I'm going to flat out just give Riley "unlimited" resources compared to others, but her abilities will require "ramping up." Each skill/spell is tied to a resource. The ones available right now are Mana (elemental magic), Chi (spirit magic), Nature (bodily transformation magic), Soul (summoning magic), and Divine (fusion spells like Garnet's Lightning Fire). Basically, she will have to chain together weaker spells to use stronger ones, but will result will allow her to flat out overpower anyone in an extended fight and allow even older skills to not become outdated. Power will also not scale up as much. I plan to make the the promotions a bigger deal as well, but I'm still coming up with a way to make them more consistent (currently on a level cap/reset system depending on the class).

Riley will acquire abilities from the things she makes physical contact with, allowing her to gain access to numerous skills and abilities. As she levels up, she can enhance them with a combination of absorbed essences and skill points from leveling up. She can also learn skills from books directly, bypassing Garnet's book dumb weakness (I was so stupid for not thinking about this earlier).

The rewritten first major arc will go: Summoning/Introduction -> Riley as an Adventurer -> Undead Army/Dark Mage Attack -> Riley's First Invasion -> Noble Rebellion. This will lead into the Dark Mages and the Dark Continent, which will form the second major arc (the diseased farm was supposed to lead into this, but I forgot about it and instead turned it into an Undead City which was going to be the penultimate event of the arc).

Spoiler: Spoiler

NOTE: There may be additional changes to this because it is only a draft of first chapter.

I looked up into the sky. The dawn sky of orange light was just visible overhead. It was very early in the day. As a soldier, I had to get up at this time every day. My hands were still shaking in the cold. In the distance, I could spot the Two Towers, the center of government of Europa, the country that I lived in.

My name is Riley, and I come from a military family. As far back as I could remember, I heard stories about how my family was destined for great things. My great-great grandfather served in the Imperial War, a conflict between the large empires to the Eastern Federation and Western Empire with his home of Europa caught in the middle of it. Because of the frequent conflicts, all children aged five to eighteen were engaged in military training. This was the norm in the entire region. However, as the son of a military family, my training extended through to the age of twenty. The purpose of this was to prepare me to take command as an officer should the need ever arise.

Every day, I would get up at the crack of dawn to engage in endurance running. Upon return, it was firearms training, then melee combat. Afterwards, it was war theory and political tactics. Unlike my family though, I was not strong. I was frail and weak by comparison. I almost always came in dead last in my morning runs. During combat, I was beaten by everyone else unless my opponent had already sustained injuries beforehand. Despite almost being in training for almost fourteen years, I had no achievements to show for it. The only person I was more fit than in my family was my sister, who was suffering from a physical condition similar to severe asthma that made her unable to physically exert herself.

There was a lot of noise building up as most of the soldiers on the base were now awake and readying for their day. The lower ranking soldiers at the rank of private were lining up. The lieutenants were checking up on the ranks before the officers arrived. Once the officers arrived, anything out of line would be met with reprimands. This would then in turn cause the lieutenants to take their anger out on the privates. In essence, it created a chain of screaming where the higher ranking officers would shout at the lower ones. At the very bottom of the food chain was the privates, who often turned their anger on each other. The worst part was that this was encouraged in order to single out the weak and support the strong.

The Major walked up and down the single file line, looking at everyone. The badge on his arm was prominently displayed for everyone to see. It was the proof of the Major’s accomplishments. He had been in at least one war and was very successful in it or two wars and was mildly successful in both. It was impossible to know without getting a look at his records. A few steps behind him were two medics, ready to carry away anyone the Major injured. The angry look on his face was bad news. Something had upset him and today, and his squad would pay for it with extra rigorous training. At the worst times, the Major would take someone from the squad as a sparring partner and then proceed to break their arm or leg during practice.

The Major finished walking down the line and turned around. “Ten kilometers, let’s move it!” he shouted.

The man at the very front of the line began with a walk before accelerating into a jog. The lieutenant at their side began to call out steps. “One… two… one… two…” Ten kilometers was only a little more than usual. With just an hour to do it before breakfast, it would not be too bad for most of them. For me however, I would be one of those that cut it close. I ran five minutes a kilometer at best and today was not one of those days. I was not as physically fit as the others and could only run consistently at a slow pace. If I had to speed up, then I could not last long. I could already feel the strength draining from my body as I picked up my pace.

I wanted my training to be over. I wanted to be an officer of some kind. That way, I would no longer have to put up with this mind numbing repetitiveness. I could take up a hobby like how my father took up fishing and waited at home until he was actually called upon to serve. Having served in two wars had earned my father the rank of colonel and this privilege. As for me, I wanted to take up an instrument of some kind. I had not decided on what instrument, but I wanted to learn to play something. Doing the same thing every day was exhausting.

As the sun rose, I could feel the light coming from directly in front of me. It was blinding. Even though I was following closely behind someone else, it was not at an angle from which the light was blocked. It was impossible to see as the orange light shone directly on not only my face, but everyone’s faces. This made the morning jog even more difficult and was one of the reasons why I did not like the morning run.

