《Purgatory=Resurrection》 Prologue I Hello everyone! I''m a totally new writer and upload my original story for the first time, so I''d like everyone who cares to read it point out my mistakes give suggestions and most of all involve themselves in my story, if given an interesting idea that does not go against basic lore I am perfectly willing to incorporate it, thus speeding up releases. I plan to release 2-3 parts a week, but work my hamper my plans. Prologue When someone says that his life flashed before his eyes he lies, this, unfortunately, I know now. Such an event truly happens only once in your lifetime, only then you understand what kind of person you are, and what kind of person you could have been. *** I, Paul Oaks, was born a normal child of a common family in an average sized town of around thirty thousand people. First and only child of Sky and Vlad Oaks, an elementary school teacher and a builder/woodcraftsman, I was mostly your run-of ¨Ca-mill child who learned to read and write a bit earlier than most with the help of his mother and was more skilled with his hands like most of the men in his father¡¯s side of the family. My mother, Sky Oaks was a delicate, gentle and emotional woman, also a dedicated teacher who above all else treasured teaching children new things, which led me to be hammered with all of her teaching material and any other knowledge worth mentioning even before attending any sort of schooling institution, something I am eternally grateful for. My father, Vlad Oaks, was almost a complete opposite, a rugged man of few words he valued creativity above knowledge, a common debate with my mother and the time he spoke most. A son of long line of hard workers, be it farmers, loggers, craftsmen or builders, if it was done by hand, it was done to the utmost, as such my father always put his soul into his creations, be it a statute as small as a finger or an extensive house. He was the one who shown me the worth of hard work. Unfortunately to most, as the gossips say, I took to father on the outside, both the stoic silent personality and bulky rough built, while inside having ¡°a mothers gentle caring soul¡± they said, only later did I find out how problematic such traits combined were. From my childhood I followed in my father¡¯s footsteps and liked making things, playing and constructing things from blocks, later helping him with work, carving wood. Growing up as a single child surrounded by objects that were carefully cared for or created with love, such as old but tidy books or carefully crafted chairs or wooden sculptures, I placed great care for things, not as much for people, growing to be a silent and gentle child, if a bit antisocial. I found my first great hurdle as I started going to school, being the silent loner who liked reading more than playing around with others, I fell out of the circles of friends that started forming in the class. At first this was not that much of the problem, but with time I showed myself to be far ahead of others in terms of knowledge, being an almost permanent number one not only in my class but the whole year. Such achievements quickly bore envy in others, due to the lack of friends to stand with me it soon became bullying. At first I tried to endure though it, only for their actions to become worse. In the end with the urging of my father to use my strong build I took lessons in martial arts to defend myself even without the help of others, learning karate, boxing and even kendo from an old Japanese man who was a friend of father. The old Japanese became our acquaintance after ordering a house to be built, in a year father and his crew finished a splendid house of mixed Japanese-western style architecture, earning friendship of the old man. While I took a liking to him during our kendo, or sword, lessons, learning much of eastern culture and increasing the subjects of my desire for knowledge. While frequenting the gym to learn boxing and karate, inflicting hand-to-hand hurt upon others never became my forte, though I was talented enough to be quite skilled in them. After absorbing these skills like a sponge I soon made short work of the bullies. Unable to hurt me anymore they chose to ignore me, to no loss for me, as I could now dedicate myself to studying and reading, learning many subject ways above my age. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. After finishing school at the top of my cohort and entering university I changed a little, while I still did not need company, I no longer pushed people away, making a few good friends, joining botanist club and meeting my one true love, I was experiencing happiest days of my life. Things changed at the celebration of my university graduation, surrounded by my friends and beloved, I was given a collective gift from them all ¨C only recently announced new virtual reality technology based fantasy game Midgard. While I knew of these games popping up with the announcement of VR technology few years back I had no need or wish to buy one. This very game was the thing that brought ruin to my life, I became enthralled by it. Such realism and freedom inside the game was out of my expectations, a ¡°new world¡± for me to experience. For four years I knew nothing besides work and this fake reality, my loving girlfriend left me due to lack of attention, I rarely spared time for our relax time, sometimes even ignoring her, my friends became distant, few still tried to have connections, as I myself was starting to disconnect from reality. While retaining my work I did it only mechanically, without any real dedication, as such no promotions came for doing such half-heated job. Most of the money and time went to my gaming desires leaving me to eat fast foods ruining my form and health. Only my aging parents drove to my house at least once every few months to have a look at me, clean up the house of garbage and dust it collected and check my failing health that got ever worse due to long hours inside the game. But to me those were trivial things, I was the best, no one stood a chance against me in the game, I was both the conquer, hero and devil, Midgard was in my grasp, not even moderators and administrators could do a thing to me without cheating the system. They even dared to check me a few times to be sure I was not cheating or using some sort of illegal means to fool them. One unassuming day I got a call from my cousin, my parents on their way to my place got into an accident, a truck struck the side of their car, killing them instantly. I was lost for words, I thought this was some bad joke or a mistake, but the end of the call and that annoying signal woke me from this stiffness. A great fear, sadness and eventually regret and despair overcame me, if I had not gotten into this cursed game, maybe my parents would not have gotten into an accident driving to check upon me in worry. Overcome with such feelings I decided to change, turn back to the man I was, to regain my dedication for work in the stead of my father, and learn as much as I can in the stead of my mother. In few days I sold off all the games and hardware to pay for the funeral services, organizing the whole thing, calling upon long lost friends and distant relatives to attend, stunning all those who already gave up on me, I said my goodbyes to my parents. While my beloved girlfriend was already married and more than half of my friends moved on and refused my contacts I was still young, still had my life in front of me, enough experiences for three people. On my way from the funeral however I met a shabby man, way worse even than me at my worst. He suddenly approached and asked for a smoke, I took my package out only to see it empty, telling I have none, I suddenly felt a searing sensation in my abdomen, a butterfly knife was sticking in my body, weakened as I was from malnutrition and fatigue I was unable to use my martial skills I started polishing again. Thus I was mortally stabbed by an addict robber, who after stabbing me searched my pockets taking anything of value, phone, wallet even my watch, pulled out the knife and ran into the side ally. Looking at my life like a movie I could only mutter in my mind. [Ahh, so it ends like this.] Did I want to live, to finally start anew? Yes, definitely. Did I regret the life that I lived? No, not really. [Shit, so I still cannot come to hate that cursed game.] Those were the last thoughts of Paul Oaks age 26 [deceased] as he was being engulfed by the light, surrendering to its flow. Prologue II All that holy ¡°End of Life¡± and ¡°I surrender myself to fate¡± mood came to an abrupt end then I landed face first on rock hard white floor. ¡°God dammit, it hurts!¡± I shouted grabbing my nose, which should be bleeding from the impact, but strangely it was not. ¡°It¡¯s all white around, is this a hospital?¡± I thought aloud. ¡°No. In your place I would withhold such comments here, moreover to say it to my face, that¡¯s new¡± I heard a voice close by, it was of indeterminate gender, both female and male tones overlapping each other at the same time. It gave me a serious fright, looking around I saw nothing but white. ¡°Heeere, here. All these newly baked dead are such nervous wrecks, that¡¯s why I like elderly, they at least know what to expect.¡± I hear the voice again, there is some movement to my right, I gasp as I make out what it is ¨C a person? A thing? Something is waving at me. It looks like a person in form, no clothes, no detailed body parts, only a completely white form of a person with something like black pencil drawn outline, without anything, no eyes, ears or the like, besides a mouth full of also white teeth, it even looked two dimensional. ¡°Finally cared to meet me in the eye?¡± ¡°What the hell are you, you don¡¯t even have eyes to speak of, fuck, don¡¯t you dare getting closer!¡± I shouted in panic and backed further away. ¡°Welll, it¡¯s a matter of speech as you humans call it, um, and I told you to watch your mouth, some punishment needs to be done.¡± It said widening it grin. [Divine Punishment!] Sounds in my mind and in an instant a lightning bolt strikes me down. [Shit, I¡¯m dead again¡­ again?] After insufferable pain comes doubt. ¡°Why am I not dead?¡± ¡°Ahh but you are¡± after chuckling it responds. Now I remember, I was stabbed by some drug pumped idiot! ¡°Shit that dammed rat!¡± I shout in rage. ¡°Need another portion of lightning to correct that way of speaking?¡± It inquires. ¡°No, I¡¯m sorry, jut remembered how I met my end, what is this place, and what are you? ¡°Slow aren¡¯t you? Where do you go after death? Of course world of the unliving, and who do meet?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Come on, how slow can you be?¡± ¡°Are you death?¡± ¡°Now little dude, you already met her and done your papers of release, no, I can be called JUDGE, having uncountable names is such a bother so I stopped at that.¡± ¡°Are you God then?¡± I still asked in disbelief. ¡°I just said I am JUDGE and nothing else, I just judge the departed and send them to their afterlife destination.¡± It said and took a hold of a scroll that appeared out of thin air with a cartoonish ¡°poof¡± sound. ¡°Now then let¡¯s see, uhum, OK, now it¡¯s clearer.¡± it said letting strange comical sounds, it that ok for an afterlife judge? ¡°Paul Oaks, age 26, unmarried, no offspring, Humility ¨C check, Kindness ¨C check, Patience ¨C check, Charity ¨C check, even if I let recent corruption of Sloth go by we still have a problem with Gluttony and Lust it seems¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± I ask in surprise, what those things have to do with present situation? ¡°Silly boy, do you know not of seven sins/virtues? I just went through your life record, and it seems you got downhill as of late, though seems like you were trying to change, but, pfft, got stabbed in the gut.¡± It was making a mean sounding laugh. ¡°But I wasn¡¯t that lustful for women, had sex only with a few, nor I over-consumed food. Too much.¡± I protested, though last part came with a bit wavering. ¡°Lust and Gluttony aren¡¯t that specific, or I¡¯d just get people to Heaven by train wagons, you lost yourself in desire and shown no restrain, in that game of yours, pfft.¡± It freaking laughed at me again! I got angry enough to squeeze my fists white. ¡°Settle down boy, or you want to get Wrath added in and down the hole you go.¡± ¡°What is the verdict?¡± I ask through grinding teeth. ¡°Hmm, not enough points for Heaven for sure, Purgatory it is! Well Hell always is an open choice, I hear they welcome everyone warmly.¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Purgatory? What is that, I only know it¡¯s a place of purification, repent and punishment, do I have to haul some fucking cross for ages to get to Heaven or something?¡± ¡°Your mouth still needs some washing it seems, well no mater, there are many ¡°purgatories¡± some harsher than others, some are close to Heaven, for you however I have something special.¡± It gave its usual creepy smile from ear to ear, that is if it had those. ¡°So-something special, somehow I don¡¯t like the sound of this.¡± I stammer a weak worried reply. ¡°Haha, don¡¯t worry, you actually are quite the earner of points, if not for that game fiasco I would have sent you to Haven with a bouquet of flowers in hand, I¡¯ve chosen reincarnation for you.¡± ¡°Reincarnation?¡± ¡°Yup, and a rather special one, that one game you played, Midgard or something, was a fantasy game wasn¡¯t it, so in accordance to your gaming spirit I will sent you to a similar universe, as a bonus for leftover points you even can get a local God patron! It¡¯s like two for a price of one! Now off you go, there is a line waiting.¡± With those words I see its grinning featureless face for the last time. With a waving had JUDGE says ¡°Au Revoir¡± and I fall again. *** Then I come back to my senses I find myself in similar space as before, only this time I¡¯m alone, and it has four door archways, no actual doors are present, allowing view beyond to be seen a little. First doorway has blinding light pouring out, second a dangerous looking purple light pulsing in the darkness, third has a thick grey fog gushing out, while last is filled with complete darkness, almost like a cloth starting from the doorway itself. [JUDGE said this world works much like a game and something about choosing a patron God¡­, ok bright one most likely is something to do with light or life? Those are mostly stuck up types so a no. Two others look dark, evil, death? That seems to be a bad choice to earn my place in Heaven. It seems I will be instantly transported if I walk in based on the black doorway, so no exploration¡­] ¡°Fog it is.¡± Saying that I step into the grey fog filed doorway, and as expected was transported into a different place. ¡°Can¡¯t see anything through this blasted fog¡± After wandering around I see forms of great sand dunes, enormous forests, but no matter how fast I run to them I never reach. ¡°Means I was not chosen by them.¡± I say pondering my inability to reach the masters of those realms. This continues until I manage to reach one of these images in the fog, it¡¯s a medium sized castle looking straight from medieval Europe. ¡°Anyone home¡± I spurt an idiotic question but receive no answer. I enter this fort only to find it empty, that is until I reach throne room. Inside it stands a red/grey fullplate set of armor with a greatsword stabbed into the floor and a kite shield on the back. Cautiously I walk inside and inspect the armor from all sides. It seems like ancient armors of past, nothing special. ¡°So that clown sent you here?¡± I almost get a heart attack, even though I¡¯m dead, when the armor talks to me without moving an inch. ¡°Freaking shit, don¡¯t frighten me like this¡± I shout out. ¡°Hahaha, my bad I am Raismond the God of Valor, state your name!¡± It said in deep and loud male voice. ¡°I am Paul, Paul Oaks, JUDGE said I am to receive patronage of a God and to be reincarnated¡± ¡°Oaks? That¡¯s a good name, I have a good blessing in store, maybe even Physis will pitch in!¡± It shouts again. ¡°Paul Oaks, now you are my chosen, only thing I request that you do things with valor, be it evil or good I care not, now, your new life awaits!¡± ¡°Wait!¡± I try to get some more information, but Raismond moves for the first time striking with the tip of his greatsword just bellow my feet and I black out. Chapter 1 - To be born anew When I come to my senses I feel strange, first of all I feel like floating in water and am surrounded by its pressure, but for some reason feel no panic at all, maybe this is? A constant sound of ¡®badum¡¯ finally gives a clear answer - I¡¯m still in a womb of the woman soon to be my new mother. My mind is calm but fogy, almost like being half asleep. How long does this continue, days, months or more, in my present state I lose any track of time and dose off. Then suddenly the beating increases, finally some anxiety creep into my muddled mind, is it time? No I do not want to leave this warm and secure place, but no one listens to the mind talk of an unborn infant with a 27 years old soul and I am rushed back into the world of light again. *** Hello, my name is, or was, Paul Oaks, and I am now a four month old baby. Yes it¡¯s true, like JUDGE said I reincarnated. First let¡¯s say I am human, well I think I am from the looks of it. First three months were harsh, I mostly don¡¯t remember them, but that I remember put my adult mind to shame ¨C unable to control any of my limbs or lifting my head, vocal cords were not even formed properly, so were the ears with strange sounds they picked up, but the worst was the bowel and hunger control, remembering how you shit your diapers or are breast fed is ¡­ well embarrassing to say the least. But now I can say I have a rather firm grasp of my body, even if the muscles are still too weak for me to walk I can crawl at rather fast speeds. Now let¡¯s talk about my new family, first of all my mother, who is a tall blonde beauty with green eyes that would put many models to shame, her features are distinctly north European, mostly like Dutch of Norwegian. While silent she is very gentle and cares for my young body greatly. My new father is also blond with blue eyes and the same north European features, maybe I was born in some northern country? His personality is almost the same as my father¡¯s in previous life, the same dedicated and stoic look, well at least I can be my own self without the need to hide my personality by being falsely cheerful. He seems to be some sort of warrior or hunter as I¡¯ve seen him practicing sword swings in the yard. Now about my house ¨C it is a two storied house built from rough stone bricks and a sturdy wooden roof with an attic, which by the way I still have not been to go to due to ladders being the only way in or out, and I have no wish to end my life so early by dropping down from it. First floor is made of only two rooms, a kitchen and the living room with a huge fireplace and dining table, while second floor is made of three rooms, my parents¡¯ bedroom, my room and a storehouse/armory, that I visited when my father was maintaining his gear. This armory blew my mind away, while I already knew this world to be some sort of medieval like fantasy type by encountering Raismond the God of Valor and seeing his fullplate armor, truth to be told armor my father had looked even cooler. It was cherry red in color with a creamy silver star on the right chest side, helmet had only narrow T like opening with the cloak made from something like polar bear fur. And that is not mentioning the great amount of different weapons that were stacked there. ¡°Now Egil, this is not a place for you yet.¡± Said my father. Oh by the way, it seems after my ears were able to hear normally I was able to perfectly understand words, while I still heard them in some sort of German-like foreign tongue I understood them perfectly. As can be inferred my name is indeed Egil, while my parents are Astrid and Baldr Tamm. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. JUDGE said this world to be similar to VR game, but all I¡¯ve seen point to actual reality, how is this a game? *** I¡¯m 7 months now and am able to walk if a bit unsteady, and finally found first game-like element of this world. Not wanting to meet an early death in such ¡°primitive¡± world and have JUDGE laugh his ass off at my expense I decided to train myself as much as possible, and learn things as much as possible not to shame my deceased parents of previous lifetime. As I was doing my limb lifting exercises a pop up window of some sort appeared right in front of my face making me stumble and fall on my back.
