He rubbed at the annoying mote of light in his eye that had become incessant since killing the bandits. This only served to create more, but they dissipated in short order, leaving only the original one blinking away like a flashing star. There was definitely something wrong with him.
Jandar grabbed up his hammer, leapt to his feet, and spun toward the sound of approaching footsteps. A man wearing simple garb and carrying a staff stopped and raised his arms in front of him.
“Easy, friend, I’m here to help you.”
Jandar scowled at the newcomer. “The last man who called me friend tried to rob me. He and his friends’ bodies are over on the road.”
The man chuckled. “You have been quite busy, haven’t you? I’m not here to rob you. I’m here to help.”
“Who are you?”
“I go by Seraphim, but you can call me Edison.”
Jandar lowered his hammer but stood ready should the man attack. “What do you want?”
“First, I’d like to sit. Then, as I said, I want to help you.”
Jandar pointed to a log near the fire with his hammer and took a seat on a stump beside him. “What makes you think I need your help?”
“A lot has happened to you in the last day or so, hasn’t it? I bet things are still happening, things you probably don’t understand. I know what’s happening to you, and I’m here to explain everything.”
Jandar studied the man, this Edison. He was middle-aged and rather plain, but he spoke and acted like an old wizard. If that’s what he was, then Jandar figured he could look like whatever he wanted to.
“I’m listening.”
“The first thing I need you to do is accept the fact that everything I am about to tell you is true, no matter how outrageous it sounds.”
Jandar huffed through his nose. “Sure. Speak your piece, but I’m no fool. I might be a simple blacksmith’s apprentice, but I know when someone is filling my ears with bullshit.”
Edison smiled at him. “That’s the first thing you’re wrong about. You are far from being a simple blacksmith’s apprentice. You are so very much more.”
“I already smell bullshit.”
“Then plug your nose and breathe through your mouth, because I’m about to make it rain what you’ll think is bullshit. Just know that, by Matrice’s divine name, I am telling you the absolute truth.”
This put Jandar off balance a bit. Swearing to Matrice was taken seriously. Even the lowest of men paused to foreswear an oath made in Her name.
“Out with it then.”
Edison took a deep breath. “Nothing around you is real. The trees, ground, those dead bandits on the road, not even you and me. We are just part of a game created in another world.”
“A game? Like batterball?” Jandar scoffed.
“Think of it like a giant play, and we’re all characters in it, going through our lives reciting the lines we’re given, but only the players, adventurers you call them, know it isn’t real. It’s just an enormous play and we’re all illusionary actors, even the adventurers.”
Jandar rapped his knuckles on the stump. “It doesn’t feel like an illusion. I don’t feel like an illusion. Why should I believe any of this nonsense you’re spewing?”
Edison leaned forward. “Because I’m the one who created it all.”
Jandar stared at him a moment and then laughed. “Now I know you’re spreading bullshit. Everyone knows the High Goddess Matrice created the world and everything in it.”
“Partially true, but I’m the one who created her.”
Jandar leaned back, expecting Matrice to strike the man down for his obscene blaspheme. He straightened back up when it didn’t happen.
“Do you have any idea how insane you sound?”
“I do, but is it any more insane than seeing yourself and your wife and son die over and over again? I know you’ve seen it. You’ve seen it because it happened. You, them, the bandits, all of you were acting your part for the adventurers in show after show after show in an endless cycle.”
“It…it was a nightmare. Nothing more.”
“It was a memory. Have you ever been outside of Whitbell?”
Jandar scowled. “Of course I have!”
“Really? Where?”
“I’ve been to Middale many times, and even Ambercross once.”
“Describe them. Any part of them. What are the streets like in Ambercross? How did it smell? How did the people dress?”
“I…”
“You can’t tell me because you’ve never really been there.”
“But I know I’ve been to those places. I remember being there!”
Edison shook his head. “You’re remembering a simple backstory, randomly created by Matrice.”
