Origin A.R.S. (10 page)

Thoughts of agility reminded him of his current purpose. He opened his skill upgrade menu and spent forty ability points to increase his agility level-up modifier by one point. A cheerful sound effect erupted from the screen then the modifier was applied. From now on he would have an additional point of agility when he gained a level. Given his current bonuses that meant that he would acquire a minimum of two points per level, but he could gain as many as six points.

“Can’t choose the modifier again right now. Still, that should help. I need to head back before another swarm pops up.”

A heavy sigh escaped his lips. Had he focused on defeating the rats as quickly as possible, he could have spent hours grinding them for fun and profit. Now he would need to go eat some lunch and rest before he regained his health.

Another rat popped up before he could reach the road, but it was easily dispatched. With his current equipment, he should be able to grind the rats for a while to drastically increase his stats. Given the speed that they popped up, he could probably gain a few more levels this week. However, he would need to find a more lucrative area to hunt soon in order to make his payments.

“Fifty four thousand Fayth... What would earn that much money in six months?” Scott was uncertain. Obviously he would need to find and defeat stronger monsters, perhaps even raid a few dungeons. His equipment should allow for it, though he would probably want to increase his health quite a bit first. If seven rats could do this much damage, he shuddered to think what a stronger monster could do with one critical hit.

On his way to Neerdles he considered his options. Maybe he could ask Arne for a few ideas? Either way, he needed to focus on developing his talents. Money for basic day to day survival would not be an issue any longer, but he wanted to eliminate that debt as soon as possible.

The soft music of the grassland was a gentle, cheerful tune. The grass swayed in a breeze that carried the scent of wild flowers and freshly watered earth. After the rain had passed, the grass had grown quite a bit.

“Man, the town needs to hire a few goats to come out here and clear a path!” Scott laughed at his little joke then stepped further into the grassland. It was only knee-high, but that was already several inches higher than it had been the day before.

He had been wandering through the grassland for hours already. Every so often a rat would pop up and he would easily crush it. Scott had lost track of the number of rats that he had faced. Yet, they kept coming.

The grass rats had become such an easy monster to hunt that he no longer used his spells. He had outgrown them, and he would need to move on soon if he wanted to keep gaining levels at a rapid pace. The amount of experience necessary to reach each new level was twice what it was before. Yet, the grass rats seemed to be giving less experience per rat now.

During the last two days, Scott had religiously hunted the rats. He easily managed to find and defeat over two hundred per day, and he was close to reaching level six. Yet, after he had reached level five the experience from the grass rats had dropped by half.

That fact was why he intended to do something that would be potentially stupid. He would aggravate the rats!

He had traveled a few hours away from town specifically to try his new hunting method. Before doing so, he decided to check his status one more time.

<<>>

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

Age:
18 |
Level:
5

EXP:
603

Next Level:
17

Ability Points:
14

Health:
53[53] |
Mana:
50[50]

Attack:
24[119] |
Defense:
24[266]

Strength:
17[17] |
Agility:
19[8] |
Accuracy:
15[15]

Intellect:
22[22] |
Luck:
14[14]

<<<*>>>

“My agility and health have increased a bit...I should be able to handle this.” Scott took the grass skirt out of his inventory.

He looked at the shoddy piece of equipment then equipped it like an apron since it was too small to be worn as a skirt. 

<<< You have ruined your perfect armor set by equipping an incompatible armor item.>>>

<<< Your defense bonuses are lost. >>>

Scott winced. His agility dropped by one point, and his defense dropped by twenty-eight. Without the perfect armor-set bonus he lost the ten percent increase for wearing compatible armor, and he also lost the agility penalty reduction. Still, it had the desired effect.

<<< Your blasphemy has been noticed... >>>

A few seconds later three grass rats popped up. Scott did not give them a chance to dance or leap. He immediately laid into them with powerful strikes. Rats continued to pop up one by one roughly every minute and he killed them without fail.

