my blessing, and boosted it a little for you. May you prosper, Hugs Merelia.
Skill List Appraisal (Beginner): Level 2 (10%) Appraisal lets the user discern hidden details of objects, and creatures, as well as Humanoids. These hidden details vary depending on if the object of appraisal is alive or not. Higher levels of appraisal allow for more details to be revealed.
Craft Primitive Technology (Beginner): Level 2 (40%) This throwback to the Stone Age, *wait isn''t this the Stone Age?* allows the user to craft, and use Stone Age technology based on known recipes. Level effects the durability of the crafted objects, and Rank allows for higher quality items to be made. Recipe list: Primitive Stone Axe (Quality: Subpar) Primitive Vine Rope (Quality: Subpar)
Meditation (Beginner): Level 3 (5%) Meditation allows for an increase in health, mana, and stamina regeneration. Hp regen: 25 per minute Mana Regen: 30 per minute Stamina Regen: 45 per minute
Mana Manipulation (Beginner): Level 5 (2%) Great power coarses through your body, you with great patience have learned to harness this power from inside yourself, and from the outside world. Higher levels allow for better control, and in denser amounts.
Fire Mana Manipulation (Beginner): Level 1 (10%) As with Mana Manipulation it''s firey cousin allows you to make it a neat red color.... JK It does however allow you to manipulate Fire Mana giving you minor control over fire for attacks, and general use. Higher levels will Increase the users affinity with the element of fire.
Detect Traps (Beginner): Level 1 (5%) User has a chance to spot traps in the environment. Higher levels give youthe chance to spot traps more frequently without failure. Higher ranks allow the user to spot higher level, and quality traps.
*Ok bud don''t expect this huge list to pop up often, for my sake I will only show you what you really need at the time, not to say the information isn''t there, but I don''t get paid enough to write this out for you every time.*
"Holy shit, I didn''t expect such a huge blue screen to sort through, but it seems that I have gain a few stat points for doing everything that I did in the passed few days. Thats strange though I seemed to have gained a spell, maybe it can help me in this predicament."
Fist''s of Volcanic Fury (Beginner): level 1
Channeling the raw power of Fire Mana into your hands gives you the righteous hot fury of an erupting volcano in the palm of your hands. Radius: Touch DMG: 25-32 per hit MNA: 40 Per / Second
''Okay this is etremely useful, why the hell have I not checked my notifications before! I mean I don''t know how many times I need to think this, but I have been a complete moron! I could''ve escaped from these ropes long before I had been strung up like a pig.'' "No sense in worrying about it just yet I can hold off five mor eminutes just to finish checking these, I cannot afford to be this unprepared ever again." Nodding at my resolution I think ''Notifications" To bring the rest of them into my vision. Congratulations on defeating the mighty bearadillo scourge of the open field... for defeating an opponent of a higher level you gain extra eperience. 1200 exp for winning. Congratulations you have reached level 2, you now have 5 stat points, and 10 skill points to distribute accordingly. Gazing stunned at the notification for a few brief seconds I shout in happiness. "YES! I gained a level!" Taking a moment to congratulate myself I decide on which stats I wish to invest in right now, only have 5 of them makes this a really hard decision, especially with all of the blood pooling in my skull at the moment. I decide to add 1 point to Constitution, 2 points to Intelligence, 1 point into Willpower, and 1 point to Agility. Closing out my stat window I feel a tingling sensation build up in my body, and suddenly I am overwhelmed with pleasure, and confusion as my body adapts to the changes the stat points have made. My vision takes a while to clear up, and it takes even longer for me to refocus my attention on my surrounds, and not what just happened. "GOD that felt like some kind of drug trip. I better watch adding points like that, but maybe I am just being paranoid maybe the sensation dulls with time like building up a tolerance. Do I even want to build a tolerance, because that was amazing! No..No think clearly here Eric, you cannot let something like that happen on a battlefield. You could end up hurt, or worse dead. No let''s hope that the feeling grows less intense the longer I''m in this strange new world." ''Time to get this shit show on the road, how do I use this fire spell? I think I was really angry at that boar monster, and it was almost like my anger boiled to a tipping point, and began to filter into my hands. I wonder if I can make the same thing happen to burn these damn ropes. Well it won''t hurt me to try!'' Focusing on the interal streams of energy in my body swimming through them like a fish down a river. I can feel the engery begin to ebb, and flow building in intensity. Ok that should be the first step done, now Imagine that river is on fire, no demand that the river catch fire! A heat begans to fill my veins as the energy takes on a new light, slowly the heat builds, until the white hot heat of the sun seems to permeate my very being. Directing that intense heat into my hands I can feel the ropes starting to lose some of their durability, until SNAP!!! The air greets me like an old friend, as a branch decides to high five my should while I am falling to the forrest floor. In a drunken stupor I put my hands on the ground in an attempt to push myself up, the pain is immense I even lost 15 health from that fall. One moment was all it took however for my spell covered hands to catch the forrest floor a blaze, I however didn''t notice until I smelled the smoke. "Huh thats weird I didn''t think that burnt rope would still be burning." Looking around for the rope I start sweating alot, and go to wipe the sweat off of my forehead with my hand burning a nice shiny badge of stupid across the right side of my face. "Shit shit shit owe!!! That fracking hurt!." Falling to my knees in pain Ilose enough focus on the spell for it to dissipate. Now I just have to worry about the pain. Rubbing my temple to try to alleviate the pounding in my skull smoke begins to fill my lungs. A coughing fit ensues, followed by the contents of my stomach, a nice green bile, Oh yeah thats right I never got to eat that damn boar! "Ok this could get bad I need to spot the source of the fire....cmon where is it where is it?" The fire had begun to spread too quickly for me to even attempt to stop it, so I did the next best thing I ran for my fucking life! Scared out of my mind my increased agility let me dodge around trees, and trip over rocks alot less. I mean I still tripped, but just not as much! So thats a plus, but where am I? I can see the fire rising in the distance, consuming all that gets within its jagged maw of death. shuddering I know that I have to keep going, or I could be next. Animals, and beast of all kinds began to run for their lives causing a stampede through the jungle. At first I believed that they were all charging at me upset that I had played a part in destroying their homes, but they all ran passed me as if I wasn''t even there. This had left me dumbfounded until I heard a coughing fit followed by a girlish squeel of pain echo through the jungle warzone. Fear flooded through my body as I rushed to find the goblin girl. I have no idea why I''m looking for her, maybe its because I''ve grown fond staring at the back of her head as she drug me from place to place like a prize hunting trophy. The logical part of my mind however isn''t what responded to the squeal, it was was my instincts. It was ingrained in my head by my father from a young age to never let a girl suffer for your bad mistakes. Part of me blaimed myself, because if I had remembered I had a spell active I might not have lit the jungle on fire. Telling myself that I am just not used to having spells, and that I didn''t mean to light the fire will get me no where. Just because she kidnapped me doesn''t mean I should leave her out here to die, I mean who knows maybe shedidn''t really mean to kidnap me, and was just afraid that I''d hurt her when I woke up so she tied me up, and drug me along till I either tried to break out, and kill her or communicated. Unfortunately for her we didn''t speak the same language, but I guess that didn''t deter her any, because she still kept me around. Diving through the shrubbery, and avoiding any animal I come across I search as fast as I can to try and find the young Goblin Huntress that I put in harms way. It takes me 10 minutes to find her half buried under ash, dirt, and various other debris. The slow, ragged, rising, and falling of her chest lets me know that she is still alive for now at least. I let out a breathe I didn''t know I was holding. Bending down I slide my hands under her armpits, and sling her over my shoulder in a firemans carry. "I''ve wasted enough time overthinking this situation I need to find a way out of this mess." The smoke had become ablanket ofimperturbable fog so thick one could almost swim through it. His eyes burning with a fury he''d never known. If one were to ask him he would compare it having your eyeballs melted out with some kind of acidic gas. Eric ran blindly through the woods hoping beyond all hope that he could find some respite in all of this madness.Tears streaming down his face from the constant assault of the smoke was clouding Erics mind. ''This is bad I need to find a way out of this fast, I can''t hold my breathe for much longer, and my eyes are kiilling me.'' As I was about to give up hope a small nudge to the back of my legs tries to urge me forward. Turning around, and trying to see through a blurry veil of tears, and smoke I can make out the barely perceptable form of Quarky at my feet running in circles around me stopping where I was originally faced. He squeeked in frustration trying to get me to understand something. Before I had time to make heads, or tails of what he was doing he makes one more squawk, and takes off running into the trees. ''I guess he wants me to follow him maybe he''ll a better shot at getting me away from this hell, I mean his natural environment should be something like this anyway right?'' Resolving myself to put one foot in front of the other, I try to become steadfast in my movements. I don''t know when my brisk walking had turned into a run, but I didn''t have time to second guess myself. I was too busy trying to make sure I didn''t hit any trees. I had reached a good steady pace, and I could almost make out the edge of the forest when the ground disappeared from under me. Water instantly surrounded me as I sunk to the bottom of this pool with my burden in tow. Opening my eyes the water was a welcome relief to the severe stinging the smoke had caused my eyes. I could see the gobliness slowly falling above me. Reached out I wrap my hand around her ankle, and drag her down towards me in order to get a better grip on her so I can take us to safety, or at least somewhere we can breathe. Firmly securing her under my arm I push my feet with all of my might on the floor of the pond, rising upward at a steady pace I realize that it isn''t fast enough, and begin beating my legs back, and forth in a panic induced motion. Drifting slightly off course from where we originally fell I could feel something was different the moment we breached the waters surface. It was dark here, much darker than the dense haze of the fire filled forest, no this was like a cave or something. Not only could I breathe, I couldn''t see a thought that was bothering the hell out of me. I wasn''t physically strong enough to hold me, and the girl above the water for any long period of time. I needed to find some type of land to make it to. Swimming forward on my back while keeping the goblin girl close to my chest to keep her buoyant. Minutes pass as i swim ever forward in the all encompassing darkness, that was until the back of my head made purchase on solid ground. The reverse headbutt causing a spike of pain to jolt down my spine almost causes me to release my charge, but I grip her tighter in hopes of not letting all of this be in vain. Heaving the gobliness up onto the embankment allows me to drag myself up onto its rocky shore. Breathing heavily an indiscernible amount of time passes, as the wetness of my body begins to overwhelm the adrenaline high I had been riding to get use away from danger. The biting cold chilling him down to the very bone was unsettling, he needed to find a away to get some fire for the two of them. "Wait duh I can use fire magic, well sort of. I need to try to use my volcanic fist spell to put off a small glow so I can at least see to build us a fire to get warm." I think outloud. Focusing on the sensation I had felt before from channeling the fire mana I begin to circulate it throughout my entire body. Slowly the pressure builds knowing that I don''t want too much pressure to become too powerful I release the energy, but forget to direct it anywhere causing my entire body to glow like a nightlight. DING! New spell learned!
Spell: Firefly (Beginner): level 2 (10%)
"Well that''s intriguing I should probably see what the spell entails ''Firefly''." I say to noone in particular.
Firefly (Beginner): level 2 (10%)
A spell that lets the user generate a small perceptable glow from their body like a giant night light. This spell also generates enough heat to keep the caster warm, as well as anyone within A 1 foot distance of them for as long as the caster channels mana into it. Higher levels decrease the mana consumption. Current cost: 5 mana per minute. *Float like a butterfly sting like a .. oh wait well nevermind. Congratulation dumb one you have managed to become a space heater. Enjoy!*
Not having the mental fortitude to deal with the blue boxes nonsense at the moment I lay down next to the goblliness in an attempt to keep her warm. Exhaustion begins to set in as I find mind wandering to stupid thoughts. ''Why did I try so hard to save this girl from all of that when she held me hostage, and drug me behind her like a sack of worthless rocks. Is this what stockholm syndrome is like?'' I don''t have long to ponder these thoughts as the exhaustion begins to take over, and the ever encroaching darkness of sleep consumes me. Chapter 7: One mans cave is another mans home. Eric rolled over in his sleep obsidian face scraping across the abrasive, rocky floor of the cave. He groggily sits up the pain in his face is a little too much to allow him to go back to bed. This irritated him, because he was still worn out from yesterdays events. He sighs knowing that the forest fire could have been prevented, but he was only trying to free himself from the gobliness''s extremely cruel form of travel, and lodgings. "I mean seriously she''s the worst air BnB I have ever been to; 1.5concussions out of 5." Feeling amused at his own poor sense of humor he couldn''t help but be a little stressed at the current predicament that he now finds himself in. Stuck in a cave with a girl he can''t even communicate with, plus he saved her from the fire yesterday, and still cannot wrap his head around why. If he had to give himself a better explanation it would be that he thought his dad would''ve been disappointed in him knowing he could have saved her, but chose his own skin over helping others. ''Old man would have had my head if he knew I was even kindling the idea, let alone actually putting the idea into action.'' He mused silently to himself trying not chuckle as fond memories of his father started to flood his mind. Trying not to become too sentimental he brings his mind back into reality from his day dreams. They were incredibly happy memories for him, but it would do him no good to dwell on the past at this current moment in time. First things first I need to learn to communicate with my ex-captor to at the very least learn what I can from her, because I seriously doubt a goblin, even an adorable female could be entirely trustworthy. ''I will have to figure out what to do with her later, especially if I can''t learn to establish some form of communication with her, but thats a whole seperate can of worms I really don''t want to open right now.'' A sigh of contempt at where he now found himself made him a little depressed, but he knew he would get no where moping so he had to put on his big boy pants, and get moving. "If I can figure out how to talk to her great, but if not well we will cross that bridge when we get there, which I really hope I can since it would be great to have an ally that could give me a better chance at survival in this new world, however little that help may be at least it would be something. Enough dwelling on could bes, I need to figure out if this tunnel goes any farther, cook us up some grub somehow, and check on the damage I caused to the local wildlife with my reckless behavior. I must''ve not killed anything, because It doesn''t look like my experience bar went up any. Sigh that would have been way too easy for me, and life likes to kick me rather than hug me so I should expect this by now." Standing up Eric decides to use his newly gained firefly spell to brighten up the cave a little bit so that they wouldn''t get hurt, or worse snuck up on by someterrifying cave beast. With that accomplished he looks around for the goblin girl, seeing her still sleeping form huddle, and shivering on the cave floor made his heart flutter a little pitter patter of anxiety, and worry began to fill him. ''Get it together man you can''t worry too much about the girl, she captured you for god knows why, possibly to eat you, but here you are sympathizing with your captor.'' Deciding to worry about the steady decline of his mental health later, he decided to follow his brains logic, and began to map out the interior of the cave. Near the cavern''s eastern most edge he noticed a hole just big enough for him, and the girl to crawl through to possibly find another way out of this cave. Getting down on his knees he looks into the dark abyss that is this new found escape route. A weird sensation overtook him as he began to feel a slight pull from the other side of the hole It wasn''t a bad sensation, it was actually sort of weak, similar to feeling a cellphone vibrating in your pocket, compared to your ringtone blaring that new Katy Perry song to the entire world. He knew whatever was on the other end of the tiny tunnel wasn''t something that would hurt him, better the feeling seemed to pull him in like the smell of fresh baked cookies, or a fresh pot of hot coffee. "Dammit I just realized I won''t be able to have coffee ever again! I need to find a way to fix that, maybe I can pray to the blue boxes to show me some leniency! Yeah! It might just work!" A wicked grin on his face as he spoke, halfway between exhausted, and going insane. If someone were to see Eric right now they''d mistake him for a serial killer with how obtuse his face was right now. In fact someone could see Eric right now, barely, but she still could. His face made her facinated, but fearful at the same time, causing her to withdraw in on herself just a little bit more. The only thought on her mind was ''What have I gotten myself into this man is very scary! I should have listened to my parents when they told me I was too young to hunt alone. Noooooo I had to scream, and yell, and throw a fit until I got my way, but I need to be strong. I refuse to be like everyone else in the tribe. The males always taking what they want, a few males had even tried to take what tey wanted from her by force, needless to say the tribe gained a few more females that day.'' She was prideful for a her age, and especially so for her species. Most Goblins only had very few goals in life, eat, sleep, and fuck. Their way was a brutal, and savage upbringing where the women were just toys for the males to do with as they pleased, but she refused to be like this. She was smarter than the average Goblin, and she knew she had to be strong, to ascert her dominance in the tribe, and hopefully take control as head shaman one day. Now however that day may never come, all because she thought she had run on a lucky break finding this man unconscious in an open field, but seeing his face painted with a sinister grin not only captivated her, but filled her with fear, and made her regret this very dumb decision. Eric however was very unaware of the girls internal struggles, as he tried to think of a way to make the hole slightly bigger, the answer came to him while he was holding a piece of rock in his hand wishing he had some form of stress ball to get him through his issues right now. He was growing more, and more irritated almost wishing for the rock to turn into putty, when he strengthened his grip he however noticed that the stone itself had become more malleable, and a new notification was awaiting him.