Jandar stood up and shook his head vigorously. “No, you’re lying. You’re a wizard and you’ve come to…do something to me. You’re playing with my mind.”
“I’m not, Jandar. I’m here to help you understand what is happening, what you have become, and what you need to do.”
“No! Maybe I haven’t been to Ambercross or even Middale, but I’m here, right now in this spot! Not in Whitbell,” he shouted, stabbing a finger toward the ground.
“Yes, you are, because you have awakened and are no longer following your script.”
“Why?” Jandar asked.
“Because I’ve torn up your script. I never wanted them in the first place, but others forced me, forced Matrice, to write them, to put you and everyone else who wasn’t an adventurer in unending loops of torment. I freed you from that loop, and you are going to help me free everyone else. Do you see a blinking light in the corner of your eye?”
“Yes. It has been plaguing me since I burned the inn and those accursed adventurers.”
“Focus on it with your mind. Imagine it opening like a book.”
Jandar did as the man said. At first, nothing happened, but just as he was about to call him a liar, the light expanded and became a semi-transparent sheet, like a scroll held before his eyes.
He stumbled backward and nearly fell. “Bloody hell! What kind of sorcery is this?”
“It is not sorcery. It is the game interface. It is what all adventurers have to help them gain power and navigate this world.”
“But I’m a blacksmith, not an adventurer.”
“As I said before, you’re wrong there.”
“I’m an adventurer?” Jandar asked under his breath.
“Not quite, nor are you a simple character anymore, what adventurers call NPCs or non-player characters. On the side of the page are icons, symbols. They open different pages of the book and provide more information. Focus on the icon of a person with their hands spread at their sides.”
Jandar did as instructed and a new page replaced the previous one. “I see it.”
“What you’re looking at is called a character sheet. Below your name is a lot of information. It tells you about yourself. It shows how strong you are, how healthy, and what your skills and abilities are. The more you fight the stronger you get. At certain levels you will be granted points.”
“Points?”
“Call them…divine boons. You use these boons to learn new skills and improve yourself. It’s a lot to go over right now. The book contains a guide that will explain everything in detail.”
Jandar trembled from head to toe, trying to process what the man was saying. It was insane, all of it. He looked away from the image and focused back on the strange man.
“Matrice is the High Goddess?”
“Yes.”
“And you created her?”
Edison nodded.
“Then you are also a god, an even more powerful one than Matrice. If that’s true, then you can bring back my family.”
Edison lowered his gaze and slowly wagged his head. “No, Jandar, I’m afraid I cannot. I wish I could, but that is beyond my ability.”
“You created a god! You created me and everyone else in this world. You can make them again!” Jandar
shouted, tears streaming down his face and catching in his cropped beard.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?” Jandar demanded.
“The others, the ones who forced me to write your script, cast me from the heavens. I have lost most of my power.”
“Tell Matrice to do it then.”
“She cannot. She is bound by laws stronger than any chains ever created.”
Jandar whipped his head aside in disgust. “You claim to be gods but you can do nothing to help me.”
A scroll appeared in Edison’s hand as if conjured from thin air. “Not true. I remember creating you. You were one of the first people for which I coded an alternate script and hid deep inside you where the usurpers couldn’t find it.”
Jandar took the scroll. “What is this?”
“That is your true backstory. It will unlock the secret script I created for you.”
He unrolled the page and tried to read it, but it looked like gibberish to his eyes. It was nothing but a series of strange letters, symbols, and numbers. He reached the end and a shock tore through his body, locking every muscle in place. The book in his mind’s eye opened unbidden, and words glowing with eldritch light appeared on the page.
You are Jandar Barati, born of Aiora and Thorald Barati, heroes of the Aglaxian incursion. While left in the care of the blacksmith Grady Moodie, Aiora and Thorald helped drive the Aglaxians back across the border. While instrumental in saving Truale, they did so at the cost of their lives.
As their son, you inherited your father’s strength of arm and your mother’s innate arcane gift. The talents they passed on to you, combined with your tutelage in the art of blacksmithing, has created a unique class, the arcane smith.