A few minutes into the battle he increased his level to six and his stats rose accordingly. He no longer cared about the loss of defense as he hit the jackpot and increased his agility by the max that he could increase it per level currently, seven points. That increased his defense by twenty-eight points.

Something else surprising happened as well. A new screen popped up.

<<< Your class and stats have aligned to grant you a new function as the Champion of Origin! >>>

<<< Your intellect has reached twenty-five. You can now access the bestiary in order to review information about defeated opponents. >>>

“I have a bestiary? Hell yeah, that could be useful!” Scott wanted to check it out, but more rats popped up.

He killed them quickly, but he decided to put off checking the new function until after he had gotten done hunting for the day. The rats were distracting him and he would want to study his new discovery in depth.

After about two hours of the constant rat massacre, a strange new screen popped up. Scott read it casually while dodging an incoming rodent.

<<< The grass rats have grown angry and frustrated... Their rage increases. >>>

The number of rats increased exponentially after that. Now three of them popped up every minute! Scott was in murder-grind heaven! At this rate he would pay off his debt in only a few days!

He quickly spun to the right and launched a powerful back fist that whipped into a leaping rat with bone-crushing fury. A hard axe-kick shattered the spine of another hapless rodent. He caught one rat in mid-air and snapped its little rat neck without cause for concern. He had become drunk on his blood thirst!

This was amazing. He had never been so ruthless before, but it was like the stupid little rats were just begging him to turn them into money and ability points! Several rats leapt toward him at once and he whirled around with his arms out. The spinning attack caught two of the rats, killing them instantly. Two more of them bounced harmlessly off of his armor. Two quick heel kicks ended their lives.

Two more rats that popped up saw his actions and attitude. They began to squeak furiously. Scott laughed, crazed battle-lust overtaking him. “What’s wrong rat bros am I trolling you?”

The rats raced toward him, destined to become his experience. Scott had never experienced such a rush, and he continued to laugh like a moronic madman.

However, after a half-hour passed another message popped up.

<<< The grass rats have reached a high-level of agitation. >>>

<<< Your blasphemy and casual disregard for their land has caused them to cry out to the gods... in search of justice. >>>

“Justice?” Scott snorted at the screen. The little bastards attacked anything that moved in the area and they wanted to whine about justice? Sure, he was wearing their sacred grass skirt at the moment, but they attacked him first anyway.

Ten grass rats popped up out of nowhere, but they were at a distance too great for Scott to kill them instantly. They did not attack him either. He stared in confusion as the little rats stood up on their hind legs and began to chitter and dance.

Suddenly, the grass rats each uniformly clasped their chest with one paw then thrust the other into the air as though they were beseeching the heavens. They cried out in pain and they all died as one! Scott watched them turn into motes of light, a confused expression on his face.

“What was that all about...?”

Scott blinked. The music suddenly shifted to a high-octane heavy metal sound track that felt both electrifying and dangerous. A large white pentacle appeared in the air and began to rotate. The blood lust began to leave Scott as he realized something was happening. A new message informed him of what was to come.

<<< The Gods of Justice have heard the plea of the grass rats... >>>

<<< Their sacrifice was accepted as proof of their great need. They have been granted a champion to serve their cause... >>>

“Shit!” shrieked Scott. The biggest damned rat that he had ever seen leapt out of the summoning circle. It was the size of a delivery truck! The black-furred monstrosity had bright red eyes, large curling horns, and rodent teeth the size of a short sword.

The battle music changed again, this time it became a deadly and dangerous orchestrated tune with an electric guitar emphasizing the one of the moment.

<<< Gnarl Tooth the Grass Rat Overlord has appeared! >>>

The name of the rat appeared above its head in bright green letters. Scott took an involuntary step back. What the heck was this?

Gnarl Tooth roared loudly, and six grass rats appeared at its side. The dog-sized rodents raced toward Scott with speed far beyond what they normally showed. He easily defeated them, but it did not matter. More showed up to take their place.

