Origin ARS 5
By Scottie Futch
Copyright 2015 Scottie Futch
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Chapter 1
A sweet scent arose from a magnificent field of wildflowers. The bright blue sky, brilliant in its clarity. Subtle music that played gently in the background of the mind. These were all beautiful reminders of a thing that the man known as Scott Jacobs had grown to hold dear in his heart.
“Welcome to the world of ARS, dear traveler.” said a voice that had the ring of familiarity, though it had been months since last he had heard it.
Scott looked up. A warm and welcoming smile appeared when he took sight of the presence that had greeted him. “Hello Mid. It’s been a while.”
A beautiful woman of flawless complexion, alabaster skin, and jet black hair greeted him. She wore an over-sized floppy hat and the low-cut robe that one might think a traditional wielder of arcane magic might wear. Her name was Mid, sister to Origin, and the Great Sage who acted as guardian of the Field of New Beginnings.
“Dear Childe, it has been entirely too long. How are you and my little sister doing?” she asked in an overly sultry tone of voice. The slight upturn of her lips bespoke a hidden playfulness despite her austere beauty.
Her appearance was a far cry from the one that she had shown him during their first visit. His first day on ARS had been spent in the company of an ancient old woman who was a bit of a troll. Scott had not met her again until later at Victory Station where she was revealed to be the owner of a lore crystal enterprise. At that time she had been revealed to be the overly attractive woman who currently stood before him.
Scott smiled brightly. “We’re doing well. How about you?”
Mid made a rotating gesture with the head of her staff. “The world keeps on spinning.” She sighed softly then flashed him a dangerously intriguing look. “Unlike my dear little sister, I don’t have a boyfriend to do well with.”
“I’m sure that’s by choice.” said Scott. He chose not to rise to take her far too attractive bait.
Amusement danced in her eyes. “You’ve changed a little, I see. My sister is a lucky girl.”
“We both are.” agreed Scott.
"You're both lucky girls?" she asked with a playful smile.
Scott offered her a wry smile of his own, and then a nod of the head. "Sounds about right."
“Wonderful news. Will you make her an honest woman, soon?” said Mid in a tone of voice that was heavily laced with mirth and curiosity.
Scott laughed a little then nodded. “We’ve set a date, but we’re keeping it to ourselves for a while.”
Mid presented a sensual pout. “Such cruelty, must you tease me so?”
“Yes.” said Scott, his tone of voice light and amused. “Doesn’t having a little mystery in your life make you happy?”
She tilted her hat down then quirked her lips to the side. “Now I’m jealous. My little sister has a man who understands me.”
Scott nodded then made a mildly dramatic hand gesture. “Finders keepers.”
Mid laughed in such a clear and bright manner that it sounded reminiscent of music. “Goodness, you’ve become dangerous. Do let me know if my dear sister ever takes up the family tradition.”
“Of course, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.” replied Scott in an even-handed manner. The family tradition mentioned was polygamy. It took many forms. Origin's mother Era pretty much wanted to have sex with anyone who held still long enough. Shara on the other hand wanted to be with a Scott, any old Scott would do, even a fat one. But she also desired to share her chosen man with lots of nice girl friends. In short, she liked harem comedies. Mid played the field a bit, but as she spent a lot of time at the Field of New Beginnings she was often playing solo.
Origin, known as Rhea or Aria on various worlds, was a goddess of love and reincarnation. However, she was monogamous by nature. It marked her as the black sheep of the family, even if she was also the heir apparent to the gaming empire. It was even named after her when her selection as the future empress was announced.
Mid pouted again. She was quite skilled at pouting. Most men would not have stood a chance against such an expression and the desires of the one who presented it. Scott was not most men. He had already earned and known the love of two extraordinary women.
"Mid used cute pout. It was not very effective." said Scott with a laugh. Mid’s pout attack was not very effective versus the power of three-way love born between a man, a goddess, and a fairy best friend. She should have done her homework and studied the resistance charts properly.
"My goodness. Such cruelty." Her smile widened three sizes as she said it.
Scott reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s OK. You’re a beautiful person. You’ll meet the right guy and poutify him into loving you forever.”
She blinked then drew back a little. Beneath the brim of her hat, he could see a slight blush creep up onto her cheeks. Mid was not one to blush frequently. Honestly, she was a bit of a pervert. Scott’s sincere tone and mild compliments were something she was unaccustomed to from a man. It would have been easier to deal with had he said something sexual.
The sage blinked once then took a breath. Her smile returned and she placed her hand atop his. “I guess I’ll be calling you big bro soon, huh?”
“I’m pretty sure I’d be the little brother.” said Scott with a laugh. She was a few thousand years too old to be his little sister.
“But… You’re so big.” she said lightly before eyeing him up and down.
