Hello readers! I am very pleased with your participation in my little game and all the choices you made, more so about the reasons explaining them. Next volume will contain the backstories of all the sword weapon choices I wrote in the game, even if they are not chosen in the end. Do not forget that game is still ongoing till I release chapter 5. Also I would like all of you to review and rate my work if possible. Thanks again for reading!
"Hmmnn!" I stretch myself and let out a sound trying to wake up completely.
Yesterday was the best day since my reincarnation, I still feel like I can taste that sweet sensation on my lips. Now I have officially stepped into my second year of life and in a few months will be able to reveal more constructive language without rising suspicion.
To prevent the whole 'I almost died from being rash' fiasco I need to do some planing. It is time to sort out how I view this world, is it reality like my previous life, or a game? Maybe it should be both?
Ok, lets go with reality that rewards your efforts and training with hard numbers as a representation and encouragement.
If I go along that line of thinking seems like I need to review and reconsider my status screen, lets see it again.
"Status!"
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Egil TammNorthlander HumanOtherworlderLevel 5SP 35Strength11(+27)Constitution13(+37)Dexterity11(+12)Agility10(+7)Wisdom10(+57)Spirit8(+47)Health120(+326)Stamina105(+111)Mana90(+525)DivinityMortal - Common
Ok, name, well, that's obvious, seems like my old name is considered a goner by this system.
Next is race, I already read about my race, Northander Humans, in Index info, but it was very short and felt incomplete, it is possible it will be updated then I learn more than my present less then basic knowledge.
My class has a more detailed explanation, possibly because I would be unable to learn more about it outside interactions with gods. No matter how I look at it this class looks like Commoner class with payer rights in old MMORPG games before introduction of VR systems. It may even be as much as a cheat, but now it is fucking useless. Except Index, that is super good, no I haven't forgotten you Mr. Translator, you too are priceless.
Now we get to the more fun and ambiguous stuff - level.
I have no idea. As I have not seen my status other than in level 5 I can not compare anything, it may even be only simple eye candy.
SP? Daa hell? Status points? Skill points? Spell Points? I-do-not-know.
Now we get to stats themselves, from the first stat gain till I got sick in total I got +1 Strength, +3 Constitution and +1 Dexterity, while right after awakening I got the message of -2 Spirit, maybe because of the trauma of being close to death?
Looking objectively it seems like simple numbers represent my base stats and their increase and decrease, so the ones in() must be gains from skills and traits. It is a shame those screens are still locked so I can't confirm this.
This is simply only my interpretation, but some stats seem to be a bit off from usual game kind:
Strength - Same old it seems, represents my physical muscle power.
Constitution - Probably my physical endurance and how robust and healthy my body is?
Dexterity - Best guess would be how good I am at controlling my limbs, especially arms.
Agility - From the sound of it overall agility of movement and speed.
Wisdom - Something like intelligence? No, probably it goes more along the way of ingenuity and ability to use knowledge in a meaningful way.
Spirit - This one is the biggest enigma of them all, it seems to be somehow connected to willpower, determination. Maybe.
Health - Should obliviously represent my state of health.
Stamina - My exhaustion in plain numbers?
Mana - MANA.
Divinity - This is the thing Relur was talking about, your personal divinity level, seems I am common, fancy that.
There seems to be no damage stats, strange, it is possible that damage is calculated in accordance to reality, that would mean I will not heal mortal wounds by eating bread to replenish health in a nick of time, every hit may be fatal, also there is blood loss issue.
"Ok, I should try something to confirm status even mean anything and if it is real time."
"Hmm, the only thing I can do at present is to get hurt and see if my health would drop"
I hop out of bed and go to the head end of my wooden bed. It is crafted rather roughly compared what my father could do in previous life, but is surprisingly soft contrary to the whole medieval world condition.
With a bit of an effort I take out a sharp rock i found on the street a while back, you know, just in case.
With a swift movement I puncture the skin one of my fingers. My health went down by 2. Lets force a bit more blood out, a few drops are enough, it went down to -3.
"Yup, it's real time, and blood loss will cause problems in case i get injured."
"Egil, wake up! Breakfast is ready, come down and we will eat after you wash your face." I hear the voice of my mother coming from the first floor. Shit, if she sees my bleeding it's going to be panic.