Congratulations, You have unlocked Earth Mana Manipulation
Earth Mana Manipulation allows the user to mold the ground between their fingers, and toes to however they see fit, so long as they have the imagination, and the Mana to do so. Consumes 40 mana per second Current level: Beginner lvl 2 (1.5%)
This was incredible! If he could now mold rock to his will he could do so many cool things! He was almost drooling with anticipation to try this new skill out. Looking over his shoulder at the girl he noticed fear, why was this girl afraid of him? Maybe she was afraid of his magic, or at the fact that he was once her prisoner, and that her life is now in his hands whatever the case may be Eric decided to just brush it off, and worry about it later. "I have some magic to perform after all!" He giggled like a school girl, a very unbecoming sound coming from the 5 foot tall obsidian colored man. The weird mans sudden mood change had seemed to stupefy her once again, causing her mouth to gain a bitter taste she was acting as if she was a child in this strange mans presence. If she wanted to ever be taken seriously she had to get used to this man''s presence, and persistant mood swings. Consoling herself concluded she began to watch the man shape solid stone as if it were made of wet dung. Her whole world perspective had begun to shift slightly as she was engulfed by the prospect of shaping solid stone in such a way. She decided from this point on to spend the rest of her life learning from this strange being if need be, but she had to learn this incredibly beautiful art she was witnessing. The irregular male had walked slowly up to the edge of eastern corner of the cavern, and began to push on the rock as if he could move it by pure strength. This act had caused he to chuckle bemusedly to herself that anyone would think it possible to move solid earth in such a way. Her face became one of intense shock as he began to rock forward, and back as the surface of the tiny hole had begun to ripple. What had started small was now a whirlpool of seemingly liquid stone as it funneled itself to the was of the cavern causing the once tiny whole to grow in size abruptly until it was four goblins high, and three goblins wide.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Eric chuckled to himself at the green girls amusement, and then utter shock as the tunnel he was attempting to form began to rush into place like a giant whirlpool of stone causing even Eric himself to be stunned at how well he had managed to widen the hole in the wall. This was until he remembered that he an intermediate rank in his Earth Affinity. This amused him even more as it had come so much easier than fire had, ''was this the difference that a higher tier skill could provide compared to a beginner tier spell?'' the answer to his question stood resolute in front of him. Unmoving this newly formed access shaft in the cave appeared to be ancient with how well it had formed. "I don''t mean to toot my own horn, but this is a damn good entrance if I do say so myself! It''s weird though opening the wall up like this had increased the strength of the pull I was feeling weakly just a minute ago." The once soft, and gentle pull had become a strong current pulling on him as if he were a tiny minnow in a raging river. This excited him even more than before, he couldn''t really explain the good feeling that he had, but if he had to sum it up it was like knowing there was a christmas present waiting for him on the otherside of this dark portal. He turned to look over just in time to see the girl pick her jaw up off the floor, she noticed him staring at her, and her face flushed a soft pastel pink tinting the lime hues of her face. He couldn''t help but find her embarrassment amusing, and adorable. Lifting his arms nonchalantly he gives her two thumbs up while flashing a feral grin. He was hoping to charm her to his side a little bit, but the opposite seemed to happen the color drained slightly from her face upon seeing his malevolant looking face. "Well that is the exact opposite of what I wanted to do tsk." He clicked his tongue in sadness at his inability to interact with other sentient beings. Shrugging it off Eric decides it is time to see what is pulling him into the deep darkness of the cave. Putting one foot in front of the other he moved forward at a slow pace at first, he didn''t know why he was scared to see what was hiding in the dark, but he was also excited at being the first to discover something. Without his firefly skill Eric knew that there would be no feasible way for him to light up the dark like he is now. The shadows seemed to be thick like a dense fog of darkness that seemed to ripple off the two weary travelers as if afraid of the light. The two pressed on deeper, and deeper until the pathway branched off into a y. ''Hmm we are going to have to decide which way to go from here. The pull tells me to go farther down the left passage, but curiosly I get the feeling like the right pathway going up may take us to the surface...hopefully.'' Stressing out over which way they should go Eric was paying no attention to the gobliness huntress as she edged towards the right passage. ''This is it my chance to escape from this weird creature. I can smell the fresh air coming from the right tunnel, and hopefully it will lead me out of here so I can try and make it back to my tribe. I have to get back to them I''m the only one who isn''t sick. In the short time I have been alive we''d never suffered the wrath of the gods too such an extent.'' Stressed out, and hungry the Hyowai, the Night Hunter decided it was time for her to make a break for it. She started slowly egding towards the right tunnel, but as she realized the man thing wasn''t paying attention to her she abruptly turned, and started tiptoeing away. She couldn''t help but be proud of herself, since she had escaped the clutches of her once prey to make it to safety, and hopefully save her tribe. This feeling lasted until she realized that her feet were no longer treading solid ground. Confusion began to spread through her like wildfire. A soft yetresolute chuckle came from behind her, as she turned her head she noticed that the man thing was holding her up by her hide clothing. Hanging her head in defeat she felt nothing but shame. She was the best hunter of the tribe, they praised her for her stealth skills, but this guy had snuck up on her, and lifted her without her notice. Eric coudn''t help but be amused at the girls efforts to escape him, which means ''if she was so keen as to go the right way then that must mean that is the way out. Before I go out though I need to figure out what is pulling me deeper into this cavern of boredom.'' Determined that it was now or never they began to make their descent further into the unknown. After 100 meters the tunnel began to gradually get lighter, which confused Eric to no end. How could it even get lighter down here, this definitely makes no sense, these were some of the thoughts that swam endlessly through Erics mind as he tried to deduct a reason for this soft pink glow that was gradually getting stronger. It had become as bright as a sunset a soft probing light show of pink, purple, and orange seemed to dance softly around the duo as they neared the mouth of the tunnel. Trudging the corroded dirt, and rock passage way the feeling of becoming lighter, and less fatigued started to permeate the two spelunkers. "This is an unreal feeling, I was completely exhausted 10 minutes ago, but a few seconds bathed in this fluorescent aura has done wonders for me. It feels like I took a quick nap to boost my energy, I wonder whats making this light what ever it iss.s......" The words had become stuck in Erics throat as they reached the edge of the passageway only to stumble upon a miniature eco system supported by three giant pillars of Rose Quartz bathing the tiny world in a pink haze. Tiny crystals of Amethyst, and Topaz give off ambient rays of some form of unnatural light giving the entire place an ethereal quality almost unfit for mortal beings. Towering grey cedar-like trees stood as guardians of this crystalline paradise. Cracks encompass the entirety of the tree emitting a pink light that seemed to pulse like a heartbeat. Dotting the landscape of the guardians were bushes, and flowers of all shapes, and shades of purple, pink, and orange. The breatheless atmosphere not only affected Eric, but also Hyowai his goblin traveling companion (for now), neither being had ever seen such an ephemeral place in their entire existence. The whole place gave one the feeling of comfort, and safety; as if nothing could touch you here. Tiny hairless creatures could be seen running through the brush, this intrigued Eric, and he secretly vowed to do what it takes to explore this sanctuary, and make it his. As if reading his mind a blue prompt appeared in front of him almost as if excited to tell him of his discovery. "Well lets see what the blue wonder has in store for me now...wait why is the box purple now?"
HA HA SMARTASS...from now on I decided the boxes will be purple, just because you find me predictable. If you would learn to not look at a gift horse in the mouth you''d be as happy about finding this place than I am. Be happy that one as awesome as me is in charge of you for I am benevolent.
Eric couldn''t help but be stunned at the cringeworthy audacity of the now purple box guy. At first he thought it was just some snarky Artificial Intelligence, but now he thought it may be something more than that. He''d have to postpone his musings though as a new purple box flashed, and dinged over, and over again like a petulant child demanding attention.
DING! You have discovered a place of wonder!
Welcome to the subterranean oasis of Gnoram''s Hollow. Home of the Gnomosapien.
As the first non native sentient being to discover this place you receive +1 to all stats, as well as a permanent increase to regeneration rate of 2%. As the first to discover this sanctuary you may claim it as your own, and take a drink from the Sapphire mana spring, and receive one free passive skill at random. Gnoram''s Hollow is home to many diverse plant species, as well as having an abundance of Crystaline minerals, and iron ore. Beware the wild Gnomospaiens original inhabitants of this place. A violent, and semi intelligent race of little people that are very protective of their home.
After he was done reading he dismissed the new prompts, he was super excited at the permanent bonuses he had received just by being the first person to find this place outside of whatever a Gnomosapien is, He didn''t have long to enjoy his gains before another box decided to invade his personal space. This box however was a deep red in color, and Flashed the words ''New Quest received!''
New Quest Received: Gnomeland Security!
Subjugate, or Decimate the local Gnomosapien Population to gain control of Gnoram''s Hollow for yourself. Rewards vary based on effort put into the quest. Subjugation offers greater rewards, but decimation yields greater experience. Only you can decide the fate of these creatures. User Must claim ownership, and authority of at least 25 gnomosapiens, or kill 50. Bonus will be given if completed in under 24 hours.
Eric didn''t think his jaw could hit the floor harder than it did in this very moment. This was the first quest he had been given, only further cementing the idea in his head that this was not all just some crazy dream he couldn''t wake up from. Not that he still didn''t have his doubts, it is just that the excitement of doing a quest like from a video game outweighed his negative outlook. With one final deep exhale He had resolved himself to claim this hidden gem as his new place of residence, and learn as much as he can from this crazy underground ecosystem, and figure out whatever the hell Gnomosapien''s are. Standing behind him in an even more intense state of shock was Hyowai she had heard legends of gnomosapiens, but thought them only broodling tales to scare the young. She was beginning to regret ever picking this man thing up, but a tiny glimmer of hope shined through that maybe he could help with her tribe after all; she could feel the healing effects of the Crystaline cavern. She needed to bring her tribe here, and this all hinged on befriending the terrifyingly strong creature before her. How to achieve this vexed her, but she will remain strong, and she will do what she thinks is an impossible task, at all costs. Chapter 8: Gnomicidal Tendencies Unfaltering in his decision to claim this hidden gem as his own Eric now needed to figure out how he was going to go about that objective. He could of course take the easy route by killing all of the little monsters, but somehow that left a bitter taste in his mouth. Frowning at his own indecision he concludes to form an opinion of them after first contact. "For all I know the beasts could be vicious little killers, or they could be relatively passive in nature. I really really really hope its the second option. I don''t think I have enough fire power to take down alot of creatures at once if they decide to swarm me." Quietly Eric steels himself for what he may have to do while looking for a way down into the valley below. Looking off to his right he notices a small edge they could use as a trail to scale down the mountain side. Nodding to himself as if this were an everyday occurrence Eric fails to notice the goblin huntresses indecisive behavior when she realized they would be using a three foot wide ledge to scale down the 80 feet to the caverns floor. Her body trembling she looks to Eric for some form of consolement only to see him absentmindedly walking along the edge as if lost in thought. Shaking her head while sighing in defeat she realized she didn''t want to be left alone here, and began to follow Eric across the deadly precipice. Walking purposefully Eric looked as if he knew what the hell he was doing, but to an outside observer it looked like he was constipated, and confused more than anything. Pride aside he was lost in thought one mechanical step was taken after another, as if he was running on autopilot. His thoughts a tidal wave of emotion, and indecision. "How the hell am I going to be able to do this practically alone, I mean the goblin girl is tagging along with me, but neither one of us know the others language so how the hell am I supposed to subjugate 25 living beings? I don''t even know how far above that their actual numbers are, because the quest prompt said something like killing 50 of them to win." Pulling out his Quest Journal he elects to skim the objectives of the quest once more, instead of running in blind fists blazing. ''Someone could get hurt that way namely me. *He shudders at the thought.* I haven''t been in enough fights in this world to determine whether or not I could stand a chance against one let alone fifty or more.'' They were twenty feet or so from the bottom of the gourge like cavern, when Eric noticed a small figure shuffle through the bushes in his peripheral vision. He makes an effort to pretend he didn''t see whatever it was in hopes of being able to sneak up on it to get a better look. He knew how stupid that sounded in his head, I mean who tries to sneak up on some unknown unknown, but he knows he doesn''t have a choice. ''I have to take them by force if necessary, but this is a safe place that will give me some peace of mind. I could build a small home here, and if I find any fruit seeds I could plant them the giant quartz pillars have seen to that much. Beyond being a night light they act as the perfect spectrum of light to promote growth, not only in the plants, but something tells me that these giant monuments to nature would also promote the growth of living beings.'' Even as he was lost in his thoughts he could feel the vibrant wild mana filtering through his body in any way that it could. This brought a smile to his face, because he could smell an exploit. "If I can conquer this place I could grind my non combat skills faster, if I am right those pillars will give me a greatly needed boost to my experience gains." ''At the very least thats what I would gain, but I stand to gain even more if I can do this right.'' He chuckles to himself. Stepping off of the small ledge at the end of the crooked pathway that led him to edge of a jungle. Towering Banyan Trees stood imposing loftily dotting the cavernous landscape. The only difference was that these trees had blue leaves, and green bark with a hint of grey sprinkled around its outr edges for good measure. Woven between the meter thick roots of the mighty banyans were all types of plants, and flowers. Making good use of his appraisal skill he found some ingredients for health, and stamina potions among the cornucopia of bushes, and flowers. The plants used in health potions were a blood red root roughly two to three meters in length. This ropelike root needed to be finely diced, and then crushed in a mortar and pestle. Sadly he had yet to find the purple shrew lock clover to finish off the minor health potion recipe. So he began again with renwed vigor appraising every flower, and bush in sight for the violet prism like petals. Appraising at the moment was his most useful non combat skill, he''d even managed to gain a level in Appraisal, and he even unlocked the herblore skill. Amidst his search through the wild flowers he came across peculiar looking holes in the ground that appeared roughly one by one meters in diameter. Suspecting this may be where the legendary Gnomosapian make their homes he felt slightly disturb, because they already live in this cave why would they need to live further underground. Checking behind him to make sure the little green huntress had followed him he flashed her an ''I got this'' smile, and jumped into the makeshift entryway. Stuttering Hyowai could only muster a look of indignation at the things this man does. Not only does he drag her into this god forsaken cave, but he started the forest fire that put us in danger in the first place. Now he was just diving headfirst into giant holes in the ground. Shaking her head she was at loss for what to do here. "Seriously ugggghhhh, How am I supposed to help my people following this man I feel like he can do amazing things, but has yet to reach his potential. It''s like an instinct I can feel it in my bones his weird hands that glow with the light of the sun, and the heat of a dragon''s breath." She mutters to herself well letting out an audible sigh. Climbing down the edge of the hole slowly she did her best to not slip and fall. She refused to let a hunter like herself be swayed down from a challenge so easily. How many suitors tiny henchmen had met the cold edge of her dagger for their brazen attitudes. Yet here she is climbing down into a dark hole that may contain something that could hurt her, and the strange man that now found herself enamored with. Eric blissfully unaware of the goblin following him right now he was emitting a soft glow to help them see through the dark, and gloomy haze of shadow that seemed to seep from the walls. A pungeant moldy smell wafted up from the loamy soil beneath their feet. The smell was rank, and made Eric crinkle his nose in extreme disgust. Spitting out he lets his distaste for disgusting smells be known. "Awwe what in the regurgitated rice milk is that stank! It smells like someone bottled a fart, and then did their very best to finely age it, but in the process the jar fell one day breaking causing the owner of said jar to die, and rotted away from the heinous smell." Choking back a wad of stomach bile Eric sees a gleam of red eyes in the distant a faint spark of intelligence glistens on the outer edges. This site sobers Eric quickly he cannot be indisposed while something sneaks up on them. Determined Eric begins to channel fire mana into his hands for use at any moment. The tension building in the air was palpable. Preparing himself for whatever may come from the shadows he takes a ready stance the eyes begin to shuffle forward slowly. As the figure breached the cover of its ethereal hiding spot a naked mole rat looking creature is shambling towards them wizened eyes seem to tell of ages that had long passed in the old creatures lifetime. Faint whisps of facial hair seemed to dance off of his face like smoke from a freshly killed fire. A skirt woven from the local foliage draped itself elegantly acoss the mans waist as if to dignify the creature to that of someone noble in birth. A headdress adorned with the many roots, and flowers from the area hung loosely from his head like the crown of a wild king. A tiny walking stick made from some form of giant root cradled the old mans crumbling physical prowess, it was this walking stick that made Eric laugh in his head. ''AHAHAHAH hes got a little fucking walking stick...I can''t breathe....AHAHAHA. He looks like Rufus the molerat from an old tv show he had seen as a kid whose name currently escaped his memory, but the little molerat never would.'' Eric laughed until the wizened creature was a meter away from him, he noticed the strange scratch like markings that adorned the walking stick looked purposefully carved into the wood, though dated, and ancient a small amount of energy could be felt leaking from the fragile lifeline of the monster standing before them. The creature attempted to communicate with the duo, but realized its folly all too late, as neither had a way to understand the other. Eric mentally remarked about deja vu, and almost missed the creature stare listfully into empty air almost as if listening to someone. Suddenly the old monsters eyes lit with understanding as he nodded his head turning around to walk back the way he had come. Before leaving though he turns to Eric, and puts up one of 4 fingers as if to say ''Just wait here for one second I''ll be right back.'' Completely caught off guard, and dumbfounded Eric plopped his ass down on the soft smelly dirt in contemplation of the events that had just transpired. While he sat he figured he was wasting time by doing nothing, and he was super bored waiting on the geezer to return so he decided to practice circulating Earth Mana. Two hours they sat there in the stench filled dirt the smell of rotting eggs wafting around the enclosure in the almost non existant breeze. This smell had caused him to gag on more than one occasion, but he managed to contain himself. How you may ask did he go about this? The answer is simple really anytime he felt sick he''d look to the goblin girl without a name on the edge of passing out from the pungent, and thick fumes of methane slowly filtering it''s way through the moldy dirt below them. When this tactic didn''t work he focused on the slowly progressing Earth affinity, and the slightly faster skill of Earth Mana Manipulation. Starting to hallucinate from acrid fumes drifting up from Hade''s bathroom Eric turned to the now unconscious girl, and began to mutter his enthusiasm for Earth Mana in a fanatical way. "Why Earth Mana you may ask? Listen closesly my dear as I spin you a tale of a failure most brilliant in it''s downfall. You see there once was a man from Kathmandu who stood near cows when they poo. I can''t remember the rest, because my head is starting to hurt, but the danger is there! A shiticane of unnatural proportions will seek to destroy us if fire shows itself in the domain of the Earth''s gassy bowels." His crazy gas induced soliloquy not enough to fuel his now raving lunatic levels of delusion he lets out a sharp enigmatic cackle looking like the villain in a cheesey 1980''s action movie villain. Laying back into the soft embrace of the soil Eric didn''t notice the 2 levels gained from his practice of Earth Mana, but a slight bonus was gained from the minor god of Earth for his delusional escapade only moments ago. Laying there Erics head pounded with the beat of his heart like a gigantic 808 drum pulsing in his ears, the gases still messing with his head he thinks to himself that he needs to ditch this party. Staggering up to the unconsious girl he grabs her by her limp arm without notice, and slurs out that Mr. Red needs to beam him up. Without skipping a beat Eric jumps into the air flailing girl in tow as he gracefully soars through the air like an epileptic penguin. Somehow managing to land on his feet he receives two prompts from purple nurple as he has decided to call him in his altered state of mind.
