Chapter 1
Wild Card
Welcome to the World Tree!
(System Quest: mandatory, non-dismissible)
Welcome to your new life Syra! This short quest will help you get set up!
Next ->
Syra blinked blearily at the text floating in front of her. Where the hell was she? Some void, apparently, since everything was stark white around her except for the words. She turned her head, much displeased to see that the text seemed to remain in front of her face. Yes, everything was certainly much too white. Quite rude of her dream to not include a dark mode.
For a few moments she sat there, trying to make sense of it all. She didn’t feel anything physical so clearly this must be a dream but she did feel much more aware than she ever remembered any dream. Though, Syra had never really had many dreams. What would she dream of? She was always stuck in a bed anyway.
Scowling, she poked her finger forward at the “next” text, wondering if the text in front of her was a touch-screen.
Of course it was.
Welcome to the World Tree!
(System Quest: mandatory, non-dismissible)
Please select your class from the options below! This decision cannot be reversed!
The “options below” were contained in a scrolling text box that she was clearly meant to swipe through. So, without any idea what else she could do, she did just that.
Standard Draw 1:
Windsinger:
The Windsinger is a boon to all craft on the sea. Using wind magic they can guide ships through treacherous waters. Can also use wind-based offensive magic to defend themself against foes on the seas.
Stat bonuses per rank: +2 Vitality, +3 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, +1 Faith
Syra frowned at the first option. What was this, a game? She didn’t play many games, that was her brother’s domain. Had she swapped dreams with him? Either way, Windsinger did sound like a pretty class name for a role playing game.
Standard Draw 2:
Frost Mage:
The Frost Mage is a standard ice-based caster class. Primarily focused on offensive ice magic, they also have many mundane applications in the preservation of foods and in climate control.
Stat bonuses per rank: +5 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom
Yeah no, she wasn’t gonna willingly choose to become a human A/C unit, not even in a dream.
Standard Draw 3:
Berserker:
The Berserker is a heavy weapons expert specialized in victory by attrition even if at great costs to themself. Can activate rage skills to ignore pain and reduce mental faculties while greatly increasing strength and endurance.
Stat bonuses per rank: +4 Strength, +1 Vitality, +2 Endurance
Again, another class that wasn’t quite her style she though, although what really was her style even? She’d never gotten into a fight before in her life, let alone considered how she’d win one. Maybe she was better off as a refrigerator?
There was, however, a third option. This one was highlighted in red, with a lengthy warning disclaimer below it.
Wild Card Draw:
To choose a class at random, select Wild Card. Be warned, this will pull from the near infinite pool of classes at random, including those thousands of classes that the Great Roots have considered either useless or too dangerous to offer in standard draw. This may negatively affect the rest of your existence. Other beings may view you with hostility depending on the random choice, and even the Great Roots themselves may curse your name. Do not choose this option.
Stat bonuses per rank: ???
“Well then why the hell is it an option?” Syra muttered.
She scrolled back up to Windsinger. It was a nice-sounding name. Part of her scoffed at herself for even considering it this much. This was a dream, therefore none of this actually mattered. But Syra had never been good at taking things lightly. Taking this lightly Syra would have chosen Windsinger immediately, just because it sounded pretty.
She swiped down and smashed Wild Card. What was a dream without a little fun?
Welcome to the World Tree!
(System Quest: mandatory, non-dismissible)
You have chosen Void Hand as your starting class.
Void Hand:
The Void Hand embraces the occult and everything related. Spitting on the Divine Great Roots, they strike their foes with curses from the endless void and summon demons to do their bidding.
Stat bonuses per rank: +1 Vitality, +1 Endurance, -5 Faith, +10 Occult
Welcome to the World Tree!
(System Quest: mandatory, non-dismissible)
Tutorial complete!
All Syra had time to say was a short “huh?” and then everything went black.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The first thing Syra noticed was that everything tasted like salt. Oh, and she couldn’t breathe. She sat up quickly, coughing as she opened her eyes. Then closed them. And then opened them again. Nope, still the same sight.
An ocean stretched out before her. And under her as well, though she felt sand in her hands beneath the water. And then the reality of it all hit her.
She screamed, shoving herself back in a panic as a (relatively small) wave bore down. Her escape was unsuccessful, and the wave smacked her in the face and knocked her back into the wet sand behind her. She sat up again and kept shoving herself away from the sea until she was out of the water further up the beach behind her. One of her wrists twisted awkwardly beneath her, shooting a small bolt of pain through her arm. Syra wailed, though not truly in pain but in pure surprise.
She stopped then, her chest heaving, eyes wide with panic. This was not a dream at all. The taste of salt, the sand between her fingers, the dull ache starting in her wrist…it was all so real. What the hell had happened to her.
System Notification:
You have entered your new life! Welcome to 2nd Leaf, 178th Branch, known locally as “Elantra”
Leaf Status: Closed
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Average Ranking: Quartz-E
View personal status?