Status Increase! Strength +1
[So it is much like a game.] I got pumped up, my gamers spirit awoke, maybe those four years I wasted away may be of some use here. First of all I need to know how to see my status screen. I tried everything, but it was of no use, shouting ¡®status screen¡¯ or any other phrases in my mind seem not to work. While I can actually talk with a lisp now I am hiding it from my parents, it would be bad if they thought I was possed or something. Even if unable to confirm my present condition with status screen I was able to increase my stats, it seems it is time for some status grinding. *** I am 11 months now and seem to have made a grave error, pushing my young body to the limits like in my gaming days to earn status points I readily forgot my undeveloped body and that this is indeed an alternate reality and not a game. Simply put I got sick, badly, with fever and all those dangerous complications that may be deadly for a baby. Fortunately my mother seems to be a herbalist and was able to keep my condition stable until priest from towns church arrived and cast healing magic. ¡°[Heal] in the name of Gericht!¡± Seeing magic for the first time I got even more excited, thus worsening my condition. ¡°Go call for Beata quickly!¡± I hear mother ordering father in a strong voice. Seems like the priest is not pleased with the decision and makes a sour face as father jumps through the door outside. I start hyperventilating soon after and my fear of dying before I do anything grips me hard. Suddenly the door slams open and an otherworldly beauty walks in. Sure my own mother is model quality, but this woman takes the cake with her hip long silvery blond hair, her sharp purple eyes that project power in her gaze, even her long pointy ears add to her beauty. Wait, pointy ears? An elf! A real living flesh and blood elf is before my eyes! This elf, clad in blue and green robe with sure elegant movements approached my bed in a blink on an eye. What is that speed, shy seemingly glided to my side faster than I could blink, and if I say so myself I can blink pretty fast. ¡°Do not panic human child, rest now easy [Sleep]¡± As she tells me to sleep I feel something entering my body, I sink to the dark and dreamless sleep. [So I am a human after all.] I think before losing consciousness. Chapter 2 - Status This chapter is a bit longer and done better, later i will reedit first three to be like this. Please comment and rate my work, enjoy! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hmm... Hello everyone! No, that''s wrong... Well screw it, after recent brush with death, yes I survived, I decided to write something like a mental diary in this Index thing I learned to use, more about that later, first lets clear some thinks about my first year in this new world. First three months after birth are ... not of importance so I use [Skip] on them. Since learning crawling, later walking and revealing crude baby language(fake) I was able to learn a bit about my surroundings, writing about all the small things is a bother so I''ll again use [Skip]. First things first, I am no longer Paul Oaks but Egil Tamm and from now on will refer to myself as such. My mother is called Astrid Tamm and is a herbalist of some renown in the region and a sort of teacher of small children around 7 years old. Many people come to our house to receive various potions and medicine my mother creates on daily basis. It seems there is healing magic, but it works almost only on physical injuries, as such can only heal physical discomfort, not the illness itself. According to mother there are [Cure] spells, but they are from a different discipline then [Heal] spells used by the priests. Mother also has an unusually big(?) collection of books. That''s about 10 handwritten books of various sizes, as expected of medieval-like world, no printing press. She treats them very carefully and never ever allows others to take them, even when I asked to show me one with big puppy eyes the only concession I got was to sit on her lap when she flipped the pages, some of the books were passed on by her parents and grandparents it seems. Yup, my language translator(?) was totally not working on writing, it was all only scribble to me. As a tall blond beauty with green eyes she still garners quite the attention on the streets despite being a married mother. Well considering she still is only 28 it is easily understandable, and I can say with confidence that even the antisocial 26 years old me before death would lock his sights on her walk-by ass on instinct. Not that anyone dares to make a move on her if they don''t want to have a stick shoved up their asses and be left hanging feet up naked from the towns gate, ahh it sometimes is such a good thing that people think I understand nothing they say. Now lets move to the perpetrator, I''m sorry, my father Baldr Tamm. Or I should say Baldr Tamm, second in command of the Red Bear Legion northern garrison, sir! As one of military newbies shouted out when he came to pick him up. To tell the truth his sudden shout gave my a fright and this damnable body let it leak like a Nile on the rise. Considering I was in the arms of my mother, after taking a looks at my tearing up eyes(from humiliation) this interloper was soon driven away by the invisible laser eye beams of hers(not really, but it felt like that). Returning to my father, yes he is second in command of the Red Bear Legion northern garrison, which is something like the special force of the region. Now some may wonder why someone of such importance lives a happy family life with free time to spare, I found the answer from the same newbie soon enough after he stealthily returned(mother went inside to get me a spare change leaving me with father). It seems he asked for a temporary leave of absence to help with my birth, taking up residence in this town, which is few villages south of the main fortress of northern garrison right at the northern border of the country. The two were talking about some winter raids(?) of barbarians and a suppression force, the need for him to return. While they were talking about some strange distances my trusty companion Mister Translator(?) allowed me to understand that the fortress and the border are very close, only some 30 kilometers away, and that the other side is less than friendly. With the return of mother newbie went away as smoke not leaving even dust rising from the gravel road. After my parents whispered something to each other father left for a few days. Now lets talk about close NOT-family of the household. First is our last permanent inhabitant of the house - my fathers beloved war horse called Arajev. How bellowed you ask, enough to have his own shed in the yard and not have to be left in the stables of the town. First time I saw it I pissed my pants, it is shameful to admit but it happened often in my early days. This horse looked totally different from others I saw on the street, I would not be surprised if he actually could hunt down a lion, beat him to death and eat it. He was a whole size bigger than other normal horses, black in color with bloodshot eyes and releasing its breath in visible puffs of white steam, it''s a fucking end of the century horse! Though in time I learned that Arajev was a very gentle but hardy creature who loved carrots(they look the same only are white, thanks Mr. Translator!), I even got to ride it a few times with my father. Lastly is Shalala, yes he is a male despite the name, something of a hunter/servant of ours. It seems he had his life saved by father years ago and decided to serve him the best he could. He is a half-elf by the way, a fact I only learned today for he never took his leather cap of. He does not live with us but in a cabin in the nearby woods and is the one who brings herbs and weeds for mothers medicines and most of his game that become our diner. Seems like even a well off families like ours would not be able to eat meat more then a few times a week because of the market costs, some points up for you mister. Usual diet is something like gruel or thin vegetable soup with hard bread without meat and poultry like ours. Now about the place I live - it is the biggest town more than 100km around on the northern border called Schnell. It contains around 30 thousand people and is fortified with tall stone walls. So my parents and even my town is scarily familiar to the previous life, this is definitely a setup by JUDGE and Raismond for sure, I even can imagine them laughing in a high pinched way while looking down on me. Now lets get to the interesting stuff - as my body(with help) was fighting against the illness I had a very fulfilling and interesting meeting, no, I didn''t lose my marbles, death visited me, I mean THE Death of this universe. We even had a small tea party with a chat, a nice chap, a bit of a babyface but divine even to my male standards - Relur the God of Death and Life. Unlike the A-holes(yes you JUDGE and Raismond) Relur actually was helpful, only refusing "It is not useful to you", "Mortals need not to know" or "You will learn in the Mortal Realm" questions. Yes this word is called "Mortal Ream" or simply "World" and no it is not the only realm, in fact every celestial body is a realm of its own, for example two of the world moons are their own realms and something like hangouts for diverse divine beings, something of a neutral meeting places for everyone. Oh, I never mentioned this world has two moons? Well it has something like rings too. By the way Mr. Translator seems to interpret some of the names told in a way I can associate with things from my previous life, the two moons for example: South Pillar - Atlas and North Dome - Uranus. Relur also explained basic orders of beings in this universe, it goes like this: Supreme God-Class - hold no relevance to mortals, by Relur Greater God-Class - Four God-Kings of the Universe Major God-Class - well, basically they are the ones that mach the term "God" best, Stars seem to also be in this class(I am not shiting you, stars are freaking gods too!) Minor God-Class - these gods are much weaker then Major types, most are tied to some aspect of worship Divine Hero-Class - They are something like generals of god armies Avatar-Class - Elementals mostly compose this class of beings The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Immortal-Class - weakest class of divinities, some are ancient divine races, some are ascended mortals Mortal-Class made from three subclasses: Upper - Heroes, Champions and so on Common - most humanoid races Lesser - insects, animals and such Undead-Class - an irregular class that have no divinity, but in terms of power can range from Lesser Mortal to Divine Hero Class Yup, basically with talent, skill, effort and HUGE amount of luck people can ascend and become immortal, there are few who clawed themselves to minor godhood and only one to major godhood. I thought my eyes would pop out then I learned that the one was Raismond, seems like he was all buddy-buddy with JUDGE even before reincarnating and going all ''God I Am''. Then I asked about JUDGE it basically come to this: Every universe has its own divinity, it may be a monolithic god, a pantheon or uncountable amount of spirits, they all are of different power levels and basically cannot interfere into other universes, they can visit them, but not as all powerful gods. Then there is ''THE CENTER OF ALL THINGS'' of the entire multiverse, so everyone decided to put up a system, someone would stay in the center and redirect souls to their most fitting destinations, as you are powerless in the center no god was willing. Then JUDGE went out with few conditions: 1. I can screw with the souls when they are in the center 2. My chosen destinations cannot be ruled over 3. No other god can judge souls on multiversal level Everyone accepted and lived happily ever after, not. Well he was accepted because of his ability to be at all slices of dimensions at the same time, having no need to expend power to meet every soul that come his way, he can do it naturally. Holding the line my ass, could have sent me off with more dignity at least. Now returning to the gods of this universe, I somehow managed to wrench out that Supreme-Cass Gods actually are out of the picture, literally, none of them are actually active, maybe some old fashioned god children against god parents rebellion play was going? Well, main point is the four God-Kings, they are the ones who basically run the whole show. Seems like each leads a faction of the gods, I even made a promotional shouts for each to relate to their ideology: First faction are the Order guys - ''Order, Justice and a Stick up your ass!'' they were the ones connected to the light spewing doorway, looks like I made the right deduction of them being the stuck up rigid types. Second would be the Chaos dudes and dudettes - ''Chaos, Evil, MUHAhahaaa!'' yes your classical evil villain and chaos is progress types, maybe they have some evil professors or the like up there? They were connected to the purple light doorway. Then there is the Void faction that Relur is part of, to summarize them best is something like this "I don''t give a shit'', well they are basically those who care only about themselves, have their own small factions going or simply don''t want to belong to other factions. They were connected to the black shroud doorway, damn should have taken that one. And the last one, the one Raismond belongs is Balance - ''Balance ... Balance''. I don''t know how else to describe those guys, well you can do what you want only if you do not tip the balance to order or chaos too much and maintain the balance between them in the realms. Why do you need to do that? I have no frikking idea. The mist doorway is theirs. Relur even told me that in this world are 13 elements, NO shit, not 4, not 5, frikking 13! Those are: Divine Elements: Light Darkness Void Essence Elemental Elements(I know, it sounds stupid): Air Water Earth Fire Mortal Elements(?): Life Death Wood Flesh Metal He told me nothing more no matter how much i pestered, saying ''You will learn that in Mortal Realm''. Considering he is Called God of Life and Death and is part of the Void faction gives him power over whole frikkin'' 3 elements, Relur seems to be one of the top dogs, if not a God-King himself. Now about the game like elements in this world, though Relur avoided the question why they were there, he told me how to access them, something about "Concentrate your mana in your mind and mentally give orders "Status", "Skills", "Traits" and "Index" and corresponding window will appear in front of you, only you can see it. It seems normally mortals only has access to only "Status" window, but my class seem to allow me full access to others, at first i thought cool, now it more something mnaaa... As I could not test it the dreamworld I had to learn mana control after getting healthy again. With that our little tea party ended we parted on good terms, Relur even said he will give me a hand at times. After awaking were two excruciating weeks of bed rest and bitter medicine. In the recent two weeks I was able to control my mana and opened my status window, though others beside index were for some reason blocked: [/tr]
Egil Tamm
Northlander HumanOtherworlder
Level 5SP 35
Strength11(+27)Constitution13(+37)
Dexterity11(+12)Agility10(+7)
Wisdom10(+57)Spirit8(+47)
Health120(+326)Stamina105(+111)
Mana90(+525)DivinityMortal - Common
While Index is something like a library in my mind, connected to Aether(place of eternal knowledge) automatically recording every true piece knowledge I come across and has this neat diary function. Using Index as a help function I also learned about my race and class, though the later was a bit of letdown:
Northlander Human Northlander Humans are a human race that favor cold climates and are renowned for their hardy constitution and unyielding spirit.