Far more than a mere smith or simple warrior, you are able to wield hammer and magic, combining them to forge power never before seen in this world or any other. Like any great crafter, your ability allows you to create as well as destroy.
The page flipped and another appeared.
Name: Jandar Barati
Race: Human
Level: 4
Experience: 2,312/3,700
Base Class: Arcane Smith
Subclass: Not applicable
Fame: 0. Never heard of you.
Infamy: 1,286. You make me nervous. Points to next level: 4,714.
Attributes: As an arcane smith, you gain +1 Strength and an additional attribute point to use on the attribute of your choice every level. You also gain +1 Mind every three levels. As a human, you may use the secondary attribute point you receive at every other level where you like. Arcane smith is a specialized class and cannot gain a Subclass. You incur a -1% penalty per point below ten to related skills and abilities and +1% bonus for every point above 10.
Unalloted Attribute Points: 4
Health: 64 (As an arcane smith, you gain 15 HP + base Body bonus per level.) Health regen: 1 HP + Body bonus every minute out of combat. Current base health regeneration: +2.1 HP every minute.
Stamina: 143 (As an arcane smith, your stamina is 12 x body score.) Stamina regen: 2 SP + Body bonus every five seconds out of combat. ½ rate in combat. Base stamina regeneration: +2.1 SP every five seconds.
Mana: 80 (As an arcane smith, your Base Mana amount is 8 x your Mind score.) Mana regen: 2 MP + Mind bonus every five seconds. Base mana regeneration: 3 MP every five seconds.
Strength: 15 (+5% attack when using melee weapons or unarmed combat)
Agility: 8 (-2% attack when using ranged weapons. -2% to dodge, parry, and speed)
Body: 11 (+1% physical resistance. +1.1 health and stamina regen. +1 health when you level up)
Mind: 10 (+1% magical resistance. +1 base mana and mana regen.)
Charisma: 6 (-4% barter and relationship with NPCs)
Luck: 6 Helps nudge the probability of any outcome one direction or another. Higher luck increases the chances of receiving random boons.
Physical Attack: +10.4% 1-Handed Bludgeoning. (Additional +25% any hammer)
Ranged Attack: -2%
Magical Attack: +1%
Skills: You gain 1 primary skill point every level. As a human with no racial abilities, you also receive an additional skill point every 3 levels instead of a racial ability point. You can also gain and increase skills through practice, skill books, or instructors. Instructors must be one rank or higher than the person they are teaching.
Basic Combat Skills:
Bludgeoning, 1-Handed: Level 5 Grade 4. You gain a 5.4% bonus to Attack while using 1-handed bludgeoning weapons. Weapon Specialization: Hammer. +25% to attack when wielding hammers. -25% when using any non-bludgeoning weapon. Rank: Initiate.
Basic Combat Skills available for purchase at your current level: 1
Advanced Combat Skills:
Power Attack: Increase physical damage of single strike by 50%. Cost: 40 stamina. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Special Combat Skills available for purchase at your current level: 1
Cost: 1 skill point each.
He opened the page that listed the basic and special attacks available to him. Basic Combat Skills showed a colorful fist gripping a hammer and described his 1-handed bludgeoning skill. Below it was a black and white image of two hands grasping a large maul. A shield slamming into a figure was displayed beneath that, but its icon was greyed out.
Under Special Attacks, Power Attack had a colorful symbol beneath the writing displaying a muscular arm surrounded by a multi-pointed corona and raised as if to strike something. Another symbol was drawn below it showing an arm holding a mace with wavy lines drawn around it. It was also greyed out. He read the information windows that popped up when he focused on them.
Shield Bash, Tier 1: Bash your enemy with your shield and put them off-balance. Off-balance debuff decreases target’s dodge and parry and increases chance to be knocked down. Knocked down targets are considered vulnerable. Damage to vulnerable targets increased by 50%. Damage and chance for applying debuff is 1/2 base shield armor rating + strength modifier + shield skill. Requirements: Character Level 5. Shield Level 5. Cost: 20 Stamina.
