Maintenance review: Changes aren't too noteworthy.
Version 2.0 changes:
Better wording.
Grammar fixes.
(Pre show)
Hello everyone! My name is Spiffy, here with breaking news! The supports are in and I must say I'm loving what I am seeing. Complements, criticisms and requests all wonderful in their own right. Allow me to go down the list.
First we have a comp and a question from "guest". The answer to your question is simple, I'll try to get a chapter out every week on Saturday. It gives me time to think, write and revise. If I get a chapter done before my specified time, I will give you guys an early chapter. About the comment on the dark god, well I tried to make him how I saw him in the show and what I made was a character that hates being in his brothers shadow but still cares for him, he is Luigi if he was all powerful and more cranky.
"Soul109", I would like to thank you for your comment and am happy I could please. Just note that there are more probably out there, just not as well known.
For my first "random reviewer" reviewer, my rebuttal is down below. Just know I hold no malice towards yourself. If I'm being honest, when I came up with the idea I had to do some research to put the stats into calculated values as well as properly explain why he was so weak and I understand where you were coming from given the fact you lacked any info on my previous statement. For the many gamers comment...well. I'll just have to show you how it's different from the rest besides the fact that there are thousands of them in remnant and even more outside of it, all different ranks and all different properties. You will get to see one in the coming chapters so I hope you can wait.
Last but not least "Swiftwolfbeta". There is only one thing I can say regarding your comment. I like the way you think.
(Chapter warnings: None)
Chapter 2: Vital knowledge.
(The bedroom)
I'm lying in my bed after my discussion with 'demon king ganon', just contemplating life. Well… less life and more of the discussion I had with him. It's a lot to take in and to be honest, it scares me to know the gap between myself and everyone else. Makes it hard to sleep if you couldn't guess. At least I can be thankful for the hospitality the host has given me, I mean that sincerely.
(Flashback)
The strange device that was supposed to be a phone closed after the notification. And by closed I mean snap shut and fall to the floor, making it dissipate into purple smoke. I look at the destroyer of worlds quizzingly with my hands pointed to the phone's last seen position.
"That was known as the akashic scroll. It links itself to users very soul and allows them to summon it at will. If it leaves your grasp, it will self destruct so no one else can use it. It is a nifty tool to embed the magic into." He explained. "Summon it again so I can continue the tutorial."
I do as he says and summon the glorified coaster, this time observing it closely. It had a wicker basket design that allowed one to see that it was divided into four diamonds. It was completely black except for the openings between the strands which glow depending of the diamond it's apart of.
The top glowed blue, the bottom was red, the right was yellow and the left was green. The back of the device had multiple circles that I remembered rotating and moving in accordance to its state.
"As I'm sure you know, the akashic scroll will change its state depending on the mode you choose. Each diamond is a different mode you can access, only one is unlocked for your use though. Touch the blue diamond."
After I pressed the requested button. Each corner of the device expanded and the clear screen became visible. The screen then came to life and an image of my face in chibi form appeared along with my name.
[Status]
[Cyan Palette]
"When you press the blue diamond, the status of you, your friends, your contacts and those bound to you by fate will appear. By touching an icon, information on that person will come up."
"You forgot the magic word." I say in a singsong voice.
"Now!"
"Alright! You don't have to shout at me." I press my chibi and my name split into four boxes. I press the first box, making my info pop up.
[{Status}•{Summary}-{Divergence}-]
[Cyan Palette:-]
[9!1:-!#$044 4#]
[Power level: 14]
[Stat level: 2]
[Money: 0 Lien]
[Stats]
[Vit-2]
[Value]
[HP-5/10]
[MP-0/0]
[TP-0/0]
[ -0]
[ -0]
[ -0]
[ -4(0+4)]
[ -0]
[ -0]
[Spe-0]
[Acc-0]
[Eva-0]
[Bonus]
[2% Bonus to food benefits]
"Here we have the status screen. Here you will have access to three parts of a person's biography. Their status or stats as you call them, their summary and their divergence. We will start with status."
"Hey god… is my vitality supposed to be that low?" I ask.
"It is accurate. Yes." He confirms.
'Well...shit.'
"I was just wondering. Usually stats start with five or ten points so I got concerned."
"Well the average stat for civilian standards are around the hundreds."
"Then why the hell is mine so low!?"
"Remember how you died?"
"What does that have to do with it!?" I say, slowly starting to panic.
"To create new bodies for you and your companions, we required parts from your old bodies. It was impossible to draw from yours with how mangled your body was. That's why my brother and I created yours from scratch. With how new your current body is, it makes sense that you would have the strength of an infant but spread through the size of an adult. It would be accurate to say you are at an eightieth of your original power."
"Alright… can you explain how it works so I know what I'm working with."
