Name Selection
The bane of all gamers. The nemesis of every RPG player. The last obstacle you have to face before saying you have completely created your character.
People usually went with names that represent their will. Names that represent perseverance and their commitment to stay unbent.
This usually makes them pick names of things like plants and small animals, like Mouse or Weed.
I could take a name with a grandiose felling, like Zeus or Thor. But the risk of being seen as someone wanting to be a Mary Sue was too great, and would affect my relation with others.
I could also pick some common name.
But for a hero to be called Bob… it wasn’t an attractive idea.
Maybe I could pick some orcish name, like Garrosh or Bargulg. But I didn’t choose to be an Orc, so it wouldn’t fit.
And should I pick a surname too?
This expands the number of choices a little.
Decisions, decisions, decision…
It would be better to pick a name that won’t make me hiss.
It needs to be something simple. Maybe something that resembles the job I intend to take.
Rogue, thief, trickster, swindler…
Gyp?
It’s simple. Don’t make me hiss. Not a name of any god if a recall.
It is someone who tricks others. Maybe I should learn illusion.
...
But I like it.
And since I’m going to an agility build and rogue like class… how about Shadowrun?
Satisfied on my decision I start focusing on the ring and select the Owner option
Say the name you have choosen
“Gyp Shadowrun.”
WARNINGLow world population detected.
The surname is not necessary
Titles can be used as surname in this world
This makes things easier.
“Gyp.”
Name selected: Gyp
ATTENTIONFor completing your creation you received the title Pilgrim.
TITLE SCREENPilgrimRaise affection with mortals.
Able to ask for favors.
Greater chance of getting discounts.
Damage against monster increased by 10%.
Learning and improving skills are now easier.
Wow, title jackpot it seems.
I look through the window (the real one, not the panel) and get surprised.
It’s already getting dark. The ritual and the name selection took more time than I have thought.
Feeling the chilly breeze coming from the window I cover myself on my blankets and finally go to sleep. Tomorrow would be a long day.
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“Hey, wake up!” a strange voice said on my ear
…
Should I?
Nah, I will continue here.
In my comfy, warm, filled with hope and dreams blankets.
…
“Hey, come on man” said the pesky voice again,
Covering my ears! Don’t wanna wake!
…
…
…
“GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE BED” (I could almost see him flipping some tables instead of me)
“Don’t sscream. I’m awake” I said scared by the sudden yell.
There was some freezing air around me.
I rolled to my back and saw some random guy on top of me with my blankets on his hands.
The whole scene screams Stranger Danger.
I stare at him, face beginning to feel hotter. The situation with Nopette (maybe named Taylor) still fresh on my mind
He stares back, and seeing my face getting redder (I do have red skin) he notices the whole situation, with me on my scant clothes. Truly a bad situation. He hurriedly gets up and out of my bed.
“Sorry dude, but you weren’t waking up” he said, cleaning his throat and looking embarrassed. The long pointy ears getting red.
Now I really paid attention to him.
Lean body? Check
Pointy ears? Check
Blond hair? Check
I just found the hero of Hyrule, Link!
…
…
…
Yeah, bad joke, I know. Couldn’t resist. But seriously, only the green cloth was missing.
Also he had the strange cross above the head.
Well, Link clone (Clink?) was getting even redder with my close inspection.
Trying to stop the awkward atmosphere, I jumped off bed and checked if everything was in order.
Loincloth covering everything. Vest covering almost nothing. Yeah I was ready to face the day ahead!
…
I really need to find some new clothes…
“What isss it?” I groggily asked him. I don’t really like waking up before the sunrise so I hissed with full force to him.
“The last part of the ritual is about to start” he said, looking more cheered up.
I only stared, confused, tilting my head a bit.
“The last gift man, remember?” wow, he cheered down quickly “You know, pray, offer the coin and receive some awesome last gift?”
“Oh that.” I nodded. He looked like he lost all hope on the world, sighing and with the how-could-you-forget-it face.
“Here, put this robes and clean your face.” He said, throwing said robe on me. “There’s a water bucket next to the desk, use it to wash yourself”
Clink exited the room.
