"Ma'am, I've got a lot of paperwork to do. Is this about one of my soldiers or...?" asked Captain Johnson.
"It's about Scott Jacobs. I'm his fiancé." said Aria flatly.
Captain Johnson blinked. "Scott... Jacobs." He turned to his duty officer. "Hold all my calls unless it's the colonel or better."
"Yes, sir." said Lieutenant James before glancing over to the absurdly beautiful woman. She remembered Scott Jacobs as a man who was almost too pretty to be real. Now there was a woman in front of her that could easily match that if not exceed it. Where did these people come from? Where there any eligible bachelors there?
Aria followed the captain up to his office. He locked the door behind them and sat down at his desk. "How can I help you?"
"I suppose I should get directly to the point. Just to be clear, you spoke to me a few months ago when my fiancé made an offer to your government." said Aria.
"Yes, I recall. It's still hard to believe. Are you really ... You know."
Aria glanced at him then looked over at his desk lamp. "Is that special to you in any way."
"That lamp? No."
Aria pulled up a menu screen. She manipulated a few buttons and the lamp shimmered. In its place, was now a puppy.
"The... That. Did you just turn my desk lamp into a dog?" asked the man in surprise. The desk lamp dog growled cutely then wobbled around. It was a Labrador retriever pup, and quite adorable.
"Yep. So, not to be rude but can we dispense with the whole am I really a goddess thing please?" asked Aria with a warm smile.
"Fine by me. What can I do for you, Ms...?" asked the captain politely.
"Ardent. Aria Ardent is the name that I go by on Earth." she said.
"I see. So, what can I do for you Ms. Ardent?"
Aria wasted no time and began to discuss the situation. "Your superiors are not putting much effort into the offer that was made. However, Scott has received orders to report in two days. That won't be happening."
Captain Johnson rubbed his forehead then sighed. "Can you tell me why?"
"He's currently fighting hellions in an old subterranean transit authority building on the ARS classic server. Afterward he'll need to adjust to the new world-setting."
"Hellions? What are they?" asked the Captain with interest.
"A race of demonic ogre that is focused on vitality and strength. They aren't that bright in comparison to a human but they're pretty solid fighters and craftsmen. Compared to an average human if they were both at level one, they would have strength and stamina equal to your Olympic power lifters."
Captain Johnson acquired a thoughtful expression. "That world you speak of, it sounds like a fascinating place."
"It is, though most places that are different than what you are used to tend to sound fascinating." replied Aria.
He nodded slowly. "That is true, even on this world. As far as your fiancé, I don't know what I can do. If he does not report he'll be in a failure to report situation."
"I suspect the main issue is that your superiors do not believe you?" asked Aria.
"It's an exceptionally difficult thing to believe. I could not even convince the colonel to meet with Sergeant Jacobs. It's too fantastical." he said.
Aria tapped her chin for a moment. "Well, there might be a way. My father and Scott have said that I can speak on matters pertaining to this issue, especially if something came up during Scott's transition to the new server."
"What do you have in mind?"
"Simple. You have shown interest in ARS. Would you like to be one of the people who gets to go?" asked Aria.
"What? Me? I admit that I have a certain interest, but I have a lot of responsibilities here."
"So, go explore during your time off. Do you have family responsibilities that would make it difficult to train on the weekends?" asked Aria.
"Ah, no. I've never found the time, really. I suppose you could say the army is my wife." said the man in a tone that bespoke a hidden sadness, but also a little humorous self-deprecation.
"In order to accommodate Scott the time difference was set to a four-to-one ratio. Weekend training would give you a week at a time to explore if nothing else."
Captain Johnson acquired the expression of a man who was both hesitant and intrigued. "I would be able to transport back and forth at will?"
"Yes, though if you are killed you will be stuck here for twenty-four hours. If you die on Earth, though, you won't respawn. We can't allow everyone who might cross over to ARS to have infinite respawns on Earth." she said.
He rubbed his chin. "Ma'am you make quite a case, and it is true that if I could show my colonel first hand, he could move things along."
Aria reached out and took the puppy into her arms. It growled and snuggled close to her. "You should know something. Your government wasted so much time that Scott realized that he did not want people with heavy destructive powers running around Earth, so the classes will be restricted a bit."
"Ah, I see. That is unfortunate."
"Yes, but he also realized something else. Allowing only America to have super human soldiers could be highly damaging to the world. So, every country will be allowed to have a few."
"Wait! That! We can't allow that!" exclaimed Captain Johnson. "Can you imagine the problems if some countries had super human soldiers? Even most of the first world countries would be tempted to do terrible things with that kind of power and we have stable governments!"
"Yes, but the thing is that it really isn't a decision any mortal government gets to make. Scott could just call it off altogether. He is only offering this at all because he feels that he could use a little help in safe-guarding ARS in the future. It's not like you could imprison him or even execute him and make it count."