It was bad enough when I got into armory, even father was there, no danger in sight. All that resulted in heavy iron locks placed on the armory doors and the attic hatch, and just as I was confidant in my strength to climb up there(Note: Egil does not know about cellar).
I quickly wipe fresh blood away.
"Coming mom!"
I leave the room and go down to the first floor.
Water in the wash bowl is cold as always, while washing face I try to stop the bleeding and it somehow succeeds, though mother probably saw it already, strange, both of them are somewhat somber in mood.
"Papa not going to work?" I ask, usually father goes for early patrols before dusk and return only around lunch, but now he is still present. Something is strange, I should proceed with caution.
"No, today we will all have breakfast together."
Breakfast is a bit better than usual, leftovers from yesterdays party are still resent. A loaf of black rye dread is being cut by father while mother places a plate with ham and goat cheese on the table near the jug of something like fruit punch from yesterday.
I am kind of hesitant to eat, probably will loose that sweet sweet taste in my mouth but I can't just sit and look. Making something like a sandwich from the ingredients I take a bite - delicious, if a bit dry. Mother is already pouring punch into my cup, how considerate as always.
The rest of the breakfast goes normally, but their silence is strange, feels like a silence before a storm.
"Egil, I have talked about you with your father, you always were a bit too fast growing, more that any other child we know, and the recent illness ... caused us some concern." As soon as we end eating mother started talking.
[Shit, I tried to keep it down but they still saw though it? What now? Am I gonna be given away, abandoned or worse?] I started panicking, and this comes as soon as I started planing to continue my training ans stat grinding.
"We believe you are destined for greatness, but leaving things as they are may lead to your ruin, you even might destroy your talents rushing your growth, so we both decided to start training you from now on, usually this is done no earlier than at three years old but we feel that with your restlessness you might injure yourself of catch illness again, so even if this will be hard on you, not being to play around like normal children do, it is for your own good." Mother says as father mods to her words.
[Eh? Eeehhh? I was not found out? And they even will train me personally? No more hiding my training and all those useless interruptions?]
They take my shock and silence as reluctance and not understanding the situation so they start to explain.
"I have changed my patrol time to the night shift, we will be training you physically from breakfast till lunch." Says father.
"When your father goes out to work, from lunch till dinner we will be learning various knowledge together, there is no delaying this issue so today will be you first day of training" Mother pitches in.
I am till shocked but manage a nod.
"Now is still winter outside and the storms are in full strength, so we will train here, in the dinner room till we can go outside. You have will, but no discipline, your young body cannot catch up to your needs, thus the cause of your illness." Father says as he pushes dining table and chairs to the side of the wall, leaving a wide area in the middle to move.
It is as I thought, I overworked this body, caused overexertion, allowing illness to come to such a weakened body.
"So our first priority is to make your body strong enough to resist fatigue and illness."
For the rest of our training time father made me do exercises, stretching my body as much as possible, making it more flexible.
I was exhausted, did not think these light athletic like exercises could be so draining, but I was still able to move even if feeling heavy.
"Now it is my turn, come here baby."
I drag myself to mothers place like a zombie.
"Today was your first day to train with Baldr so I wont make you do anything, you are too young to learn anything concrete, so I will tell you a bedtime story Beata told me then I was a child." My mother says as she gives my a lap pillow.
Seriously, a lap pillow by model quality beauty who is more or less the same age as me(mental) is the best! Though the fact she is my mother and that I am physically a 1 year old brat bludgeons my expectations to death. Wait, this is the best chance to ask about that elf babe.
"Mom, who is Beata? That beautiful lady who came when I was sick?"
"Oh! So you remember, I thought you were ... asleep then(lost consciousness). Yes, she is an old friend of my family and been with us for a very long time."
"How long?"
"Well I herd she was childhood friend of my great-great-grandmother and stuck with our line since then."
You serious? Are elves freaking immortal? I thought only divinities were.
"She was a great friend of my grandfather and they both even traveled south to Wood Elf realm together, it was my grandfather that started to collect those books you like so much in his travels. But unfortunately my father was not that good with her, so she poured all her attention to me after I was born. She even decided to travel with me after I married to spend her last days nearby."
Mother spoke those words with both nostalgia and sadness, so not immortal.
"Last days?"
"Ancient Elves age differentially from us humans, all their life they retain their looks in the prime of their lives, only in the last decade till their death they show change and know that end is coming. Did you see her hair? Most elves have hair in the hues of blond or brown, their sign of coming death is then their hair start turning silver, more silver it gets, closer the end is."