I quickly cleaned my face and neck (ouch, cold water) and, taking out the vest, I put the robe on. I kept the loincloth since it looked like underwear and didn’t really want to walk around without something covering the important bits.
Out of the room Clink was still waiting.
“Good, now follow me” he said and started to walk toward the building that I guessed that was the temple.
I would like to say that there was no problem during our walk… but Clink had really long legs (I almost reached his waist). Even with some bonus to agility, I was slower when walking, and every each step he gave was equal to three or more steps I gave. I was quickly falling behind.
Running to follow him we arrived at the building.
It was an outstanding chapel!
Outside, it looked like a three store building (without counting the tower), but inside there was just the first floor. It had a really tall ceiling and the decorations were superb. The roof was painted and had a stained glass on top of the altar, and there were two balconies on the front of the temple.
The altar had some kind of pond surrounding it, and the light that comes from the rising sun illuminated the aura, giving it a surreal look.
Maybe because the water wasn’t totally crystal clear, it had a blue tone, and looked a little viscous.
It seemed like everybody was there. The strange people with crosses on top of their head (this must be a sign of the ones who came from my original world) and monks filled the rows of chairs closest to the altar.
The monk who saved me from Nopette had already started the ritual. He used four jars of water. He submerged them on the water and said some words, dropping the water back to the pond. On the seventh dive, he kept the water inside the jar and placed it upon the altar. When I arrived he was doing the third jar, and after I spent my time observing him I ran to the front of the altar.
How I knew it was there that I had to go?
Easy, there were three others using the same robe as I.
Four jars for four people. Easy as that.
One of them was a Dwarf. I couldn’t really see much expression on him since his beard covered most of his face… and chest… pretty sure it even covered some belly. It had a nice red tone, almost as fire. He was just a “little” taller than me with roughly 1,30 meters tall (who am I kidding? 30 centimeters was a lot). There was an empty chair besides him, so I sat there.
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On the other side of the Dwarf was a beautiful Vampire. She used glasses and was nearly 1,75 meters tall. Her black hair was tied in a braid, that she left hanging on her front giving full view of her pale nape. And the robe little did to hide her breast. It wasn’t something out of a hentai, like some other girl I met, but it had a respectful size.
And on my side there was an Incubi. Nearly 2 meters tall, I didn’t even reach his waist. He had long curved horns, and something that I missed on the character creation… he had hooves instead of feet. So I guess Incubus and Succubus must be like the satyrs (I don’t really remember if Nopette had hooves, I was too occupied worrying about her other parts). He had a handsome face and pointed ears like an Elf.
After analyzing them (I should really stop with this habit of fully staring at people) the monk finished blessing the jars and called the Vampire to start her part of the ritual. Now I was fully attentive, curious for what would happen.
He put the jars on front of the altar, and instructed us to put the coin on the jar and step back.
The Vampiress graciously walked toward her jar and dropped her coin. When she stepped back, the water started to get hectic inside the jar.
Then the water raised and turned to stone. And then it changed into a human.
The stone thingy was totally nondescript. Looking closer, I could see it was covered in precious stone. The Vampire bowed to it, and it raised its arms.
In front of Vampy, it started to shine brightly. She reached her arms and take hold of something.
When the light died, the stone being vanished, and she was holding a greatsword. It was made of some silvery metal and studded with jewels. It was a really pretty sword. She put the sword into her inventory and came back to her chair. Next was Dwarfy turn.
Same proceedings. Drop coin into water. Water goes crazy inside the jar. Water raised and turn into fire.
Well, not exactly the same, I guess.
When Dwarfy bowed the same light came, but it didn’t wait for him to reach it. Fire thingy was more impatient than rock thingy apparently.
When the light faded, there was a hammer. It was painted in orange, and when illuminated, it looked like flames were dancing on it.
Yeah, I noticed. It gave a hammer to a Dwarf. Almost facepalmed myself.
Then it was my turn.
I dropped the coin on the jar.
The water went crazy, but I could feel the air getting colder around me. The water raised and froze, and a clearly feminine figure stared at me.