As I continued, I could feel the strength draining from my body even more quickly. I felt like I could fall over at any moment. I was getting tired and needed to rest. “Hey are you okay?” the man beside me asked.

I turned to look at the man, but all I could see was a blur. I could only make out the shape of the man and could not tell anything about him other than that he had a round face and black hair. As I attempted to move my mouth to speak, my body did not respond. The blurry vision began to fade, turning black. As my mind slipped, all I heard was a shout, “Riley!”

There was nothing but darkness. I was unsure about how long it was. I could not hear or see anything. I could not move either. “Am I dead?” he thought. “Hello?!?”

Despite shouting or at least thinking I was shouting, I could not hear my own voice. I was not even sure if my mouth moved as I felt nothing. I definitely knew I was trying to move and it definitely felt like something moved, but there was nothing to show for it. It was still pitch black. It was like sleep paralysis. It was the worst experience because there was nothing you could do about it.

The first thing to return was sound. I was sure that he could hear something. It was faint, but it was not nothing, and that was a good sign. He was still okay. Even though I had lost consciousness, I was not dead. One of the worst things that could happen was to die during training. It meant all the resources that were spent to prepare you for battle went wasted.

Once again I tried to move my mouth. “Where am I?” I asked.

As I mouthed those words, my lips did not move. In fact, I still could not move. All that I could tell was a there was a very light sound coming from the distance. Yet, I could not make sense of these sounds to help him deduce where I was. In the worst case scenario, I was actually completely paralyzed, only a single step away from being brain dead and would be considered a “vegetable” by many. To me, this was a fate worse than death. As the thought of it dawned on me, I attempted to struggle, trying to move any part of my body at all to get someone to notice him and see that he was not dead. “Let me out of here!” I cried to myself.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Over time, the sounds grew louder. I was slowly regaining my senses. I could start to make out the faint sound of a few men talking. But, I could not make out what they were saying nor could I see. My body still did not obey me. No matter how hard I tried, I could not move my body. No amount of willpower or determination changed this.

I did not know how long it was until I felt the first spec of light enter my eyes. There was some kind of light nearby, but without the ability to actually open my eyes, I could not see where he was. Despite this, Riley felt relief that he was not dead. The fact that I was regaining my vision meant that things were improving for him and that he was not dead. When enough time passed, he should regain his full senses and with it, his ability to move as well.

It was not long before I started to feel a tingly sensation throughout my body. My sense of touch was starting to return. This meant that I was not paralyzed from whatever accident I had. I would be able to regain his movement. With it, I was no longer worried at all. Things would return to normal for me soon enough.

The first thing to return was my eyesight. I was able to make out the dark brown roof. It was not a hospital. It seemed dirty and almost like an underground prison. I could see, but I still could not hear clearly.

It was not before long before an old man with a white beard and white hair appeared before me. He had a liver spot on his cheek. There were wrinkles and bags in his eyes, seemingly from the lack of sleep. He wore a long dark grey robe that seemed to cover his body from his neck down. His lips moved, but I was unable to make out any of the words coming from his mouth. All I heard was a few faint sounds that were too low to be distinguishable words. The old man continued for a moment, looking into Riley’s eyes for a while before stopping. He then walked away.

A while later, I heard footsteps. The old man had returned. “Blink twice if you can hear me,” said the old man.

I blinked twice to acknowledge the old man. “Thank goodness,” said the old man. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to recover.”

I tried to move my mouth and his body, but they would not respond. No matter how hard he tried to move, his body did not.

The old man looked into my eyes and saw that they were not focused on him. “Is something wrong?” the old man asked.

My eyes moved diagonally, trying to signal the old man to his hand. The old man looked in that direction and saw nothing. “Blink twice quickly if I am talking about the right thing,” said the old man.

“Your shoulder?” the old man asked.

I did not respond. I wanted the old man to respond to questions about his body. “Your hands?” the old man asked once again.

But, my body did not respond to that either. I attempted to move my eyes left, down, and right, attempting to signal anything in my body. I wanted any sign that it would be alright. “Are you wondering why you can’t move?” the old man asked.

I blinked twice to confirm. This was a visual message that was often used to communicate when someone was speaking under duress and in the view of the person I was speaking to. “You should recover in a day’s time,” said the old man. “We can talk then, for now, do not worry. You will recover in due time.”

I felt relieved as the man who was looking over me confirmed my well-being and that I would be well soon. The inability to move was likely due to heavy anesthesia, which numbed the entire body. It was rare for such a thing to last a day and often wore off after a few hours of exposure to it.

Pretty soon, the numbness began to subside in his extremities, allowing me to twitch his fingers and toes a little. It was a very subtle movement, but it was better than nothing. It felt great to be able to move again and to feel cold and warmth. When the old man noticed, he no longer left. He began to stay by my side, calling for others through the door to bring him things when needed.

Then, my mouth was able to finally move. “What happened?” I asked. The voice that came out of my mouth was strange, much higher in pitch than I remembered.

“You can speak!” said the old man surprised.

“Yeah,” I answered. “What happened to me?”

A strange white aura appeared next to the old man. The aura began to separate themselves into letters and numbers, turning into a white box with finely printed black letters.

