Origin ARS 4 (24 page)

Ero laughed softly. “So, am I the left arm or the right one?”

Rhea smiled gently down at the laughing fairy. A sudden urge manifested within her. It would be so easy to just close her hands right now, close them and squeeze real tight. The impulse passed and she immediately felt bad about the thought.

Ero was a sweet girl. Things would work out. They would. She would just have to learn to share. The urge to close her hands reappeared. She laughed at a joke that Ero made and the urge passed. Everything would be alright. She could do this. She could accept this.

The fairy girl laughed loudly. “Rhea! You’re being so rough.”

“Huh?” asked Rhea.

“Your thumb is pressing down a little hard.” said Ero with a giggle. “The baby’s not ready to pop out, yet.”

“Oh, was I?” Rhea released Ero from the thumb of death and smiled gently. “Sorry. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I know.” said Ero sweetly. She looked into Rhea’s eyes and her expression shifted slightly. Ero knew exactly what Rhea had really meant. “I love you Rhea.”

Rhea inclined her head then smiled warmly at the fairy girl. “Love you too, Ero.”

“What, no love for me?” asked Scott in a faux-hurt tone of voice.

“It’s not always about you, Scott.” said Ero with a laugh. “We can be
crazy
about each other, too.”

“Yeah, Scott. Listen to the
mother of your child
.” said Rhea sweetly.

Ero grinned at Rhea, and the elf girl maintained her sweet smile while looking down at the fairy. Scott said, “It’s good to see you girls getting along so well.”

Rhea and Ero both laughed simultaneously while not looking away from each other. Scott could not help but laugh as well. He was so glad that being with the girls was so easy and carefree. He was so tired of dealing with complication relationships.

Chapter 18: Dude. I Know.

A triumphant shout split the heavens and then echoed throughout the Northern Mountain region. Scott basked in the glow of realization and smiled joyfully. A long awaited moment had come to pass.

“Congratulations!” exclaimed Rhea. She smiled warmly at him and reached out to take his hands.

“Yeah! Good job, Scott.” said Ero before she fluttered down and sat on his shoulder.

Scott inhaled languidly then released a sigh of contentment before he thanked the girls. “I almost believed it would never happen. We’ve been here for the better part of a month.

Rhea laughed. “Yeah, but you finally reached level one hundred.”

Scott grinned at her. “Yeah, it was a lot of work, but we’re almost ready now. Aren’t we?”

Ero threw her hands in the air. “Yes! I’m ninety-seven, so almost there.”

Rhea smiled at Ero. “Yep, much closer than I am.”

“How long do you think it will take to get the other twenty-eight levels?” asked Scott.

The elf maiden acquired a thoughtful look. “If we hunted here, probably another two months, maybe as many as three.”

“Is there a better place?” he asked.

Rhea nodded then shared a toothy grin. “Yes, actually. The place we need to go for you to start your class-promotion quest.”

“You can hunt there? Why didn’t we just go there?” A few of the items that she had stashed in her item cache had been experience and ability point modifier items. She wore most of them due to her extreme experience needs, but he had inherited two that more than doubled his own experience gains. Using those items they would have easily cut their leveling time by at least a week.

“You would have died horribly. Even with the gear I gave you, you’re only now on a level where it is possible to survive there. All of the monsters are tier-two, since they are above level 100.”

“Tier-two…” Scott thought back to the first boss fight that he’d ever experienced. The grass rat overlord had only been a few levels higher than he was, but it was a tier-two monster. Compared to a normal grass rat, that thing had been god-like. He could barely injure it save for sending attacks straight down its gullet. If not for being an overlord, it would have probably been half as strong, but that would have still been a hellish fight.

Rhea squeezed his hands tightly. “With the equipment I gave you, it will be like you’ve gone through a few reincarnations. It should be enough. Be careful though, alright? If you die and lose a level, you’ll have to regain it before you can go on the quest.”

“Would there be a problem with gaining a couple of buffer levels?” asked Scott.

“Not at all, the quest only takes about a day. If you want, we can just train together till Ero and I are ready. You should probably gain at least two or three levels in the process.”

“Only two or three?” he asked.

“The experience that you need to level-up grows at certain intervals. You should check that.” said Rhea.

Scott nodded. “Yeah, I’m curious about my base stats anyway.”

He unequipped all of his gear and stood before them wearing nothing but his boxer briefs. A whistle from Rhea caused him to snort. “Lustful woman.”

“Yep.” she replied with a smile.

Scott opened up his status screen to see what his base stats were like. He had not done so since acquiring his new items. He wanted to see the clear difference.

[
Status
]

Name:
Scott Jacobs |
Class:
Sorcerer |
Race:
Human

Title:
The Unbreakable Burning Terror

Age:
18 |
Level:
100

EXP:
26,427,800

Next Level:
996,700

Ability Points:
43,437

Health:
750[750] |
Mana:
711[711]

Attack:
597[2657] |
Defense:
542[3250]

Strength:
515[515] |
Agility:
677[677] |
Accuracy:
404[404]

Intellect:
681[681] |
Luck:
236[236]

[--]

The level-up modifiers for his stats had been taken as soon as possible at each new interval. The end result was a drastic change in his overall power. He had only expended his ability points to accept new abilities otherwise.

