Anna
Stats:
Strength: 5
Endurance: 5
Dexterity: 5
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 5
Fortitude: 5
Vitality: 50
Stamina: 50
Mana: 50
Karma: 6
Anna took some time familiarizing herself with her stats. So, do I have average numbers for a human? Strength, endurance, and dexterity should be physical stats. Intelligence and wisdom are for magic casters, at least that’s what they usually are for in games. Fortitude is strange though, isn’t that the same as endurance? Also, it seems that vitality is my health pool. That’s so strange, a health pool. Would I survive having my heart cut out? Would fifty cuts that each do one damage kill me? If not, then there’s no need for a health pool is there? Wait, my physical stats can be trained, that makes sense. What would it take to train my magic stats, solving puzzles? Reading? Philosophizing on the need for stats in the first place?
System Alert:
Know thyself, question everything.
Dharma fulfilled, Karma increased by 1!
Alright then. Did I get those points for philosophizing or doubting my stats? Anna waited a moment but no additional Karma was awarded. It was worth a shot. She ultimately decided to put two points each in intelligence and wisdom, and saved three Karma for later.
Stats:
Strength: 5
Endurance: 5
Dexterity: 5
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 7
Fortitude: 5
Vitality: 60
Stamina: 50
Mana: 70
Karma: 3
Ugh, do I have to do math now? Clearly, each point in a stat is two and a half points in vitality. How the hell did I just get seventy mana? Oh, each point in my stats gives me five points in mana. At least, that’s the most I can figure for now.
Anna then moved on to her quests.
Quests Updated:
Dharmic Crash Course: Complete
Reward: Begin the quest, ‘Karmic Crash Course.’
Karmic Crash Course: Complete
Reward: Begin the quest, ‘Class Selection Guide.’
Class Selection Guide: Complete
Reward: You will be shown the path to get in touch with Arn Pand!
So, how do I get my reward? Anna, focused on the final quest and thought the word, Reward, instantly being inundated with the smell of iron. She forced her eyes open and saw a sickening sight.
Arn stood in front of a large purple door, wearing nothing but trousers. His skin was pale and drained of life. His head was shaved and his eyes were sunken in. He was still a large man, but a lot of the fat had been culled from his body, leaving him looking like some grief stricken amateur strongman. Anna watched as he grabbed a poleaxe from a nearby wall and opened the door. As her husband stepped through the door, Anna heard battle cries emerge from the other side and the door was then slammed shut. The system informed her of what she had witnessed.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Arn Pand is currently completing a quest given by a greater power.
Greater power? I thought you gave quests? What is he doing?
In order to contact Mr. Pand, you will need to complete your tutorial quest and access its reward.
No, fuck that, you said you’d show me the path to him, I want to see him NOW!
Ms. Pand, you were promised to be shown the path to get in touch with Mr. Pand as a reward for the crash course. By fulfilling your tutorial quest, you will be able to contact him after his next resurrection. Thus, your reward was properly bestowed.
Resurrection? You’re telling me I have to wait for him to die to see him? You scammed me and now expect me to jump through additional hoops? What kind of fucked up shit are you doing to him? Who gave him that god damned quest? Who gave you or anyone else the right to toy with us like this?
Fortunately, Mr. Pand will most likely choose to die again, rather than complete his quest, you will most likely receive your chance soon!
Die again? How many times has he died already? Do we just keep coming back when we die? Why can’t you stop this? HE’S SUFFERING!
Mr. Pand has died, and been resurrected roughly two-thousand three hundred seventy six times. I assure you, he is no longer suffering. Some time after his twelve hundredth death, he no longer felt anything.
What have you done to him? Please, I’m begging you, let me see him. I’ll do any quest, I’ll do EVERY QUEST! You don’t need to keep torturing him.
Whether or not Mr. Pand completes his quest, is not in my control. There is no need for you to be worried, no additional quests are necessary. I will provide you with your tutorial quest now. In a moment, you will be sent back to your physical body. Good luck Ms. Pand, I look forward to seeing what you will accomplish!
New Quest:
Welcome to your tutorial!
Discover a Dharmic Path to follow.
You and your allies must control your land by either joining a faction with territory or claiming your own.
Reward: Receive a spiritual sigil to send a message to another Karmic being. Receive a vocation trainer of your choice!
