Chapter 2 – Decisions, Decisions

CHOOSE YOUR RACE!

That was the text that displayed after I selected ‘yes’. There was a dropdown box that had every fantasy race I had heard of and some I had not. That was the biggest challenge, the sheer volume of options to choose from.

‘Man, I wish my buddies were here. They were far more into lore and mythology than I was.’ I thought.

Well, I knew as much as I wished my friends were here, they weren’t, and I was going to have to make this choice without them. Sure, I had the option of sticking with being human, which I was tempted to do but something in what I heard told me that was the easiest way to the chopping block. No, being human was out of the question. It was time to shortlist some options.

What I could review let me know that I would gain stat and skill bonuses depending on which race I chose. I could even gain traits and marks depending on the rarity of my choice. My short list and some of the perks of choosing the race:

Race

Bonuses

Orc

Strength and Constitution. Gain sword and axe weapon mastery.

Elf (Multiple variations)

Dexterity and Mind. Gain blade mastery and bow mastery

Svirfneblin (Deep Gnome)

Mind and Creativity. Gain small blade mastery and skill in a tool of your choice.

Drow (Dark Elf)

Charisma and Mind. Gain Deception and Stealth skills. Choose a weapon mastery of your choice.

Half-Elf (Variations)

Variable stats, skills, and traits based on half elf combinations. Gain Mark of Understanding

Orc was out. The bonuses to Strength and Constitution would help keep me alive but Camidon made no mention of them in the area I was in. Deep Gnome was interesting. The bonus to Creativity sounded useful. The only problem was he did not know what each stat did and without knowing that it was too high a risk. Dark Elf was the most logical choice, but that Mark of Understanding a Half-Elf granted made me curious. One thing for sure was I needed greater understanding of the world around me.

I chose Half-Elf. Feeling proud of myself until I got a follow-up notification in my vision.

CHOOSE HALF-ELF VARIATION!

‘Duh! Of course, I would have to choose the two halves.’ I thought in response to the notification.

It took me a few more minutes but I decided to an extremely rare variation of half-elf, dark elf, and sea elf. The sea elf allowed for underwater breathing which I figured would be convenient being close to the Undersea Camidon had called it. Of course, the dark elf gave me the benefit of an improved version of Dark Vision so I could see even farther in the dark. Weirdly enough I also gained a high poison resistance. Apparently dark elves were known for subterfuge and poisoning each other.

Some other interesting facts about my choice. I gained 1 in Charisma, Constitution, Dexterity, MInd, and Spirit, and 5 free attribute points to distribute per level. That confirmed there were character levels like a video game. My combination of races was so rare that I gained both poison and cold resistances. As both races were known for living in darker places, I gained bonuses to potency for dark, and water magics.

After confirming my selection, I screamed as I felt my body shifting and changing. I screamed until the sweet relief of unconsciousness took me.

I came to from a strong slap to my face.

SMACK!

“What!... Who?” I groggily replied.

Another slap came.

SMACK!

“I’m awake! I’m awake, I swear!” I said as I bolted upright into a sitting position.

Abaddon had leaned over and looked to be ready to slap me again if I decided to lay back down.

That was when I noticed my hand and arm. “Hey I am dark! It’s like I just got back from a whole summer at the beach and then some. Benefit of being Italian we can get a pretty darn dark tan.”

Then I noticed the white hair hanging down over my chest. “Wait when did I get white hair? More importantly how is it so long?!”

“It is common for higher dark elf nobility to keep their hair long. You are a hybrid though. Interesting choice. Wise selection.”

“Thank you, Camidon.” I replied still a bit in shock at my transformation. I mean appearances aside I felt strong and healthier than I have in a long time. To say I had a gamer body was a bit of an understatement.

“Now you must choose a name and a class. Names have power here so choose one you wish others to call you. Then you must choose your class. Normally people go through a trial to determine your class but what happened to you in the Sea of Chaos is being used as a catalyst to allow you to choose your class. Very rare opportunity, so do not squander it elf.” Camidon explained.

