[Elsewhere, thousands of years ago. Omniscient Point of View.]
The Elf grew up sickly, with her malady being with her from birth. Her mind was healthy and curious, but she could barely move around her home on her own, even with the electric wheelchair. Her parents were moderately well off, but there was no cure for her condition. Even if they had all the money in the world, it would not have helped her. They loved her very much, though, and managed to find friends for her, ones that could like her without pity. She returned the friendship in full measure.
When there were no friends around, she had her lessons and her books. She didn’t mind the lessons, but knowing she would be lucky to live to age 25, well, what was the point? This didn’t mean she was a bad student; on the contrary she could learn anything almost as if she were a knowledge sponge.
Her books included non-fiction ones with pictures, allowing her to see parts of the world she could never visit. Some were very well written, allowing her to imagine herself there, touching the formations, feeling the gravel below her feet, and smelling all the marvelous flowers and other plants. The fiction ones engaged her imagination as well – romance, science fiction, and fantasy. Fantasy was her favorite, stories of adventure and exploration. Those sometimes had magical elves, sturdy dwarves, and boring humans. The humans often had magic, too, and were often described as extremely handsome or beautiful. But they never caught her imagination like elves, dwarves, and beastmen could. And to have a great quest, to defeat a great dragon or demon lord, it would be the best thing ever.
Her terminal condition won out during her 23rd year.
A blue screen with white text appeared before her. That was all she saw, all she sensed.
Greetings. You have passed, but you now have a rare opportunity to live again. It will not be on your old world, but there are trillions of others where you can live a full and healthy life. Do you wish to take this opportunity, or move on randomly to another life, with no knowledge of your last one?
The cursor just sat there, blinking. She had read some stories like this, with reincarnation. Was she dreaming, or was this really happening?
The cursor kept blinking. Absolutely nothing else – just the white text on a dark blue screen with a blinking cursor. After about a minute, she thought her answer, “I would like to live again, remembering who I was.”
So you shall. Would you like to be born as an infant, or begin your new life already aware, at age 19 or higher? If you choose to be at least 27, you will begin your new life with two classes. Younger, and you will be able to choose your classes when you become 27.
“Classes?! You mean magic??”
Yes. Most classes involve magic or other aetherial capabilities.
“27! I want to start out at 27, please.”
27 accepted. Note that this age will be scaled to that of your chosen race. For example, an Elf at 27 is as mature as a Human at 15.
“I get to choose my race, too?!”
Yes. And your sex as well as your classes. Your world will be automatically chosen based on your other choices. Not all worlds have Elves or Humans.
She thought for a moment. “It’s like this.I didn’t get to finish my last life. Or start it, really. Could I be a female Elf again?”
Yes. 27-year old female Elf accepted. What name would you like to have?
“Seriana Dawn”. One of my favorite fantasy heroines.
Seriana Dawn accepted. You may now choose two classes, a primary and a secondary. Do you wish to choose your aetherial type directly (magic or ki), or allow your primary class to determine it?
“I don’t know what you mean. What are aetherial, magic, and ki?”
I apologize. I should keep in mind you are from a starter world. The people of most worlds understand these things, growing up with the aetherial as part of their lives. The aether is an endless substance spanning all space and time. People can refine it to either become mana (magic – powers external to yourself) or ki (for powers within yourself or shared through touch). You can only have one or the other. If you had chosen to be some sort of monster, you would use aether directly.
“Okay, I think I get it. What would a druid be? That was what I was imagining becoming.”
A druid effects that which is external to her, therefore it is mana-based. Would you like to choose Druid as your primary class?
“Yes. Then is it possible to be an archer as my secondary?”
Druid accepted.
It is possible, but you should be aware of another option. You will be able to learn archery just as any person on your old world could, and be just as good at it as they were. Doing so would allow you to choose something else as your secondary class. Or, you could make Bowmaster your secondary class. You would still have to learn archery, but it would be boosted by magical skills such as extra accuracy, magic arrow, flaming arrow, and multi-shot.
“Bowmaster sounds wonderful. I could become a protector of the natural, using nature when necessary to protect her interests.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Would you like to choose Bowmaster as your secondary class?
Boy, this thing is picky.
Yes.
Bowmaster accepted.
Would you like to lock in Druid as your primary class and Bowmaster as your secondary class?
“Yes.”
After that, Seriana was shown her character sheet for the very first time. It was too much information for her to comprehend it all, but her attribute stuff seemed to be good and her three class skills made sense. She even had skills to regenerate health, stamina, and mana. It made sense that she was only Level 1. She dismissed it.
You will reincarnate on a world named ‘Heere’ as a member of an Elf race who call themselves the Skolturi. You will know their language, both spoken and written. You will also know basic facts concerning their society.
“Okay, that sounds good. Thank you very much. I am very glad to have met you. Good luck, and I hope you help other people just like you helped me.”
I am now your interface, a part of you. Where you go, I go.
“Oh! Really? That is wonderful. I hope we can be great friends!”
I shall endeavor to serve you adequately.
----------------------------------------
As is common, Seriana spawned nude and alone. There was a robe near her, and she put it on. She was near a road and followed it to a Skolturi town. It did not take long for people to realize she was an unborn awakened, still with great ignorance about the world. Two sisters, both professional hunters, essentially adopted her. Over time they taught her how to be a Skolturi, rank her skills, and level up.
After several years, she decided to move on, see more of the world. She had a wanderlust, combined with a discomfort around crowds. She had never been exposed to many people at once in her first life and found the experience to be uncomfortable. She did make friends and had some lovers, but the connections were never strong enough to form permanent ties. She knew that was her fault, but her first love was Heere. She considered Nature an ally as well, but she never saw Nature, and Heere was everywhere.
