Origin ARS 5 (12 page)

"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.