While he tried to get around the rapidly growing horde of rats he was forced to dodge and weave to prevent the possibility of a critical hit. Gnarl Tooth took advantage of the moment and leapt high into the air!

Scott noticed the movement and hurled himself backward then rolled away and bounced back onto his feet. Meanwhile, He completely ignored the smaller rats to avoid what was coming.

The Grass Rat Overlord easily cleared the hundred foot distance by jumping dozens of feet into the air. It crashed down with incredible force, right atop the spot that Scott had been standing only a moment before. A pulse of energy lashed outward in a wave that knocked Scott back onto his ass. A bright red number seven floated up from his body.

He had taken damage from the impact wave alone! Had that attack hit, he would have been crippled or killed in a single strike.

Scott was forced to dodge rats for several minutes while Gnarl Tooth jumped and dived toward him. It used its bulk as a weapon and due to its surprising speed Scott rapidly lost health. He did not lose as much health each of the times that the rat jumped compared to the first time; he had learned to anticipate its movements better. However, he was close to the halfway point. One miscalculation and he would die.

He had no choice. He would be briefly vulnerable, but he had to try using his magic to clear space. Otherwise he would never get close to the massive beast. Scott fired off his freeze spell and immediately rolled to the right. The sudden motion provided him the chance that he needed.

Before, he could not get close to Gnarl Tooth because of the sheer number of rodents aiding it. Now he had a path leading directly to the furry overlord. Scott somersaulted over a leaping rat, completed the movement with a forward roll after hitting the ground then immediately struck out at the overly large monster.

A bright red number one floated upward from the creature. Scott had barely damaged it!

The battle stopped. All eyes turned to Scott. The smaller rats stared at him in a mixture of pity and awe. He had dared to do such a thing?

Gnarl Tooth looked at him then tilted its head. Scott looked at it in horror as the rodent opened its mouth and it actually managed a rodent approximation of a feral grin. Faster than Scott could react, its pink tail whipped around with bone-crushing force.

Scott screamed in pain as four more of his hit points floated away. The rat tried to whip him again, but he rolled sideways. He unleashed his favorite spell, Freeze.

A bright red zero floated upward from the monster. The little rats chittered cheerfully in response. Their champion was so cool.

The sorcerer was whipped again, almost casually. Five more hit points floated away. At this point his body was a mass of bruises and he could feel his movements becoming sluggish. He had been battered and beaten with only a few strikes.

Well over half his health was gone, yet he had managed to only hit the big bastard for a single point of damage. What level was this thing?

Desperate Scott, flipped over the whipping tail and launched a different spell in the hopes that it would do damage. The Burn spell impacted hard against the side of the beast and did another point of damage. Obviously, magic was not the answer. Worse, he was starting to run low on mana

He partially avoided the next tail whip, but he still lost a little life. Gnarl Tooth seemed content to only beat him with its tail. It was like it was completely unconcerned by his actions. Scott had toyed with the rats, and Gnarl Tooth would toy with him.

“God Dammit...!” snarled Scott, before he unleashed a series of furious kicks and punches that slammed against the body of the rat. Each attack did only a single point of damage if they did any damage at all. Gnarl Tooth simply sat there and watched. The tiny little man’s attacks were futile, just as futile as the attacks of its brethren had been when they had faced off against the man.

After a full-minute of aggressive attacks were allowed to pass, Gnarl Tooth whipped Scott once more. The sorcerer’s health fell to critical status and his frustration and panic increased. He could not possibly run away, not with his injuries.

What he needed was a critical strike! Yet, he could barely injure the monster’s body. He needed a soft spot, something that was not protected by the thick rat pelt.

The hideous red eyes of the monster caught his attention. He received another whip of the tail for his efforts, but he suddenly knew what he had to do. If it did not work, he would die. There was no doubt of that.

Scott rolled forward when the tail lashed out again. He landed directly in front of that sword-tooth maw and thrust his hand up. “Flash!”