Truly her hair was a mix of golden blond and silver.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
"Enough of the sad talk, lets start with the story." Mother tries dispelling the bad mood.
"Ok" I shift myself more comfortably on her lap, intent to absorb even the most childish tales, anything can give clues on the world.
"Long long ago, when world was still young and wild, people were few, when the few places of civilization were secret places of the elder races far far away, near the shore of the sea lived a group of children. These children knew not of their parents and never saw them, but a god watched over them and shielded from the great dangers was considered as such by them. A simple wooden longhouse housed all of them, 4 boys and 5 girls, the names were: Ash, Birch, Oak, Cypress and Belladonna, Clover, Daisy, Lily, Rose."
[Well, that's a common start with a bit of new flavor]
"God that watched over them had his own duties and could not be with them forever, so he decided to teach them the ways to defend themselves on their own. Teaching them some basic knowledge of the elder races: language of the elves, writing of the dwarves, martial prowess of the orcs and discipline of the naga, only the giant kind could not offer anything others could not."
[That's better, much better, while I knew of the elves and saw few shorties in the city, probably dwarves, others are completely new to me]
"Mom, what are the elder races?"
"Elder races are those races that first came to be on this world: naga, dwarves, elves, orcs and giants. Each were attuned to one of the elements, only giants were bestowed three, but in a lesser form.
New Index! (Rank:C)
You have learned about 5/7 divine races that came to inhabit the Mortal Realm in ancient past with more than 60% accuracy. Their respective indexes have been added.
SP Increase! +4 SP
First Elves
First Elves are an extinct ancient Immortal-Class divine race and the ancestors of all the elven races. Attuned to Air.
Great Dwarves
Great Dwarves are an extinct ancient Immortal-Class divine race and the ancestors of all the dwarven races. Attuned to Earth.
Oni
Oni are an extinct ancient Immortal-Class divine race and the ancestors of all the orcish races. Attuned to Fire.
Ancient Naga
Ancient Naga are an extinct ancient Immortal-Class divine race and the ancestors of all the naga races. Attuned to Water.
Divine Giants
Divine Giants are an extinct ancient Immortal-Class divine race and the ancestors of all the giant races. Attuned to Earth, Fire and Water.
This is a huge win for me! Whatever SP is it can be gained from knowledge, and with my unlocked class rights I only need to hear everything at 60% accuracy to unlock 100% true corresponding index!
"Do you want me to continue with the story?"
"Umu!" I answer enthusiastically. These normally useless stories may be a treasure trove of lore and SP points!
"Ok, where we left it of, ah yes, after granting them knowledge the God had to go away. In the years that followed these children grew up to become fine adults and made families, Cypress and Daisy, Oak and Rose, Ash and Belladonna and Clover and Birch made families and had many children, only Lily remained pure and seemed to bloom with more beauty with every passing day. This however became reason of first true conflict between them, now knowing pleasure men started to desire her, and women started to envy both the attention of their men and her beauty. In despair Lily prayed and begged the God to return and make everything like before, when everyone were close and lived in friendship together. Having heard her prayers and returned the God asked everyone what they desired, for he would not be able to return to them ever again. All of them except Lily told him their wishes - knowledge, power, wealth and the like. Then came the turn of Lily and she said 'My friends, no, my family are at discord because of me, so take me far far away, so they could live in peace together again!" and the God did, he took Lily to the realm of the gods were she was given more of the gifts by other gods than others could imagine."
[Somehow this part feels nostalgic, moral here probably is to not lose yourself in desire and be in harmony with others]
"Left alone now the other youths looked upon their gifts and felt great shame, having lost themselves in personal desires they forced their friend away, now they could not look each other in the eyes, so they took their gifts for the sake of their children and scattered into different directions across the world to run from this shame. The End."
[Well, that's one crappy ending for everyone involved.]
"Egil, the moral of this story is that losing yourself in desire and only wanting more from others and not giving them anything in return may lead one to regret that will last a lifetime."
[You can tell that again, I lived and died through it.]
Tiring*
New Index! (Rank:A)
You have learned of the 'Origin of Humanity Part 1' with more than 60% accuracy. Its respective index has been added.