Name: Zedd

Level: 88

Class: Time Wizard

Sub-Class: Summoner

Primary Stat: Intelligence

“Zedd?” I asked.

“How did you know my name?” the old man asked.

“I see it,” I replied. “Your name is Zedd. You are level 88, a Time Wizard, a Summoner, and are someone very intelligent.”

“It worked!” Zedd exclaimed. The old man jumped up in joy as he repeated the phrase several times. He seemed like a child now.

“Where am I?” I asked once more. “What happened to me?”

Zedd calmed himself down and regained his composure. “Greetings Hero from another world,” said Zedd.

“Hero?” I was confused.

“I brought you here from your world into this vessel so that you may help us from the coming threat,” Zedd explained.

“What are you talking about?” I asked. “Is this some kind of game?”

Zedd reached over to the side and grabbed a mirror. He held it in front of Riley and showed him what it was before putting it in front of him. What Riley saw was not himself, but rather a young, beautiful woman.

This woman had a blue and a green eye, heterochromia, a condition in which two different eye colors exhibited co-dominance. She had long black hair that flowed down past her shoulders. Her face was perfectly symmetrical with no visible conditions, not a single freckle nor mole. It was a little round with a smooth transition into the red cheeks and the rest of the face. In my own world, I would be one of the most beautiful women with a face like this.

Zedd tilted the mirror a little, showing that she was quite well endowed and had fairly low body fat. Even the neck did not have the slightest sign of tan lines, which was impossible. “What happened to me?!?” I cried.

“You were called to this world into another body, a vessel if you would,” Zedd replied. “It is the only way for us to call upon someone to help us.”

“Turn me back!” I shouted.

“I cannot,” said Zedd. “I only have the means to call upon help from another world. I cannot return you nor change what you have become.”

“No…” I whimpered.

“If you need some time to think, I will leave you alone for a bit,” said Zedd.

“Wait!” I shouted at Zedd. “Who was this person?” she asked. “What was she like?”

“The body you are in belonged to a woman by the name of Garnet,” Zedd explained. “She was a prostitute who was brought into their service when she was just a child, having been sold off by her family to pay for a debt.”

I felt sad for this Garnet that she had never known. It sounded like something terrible happened to her. “So, what happened?”

“She was bought in the name of the King and used as the vessel to call forth the Hero that will deliver us from the great evil that looks down on our land,” Zedd explained. “I will show you in time, but you should rest first.”

“Did she have family?” I asked.

“None other than her parents that I know nothing about,” Zedd answered. “If you are worried about having taken her life, that is the burden that lies with me. I have taken many lives and ruined yours as well. I just hope you will forgive me enough to help me save a kingdom that may not be worth saving to you.”

“Then why do you go through this trouble?” I asked.

“One poor King and his court does not mean the people of the kingdom are not worth saving,” said Zedd. “These people deserve better, and as long as the threat looms over us, there cannot be better times for these people. It is only when the threat is gone that the King can turn back towards the people and focus on making their lives better.”

I tried to turn my head to look around. If I could see, then he might be able to see what things were like. “I want to see,” said Riley.

“Rest for now,” said Zedd. “When you can move, I will show you and tell you everything you want to see and know. I promise.”

“Can you trust a person you don’t know though?” I asked.

“I have faith in you,” said Zedd. “You may not believe in yourself, but I believe your calling to this world is no accident. The greatest heroes come from the reluctant and the most reliable comes from the most empathetic.”

“And if I fail?” I asked.

“Then it is my fault for not teaching you,” Zedd answered. “You will bear no responsibility as I am the one who is responsible for everything that happens from this point on. If I fail to convince you, that is my burden to bear. If I fail to protect you before you are trained, that is my misjudgment.”

“I will think about it,” I replied.

“Good,” Zedd said happily. He seemed satisfied with his results so far.

It was strange. A stranger was who knew nothing about me was willing to put his faith in me. It felt weird to be depended on. For as long as I could remember, people looked down on me. Even though I studied hard, my below average body made it difficult for me to do the things I wanted to do. When I wanted my legs to move, I would sometimes fall because I could not actually push my body beyond its physical limits.

I thought about the body I was in right now. It belonged to a woman named Garnet. She was someone who was an ideal beauty and someone who was perfectly physically fit. Her body fat was less than twenty percent. The only problem was the lack of muscles, which might make it hard to actually hold a weapon or something heavy. Against a much larger opponent, I would be at a disadvantage without a superior weapon.

Despite my appearance though, Zedd put all his faith in me. The question was whether or not his problem was something that I could solve. I was a soldier who was taught to support my country no matter what. Questioning of this belief would cause weakness and our eventual defeat. The only thing to learn from is mistakes you make on the battlefield.

Until I see Zedd’s problem though, I would have no way to know if I could actually fix it. Yet, Zedd reassured me that I could do it. Perhaps I could achieve something great here. Appearing in this world and in this body clearly changed me and gave me something that I did not have before. Perhaps with this, I could be someone greater than back home. Perhaps here, I could be a successful soldier and become a decorated veteran who gets to retire to a nice, quiet villa. Then, I could relax and enjoy the rest of my days doing what I wanted instead of training myself to exhaustion every day.