by A F Kay
Warmth spread from Uru’s fingers, and Ruwen’s palm grew hot. He looked down to see a tree tattooed on his palm. The same tree that stood behind Uru right now. The bare branches twisted by the harsh sea winds.
Uru closed his hand into a fist. “I know you had dreams of your own. And if you live long enough, you can fulfill them. I suggest you don’t immediately choose your second branch. Your life will depend on the choices you make.”
He’d already chosen Mage as his second branch. Maybe she didn’t know that.
“As much as I like hanging out with a goddess, I’m in no hurry to see you again.”
Uru smiled, but it was sad. “That is the real danger now. That you will be kept from returning. You are fortunate Tremine recognized the danger. We both are.”
He leaned back. “Wait, Tremine killed me!”
“Just in time, too,” Uru said.
“But he –”
Uru reached up and touched his forehead, and the world went black.
Ruwen recognized the cold metal of the bed against his naked body. A blanket covered him, and he knew if he opened his eyes, he would see the grey ceiling of the temple basement. Part of him wanted to open his eyes just to make sure they worked. He could still feel the sensation of the chaos magic sliding into his eye. But if someone was waiting for him, he didn’t want to explain what had happened yet. He didn’t even know how to explain it.
He thought about his conversation with Uru. Her Champion? What did that even mean? Was he expected to fight other Champions? Protect her land? He hadn’t even known something like that existed. It was too much for him to process, so he pushed all those questions away. He would deal with it later. Instead, he opened his log.
Once again, he compared the first timestamp to his current time and calculated he’d been dead less than 10 minutes. He ignored the timestamps and just read the text.
Materialization Sequence: Begin…
Initial Revive: False
Queue Priority: Critical
Resource Utilization: 99.59%
Materialization Sequence: …Complete
Total Elapsed Time: 299.73 seconds
Synchronization Gap: 5.89 seconds
Scanning…
Scanning Complete
Anomalies: True (Memory Substrate Contaminated)
Revival: Halted
Anomaly Alert Notification…
_Notification Override_
Anomalies => False
Revival: Restarted
Anomalies: False
Imprinting…
Imprinting Complete
Revival: Successful
Yellow notifications pulsed in the lower right of his vision, and he opened them. So many warnings appeared that they stacked on top of each other.
Warning!
Your Strength has Decreased. You are now Weak.
Warning!
Your Stamina has Decreased. You are now Sickly.
Warning!
Your Dexterity has Decreased. You are now Clumsy.
Warning!
Your Intelligence has Decreased.
Warning!
Your Wisdom has Decreased. You are now Foolish.
Warning!
Your Charisma has Decreased.
Warning!
Void Band unusable. Minimum Intelligence not met.
Ruwen accepted each notification to dismiss it. Dying permanently dropped each of his attributes by one. He had only been average in four of his six attributes, which meant this death was catastrophic. He needed to level as fast as possible to remove the penalties he’d just incurred.
His Inventory icon, the small outline of a person in the lower-right corner of his vision, had a red glow around the left wrist. Not having access to his Void Band could come in handy tomorrow morning. Big D couldn’t drag him out into the wilderness if he couldn’t use his band. But that shouldn’t be possible, the minimum Intelligence on the Void Band had been fifteen. He should still be able to use it. Something was wrong.
He opened his Profile and scanned the top of it.
Name: Ruwen Starfield
Race: Human
Age: 16
Class: Worker
Hidden Class: Root
Level: 1
Class Rank: Novice
Deaths: 2
Diety: Goddess Uru
Experience: 500/1000
Strength: 09 (08)
Stamina: 09 (08)
Dexterity: 09 (08)
Intelligence: 15 (14)
Wisdom: 09 (08)
Charisma: 11 (10)
Knowledge: 35
Health: 80/80 (Stamina*10)
Mana: 140/140 (Intelligence*10)
Energy: 160/160 (((Strength+Stamina+Dexterity)/3)*20)
“What!” he said.
Why were there two columns for his attributes? The second one showed all his attributes had decreased by two, not one. Had there been some kind of mistake? How did something like this happen? Had he died again since Tremine had stabbed him? But his Profile verified he had only died twice today
“I knew you were awake,” Hamma said.
The tabs for Abilities and Spells pulsed yellow but he ignored them for now. Instead, he closed his Profile and opened his eyes. Hamma stood over him.
“Can you read my attributes?” He asked. “Something is wrong.”
“I agree something is wrong. You. This has got to be a record for the quickest death after Ascendency. I mean you just left here a –”
His whole body ached, and he felt like puking. He put his hand on her arm. “My attributes. What do you see?”
She pulled her arm away and put her hands on her hips. “I hate being interrupted.”
Ruwen closed his eyes. He knew that. She had made a big deal about it earlier. Why didn’t he just let her finish speaking? He noticed four red squares under his resource bars. His debuffs. One of which was Foolishness from his penalty to Wisdom. He acted foolish enough on his own and didn’t need a debuff making it worse. Did this mean his decisions would be even more terrible? Uru help him.