"Dammit... This. Is there any way that you can change your mind? At least keep this away from countries that have a lot of armed infighting?"
"We can do that. Honestly, he would probably prefer that countries that allow unsavory things like slavery and such not be allowed to participate."
Captain Johnson calmed himself a little after hearing that. This was a great opportunity for America, and Earth in general. He could not speak for his superiors or the army in general, but they would be fools to let this chance slip away.
"You said that the classes are going to be restricted now? By classes, you mean like classes in a video game right?" he asked.
Aria smiled at him. "That is more or less correct. Most of what he authorized were ones that allow for physical abilities and healing powers. Much like your reluctance toward the idea of every country in the world acquiring super soldiers, he realized that allowing most countries to have mages and sorcerers could be disastrous."
"Well, that makes sense, but Healing powers are allowed? Those could be incredibly useful. They will work here as well as there?" asked Captain Johnson.
"All skills will work. That's the reason for the new limitations." said Aria.
Captain Johnson nodded slowly. "If I go, I can go back and forth at will, correct?"
Aria smiled brightly. She had him now. This little meeting had proved to be quite fruitful, and it would solve a lot of issues. She could just feel it. The puppy licked her face a little and she rubbed the back of his adorable little head. The only problem left unresolved was what she should do with the little guy now that he existed.
~*~
Blood, bright red blood, not only does it make the green grass grow but it also splatters in a disturbing arc when mortal flesh is torn asunder. Scott knew this effect keenly as he once again felt the terrible bite of an axe against his chest.
He fell hard to the floor and began to bleed out rapidly. He could see his severed arm several feet away from where he weakly struggled to maintain his existence. The massive axe blade fell downward once more and then he knew nothing for a time.
An unknown amount of time later, Scott awoke in the safe room. He growled in frustration at his latest death. His plan had gone so well until
he had turned that last corner too short and tripped over his own feet. It was a stupid way to have his life end. After all of the times that he had navigated that short set of hallways, it had taken only one mishap to give the greatsword wielding hellion the chance he needed to take the sorcerer down. What was worse, after that the monster locations had reset. He had died four times since then due to the randomized layout and roaming hellions.
"This has to stop. There must be a way to get an edge in these fights, dammit!" snapped the naked man. He had reached level two earlier, but that did him little good if he could not even reach his damned corpse to reclaim his gear.
His lack of equipment had been a serious issue during the last two battles. His corpse thankfully remained unmolested due to the fact that this was a tutorial dungeon, but that was cold comfort when he was brutally slaughtered every time he got close to it.
Scott frowned and then leaned back against the wall and sighed. What could he do? His attack range was limited by his body. Even if he had his pistols they were out of ammo and did little damage to the hellions anyway. If he had any sorcery to use then he could conceivably have a chance, but all he had to work with were weak elemental powers that were more for utility than combat.
He thought about his magic for a moment. He existed in a place where he could heal rapidly. Even if he was killed a few times all he had to do was keep going out there again until he found a situation that he could handle. "This would be a perfect time to train my magic further..."
The twilight sorcerer closed his eyes and thought about the situation. His sorcery skill level was low, but his stats were roughly those of someone who had reached a level between twenty and thirty. Theoretically, he should at least be able to create a combat grade spell. He could use three spells at level one in the casual server. Scott had tried to mimic them through training and development, but he could not quite figure it out while he was in the Field of New Beginnings.
He rubbed his chin. "The old saying about every journey beginning with a single step... Maybe I'm trying to do too much?"
Scott opened his eyes. "Maybe..."
A thought occurred to him. It was something that had crossed his mind briefly before, but he had not really been pushed to try and develop that line of thought since his head would not stop pounding at the time. "Step-by-step..."
He stood up and moved to the center of the room. Practice would make perfect. For now he would ignore the hellions and work on his magical skills. He had all the time in the world.
Scott focused on his breathing for a moment then began to focus on his [Stable Orb of Brilliance]. For now he would repeatedly cast the two spells that he had created that did not require a secondary target until his mana ran out. Afterward he would rest.
He gestured with his palms and called out, "Stable Orb of Brilliance!" The orb of brilliantly shining light appeared directly above his head and greatly brightened the room. He immediately shifted his thought processes and focused on the Earth elemental spell that he had decided should be called Stone Skin out of a sense of tradition.
As he concentrated on the slightly more difficult power, his body began to glow with a soft green light. After a moment he called out the name of the spell and a sheen of light green could be seen softly shimmering against his skin.
The stone skin spell ran out after only twenty seconds, so he went through the process of casting it again. He continued to do that. Several minutes later his orb ran out of power so he started the process of casting it again. At that point he felt exhausted. Even with his enhanced mana due to reincarnation, he had not developed his spells to the point that they were energy efficient.