Syra sat there for a few minutes as her heart rate slowed. Raising a trembling hand, realizing too late that it was the wrist she had just sprained, she weakly prodded the notification.
Personal Status:
Syra Constance
Equipped Title: None
Divine Alignment: None
Class: Void-Hand
Grade: Wood-F
Stats:
Vitality: 5
Endurance: 4
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 7
Faith: -25
Occult: 40
Engineering: 0
Manipulation: 0
Resources:
Health: 25
Stamina: 20
Mana: 260
“What the fuck does that all mean?”
She felt dizzy and nauseous, like she was about to puke. With a sob, she flopped backwards onto the sand, squinting in the sudden light of the sun above her. The floating text followed her back, floating just as cryptically above her face, though it was a touch difficult to read with the sun in her eyes. Groaning, she closed them. The text was still visible.
“Go away.” She muttered, swiping her hand blindly in front of her. The sprained one, right. With a gasp, she pulled her wrist to her chest, clutching at it as the sudden movement had sent spikes of pain through it. She felt the prickle of tears beneath her eyelids. The text, thankfully, was gone. She’d swiped it off the screen so to speak.
The tears came faster now, and she hated herself for them. She’d alway hated crying and here she was, stranded on a beach bawling like a child. She tried to stop, to get control of her emotions. The dam was broken though, and she lay there sobbing, the sun warming her face.
After a while, she wasn’t sure how long, she stopped crying. Using her good arm, she pushed herself back up into a sitting position and opened her eyes. Carefully using the back of her forearm she wiped the tears from her face. My mind, she thought, is the only thing I can truly control. A strange mantra for a twenty-three year old woman, yet it was one she had repeated often. Repeated for one main reason.
She steeled herself, and looked down. A small hope had blossomed in her chest. A new life, the message had said. A new life could mean a new body right? Or at least one without…no. Her legs stretched out before her, useless as they ever had been. Thin and pale, though that was hard to tell with the wet brown slacks that were currently around them. Water still trickled down her bare feet. Water she couldn’t feel.
Water she’d never been able to feel.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
An hour later, she was further up the beach. The tide was coming in, and she’d seen the line of driftwood and leaves that likely marked the high tide line. The process of moving had reminded her of helpless times where she’d fallen out of her bed or the chair in the living room, and had been able to do nothing but drag herself to sit up against something and wait for her mother to come home. Except here on this god-forsaken beach, there was no mother to wait for. No nurse to call. No brother to shout for, hoping that her voice would be loud enough for him to hear over his games.
She almost started crying again. Almost. But she was done with that. My mind is the only thing I can truly control. So Syra did. She took careful stock of her surroundings.
In front of her was the beach. And past that, the ocean. Blue as far as she could see. The weather seemed quite peaceful, and any other time the sound of the waves lapping against the sand would have been soothing. Behind her, if she twisted herself around awkwardly to look, was a steep embankment that she was propped up against. Above that, all she could see was tall yellow and green grass. She grimaced; getting up that embankment would be impossible. So it was currently the beach and wherever she could drag herself along the embankment. It would be a grueling effort, it had taken her an hour to get to where she was, and that had only been a trip of thirty or forty feet. She could see quite a ways to her left, and the scenery was unchanging that way. To her right, the beach curved out of sight. Well, better to go right then.
Before she started she thought some more. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs put her in the physiological now. Food, water, shelter, and sleep. Of those Syra guessed all she really had was sleep. It was peaceful enough here, though she guessed if she tried to sleep in the sun she’d probably start getting pretty badly sunburnt. Her feet were already starting to redden in the midday sun.
But still…there were the stats and her class. Somehow, she instinctively knew how to pull up that screen again, and she did so with barely a flicker of thought. It was still on the status page, though there was a home button slightly higher. Skimming over her “stats” for the first time, she was still very confused by what she saw. There was no help function either of course.
Vitality and Endurance were pretty easy to figure out, with both of them seeming to have a 1:5 ratio with Health and Stamina at the bottom of the stat block. Strength, well, that had to just be raw physical prowess she could only assume. It was much lower than most of her other stats were, that was for sure. Dexterity confused her for a bit, but she could only guess that it might let her juggle things better?
Intelligence, well that had to be her mind? Though it felt weird to quantify it as such, maybe it worked for something else. She vaguely remembered her brother trying to get her to play some role playing game with him. It had had intelligence as a stat, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember what it had related to, other than her brother rolling his eyes when she said her character must be smarter than his then. Yeah, probably not an actual IQ correlation.
Wisdom was another confusing one. Wouldn’t that be the same as Intelligence? Clearly not, since they were separate.
Faith at -25, she didn’t even know the values could be negative but if there were one that should be for her it was faith. Her mother would be so ashamed. She’d been praying for Syra since she could remember, and a fat lot of good that had ever done for her. Not that Syra had ever voiced her thoughts about it.