He opened his eyes again. “I’m sorry, Hamma. My day hasn’t gone the best.”
“Obviously. Did you want to see me again that badly? You could have just come to the tea shop.”
In spite of his day, he smiled. “This seemed faster.”
She smiled back. “Well, I guess I could check since you went to all this trouble.”
Her eyes glazed for a second, and then she focused on him. “Everything is a nine except your Intelligence and Charisma. They are fifteen and eleven.”
Hamma could only see the values in the first column. Even though all Ruwen’s stats were based on the second column. Why were there hidden values? It reminded him of Uru and his Hidden Class and the dire warning it had come with. Something about the Class having a high cost. This must have been what Uru meant. Losing six points for every death was enough to keep most people away from danger and adventuring. You had to be desperate or crazy to take that risk. It appeared his Hidden Class cost him twice that penalty.
“Are you okay?” Hamma asked.
“Not really. I just need a minute.”
“Okay. I actually have never heard of anyone being resurrected twice in a day. I didn’t even think that was possible. Even our priority resurrections take a full day.”
“Thanks.”
Ruwen closed his eyes and opened his Profile. He selected the pulsing yellow Abilities tab and then read the new ability that had appeared.
Ability: Uru’s Sight
Level: 1
Class: Root
Effect: Identify members of Uru’s Hand. Caution: These hands will help, but your destiny lies in your own.
Type: Self
This must be the ability Uru had mentioned. He would be able to see a tree mark on the palm of those she had picked to aid him.
He focused on the Spells tab and immediately knew something was wrong. His level one Fireball was still listed, but it was now
greyed out. He switched to the Profile tab and then on the Root text next to his Class. The picture of the tree appeared, but only the Worker branch had color. The Mage branch was dark again like it had been before he’d chosen to be a caster. Uru had said something about not picking his second branch right away. And then he understood the balance between power and cost in his Hidden Class.
When he died, his Hidden Class reset. It looked like he’d retained what he’d learned, but it wasn’t usable unless the proper branch was active. He could literally be whatever he wanted. He was only a death away from having completely different abilities and powers. But to do that, he had to die. And the cost was almost unimaginable: twelve attribute points.
Ruwen had the urge to select Mage again. The desperate need to live his dream was almost too much to bear. Especially if he was forced to pick something else, it meant he would need to die again to become a Mage. That alone almost made him do it. But he wondered if part of that desire was the result of his debuffs. Uru had explicitly told him to wait. There was no harm in waiting a little while. Maybe he would still end up picking the Mage branch.
Hamma and others could only see the standard penalty for death in his attributes. If they could see his true values it would raise questions, which would reveal that he was different. That meant he couldn’t use his excuse with Big D tomorrow morning. To her, it would appear that he should be able to use his Void Band. Ruwen didn’t want to know what would happen if everyone asked why his band didn’t work. He needed to level and fix that issue first.
He opened his eyes.
“Big D said you guys have some sort of talk that gives 500 experience. Do you know what it is?” Ruwen asked.
Hamma’s mouth twisted for a moment. “I’m not sure. I think they do that upstairs. Let me look.”
Her eyes glazed over, and Ruwen took the opportunity to sit up. It was probably his imagination, but he felt weaker. He thought about the gilled man that had tried to kill him, and then about the man who had actually done it. Tremine had been a second father to him, why would he do that?
A notification pulsed, and he opened it.
Ting!
You have received the quest…
Fill the Tank
Uru wishes the best for her children, but her blessings have a cost. Talk with one of Uru’s servants to gain an understanding of the costs associated with your death, and how you can ease the pain and resurrection time of your next death.
Reward: The knowledge that Uru loves and cares for you.
Reward: 500 experience
Accept or Decline
“Did you get it?” Hamma asked.
He accepted the quest and nodded. “Great job. Can you help me complete it?”
“Hmmm, oh, here is the text. Okay, listen. Priests are really important. Most of us drink, and we need lots of money. Pay us, and we will hurry your resurrection along. Don’t make regular contributions, and we will let you sit in a tub, or worse, stop you from even starting the revival process. We take raw materials or money. But we prefer money. You know, for the drinking. Also, we are really important, and you should respect us. Oh, Uru’s Blessing, my child.”
A minimized notification strobed for his attention.
Ting!
You have completed the Quest – Fill the Tank.
You have received 500 experience.
You have received the knowledge that Uru loves and cares for you.
He accepted the notification, and it disappeared.
“Is that what it really said?” Ruwen asked.
Hamma laughed. “Wow, dying really did make you dumber. I might have paraphrased it a little. And skipped some parts. I think the only part that had to be said was the Uru’s blessing thing.”
“Well, thank you.”
“No problem. I didn’t know I could do that.”