Otherworlder A unique class given to reincarnated souls of other universes. Otherworlders are bestowed by JUDGE a wide variety of rights that are usually locked to the divine beings of considerable power, in turn they receive no bonuses to stats like other classes being alternate to commoner class. [Class is locked and cannot be changed] [Language Comprehension] [Aether access Unlocked: Divine Hero] [All Class Skills Unlocked] [All Racial Traits Unlocked] [Trait/Skill purchase Unlocked] (Warning: Buying too many racial traits of other species my chance your own race, you will unable to use bought skills that your body is physically unable to perform)
Yeah, its kinda late game super class, but my early years are gonna be hell, though how did I get that many bonus stat is a mystery, maybe when skill and trait windows are unlocked it will be clearer. "Honey-pie, your birthday cake is ready, everyone is at the table already, come quickly!" Ups, I have to go, sweets are a rarity here, mmmnnn, a cream-pie and a fruit-cake, can''t wait!
If anyone is interested JUDGE looks similar to the truth/God from Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 3 - What the parents think *** Astrid PoV *** It has been two weeks. Only two weeks since my little Egil was cured of his illness, but seeing him giggling full of life as he eats his birthday cake with a spoon, getting his face all dirty makes my heart at ease. It really was a very close call, if I had no medicine left, if the priest was not brought fast enough forcefully by Baldr or Beata was out of town, even if one of those events happened differently it is highly likely Egil would not be here, it is a blessing of the gods he is too young to understand any of this. His birth happened rather smoothly, the first three months everything was normal, Egil was acting like any other baby of our neighbors. Everything changed then he learned to crawl at the age of four months, that''s at least few months too early! Since then he would dislike being held in our arms and would crawl at fast speeds inspecting everything in our house, strangely he never put anything in his mouth like other babies allowing us some relief. I even had to sew him new padded pants for he would crawl till the skin of his leg would start to scrape. His exploration was fast getting out of hand, not only he would quickly get out of sight, he would get his hands on everything that was not nailed down of too heavy to lift, inspecting those items from every angle. One time I got such a fright it felt like my heart dropped to my heels as i saw him going down to first floor on all fours, even if our stairway is closed on both sides and have wide stairs, should his hand or a foot slip and he drop down, injuries would be the least of our problems. Baldr even said he saw Egil looking up the ladder to the attic and had him crawl into his armory while he was maintaining his weaponry. Since then we bought iron locks for more dangerous rooms even if it cost us a sum, that place is the same as a room full of bear traps for a baby. Since then I had him nearby at all possible times, when I had to go out entrusting him to Baldr, even if he is a bit on the slow side he loves our child at least as much as I, even if he does a poor job of showing it. Fortunately for us Egil got very interested in my alchemy crafting and would obediently remain nearby looking as I work. Books seem to attract him even more, it is my collection that grandfather started to collect as he traveled east and is probably bigger than even the one in town hall, Beatas personal library excluded it is probably biggest in all of Schnell. He even made puppy eyes and indicated he wanted to see them, I was a bit hesitant but the look on his face as I relented blew all my doubts away. After we went through a few of them his sparkling eyes did not disappear, but he had a bit of a disappointed look, unfortunately I have no picture books for children, maybe if I found some cheaper ones in the market I will buy one. Another thing he liked was to look Baldr train in the yard, with weather still warm I let him to be in the veranda and watch. Another unusual change was when he learned to walk unsteadily at the age of 7 months, he even started to form some basic words. Everything goes too fast, neighboring wives even started to make him out to be some kind of a genius in the making, what kind of genius would start to weep uncontrollably and piss his pant from seeing our horse Arajev, true, he had an eye infection and was a bit irritated, but that was a bit too strong of a reaction. I am afraid that the label of a genius might be a bit too big a burden to carry for my little boy and he might be crushed under the expectations of his surroundings. After he learned to walk more steadily he soon exploded with energy, running around the house, and strangely wiggling on the floor(Note: he was making exercise). All this energy came at a price, he often fell and had bruises all over, scraping his knees and arms, I feared an infection, new gossips(Note:Child abuse) were the least of my concerns. Such irresponsible behavior of mine soon called for a retribution, one day with the return of Baldr I was making our lunch, while Egil unseen slipped trough the door outside, thankfully outer gate was locked and he only ran around the house. That helped little as he was lightly clothed and ran few times around the house until exhausted collapsed into a pile of snow. He fell terribly ill. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. That brings us to now, even if he was cured I cannot let it happen again, better he be genius than dead, I shall teach him things in small amounts for him to absorb the knowledge and make Baldr train his body and discipline him mind. *** Baldr PoV *** My son is already one year old. After recovering from his illness Egil resumed his life as normal, but I still feel it was my biggest mistake in life. From early days Egil was different, Astrid only saw it later, but I always new, his eyes had spirit, resolve, he was one of my blood, of warrior blood, but I saw more in his eyes, was it a heroic soul, or a blessing of a god? That I know not, but from the moment he was born Egil was different. I saw him struggle with his feeble body, and the joy then he finally was able to move by himself, my wife worried herself that it was too early, but I saw desire, the wish to be the top, to reach the heavens, so I let it be. His exploration of surroundings made my heart jump in joy, his willingness to brave the danger to reach for things new. He even was able to surprise me by coming to my armory during maintenance, the look in his eyes then he saw my armor was the same I had in my youth, he seemed to even been able to get the significance of the mythril star of authority and tried to reach it with his hands, should others knew of it chaos would ensure, that star alone could probably buy out half of this town. When Astrid heard that Egil came to my armory she freaked out and told me to buy iron locks for it, cellar and attic, her fears of injury were not completely unfounded and additional security to my gear would not hurt so I agreed and done so. When Egil would look at me train I tried to slow my movements and repeat basic forms so they would take root in his mind. When one of the newer recruits came to let me know about possible upcoming winter raids of Krom Tribe barbarians in their months of starvation he startled Egil enough to make him wet himself, it was the same with Arajev, I saw his body defeated, and his spirit wept for it, so I encouraged him to overcome this weakness. I made him meet the recruit face to face and ride atop Arajev through the city, both times he overcame these challenges and became stronger. He became confidant, I was pleased. In his confidence he became active, he moved his body, he fell, then rose and fell again - that is the true way to becoming strong. And here comes my regret, while he got spirit, there was no discipline, he pushed his body too much, too fast, he was, after all, a baby of less than 1 year of life, and I forgot that. One day then I returned from patrol I forgot to lock the door, and in this moment Egil got outside and crossed a line he should not, he overexerted himself and got sick. While my wife made him drink medicine I rushed through the city as fast as my legs could go, running to the church, riding a horse in darkness on the cobblestone streets of town center would be too risky. After rushing into the church and taking hold of the priest saying "Need healing, NOW!" I dragged him back home, he was slow and I had to drag him up on his feet a few times. But the healing did little. I was sent to find Beata, and old Ancient Elven friend of the Astrids family, she was in the western tower like always then in town, with her help in casting [Sleep] and [Cure] we were able to save my child. Since that day I resolved myself to train Egil, to discipline him as a soldier, not as my son, all for his own future, even if this will make me hated by both him and Astrid. But to my surprise Astrid came to the same conclusion, if he is to carry the burden of a genius, Egil will carry it even through the flames of hell and live if needed. So we decided to make the beginning of his second year the starting point of this planed training, just enough to reach the same line as before, but not cross it. For the last day of this carefree life we even bought sweets that are a rarity here in the north to make this celebration a thing to remember. NOT A CHAPTER - A little game Hello everyone! I thank you all for reading my work and giving such positive comments and encouragements, so in return I decided to make a little game for you all to participate. (WARNING! There are some minor spoilers about future content) So, I decide to make a voting/selection game for some things in the story. I have decide that MC(Egil) will have 4 elemental proficiencies, basically a natural talent in casting magics with that element. 3 of them are already set in stone, but you can vote which will be the last one out of 3 choices, this can have BIG story changing consequences: 1. Life Element 2. Death Element 3. Void Element Another part of the game is choosing weapons, I already decided MC will dual wield and have a ranged weapon. You all can decide on the ranged weapon and one of the hand weapons from the choices bellow, every weapon will have a little bit of a different story and lore behind it and can change other parts of his gear and fighting style. Ranged weapon: 1. Small crossbow and throwing knives If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.2. Heavy crossbow strapped on the back 3. A composite hunting bow Hand weapon: 1. Gladius - ancient roman sword 2. Longsword 3. Shortsword 4. Broadsword 5. Your own recommendation, but it must be s sword and have a short description of its look and story, if possible with a link to a picture or reference origin, it can be reality, anime, movies etc. This can be selected despite the votes if it really catches my eye, I ask of you to write a bit of lore about the weapon and it may be induced in the story with some adjustments. You all can vote and write suggestions until I release Chapter 5. Thanks for reading and participating in this event, may fortune be with you! :D
I advise to read all the comments done by other readers for they are both interesting and sometimes funny, more so, I occasionally will answer them, comment or give away some spoilers connected to some of the longer ones. Also DO NOT double-post your votes, edit the old post if you want to change something. Chapter 4 - Baby genius training Hello readers! I am very pleased with your participation in my little game and all the choices you made, more so about the reasons explaining them. Next volume will contain the backstories of all the sword weapon choices I wrote in the game, even if they are not chosen in the end. Do not forget that game is still ongoing till I release chapter 5. Also I would like all of you to review and rate my work if possible. Thanks again for reading! "Hmmnn!" I stretch myself and let out a sound trying to wake up completely. Yesterday was the best day since my reincarnation, I still feel like I can taste that sweet sensation on my lips. Now I have officially stepped into my second year of life and in a few months will be able to reveal more constructive language without rising suspicion. To prevent the whole ''I almost died from being rash'' fiasco I need to do some planing. It is time to sort out how I view this world, is it reality like my previous life, or a game? Maybe it should be both? Ok, lets go with reality that rewards your efforts and training with hard numbers as a representation and encouragement. If I go along that line of thinking seems like I need to review and reconsider my status screen, lets see it again. "Status!" [/tr]
Egil Tamm
Northlander HumanOtherworlder
Level 5SP 35
Strength11(+27)Constitution13(+37)
Dexterity11(+12)Agility10(+7)
Wisdom10(+57)Spirit8(+47)
Health120(+326)Stamina105(+111)
Mana90(+525)DivinityMortal - Common
Ok, name, well, that''s obvious, seems like my old name is considered a goner by this system. Next is race, I already read about my race, Northander Humans, in Index info, but it was very short and felt incomplete, it is possible it will be updated then I learn more than my present less then basic knowledge. My class has a more detailed explanation, possibly because I would be unable to learn more about it outside interactions with gods. No matter how I look at it this class looks like Commoner class with payer rights in old MMORPG games before introduction of VR systems. It may even be as much as a cheat, but now it is fucking useless. Except Index, that is super good, no I haven''t forgotten you Mr. Translator, you too are priceless. Now we get to the more fun and ambiguous stuff - level. I have no idea. As I have not seen my status other than in level 5 I can not compare anything, it may even be only simple eye candy. SP? Daa hell? Status points? Skill points? Spell Points? I-do-not-know. Now we get to stats themselves, from the first stat gain till I got sick in total I got +1 Strength, +3 Constitution and +1 Dexterity, while right after awakening I got the message of -2 Spirit, maybe because of the trauma of being close to death? Looking objectively it seems like simple numbers represent my base stats and their increase and decrease, so the ones in() must be gains from skills and traits. It is a shame those screens are still locked so I can''t confirm this. This is simply only my interpretation, but some stats seem to be a bit off from usual game kind: Strength - Same old it seems, represents my physical muscle power. Constitution - Probably my physical endurance and how robust and healthy my body is? Dexterity - Best guess would be how good I am at controlling my limbs, especially arms. Agility - From the sound of it overall agility of movement and speed. Wisdom - Something like intelligence? No, probably it goes more along the way of ingenuity and ability to use knowledge in a meaningful way. Spirit - This one is the biggest enigma of them all, it seems to be somehow connected to willpower, determination. Maybe. Health - Should obliviously represent my state of health. Stamina - My exhaustion in plain numbers? Mana - MANA. Divinity - This is the thing Relur was talking about, your personal divinity level, seems I am common, fancy that. There seems to be no damage stats, strange, it is possible that damage is calculated in accordance to reality, that would mean I will not heal mortal wounds by eating bread to replenish health in a nick of time, every hit may be fatal, also there is blood loss issue. "Ok, I should try something to confirm status even mean anything and if it is real time." "Hmm, the only thing I can do at present is to get hurt and see if my health would drop" I hop out of bed and go to the head end of my wooden bed. It is crafted rather roughly compared what my father could do in previous life, but is surprisingly soft contrary to the whole medieval world condition. With a bit of an effort I take out a sharp rock i found on the street a while back, you know, just in case. With a swift movement I