She spent much of her time alone, in forests and deserts and swamps. She always had two to four animal companions with her. Where they were not welcome, she would not go. She had no problem with those who hunted for food, but those who hunted for pleasure best beware her wrath. She was the type of Druid often presented in Earth fictions, more concerned with the rights of beasts than of people. The decades of almost total isolation and focus on nature had slowly distorted her world view; she was no longer a civilized being of society.
She was 182 and Level 49 when she caught the plague, that dreaded curse. It began to limit her, to degrade her – not too dissimilar to the condition that had afflicted her first self. A primary difference was that this plague kills in two years, not two decades. She could take comfort in the thought that at least this time, she had a chance to grow and live and experience life outside of books.
A year later, a counter curse was discovered. A curse that killed you if you accepted it, but allowed you to continue on as a person with all your memories. It would reset one’s ‘life’ to Level 0, with only HP Regen and SP Regen active. People could relearn their skills easily as nascent restarting at only one rank below what they had been., But their granted skills would begin at Rank F. That wasn’t entirely bad, because new classes could be chosen. Wraiths were disappointed to find that if they rechose an old class, its skills also began at F, no matter how well they had known them before.
Seriana could have chosen actual death, and an immediate return to the cycle of reincarnation. But like most other Skolturi remaining, she chose wraith-hood. Whoever caused the curse Would Be Punished. It took her a few days to decide on a general course for her new life. She had been a Druid/Bowmaster for long enough. Besides, with a wraith's limited strength, archery was not really a practical choice.
She would maintain her tie to the land, to Heere herself, through witchcraft. She wasn’t yet sure about her secondary. She wandered alone deep into the woods. Yes, there were beasts out here, but what were they going to do, kill her? She laughed at that thought.
She craved solitude as she went through her class selection again. This time she knew what to expect and had a very good understanding of the process. She could not reselect her name, and age was now meaningless. She would be a robust 183 as long as Seriana chose to exist. She chose Witch as her primary class, not bothering to look through lists or hierarchies,
For her secondary, she decided to look through the alphabetical list. The very long, alphabetical list. If something interested her, she could expand the name into a short description. She expanded many choices, some several times, as she scanned the list down and up and over again. Maybe she should just choose Druid as a class again. She knew that well. But that was the problem. She wanted something else.
A stray thought hit her from her childhood. Those fantasy stories where parties of heroes would fight dragons or demon lords – those were fun. Well, a dragon was a creature, not a class. But …
On a whim, and knowing she’d still have to affirm it if it actually worked, she said, “Interface, I would like Demon Lord as my secondary class.”
WARNING: Demon Lord is a disfavored class. It offers no skills nor any automatic attribute gains on leveling up. Its one benefit is in allowing all attributes except luck and vitality to be trained to 150. This is a wasted choice for beings without vastly extended lifespans.
Verify that you choose Demon Lord as your secondary class: Yes ● | No ●
“Uh, wait. I would still get automatic attribute gains from my Skolturi race and Witch primary, right?”
That is correct.
Holy fuck! Holy fucking fuck!! This is simultaneously the worst and best thing ever. Since I’m dead, there is no extended lifespan issue. It will keep me weak and behind everyone else for a LONG time. But if we don’t choose to expire beforehand, they estimate that we might last 10,000 years or more. With regular attribute training, I would end up as the very opposite of weak.
…
Mother Heere, should I choose this?
Seconds after Seriana asked, she heard the roar of a zebor, then several others. Prey had been spotted. They were demon beasts if there ever were any. No concern for pain. No concern for their life. Concern only for victory and the pack.
Choice made, she mentally selected Yes.
Would you like to lock in Witch as your primary class and Demon Lord as your secondary class?
Do I want to keep Witch as my primary? How much does not having any secondary skills affect that? Probably a lot. But that will be true for any primary class. I can become the One Who Curses and the One Who Blesses. I can maintain my connection to Mother Heere. This process was fated and holy. It has to be. A witch I shall be.
“Yes.”
She saw her character sheet appear before her for the hundredth time. Fairly lame attributes for Level 1. Only two granted skills. But she would get better, Slowly better. Inexorably the best.
She laughed at the absurd, foolish thing she had just done. She laughed and could not stop laughing. And that prey the zebors sensed? It was her. They attacked; the alpha was first. But when she failed to fall, the others began to bite and claw her wraith flesh. There was something there, after all. Something teeth would bite through, barely sensing any counter pressure. Something claws would attempt to rend. Something that acted much like thick smoke which would always reform. None of that stopped her laughter. It only amplified. Weakness made her strong The increasing rage of her foes made them weak. Their demonic persistence continued and continued, as did her laughter. It was only exhaustion which eventually stopped the zebor attack. If anyone had heard her in the woods during the next hour, they would have thought her mad.
Chaos was the ultimate protector. How could any foe defeat that?
When she made it back into town the next day, people would analyze her and see just one class, Witch. There was really no reason for interfaces to display a crippling second class that would never have any skills. People assumed it was an unusual side effect of the counter curse and expressed sympathy. A few had already ranked their nascent Analyze back to A. They could see her unusually low attributes. More sympathy. Perhaps some pity. Even as a sickly girl, she had not known pity. She hated it.
Someone even suggested she undergo the counter curse again. “That might fix it.” Before bursting into another laughing fit, she declined, saying if this was fate, she would become a victor over fate, not someone vanquished by it.
In a few months, the backwards woman vanished from society, eventually forgotten. Those who had known her thought she had likely chosen to expire rather than continue on as a half person, falling more behind level after level. She had even begun to rave about chaos and how it was fundamental to Heere Herself. The crazy woman insisted on ‘herself’. If they could read her words, they would have seen that the unusual one was capitalized.