No, please! There has to be more you can do. This has to be some sort of mistake. He didn’t do anything to deserve this! Anna waited in silent agony for a response, but none came. A familiar flash of deep red blinded her, and before she had a moment to make another desperate plea, she was submerged into the current she had ridden before.
Anna reachd out to the system, trying again and again to get its attention. In her struggle for a response, her limited perception brushed closely with another speck on the stream and she felt a reaction. The speck began vibrating, drawing Anna in closer. When they were all but touching, it dawned on Anna that this was another soul, that all of these specks were souls traveling along the current.
One insignificant speck among trillions. That’s all we are for it. A meaningless, small, weak speck of dust, crying for help. The soul near her responded to her thoughts by giving off a small aura. Looking closely, Anna began trying to make sense of what she was sensing. It took a great deal of effort, but eventually, after she closed her senses to everything but that one soul, she learned who it was.
He had no name, it was a child. Anna saw glimpses of the life he had lived, projections from his soul that he shared freely. The boy was born to the most beautiful person he had ever seen. His mother took him into her arms, crying. Her bright red hair curled around her face. Her cheeks were streaked with tears and she apologized over and over to her sweet little man, that she could do nothing for him. As she moved her hand from the boy to her face in an attempt to wipe away her tears, Anna recognized a blood soaked hand. Something went wrong with the birth. He’s not going to survive. That’s why he’s here, he died.
Realization hit Anna like a sledgehammer to the chest, if this child had died and was then sent here, maybe Arn would be too? What had The System called it, ‘the stream’? Anna left the soul of the child with a pang of guilt, she knew that there was nothing she could do for it, but she still felt like she had left behind someone in need. She expanded her senses as far as she could, searching for Arn. If he is dying constantly, then he’s here somewhere!
Anna knew the chances of her actually finding her husband were slim-to-none, still she stubbornly looked for any clues of Arn. She didn’t have the power or subtlety to inspect souls gently, so she was forced to take a vast and violent approach. Anna shoved the senses into every soul near her, moving on to the next as soon as she was sure it wasn’t her spouse. This continued on for hundreds of souls. The souls that were disturbed did not remain passive, they began to vibrate and shove one another around, causing a chain reaction within the current. Her meddling did not go unnoticed as several power beings began to sense the disturbance. Several made a move towards the current, yet one in particular was faster, and more powerful than the rest.
The being set free a dark and oppressive aura, silencing the disgruntled souls and forcing them back into the serene order that they once committed to. Moving towards Anna, the dark aura scrubbed her soul, revealing all that she was, all that she had been, all that she may yet be. Yet Anna still continued her search, she had seen the petty apathy of the universe, her search may have been violent, but it meant nothing in the long arc of creation. The aura began funneling Anna further along the current, her attempts to push against it doing nothing to slow her down. Eventually, she was tossed into a void, a place outside of the stream. It was there that she felt him. The soul of her husband floated slowly towards a dark pit.
Why the aura had brought her here, was no concern of hers. Anna had a single mission, and it helped fulfill it. She shot full speed into her spouse's soul, but despaired at what was revealed. Arn was broken, his vessel shattered and stripped of the love she once associated with him. He was cracking, and it was clear he wouldn’t last. Worse, she felt him being tugged away from her, as a force pulled her in the opposite direction. They’re taking him away again, I can’t do it! I can’t lose him.
Anna held tight to Arn’s soul in an attempt to anchor herself to him and felt him stir. Slowly, his soul reached out, weak and afraid, but it didn’t matter. Arn had reached out in recognition, and that meant she had a chance. She filled the cracks she found with the only thing she could, her newly found life energy. Anna unabashedly ripped parts off of her own soul and shoved them into her husband. You can’t give up Arn, you idiot! Please don’t let them win! Anna’s cries reached no one in the void, a small part of her recognizing the irony of the moment. Only a few moments ago, she wailed at the insignificance and pointlessness of her existence, and now she was now trying to fight it anyways. Yet she persevered, and she was rewarded.
Arn’s soul began to take command of the energy Anna had given it. Like a jump start to his system, it started repairing itself. Where it fell short, Anna provided, where it was lost, she helped guide him. The forces that pulled them gained strength as Arn was healed. Not forces, force, singular. It’s The System, I can feel it! The tug-of-war continued on for what felt like an eternity, but eventually The System won. Anna was shoved back into the stream and her senses were muted.
Arn, meanwhile, floated into the black pit, but this time, he held tightly to the gift his wife had given him.