puncture the skin one of my fingers. My health went down by 2. Lets force a bit more blood out, a few drops are enough, it went down to -3. "Yup, it''s real time, and blood loss will cause problems in case i get injured." "Egil, wake up! Breakfast is ready, come down and we will eat after you wash your face." I hear the voice of my mother coming from the first floor. Shit, if she sees my bleeding it''s going to be panic. It was bad enough when I got into armory, even father was there, no danger in sight. All that resulted in heavy iron locks placed on the armory doors and the attic hatch, and just as I was confidant in my strength to climb up there(Note: Egil does not know about cellar). I quickly wipe fresh blood away. "Coming mom!" I leave the room and go down to the first floor. Water in the wash bowl is cold as always, while washing face I try to stop the bleeding and it somehow succeeds, though mother probably saw it already, strange, both of them are somewhat somber in mood. "Papa not going to work?" I ask, usually father goes for early patrols before dusk and return only around lunch, but now he is still present. Something is strange, I should proceed with caution. "No, today we will all have breakfast together." Breakfast is a bit better than usual, leftovers from yesterdays party are still resent. A loaf of black rye dread is being cut by father while mother places a plate with ham and goat cheese on the table near the jug of something like fruit punch from yesterday. I am kind of hesitant to eat, probably will loose that sweet sweet taste in my mouth but I can''t just sit and look. Making something like a sandwich from the ingredients I take a bite - delicious, if a bit dry. Mother is already pouring punch into my cup, how considerate as always. The rest of the breakfast goes normally, but their silence is strange, feels like a silence before a storm. "Egil, I have talked about you with your father, you always were a bit too fast growing, more that any other child we know, and the recent illness ... caused us some concern." As soon as we end eating mother started talking. [Shit, I tried to keep it down but they still saw though it? What now? Am I gonna be given away, abandoned or worse?] I started panicking, and this comes as soon as I started planing to continue my training ans stat grinding. "We believe you are destined for greatness, but leaving things as they are may lead to your ruin, you even might destroy your talents rushing your growth, so we both decided to start training you from now on, usually this is done no earlier than at three years old but we feel that with your restlessness you might injure yourself of catch illness again, so even if this will be hard on you, not being to play around like normal children do, it is for your own good." Mother says as father mods to her words. [Eh? Eeehhh? I was not found out? And they even will train me personally? No more hiding my training and all those useless interruptions?] They take my shock and silence as reluctance and not understanding the situation so they start to explain. "I have changed my patrol time to the night shift, we will be training you physically from breakfast till lunch." Says father. "When your father goes out to work, from lunch till dinner we will be learning various knowledge together, there is no delaying this issue so today will be you first day of training" Mother pitches in. I am till shocked but manage a nod. "Now is still winter outside and the storms are in full strength, so we will train here, in the dinner room till we can go outside. You have will, but no discipline, your young body cannot catch up to your needs, thus the cause of your illness." Father says as he pushes dining table and chairs to the side of the wall, leaving a wide area in the middle to move. It is as I thought, I overworked this body, caused overexertion, allowing illness to come to such a weakened body. "So our first priority is to make your body strong enough to resist fatigue and illness." For the rest of our training time father made me do exercises, stretching my body as much as possible, making it more flexible. I was exhausted, did not think these light athletic like exercises could be so draining, but I was still able to move even if feeling heavy. "Now it is my turn, come here baby." I drag myself to mothers place like a zombie. "Today was your first day to train with Baldr so I wont make you do anything, you are too young to learn anything concrete, so I will tell you a bedtime story Beata told me then I was a child." My mother says as she gives my a lap pillow. Seriously, a lap pillow by model quality beauty who is more or less the same age as me(mental) is the best! Though the fact she is my mother and that I am physically a 1 year old brat bludgeons my expectations to death. Wait, this is the best chance to ask about that elf babe. "Mom, who is Beata? That beautiful lady who came when I was sick?" "Oh! So you remember, I thought you were ... asleep then(lost consciousness). Yes, she is an old friend of my family and been with us for a very long time." "How long?" "Well I herd she was childhood friend of my great-great-grandmother and stuck with our line since then." You serious? Are elves freaking immortal? I thought only divinities were. "She was a great friend of my grandfather and they both even traveled south to Wood Elf realm together, it was my grandfather that started to collect those books you like so much in his travels. But unfortunately my father was not that good with her, so she poured all her attention to me after I was born. She even decided to travel with me after I married to spend her last days nearby." Mother spoke those words with both nostalgia and sadness, so not immortal. "Last days?" "Ancient Elves age differentially from us humans, all their life they retain their looks in the prime of their lives, only in the last decade till their death they show change and know that end is coming. Did you see her hair? Most elves have hair in the hues of blond or brown, their sign of coming death is then their hair start turning silver, more silver it gets, closer the end is." Truly her hair was a mix of golden blond and silver. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. "Enough of the sad talk, lets start with the story." Mother tries dispelling the bad mood. "Ok" I shift myself more comfortably on her lap, intent to absorb even the most childish tales, anything can give clues on the world. "Long long ago, when world was still young and wild, people were few, when the few places of civilization were secret places of the elder races far far away, near the shore of the sea lived a group of children. These children knew not of their parents and never saw them, but a god watched over them and shielded from the great dangers was considered as such by them. A simple wooden longhouse housed all of them, 4 boys and 5 girls, the names were: Ash, Birch, Oak, Cypress and Belladonna, Clover, Daisy, Lily, Rose." [Well, that''s a common start with a bit of new flavor] "God that watched over them had his own duties and could not be with them forever, so he decided to teach them the ways to defend themselves on their own. Teaching them some basic knowledge of the elder races: language of the elves, writing of the dwarves, martial prowess of the orcs and discipline of the naga, only the giant kind could not offer anything others could not." [That''s better, much better, while I knew of the elves and saw few shorties in the city, probably dwarves, others are completely new to me] "Mom, what are the elder races?" "Elder races are those races that first came to be on this world: naga, dwarves, elves, orcs and giants. Each were attuned to one of the elements, only giants were bestowed three, but in a lesser form.
New Index! (Rank:C) You have learned about 5/7 divine races that came to inhabit the Mortal Realm in ancient past with more than 60% accuracy. Their respective indexes have been added. SP Increase! +4 SP
First Elves First Elves are an extinct ancient Immortal-Class divine race and the ancestors of all the elven races. Attuned to Air.
Great Dwarves Great Dwarves are an extinct ancient Immortal-Class divine race and the ancestors of all the dwarven races. Attuned to Earth.
Oni Oni are an extinct ancient Immortal-Class divine race and the ancestors of all the orcish races. Attuned to Fire.
Ancient Naga Ancient Naga are an extinct ancient Immortal-Class divine race and the ancestors of all the naga races. Attuned to Water.
Divine Giants Divine Giants are an extinct ancient Immortal-Class divine race and the ancestors of all the giant races. Attuned to Earth, Fire and Water.
This is a huge win for me! Whatever SP is it can be gained from knowledge, and with my unlocked class rights I only need to hear everything at 60% accuracy to unlock 100% true corresponding index! "Do you want me to continue with the story?" "Umu!" I answer enthusiastically. These normally useless stories may be a treasure trove of lore and SP points! "Ok, where we left it of, ah yes, after granting them knowledge the God had to go away. In the years that followed these children grew up to become fine adults and made families, Cypress and Daisy, Oak and Rose, Ash and Belladonna and Clover and Birch made families and had many children, only Lily remained pure and seemed to bloom with more beauty with every passing day. This however became reason of first true conflict between them, now knowing pleasure men started to desire her, and women started to envy both the attention of their men and her beauty. In despair Lily prayed and begged the God to return and make everything like before, when everyone were close and lived in friendship together. Having heard her prayers and returned the God asked everyone what they desired, for he would not be able to return to them ever again. All of them except Lily told him their wishes - knowledge, power, wealth and the like. Then came the turn of Lily and she said ''My friends, no, my family are at discord because of me, so take me far far away, so they could live in peace together again!" and the God did, he took Lily to the realm of the gods were she was given more of the gifts by other gods than others could imagine." [Somehow this part feels nostalgic, moral here probably is to not lose yourself in desire and be in harmony with others] "Left alone now the other youths looked upon their gifts and felt great shame, having lost themselves in personal desires they forced their friend away, now they could not look each other in the eyes, so they took their gifts for the sake of their children and scattered into different directions across the world to run from this shame. The End." [Well, that''s one crappy ending for everyone involved.] "Egil, the moral of this story is that losing yourself in desire and only wanting more from others and not giving them anything in return may lead one to regret that will last a lifetime." [You can tell that again, I lived and died through it.] Tiring*
New Index! (Rank:A) You have learned of the ''Origin of Humanity Part 1'' with more than 60% accuracy. Its respective index has been added. SP Increase! +6 SP
Origin of Humanity Part 1 After the battle of AvA and the Pact of Realms, that forbade gods of Minor-God Class or above to travel to Mortal realm without great reason Gods of Balance saw how much the world was devastated, and decided to create new people, based on the effects of the corrupted, thus mortal. The first of these ¡°Younger Races¡± was made by Suilau-Pan. Suilau saw the aspects of the firstborn(Elder Races), and decided to make a race which had all of them, albeit milder ¨C he gave them the fiery emotions of the Oni, desire of freedom of the Elves (First Elves), unshakable conviction of the Dwarves (Great Dwarves), the individuality of the Giants (Divine Giants) and flexible mind of the Naga(Ancient Naga). Their form was made by mixing some traits of the firstborn, as such, Humans were born. Suilau created 9 humans, who were first of their race ¨C 4 male, and 5 female. They were named thus ¨C male: Cypress, Oak, Ash and Birch; female: Belladonna, Clover, Daisy, Rose and Lily. After Suilau taught them words and some basic knowledge they settled what now is eastern coast of Yellow Sea. In the passing years they made families, and had children - Cypress and Daisy, Oak and Rose, Ash and Belladonna, Birch and Clover all made families, and only Lily remained pure and enchantingly beautiful in these years. As time passed men started to lust for her, and women became envious of her beauty, and the attention of their husbands. Suilau, seeing the dire situation of his creations, and soon coming violent conflict between them came to the Mortal realm in his avatar form and said: ¡°Tell me one wish each for your children, I will grant it, but each wish has its consequences, all must be in balance¡±. Cypress and Daisy said: ¡°We want our children to be great scholars and inventors, that their works would be more splendid then the light of the sun¡±. Suilau said: ¡°Very well, but the light of the sun shall burn them and make them darker¡±, as he said, their skin of their children turned dark and their hair black. Oak and Rose said: ¡°We want our children to be enduring travelers of the land, enough so, that they could carry the moons on their backs¡±. Suilau said: ¡°Very well, but they shall bear the mark of the moons and spread far from each other¡±, as he said, their skin of their children turned light and their hair blonde. Ash and Belladonna said: ¡°We want our children to be calm and in balance with this land and seas, as leaning trees in wind¡±. Suilau said: ¡°Very well, but they shall bear the mark of winds and land, and shall wander and find no rest¡±, as he said, their skin of their children turned yellowish and their eyes became slanted. Birch and Clover said: ¡°We want our children to be strong warriors and conquerors with the powers rivaling the gods¡±. Suilau said: ¡°Very well, but they shall bear the weight of your arrogance and their careless use of power shall bring them ruin¡±, as he said, their children became strong, healthy, ambitious and arrogant. Suilau then said: ¡°what shall be your wish Lily?¡± and Lily answered: ¡°I do not have children, so I wish that no one would hate each other because of me¡±. Suilau thought deeply and answered: ¡°Very well, for the kindness and innocence shown to your kin I shall take you with me to the palace of gods.¡± As he said it, he took her and flew to the sky. Those that were left became ashamed of their selfishness and wrongful emotions towards their departed sister. They all gathered around the campfire and talked - Birch said:¡±We shall take our children west, for there are bountiful lands to take, and make our home rich¡± (his children and descendants will later be known as Westerners), Oak said:¡±we shall go north, for only we are hardy enough to tame that land and make it our own¡± (his children and descendants will later be known as Northlanders), Cypress said:¡± we shall take our children south, for where sun shines brightest our greatness shall shine ever brighter¡± (his children and descendants will later be known as southlanders), Ash said:¡± we shall remain here, for we are bound to this land, our children shall follow its ceaseless winds¡± (his children and descendants will later be known as Eastlanders).
What the HELL? Since when origin myths are morality bedtime stories? Wait, calm down, fuuu, this originally was told by centuries old Ancient Elf, probably she had little knowledge about children stories and twisted other knowledge to fit the mold, if not for the 60% accuracy and automatic addition to the Index I would let this story go through my ears and forget it soon after. This is good, probably most of the stories told by Beata are like this! "Mom, tell me more!" *** For the whole year we followed similar training, various exercises that mostly increased my agility and constitution and learning common knowledge, reading, numbers with some of those stories mixed in as rewards. Finally now, after my second birthday, is the time for the training to go to another level as my body is strong enough to take it and some more practical lessons with mother are on the horizon.