Another notification pulsed in the bottom of his vision and he opened it.
Ding!
Uru’s Blessings, Worker! You have reached level 2.
You have gained +1 to Strength!
You have gained +1 to Stamina!
You have 2 unassigned points.
Uru’s Blessings, Root! You have reached level 2.
You have 2 unassigned points.
New Spells and Abilities are available to you. Choose wisely.
Ruwen slouched and rubbed his face. He’d hoped that being dual Classed would give him eight points to distribute or even more. Instead, he only got six and two of those were automatically assigned because of his Worker Class. This was terrible news. He had to level twice to just break even with the consequences of one death. It just didn’t seem worth it.
Hamma put a finger under his chin and raised his head. “What’s wrong?”
He didn’t know how to respond to her. The answer was “everything.” As she pulled her hand away, a dark mark on her palm caught his eye. He grabbed her hand and turned it upward. The tree from his conversation with Uru covered her palm.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking from his face to her hand and back to his face.
Maybe she couldn’t see it. Uru had warned him that not everyone chosen by her had been told. In fact, she said only two of the five had been activated.
Hamma pulled her hand away. “You’re acting odd. I think getting baked that fast has left you a little undercooked.”
He didn’t want to risk the consequences of revealing what she was before Uru had a chance to talk to her. He had made enough mistakes today. But he’d been staring at her for a few seconds, so he said the first thing that came to mind.
“I’m sorry, your hand felt nice, and I wanted to hold it,” Ruwen said.
Her cheeks turned red, and he opened his eyes wide. Why had he said that?
“Well, thanks, I guess,” she said.
He felt his own cheeks growing warm.
“Sister Hamma!” Brother Yull yelled.
It sounded like he was far away.
“Yes, Brother Yull?” Hamma yelled back.
“Pause all the baths. We are evacuating. Something activated the Guardians, and we are sealing the temple. Do it now, Sister!” Brother Yull said.
“Right away!” Hamma turned back to me. “Do you know anything about that?”
Ruwen had revived so fast, details of the serious battle were only now reaching the temple. He put on his most innocent expression.
“I knew it,” Hamma said. “Your corpse hasn’t even arrived yet. We don’t have any of your things.”
He remembered the terrible heat from the Guardians’ weapons and the magic the gilled man had used on him.
“Honestly, I’m not sure there’s much left.”
“Let’s get you another one of Yull’s robes and then get out of here,” Hamma said. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”
Chapter 9
Hamma left to steal another robe from Yull, and Ruwen focused on the tree in the upper-left-hand part of his vision, opening his Profile. He wanted to get rid of his debuffs. Leveling as a Worker automatically placed points in Strength and Stamina, and with just one additional point in each, he could be rid of two debuffs. If he didn’t put any extra points there, then the points already added were wasted since he’d still have the debuffs. Reluctantly, he placed another point in both Strength and Stamina.
He had two remaining points given to him from his Root class. If he wanted to avoid explaining to Big D why he couldn’t use his Void Band, he needed to add at least one point to Intelligence. He didn’t want to have that conversation, so he added the point.
That left a single point. Ruwen still had the Foolish and Clumsy debuffs. With one point he couldn’t be rid of either, so it didn’t seem like it was worth adding it there. He hated to admit it, but his Charisma falling two points made him self-conscious. Other than his jealous classmates and the unfair head priest, people tended to like him. He preferred being alone, but when he did venture out, he enjoyed the attention he got.
Now he was just average. A
dding a point to Charisma would make him look better, but more importantly, it would help him get aid from people. And if there was ever a time he needed help, it was now. A god wanted him dead. Maybe more than one. Yes, Charisma seemed like the right choice.
As he went to add his final point, the debuffs caught his attention. He hated that the icons were so visible. Was he acting Foolish? He didn’t think so, the point in Charisma would definitely help him, and he needed that. But he hesitated. Had he considered everything?
The only other place he could add a point would be his Intelligence. The thought of being dumber made him feel terrible, but in reality, at 15 points, he was already smarter than 99% of everyone he knew. It seemed senseless to add another point.
There were two things he was proud of, and they warred inside his mind: his looks and his smarts. He didn’t know what to do. He had already added a point to Intelligence, so it seemed balanced to add one to Charisma as well. But he really couldn’t afford to be vain here. He needed to do whatever would give him the best chance at surviving.
It worried him that the Foolish debuff might make him distribute his points wrong. Maybe he should talk to someone before confirming the changes. But who would that be? Even if he was more prone to make bad decisions, there were only three people he trusted to help him. But his parents were missing, and the other had just killed him. Was there another way?
He looked at the details on his Profile. How many things were affected by each attribute? Maybe that would help him decide.
Intelligence directly affected his Mana, Cleverness, and Perception. His Charisma only affected his Persuasion. And Persuasion already had a 2% boost from his Deception skill. Looking at it this way, it was clear the last point should go into Intelligence.