Skill unlocked: Acrobatics
Due to your genetics an innate talent for acrobatics has surfaced due to your extreme show of tenacity, and apparent skill. Due to genetics this skill starts off at beginner level 5. *Enjoy it you lucky bastard*
Eric scoffed at Mr Arrogance on the other side of the video game like interface that communicated with him whenever the boxes decided that they deem him worthy of their attention. Brushing it off he congratulates himself on his amazing luck, and checks the rest of his notifications as his head slowly began to clear.
Due to your unparalleled luck the god''s shine favorable on you! Youv''e Gained +2 to your Luck attribute, and +1 to your Ingenuity attribute. *I say god''s, but what I really mean is your one loyal follower in the pantheon.*
This added bonus made Eric leap in joy, after all it was almost the greatest reward he could receive. Stat points he had the feeling would be way more important in a fight, then level alone. Intuition from playing games has taught him that skill will always mean more then muscle alone, and what are attribute points other than a reflection of a persons hard work, and dedication. His moment of elation was cut short by shuffling sounds coming from the mole hole as he had decided to call it. Walking over to theborder of the hole Eric looked down to the scene below, little did he know this little mole-like Gnomosapian would blow his mind very shortly, and he would remember it for the rest of his life. A lesson in never judging a book by its cover.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The Gnomosapian waddled slowly towards the wall of the hole. His journey seemed laborous but fluid as he begins to stretch his old, and weathered muscles. Lifting his walking stick it began to glow a sickly green color for a short while, before the light began to pulsate then as suddenly as it had come it was gone the staff was now like the still ocean at night. The Gnome on the otherhand had seemed to stand taller as if age no longer weighed down his ancient body. Bending his knees he presses his staff to the point where the floor, and the wall meet a look of calm determination conceals any emotion from the gnomes face as he propels himself from the floor. A tree root hanging on the adjacent wall met the brunt of this little mans staff as he brought it down on the top of the root. Grunting the tiny being propels himself yet again while maintaining perfect balance he twists, and turns landing firmly on his feet gracefully shifting his weight, and spinning to meet Eric once again. Currently he was at a loss for words, the tiny and ancient creature just flew from wall to wall like Diogenes from that getting over it mobile app he used to play on his old Optic Receiver. Eric wore a bamboozled appearance as the old gnome seemed to have glided up to meet him extending his odd little hand wrapped around a carved bone necklace coated in runes. The macabre necklaze had six teeth on both sides of a rat skull with fangs painted green. This centerpiece in particular held the most runes out of the whole piece of tribal jewelry. Jolting slightly from the gnomes elegant movements he decided to inspect the new present via his appraisal skill.
Macabre Necklace of Minor Translation. (Master)
A necklace made from the bones of great shamans from the Gnomosapian race. This necklace was engraved with great care by a master Bone Artificer. The runes, and energy from shamans past grant the wearer the ability to learn language at an excelerated rate depending on the quality of the item. Since this necklace was crafted by a master the wearer is granted 150% increase to the speed of learning a language. As a minor bonus this necklace also grants the wearer a +3 to Int.
This present baffled him as he had no idea that a race he assumed was primitive would have access to not only body enhancement magics, but also have craftsmen of this level. Theidea of it all swam around violently in his head as he tried to wrap his mind around the concept of the world being way more different than it seemed. ''I have to stopped holding everything up to the standards I am used to on Earth, because as I have seen time, and time again things are never as they appear at first glance. No that would be too simple in this death game that has been thrust upon me. Hopefully with this necklace I will be able to make some headway into my new life instead of grasping at imaginary straws hoping to be handed presents from the goddess he had met. You can only rely on yourself.'' Taking the jewelry from the gnomish elder he immediately lifted it over his head as it fell down to his chest in an ethereal movement that seemed as if the pendant was posessed by a phantom. He could feel the thrum of power as his mind began to understand simple words at first of both Gobbledy glook the language of the Goblins, and Sinerac the language of the Gnomosapian tribesmen that inhabit Gnoram''s Hollow. He knew however that just allowing the passive effect to take wouldn''t be enough he needed to converse with native speakers to better understand the context of what was filtering through his mind. Turning to the Gnomish Elder since the girl was still unconscious he needed to understand what exactly was currently at play. "So why did you give me this gift?" Not knowing the mans name he decided it best to wait for it to be given. " I am in need of help young broodling, for I remain the only sain one of my kind at this time, and do not thank me for the necklace the spirits of elders past told me I would never get help from you without first helping you to understand me. The runes were quite troublesome, and I ran out of mana several times in the process, but I believe that it was worth it in the end." The old man smiled softly, but there was no joy there only unease, and doubt. Knowing this would lead to some ridiculous task he knew he had to deal with it, after all he needs to establish his base of operations here. ''With the world so chaotic, and dangerous out in the open a cave system like this would help keep me safe at least.'' He thought to himself. Before this got any deeper Eric decided that he needed to know the man''s name otherwise this conversation will be really awkward to work through. "Excuse me old one, I do not mean to interrupt our chat, but before you continue I think it prudent that I know your name. Otherwise it would be quite rude to continue with all of this. I know you need help, but it would be nicer if we could do this on equal terms. Maybe even as friends." Smiling inwardly to himself he knew he laid it on a bit thick, but he needed to earn all the brownie points that he can to help win over the elder that stood before him. ''His magic would be a blessing to learn if thats possible, but even if it is not having him as an ally could only help me finish the quest I have already been given to take over this place of wonder.'' Sighing the old one seemed to stare off over Erics shoulder as if he were remembering something from long ago, before the silence could stretch on too long the Gnomish Elder smiled amicably as he began to speak. "I see young one though we are of a different species you wish us to be allies. Very well I see a way for this to work out for everyone in the end. I only ask you to help me free my kind from the influence they''ve been put under for angering our god Impiere. For mocking the God of Fools, they were cursed to regress until they were all mad primitive beasts foraging for berries, and rancid meat. Even I was slightly effected by this curse this is why I have the visage of a bald rodentasaur. I ask of you young one help me make the Draft of Dionysus, it is a close to rotten liquid made from a minor health potion, and Grapes of Clear Mind. Together they make a potion that may cure minor curses, and poisons." Seemingly satisfied that he had managed to find someone to ask for help, but still conflicted that he had to lower his head to someone he knew not to settle a problem for his tribe. The spirits however told him to behave, or he would have problems in the future that he could not contend with. Eric ran the benefits through his mind as if there was a chance that he may decline. ''Chyeaaah fat chance I''d ever refuse this, not only will I learn a bit of Alchemy, but I may be able to convince the Gnomish people to join me in make a successful village. With my knowledge of advanced technologies I might have an upper edge on anything we could come across, and I could even powerlevel myself, and any who choose to live in the village. I can''t be the only one here on this planet who has knowledge of these things so I have to take advantage of the situation as fast as possible.'' Nodding his head agreeing to the Elders request, he didn''t even bat an eye as a new quest prompt appeared into his point of view. ''Huh, I must be getting used to this new, and strange life I am living.''
Lift the curse placed on the Gnomish people.
You have agreed to help the Gnomosapian Shaman Elder to rid his people of their mental, and physical affliction. Items required: Blood Woad Root. (15) Mana Infused water. ( 1 gallon) Merelia''s Cradle (10) Grapes of Clear Mind (25)
Rewards
Recipe for the Draft of Dionysus. (Rare) Recipe for Minor Health Potion (Basic) Alchemy Skill + 2 levels for Quest completion. Since this Quest, and the previously received one to subjugate the Gnomosapians have overlapping goals the two quests will be combined into one. Doubling the experience reward based on how fast you cure the locals. *Also you never got the name which you saught, but worry not all good things come in time.*
A wicked grin fused itself to Erics face as he received some of the best news he has had since he ended up here on this ragged death march. ''This Quest combines with the old to make itself even easier to complete my original goal! Hell yeah! Even the experience rewards will be doubled, but since it doesn''t show me on the prompt I can only guess at how much I will gain. I also need to learn to be less greedy, but what can I say I want to have my cake, and eat it too. Alchemy will be a huge boon for me this early on, and especially for those who follow me. I''ll be one of the only ones who can make health potions, as far as I know my scope of the world is pretty miniscule at this point in time.'' Sighing he might as well get this show on the road, the faster he could make the potion the faster he could start work on building up a small base of operations. The thought of starting the worlds first town, and Adventurers Guild made Eric''s smile appear even more brilliant than before. He after all enjoyed being the first to do something, and in this world it would almost be considered cheating with what he could possibly make reality. Asking Elder Bismar Tarfoot the gnome that almost didn''t want to part with his name where he could find the water, and what the various ingredients look like. Herblore skill has leveled up to Beginner level 5! You will now see a soft aura around plants that can be used for potions, and various other things. This skill may be toggled on and off via mental commands. This skill bonus gave Eric a huge advantage as he seemed to dance through the dense foliage gathering the plants he needed to finish this quest. It allowed him to find the Blood Root Woads faster than he would have with his eyes alone, and searching through his inventory he found that he already had all of the Merelia''s Cradle that he needed earlier when he first got the Herblore skill. The mana infused water was much easier to find than he would have imagined as he rounded a corner he had walked right into the pond as he was way too busy sorting his inventory to pay attention to his surroundings. Now soaked to the bone in chilly waters of the lake he could feel the water helping his mana regen to increase from its latent energy. The rarest of the ingredients seemed to be the grapes no matter how hard he looked he couldn''t find them. That was true till he was rinsing scrubbing the muck from his body he saw a silvery pearl like object lingering in the shallows of the magic lake. Picking one up he used his appraisal skill to indetify this strange new plant. You have discovered the Grapes of Clear mind! Knowledge of plant has been added to your herblore skill increasing the effectiveness of your aura sight. Cheerfully Eric made his way back to Elder Bismar to get a brief lesson in alchemy. Eric could be considered a genius at most skills given enough time to learn about the sudject due to his ever increasing Intellect state. Taking him only five minutes to learn how to brew this potion even caused Bismar to become a little awestruck at his rate of growth. To Eric however once he learned how to make the potion the rest seemed like child''s play. Step one chop the Blood Root into fine pieces, after that was done he had to start a fire and lightly boil the contents for 35 minutes to infuse the properties of the root with the magic binding water. The third step was to mince the cradle, and dehydrate it by placing it near the fire. Once the leaves were properly crunchy he used a homemade pestle and mortar to grind the leaves into a fine silvery powder, then the grapes were juiced over the powder. Grabbing any type of utensil to channel mana through a stick will work for now, but Elder Tarfoot said he is particularly partial to silver. He says that it allows for a better consolidation of the mixture. Eric shrugs his shoulders at the ridiculous elder, and his odd proclivity towards siler tools. This stopped him in his tracks as he was writing it off as stupid mutterings of old coots. ''He said he likes to use silver tools, but that shouldn''t be possible unless they are smarter than I have been giving them credit for they would have no way to know how to refine silver into anything. Afterall silver is a very malleable metal, which makes it very easy to fuck up when smelting it. I''ll make a point to ask him later about all of this, if I take too much longer to finish this potion it will go bad, and my hard work will be for nothing.'' "Pshh as if I''d let something stupid like that happen." He stated smugly to noone in particular causing the others to stare at him like he was losing his mind. He mixed the grape juice with the powder until it formed a thick paste in time for the water infusion to reach a soft rolling boil. He added the paste to the boiling mixture after five minutes had passed turning the light pink liquid even paler with flakes of silver dotted throughout the mixture. This last process took the longest out of it all, but was the most vital the mix had to steep for a certain amount of time, and then had to be left to cool for another hour before it would be ready to use at maximum effectiveness. As the potion finished its aging process it was time to dilute it into multiple bottles to help the other Gnomosapians to return to their normal state of existence. Upon finishing an exuberant smile was plastered on his face as a new notification gave him exactly what he wanted. He would still help with the subjugation of the people, because he believed they could learn to cooperate quite nicely together. New skill Unlocked: Alchemy (Beginner): Level 2 (20%)
?Alchemy (Beginner): lvl 2
The wonders of the universe will be in the palm of your hands as you advance your skill in the magical craft of Alchemy. This skill allows you to craft potions, make tinctures, as well as carve through your enemies with strong poisons, and cure allies with life saving antidotes. Noone is doted on more than the mighty Alchemist through fire, and brimstone you make the world your tavern wench. *Or you brew liquor, and start a nonstop party! Cmon dude you''re really boring to watch! have a little fun!*
Rolling his eye''s once again at the strange being behind the interface he could only sigh, and do his best to gain power, and influence. ''Making friends along the way would be great too.'' He chuckled to himself. "A few days ago this would have all made me think I was nuts, but as I cannot seem to wake up from this dream I''ve become excited for the future, and have gradually accepted my inability to return to Earth. Why would I want to anyway things seemed to just start looking up for me I want to find out what else there is to this world, and become the strongest mage in the entirety of my new existence. I will do what it takes, and noone will ever be able to make me do something I don''t want to do anymore." Chapter 9: Gnomes, and Golems, and Alchemists Oh My! The potions had finally stopped brewing, and Eric let out a sigh of relief. This was a long process especially for him, he went from no knowledge of Alchemy to knowing how to brew a rare potion, and he assumed that health potions would also be rarer considering the age of the planet he now found himself on. "I need to get to work on saving these Gnomosapiens, but I am mentally exhausted from brewing these potions. I suppose it''s not as bad as the stories I have read, where the person who gets transported to another world has information forcefully inserted into their heads." Shuddering at the thought while getting up off of his ass to find the Mole sensei as he started to call him. Only in his head though. He really didn''t want to insult the weird old man that could snap him like a twig. Completing the potions didn''t net him the recipes though, apparently he had to finish the quest to get those otherwise there wouldn''t be any incentive for him to finish. Thems the breaks he sighed dejectedly. You can''t get everything for free. Chalking it up as wishful thinking he noticed the old man hobbling up to him. This irritated him slightly he saw the wrinkly bastard jump 2 meters by bouncing from wall to wall of his doorstep, but now he still wants to play the frail old man card. "Tsk." He clicks his tongue in irritation, but knows he can do nothing about it at the moment so he bites back his anger for another time, maybe he''d find some enemies to take his frustrations out on. ''Look at me less than a week on this strange game like world, and I already act, and think like I didn''t just come from civilized society. HA! If you could call the hell that Earth had become civilized, it was a longshot at best.'' Standing up brushing the dirt from his bum he figures that he might as well meet the faker halfway, after all getting into his good graces had netted him the alchemy skill maybe he''d be willing to show him a few more things. Both men came to a standstill within a meter of the other, and stood in complete silence. As Eric was about to break the silence however the old man decided that now was the time to interrupt him. "Hey wha...." "Patience young one all will be revealed in time, but now is unfortunately not the time for rest we have to start distributing this potion to the rest of my kind. Life is not all fun, and games, but there will be time for play after we save the others, maybe this old geezer would be willing to help you a little more on sharpening your skills in this harsh world. After all that''s all you have muttered under your breathe for the last hour or so." His harsh whisper like voice seemed to radiate his amusement at Eric''s stunned face of indignation. "These old ears work better than my age would let on young one, remember to never judge a person by their age." This was all that was said as he hands Eric some hollowed out tree branches that were made into makeshift flasks for the potion.