SP Increase! +6 SP
Origin of Humanity Part 1
After the battle of AvA and the Pact of Realms, that forbade gods of Minor-God Class or above to travel to Mortal realm without great reason Gods of Balance saw how much the world was devastated, and decided to create new people, based on the effects of the corrupted, thus mortal. The first of these “Younger Races” was made by Suilau-Pan. Suilau saw the aspects of the firstborn(Elder Races), and decided to make a race which had all of them, albeit milder – he gave them the fiery emotions of the Oni, desire of freedom of the Elves (First Elves), unshakable conviction of the Dwarves (Great Dwarves), the individuality of the Giants (Divine Giants) and flexible mind of the Naga(Ancient Naga). Their form was made by mixing some traits of the firstborn, as such, Humans were born. Suilau created 9 humans, who were first of their race – 4 male, and 5 female. They were named thus – male: Cypress, Oak, Ash and Birch; female: Belladonna, Clover, Daisy, Rose and Lily. After Suilau taught them words and some basic knowledge they settled what now is eastern coast of Yellow Sea. In the passing years they made families, and had children - Cypress and Daisy, Oak and Rose, Ash and Belladonna, Birch and Clover all made families, and only Lily remained pure and enchantingly beautiful in these years. As time passed men started to lust for her, and women became envious of her beauty, and the attention of their husbands. Suilau, seeing the dire situation of his creations, and soon coming violent conflict between them came to the Mortal realm in his avatar form and said: “Tell me one wish each for your children, I will grant it, but each wish has its consequences, all must be in balance”. Cypress and Daisy said: “We want our children to be great scholars and inventors, that their works would be more splendid then the light of the sun”. Suilau said: “Very well, but the light of the sun shall burn them and make them darker”, as he said, their skin of their children turned dark and their hair black. Oak and Rose said: “We want our children to be enduring travelers of the land, enough so, that they could carry the moons on their backs”. Suilau said: “Very well, but they shall bear the mark of the moons and spread far from each other”, as he said, their skin of their children turned light and their hair blonde. Ash and Belladonna said: “We want our children to be calm and in balance with this land and seas, as leaning trees in wind”. Suilau said: “Very well, but they shall bear the mark of winds and land, and shall wander and find no rest”, as he said, their skin of their children turned yellowish and their eyes became slanted. Birch and Clover said: “We want our children to be strong warriors and conquerors with the powers rivaling the gods”. Suilau said: “Very well, but they shall bear the weight of your arrogance and their careless use of power shall bring them ruin”, as he said, their children became strong, healthy, ambitious and arrogant. Suilau then said: “what shall be your wish Lily?” and Lily answered: “I do not have children, so I wish that no one would hate each other because of me”. Suilau thought deeply and answered: “Very well, for the kindness and innocence shown to your kin I shall take you with me to the palace of gods.” As he said it, he took her and flew to the sky. Those that were left became ashamed of their selfishness and wrongful emotions towards their departed sister. They all gathered around the campfire and talked - Birch said:”We shall take our children west, for there are bountiful lands to take, and make our home rich” (his children and descendants will later be known as Westerners), Oak said:”we shall go north, for only we are hardy enough to tame that land and make it our own” (his children and descendants will later be known as Northlanders), Cypress said:” we shall take our children south, for where sun shines brightest our greatness shall shine ever brighter” (his children and descendants will later be known as southlanders), Ash said:” we shall remain here, for we are bound to this land, our children shall follow its ceaseless winds” (his children and descendants will later be known as Eastlanders).
What the HELL? Since when origin myths are morality bedtime stories?
Wait, calm down, fuuu, this originally was told by centuries old Ancient Elf, probably she had little knowledge about children stories and twisted other knowledge to fit the mold, if not for the 60% accuracy and automatic addition to the Index I would let this story go through my ears and forget it soon after.
This is good, probably most of the stories told by Beata are like this!
"Mom, tell me more!"
***
For the whole year we followed similar training, various exercises that mostly increased my agility and constitution and learning common knowledge, reading, numbers with some of those stories mixed in as rewards. Finally now, after my second birthday, is the time for the training to go to another level as my body is strong enough to take it and some more practical lessons with mother are on the horizon.
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For those that got confused by the age description 'officially stepped into my second year of life' means he got past his first birthday and is getting older, if you are 1 year and 1 day old, that means you are living, at present, your second year of life.
Hope it helps! Write more such comments, because your comments are both my error checks and motivation givers :D