Once again, I thought ‘Status’ to will my information to appear.

CHOOSE YOUR NAME! WARNING! ONCE CHOSEN THIS MAY NEVER BE UNDONE! CHOOSE!

Geez, ominous much? I knew there was only one name I would go by; I would use one of my gamer handles in the hope I could find my friends again someday. I also had a pretty good idea of what class I would choose too. Without another thought I filled in my name mentally.

Once my name was filled in, another prompt filled my vision.

CHOOSE YOUR CLASS!

I scrolled through the options. I immediately dismissed anything that did not include magic. ‘Yea like I was going to pass up the opportunity to use magic, I don’t think so!’ I thought as I kept scrolling.

In most of the games I played with my friends I liked to roll with a class that let me summon minions. That could include hunters with pets, necromancers, or summoners, it did not really matter just give me my minions hahaha. As I was scrolling, I came up with two options Necromancer and Summoner. Each had their plusses and minuses. Of course, necromancers only let you raise corpses, which means you need a dead body if you want to summon anything that wasn’t a skeleton. Summoner had a broader option for minions but started out weak in the beginning from what I was reading.

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I was just about to pick one when a third option appeared right underneath the other two, I shortlisted, Dark Summoner. I read the description.

Class: Dark Summoner

Rarity: Legendary

Requirements:

Charisma: 50

Mind: 50

Spirit: 50

Dark Magic Affinity

Death Magic Affinity

Description: The Dark Summoner is a Legendary class. This class combines the ability to summon with the necromancer’s ability to raise and control the undead. Where summoners must start out slow and grow their summons or their own strength before attempting to summon other beings, the Dark Summoner is not bound by either restriction. A Dark Summoner can either raise the dead and store them in their Summoning Realm or bind undead and dark aligned creatures to its will or summon stronger beings from other realms. Who needs friends when you can just raise them or summon them from beyond?

Requirements Met.

Do you want to choose this path? Yes, or No?

‘Now this is what I am talking about! It was like this class was made just for me!’ I thought as I once again mentally selected yes and once again screamed from a splitting pain that felt like my head was cracking open and that spread throughout my entire body until I once again fell into unconsciousness.

SMACK!

SMACK!

“Give him a moment to acclimate Abaddon. Picking such a class has used much of the remaining potential he absorbed from the Sea of Chaos.” I heard Camidon say as I came to from the repeated slaps by Abaddon.

“I’m up Abaddon! I’m up!” I said as I sat up for the second time after waking from being unconscious.

“I will stop but only because you chose a class worthy of the Dark. Perhaps you are not so dumb after all mortal.” Abaddon replied.

I looked toward Camidon and asked, “Why did that hurt so much. That felt worse than when I picked my race.”

“Two reasons. First, when you picked your race some of the potential you absorbed was used to empower your body, mind, and spirit. Though that process is painful, as your stat increased in Constitution your pain tolerance increased. Second, you chose a Legendary class, though they are powerful and called Legendary for a reason, you chose one that requires something very unique, A Summoning Realm. Such a thing is like having a separate space or Realm tied specifically to you. This allows you to store your summons and undead when you wish. However, to create one means literally tearing a part of your mind and soul to create a realm or other dimension always tied to you. Luckily the potential you absorbed from the Sea of Chaos helped fuel the creation and size of your Summoning Realm. Most impressive that you survived.”

“Man, you guys keep saying how lucky, I was to survive and how I should have died. You are going to give me a complex.” I retorted.

“It is good for you to remember how weak you are mortal and must grow stronger if you wish to serve the Dark.” Abaddon answered.

Sighing Camidon spoke up. “Though I rarely agree with the hell-spawn, on this point I will concede, you must grow stronger if you wish to survive. To that end, I think it is finally time for you to check your status page. Most mortal races consider 10 in stats to be a good starting base number especially for a level 1. Each race might have a bonus to a stat or two so they can be higher than 10 in a stat at level 1. Nobles and the more powerful races start with much higher than 10 in various stats. I tell you this, so you have context for when you look at your status. Now go on, we must begin the next part of your journey.”