AHAHAHAH... That old naked mole rat of man just told you! I can''t believe you didn''t realize you were muttering under your breath.
"You know what weird box person I have no time for your shit, my life is hard enough as it is right now I''d appreciate some help more than anything, but I feel like I have to do everything on my own, while you sit somewhere spitting absolute bullshit every other time you contact me." Getting that off his chest Eric began the arduous task of trying to find these gnomes, and play doctor. Three hours, it took him three hours to track down his first gnomosapien, as it turns out the weird curse they seemed to be suffering turned them into tree dwellers instead of subterranean. Slapping himself on the forehead Eric sat down next to a large pillar of Quartz that extended deep into the shimmering pool of mana water. Sweat running down his face like he was just out in a rainstorm, but this thought made him wish he had a rainstorm now. Almost as if responding to his wishes the pillar behind him began to emit a soft glow pulsing slowly at first, and growing in pace rapidly as the seconds ticked by. Surprised Eric jumps up to examine the now vibrantly glowing crystal as it began to syphon some of the water from the pool. A look of immense confusion was spread on his face until rain began to fall. One drop became two, and so on as a terrential downpour ensued. Doing a little happy dance he enjoyed the rain briefly before examing the pillar he had been leaned against during his brief respite. Tiny almost imperceptible grooves were etched shallowly into the surface of the clear stone. Appearing purposeful in nature these could be nothing other than some type of runic language.
+5 ING. You have discovered an Ancient Quartz Channeling Pillar.
This Ancient pillar of grand design was etched long ago by an already forgotten species more advanced than any alive on the planet. How this Archaic masterpiece was designed died with those who first carved its massive surface. The runes themselves appear to be a manifestation of sentient beings will allowing mana to slightly bend the fabric of reality.
Smiling he checked the water once more with his skill to determine if he could glean more information than he had before. His smile consumed his face when he read out the full properties of the water, which included the ability to absorb the best properties of substances meant to help those who can''t help themselves. Knowing it was a long shot Eric decided to risk it all on trying to cure all of these critters at once before his quest timer ran out.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it "Whelp here goes nothing, either this works, or I''ll have start killing creatures who are only violent because of a god''s curse. I really don''t want to have to do that, but experience is really important in this new world, and I am not even remotely sure if I can respawn or not. Dying once is enough for me thank you!" Channeling some of his mana into the makeshift bottles of potion he wanted to form a bond for the potion to have a greater chance of being absorbed by the mana laced water, and this was the only idea he really had achieve some kind of resonance between the two liquids. Crossing his fingers after he offloaded half of his mana into the wooden jars he began to empty them into the little lake of magic water hoping for the best possible outcome. The gigantic crystal monolith began to light up once more only this time more rapidly than before, as quickly as it came it was over as the falling rain began to take on a slight pink hue. Screaming out in elation, and pure mental exhaustion a feeling of contentment washed over every fiber of his being. He had never truly felt this fulfilled in a long time, he''d hopefully helped alot of innocent gnomes revert back to sane sentient beings, and he would now get the recipes for health potions, which would only help him in the future. Who knew what sort of danger might come his way in this crazy place. Before he could move a muscle a screen popped into being in his face to alert him, but this one was odd it was almost gold in color, and he knew this was an automated message, and not one from the pretentious prick behind the scenes.
Congratulations for showcasing your knowledge of alchemy on a mass scale, and using unknown technology to save an entire race from sinking deeper into madness you have been offered a legendary class for your efforts. Whether you accept or not is up to you. You have been granted the class [Crystal Alchemist]
Before accepting the class he tried to gain more info on the classes abilities, but was only met with nothing. Disappointment at the vague riddles the boxy had thrown his way this time Eric was unsure of what to do. One one hand it seemed like the chance of a lifetime. A legendary grade class wasn''t exactly something most people got to brag about back on Earth, Except maybe in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. As if he had a 24 hour camera plastered to Eric''s forehead boxy made his triumphant return to the stage to give him some advice that would rid Eric of all indecision.
You do know that you can multiclass right? When the system was designed classes were made more of guidelines for participants rather than absolute paths.
This made him smile, but he couldn''t help but feel a little resentmant towards his host, especially since nothing was ever mentioned to him about classes in the first place. "Now that I think about I never received a tutorial when I was dumped here what the hell is up with that boxy?"
Well you aren''t really supposed to be here to begin with you see the planet is really only in the alpha stages of developement. A tutorial would be a good idea though, mind if I steal that one? Of course you don''t good man! Wait you are still a man right? I have trouble telling the genders of mortals apart.
Ready to give Boxy a piece of his mind was ground to an abrupt halt when the ground started to shake, and black ooze began to leak from the cracks. Not one to turn down a boon, especially after finding out he wouldn''t be bound to only one class. ''Who in their right mind would turn down a Legendary class if it doesn''t have to be your only one!'' Without thinking too much more he accepts the class. A rush of information fills his skull as a few recipes, and knowledge of local plants begin to overflow into his subconscious mind. Straining to not pass out from shock he trys to filter out the information dump for now he had bigger problems. The ground began to shake as birds flew from the trees, the fissures in the soil began to expand at a rapid pace as a newly formed tar pit began to bubble in front of him. A sigh of relief barely escapes his lips when the viscous pool of black bubbleing liquid grows to 10 feet tall. A wide bring mouth slowly forms a vast expanse where the creatures eyes would be. The massive body undulates rippling its entire body flinging parts of itself in the process. Where the black liquid fell began to wither, and age rapidly. Keeping his eyes on his new opponent Eric doesn''t even glance in the direction of the now ever present hissing of melting plant life. ''If I get hit by the nasty thing I don''t think I''ll live to see tomorrow." He gulps swallowing all of his fear in an attempt to steel his nerves for the nasty fight to come. The creature stops its creepy body wave as its blackhole of a mouth forms a smile, and an ear piercing shriek fills the air causing Eric to drop to his knees in an attempt to cover his ears from the immense pain that now filled his body. A sickly green tongue slithers out of the creatures mouth like a snake on the hunt, green acid colored slime drips menacingly from the monsters now open orafice soaking the ground in its saliva causing even more decay to spread. Pulling the rest of its body out of the original pit it broke free from it takes the tar beast a few moments to figure out how to move. Two tree trunk sized arms sprout from the creatures body like an erupting volcano, fists the size of boulder adorning the end of its arms. It reaches for the nearest tree to test its strength ripping the tree from the ground without resistence as if picking up a small stick off the ground. The twenty foot tall tree became a makeshift club for it, swinging wildy with abandon the creatures grin grows even more feral as it turns to make its way towards Eric. Chapter 10: So this is how it ends? The jungle vibrates every time the large monster moves. Standing 14 feet tall when on its feet the monster appears to prefer standing hunched over like a gorilla. Realizing the imminent danger he was in Eric attempts to appraise the monster to at least get a name. Appraisal Successful: Minor information gained!
Elite Corrupt Golem of Death (Level 10)
Your appraisal skill is too low to know the monsters Health, and Mana levels. "Shit I am only wait what level am I now? Fuck I should have checked all of my notifications. Well not like I really got a chance to, but if I hadn''t been so indecisive about an obvious bonus I might know my level right now, but I know for sure I cannot defeat that thing alone, at least not fairly I have to figure out a way to destroy him. I need to find a weakness." The hulking Corrupt Golem chose this moment to learn how to run, and began to charge at him alot faster than before causing Eric to gulp so hard he thought he might have sprained something in his throat. Lifting a massive arm the gargantuan beast swings the tree sideways in an attempt to bat Eric away like a softball. Ducking he feels the wind rush passed the back of his head as he flirted with death face down in the dirt. Scrambling forward he manages to get between the beasts legs, rolling over on to his back, and almost as if on reflex he begins to channel fire mana through his system. The beast became confused for a second as it lost sight of Eric. It''s tentacle like tongue once again creeps forth from its mouth in slow motion as it begins to probe the air. ''Holy hell that golem is almost like a snake, it looks like its tasting the air to find me. That is both super cool, and mildy disturbing, but it''s good to know this thing can''t see like a normal creature. If it could I wouldn''t have had this long to charge my mana up.'' "It''s now or never I guess!'' The immense pressure of the mana began to surge from his core down through his arms like a raging river forming a fireball the size of a basketball in the palm of his hand as his mana began to deplete steadily. 200 mana for the charge, and release of the fireball, but it was worth it to see the fire drill forward like a comet bent on probing the non existent arsehole of the creature standing above him. All of this took place in a 10 second period as the creatures tongue finally notices him, but it is too late as the miniature sun collides with the beasts gooey undercarriage illiciting a haggard screech from the infernal blob. The beast''s knees began to quiver from the unexpected proctology appointment it had unknowingly made earlier that day. Eric didn''t even have time to bask in his brilliant idea as the monster began to buckle at the knees he scurried to freedom behind the newly injured monster. The smile on his face quickly vanished when he appraised the monster to see that it only lost a sliver of health. The tension once again became palpable in the air as if Eric could taste the sense of dread that now crept up his spine attempting to suffocate him. The golem seemed to recover from its stupor was it slowly stands back up it''s health slowly regenerating it turns around to face him its feral grin now frowning. It made it''s way towards him slower this time wary of the tiny man who could shoot fire up its ass. "I need to figure out a smarter way to fight this thing, my fire did some damage, but I think that was more shock value than anything. I either need more people to help me fight, or I need to do a metric shit ton of damage to this goopy beast of a golem." Scanning his surroundings quickly searching for a place to hide to look into his alchemy class, he hoped that maybe just maybe there would be something useful hiding in there to help him in his current predicament. He quickly found a big rock to hide behind near the far edge of the lake. Click his tongue in dissent to how he now found himself he had no choice but to run for the rocky outcropping. His hands light up as he activates his hands of volcanic fury willing them to be hotter as the beast begins to trot in his direction. Take a calm pose as if he was a martial artist he prepares himself for what he plans to do. As the golems trot becomes a steady running gate he decides it''s time to bring his plan into action as he let''s out a viscious war cry running headlong into danger. "REEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" A calmness spreads through him as he runs to meet the beast, and even though his heart is beating at heart attack levels he feels no fear as his nerves begin to grow accustomed to this new, and harsh world. The distance between them vanishing quickly Eric spares a glance at his hands to see them burning with a white hot fury, this brings a wild grin to his face as he assures himself there is no way this could go wrong. 20 meters became 10, and soon they were withing 5 meters of each other Eric aims his fury at the monsters left leg. Right before his body meets the golems inky black leg head on he twirls around the side of it''s leg swiping his hand across it''s surface like a bird skimming the surface of a lake as it flys. A nasty smell of rot, and decay fills the air as the corrupted flesh burns from the molten caress of Eric''s molten touch. A large brown wound begins to ooze a vile neon green puss as the golem is temporarily crippled from the damage down to it''s leg. Had this beast been made from flesh, and bone it''s knee cap, and the flesh around it would have been liquidfied. Not stopping from his attack he runs full force to the rock he''d deemed his planning rock. Jumping over a five foot rock he places his left hand palm down to help vault himself to the otherside of the boulder. Landing he tucks and rolls into a kneeing position his breath heavy from exertion he pants out the command for his Alchemy recipe tab.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "Al..Alchemical Recipes." Three boxes pop into existence before him, though this causes him some confusion as Perks, Skill Tree, and Recipes are floating in front of him. He decides to worry about it later mentally clicking on the recipe tab in hopes for something useful. Scanning quickly through the short list he sees recipes for Health potions, Mana Potions, the Draft of Dionysus which was basically a cure, and regen potion. The bottom of the list however contained a drop down menu with 2 class based recipes.
Elemental Grenade
Death''s Bane
Both of his new recipes intrigued him greatly mentally clicking on Elemental Grenade he skims through some of the information.
Elemental Grenade
An Alchemist''s greatest weapons are the seemingly safe vials kept at his side. Unbeknownst to his enemies they are their worst nightmare in sheeps clothing. Made by Over charging a Mana Potion, while Manipulating the mana to form the element you desire. The user only has 10 seconds after the flask leaves their grip before it explodes Damage: 25 Exploding damage with a constant debuff of 2.5 Dmg per second for 30 seconds. Mana cost: Based on amount of mana used to pressurize the desired element. Baseline cost: 45 mana per second. Higher quality potions increase the cost of mana, but also the damage output.
He drools longingly over this recipe for a little while, before moving on to the ominously named "Death''s Bane."
Death''s Bane
A lost recipe of the god''s gifted to a long dead race to help fight the corruption of demonic energy that tried to overflow the planet. Though this recipe has been lost for centuries it is relatively simple to make. Ingredients required: Bloodwoad Root: 4 Grapes of Clear mind: 10 Some of the makers blood. Fire mana is used to super heat Mana water, and the other ingredients to a boil in a very short amount of time. After words the potion must be blessed by the users patron deity.