I bowed.
Then a light shone brightly. Reaching to it, my hands closed around the handle of some weapon. I could almost see the goddess smiling.
And when the light died, I was holding a dagger.
It was light. The handle had a white cloth hanging from it. It remembered a claw, a twenty centimeters blade, cold as ice, and equally pretty.
Of course I used Inspect! on it.
Ice TalonThe gift from the goddess of ice, this dagger has some ice enchantments on itBonus SkillsFreezing TouchCuting with this weapon causes hypothermia. May cause freezeSoothing TouchThe broad side can stop bleedingsHalt HealingThe edge of the blade doesn’t cure bleedings
Bingo!
The abilities on this dagger were incredible! Even the Halt Healing, since it would cause hypothermia and make the target continue to bleed.
I put the dagger in my inventory and went happily back to my chair.
Now was the Incubi turn.
Coin dropped. Water raised. It turned into some black ink. For some reason there was no bright light (maybe it was the god of darkness or something). There was a black space in front of Horns, and when the light returned there was a giant double edge axe on his hands. It seemed to exhale some kind of thick miasma. I swear, some of it even dropped to the floor!
When he got back to his place the monk shooed us from the temple and into the cafeteria. It looked like they wanted to do their daily prayers, and we were hindering them.
The lack of lecture made me confused, but maybe this ritual was repeated so many times that they got tired of it.
We all walked to the cafeteria.
When we arrived, there was a really beautiful table full of food. Bread, cake, fruits, some light candies, milk, juice and teas. And many more things. It was a breakfast worthy of the gods! The food was served by some people that really don’t look like monks. Maybe the monks paid people to help them, or they willing gave some help…
Focusing on more important matters, I took some food.
I took some pieces of cake, a bread with some fried egg and a juice that smelled like orange. Picking a table that would allow me to see every one (stare at them) I sat and began the analyze.
There was two Succubus and three Incubus. They all sat down together, and the air around them looked thick. Maybe because they simple smiled of sex, for some reason. A dangerous group for different reasons. The guy in the ritual was already with them.
The other Succubi, the one I had yet to meet, saw me looking at their direction. She giggling poked the one beside her and both smiled to me.
Getting embarrassed, I quickly looked at the other groups.
With the Vampire was a Siren. Sirens are the winged relatives of Mermaids. They are beautiful women, who had the same singing abilities as the Mermaids, but instead of swimming the flied. There were also a Cat-girl, two Elves and a Human girl. All girls. Birds of a feather flock together, it seems.
There were four Orcs next to the food, followed by a Bull-man and some Plant-guy (Ent, if I recall). They seemed like the jocks group.
The biggest group had two Humans (they looked like the stereotype of hero), the Dwarf guy, a Reptile, and eight Elves. They were a noisy bunch, talking about classes and training and being loud.
Hmm, the Elves were in greater numbers. The ideal of grace and eternal beauty seemed to attract lots of people.
And I finally noticed what was bugging me.
Most people were more than average in looks. The women had hourglass figure or a really fit body (scant clothing, always helping you analyze people). The men had bulging muscles or lean body with aristocratic looks that made (fan) girls go crazy.
I got goose bumps imagining that some of them might be cross-dressing.
At least I wasn’t the only non-model level on the room. The Dwarf and one of the Orcs weren’t exactly handsome. But the Orc really looked reliable in a fight.
So there were: three Humans, a Dwarf, ten Elves, two Succubus, three Incubus, a Felimorph, a Bovinemorph, a Reptilian, an Ent, four Orcs, a Vampire, a Siren and an Imp.
There were 30 pilgrims, including me. Not number that can save the world, I guess. Thinking about saving the world with only 30 people made my appetite simple vanish.
After some minutes a trainer looking guy came to the cafeteria and started to yell at everyone, urging us to eat and run to the training grounds.
Today will be a long a day.
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Author Note:
Aaaaannd another chapter.
I really was sleepy yesterday, didn't remembered that the chapter was already complete ¬¬
Just needed some correction and fixing the panels (damm, it's really annoying)
Anyway, thanks for reading!