For those that got confused by the age description ''officially stepped into my second year of life'' means he got past his first birthday and is getting older, if you are 1 year and 1 day old, that means you are living, at present, your second year of life. Hope it helps! Write more such comments, because your comments are both my error checks and motivation givers :D Chapter 5 - Battle is no duel Hello everyone again! I was looking through the game posts and it seems no one votes anymore, so lets close the game and announce the winners! If I am ok with numbers we get a tie of Life and Void, with a bit of a head bashing I declare Life as a winner! In ranged weapons category we get a landslide victory for the composite hunting bow! In hand weapon category I relented to the multiple wishes of readers for a Saber! Though normal sabers are present in the world(Pst. spoiler. westerners have it) saber is a bit out of region here, so I made some digging and found a match - Szabla (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szabla#mediaviewer/File:Szabla_budowa.svg) Now like always thanks for reading, comment, review and most importantly explain why all of you like Saber(Weapon)? (Must confess I too like strong willed blond haired average busted airheaded innocent maidens :D) PS. To Nekosama - JUDGE is a bit mean fun loving trickster, while Hitogami is a DICK. I hope you are satisfied with the answer, thanks for reading :D ----------------------------------------- I meet him again, my mortal enemy, on this field of battle. Having my weapons at the ready I watch him for any opening he might have. He is mocking me, no stance, arms held open wide and that look on his face - how mortifying! Well it''s true, that in the two months we have been doing his dance of death not once have I been able to make him fall in defeat, and he gives no finishing blow either, I have been looked down upon. How did it come to this? Lets start from the beginning. *** I am already two and coming in my third year now! It is time for the advanced training to begin. After the initial start of my training last year, training with my father was mostly about constitution and agility: First were the light athletic stretching exercises, ways to move my body in ways I never thought possible, according to my father these exercises must be done in childhood, usually at third year, later body start to get ever more rigid, and it''s harder to complete this part of exercises. After that came the height jumping exercises, basically, how high can you jump up from a standing position, this however was cut short when I landed with my whole body onto a chair crushing it and getting several nasty bruises. Mother was furious, I got a great scolding and father was forbidden from their night games for a week. This is the first time I saw fathers face twist in despair, then he fell on his knees in slow motion. I will [skip] the begging and crying that came after. With my injuries gone and weather getting warmer our training was moved outside. It was running, later more running, and then till now even more running. At first I was made to run in the yard around the house, which was a bit traumatic recalling my previous experience. Later we moved the running to the gravel roads of the outer town. After that came the cobblestone streets of the town center and the main road going south of town. When the weather started to go colder again, mother fearing me getting sick again stuffed my in many layers of clothing, I felt like a Matryoshka doll(Note:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll). In this cold and wet weather till it started to snow heavily I ran as follows - first around the town on gravel roads along the inner part of the outer wall, then from the main town gate on the main cobblestone street to the town center, after returning home around the house 10 times, all that without stopping at marathon speeds, with the 10 laps around the house at top speeds to exhaust all the stamina that was left. On the mother front I learned the spoken language without the ever helpful Mr. Translator, the written language - it was much like a Latin alphabet in use, but instead of letters there were rune symbols, it also had no , or . If one was to write a sentence it would go like this: I-came-home-yesterday ; single sentence words would be connected by a -, while the end of a sentence marked by a gap. Seems the writing system was taken from the dwarves and the spoken words from the elves, both changed and adjusted to make the Common Language, a language spoken by all humans, the most populous race in Mortal Realm. Next came knowledge about this country, named Valvinar Kingdom by the way. Country proper is made of 13 districts and the size is comparable with Germany+Belgium+Netherlands and a vassal Duchy a bit bigger the Czech Republic. Their flag is 12 five pointed white stars in a circle on a blue background with a white spiky star in the middle, I almost felt like being at EU. Those districts are: Schattenir Waldir Felsigir Verschneitir Orkanir Spitzeir Kahlir Grubeir Flussir Kusteir Grubeir Hugelir Ebenenir The country itself is situated in a rather favorable place, the whole western border is an enormous Lirmant mountain chain inhabited by Iron Dwarves underground and Mountain Giants in mountain valleys, as such impassable to enemy forces(Both the dwarves and the giants make up Lirmant Federation and is a trade partner of Valvinar). Whole eastern border is a coast of Grey Sea, which in turn is almost an inner sea of allied powers so is rather secure(Valvinar it seems is in a Tripartite alliance with Wood elven Faleen and Eastlander Mariler Kingdoms that are south-east and east hugging the Grey Sea). Problems start with the north and south. The southern border is a long Orthros river that goes from Lirmant mountains to the Grey Sea with the place where the sea bends east being the short but high Cintros mountain chain and the place of vassal Cintros Duchy which borders Faleen Kingdom further south-east. Beyond the river are less than welcome Wildlands with a mess of human, beastmen and orcish races. Now comes the north, it is also mostly covered with a long Mudrim mountain chain with two passes, The mountains also contain dwarven inhabitants, all subjects to the City-State of Mudrim-Dolim. First one is the coastal pass between the Mudrim mountains and the Grey Sea, and the second one is the valley between Lirmant and Mudrim mountains, the place I live - district of Verschneitir. Actually it seems that the climate zone here is much milder than I thought, even the territories to the north have gentler weather, these storms and snowfall seem to happen because we are in between two tall mountain chains that herd all the bad weather from the north down this pass. While we did not talk about other regions I got Index about ours.
New Index! (Rank:F) Valvinar Kingdom- Verschneitir Verschneitir is the north-west most district of the country, and is often attacked by Krom barbarians from the north. For that reason one of the most powerful Valvinar units was created and is stationed in this region ¨C Red Bear Legion. Region is ruled by the Barin, noble house of the Bear, whose current ruler is Ansgar Barin supreme commander of said Legion. Conditions in the district are harsh; being in between of two mountain chains ¨C Lirmant and Mudrim - brings casual snow storms. District is rocky and barren with few small forests, covered in snow, but is rich in precious stones, minerals, and is vital for travel between northern and central Oilain by land. People are much like their home, grim, stern and of few words, but are loyal to their duties, friends and patrons to the death. SP Increase! +1 SP
After celebration of my second birthday was the annual ''Further training meeting''. "Egil, you improved your knowledge of the world much during last year, so I thought we will learn etiquette until spring and move to my specialty - alchemy. We unfortunately cannot learn it now as I have just enough herbs to mix medicines and potions and can''t spoil any for training purposes, many of them will grow and bloom in spring so it''s only few months of time to wait." Finally something I have recollection from my previous life, after all I was part of a botanist club in my university days, this make me exited enough to suffer through the boring etiquette lessons. "And we will move to more practical battle lessons, that is using a weapon." "Hurrah!" After the breakfast is over father pushes the furniture to the side of the room like always, then he goes near the fireplace and rummages through the firewood stack, taking the most gnarled and rough piece, giving it to me. "Now swing it" This branch is rough and full of splinters, gnarled and far from straight, I look at him, but father says nothing more, so I swing it. I was swinging it for the whole training time without stopping, splinters dug into my hands and thick end was the worst to have a grip on, making me drop the branch down more than a few times. Every time I dropped it father would make a grim face. This continued for three days, on the fourth he brought a fresh one from outside, it was thicker, just as gnarled and crooked as the last one if not more, furthermore it was freshly cut, covered with greenery, sap and wet all over. I was dropping it that much more often. Father still made the same grim look every time. It took me five more days of swinging till I snapped and enraged asked that the point of this ''exercise'' is. "When in battle you will have to fight in many disadvantageous positions, your hand might be injured, you might have lost your gauntlets or your battle gloves might have ripped, it might be raining outside or your weapon might be damaged, maybe you grabbed an unfamiliar weapon or tool to defend yourself. If you lose your weapon, you are a dead man, even a beginner combatant can kill an unarmed master swordsman. This training is all about surviving." I was speechless. "Every time you dropped that branch you gave your enemy plenty time to kill you few times over, even in the case you drop it you should find ways to pick it up as fast as you can while keeping your enemy in sight at all times." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. His words touched me to the core, that right, battle is just a pretty name of killing others any way possible to ensure your own survival, I was committing the same mistake that sent me to the grave last time. I took my eyes off that drug pumped rat to look for a cigarette, giving him time to mortally stab me, I will NEVER commit this mistake again. "Ohh, that''s the look of a warrior you have here, no posh nobleman who duels for his inflated pride or honor." Father sounded impressed with the resolve in my eyes. This training goes on until spring. Mother on the other hand was showing her craft as herbalist, though to me she was definitely more like an alchemist. First are the tools of trade - Mortar and Pestle, Alembic, Retort, Calcinator. The process itself is free to interpret as you wish, experimenting may prove different results, but the critical part is testing. Going through the process step by step is a bother, it also contains much technical terms so I shall [skip] it for the sake of everyone(Me and Mister Translator). The testing part is NOT trying it yourself, thanks the gods, but is the last part of preparing potions, by pouring the mix into purified mana infused water. The result can easily be known by the color of the finished potion: Red - Health recovery Blue - Mana recovery Purple - Health and Stamina recovery Green - Weak Poison with hindering effects(from diarrhea to paralyzation) White - Cure potions(mostly against poison) Black - Deadly Poison Colorless - Failed mix, no effect Unfortunately this craft is definitely stationary, all those apparatuses take all the dinner table worth of space and few are made of glass, as such impossible to drag around too much without the risk of damage. *** With the arrival of spring father took me to his armory. "Now we will practice the use of real weapons, I do not acknowledge the use of wooden training weapons for it makes one forget that a weapon is a danger for the user too." Beside his armor whole walls were covered with many different weapons, many types of swords, axes, maxes and more of other exotic kinds of weapons. One section of the wall attracted my attention most, it was behind the armor stand and seems to be used most often. "What are those?" "Haha, so you have an eye for gear like I thought, those are the weapons I presently use in battle." "Normally usual gear for regular footman army corps of Valvinar is a longsword, a kite shield and a small crossbow to use in close combat before charging and a suit of plate armor, while the district noble house guards have longsword, a spare shortsword an oval wooden shield and a shortbow, they wear a bit lighter chain armor shirts. Our Red Bear Legion is not that different besides this special suit of armor, but my weapons are a bit special." "My father died in battle then I was just 7 years old, so my grandfather took me under his wing. Our Tamm family is actually a side family of the district rulers the Barin, and my grandfather was an especially appreciated commander on national level, so we traveled a lot. That is one of the reasons I posses no formal swordsmanship style, I practice that I call Battle-Sword style, it is simply just a way to kill your enemies most efficiently without harm to yourself." So not only we are a side family of high nobles, but you are a dual wielding Mugen in chaos armor too. (Note:Mugen(redshirt)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzErUBYQZpI Chaos armor(without horns)http://i.imgur.com/9lmMH.jpg "This sword I found when we raided a bandit hideout in ancient ruins to the south" Father shows me a sword almost identical to an ancient roman gladius. "This one is a rarity, an ancient Westerner sword from the time these land were theirs, i don''t know how old it is but this sword is enchanted with wind properties, it cuts a little bit further than it should reach, and enchanted weapons don''t age or rust." I got confused. "Are these lands not the home of us Northlanders and not Westerners?" "Haha, yes now it is, but that is only from 3rd Era, before it, all present day Valvinar was only a third of an enormous ancient first empire of westerners - Cevia. It was destroyed by monsters and later finished by dragons, only few holds of resistance were left when our ancestors led by Valvinar the Great invaded from the north and made this land our own." Ookay, now I know why we are not in the north of the continent but still call ourselves Northlanders. "And this one?" I show the other weapon on the wall. It looked like a broadsword(Walloon Sword). "This a trophy of war I looted from a Krom chieftain that earned me that star and present rank." My father nodded to the armor indicating the creamy star on the chest. "Krom barbarians posses little technology except in weapon production. Generation upon generation they try to breach through this valley and invade the rich lands to the south, so even if they are clad in simple fur or leather armor, to defeat us in battle they have to breach our heavy armors. To do that they use good quality axes, maces and trusting weapons to damage the weak joints. this is one such weapon, with it you can end the life of an armored opponent in two trusts, I kept it because I can put an end to their leather clad warriors in one thrust." He says smiling. That''s not a thing you say to a young child, it seems I am already treated as warrior material by my own father. "With these weapons I had to adjust my fighting stance to accommodate a long thrusting weapon supplemented by a short slashing weapon that can stab them in the guts too, it would be impossible to adjust if I had learned one of the official longsword/shortsword styles of Valvinar." "Enough of that, for your small frame we should start with a shortsword as a main and a dagger offhand, then you grow up you will outgrow these weapons and will able to change them to something more to your taste." I take the two weapons I''m my hands, heavy, even heavier than that wet stick I had to wave around. "Now lets go, others should be making final preparations in the yard." "Others? Final preparations?" "You''ll see soon." After coming to the yard I see a group of buff people, the exclude pure power and confidence, dragging a log with two short thick branches on the sides. "So tis''s commanders son, smaller than ai thought"(Note:Writing intentional, he talks strange :D) Says a small humanoid, he is the size of a child, almost half my fathers size, but has a beard that reach the bottom of his belly, his muscles are so developed it seems like they are cracking with his every move. "Son, this is a combatant under my command and the blacksmith that made my armor, an Iron Dwarf by the name of Grundum. Grundum, this is my son Egil." "Heyya boy, you pops shur lov ya, we had to serch da woods for da whol night until he found da blasted tree, demolished 2 raidin'' parties of shitbeards till then and had to drag da basted log back to town, half of da boys were down from exhaustion." I got a bit confused by his way of talking but got the gist of it, looking to father with appreciation, he averted hi gaze a bit. "Hyahya, Baldr got embarrassed!" shouted another man, he was huge as a bear and as hairy as one, was he some sort of beastman, no his ears are human. "Shut it Strom!" As I watched man called Strom single handed took the log of about 3 meters high and as thick as a man and held it vertically, while Grundom went up the attic and climbed the roof carrying a maul whose head was twice the size of mine and made in resemblance to a ram. "Oh weh go laddies!" The dwarf shouted and jumped swinging his maul to hit the log. *BAM* An enormous sound shook the house, the log went halfway into the ground. Well granted ground is wet and soft because of the melting snow, but still to bury such a thick log 1,5 meters into the ground with one swing without splitting it... Just how much power and skill with that maul this midget has? "Our work is done here commander, all the unit is awaiting you return to active commanding duty, heh, it lacks a bit." Strom goes inside like it was his own house and returns with a piece of coal from the fireplace. "Something like this... done!" He draws a face in the place were head would be on the log, now it looks like a logman with a stupid face and wide open arms. (Note: like this http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http://comps.canstockphoto.com/can-stock-photo_csp11289264.jpg) After that they went away. "Father are you going somewhere?" "Son, I made this training dummy for you to train because after your third birthday I''ll have to return to active duty in the fortress to the north, you will remain with mother here and learn many more things from her, until now I will instruct you how to use weapons correctly." After that he taught me how to use footing on soft or slippery ground, what parts of enemies to strike and how to do it efficiently, and many more things. From that day Mr. Logman was my sparing opponent. And that''s how we come to our present confrontation. "Egil come here" I hear mothers call, damn and then I was about to finally win this round... [In your dreams] seems to say his expression, a bit deformed from the multiple stabs and hacks made to it. "Coming mom" "Egil remember you asked me about Beata a while ago, it seems she returned to town today. She is very knowledgeable, if you want we could visit her today while she is still here, she travels a lot you see, another chance might not come for a while." "I want to go, lets go, lets go!!" I shout as loud as I can, to meet an Ancient elf is to open a chest of knowledge, I must squeeze her dry of anything of value, magic in particular. "Very well, lets bath you of your sweat and change your clothes fist" [I can''t wait to meet her.] Chapter 6 - Secret no more Hello everyone, I am back home after a looong week away from civilization, no PC, no internet. Well to tell the truth it was not all that bad(I had super time), we celebrated a day(it went for the whole week) as important as New Year or Easter appropriately - Spoiler : http://www.wincalendar.com/International-Condom-Day and St. Valentine too Now back to my fiction, some said it moved too slow, do not worry, first volume is all about MC learning about the world, later volumes will have way more action. Now each volume will be made of 9 chapters and an interlude + maybe some bonuses. Interludes will contain some pieces of related short stories, they may be 100 years before or after, maybe at present in different location, have fun figuring out when I post them, I will leave clues. As always, thanks for reading and comment, vote, review, if possible with more that a sentence, it is my motivation for continuing! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hmm Huhumm~" I hum while skipping a step. At present I, together with my mother, walk to the west side of town where, supposedly, Beata the Ancient Elf lives. At present winter is in its starting phase, just after my third birthday, neutral merchants that head south from the northern part of the continent fleeing the coming cold bring back many furs and all the other material specific to the north. What is strangest, that even if countries are hostile, like our Valvinar Kingdom and barbarian Northlanders to the north, special neutral traders are able to carry out trade going between them, their only threat are rouges, monsters, spirits and bandits. So it is a dangerous job, but a very profitable one, you cannot be officially a part of any nation to be a neutral trader though. So, despite the many new, unseen, splendorous things to see in the market we are passing through, why am I just walking near my mother humming a tune? First of course is the reason for our little trip, to see the elf as fast as possible. Second would be the hand of my mother that locks my own like some sort of steel chain for me to be nearby. And the last, third one, are the stares from the surrounding women - mothers and elderly, young ones treat me like air. That is also the reason I am not to run around, those that look at me can be separated to three general categories: 1. Warm smiles - simple warm smiles watching a family outing 2. Gossiping whispers - mostly making me some kind of super child the king-genius or something? 3. Envy stares - mostly done by the women with children my age, some sort of competitiveness with my mother or the like? It is actually the gossips not the envy that is her concern, well if I was a simple child such talk might make me a Pinocchio, stretching my nose from pride. I suppose this is the reason mother is worried about me in excess. I also had a great discovery recently, my mature mind is being heavily influenced by my immature body, such thoughts as games and fun influence my resolve to train and right the wrongs of my previous life, turning harsh training into a game without lessening it, I do not like losing control of my emotions, but it helps to reinforce the child image I try to portray. I dread living though teen years again though, all those hormones are gonna batter my reason good... In my contemplation we soon reached the outer wall soon, one of the tower was a bit strange, no one manned it, no guards or patrols could be seen, and it gave a chill, as if a great power was inside. It was hard to see, but after inspecting it as we walked closer to it a bright blue light was emitted from the roof part of the 6 meter tall stone circular tower. I will definitely have to inspect that! This tower had the air that shouted !MAGIC! in a whole chorus of voices. Magic is not that unusual, almost all people can use it, though without training only the most basic spells that control existing phenomena, such as making fire hotter, or wind to blow a bit faster. These ''spells'' if you can call them such are so simple they need no incantations and are used mostly for simple tasks, cooking, drying clothes and such. You can use these spells without training only if you have affinity for them, training allows to improve them to casting and use simple spells without affinity. This tower radiated magic so strongly you almost had to shield your eyes from it like from a bright sunlight. When we approached heavy metal reinforced wooden doors that led inside mother pulled the bell attached to nearby wall three times. As the bell rang, a small jewel atop the door emitted blue light, with time it changed into green. With the change wooden doors opened by themselves with all the cool grinding sounds made by the doors in haunted house horror movies. I might even skipped a beat, either from fear or excitement, I don''t really know. The inside was not what I expected from a outer wall guard tower, all walls were covered by shelves full of books and other things I can only describe as ''stuff''. It was skulls, vials, globes, crystal balls and other misc ''stuff''. If I could make a comparison it would be stepping into a abode of a occult mad scientist mage that just got a hold of anything that interested him. Then I think about it, ancient elves might have the lifespan to actually delve fully in all those things making full use of the experience. This might be better then I thought, I might learn that much more from this person then I thought, need to make a favorable impression. With that mental decision I saw a shadow growing bigger under my feet, mother was already looking up with a smile. "Got you little boy" I heard a soft whisper just above me, before I could react I was scooped into the embrace of a beautiful woman. "Eh" I leaked a short sound of surprise. "Don''t scare him too much lady Beata" mother said chucking. "Ha ha, little Astrid, why don''t you call me aunty like you did before" "Nu, don''t make fun of me Beata" mother said getting a flush of embarrassment on her face. "That is revenge for the ''lady'' you just uttered" "How did you do that??" I finally freed myself from stupor observing their talk while still being in the arms of the elf. "Did what? Ahh, you mean how I took you by surprise, it seems you trained a lot for your age boy. It is simple, I just floated to you from above, thus making no movement sounds" "FLOATED???" I got riled up, if excitement could be manifest, my eyes would be spewing stars out of them. "Yup, a spell of [Levitation] to be exact" "MAGIC!!!" I got even more riled up. "Egil, I think you are old enough to stand by yourself, do not bother la-, Beata too much." "Ah, I am sorry mother, lady Beata" I hurriedly leave her embrace, embarrassed red as a tomato. "Do not worry child, you can call me aunty like your mother, great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother once did" She said smiling. Wait, one generation is missing? "Beata, how was your journey this time? Anything of interest?" "I visited Argent City and met the Silver Lady and Obsidian Knight in their throne room, to tell the truth I did not expect such friendly demeanor from a former High Elf and ''that''. Well the ancient city of ''NORTH'' is till the same, they are making some progress against the undead, but any real push is due only in some 200~ years so it is of no danger to Baldr, Orcmen still fight against the traitorous Wild Elves and barbarian Northlanders, if Vikos does not move against them they will remain in the east, on the other hand Frost Giants are coming south from the northern wastelands, Silver Lady asked me to warn Valvinar about possible push of barbarians as they are assaulted by giants and pushed south." This talk is too high level for my present knowledge, I take it all in, but my eyes are still drawn to the shelves and all the strange things they contain. "Huhuhu, boy, it seems like our talk is a bit boring for you, you can look at the things here, touching is ok, but please try NOT to damage anything" Beata says with a bit of intensity at the end. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "But Beata that is..." "Do not worry Astrid, nothing dangerous is placed on this floor, lets return to our conversation." I soon run to the nearest wall, these shelves contain mostly books and things completely new to me, inspecting this part alone would take me at least a day, to read so many books would be at least a year, so I start making use of my limited time. *** "It is getting dark, maybe we should go, I still need to pack Baldr for his trip back to the fortress..." "Astrid, you should let him to his own choirs more, even if he is a powerful and high ranking warrior packing his own things up should be manageable, you spoil him too much. I am a bit hungry, maybe you could make me some of your delicious sweets, here, take this gem, it should cover the cost of ingredients" "But Egil is..." "No worries, I will look after him, or you started to doubt my child rearing abilities after you grew up?" "No, of course not, you looked after me at least as much as my own mother did, very well, I will return in a couple of hours with the desserts, Egil, listen to everything Beata tells you to do" "Yes mother" I answer without leaving the new ''toys'' I found, getting a sigh as a response. After mother leaves Beata calmly approaches me. "Now boy, lets talk. I see you are more than you look, you posses intelligence beyond your years but lack knowledge. Do you wish me to teach you a bit while I am in town?" "Yes!" She even approached me by herself, now I don''t need to try sucking up to her to learn things. "Boy, what do you want to become? A powerful mage, or a strong warrior? A priest or simply to live your life in piece?" "I train with father in martial arts and weapon handling, but magic is definitely something I wish to learn!" "So the path of a magic fighter. You know, before the fifth year of ones life soul is still not synchronized with ones body, preventing the use of magic, but there is a way around this, it has its price though, that is the reason I sent your mother away." "What is the price?" I ask gingerly. Why is she gets this heavy talk as soon as mother left, more so to a three year old brat that is possibly more than few hundred years her younger. "It will lower your magic capacity, also reduce the effectiveness of the spells from divine schools if you have affinity for them." "Those are some major demerits lady, why someone would want to do it?" "Because you lose nothing, it is just redistributed to your other statuses, so what do you say boy?" Hmm, it is not that bad of a deal I think, my mana capacity should still be big enough for many spells augmenting my fighting style, plus I will still grow for many years improving my abilities, but further this talk goes more wrong it feels, why did she make mother leave, should she not be here to help me make this decision, both my mother and Beata possess a strong trust for each other, this talk should be no different from the one before. "I am ok with it, but we should wait for mother to return, she should help me make such an important decision." "Don''t worry, I myself had my soul stabilized, even became a mage. Your mother won''t oppose this, let''s make a surprise for her. Wait, I''ll get the tool we need." Beata again used [Levitation] and got to the second floor, after some rummaging sounds she came back with the said tool. While I was cautious of what kind of tool it was, she carried a crystal ball filled with something like smoke, like the one used by the phony seers back on earth, easing my worries. "Just place your hand on the ball, and it will be over, no pain or any sort of inconvenience" she said pacing the ball on the table. What should I do? This seems suspicious, but she would not dare to hurt the child of her dear friend, being unable to use magic for another 2 years means I lose the best times of childhood training, when you can learn easiest. What harm can a crystal ball do? I slowly place my hand on the ball and feel no pain like she said, only a feeling like having your hand wet and all the water is being absorbed into the globe. The globe itself start to slightly vibrate and the smoke inside to swirl.
!WARNING! You have used the Globe of Status before your fifth year forcefully fixing your soul to your body, gaining trait Bound Soul with all its effects
!WARNING! You have used the Globe of Status, your status is recorded in the globe and can be seen on material plane until it is recharged
!SYSTEM MESSAGE! You have used the Globe of Status before your fifth year forcefully fixing your soul to your body, unlocking ''Skills'' and ''Traits'' menus and their purchase options
[/tr]
Egil Tamm
Northlander HumanOtherworlder
Level 12SP 213
Strength42(+36)Constitution60(+46)
Dexterity40(+24)Agility35(+14)
Wisdom27(+63)Spirit54(+43)
Health410(+841)Stamina275(+465)
Mana305(+835)DivinityMortal - Common
"Oh shit!" shouting I try to turn around as Beata was standing behind me a few meters away. Unfortunately as soon as I did that a great pressure assaulted me, as if gravity itself doubled, without being able to move I had my neck pierced by her estoc. Thanks all the gods it was only skin deep. "Who, what, are you?" She asked with such intensity, with that the pressure seemed to increase, I couldn''t move, opening and closing my mouth to get some air like a flapping fish out of water. "It was a good choice to travel and seek advice from the Silver Lady after I found anomaly in you during healing, using the globe was a good suggestion." "So who are you? I know some higher ranking demons can shapeshift to deceive others, they brought down southern empire like that, but your stats are way too low to be one, so talk or die!" "I-I am human, m-my status show that too." I manage a stammer. "True, but no one can get a class before their soul stabilizes, and your bonus stats from traits and skills are way too big, even if traits are from birth. I never heard of Otherworlder class too." What to do?? Fight? No, she handles that estoc too well, I would definitely lose and die. Run? No, it looks like I would die from her magic even faster and more gruesome. Her eyes seem to pierce even my soul. *** So what did I do? I talked, as if I had no tomorrow, probably that was closer to the truth than I want to admit. I told her what she wanted to know. I told her what she didn''t want to know. I told her what she wanted to not know too. We were around the third chapter of my mental book ''Life of Paul Oaks - by Paul Oaks'' when she looked outside and sheathed her weapon, releasing her pressure at the same time. "Astrid is coming back, I deem you not harmful, but come here tomorrow to finish your story, if you run, I WILL hunt you down." To those words I am just able to wildly nod. After all that we ate the sweets mother brought in a cherry atmosphere as if nothing happened before returning home. "Look up your status again, we will talk more about them tomorrow" were the last words she whispered before I departed home. What did she mean by that? Chapter 7 - Another blunder Hello everyone! Here is a new chapter for all of you, have an interesting reading! Sadly, I noticed my fiction views for last chapter were down by half, so I would like to ask you to promote this work to your friends if you like it, my thanks. Like always comment, rate and review my work, it helps to motivate me release new content faster :D ------------------------------------------------------------------- We came back home without any incident with the last rays of dawn. We ate dinner, the three of us, talking about stuff. And now I am tucked in my bed, ready to sleep and greet tomorrow. Those are the vague memories of events I did mechanically after we left the tower of Beata till now, only now I truly absorb all the events that happened today and cannot stop trembling. [Need to regain my calm... Shit why I can''t stop crying and trembling so much...] It took me nearly two hours to truly calm down, it was deep into the night by the time. True to the setting, this world almost did not have artificial light, it ended at candles and those strange magic crystals that donned the walls of elf tower, both rare and unavailable to commoners. Even our ''noble'' house only has two long candles, one is half burned down. They are used not to light our own surroundings for convenience, but during the ''Day of the Dead'' to guide the souls of the family dead to the Realm of the Dead - Naraka, where the ''Well of Souls'' is, and surprise surprise, it is ruled by Relur, who, like I thought, is a God-King of Void faction, it seems he is not very liked as death magic(as well as life) originated from him leading to its use to create undead. According to father proper burial is required to prevent body from rising and the soul being stuck in mortal realm without some kind of sending off ritual. Ritual itself is on the second day of new year and continues for the whole day, 3 hours in the morning to start, 3 at night to end, candle burns all day long. With both these ceremonies done, only practitioners of death magic at Necromancer level(Advanced) can defile graves rising bodies and only Liches(Master) can interrupt the ritual and steal souls from traveling to the ''Well of Souls''. What the ''Well of Souls'' is? Well according to the not very useful explanation made by my parents it is the place where souls of mortals are either reincarnated or given place in other realms as a divinity, if they are powerful enough. Isn''t Relur, like, stealing work(souls to judge) from JUDGE? If so, good going dude! Anyway, without artificial light and in no mood to sleep the only thing I can do is to analyze the events yesterday. Going through town was mostly the same, not like that one time I was doing my daily running along the wall, only to have sentries send a newbie to race me, betting on the winner and passing along the progress using danger warning horn. Whats up with that? On the border with enemy, during winter when raids are most common they did such nonsense, just how laid back are they? Or they trust the Legion fortress to the north that much? Anyways, it became news of the month and my reputation(?) went up, it was a bitter fight, but I lost by a meter or so, the 18 year old newbie made a reckless finish line dash just to win after trailing behind me the whole run just to collapse after. It was half intentional letting him win to preserve his pride and not being single out as an enemy by teens of the town, but halfway I got kinda worked up and raced property. Though many wailed about their bets I got 1 silver coin for the show and the newbie teen gave me his fur cap for the good challenge, I think he knew I was not serious up to half way and gave it as thanks for allowing to have some pride left in the end, having a good challenge with a 3 year old and losing to one have an enormous difference in emotional damage. Somehow I am getting sidetracked from analyzing today''s events by older memories. Mental block? Arriving at Beatas place and initial conversation between mother and her was normal, that was mentioned? I remember them talk about Beatas travels for the past two years after she healed me and left, barbarians and Frost Giants were mentioned so its north, probably. Remember Orcmen, Wild Elves and Undead being mentioned, seems they are a danger there too, some people and city she visited was talked about too. Hmm, ah yes, Argent City, Silver Lady and Obsidian Knight, wait, those are not names but titles! This lady was also mentioned when she tricked me to touch the globe too, will need to investigate what in the world is she. That knight also didn''t get a good evaluation like me, a possible comrade perhaps? I, being an idiot, fell into her trap after mother left, I felt something was wrong, why did I underestimate magic? The only magic tools I saw were that old sword and fathers armor, both strictly offensive and defensive in use, how come I did not see a MAGE could have some tools that can be dangerous without having a sharp edge or a pointy end... Haaa... after that was the worst. Well now that I calmly think it possibly went the best way it could for me, if I was weaker and less trained I probably had fainted from that pressure, if I was stronger I might have made a move and got stabbed through the throat. Now that I think about it she let me turn around and obviously could increase the pressure or make hurt on me but didn''t, maybe I could have used mother as leverage, no, probably if I tried it would have ended worse, I was in panic too. In the end after spilling the beans I was deemed not hostile or not a threat at least, enough to let mother be together with me. Wait, she said to look up my stats before going to her tomorrow, or it is today already, no matter. "Status!" [/tr]
Egil Tamm
Northlander HumanOtherworlder
Level 12SP 213
Strength42(+36)Constitution60(+46)
Dexterity40(+24)Agility35(+14)
Wisdom27(+63)Spirit54(+43)
Health410(+841)Stamina275(+465)
Mana305(+835)DivinityMortal - Common
That''s the same as before, wait, I remember those warning messages, I was in panic, but I got some trait and unlocked ''Skills'' and ''Traits'' menus if I remember correctly. "Skills!"