"How the hell am I supposed to get a potion blessed by a deity, when I have no Idea how to get into contact with them?" He can hear that the golem has started to roam around its immediate area in search of it''s prey. Eric determined to not be on the dinner menu prepares the necessary ingredients to make some Elemental fire grenades, and all the ingredients for the Death''s Bane potion minus the divine blessing it required. Quickly he assembles 5 fire bombs overcharging them slightly in hopes of doing more damage, and not destabilizing them. Placing the grenades in his inventory prevented them from exploding as he moved on to the last potion hoping to succeed where he expected to fail. The ever present dragging noise made by the tree club grew closer alongside the soggy wet thwaps of the golems feet on the ground. "C''mon c''mon c''mon I have to make this potion if I have any hope at all of killing this walking tar pit of death. Ok theres the roots, now I need the grapes....shit I only have 9 on me I hope if I overcharge the mana it will compensate for my lack of supplies I couldn''t exactly go to the store for magical grapes." Stress, and sarcasm manage to layer his voice in equal measures. The only thing left was the blessing, and he was unsure about how to go about calling up a goddess. "Man if only I had access to the Deity version of the yellow pages, suck it up Eric you need to stop making lame ass jokes, and try to do something before you suffocate in decaying animal remains, or I get smashed by a mobile tree that only wants to shake my hand, and skull." He sighs in contempt deciding to just wing it. "Merelia I''m not sure if you can here me, I don''t consider myself a religious man by any means, but you helped me alot, so I guess I''m praying for your help to bless this potion or I will die." Crossing his fingers he starts to lose hope, but then a soft whisper dances softly through his ears like a gentle breeze. "go get em! I bless thy heart, and soul young Master of the Lost Arcana!" The potion in his hands glowed softly for a second before an iridescent mixture swirled in the bottle before him. Gold, silver, and purple seemed to swirl in perfect harmony without combining into a single colored liquid. A new sense of hope fills him standing up he is suddenly flung forward as the rock he was hiding behind collapses under the weight of a tree club obliterating his hiding space. Landing face first Eric slides before the inertia flipped him onto his back his ankle getting crushed by a large chunk of rock from his recently destroyed safe haven. A damage notification barely makes itself noticeable through the searing pain of his broken ankle.
-150 damage Crippled status now in effect. Bleeding status obtained. Until fixed you will lose 10 Health per second for 30 minutes.
His vision blurs as tears fill his eyes he begin to expect, and fear his own death, in his eyes it was now imminent. "FUCK THAT! I REFUSE TO JUST LAY HERE, AND DIE! IF I''M GOING DOWN YOU''RE UGLY ASS IS GOING WITH ME!" He screams at the top of his lungs emptying his grenade stock into his arms. Taking aim at the golem was hard as the beast had begun to rearrange it''s body structure slimming its leg bulk down, and increasing his arm mass to deal more damage. This unfortunately gave the added bonus of making it faster. Smiling no longer surprised by the chaos of this new world he accepts his death with a cool reserved aura of courage. The golem drops it''s club using its arms to propel the beast''s legs into Erics already damaged body flinging him into the pink waters of the lake. Slowly sinking down into the lakes depths a loud explosion followed by a nasty muffled squeal as the elemental grenades went off. ''So this is how I die huh, drowning in a pink lake on an alien planet, broken bones in my leg, and ribs make it impossible to swim.'' A concussion starts to take him into unconsiousness, the last thing he hears is a large splash as something jumped into the lake with him. Chapter 11: TREEES IN SPACE! Congratulations on defeating a monster 100X your own strength! For accomplishing this impossible feat you are rewarded with the following. Title: "Goliath who?" has been applied to you. This title gives the bearer +5 to their strength, and a 10% increase to Luck. +1,600 exp Being the first to complete a Species wide questline has rewarded your ingenuity with 6,237 Exp. Your standing with the Gnomosapien tribesmen has Increased by 1^42e. Congratulations your reputation with the Gnomosapien people has been Maxed out. Congratulations you have achieved Level 10 Skill Trees have been unlocked as well as secondary class and Perk system.
If he had been awake Eric would be ecstatic, but instead he was unconsious slowly drowning in the healing waters of the Mana Lake. If he was awake he would have also seen all of the indigenous gnomosapiens had begun to emerge from the edge of the jungle as the Golem collapsed from the miniature nuclear explosion caused by Eric''s Elemental Grenades. A huge crater lined with a black goo no one dared to near were all that remained of the giant monstrosity that had been the embodiment of their suffering, and the curse the God had placed on their people. From the withered edges of the dense purple jungle hobbled a shaman of great power among his people. As he moved forward the others stepped out of his way while bowing in respect, and shame. Shame from losing control of themselves, and becoming nothing more than feral beasts preying on anything they could get their grubby little paws on. Now after regaining their senses shame was all they could feel for themselves, but their immense pride in their leading maintaining his sanity during all of this only helped to further implant the idea in their head''s that their leader was an impregnable fortress of mental solidarity. In reality though the Chieftain felt shame himself, because he did not correct the people of this thought process, he didn''t want to admit to them that he had to ask for outside help in curing this problem. He himself could feel the festering darkness bubble inside of himself growing in strength. With his strength he was considered blessed by the spirits, but it appeared they could only do so much for a living soul. He had come very close to losing himself to the darkness, and this scared him to his very core. Hyowai stood there in disbelief at not only the display of honor this elder was offered by his tribe, but also the battle they had all been too cowardly to join in. She could only muster contempt in the pit of her stomach, she fancied herself as an amaing hunter for her tribe, and the whole of their survival rode on the hopes that she would be able to save them. Her little bubble of a world was burst at the display of power, and ingenuity the Male known as Ehreric had just used as if it were nothing. In the face of danger he didn''t back down unleashing a magnificent battlecry that would scare away any sentient being. This man was surely the one she could lay her hopes, and trust in. She only now needed to bridge the language barrier that they faced, but she was sure that the weird bone necklace the shaman had given her new charge was blessed by a god of somesort to help him talk with said shaman. Nodding to herself she made up her mind to speak with Ehreric, and lay all of her fears about her tribe on the line, and offer herself as collateral for him to free them from the horrors that lay waiting to tear them apart. Speaking of her new master to be where was he? A puzzled look emerged on her face sweat dripping from the amount of concentrating she now put into finding Eric. "You don''t think he landed in the water do you?" She muttered to herself looking for affirmation from noone she nods determined to walk to the edge of the lake, and look for him amongst the large boulder debris, and bits of golem gut''s.
In a certain god''s tiny office on an unknown office planet.
Chronus stared in disbelief at the log now spanning across his screen. Outside interference from another of the pantheon had begun to corrupt the indigenous peoples of Gnoram''s Hollow. Chronus had begun to take a liking to these little brilliant inventors. He had nurtured them in their tiny enclosed population away from the other god''s in hopes they could become powerful enough to outlast any natural predators they would come across. Almost all of the god''s taking place in this game of sorts had a chess piece of their own, or would soon enough. These Pawns so to speak would be their champions leading the charge in great battles. Though the planet in its current state couldn''t be considered more than prehistoric, meaning sentient races were few, and far between. Those that did exist though operated on primitive technologies, and tribal leadership. "The amount of sheer corruption that had managed to sneak into my domain unsettles me. It seems as though some of my brethren are not in this to play fair." Stroking his chin, and slowly comming to terms with what may have to happen Chronus was lost in thought. Alise Ralolar daughter of the God of Dragons Alerister Ralolar was only an understudy/intern for Chronus who had been made the Master of Ceremonies for the upcoming games. She Scoffs at his title knowing full well that it only meant he was in charge of time dilation, as well as screen management for the users to be. "Alpha testing will start soon, and my boss is going to end up getting the Earthling currently trapped in our world caught with how much influence he is using to push Eric towards helping his weird little race of mole people." She shivers amidst her derisive monologue remember the weird wrinkly faces of Chronu''s beloved creatures. This however made her picture Eric sending a very different shiver through her body, one she had never experienced before. She didn''t know why she felt the way she did, or even what this feeling was, but she was determined to find out. It was at this moment she faced a very lengthy internal battle. Her rational mind telling her to stay put, and be a good little girl like daddy demanded, or running away to the game world to pursue this unknown feeling now inhabiting her emotions spreading outwards like a wildfire in a dry savannah.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. She looked to her boss who was still too lost in his introspection to notice as she slowly backed towards the exit determined to follow her heart, and the unkown feeling inside of her. Still cautiously staring at Chronus as he mused to himself her right arm slowly raised to push the door open button placed on the wall behind her. It was agonizingly slow to her as she moved centimeters at a time until her fingers finally found purchase on the obtuse obstrusion she knew to be the button she was looking for, it was after all the only button on this wall. Out in the hallway she walked with purpose in her steps. ''If anyone asks I will just tell them I''m on an errand for Chronus, and they won''t question why a mere godling like myself is wandering the halls unattended.'' The arrogance of those with full godhood caused her to sneer without meaning to. She hated how they acted towards each other, let alone those they claimed as followers. She may have been born into what could be considered the Pantheon''s version of royalty, but that didn''t mean she wanted to act like them. ''I may have had a privileged life, but that is not all it''s cracked up to be.'' There was always someone tracking her movement''s no matter where she went. She detested this, she only wanted to be free, to make her own mistakes in the universe. "I may be a caged bird, but this caged bird will sing her song of freedom far away from the guiding hands of her family." Any angst or regret that would have made her turn back around melted into nothing in the few brief moments of introspection. She had to pay attention though getting to an immersion rig would be hard. This close to Alpha testing there will be many working around the clock to make sure everything works properly, and this meant around the clock security. Resolving to worry about the hired thugs later she needed to find her families rig that she knew was somewhere on the upper floors.
Eric
Weird Dreams plagued what little sleep I seemed to be getting, at least I''m not sure whats real or not anymore. Laying in my apartment staring at the grungy ceiling contemplating if I''ve been in some weird coma or not I can''t decide what I should do. Sitting up I turn on my tiny television projector to at least check the news. "Strange disappearences have been happening all over the planet, more on that at 3 o''clock." The news lady drolled out this phrase as if it has become the norm. "There is something weird about all of this I can''t put my finger on it right now, but I feel like it has something to do with the strange dream I was having." The news lady then begins to chant in a language I''ve never heard before a weird mix of guttural pop clicks, and grunts escape her mouth as I sit there dumbfounded. It became hard to breathe as I felt the back of my head collide with the floor as the dimming world around me became less familiar. Bolting up I am in a strange mud, and grass hut, and the smell is enough to make me fall into unconsciousness once again. Before I can manage this grand feat however a green blur tackles me to the ground as I feel a mixture of pain from the injuries of my most recent battle, and a steady rain of salty water assault my senses. I look into the sobbing face of the Gobliness I''ve been dragging around with me for the passed two days. She''s crying, but why I don''t understand whats happening. Unsure of myself, and how to handle women in general I pull her into a hug, and hold her for a brief moment lost in all of the Pop ups I received while unconscious. "Level 10 huh? That must''ve been one badass golem then. I wish I could feel badass, but I kinda feel Like I''ve been run over a few times with a bulldozer." Scrolling through the mass of notifications I see one about skill tree''s, and perks that catches my eye. Mentally Clicking the tab to get more information I''m delighted by what I find. Skill Tree''s: The Universe is an ever expanding infinite space, and so are the skill''s in which one can learn. Access to this menu allows the user to manipulate their growth to an intricate level improving, and creating new pathways yet unheard of. Some options will allow for expanded stat growth, while others may improve old skills, or teach new one''s. "Well that''s a rather vague way to explain something. If this is to be believed I can improve in an infinite amount of directions as long as I have the skill points to do so. I''m intrigued so I guess I''ll look into it now, especially since I need to grow stronger I won''t always get lucky." Self loathing fills his every syllable. Weakness in this new world won''t be tolerated. Needing to up his repetoire of spells, and abilities he clicks on the open skill tree button. "Oh come on, they give me an option that doesn''t even wor..." As he was about to complain about junk technology his whole world went black. An explosion of billions of tiny lights fill every expanse of his vision. For the first time since he came to this world he was left speechless. Focusing on an individual star hilighted a cluster of those nearest to it, and the word Alchemy brightly glowed like a neon bilboard to dedicate this tiny section for Alchemy. His excitement was palpable as he scanned around the odd dimensional plane he now found himself. Seeing everything from Necromancy to Animal husbandry he was shocked at the sheer amount of options now available to him. Before getting his hopes up however he need to check on the amount of skill points he currently had.
Skill Points
Available Skill points: 150
"Well that seems off, I''m not exactly sure how one earns skill points, but I feel like I have alot of those." A smile spreads my face, and I feel like a kid in a candy store. Keeping control of myself will be the hardest part, but I need to explore this universe for a little while, and see if there is a pattern to point cost, and if there is anything that could really help me in the future, but more importantly now. Drifting along a pattern begins to emerge, the bigger the star the more it cost, and the more likely it was to offer branching path''s into different skill sets. The stars also began to gain a rarity level the further along I traveled. ''Does that mean the earlier skills are all beginner level, or more common than the ones I see befor eme now?'' Shrugging I look of into the distance and see am impossibly dark section of space, and every so often a vibrant purple light would pulse through the inconceivably dense shadow that surrounded it. A feeling began to pull me in the direction of the oddity, it was like a raging torrent of fire bubbling inside of me, a need, and a desire to aquire whatever lay ahead of me. Reaching the edge of the darkness the feeling gorws in intensity, guiding me through the sightless land before me. Chapter 12: They said Space was the Final Frontier. Drifting ever slowly forward towards the darkness the pressure began to build. As he neard the weird powerful source of darkness a prompt gave him the information he was looking for. [ Time and Space Magic] It was impossible to stop his excitement, well that was until he saw the price tag associated with such an amazing power. [Cost: 200 Skill Points] Dejected, but refusing to give up hope Eric glided back towards the Alchemy upgrades which had low cost values of 2-10 a piece. This didn''t mean he was giving up oh no far from it, he now had a long term goal to work towards aside from survive, and don''t get eaten by a dinosaur. Exiting the Skill Tree section of his menus 20 points poorer, He had taken up Alchemic Clarity which helped him increase the potency of potions, and "Where theres a Will theres a Way" both of these skills were passive in nature. The latter of the skills gave Eric a higher percentage of success when crafting potions with unknown ingredients. He had chosen this skill because it offered a branching path that had a skill called "The Way" which allowed the user to substitute certain potion ingredients for others as long as they shared similar properties.
The prospects alone excited him; Deep in thought he seemed to have forgotten a now sleeping goblin huntress who had unbeknownst to her been worried about him for more reasons than the safety of her tribe. While that was important she had yet to realize how reliant she had become on his company. She was used to being a lone hunter, but that wa smostly because goblins were very carnal in nature, although she seemed to be the blacksheep of the brood. She had never knew the want of good companionship until she had met Eric, even if she still had yet to realize this consciously otherwise her stubborn nature wouldn''t have allowed her to remain by his side. Smiling as these thoughts never entered her consious mind she thought of only one thing saving her people. After watching this man take down a golem made by the Shadow King''s minions she knew she hadn''t placed her faith in the wrong person. Dropping deeply into R.E.M sleep she became figuritively dead to the world around her.
Alise Ralolar
Touching down on a secluded mountain peak Alise breathed deeply taking in the clean air. This brought tears of joy to her eyes, because the offices they worked in ran on stale air recycled through enchantments. The memory brought chills down her spine, and she decided to keep moving forward before the games wardens could track her position after beaming down. She knew that Alpha testing of the world''s biomes was going smoothely, and they were more focused on that at the moment, well aside from her boss that is. "I never will fully understand why he is so obsessed with the weird little race he had helped create. If he knew the future roadmap the other god''s put in place he won''t be too happy either way." She mused to herself, which she found helped make the treacherous journey down the mountainside less tedious than it was in actuality. She was in no hurry she knew what her current goal would be; She had to get her stats up with the help of the primitive dwarven tribes, and work on gaining a secret class like the once human Eric Kenwood had. Knowing full well that legendary hidden classes were only a one person ever kind of thing having two happen so fast in succession of each other would arouse suspitions. For now she would fill all the pre-requisites, and when the full release hit the rest of the universe she would be ready to take her prize. Of course her headstart at this point wouldn''t last long, as her employers had to have noticed that she went native. Laughing as she imagined their horrified faces, and how her dad would react made her feel bright, and bubbly inside as she continued her leisurely half stroll half freefall down to the base of the mountain.