Occult…she’d never had anything but a passing interest in that. There had been a rebellious phase in her teens where she’d wanted to wear black and put on all sorts of eyeshadows and lipsticks, she’d even convinced her friend Allison to pierce her ear for her, though that had ended in a painful, bloody mess with a very irritated mother and it had taken months to convince her to let Allison come over again. It was her highest stat somehow.
Well, that wasn’t actually that surprising considering the class she’d gotten through the wild card draw. “Void Hand”. What on earth did that actually mean? Something about cursing people and summoning demons. She wasn’t sure how either of those things could really help her right now. Unless she could eat the demons.
Ignoring the last two stats since they were both at 0, she poked the home button in the top corner of the screen. It pulled up a screen with several subcategories. Inventory, Map, Quests, Skills, Class, Subclasses, Professions. The last two were grayed out and inaccessible. She pulled up the map tab first. It was…dramatically unhelpful. At the top left it displayed 2nd Leaf, 178th Branch, and then there was a wall of fog for the entire tab except for one small speck that she couldn’t even seem to zoom in on. Well, that made enough sense, she’d managed to move around a whopping forty feet from her starting position. With a sigh, she went back to the home screen and looked at the other options.
Inventory actually proved to be quite fruitful. Items were apparently arranged in a grid, and she could grab things from that grid and pull them out into the real world, much to her delight. Even better, that grid already had a few things in it. There was a small cloth tent next to a bedroll. Kindling, flint and steel, and then a waterskin and an entire loaf of bread. Additionally, there were three minor potions of both health and mana that she didn’t really know when she would have a need for. Well, it certainly wasn’t a bounty, but it solved some of her issues. Shelter, water, and food acquired. She’d also discovered a small dagger in a sheath on her upper thigh. She just hadn’t felt it there as she’d drug herself up the beach.
Pulling out the waterskin first, she was pleased to see that it was quite large and seemed full to the brim. She was desperately thirsty so she opened it up and took a few sips. Cold, clear, and refreshing. Not wanting to waste water, she closed it and put it back into the grid. She wasn’t quite hungry yet, so she’d wait on the bread.
The obvious issue was that the food and water were clearly limited. For a whole person, it would likely be plenty to get their bearings and, she didn’t know, start fishing or something? Unfortunately for Syra, that wasn’t going to be an option. Also, there was no fishing rod. The water would probably last a week if she was careful with it, but the bread would likely only last a few days. Putting the thought behind her, she returned to the home screen yet again.
Quests was naturally next on the list and it was, unsurprisingly, completely barren. There was a history button on the page, and looking into that showed her the tutorial quest marked as complete. Welcome indeed, she thought. The skills tab was next. It proved to be the most interesting tab so far.
Acquired Skills (3):
Speak with Demons (passive):
The Void Hand understands the tongues of demons for they are her servants.
Minor Curse of Necrosis (Grade Wood-E):
Cast a small curse of necrosis on a target within 20 meters. This curse deals necrotic damage to the target for 30 seconds scaling with Occult.
Cost: 8 Mana
Summon Sparkflint (Minor Demon Grade Wood-C)
Summon the minor demon Sparkflint to your service. Dismissed when summon’s health or mana reaches zero. Reserved mana is expended upon summon’s dismissal.
Cost: 30 Mana (reserved)
Summon Stats:
Health: 40
Mana: 80
Ability: Flamestrike - Cost: 4 Mana
Well, Syra thought, isn’t that nifty? She could feel the second two skills lurking somewhere in her mind. Somehow she knew how to use them, so she did just that. Raising her hand without a second thought, she summoned Sparkflint.
Sparkflint turned out to be a floating ball(?) of fire. It was hard to tell, because the damn thing was bright. She had to look away after just a few seconds of looking at it, and a black spot floated in her vision where it had been. It was also heating up the area around her quite noticeably. She found though, that she could order the thing around with only her thoughts. So her first command was to send it 20 feet away from her. Down the beach of course, she was considerably worried that the demon would set whatever grass was above her head on fire, and while Sparkflint was undoubtedly fireproof, she certainly was not if her budding sunburns were anything to go by.
She felt at the connection between them, which was somehow a tangible one. The demon didn’t appear to be capable of any thought besides just “burn” and “burn something over there” which she assumed was what flamestrike did. All she would have to do, if she was guessing correctly, was order it to burn her foes with bolts of fire. Which she of course tested out immediately.
The enemy of choice was a small chunk of driftwood some dozen feet away from Sparkflint. A line of brilliant flame lanced out from the floating orb, hitting the log and detonating in a flash, sending two now ignited pieces of wood flying down the beach. For the first time since she’d woken up on the beach, Syra grinned. It was a savage expression that would have startled her had she seen it.
She might still not have working legs, but who needs those when you have a fire-spitting demon to do your bidding?