Casting them through the system in the manner that he was currently using did not allow him to make the spells more efficient, but it did allow him to practice quickly casting his spells. It was important for various reasons.
Scott took a nap and then repeated this process. He did this over two dozen times before he checked the mirror. He had not increased his combat skills at all since gaining his next level, but after constant usage of his magic he had managed to increase his twilight sorcery and primary magic skills to six.
"I had to cast my spells a few hundred times to reach this point. This is definitely going to take a while." said Scott.
Still, he had nothing but time. He had to see if increasing his skill level in magic would allow him to create new spells. At the very least he wanted to get those skills to level ten while he was here. Thus began a lengthy period of training his magic. He awoke from his nap fully refreshed, and spent his time casting his spells until his mana was as empty as it could possibly be.
The process continued for one hundred rotations, it was a decision that Scott had decided upon due to how many runs he had been forced to make just to increase his skill level to six. Whenever he completed ten rotations he would check the mirror.
"Well over a thousand casts of my spells and I only gained one skill level." remarked Scott. Had he been out in the world, it would have taken days, perhaps weeks to achieve this level of growth unless he chose to spend a small fortune on mana restoratives.
He rubbed his chin. At this point he was dying to go out and fight again. He had been cooped up in this room for what had to be at least one or two days of repetitive non-stop training.
"Fuck it. This is more important than my boredom." Scott sighed loudly then nodded. He got back to work.
He checked the salvation mirror thirty rotations later and he was happy to see that he had finally increased his magical skills to level eight. "Man, no wonder people level their class then back train their skills."
Scott did feel fortunate in many respects, however. He had never once needed to use the bathroom, and felt neither hungry nor thirsty. He suspected that sleeping on the cot had a lot to do with those effects.
Tirelessly, the twilight master spent his time grinding his skills. It took nearly another four hundred rotations to get his skills to level ten. He had cast the same two spells thousands of times. It was a feat that might have taken months on ARS, and did take several days of mind-numbing dedication in the hellion dungeon. Mid had not been kidding when she had claimed that it took a lot of time and effort to train past three skill levels per class level.
"Finally." said Scott. He had reached level ten in both arcane mastery and twilight sorcery. The mirror also showed another interesting thing. "I can choose specializations!"
Scott tapped the twilight sorcery skill and saw a short list. There were six items listed.
[Special Options]
Elemental Lightning Mastery I
Elemental Earth Mastery I
Elemental Water Mastery I
Elemental Fire Mastery I
Elemental Wind Mastery I
Celestial Mastery I
[—]
After checking through the selections his eyes lit up. "This... This is what I was waiting for!"
Each of the masteries would allow him to improve his overall ability to develop and utilize that specific element. His general twilight sorcery skill would improve all elemental masteries by a small amount, but these individual specializations would improve a specific elemental mastery further. They also increased magical defense against that element slightly.
"It would be easier to develop one of the five basic elements, but celestial mastery..." Scott felt a strong pull toward that specialization. From what Mid had said, few classes or races had access to direct training opportunities for that sort of magic. If nothing else a slightly higher defense against it would be a good idea since it bypasses normal elemental and magical resistances. Scott chose to specialize in celestial mastery.
[Specialization: Celestial Mastery]
Through tireless work in the development of your magical might and your racial connections to the power of the celestial bodies you have unlocked your hidden potential for the mastery of celestial energy.
Your ability to develop celestial spells has slightly increased.
/> Your defense against celestial energy has minutely increased.
Your celestial spells will require slightly less mana to develop and utilize.
You have obtained the basic celestial spell pattern [Radiant Starlight]
[—]
"A spell pattern?" That sounded promising! His biggest problem when it came to spell development was that he was uncertain how any of it actually worked. He had stumbled across the three spells that he had learned, but without an actual magic tutor he was lost. He understood intuitively why master mages were depicted as studying for a life time to create powerful spells.
He could feel the knowledge of the pattern unfolding within his mind. It also appeared on the mirror under a new subject heading [Spell Patterns].
[Celestial Spell Patterns]
Radiant Starlight
A spell pattern designed to generate an energetic phenomenon that spreads outward in all directions starting from a singular point.
Minimum Creation Requirements: 2 Mana threads, 4 Celestial Mana threads, Attunement 40
Process: The pattern is created by utilizing two threads of mana in a cross pattern. While holding these threads of mana, draw celestial mana to the convergence point at the center of the cross from four directions that bisect the right angles created by the cross. Once the threads are tied, draw the energy into a tight sphere at the center.
The sphere created will begin to radiate a steady flow of celestial energy in an omni-directional manner and will continue to do so for the duration of the applied spell.
Application: This pattern is best applied to area of effect spells and used in conjunction with other elemental forces that emit a radiant effect.
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