Scott shook his head. “Well, there is that.”
Mid grinned. This was fun. “Shall I become your little sister then?”
“What, don’t want me to call you big sister?” asked Scott.
The light began to dance in her eyes once more. “Dear childe… I would adore that.”
“You’re crafty, Mid.” remarked Scott. He was pretty sure that entire exchange had been designed to convince him to call her big sister.
“Well, I am good with my hands.” she agreed with a slight purr in her voice.
Scott unleashed a mirthful chuckle. “I don’t doubt that, big sister.”
She blinked twice then bit her lower lip. A joyful smile was unleashed and she moved forward to give Scott a warm hug.
He was a little uncomfortable at first, but she did not try to molest him or anything. He relaxed and waited till she was done.
“Are you certain there aren’t any more like you at home?” asked Mid in a warm tone of voice. She held him a little longer than necessary, but he did not mind. She smelled like wildflowers and was not being particularly handsy.
“You could always get together with Shara and flip through a catalog or something. You know, pick out a Scott of your own.” he said flippantly.
She chuckled sweetly then released him. “Oh my.” She placed a finger to the bottom her lip. After she thought about it for a moment she cocked her hip to the side and offered him an amused smirk. “Perhaps I’ll find a sporty model that has a lot of torque and handles dangerous curves with ease.”
“He’ll be a lucky man, Mid. I wish you both the greatest of success.” he said.
Mid glanced at him. She then looked away for a moment before she reached out and po
ked his shoulder in a strangely innocent manner. She puffed out her left cheek then made a weak hissing sound reminiscent of a small explosion. “P-ssht!”
Scott realized the truth about Mid with that one action. She was a sultry temptress. But she was also fairly shy when it came to interacting with a man outside of her immediate family who did not try to hump her leg like a dog in heat.
Mid pulled the brim of her hat down a little further than necessary then turned around and completely faced away from him. “Anyway, we should get you started on your grand journey, shouldn’t we?”
“If you’re done teasing me about my love for your sister, then sure.” He had enjoyed his chat with Mid. She was a fun girl and did not try to shove her breasts in his face. That was a strange thing to consider as a positive action, but it was something that he had found delightful about her.
A soft chuckle escaped her lips and she said, “Dear childe, I’ll never tire of that.”
Scott smiled at her back. She was a nice girl. Though, there was one thing he had to do before they continued. “Can you do me a favor first, Mid?”
“Hmm? Whatever could you want from little old me?” she asked curiously. She tilted her head back slightly and parted her lips in a mildly provocative manner and awaited his response.
“Can you say bless your heart, just once?” he asked. Her accent was odd. It seemed to shift from an American Southern accent to something that attempted the version of British English that people on TV spoke. He had never actually heard anyone from the UK who actually had sounded like that, and he had met more than a few people from that part of the world. The change over for her seemed to happen whenever she moved from casual conversation to business mode.
The effect was something like a classic Southern Belle attempting to speak with a faux-British accent. Surprisingly it did not grate on his nerves in the slightest.
Mid laughed loudly then shook her head. “Goodness. What am I, a heroine from a classic Southern movie?”
“Gone with the Mid?” asked Scott.
She laughed again then pulled her hat down lower. “Bless your heart, Scott Jacobs.”
He smiled at her. That was awesome. He always liked how a classic Southern Belle could sweetly say bless your heart like it was an insult or an obscenity. Though, he supposed the current term would be a Georgia Peach, even if he was sure that she wasn’t from Georgia.
After they finished poking fun at her accent, they made their way to a strange object. In the center of the Field of New Beginnings there was a large mirror resting atop a pedestal. Mid explained. “This is a salvation mirror. You can view your stats here.”
“I can’t just look at them normally?” asked Scott. He could not remember whether Rhea had mentioned this tidbit of information or not.
“You could in the past, but recently there have been a few updates for the sake of further realism. Some stats that were visible before are invisible now. Other stats that were invisible are now visible. A few other things have changed or have been updated as well.”
“Like what?”
“Well, now, the biggest change is that all experience is acquired under-the-hood, so to speak. So you won’t know how much experience will be needed to level a skill or what have you. You also won’t know how much you will earn.”
“So, flying blind, basically?” asked Scott.
“Yes, and no. You can still see your basic stats in mirrors like these. We intend to upgrade the system further so that eventually any reflective surface can be used.”
“That would be useful. Where do I find mirrors like this when I’m out in the world?” asked Scott.
Mid said, “They are found in every town or city with a church or shrine. Your status is not saved until you gaze into one, so no matter how many levels worth of experience you gain it won’t be permanently saved until you gaze into a salvation mirror again.”
“Wait, so leveling only sticks when I look into a mirror? What if I die before then?” asked Scott.