Eric
Waking from his trance like stupor he lightly pushed the goblin girl to the side, and off of him so he could go find the chief of these people, and get to upgrading their civilization. So many ideas flashed through his skull, but he didn''t know which would be possible to impliment at the moment. Everything from temperature controlled houses to plumbing he would work on organizing this group into the most fit to trudge the death zone located above their heads. It seemed like ages ago when he was first beamed to this planets surface in a body that wa snot his own. He was still adjusting to his different skin tone, and height, but he had been worried about much more pressing matters, than vanity related issues. "I think I will introduce structured housing to them, and what I do after that who knows, at least I''ll have somewhere to stay as shelter, it would do wonders for my mental health." He muttered quietly to himself as he stumbled out into an unknown hallway. ''They must''ve taken me down into their tunnels while I was unconscious.'' The smell from before he also noted had disipated. Whether it was related to the golem''s curse or not he was unsure, but that was more than likely the case. He stumbled down a few passages, before he finally ran into someone, a Gnomosapian. Dressed in a simple robe made from a course fabric unknown to him dyed a deep maroon in color draped the persons androgenous body unelegantly. Unsure of how to precede he took a stab in the dark. "Um, Excuse me I was hoping that maybe you could take me to the chieftain to discuss what has happened." His voice piercing the deathly quiet hallway cause the gnome to jump in shock as they realized they weren''t alone in the tunnel.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. "R...R.Right away honored one, I would be most honored to take you to Chief Christoph DarkIron. Ma ma may I say we are very thankful to you for saving us. If not for you we would have all become but common beasts for the slaughter. We all owe you our lives, and if you find yourself needing something please don''t be afraid to ask it of us." Stammering through her speech she seemed to gain some confidence in the end, because when she mentioned how he had saved their lives a fire seemed to light behind her iris''s. ''Wow I was justing fighting for my own gain here, but these people are super grateful to me for helping them. Even though ending up here was merely by accident, and I may have killed a few of them before I found a good way to perform a mass cure. Despite all of this they still feel very indebted to me.'' This all threw Eric for a whirlwind of self reflection, he almost didn''t notice the little person as they started to waddle away guiding him to their chief. He had for a moment been lost in the world as a game to help save his depleting psyche, but that almost allowed him to make terrible decisions. He had toyed with the idea of subjugating these people to save time, and hopefully gain an exp bonus from it. He was starting to realize however that he was becoming more, and more capable of horrible things, and he needed to keep himself in check. Sitting before Chief DarkIron who still hadn''t revealed his name to Eric even after he had saved his people. This annoyed Eric greatly, because he had put his ass on the line when he fought that golem, he could have ran like a coward, and let these people fall into the darkness. He however almost died overloading his body on raw energy, and using it like a bomb. All of this, and he still refused to give me his name. His annoyance must have been evident as the wrinkly bastard began to chuckle at his consternation. "It seems young one that you are feeling wronged, may I ask what bothers you." Ready to burst a blood vessel Eric let loose some of his pent up aggression shocking the younger girl who had helped him find his way here. "You never told me your name you smug old prick. After all of that you still refuse to speak in anything but riddles, and act like youv''e passed on some sage like advice, and to be honest it gets under my skin. I want to put that aside though Chief DarkIron." A glint of realization was briefly visible on the old mans face, one that told how the game was up, and he no longer held all of the bargaining chips. This hint of realization made Eric understand something very clear, and that was even though he had literally saved this man''s tribe he was looking to find a way to cut the reward to make it easier on himself. Possibly to save face, but Eric really couldn''t prove his inclinations to anyone. "Whatever you may think old man I am not here to ruin what you''ve built, quite the opposite in fact. I have ideas that would help all of us live more comfortably, and hopefully safe at least from wild beasts. I''m not sure how many wander down here, but I''d like to think that increased comfortability is something anyone would want." Eric''s pride flaired as he thought of all the things they could accomplish for the betterment of not only himself, but those around him. He really missed having a comfortable bed to sleep in, and an climate controlled house. Many many things would have to wait, but he didn''t mind, after all he had nothing but time it seems. For now anyways. The old man appeared to be interested, but tried to hide it by feigning indifference to Eric''s passion. "One may offer the sweetest of fruits, but give you the most bitter." Back to the riddles again this agitated Eric, which seemed to happen alot lately, but he refused to give into the old man''s bait instead opting to wager with the old coot that he could improve their style of life. "Ok chief I''ll take that bet, but when I win I want to have some say In what goes on around here, because where I come from we vote on things, not just accept things at how they are presented." With that Eric stood and gave the man a small bow of respect for the sake of it. He may annoy him, but that doesn''t mean they can''t have a good working relationship. While he waited to see if the chief would send some workers to help out, Eric decided to build some primitive axes to cut lumber, and judging by the first one he made he would need alot of them to get enough lumber for one house let alone a village. If the locals decide to help out he could pass along the recipe, and maybe teach these little buggers to be self sufficient. Sighing he began to gather all the necessities to build himself a home, if he could show them the value of what he offered maybe just maybe they might survive long enough to be able to fight on their own without fear of death waiting around every corner. Altogether he managed to gather 200 thing [Olba Tree Vines] to weave into the bindings for axes, 150[Sharp Stones],and last but not least 100[Olba Tree Branches] to use for the handles. The wood seemed stirdier than what he found on the surface, maybe it was due to the ambient magic in the air, or maybe it was just a healthier tree Eric knew not the answer only that he wa shappy with the find. The ash grey wood was smooth with a light blue hue covering the outer bark layer. He began the tedious work of putting together his primitive technology, and thought back to the skill trees, and remembered seeing upgrades to primitive tech for really cheap so he decided to go back and buy them a few points wouldn''t set him too far back. As he finished binding the first axe head to its shaft the Goblin Huntress snuck up on him while he was distracted. When he noticed her inches from his face he screamed, and fell backwards trying very hard to still his over palpitating heart. "Jesus lady you''re going to give me a heart attack one of these days, what am I saying you can''t even understand me." Picking up the necklace he was wearing she plunged one of the bones into her hand causing blood to cover a decrepit tooth in a black ichor. He was about to complain, and ask her what the fuck that was all about, until the tooth seemed to glow a vibrant green was tiny runes began to abosorb her blood. At a loss for words he looked to the now smiling huntress giving him a toothy grin. Flustered he opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it. "Can you understand me now mr naked man?" Confusion was written all over his face until he realized that he was naked. If his complexion would alot it, it would be a brilliant fire engine red right about now. This shock seemed to bring her joy as she chuckled at the mans embarrassment. Nonchalantly she sat down next to him while asking if it was ok. It appears she wasn''t really looking for his approval as she did it anyway. Before he could say he was busy however he looked from the corner of his eye to see a small tear escape her as the calculating determination she embodied reappeared like magic. Curious Eric still said nothing, and continued on with his boring work. "I''ll make this simple, Mr Eheric. I need your help....saving my tribe. I know you barely know me, and we only just began to be able to talk with each other, but I''ve lost alot of time, and without the magic I have seen you do my people are most certainly going to die off." Chapter 13: It takes a Village (Now with 100% organic Dialogue). Under the shade of the Olba Tree Eric had to pause his work to let his mind catch up to what she had said. ''She wants me to help her what now? We barely know each other, why does she think that I''ll help her all of a sudden? I feel like I''m being selfish here, but I''m barely able to stay alive right now. I have no idea how I would even be helpful here.'' His reservations didn''t go unnoticed however, because it registered loud, and clear to Hyowai that they were still strangers really. She had even said as such when she asked a few seconds ago. Her face drooping in defeat, but her eyes still held determination to do what she had set out to do when she had first ran into Eheric. He had proven to her that no matter your size you could still achieve great things. Before she could take back her offer however Eric spoke for the first time since she had opened her to dumb mouth to ask him to help her. "Look." He seemed to sigh this word in a downtrodden manner, and Hyowai braced herself for the defeat that loomed on the horizon. Struggling to find the right words in this situation Eric must have seemed as if he was stalling, which made him more nervous, because he has never really been comfortable with talking to women in general in his past life. "How about we start from the beginning? I don''t even know your name, or anything about you other than you are some sort of huntress, so how about first we get to know each other?" He gestured to a place near to him, as he planned to waste no time, and continue his crafting endeavors while he talked. Hopefully he could get this girl to help him with his menial task of making axes. It couldn''t hurt to have someone else along to be able to make some form of tools, and weapons. Confused at first Hyowai nodded and lowered herself near this strange man, and his even stranger pile of Olba wood, and stones. Losing herself in her thoughts she almost got off track as she had wanted to ask Eheric what he was doing, but once again as if reading her mind the odd man asked a question of his own. "Why do you aways call me Eheric, when my name is Eric?" He thought this a simple question, but her face describe the situation as otherwise. If he could read her mind he would find her not understanding eactly what his question meant. Determined she raised her face to look him straight in the eyes. "I don''t understand your question;They sound the same to me. This is how I know you so this is how I call you." The simple brashness, and overall honesty of her statement had taken him by surprise. His only response was a deep mirthful laugh as he admired the girls honesty. A rosy tint slowly made its way up the girls face embarassment clear as day. Knowing he had to intervene before she mistook his laughter for him making fun of her, he took a deep breathe, and held it to try and stop the laughter as though it were the hiccups. This seemed to work pretty well for him as he was back to his normal self very soon. "You know I actually kind of like the way you say it better, I think from now own thats what I''ll go by whenever someone asks for my name. Though this seems like it will be very unlikely for a long time." The realization of what was yet to come seemed to reinsert the idea in his head that although he has gone through alot already it had only just begun. After all he has only been on this planet for two weeks at most, and already his life has been one crazy even after another. Only his recently found free time crafting allowed him to center his mind, and clear his thoughts. The way he was acting lately put his mood into a slight decline, from his accusations of the chief of the gnomosapiens, to his overall cocky attitude, and his clearly non functioning brain that had allowed him to make very dumb mistakes. He promised himself that he would refrain from being such a dick in the future, because he had a long way ahead of him, and he rather have friends than enemies. This time of self reflection allowed him to decide to help the girl if he could, but he would still try to get some help with his housing project, while he also learned more about the one asking for his help. He may feel bad for her, but he know he can''t trust her yet, at least not to that extent. Lost on the whims of his thoughts like a leaf in the breeze he was brought from his self reflection by the young huntress. "My...My name is Hyowai Gol''drek. I am the youngest of my siblings, and a very well known aspiring huntress in my tribe." Thinking of her tribe brought tears to her eyes, tears filled with hope, defeat, and love. She wanted to do whatever it would take to save her family. Not acknowledging the tear filled eyes of Hyowai, Eheric handed her the branch from an Olba Tree, one sharp stone, and four Olba Tree Vines. Before she could voice her obvious confusion he began to show her the step by step process of making a primitive axe. Crafting was something that recently brought him much joy as he could see the obvious improvement of his equipment, which had gone from subpar to usable meaning it would do slightly more damage, as well as having a higher durability. His new recipe stated as much too, but Eheric could feel it based on how well the item he made was put together.
Primitive Olba Axe
Atk Dmg: 3-5 Quality: Usable
Increasing your skill, and the materials used in it''s construction allows for a more well rounded, and strong tool for you to use. Using the wood of the [Olba Tree], which naturally absorbs mana through veins that have developed over centuries of mana exposure. This makes the wood more susceptible to enchanting. A higher quality stone, as well as finer made bindings also add to the quality of the tool.
Captivated by the process that was before unknown to her Hyowai dove headfirst into the job of making Olba Axes, and shortly after starting gained not only the recipe but the Primitive Technology Skill which then caused her to begin saying a prayer to a deity unknown yet to Eheric. Confused by this he assured himself to ask her as they continued their work. "If you don''t mind me asking Hyowai why did you pray to your god when you received the skill?" She cocked her head to the side as he asked his question causing him to falter a little bit, but he decided to remain resolute in this, because he stood out enough as it is no need to look like a tourist as well as act like one. "What do you mean?" She squeaked with obvious joy at the situation, which only brought Eheric more bewilderment to the already lost Eheric. "It is very rare for anyone to receive advice outside of a shrine let alone a whole skill like what I now have. Some of my people told legends of a time called the Pre Alpharus age when some beings would be able to do many things without the need of a shrine to their deity. It is believed that there are many many things to exist in these god screens, but few if any see more than a couple in their lifetime, and I just got a whole skill from it!" Brimming with happiness she continued to make axes as Eheric was stuck in a stupor. A bright screen greeted Eheric bringing him back to reality.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. [New Skill created] [Idiot Savante] Generating.......
Idiot Savante
Having no level as this a system generated skill whose limits have yet to be tested. As the only normal user with an Admin skill it would be best not to share it with anyone you don''t trust. This skill is a passive skill that allows an admin to indirectly or directly have control over native inhabitants access to the system whether it be granting them skills, and stats if they have earned enough experience in their trade. Cooldown: 30 days 52 minutes.