“Holy shit.” said Scott. “This is a lot different than two weeks ago.”

“Yeah, go ahead and use your ability points as much as possible and see the difference there too. You shouldn’t have too many actual spells or abilities to learn, but you’ll see a few substantial bonuses.” Said Rhea.

“Hey, yeah. Can’t take them with me since the other server doesn’t use ability points…” said Scott.

He checked his skills and abilities that could be purchased then blinked. “Damn.”

He only had five spells available, each required five thousand ability points. It took a large chunk of his ability points, but he now had the five level six spells available to him. He could not acquire level seven spells through leveling, but those spells would travel with him to the new server.

Traveling to the new server with knowledge of those spells would constitute a definite bonus since magic was not level-locked on the classic server. He would not be able to use them easily due to the time it would take to charge them up with the stat limitations he would have at first, though. Plus he had been told that magic worked a bit differently there. It was supposed to be more hands-on.

The few physical abilities that he had available included no special attacks or skills. There was an upgrade for his path of balance, but beyond that everything else was related to passive abilities. Scott’s eyes widened when he saw two of the available ones.

He immediately spent all the points necessary to acquire the abilities available then checked his stats once more to see the difference.

[
Status
]

Name:
Scott Jacobs |
Class:
Sorcerer |
Race:
Human

Title:
The Unbreakable Burning Terror

Age:
18 |
Level:
100

EXP:
26,427,800

Next Level:
996,700

Ability Points:
7187

Health:
1150[1150] |
Mana:
1111[1111]

Attack:
657[3432] |
Defense:
592[4177]

Strength:
555[555] |
Agility:
717[717] |
Accuracy:
424[424]

Intellect:
721[721] |
Luck:
236[236]

[--]

“My stats are just ridiculous compared to when I was level one.” said Scott. Why would they even need to go to level four hundred or higher in a world like this? He was capable of literally doing a thousand times more attack damage, wearing nothing but his underwear, compared to when he was level one. His strength was well over one hundred times greater. Hell he could probably pick up and throw average sized automobiles with only a little effort.

It was no wonder that normal exercise did little for the body in this world due to the effects of leveling and ability point acquisition. Technique could be developed through training and repetition but not much else. In only a few short months of leveling he had gone from reasonably average to some sort of nigh-immortal super human.

“True, though you’re still not on my level.” said Rhea sweetly.

“Barely…” said Scott.

“Let me gain another twenty-eight levels.” replied the elf maiden. The difference between a multi-reincarnate player and a first timer was quite staggering when on equal levels. It was even more so when a human was compared to an elf. By the time an elf normally reached level one hundred, they would have had many more ability points to spend.

“You should be banned from leveling till I reincarnate fifty more times.” said Scott.

She laughed lightly then shook her head. “Maybe, but who has the time for that?”

Ero giggled at Rhea. Both fairy and elf shared a smile. Whatever their issues, they at least found teasing Scott to be acceptable common ground. It had been a mildly strained but mutually rewarding relationship during the last few weeks.

“So, this is where you’ve all been!” exclaimed a familiar feminine voice.

“Sharde?” asked Scott in surprise. They had not seen her in a while despite the fact that her community service had recently ended.

Sharde pounced on Scott and gave him an overly affectionate hug. “Oh. How I’ve missed you sister.”

“Really? I’m over here, you know.” said Rhea in a flat tone of voice.

Sharde nuzzled against Scott even more and nodded against his chest. “Yes, it’s so good to see you!”

Scott rolled his eyes then patted the affectionate girl on the head. “There, there.”

“Mmhmm. Right there.” said Sharde sweetly.

Her aggressive cuddling caused Ero to lose her balance, or so it seemed. The fairy fell off Scott’s shoulder then fluttered up and over to Rhea. “Hey! Careful. I’m delicate right now.”

Rhea crossed her arms over her chest. “Shara, it’s good to see you, but…”

Sharde sighed loudly. “I know. I know. Get my hands off your man-candy.”

Ero mimicked Rhea by crossing her arms over her chest, but then tilted her head to the side. “Yeah, get your hands off our baby daddy.”

Sharde began to tremble then laughed a little. “Your what?”

She released Scott then turned to Ero with a grin. What game were they playing now? She had only been gone for twenty years, or two weeks depending on who you asked. Surely their relationship had not moved forward that much. They clearly existed within a romantic comedy paradigm. Nothing ever moved forward that quickly in a romantic comedy setting!

Ero patted her tummy then blushed cutely. Rhea sighed loudly then looked to the side.

Sharde blinked at them both then slowly turned back to look at Scott. He winced slightly then shrugged. “Surprise?”

Sharde’s eyelid twitched for a moment and then her ponytail flew straight up in the air. “No way!”

“Yes. Ero may be pregnant.” said Rhea softly.

Sharde turned back to her sister and saw the look on her face. “Origin…”

Ero fluttered over and lightly put her hand on Rhea’s shoulder in an attempt at solidarity. Rhea’s hand moved over to cover the tiny appendage in an act of acceptance.

Sharde looked back and forth between the other three people, admittedly she spent more time gawking at Scott in his underwear, and then her ponytail slowly dropped back down. It had finally calmed down enough to obey the laws of physics.