“Your experience since your last salvation period will be lost, even if you are resurrected. That’s the main penalty now.” said Mid.
Scott nodded. It was like an old school save system. He had to go to visit one of these mirrors regularly to make sure his progress counted. “Do I lose any saved levels if I die?”
“Only if you stay dead for more than three sun rises after you are killed. You lose all of them in that case and will have to visit me here in the field once more.” she said in a cheerful manner.
“So the three day thing is based on the number of times the sun rises in this world right?”
“Yes, it’s the best way to enforce dramatic tension as the dead won’t be able to log back in for four ARS days after their death, or until their avatar is resurrected. Even you will leave a duplicate corpse behind here when you’re booted back to Earth.”
“Damn, must be hell on solo players.” said Scott.
“Absolutely! Though, in more populated areas and common battlegrounds there are healers who specialize in finding and reviving corpses. So, it’s likely you won’t be forced to restart at level one. That counts as a reincarnation by the way.”
“Wait, it does? Isn’t it limited to three here?” asked Scott.
Mid nodded. “Yes. So, if you are killed and forced to restart three times your character will be deleted. In the case of players that means that they have to create a new avatar.”
“What about me?” asked Scott.
Mid looked to the soul mirror. “Scott, I highly suggest you don’t run out of reincarnations for now.”
“Are you…. If I have to restart more than three times I’ll die for real?” he asked.
“Yes. You aren’t actually a player. You’re considered something like an ascended local. They die and aren’t resurrected in time, they stay dead. They can reincarnate three times, but they aren’t protected by the restart system in case of death.”
She looked him in the eyes. “You die and aren’t resurrected, you restart. You’re limited to three restarts, though. You don’t have an existence outside of yourself, like a player does.”
“Probably best not to reincarnate at all then…” said Scott.
“For now, that’s best. Also, your class is set, but you can still choose a new race. You might want to consider a long-lived one even if leveling is slower.” said Mid.
“Is there no way to get more reincarnations?” he asked, nervous about the possibilities.
“Well, not easily. If you do enough work for one of the religious organizations, you can occasionally end up on quests that allow you to acquire to request a boon or a divine favor. You can save those favors up over time and trade them in for things like an extended life span, auto-resurrection, or even an extra reincarnation.”
“I assume I would have to do a lot of quests for a religious organization for either of those favors?”
“Yes. There is no doubt about that, though you at least have an easy in when it comes to that.”
“The whole champion of Origin thing?” he asked curiously.
Mid chuckled. “Why yes, exactly. My dear sister cannot show you any special favoritism of an official capacity beyond the little things that she has done, but she can certainly reward you appropriately for completing quests in her name. Even the board cannot complain about that.”
Scott nodded to her. “How likely are they to come after me?”
“At the moment they can’t really. You’re blocked from being searched out through divine magic and several other means as you originated from outside the system. They have no reason to bother you for the moment even if they could search you out, though.”
“I’m not sure that I’ve heard Rhea mention that.”
“Yeah, the only one who can really check your files in the system is Origin, though I suppose our father could order them pulled for his perusal.”
“So, they wouldn’t be able to find out where I am?” he asked.
“Well, now. It doesn
’t keep people from simply following you around physically, or tracking your movements through something like survival lore. They could also just look at Origin’s work station without her realizing it, like that silly girl Shara did.”
“Shara did that?”
“It’s how she found you originally. Clever girl.” said Mid with a chuckle.
Mention of Shara caused him to think about the sweet, but slightly crazy, youngest sister of the family. They had not heard from her since they entered hardcore training mode in preparation for leaving the casual server. He hoped that she was doing well with her community service project.
His thoughts turned back to the task at hand after a moment. “How do I choose a race?”
“Look into this mirror, it has a unique function for class and race resets. That function only exists here since this field is outside of the same time-space as ARS proper.”
Scott looked at the mirror and several options appeared on it. It took a moment to realize what he was looking at, but the interface was simple enough that he did not take long to get an idea of what needed to happen. “Will I have the same appearance on Earth as here?”
“Yes. Keep that in mind when you choose.” said Mid.
“Oh! What about on Earth? Am I restricted to three reincarnations there too?”
“No, dear childe. That is a separate system. It was lightly recoded on your behalf. Die as much as you like there.”
Scott grinned at her. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
He looked at the mirror again then sifted through the various options. There were hundreds of race options, but most of them were not compatible with a human appearance or life on Earth. He dropped the number of options to sixty-seven by removing anything that did not have a humanoid appearance. That number was cut further by focusing on races that could pass as human in public.
Of the remaining races, Scott removed anything that had an actual limit to its lifespan. All that was left for him to choose from were races such as elves, certain undead like vampires, demons, and one race that caught his attention due to its divergence from the fantasy norm.
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