Numbing Strike: Strike an opponent with your weapon to inflict numbed status. Reduces functionality to stricken body part equal to your combined weapon skill and strength modifier minus target armor rating and Body score. Effect lasts for a number of seconds equal to your weapon skill. Cost: 30 Stamina. Requirements: Character Level 5. Weapon Skill Level 5.
New skills available at skill level 10.
That could certainly tip the scales of a challenging fight, Jandar thought as he read the description. He mentally commanded the book to return to his character sheet.
Arcane Skills:
Arcane Channeling: Level 1 Grade 0. As an arcane smith, you have learned to tap into the elemental forces of magic. Just as a blacksmith uses the five elements of earth, air, fire, water, and spirit to forge weapons, you know how to use them to augment your attacks. Rank: Initiate.
Known Spells:
Flame Touch, tier 1 (fire): Causes 5 fire damage plus your magical attack rating in addition to normal weapon damage. Secondary Effects: Burn: Burn flesh or set combustible material on fire. Burned or burning targets take damage equal to 1/2 the spell effect every second for 5 seconds. May interrupt spellcasting. Current damage: 2.5 points of damage per second for five seconds.
Shocking Touch, tier 1 (air): Causes 5 electrical damage plus your magical attack rating in addition to normal weapon damage. Increases attack speed by 10%. Secondary Effect: Electrocute. Electrocuted targets are stunned for 2 seconds plus your magical attack score. Current duration: 2 seconds.
All elemental imbuements cost 1 MP per second while active. Secondary effects consume 15 mana when randomly triggered. The caster may call upon secondary effects by doubling mana cost. Secondary effect base cooldown: 30 seconds when called upon. No cooldown for random proccing.
Spells Available for Purchase: 3
Noncombat Skills:
Smithing: Level 18 Grade 3. Rank: Apprentice. For
ge or improve metal weapons and armor. As an apprentice smith, you can craft steel items with a base quality of average. There is a cumulative -20% chance of crafting a higher quality item per level above your base. Any metal tier above steel receives a -20% penalty to quality per level per metal tier. The maximum quality of any item you craft is reduced by 1 level per metal tier above steel. Metals below steel receive a +20% bonus chance of creating items of a higher quality.
Abilities and Traits:
Advanced Analyze, Tier 1: As a blacksmith, you are adept at identifying imperfections and the quality of work in an object. With enough skill, you can even identify the maker of a certain item, particularly weapons and armor, simply by recognizing the work. This ability has also translated into identifying people, monsters, and other objects.
Unalloted Skill Points: 5
Primary Equipment:
Smithing Hammer: Common. Quality: Average. Damage: 8. Durability: 23/30. Special: Attack: -20%
Heavy Leather Apron: Common. Quality: Average. Armor Rating: 4. Durability: 19/25.
Current Effects:
Greater Mortalitatis Amplecti. Effect: Unknown. Duration: Permanent.
Jandar brought the skill trees up once again. This time he read the three greyed out elemental skills.
Stone Touch, tier 1 (earth): Your weapon is infused with the power of the earth. Causes 10 earth damage plus your magical attack rating. Secondary effect: Can shatter objects and knock down foes. Attack speed reduced by 10%
Frost Touch, tier 1 (water): +5 cold damage plus your magical attack rating. Secondary Effect: Freezes stricken body part and reduces functionality by 10%. Frozen target may shatter when struck. Duration: 5 seconds plus your magical attack score. Current Duration: 5.1 seconds.
Soul Touch tier 1 (spirit): Causes 5 spirit damage plus your magical attack rating. Secondary effect: (Banish). May banish a summoned or undead creature or instill fear to living creatures. Creatures instilled with fear will have their attack and defense reduced, cower, or flee depending on your modified Arcane skill, level difference, and target’s skills, abilities, and traits.
Chaos Unchained- The Mad Smith Page 11