Skills This menu will show you all the skills available to you. You have unlocked "Skill Purchase" sub-menu were you can purchase any skill up to Divine Hero-Class using SP points. !WARNING! purchased skills that you can not perform with your body will not activate or will hurt you in performance.
Blade Weapons Mastery(Basic) Melded Skill(Dagger, Sword, Throwing Knife) You have learned the proper use of multiple bladed weapons. Using blade weapons will no longer cause penalties. Style: Battle-Sword(Instinctual) Status Boost: +3 Agility +3 Dexterity +3 Strength
Blunt Weapons Mastery(Basic) Melded Skill(Mace, Hammer, Flail) You have learned the proper use of multiple blunt weapons. Using blunt weapons will no longer cause penalties. Style: None Status Boost: +3 Constitution +3 Spirit +3 Strength
Axe Mastery(Basic) Common Skill(Axe) You have learned the proper use of an axe as a weapon. Using axe in battle will no longer cause penalties. Style: None Status Boost: +1 Constitution +1 Dexterity +1 Strength
Alchemy Crafts Mastery(Intermediate) Melded Skill(Grinding, Brewing, Distilling) You have learned to make multiple kinds of potions(Weak,Common). Making potions is now faster, less raw ingredients are lost in the process, effects are stronger, experimenting is less likely to end in failure. Status Boost: +4 Dexterity +4 Spirit +4 Wisdom
Martial Arts(Basic) Common Skill(Grappling) You have learned the proper way to grapple opponents and gain advantage over them. Style: None Status Boost: +5 Agility +5 Spirit
Limit Break(Intermediate) Special Skill(X) You have once broke your limits to the edge of death, but surviving allowed you to do so again. Breaking your limit will allow you to double your stats for 10 minutes, but after it expires you will feel great heart pain for 3 hours and be paralyzed for 12 hours. Special - you can use this skill for additional 5 minutes with increasing chances of muscle damage or heart failure. Active: 2X All Status - 10 Minutes
Sprint(basic) Common Skill(X) You are able to run much faster by using both Stamina and Mana as fuel. Active: 1.5X Speed/-40 Mana, -40 Stamina, 2XMana and Stamina consumption
Flash Step(basic) Special Skill(X) You are able to instantly cover a distance of 3 meters by making a mana enhanced low jump. Active: 3 meters straight distance movement/ -120 Mana -20 Stamina
Heeellll YeeaaHH!!! Finally I can see my skills! It is a bit strange, I tried to make many attack moves giving them names but they did not record, though the movements I learned using movies(anime) from the previous life and the movement of Beata when she came to heal me as reference are there. My skills seem to be mostly basic with few intermediate, considering I am 3 year old that is probably a good result. They don''t show levels of skills or earning progress so it''s probably a specific condition that you need to perform to advance in rank. Most skill seem to give boosts to my stats. Now I am eager to see my traits, they should be awesome, with even bigger boosts. "Traits!" The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Traits This menu will show you all the traits you possess. You have unlocked "Trait Purchase" sub-menu were you can purchase any trait up to Divine Hero-Class using SP points. !WARNING! purchased traits of different species will lower the purity of your race, being less that 55% of your race will forcefully change it. Race: Human Northlander 100%
Chosen of Raismond You have been chosen to be the champion of God of Valor Raismond. Bestowing a fraction of his power onto you he asks only one thing of you as his champion - VALOR! Status Boost: +20 Constitution +20 Spirit +20 Strength +10% Total Stamina
Blessing of Physis You have been blessed by Mother Nature Physis. Mother Nature grants you her blessing expecting you to uphold the natural balance in your endeavors. Status Boost: +10 Constitution +10 Spirit +5% Total Stamina
Blessing of Relur You have been blessed by God-King of Life & Death Relur. Relur grants you his blessing expecting you to forge your own path ahead. Status Boost: +10 Dexterity +10 Wisdom +5% Total Mana
Lineage - Warrior of the North Your bloodline gained affinity with element of Metal, granting physical improvement to all who carry its blood. Status Boost: +10 Constitution +10 Strength +5% Base Health
Affinity - Light(Minor) You have an affinity with element of Light, all spells based on this element costs less mana, you can cast them faster and easier.
Affinity - Air(Major) You have an affinity with element of Air, all spells based on this element costs less mana, you can cast them faster and easier.Gained through connection to previous life.
Affinity - Wood(Major) You have an affinity with element of Wood, all spells based on this element costs less mana, you can cast them faster and easier. Gained with the blessing of Mother Nature and connected to previous life.
Affinity -Life(Minor) You have an affinity with element of Life, all spells based on this element costs less mana, you can cast them faster and easier. Gained with the blessing of God-King of Life & Death.
Otherworldly Knowledge You retain memories of a life in a completely different world. Using this knowledge to create things or innovations not found in this world will earn you SP points based off the usefulness of said creation. Status Boost: +40 Wisdom
Index Knowledge Any knowledge added to your index will earn you SP points based on its relevance and rarity.
Mana Sense You are able to sense mana in your surroundings without any need of training. Status Boost: +5 Wisdom
Limit Breaker You have broken the limits of your body at a great cost, surviving this ordeal made your body a bit stronger. Status Boost: +2 Agility +2 Constitution +2 Dexterity +2 Spirit +2 Strength +2 Wisdom
I See the Light You have been to the border of life and death and stared Death in the face and survived. Living through such ordeal gave you ability to resist fear fighting against opponents with similar or lesser overall stats than yours. Status Boost: +10 Spirit
Flexible Body You have trained your body to be flexible from a young age, allowing it to perform actions that may be impossible to others. Status Boost: +3 Agility +3 Constitution +3 Dexterity
Bound Soul Using Globe of Status your soul was forcefully stabilized and anchored to your body binding with it. This action bound your soul closer to your body, increasing its performance, but damaging your spirit. This increased your chances to rise as a ''complete'' Undead, possessing both corporeal undead body and incorporeal Undead soul after death. This decreases the amount of Divine Essence you can absorb defeating divinities when trying to achieve immortality. Status Boost: +2% Agility +2% Constitution +2% Dexterity -10% Spirit +2% Strength +2% Wisdom
Daaa Heelll?!!! Wat are these traits and numbers? Raimond and Relur I know, but who da hell is Physis? Fuu, fuu, calm down, now I know why Beata told me my status boosts are way too big. Still this is like catching a Moby Dick while fishing for tuna. Hmm, I should still try out the purchase function, my body is still not developed, it will be so for years still, so no high-level skills are a choice, low-level one would be a waste as I could learn them by myself. Lets go with traits, they give bigger status boosts too. "Trait Purchase" Holy shit, what an amount, it will take a while, and they are expensive on SP points, lets look for some useful but cheap. Here, found all two, ''Troll Blood'' for 135 SP and ''Night Vision'' for 75 SP, reducing my SP down to 3.
New Trait! Troll Blood Troll blood now courses through your veins, it increases your regeneration greatly. Does not regenerate organs. Status Boost: +15 Constitution -5 Spirit
New Trait! Night Vision You now posses eyes capable of night vision, you can see through darkness as bright as day. Does not work against magical and unnatural darkness. Status Boost: +5 Dexterity -5 Spirit +5 Wisdom
!WARNING! Your purchase of traits lowered your race purity. Race: Human Northlander 85%
Wow! I can see the room as light as day, only the edges of vision give a bit of a green tint, now artificial light is not an issue. The price in purity is not that big too. Somehow I feel sleepy, maybe my body needs to rest after these changes. *** "Egil, breakfast is ready, father already left to say his goodbyes to his friends in town, you did not forget he leaves today did you?" comes the voice of mother from the first floor. ''Yawn'' "Ok mom, I am coming!" I reply in a sleepy voice. I get dressed up and walk down to the first floor, but as soon as mother sees me she freezes in shock and let the plate in her hands to drop, spilling the gruel from the wooden container on the floor. "NOOOoooo!!!" She shouts in hysterical voice and start to bawl her eyes out while freaking out. [What the hell is going on??] "Mother whats wrong?!" She freezes up again for a moment, but soon after grabs my arm with determination and without changing the dirtied clothes drags me outside. She drags me forcefully across the city towards Beatas tower, but what freaks me out most that all the nearby people who I look to scramble away in panic and fear, what is wrong?! When we arrive to the tower she pulls the bell continuously strongly until it breaks off, then bashing the door. "Beata, open up!!!" After a minute or so doors open and an elf in slight displeasure and confusion walks to us in her usual elegant stride. "What is the matter Astrid, there is no need to destroy my home." Mother almost grabs her by the neck and shout with intensity. "You said none of these items are dangerous, now looks at him!" She points finger at me. What, is something wrong with me?! Beata looks at me intently, and her eyes grow wide in surprise. "This was not caused by anything here, first floor has only simple books and trinkets without magic, let me take him to second floor to investigate this!" "''Sniff'' Do something, please...." Mother starts to cry again. I get grabbed by Beata and we levitate to second floor, she drops me near a human sized mirror and hiss. "You idiot, what did you do?!" I look upon the mirror and the first thing I see that my skin looks a bit darker, no not skin, but what is beneath it, the bruises I got when we ran here are already closed up, leaving just some darker cherry colored blood, while I look at myself the reflection stares back at me with slit yellow cat like eyes. "Oh. This. Is. Bad. Shit." And I lose consciousness from shock. Chapter 8 - Discrimination & New life "Hmnm, huh? Why am I sleeping on the floor?" I wake up lying on an expensive looking purple-blue carpet that seems to depict something like a glacial with a demonic being trapped in it, interesting. "Finally you woke up you freaking brat, do you know how much trouble you caused me just now? Astrid tried to claw her way to second floor with her bare hands then you passed out, had to put her to sleep forcefully" Beata said straight to my face seriously pissed with dark bags under her eyes. "Eh? Why?" "Why? Because she is your mother you dumb shit, even if you have memories of a different life don''t you dare to forget that." "If you asked why she tried to ''claw up'', that is because I tried to turn this tower similar to the one I had in Caeruleus Towers as much as possible, all true wizards there must learn water and void magic, with them having learned advanced lever spell [Levitation] it turned to both a test of skill, rank and a defensive measure, we do not have stairs to our more important floors." "Oh, I see." "Oh my ass, that did you do?!" she shouted and kicked me lightly to force me up. "You witch, do you kick 3 year old children?" "Oh, finally grew some balls did you?" She said, activating her pressure. but keeping her weapon shieved. "Ok, ok, I will talk, calm down, but I want some questions answered too." "So you did grow balls, ok, if they are simple enough" "By the way what is that noise?" I ask hearing some noise sounding like shouts and shuffling. "That, my dear boy, is a rioting crowd that converged on my tower demanding you, they seem to think you got possessed" "Shit, so it''s a bad end for me..." "Don''t worry so much, unlike in the youth days of my parents some 600 years ago, when inquisitors were present in Valvinar, now they at most will chain you up in some dark cell." Beata says trying to spite me. "If you talk to me property about what happened, I might back you up, no demonic presence is coming from you, and I already deemed you not a threat to Astrid yesterday, so speak." She says in a tired voice. "Understood" and so I told her about my skills and traits, and how I bought two of them. "... I thought you were something, but this is way too much. Three gods, two major and a freaking God-King, 5 affinities, just how special are you suppose to be? That''s huge talent, greater than mine, and I, after all, am the oldest and most powerful active mortal Archmage of Caeruleus Towers." "Sound big." "Of course its big, I am 4th in Caeruleus and 8th or 9th in whole Valvinar, and that''s including those four angels that protect the capital! Only two mortals in Valvinar are a mach for me, Archmage of the Academy being an equal and Grandmaster of Paladin Order being somewhat superior through his mastery of both magic and might." "Eh, if you are so powerful why are you living in this frontier town?" "Tch, you sure are asking the most annoying questions. Fine, I am here because I want to spend my last days with those that feel like family to me, my blood related family is... different, even if I have 6 affinities, that''s most a mortal can have, my magics are different from standard, I am an irregular there, as such not really welcomed." "You too had a complicated life..." "I need no sympathy from you boy, better say what are you planing to do about your future, Astrid and Baldr are your parents, and knowing them they will support you, the short term problem is father Arthos, the priest of this town, even if I vouch for you you should be determined to be detained for a month or so, until someone with purification magic arrives from the south." "Ge, a whole month?" "You still seem not to know how stupid of an action you did, [Troll blood] you could cover up, but the eyes are a bad thing, only three mortal races have [Night Vision] eyes, and that is connected to your long term problems. Cave Dwarves will rob you through their trade prices, Cycorin will rob you by stealth and goblins will simply kill and eat you, most people have such impressions on people with eyes like yours, so even if you are free of suspicion about being possessed you will definitely will be fared and hated, that I know from experience. Then there is the case of your grandfather..." "Didn''t my grandfather pass away during his travels in the south with father?" "I mean from your mothers side. Her father Tychus is very different from others of his line, he craves for power and find other races... distasteful. To have an ''abominable'' grandson will not sit well with him. nor with the racial purists he associates with." "He would not harm me would he? We are family after all." I ask in a disturbed tone. "If he is the same as last time, then no, but people change, and those ''friends'' of his will not spare effort to change that." "Enough of chatter, tel us go outside, if we wait too much this might get out of hand." This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. With those words we levitate town to first floor, where I saw mother lying on a sofa, sleeping soundly. "Don''t worry, she is fine, better to let sleep through the commotion to not ad oil to fire." "True." After we leave the tower we see a sea of people all around, many hold torches to light their way in the dark, but no weapons, they are rather calm and do not shout, but still whisper. It''s more like a demonstration than a riot, thank the gods. "~Look at those eyes~""~I always though he was strange~""~He might be possessed, good thing father Bertrand is in the city~" I hear whispers in the crowd, father Bertrand? Who? Beata widens her eyes as an old, kind looking person with black-grey hair approaches us. "High Priest Bertrand, what brings you to this town?" she asks cautiously. "Ahh, Archmage Beata Bluetear, I did not know you reside here. As for my purpose, it is to travel north to the fortress of Zenon, it seems second-in-command there is returning to his post after