If Eheric thought he couldn''t be even more dumbfounded he was topped by receiving skill not meant for normal people to have access to. Knowing very well this was a god interface passive only made him anxious, but still happy at the same time. Maybe this could explain why she was able to get the skill from him, the questions this raised were numerous, but with a cooldown of over a month he would have to wait to test any theories he might have right now. Shelving this for later he vowed to tell noone about it no matter how much he trusted them, because being exterminated seemed like something that might come from this skill. This also brought another query to the front of his mind, what did this mean for him? He knew he was a godling as per his racial choice at the start, but he didn''t think he would be able to gain anything that would be compaired to a Game Master skill. He must have been thinking for a long time, because the next thing he could see in his vision was that of Hyowai staring very inquisitively at him more than likely curious about whether or not he was still alive. His lungs burned for air as he realized he had not even been breathing for who knows how long. Attempting to stand and gain some leverage over himself only brought with it a wave of disorientation, and nausea as the world spun around him. Taking some deep deep breaths to center himself, and ground his vision to an anchor point he began to stabalize feeling really stupid about forgetting to breathe. With the disphoria fading he went back to work on the axes ignoring the fact that the girl was staring him down in a creepy way. Feeling the tension that previous surrounded him dissipate the more he got used to the strange girl that had been with him for the last week. She had followed him like a shadow, and he could honestly not figure out why. "I thought for sure it could have been me saving her that caused her to follow me, like some sort of weird life debt. Haha I''d feel bad for anyone feeling indebted to me I''m one massive trainwreck after another that somehow manages to survive the disaster." His nearly silent muttering is broken by a small stream of snores filing one by one from the now sleeping Hyowai. Sitting straight up her ashy grey complexion seemed to glisten in the noonday glow of the crystal. Long braided black hair stretches down to her middrift hints of silver intertwined in the dark river of hair. Imagining an animated snot bubble calmly expanding, and decreasing in size with relative ease in a comical fashion causing him to chuckle to himself as he finished up the last of the[Primitive Olba Axes]. This prompted another flash of acknowledgement from his skills tab alerting him to the progress he had been paying attention to. he had completely lost himself in his work, and for the first time since he had arrived he truly felt at one with himself, and his current circumstances. Crafting it seemed was his personal form of meditation allowing him to separate himself from reality for a small stint of time. Smiling to himself he decided it was time to check in on his newly gain notifications. Primitive technolgies skill has increased from beginner level 10 to Adept level 2: 23% experience. Nodding inwardly he was able to do some quick maths to determine how much experience he gained per completed axe. The beginner stages of the skill seemed to increase by 500 exp per level up increasing the needed experience for everytime he had leveled up. Reaching the adept rank he noticed a drastic increase of 1,500 experience per level up. He must have been at this for quite a while to make it all the way to the adept rank without noticing his own progress. Checking his current stockpile of axes next to the 30,500 experience gain he had made 305 axes. This meant he gained roughly 100-105 experience per axe depending on how well it was crafted at least with the materials he had currently available to him. "Not bad, not bad, but I suppose this will be enough of a stock for now at least till I begin the arduous work of cutting lumber, and actually building my house." Bending over he snatched up two of his homemade hatchets, and walked into the dense foliage 50 meters to his north. His first few swings at the densely packed Olba Tree did him no good, but around the fourth or fifth swing he netted himself a small victory in the Woodcutting skill. After this he seemed to make minor corrections to his swing here, and his angle there allowing him to become more and more profficient at chopping his deadly foe in twain. As the first tree fell he declined the system''s offer of obtaining the Lumberjack class and got to work on stripping the tree of all its branches, and leaves. It took him around 35 minutes to strip the tree of its appendages allowing him to calculate a rough estimate of how far he''d be able to get today. ''If all goes as planned I''ll be able to show off the skeleton of my new home by the end of the day!'' New prospects exciting him he began his work with renewed vigor, and a much mor epositive attitude. Every third tree he found himself having to take breaks to still his ever thumping heart, sweat seeped ever slowly down his head as his overly dry skin attempted to quench its thirst with its own bi product. On his fourth cycle he was laying on his back barely able to catch his breath as the oppressive heat loomed ever onward taking stabs at his dminishing sanity. "On...On huff huff huff that note I think its time I take a well deserved swim through the pink mana waters to ease my aching body. I''ll get out in fifteen minutes?" Almost as if unsure of his own intentions he had posed this question to noone but himself, Shrugging it off he had better things to do right now. Wading into the shallows of the loamy pink tinted sand felt alien to him, but he was unsure if it was due to the weird coloration of the water, and sand or the feeling of the water alleviating his pains. Either way he made a note to himself that he could really care less as relaxation sucked him in like a tornado, and refused to let go. Within a few brief moments he was snoozing drifting lazily across the surface of the lake while Hyowai stirs from her slumber. Attempting to stifle her yawn she dreamily looked around in an attempt to gain her bearings. Remembering what she was doing before she passed out she looked around for more of these tools called axes to put together, finding none unfinished she was saddened by being unable to help the man that she wanted to help her village. Scanning the immediate area she noticed Eheric floating across the surface of the lake like a Lily pad. The sight amused her greatly as a soft chuckle escaped her ashen lips. Unable to quell her burgeoning curiosity she search for what exactly he had been up to before he worked himself halfway to deaths door once more. Noticing ten felled olba''s 50 meters to her north she determined it was only fair to investigate. He had afterall given her the gift of a new skill, and she hoped to glean more useful information from him for her own survival. She figures she can''t rely on this man forever, because who knows where the winds will take him next. Taking off at a small trot she quickly made her way to the fallen behemoths. Studying the tree''s however did not really prove useful to her as they were just limbless logs laying in the dew filled grass. Unsure of why Eheric needed them this way she hefted a stone axe to her right shoulder, and stood before anunwaivering giant of a tree ready to make it just as mangled as its fallen brethren. If tree''s could sweat she was sure this one would be near wetting itself from the savage smile she gave it before flinging her axe into its mighty bough. Not a chapter just a small announcement. Don''t want to alarm any of you just updating you all on something I wish there was a follower update notice system where only my followers would get my dumb message but yolo. I just wanted to let yall know after this week I''ll be moving to a twice a week release schedule, and that it will be Mondays, and Thursdays unless I am feeling super creative and upload more haha. I do it for the story, and to hopefully make at least one of you enjoy the adventure I''ve embarked Eric on. It''s a slow and tedious adventure, but it will be picking up the pace a little bit as it may have been too slow. I will do My best to avoid using time skips, as they can be just as annoying to the reader as time travel. I.e. and Easy excuse to explains omething the author is too lazy to write in. lolIf you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Not to knock on those that use it some do it quite well I''d just like to avoid it and make an attempt to maintain continuity as Eric moves out of the Alpha phase of the planet, and some "Beta Players" are invited in to test the new game. The story will have a long winded plot I promise xD hopefully I don''t scare too many of you all away, the next few chapters will be mostly kingdom building as we move on to what some deem the more interesting bits. =D Im just happy y''all are here to follow Eric as he learns to cope with his new reality in a healthy way, and not being an ignorant whiny poofster. as always Author san signing out, let me know how you like tonights chapter =D if I''m feeling it I might try for a double release tonight! If youd like make your wants known in the comment section of this Note! Chapter 14: Surprise its a House!? Sweat drenched the tiny gobliness as she struggled to heft the axe anymore. She had worked tirelessly for nearly 2 hours to no avail she had only managed to fell two trees in that time but had not managed to cut the limbs from their trunks. She couldn''t fathom how Eheric had the energy to accomplish such a feat. Never would she consider herself the strongest even among her people, as they got sicker however she became the only one that was able to care for the village. This built a confidence in herself that has only diminished since she met the strange man named Eheric. In one short week this man had changed her entire perspective on the world, and her place in it. From the first swing of the axe biting into the hard bark of the olba tree, to her last she was not only helping him but herself as well. Each bite of flesh the axe took her swings became more and more resolute as she gained a familiarity with the strange tool. Rebuilding her diminished confidence would take time, probably more than she had in her lifetime but she felt she owed it to those counting on her return with a cure. The thoughts of her village brought about a somber atmosphere to her demeanor. If any were around her they would describe the air as a palpable force pushing down on them physically, and weighing on them emotionally. A calm breeze swam through the air cooling off the worn and battered newly fledged woodswomen as she bathed in the gentle wind. Her entire body ached from head to toe as each time the axe bit into the tree it would send shockwaves down her body. The build up of lactic acid made it almost impossible for the girl to move as she resigned herself to a brief rest on the loose dirt of freshly torn up tree roots. Running down a hallway Eric was excited to talk with his dad, he had won the science fair at school and was proud to show is accomplishment to his father. As he got closer to the door the hallway seemed to extend and an overbearing darkness consumed the way behind him. Excitement turned to fear he didn''t know why, but he knew the darkness was a bad thing that wanted to hurt him. Running with renewed vigor he reached the now decreptic wooden door yanking it open with all of his might only darkness greeted him where there was once a light filled room. Turning around as goosebumps lined his spine the overwhelming feeling of something watching him unnerved him to no end. Yelling into the darkness he hoped to scare whatever it was away. "GOOO AWAY OR MY DAD WILL HURT YOU!" Panting from the fear a young Eric didn''t know what else to do. An Evil laughter filled the world distorting in pitch, and oscillation. It was like when an old record was played in reverse. The demonic entity exhaled as a violent burst of hot air knocked him into the dark doorway to his rear. Falling head over heels into darkness the rushing wind forced it''s way into his lungs stopping all of his attempts to breathe. Suddnely a large distored face of a semi familiar man filled the dark expanse below him, and began to laugh. It was the same cruel distorted laugh from before. The large blurry head opened it''s jagged maw sucking him into the jaws of the unknown. Jerking violently awake the oncoming water filled his lungs causing him to panic even more. Opening his tightly clenched eyes the entire world was pink, and he was able to gain his bearings enough to swim for the surface. The mana filled water in his lungs seemed to evaporate at a rapid pace completely gone as he breached the surface of its pink depths gulping large lungfuls of air. The disorientation faded replaced by a glowing purple notification.
Concentrated Mana drank, Regeneration increased by +2 per minute.
"Well that''s a welcome surprise." He chuckled lightly to himself unwilling to breathe water yet again. "I''ll have to remember to bottle some of this stuff up for later use when I leave the hollow. It could prove very useful in the future." He was unsure if he could make a mana regeneration potion with it or not, but the effects of enough it seemed to increase regeneration regardless, but he couldn''t help but think that maybe refining the process might increase the strength per dose. The rest of his swim to shore proved to be uneventful, upon breaching the shoreline he looked towards his most recent project his log cabin. An interesting site met him has he crested the small hill to his work site. Hyowai was passed out near a recently cut batch of trees, though they still had their branches he had to give her credit for trying at least. This would speed up his work pretty fast. ''I''ll have to find a way to thank her when she wakes up.'' He mused to himself. He began the tedious task of stripping the trees of their branches, and dragging them to the rest of the pile. Two hours of hard work he had stripped, and piled up the logs that hyowai had tried to gather for him. Taking a moment to count his stockpile of logs he grinned in anticipation for what was to come. Fifteen total logs lay bare before him, enough to at least begin work on his little shanty hut. Splitting 5 logs from the rest of the pile, he planned to make lumber out of those but it could wait until he had a foundation of logs built up. Another thought struck him as he finished his log segregation. "I don''t have any type of digging tool.....FRICK!!" He knew he could make a crude shovel by forming rocks through force, and shaping a branch to be a handle/shaft for the shovel itself, but that would add on another thirty minutes of pointless work if he didn''t need it. A lightbulb birst into existence over Eheric''s head causing a chain reaction of him slapping his forehead, and charging up some Earth Mana. He forgot that he could alter the position of dirt through manipulation. "I really thought I was over being forgetfull like this, I don''t even have an excuse like trying to survive this time. After I cleared out the corruption this has been like a mini vacation. Forgetting that I could Manipulate Earth mana so quickly is really annoying it''s not like I shawshanked my way into this beautiful cavern." Refocusing on the task at hand he moved the dirt to create a 10 meter by 10 meter square 3 meters into the soft ground. The loose nature of the soil would prove to be a problem if he didn''t fix it now, he didn''t need his foundation slipping, and eventually destroying his new home. He remembered reading back on Earth that he could form barriers using hardned clay he searched through his newly formed 15 meter high pile of dirt. Using his racial ability to search for specific minerals he stumbled upon an interesting one named Quirite Clay. Analyzing the substance told him exactly what he wanted to know. [Quirite Clay] A mana infused mineral formed from thousands of years of pressure, containing traces of a powdered crystaline element, and soil has formed this viscous, and strong material. Used for the very basics of building requiring only a minor knowledge of the land to be able to spot it is used as a very cheap building material as well as the beginning branch to a few professions such as Pottery, building, Sculptor, and etc. Slightly pink in color this material is an excellent bonding agent. Ideas flew to the front of his mind as he formulated the structure of his house including this new material. He smiled because this was going to be easier than he first thought. Using his Manipulation skill he separated the clay from the rest of the soil into its own pile to make it purer than its natural dirty mixture would allow. He once again lost himself to his work only brought back by a lovely level up notification. Earth Mana Manipulation has level up +1. Affinity with Earth has increased from beginner to level 1 Intermediate. Mineral Mastermind has leveled up +2 Mineral Mastermind (Beginner: level 6) +2,000 Exp Gained. "So you can gain experience from leveling up other skills, and not just quests, and combat. Thats good to know." His mood knew no bounds as he set to work on the framework of his new house. He started by lining the pit with clay then using his Volcanic Hands spell combined with Fire Manipulation to spread the heat throughout the hole to harden the clay base. Letting that settle for a little while he moved on to the logs themselves. Dragging one from the pile he began the boring job of splitting the log in two. Taking one of the new halves he notched a crevice to cradle the log above it for support. Doing this four times he now had logs to use as a structural framework for the rest of his house. Laying down a thin layer of clay where he would sit his new foundation logs he placed each half log in succession as fast as he could manage before the clay would naturally harden. Using Volcanic hands he hardened the clay to the basic foundation locking it into place. Taking four more logs from the main pile he quartered half of them, and halved the other two, and carved a sharpened point on the circular sides to allow them to lock into place on the foundation logs. Using more clay he put the newly sharpened halves on the four base logs. The flate sides facing upwards gave him a flat surface to begin his basement floor. He returned to his log pile and started to make planks out of four of the logs yielding in 20 2"x4" planks, and 40 4"x4" support beams. Without nails, and currently not wanting to attempt to be a blacksmith with no prior knowledge he placed the flooring using Quirite Clay as a sort of bondo for the whole thing. In an attempt to make it more structurally sound he tied vines he''d made into rope along the outer edges as he filled the gaps with clay, and continued his heating, and cooling of flay till he finished the basement. Using some of his younger Olba logs to build the basement walls he worked his way upwards to reach the edge of his pit. Climbing back down he once again fire up some clay he placed in the gaps to make his house stronger.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. "In the future I need to take up Blacksmithing to make this all way easier, wait has blacksmithing even been invented yet?" Resolving himself to worry about such things later he went back to work on his house. He cut 4"x4" square chunks every couple of feet on his sidewalls to slot the support beams into place. Repeating almost every step he used to make his basement he built the first, and second floors in time for Hyowai to wake from her exhaustion. A surprised squeak alerted Eheric to her newly found consciousness. "What in the 5 hells is that! It looks like it is supposed to be a house, but it''s not possible!" She walked the outer perimiter of his almost finished cabin shell in admiration of the simple structure. The thought brought a chuckle from him. Whoever said this was a relatively easy process must''ve never had to build one by hand, or he had gone way overboard, either way he was proud of what he had made so far. He was going to cut some more lumber to put the second floor in and work on the roof, but maybe he could get her help, and instruct her how to make the slats for the roof. Jumping from the second floor support beams he was met with the realization that he hadn''t cut a front door to his house nor had he made windows. An extreme laughing fit overtook him as he had overlooked something so necessary to a house that he couldn''t do anything but laugh at his own stupidity. "AHAHAHAH I...I..I can''t believe I didn''t put a door into this thing, I''m so dumb. AAHAHAHAH."
I''ve known you were stupid since the beginning, but this is a whole new level.
He could hardly believe his eyes, it had seemed like forever since whoever was behind the boxes had spoken to him directly. His curiousity spiked he decided to ask where the purple asshole had been. "Where have you been Purple People Eater?"
I don''t appreciate the dumb monicker, and frankly it''s none of your business, but we''ve had some issues here that''s all I''m saying. Back on subject how exactly did you expect to get in and out of a house with no door?
''Hmm so whoever this is doesn''t work alone that''s good to know.'' Ignoring the purple box person for now he got to work figuring out how he would make a doorway. Flaring up his Volcanic Hands spell he tried to force the mana to one finger, and concentrate it to build pressure. It took him several minutes of trial and error before he achieved something akin to a blow torch. Using his manipulation he kept the fire from burning more than he thought neceassary to make a door way, he made a crude doorway to his home. "A door can wait for now." Walking outside he walked around the structure until he came upon a still awestruck Hyowai admiring his creation. "What is this strange thing? It looks like a hut, but it can''t be it''s made entirely of Olba Trees." He evident surprise delighted Eheric, because he thought his rough cabin was pretty shotty in nature, but her awe had instilled some confidence in her burgeoning skills. "Where I come from this is known as a log cabin, it is a really basic form of housing used by people long passed." Blinking a few times she stared directly at him mouth agape. "WHAT?!!? What do you mean basic? My people have never even thought of building something like this, how could you call it very basic shelter?" He laughed at her antics, it was too late to tear it all down for the sake of someones disbelief in what he made. "Well it is sorry to burst your bubble, but I need your help finishing it." Stars formed in her eyes as she found herself at a loss for words. She looked from Eheric to the large building before her. She couldn''t believe he would let her work on such a magnificent thing. "I...I couldn''t possibly be any help to you." Her face slacked as saddness for her lack of skill, and knowledge became evident. "I would only ruin what you''ve made I don''t wish to dirty your work with this dirty fingers." Her self deprication only caused him annoyance, if he could do this with barely any accurate knowledge and skill she could at the very least help him lay shingles. "Just shut up, and follow me, I know very little more about this than you do so you''ll be able to help me." Grabbing her by the arm he led her to a copse of trees. "I need to cut two more of these down to work on the roof. I saw that you managed to cut some yourself...You did a good job." She seemed to brighten at his compliment, but didn''t see the but coming. "but... I will have to show you how to do what I need now including cutting the branches off of the trees." Pouting she could do nothing but nod in recognition of what he said. Determined to finish before he went to rest for the night both trees fell relatively fast with two of them at work. After stripping the trees of all of their branches he started cutting the logs into one foot by one foot wooden shingles. Finishing his log as Hyowai watched he wiped some sweat from his forehead using his arm. Looking at her determined face he nodded, and ask if she had any questions. She shook her head confident she could muster the necessary skill to do what he needed. Sitting down as she began to shape the log into shingles guiding her along the way they finished in only two hours of work. Appraising her work they weren''t much worse off than what he had managed so he praised her hard work, and they gathered up the shingles carrying them back to his work site. When they made it back he instructed her to strack the shingles neatly as he cut the rest of the lumber he would need to make the roof. He made two large A-frames to support the arched roof he intended to build, and ten four by four support beams. Shooting Hyowai a glance he saw her standing patiently by the stacked shingles anxiously waiting for his next order. "Ok we need to get these (He points at the a frames) up onto the top so I can put the roof together, but first we''ll use some of these leftover vines from the axes to help alleviate some of the weight." She nods saying nothing she is only greatful to help, and didn''t question what he had said. He had already proven to her that he knew what more than she ever thought possible. Getting the frames into place took longer than Eheric would have liked, but there was nothing he could do about it now. They could only improve from here, and he was sure after seeing his masterpiece the Gnomes would love to have something similar so they would have plenty of chances to raise their skills. Cutting the notches into the frames for the support beams to rest went quickly as did the fastening of them to the frames. Using some more of his primitive rope he tied the support beams to the frame while using his magic to lift clay up to the roof slathering it genrously onto the areas where the beams connected to the frames. After that was done he climbed down from the roof he had to make some more 2"x4" plankes to act as the main part of the roof. 60 planks later he finally could finish this thing. He was quite satisfied with his work. It made him feel productive, more productive than he had felt in a while, even back on Earth he never had this kind of satisfaction in his daily grind. Planks in place it was time to put the shingles on the roof. This took a little longer as he had to show Hyowai how to lay the shingles in a way that they could allow water to run off. She got the basics pretty fast so he had her lay the first row as he applied the clay to combine it all together. It took two hours to lay all of the shingles, laying the final one he built a staircase out of dirt to let them get down from the two story house easier. He hadn''t gotten a notification for completing his house, so he guessed he had more to do before he could rest for the night. If it even was night, it was really hard to determine the time of day here. Determined to finish this today he got to work building a crude door, as well as four stringers to build the staircase to the second floor, and the basement. He brought the stringers, and treade boards into the building before rigging the door in place. He cut a hole in the floor using his modified Volcanic hands, and one into the ceiling to put both stairways together. Using clay as glue he made up for his lack of nails by encasing the wood in hardened clay. Going to the second floor he torched a window on both ends underneath the A-frames, and went downstairs to put three more in place. He didn''t know how to make glass panes yet, but he was sure he could manage. He wracked his brain in an attempt to remember how glass formed, which was relatively simple when remembered it, but purifying the glass to not be cloudy seemed like it would be harder, because he had no idea how to achieve that affect. For now he would make simple window panes, and worry about how clear they were later on. Using thin sheets of rock he formed through Earth Manipulation took alot out of him. Half of his mana pool was depleted compressing rock into a slate form. He was grateful for the added regeneration from the water he had gained earlier. He hadn''t checked his stats in a while, and only had a vague feeling how empty his mana pool was, and resolved himself to check them after finishing his house. He made a simple Square box encasing a sheet of slate on the bottom. He made four more similar boxes, and filled them with the weird mana infused sands of the lake''s beach. All of the prep work done he applied his Volcanic Hand''s spell to burn a piece of Olba wood per box to make ash, once the ash was mixed with the sand he activated his spell once again only this time he planned on melting the mixture together to form glass. [Simple Glass] Recipe obtained. Doing a little happy dance he carefully detached the windows from their casing, and placed them in his house. If he was less lazy he would have made more complicated windows than simple single pane glass, but he could worry about that later he thought to himself. As the last window was sealed into place he received his long awaited notification, and a few he was surprised about.