"Each point in a stat will give a point to a value and a bonus. Vitality gives points to you health, which is so low you could kill yourself from tripping." He states.
"That bad!"
"I did say that I would get you to a point where you don't die from a nicked finger."
Instantly dread washed over me. "O-oh fuck."
"A greater example would be the strength stat. It's a stat you have yet to unlock but the ramifications of it have more meaning. Each strength stat adds a single physical attack point which increases damage output. It also increases the weight you can lift by 0.5 pounds." The dark god says, adding fuel to the fire.
I do some quick calculations. "So a strength stat of one hundred would be fifty pounds…what would be my starting strength stat?"
"All the stats you have yet to unlock are at a two. Because you haven't unlocked them, they are zero."
"But that would mean I can't lift anything!"
"Have you lifted anything?"
Thinking back, I don't think I have. I have yet to pick up my fallen chair, I didn't lift the toilet seat up. The only thing I have touched is the-
"Doors are excluded because you didn't lift or carry them. The status will always be correct. In fact the only reason you are able to wear your clothes is because you have them equipped. Which I will explain later on."
"I'm so fucked!" I yelled with my hands over my eyes.
"YOU WILL BE IF YOU DON'T STOP INTERRUPTING!" He shouted as he broke the table.
"You're going to fuck me?" I slowly back away.
"Haaaa… look, let me finish and we can take a break, alright?" The dark god makes a compromise.
I nod and he begins again. "The stats will work as I stated to you before. However once your stat becomes a fourth digit the bonus you receive from it will begin yielding less and less. A strength stat of one thousand will allow you to lift 500 pounds while a strength stat of two thousand will only let you lift 750 pounds. This is because the effect of a stat becomes less meaningful after a certain point."
When you think about like it's money then it would completely make sense. One hundred dollars taken from someone with one thousand dollars is a bigger deal then the same amount being taken from a millionaire.
"The summary is self explanatory. It tells you about yourself or the person who's summary your looking at. It even includes sections for info you know about them and sections for info you have been told. This will help stop you from slipping up and giving info you know but haven't been told yet."
That's helpful. Last thing I want is to be made out to be a stalker.
"Lastly is divergence which, to be honest, I have no clue about."
'...excuse me?'
"What do you mean?"
"I made this magic to adapt to the user. So enchanting the akashic scroll with it will change the scroll to the users needs by giving all info that can be useful. While I have a basic understanding of the affects of my magic because of other users. I have yet to know what divergence means because no other user had it given to them."
"Which means I am going to have to experiment."
"Or we can have the akashic scroll tell us."
"Huh?"
"The akashic scroll has a will of its own and the owner can give it a personality. I was going to allow you to create your own partner as a gift of thanks and to help you on your journey. It will be able to properly explain things to you in terms you understand because let's face it; I barely know the terms that you know and am clueless on video games in general. On top of that, I have lacked human contact so I am awful with explanations in general." He lowers his head in shame.
"You said it was a gift of thanks… why are you thankful?"
"...for giving me the chance to finally one up my brother…for having faith in me...and because when the time comes, I will need to leave and entrust the worlds fate in your hands. That is my reason for giving you this." His hand extended and his palm was shrouded in purple lightning. The lightning swirled into a cloud and became a gear of sorts.
The gear slowly made its way towards my scroll which began to levitate in the air. The circles began to shift together and welcomed the gear in the center. The gears began to move back to the original positions and the device floated towards my hands. Once in my grasp, the device began to extend its corners till the screen was larger than an IPad and folded down the middle. The bottom part became keys and the top part mimicked a screen. The akashic scroll had just became a laptop.
"Now that I have given you the ability to edit the scroll. You should now be able to make an avatar of sorts that will act as an artificial intelligence. You merely need to type down information on what you wish for it to have. Write a personality, a list of jobs and what they look like, then the system will reward you with your partner. I'm going back to my domain so I'll see you tomorrow."
With that, the younger brother vanished into black dust that seeped into the floorboards. Leaving me alone with a floating futuristic laptop. I slowly drag the device to the broken table and moved to a chair.
[-4HP]
Well not until after I tripped over my previous chair.
(Present)
After that I worked on my A.I for a few hours. After I completed my write up on what I wanted from the A.I, I pressed submit. Then a white crystal emerged from the screen. I pulled it out and the akashic scroll dissipated leaving me there to marvel at the curious gemstone. I pocketed it sometime later and made my way to my bed carefully so as not to trip again.
This is how the story comes around full circle. I can only hope that I survive this.
There, all done! I was actually a little concerned that I wouldn't get this done for my goal time but I pulled through. With school and family drama it became hard to really write on my spare or at home. I'm just glad I could churn this chapter out. But that is not all I have to say. I'm very proud of the character who is making an appearance in the next chapter and I hope you like them too. I'm even making art of them to really make them stand out. Have a nice time.