a long break, so commander Hans asked to to visit and bless the troops." [Eh?! High Priest! as in an adviser of the Pope and controller of the faithful of a whole district?] "I was to leave there tomorrow, but father Arthos informed me of a commotion, some people talking about a child being possed." He looks straight at me, with a sharp gaze unfitting his kind looks. "He is not possed, I have just now examined him High Priest." "Lies! Like always you tell lies!" Father Arthos shouts standing behind the crowd. "Let us see" Says the High Priest as he approaches me. I instinctively try to back away, but Beata grabs me by the shoulders and restrain my movements, and you said you''ll help me, shit. Bertrand gently grabs my head with his hands and emits a white-yellow light from them. The sensation is a bit ticklish and disorienting, but no pain or harm. "Oho, divine protection is it? Not of light nor of darkness... Beata Bluetear, that divinity favors this young man? You saw it did you not?" "Ascended Valor, Mother Nature and... Reaper of Souls." "Is that true?! This explains much, protection of opposing divinities often produce physical change, both Ice King and Lady of the Monster Caves were so before becoming immortal themselves were they not?" "You know much of the history and the truths of the world High Priest, many of the faith close their minds to the truths of others" Says Beata looking at father Arthos. "Listen people of Schnell! This child was blessed by great divinities, while not of Pantheon of Light those three are part of natural world, and their gifts, even if strange, will not harm you. You can leave calm that there are no possesed here!" With his words a collective sight came from the crowd, and they left one by one. "Now I must go and rest before my journey, child, if you find yourself without place to go, come to the great temple, we are always searching for able people with bright futures to join our cause." He smiles looking at me. "I will think about it, and thank you sir." After everyone is gone we go inside again. "Well, this went better than I hoped, if left to that ignorant snob Arthos commotion would probably had went for a month at least." "You seem to dislike father Arthos." "No, it is the other way around, he is kind and compassionate, a true example of all the virtues church of Gericht, but also full of its greatest shortcoming - ignorance and stagnation, he can not imagine there is more truths in this world that the one his god says." With our talk over we wake mother and fill her of all the things that transpired, Beata did not reveal the existence of my previous life, stacking it all up to conflicting blessings like the High Priest. After she calms and comprehends that my change is not really harmful we go back home followed by Beata. Father was already waiting for us near the gate, urging us inside. After the same explanation is given to him the only thing he says is "I see...". The four of us dine in silence and contemplation. "Egil, I think you should go live with Shalala for a while." "Dear?!" "Astrid, you know full well how people will look at him now, I must leave and will not be able to defend him, so he should continue to train with Shalala and become strong enough to defend himself from all the fear and discrimination people will direct at him." "But..." "Do not fear, I will visit you both once a month, and Shalala will bring Egil to you weekly on his meat and herb deliveries." "Do not fear Astrid, I will to go with your son, he is very gifted and blessed, I shall make him my last disciple." "Aunty Beata, *hick* thank you" It seems my life will turn a new chapter in my road to redemption. Chapter 9 - New life & Return (Part 1) Hello hello! I am back with the last chapter of first Volume I dubbed ''New Life, New World'', it is a massive chapter I had to split in 3 parts, I warn you beforehand, second part will have sexual content so be prepared to either blink very often and hard to not see it or wait with anticipation! :D For those that wish to know how the tower looks, I in fact imagined it much like Spoiler : Warcraft 3 human magic tower . Be sure to rate my work, and if possible write a review. After I finish volume 9 and Interlude I, I will be making a Q&A thread, until then feel free to ask anything by mailing, I will answer anything that will not spoil the story. Have a good read! :) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Hack* *Hack* Wood is split by the axe and falls to the sides. "Thew, this much should be enough" I say looking at the few meters high pile of wood. It has been 5 months since I have left the town to live with Shalala in his forest hut. First I should apologize to the people of Shnell I called them uncivilized, living in a forest hut made of wood with wind blowing all over makes one feel appreciation for the progress that happened back in earth from stone age to medieval/roman times. To sum it up, it was harsh, no real bed or fireplace, I had to make a makeshift hammock and use a unprocessed bear fur to keep myself warm. Fire was a commodity too, for it attracts dangerous beasts and monsters, the only times you actually could warm yourself near it was the cooking time. The ''toilet'' we had to use use was a literal shithole a bit away from the hut. "Haa, remembering it makes me shudder" All the food you have to hunt or collect yourself, water is taken from the nearby spring, this definitely feels like a stone age gatherer/hunter lifestyle... "Haa..." I sight remembering the first weeks here, then I look up the structure nearby only to stiffen another sigh. Beata was true to her word on accompanying and making me her disciple. Obviously Shalala seemed not that thrilled, actually only this month they became like fire and water, before they ignored each other even dodging one another by centimeters without meeting eyes, is it some sort of racial ability of the elves like ''I pridefully deny your existence'' or something? Well, when we first set off from town I wondered how is she going to live inside the forest, it did not seem like Shalala was going to let her inside his hut. The answer was much more surprising and spectacular than I imagined. She freaking summoned a huge 6 meter tall tower, and unlike the wall tower this one was elegant and elaborate, blueish white with elegant lines on outside and the same bright glow on top. Though, from her words it seems she sacrificed a year of the remaining time she had left, it was obvious from her hair too, it finally became half and half blond-silver, it was not in ugly patches, but in overlapping strands, making her hair look like a crown with a long veil or silver and gold. It seems like all elves beside the wild ones use magic to produce their habitats. Wood Elves use their Druid magic to twist living trees to their desired shape, creating extensive treetop cities on the colossal trees in their forests, they ban all woodcutting in their countries for this reason. According to Beata it was a massive pain in the ass to keep warm while traveling there, fire magic might start a forest fire so was not an option, it seems my Great Grandfather almost died of cold then they were traveling in Falet, they eventually were saved by a warden patrol, that was not spared the passive tirade of insults that Beata flung at the though. Wood Elves actually use some sort of non-alcoholic sap drink to warm their bodies and keep themselves sharp without sleep for long hours, maybe some sort of super healthy unholy union of coffee and energy drink? Beata was unable to find out how they are producing this drink, a fact that still pisses her off till present. On the other hand both Ancient and High Elves summon their buildings by making them an almost solid singular stone structure, the only difference is Ancient Elves make them tall(Towers) while High Elves make them long(Longhouses). Of course normally summonings are done by a group of high mages, not by a singular person. This particular tower according to Beata would be a place that a full fledged Ancient Elf mage would make his home. It seems that ancient and high elves and those that were given or stole their magic knowledge rank their magic users in these classes according to their ability to use magic: Novice Mage Apprentice Mage Mage High Mage Master Mage Arch Mage By adding their favored magic to the front(Fire Mage, Water Novice Mage etc.), this ranking however does not include other magic users with different styles of magic use such as druids, shamans, necromancers and the like. By summoning this tower that granny has all the comfort she wishes, the inside is even better than the tower back in the city. The worst is, neither she nor Shalala allow me to live in there! Beata says I have to be at least apprentice level to serve my master in personal matters, master my ass. Shalala on the other hand takes the task of training me very seriously as instructed by father, he is at least 10xharsher than him( Author. He exaggerates :D ) , I must not only procure my own food and necessities, but also the herbs my mother needs, it seems I will have to hunt the pray for the meat we bring her a bit later after I train myself more in the wilds. I also realized that I seriously miscalculated their capabilities, well Beata was obviously way stronger than me, but I couldn''t have known her battle capabilities, while Shalala was some sort of hunter servant of my father, oh boy, how wrong I was... First of, the tower summoning itself is not something that would take enough lifeforce to shorten your lifespan, it is in fact the glowing thing on top that took most of the power. It is a giant bluish glowing diamond shaped jewel-stone. According to Beata it protects an area of around ~800 meters around from the tower, spewing [Void Bolt] and [Ice Shard] magic spells at hostiles, the magic depends on the summoner it seems. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Beata also revealed some of her own abilities, that is how I came to know the reason for her exclusion in Caeruleus Towers. While I have 5 affinities - 4 personal and 1 bloodline, she has 6, the maximum amount possible to mortals - 5 personal and 1 bloodline. Beata revealed me her personal affinities, but not the bloodline, possibly that is a secret of national level. She has: Water, Air, Nature, Void and Essence affinities, through which she learned Ice Magic(Melded - Master), Spirit Magic(Melded - Expert) and Void Magic(Common - Master). Apparently, without affinity you can learn magic only up to Advanced level and it is very cost inefficient, you can only meld your magic if you have two affinities - Major and Minor. Major Water + Minor Air = Ice Magic Major Nature + Minor Essence = Spirit Magic Spirit magic is also the reason of her exclusion. It is the magic Shaman use, as such considered distasteful to the ''refined'' tastes of the ever prideful Ancient Elves. I think that thinking tarnishes all the effort she made to master this magic, taking a youth of your dear friend, traveling hundreds if not thousands of kilometers to kingdoms of wood elves and easlander humans simply to unlock her potential is an exemplary feat, and only to be met with disdain from those that can''t reach master rank even if they claw at it for hundreds of years... She however calmed my anger by claiming those years were the best in her life, traveling the world with my great grandfather was not only danger and hardship but an adventure of great fun. It seemingly made my family from the mothers side grow from local merchants that only put their tent into a marketplace into one who has many foreign trade routs of exotic goods and has many shops nation wide. This however made maintaining such extensive operation a hardship that lays on the shoulders of my grandfather, making him somewhat bitter about basically everything, especially that goes along the lines Bea- of Ancient El-. When I asked he to show how powerful her spells can be, she channeled a spell for some good ~20 minutes and unleashed an area spell [Sub-Zero Implosion] that reduced a nearby forest to shattered icicles. Shalala was not amused, in fact he burned with visible silent anger, and then I say visible I mean literary, his body outline was producing a visible glow, go 7-ball fans! In the morning we found that the doors to the tower was blocked by the shattered remains of various frozen animals. Too bad for the work it must have taken to collect all those pieces of eyeballs and flesh, as Beata simply levitated from her balcony laughing at the sky. That made someone reach his second form of glowing, I almost her a mental call "HA!!!" and "Cell!". Now talking about Shalala I came to a different sort of understanding. While originally I thought he was some unimportant outcast that father helped out of his good heart, It was soon obvious that was not so. If not Master, his skills in stealth and bow is at least Expert, not one in all my time I accompanied him on hunts has he missed his mark, felling beasts in one arrow. I saw his blade mastery only once, when a bear took us by surprise after we hunted down a huge boar(I now think he intentionally let it get close to show such things might happen in wilds and how to deal with them). Shalala fought(played) with it for almost a half an hour. To tell the truth I was mesmerized. it looked like a dance with a blade, a battle-dance. He deftly avoided all the attacks the bear made and in the moments of chance cut its ligaments, ending it by decapitating the bear that was already unable to move an inch. In retrospect it is a very brutal and cruel way of fighting, but it is geared towards fighting with a small team of comrades that can support you, defeating the crippled opponent, much like parties of adventurers in games. There are no adventures in this world, no guilds or such, all the people I asked about such things laughed at me(yes, even the stoic bunch like father and even Shalala, that was the only time I saw him laugh). They said the closest thing to them were mercenaries or treasure hunters, both groups may become bandits then on hard times, Beata even called me stupid, as no country would allow an armed group of such influence and numbers to exist internally. I compared his fighting style with father and came to an unexpected result, if fighting close up, father would have a 60:40 chance to win, but if fought at distances of further than ~200 meters it would be 80:20 Shalalas win, and that is a fully geared father against Shalala in his usual leather armor, iron weaponry and simple wooden hunting bow. I suspect he keeps his real gear in the massive metal chest in his hut, it is under 3 locks and feels like mana comes from it, probable enchanted. "Egil, that is enough firewood, it is time to hunt for the usual delivery to the lady, come." Haa, Shalalas words nudge the greatest pain I carry since I left my home, even if I whine and complain all this training and the effort Beata and Shalala put in training me makes me happy. The greatest pain and sadness I feel for my mother, in one fell swoop both her husband and child were taken away, leaving her all alone, to put salt on the would most of the townsfolk distanced themselves from her after that fake riot fiasco. I would have urged father to take her to the den of hungry wolves(men) that is the fortress or come to live with Beata in her tower if not for a peculiar group of people. To my surprise it was not the so called friends of mother that came to her help, but those who burned with envy and competitiveness between comparing their own children against me, asking incisively about my progress I tell her on my weekly deliveries, when mother asked why they do this and why they are not afraid of me the women actually told her they considered me abnormal from the beginning, so what if my eyes were now different or I looked like I had a permanent sunburn. That actually made me crack up from laughter. Another group that became a pillar of support was none other than town guards. After my impressive race they started to show respect to me and till this day courteously helped my mother with any task requiring raw strength. "Don''t daydream, grab your gear." "Yes, I am going..." Well every time I get to check up on her makes me happy, father only gets a chance once a month, in winter may not get even that. I rush in the hut to grab my bow and go to the thick woods.