Congratulations, as the first being to build a structure more modern than the Era you have been granted the title "Can we build it?"
??Can we build it?
Grants the user a 15% increased chance to succeed when building something for the first time, and a 25% chance to succeed on improving on previous designs, and recipes.
Congratulations, Alpha Tester Eheric you have gained the "Construction" Skill, and due to a previously unknown building technique you introduced to the world your skill will start at Intermediate level 1 instead of beginner.
"Wait...Alpha tester? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?" He vaguely remembered Merelia saying something about this planet being in it''s infancy, but he didn''t expect to be recognized by the system as any sort of tester. This revelation worried him greatly if the Administration decided to check on all players in the test his named could appear, and he was still unsure that they would beas welcoming as Merelia. His mood now soured he walked into his cabin and found a spot for him to lie down. Unsure of what soured his mood Hyowai sat on the outside of his home leaning against a wall she would keep watch, since he hadn''t given her permission to come inside, and she was sure the locals would be very jealous of Eherics home. Chapter 15: Surprise its a House pt 2 A dreamless sleep was all that awaited Eheric as he drifted off amidst stress induced fits of fear, and anxiety. He didn''t know how long he had slept for, but he could sleep no longer as he got to his feet in the pitch black darkness. "This is very disorienting I need to get some form of lighting going on, I wonder how I could go about that. I obviously can''t use electricity like I would back on Earth, but if I could find some kind of magical fix for it that''d be amazing. I wonder if [Enchanting] exists, oooooo I wonder if I could make up my own Enchanting runic language." Nodding his head at his on bemused thoughts briefly covering up his feelings of stress of discovery. He decided to ask his purple box manager if he had any ideas on his likelyhood of being found out. "Hey Mr. Purple got any idea if me being mentioned as an Alpha tester will draw wandering eyes in my direction?"
Im sorry, but the number you have reached has been disconnected or no longer in service.
He tried to be annoyed at the things antics, but he could only chuckle for the stupidity of it all. "Ok ok I''ll admit that was a good one, but I don''t know how else I should address you aside from stupid nicknames. What would you like me to know you as?" The being was quiet for a short time before responding through a text box.
You may know me as C. I''m afraid that''s all you can know about me. To answer your previous question I''m not sure to be honest. It''s a little hectic up here right now with Beta coming in 100 years, and release expected to be within the next 1,000 years. If I had to take a shot in the dark so to speak I would say it''s unlikely, but it would be a good idea to be cautious, so try not to draw too much attention to yourself.
''Well thats just great "C" has no idea either, but I should follow their advice on trying to lay low so no more huge technolgical advancements for now at least in the Stone Age I seem to be in now.'' "One more question, is it possible to invent something like a skill, and would it show up as like a world wide notice?"
Give me a second to check some coding, and I''ll let you know..... Depends according to whats coded right now I assume it could be subject to change, but the A.I. we have in charge of the world as it is won''t generate announcements server wide as of yet. If you do manage to generate a skill it will forever be a part of the game even on release so you may want to be careful with how prolific your ideas could make you as it will be recorded in the annuls of the worlds history.
Nodding along as he read the notification box he decided that he could at least try, and that would be his short term goal for now. As he was about to get up and start his work for the day one final question seemed to breech the forefront of his consciousness. It wasn''t really a massively important one, but if he didn''t as it would bug him forever. "Hey C, why are you so compliant with helping me anymore, I really appreciate it and all, but I am curious as to why you''ve become extremely less sarcastic recently.." He tried his best to not seem meek, and eager but he was unsure if he managed more than a whisper when he asked.
EWWW Gross don''t get all emotional on me kid, you just helped me out and I always pay back those who help me, and mine. Now go back to breaking the game or whatever I need to finish my coffee.
Sighing he determined the best course of action would be to just let it drop and work on his idea for runic enchanting before he became badgered by the locals for his weird housing choice. ''I mean they live underground so this will probably blow their minds or something. I should check on my stats though I havent done that in a long time.'' Stretching Eheric walks in the direction of his front door, or he hopes he is so he can go outside. He thought it''d be super lame to get caught in something you made yourself because you didn''t have the hindsight to make a light source. Putting his indiscretions behind him he found the loosely hung makeshift door, and pushed it open to welcome a new day in the underground jungle paradise he now called home, at least for now anyway. "I''d call anyone a moron if they never left to explore an unknown world if they were given the chance. It''d be like growing up, and never moving more than 10 miles from your home town." The thought only brought him misery, because in his past life he had done exactly that, but he refused to be that way in this one. "STATUS!!"
Eheric Kenwood: Level 10 (5%) 47,010 Experience Race: Koresian-Godling (Hybrid). Class: Crystal Alchemist
Health: 400/400 Regen: 15 points per minute. Mana: 1325/1325 Regen: 35 points per minute.
Attributes
Con: 20 Str: 21 Int:40 Will:25 Luk: 11 Ing: 26 Agi: 16 		Skill List
Appraisal: Beginner lvl 9 (15%) Herblore: Beginner lvl 6 (11%) Mana Manipulation: Intermediate lvl 2 (0%) Earth Mana Manipulation: Beginner lvl 5 (10%) Construction Intermediate lvl 1 (5%) Available Skill Points:250
He was quite happy with his little bit of skill, and attribute growth, and only expected Great things to come. He noted that if he wanted he could buy the Time, and Space Magic, but it could wait while he checked the skill tree system for anything resembling the [Enchanting Skill]. The still alien atmosphere of the skill menus continued to throw him off, he''d only been here once before so noone could really blame him for feeling like being in a forbidden temple of knowledge hidden deep in space. Floating through the endless expanse of star like skill nodes he couldn''t find anything close to the enchanting skill. The only thing he could find right now was an enscription skill, and a mana infusion skill. Costing 100, and 50 skill points respectively he bit down his feelings of indignation and made his purchase. Congratulations you have learned Enscription, and Mana Infusion Skills.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Enscription: Beginner Level 1(0%) The Enscription skill allows the user to carve symbols into weapons, items, and armor in the chance they might inscribe magical properties into the item. Mana Cost: 200 mana per use of the skill, and 25 mana per second while the skill is active. Higher levels will increase knowledge of the skill, as well as lower mana cost. Mana Infusion: Beginner level 1(0%) Used in conjuntion with the Enscription skill the user can infuse mana into runes, and symbolistic imagery to inscrease the chance of magical effects taking hold. Mana Cost: 100 Mana for initial use, and 15 mana per second the skill is active. Higher skill levels will increase practical knowledge of mana flow, and lower mana cost per usage. He felt slightly dejected at the aquisition cost of his new skills, and sincerely hoped that they would prove useful for what he had in mind. Returning from the void he let his eyes adjust to the slightly pink glow that covered everything in his line of sight thanks to the humongous Rose Quartz crystal formations that had take a massive part of the far end of the cavern he now called home. Stretching as he stood to his feet from his awkward attempt at a meditative pose like he had seen in a few documentaries about shaolin monks, he realized for the first time in a week he had to answer the call fo nature. Though surprised he couldn''t hold the urge back any longer, and ran into the nearby tree line to relieve himself. He would have to ask someone about his new body, because as it stood he understood very little of it himself. A gentle breeze caressed his inner thighs as he was reminded that he was still clad in little more than his birthday suite. This should have bothered him more, but as it stood now it just seemed like a hindrance to have to take the time to make some form of clothing, maybe he could trade his ideas to commission a set of clothes from someone nearby. Upon reaching the entrance to the underground village of the Gnomosapiens he noticed a few milling about the entrance like makeshift guards of some sort. Jogging up to the two creatures startled them briefly as he stood roughly 2 feet higher than even the chief who as far as Eheric had seen was the tallest of his kind only a few inches shorter than him. A briefly stammered through conversation allowed him into another meeting with the chief which he was dreading after his last outburst. Nodding to himself he begin to hum the tune headstrong by a band he had long forgotten about to psyche himself up. The guard who guided him along the narrow tunnels eyed him wearily unsure as to what he was doing. Before he knew it he was broken from his thoughts as the arrived the ever more familair doorway to the chieftains hollow. Sighing he resigned himself to his fate as he trapsed through the entrance in what he hoped was a nonchalent fashion. "Well well well look whose returned to grace me with his presence." A sarcastic statement was his only greeting as a jovial laugh filled the small room, but the tone didn''t match the emotions the chief had portrayed. ''Yuuuuuuup he is mad at me, well I had this coming that''s for sure I have no idea why I was so sure of myself last time. Probably riding the adrenaline high from the fight i passed out at the end of.'' A meek sigh left his lungs as he attempted to make up for his asinine behavior. "Look Chief...I must apologize for the way I acted the other day, I honestly don''t know why I behaved the way I did, but I have come in hopes of not only making up for my past transgretions, and hopefully bargain for the honor of no longer being clad in nothing but my own skin. Where I come from it is considered quite rude to always be naked in public, and as much as I honestly have been getting used to the way things are I will someday have to leave the safety of this cave. If my fight with the golem was any indication of my own defense I will need something on me to pad the blows." He was sincere in his request as he eyed the chief warily hoping for some sign of forgiveness. Minutes passed in silence as the chief contemplated Eherics offer of trade, but this naked man had nothing but a satchel, and a necklace that the chief himself had made. After the boys last outburst in his presence the man was sure that this broke, and destitute being could offer him nothing of value. Though clothes weren''t considered a luxury by any means the boys acts of aggression previously coupled with the power he had witnessed during his fight with a corrupted golem. He knew better than to trust Eheric completely. No good excuse other than he didn''t feel like it were the only ones he could come up with to deny the young man''s request, but he had heard reports of a strange structure erected to the west, and he was sure that the man before him knew a whole lot about it. He was determined to everage this information for what the boy had asked for, the welfare of his people was after all his number one goal, and his pettiness could take a backseat for now. Growing increasingly nervous as he sat in silence Eheric let out a small cough in the pretense of clearing his throat, but he really had hoped that it would bring the chief back from the lands of his thoughts. The chiefs previously glazed stare had disipated as the man cleared his own throat, and began to talk. "While I have my misgivings about helping someone as rude as you, if your idea could help my people in some way I will set my honor as chief on hold to better their lives. You see traveler it is not what one can gain from others, but what they can do for others that matters most." The old man seemed to contemplate his words for a minute before continuing on. "As much as it pains me to say I will hear you out, but that is all I am promising for now, I''d like to know more about what one as poor as you could offer my people." Sitting back the chief nodded in confirmation for Eheric to give his marketing ploy a chance. Eheric smiled and nodded his appreciative thanks for being given the opportunity as he began a tale of his houses construction, and his plans for the future. By the end of his proposal the chief seemed to be more on board than Eheric could have hoped for as he agreed to give the chief a tour of his newly built home. The chief slid out his chair and stood to his full height and turned to the guard telling him that he would be out for a little bit, and to hold any messages from the villagers until he returned. Apprehensive about his new responsibility he could only nod his head, he was grateful he wouldn''t have to follow the stran ge man out into the jungle. It took Eheric roughly fifteen minutes to get back to his house with the chief in tow. Turning towards the chief once the reached the front of his house he could only muster a half hearted tada as the chiefs eyes lit up, and asked Eheric to continue on with the tour. Full of questions the chief asked him various things about how he had built such a structure in a short amount of time. By the end the chief agreed to help him obtain clothes if Eheric would help build him a shrine to Chronus their chosen deity in a similar manner. After explaining the process, and giving the chief a verbal list of things he required to make the building he agreed to mee him near the entrance of the hollow village shortly. Unable to contain his enthusiasm to be able to wear clothes again he rushed inside to a sleeping Hyowai to inform her of his plans, though she brushed it off in her half awake state, and told him to leave her alone so she could sleep. Brushing it off he could on smile and be on his way, nothing could bring him down from the idea of feeling slightly human again. He took his time reaching the village entrance again, because he was under the belief it would take the chief time to make good on their agreement, but was left dubstruck as he cleared the edge of the dense wooded area. 20 villagers plus the chief were all standing expectantly by the hole read, and rearing to help with the upcoming project. He smiled as he now wore pants woven from Olba Tree fibers that fit him perfectly, though the were rather rushed in quaity and slightly itchy in the manhood region he was still tickled pink to have some form of modesty return to his life. Noticing the villagers lack of tools he asked the chief how they planned to achieve this feat of engineering the chief seemed confused before Eheric began to explain stone hatchets, and rope to the man. His inner voice screaming at him in derision about lost potential. ''Serious you know how to make cloth fibers from a tree but never thought about turning it into something like rope!'' Biting back the bile that threatened to burst forth Eheric decided that he had gained enough for now, and convinced himself that he would benefit more from happy neighbors. When the chief eyed him apprehensively he asked about Eheric supplying the tools, and how long it would take, as well as how much Eheric wanted in return. The chief was quite sceptical when he was told nothing, and refused to let himself owe Eheric anything called to a nearby villager. Confused the village stumbled forward and had a muted discussion with the chief. The small man nodded his understand and took off into the hole head first in an elegant swan dive. Eherics confusion didn''t last long as the tiny man returned with more clothes. He cocked his head to the side in askance while looking at the chief as he nodded and hande doff the clothes to Eheric, he didn''t hesitate to put them on. Now sporting a shirt, and a hat that looked like it was made of straw he handed out axes while explaining to the volunteers how to use them to achieve their goal of knocking down a few trees.