“Before I do, what level are people in the area?” I asked in curiosity.

“Well, the ones right outside the door should be between 5 to 10, and the ones in the rest of the dungeon you are in are between 10 to 20.” Camidon answered.

I was shocked, “that sounds like a pretty steep learning curve.”

“Of course, it is foolish mortal! The Dark has no interest in coddling you. Survive or die! It matters not to me.” Abaddon replied.

Camidon gave an answer that helped calm me partially but not entirely. “Level is not always a sign of power but rather a sign of experience. A level 10 horned rabbit has less chance to beat a level 2 wolf. It would have to avoid the wolf’s claws and teeth and land a critical hit with its horn. Do you understand my example?”

“Yes, I think so. Level is not everything. It is more about skill and tactics or perhaps more about power.” I replied.

“Exactly. Now to give you more context about levels, most children do not level until after their age of maturity and most commoners or non-combatants may reach the teens in level during their lifetime, many not even getting that high. The more skilled craftsmen may reach their twenties in level at the most in their lifetime. Also, some races require more experience than others to level. Humans seem to have it the easiest, but elves and our kind tend to take more in experience to level, though we have more stat points per level and usually have other perks, so it evens itself out in many ways.” Camidon explained.

‘So, the race I picked was going to mean it would take longer to level. Eh, I can live with that, I still think it was the right call.’ I thought as I finally brought up my status.

Name: Arch Evocatore “Arch-E”

Race: Half Elf (Dark Elf /Sea Elf)

Level: 1

Unused Stat Points: 0

Stats

Health Pool:

5,000

Mana Pool:

5,000

Stamina:

5,000

Health Regen.

500

Mana Regen.

500

Stam. Regen.

500

Strength:

250

Dexterity:

300

Constitution:

500

Mind:

500

Spirit:

500

Charisma:

250

Abilities

Talents:

Affinities:

Improved Dark Vision

200 meters

Dark Magic Affinity

100

Small Blades Mastery

Journeyman

Death Magic Affinity

100

Triton/Staff Mastery

Journeyman

Water Magic Affinity

100

Mental Resistance

Adept

Fire Magic Affinity

100

Poison Resistance

Adept

Air/Wind Magic Affinity

100

Cold Resistance

Master

Blood Magic Affinity

75

Underwater Breathing

Unlimited

Earth Magic Affinity

50

Marks

Mark of Understanding

‘Wow! Just wow! My stats are ridiculous! I’ve got plenty of questions, like how are my base stats so high? The Sea of Chaos must be where I got these stats. Hopefully Camidon will be willing to explain this stuff. I wonder how much of these crazy stats are coming from my rare race combination or coming from my legendary class. Well before I get to all of that I can finally get an answer on what the heck Mark of Understanding means.’ I thought as I focused on the mark.

Mark of Understanding

Description:

Half-elves gained a greater understanding of the world. Coming from elves that live in the dark and elves that explore the ocean, both environments are filled with vast dangers and risks.

Passive Effects: Granted increased perception and threat detection. You can detect various threats from types of poisons, magics to conspiracies.

Active Effects: Granted the ability to Intuit how strong or powerful a target is. To activate just focus on the target with the intent to know more.

‘Well, that will come in handy. Especially around other dark elves. Time to get some more answers.’

“Camidon, could you tell me why my stats are so high? Is it from my race combination or my class?” I asked.

Camidon shook his head. “Neither and yet both. I have a similar ability to detect how powerful a target is, like your mark. The higher your Mind and Spirit, and more you use it the more you would gather from your targets.”

“Good to know.” I replied.

Camidon continued. “Now back to answering your question. Your insane starting stats came from the potential you absorbed from the Sea of Chaos; such an amount would kill most beings. When you chose your race, you started a process that could transform that potential into your stats and setting up your legendary class.”

Abaddon impatiently spoke up. “Enough talk. It is time to start the trials.” Pointing he continued, “Get to the killing!”