Magus, theTinker
And so, I wake up in a new world. In a very bad place, with little more to start with than a minor control over the elements. Now I have to hope my Luck is up to the task of getting me out safely.
And yet another one of these. And I still have more. This idea came about thinking of the most interesting description an MC might give about their powers, looked at the CYOA, and built off that. I'm also on a bit of a Gamer kick at the moment, so that might have influenced things a bit. Anyway, for those of you who like what I write for some reason, enjoy!
Chapter 1
As is the time-honored tradition of all dimensional travelers with a Gamer power, I woke up in an abandoned building with a screen in front of my face, swearing quietly under my breath in fear after reading. Reason being? THIS.
Welcome, Gamer, to the city of Ellisburg, home to the King of Goblins.
My next course of action is obviously to find a way out of here, starting with checking what I could do now. The answer is rather disappointing.
James Greenwood
Level 1 (0/100)
HP: 50
MP: 100
SP: 100
Physical: 10
Mental: 10
Magic: 5
Luck: 5
Hermetic Arts
Creo: Creation or Healing techniques (1)
Intellego: Personal Perception techniques (1)
Muto: Transformation techniques, changing something in ways it cannot naturally (1)
Perdo: Destruction or Deterioration techniques (1)
Rego: Control techniques, manipulation of something possible for it naturally (1)
Animal: Form for Control over animals (1)
Auram: Form for Control over air and lightning (1)
Aquam: Form for Control over water (1)
Corpus: Form for Control over the human body (1)
Herbam: Form for Control over plants and their products (1)
Ignem: Form for Control over fire (1)
Imaginem: Form for Control over the senses (1)
Mentem: Form for Control over the human mind, including the perception of the senses (1)
Terram: Form for Control over earth and other non-living solids (1)
Vim: Form for Control over pure magic (1)
Gathering all of that, I thought over what I knew. The ARS Magica system puts the control over any magic into each individual Art. A spell is created with at least one technique and one form, with others also being used if needed to give the spell additional effects to do what you want it to, called requisites. For example, you could use Creo Ignem to create fire, but you would need a Rego requisite to control the fire.
On the physical side of things, I need to consider if I'll fight with weapons. In the long term, it seems to be better for me to learn martial arts instead. Any weapon I use will eventually be weaker than my own hands, simply due to my strength and durability increasing as my stats go up, while any weapon I make will not. Besides that, with magic I have both long-range options and the possibility of turning my nails into claws, or pulling a Wolverine, or even turning my arms into blades. The nails/claws sound more practical than the others, so I think that's what I'll go for.
Looking over the spells I have in the Archive, I considered the difference between the Magic available to me now and what it would have been if I was even somewhat restricted with game balance. In a game you tend In a game you tend to have one spell do one thing, even if it should be able to do more. I don't know much about how it worked in the actual game, but in most games a spell like Muto Corpus would only transform me into a specific animal. Not so much here. Even if I am not strong enough yet, that same spell here allows me to do anything from create those claws, transform into any animal, or do the same to others, depending on how much magic I put into the spell and what I intend to do with the spell.
Just to get a baseline on what I can do for now, I cast two spells. One was the simplest fire I could make, just a candle flame, Creo Ignem, that cost 5 MP per second. The other was as basic a version I could make of the claw spell, Muto Corpus this time, that cost a flat 15 MP all at once. The result was sharp, but still just made out of the same material as normal nails. I waited for all of the MP I spent to regenerate before going on to anything else.
Something I can do next is create a sort of training dummy, for my martial arts. Now, I can either use Creo to form it out of nothing with whatever material I want, or I can transform the concrete around me into the shape of one. Really, unless I was just standing on clouds, my best option will always be to transform the ground around me into what I need. Creo constructs will eventually fade away, while Muto is just the flat cost of transformation and will stay until destroyed.
Casting the spell, using Muto Terram, I created what was basically a pillar of concrete with other poles sticking out of it. It is very simplistic, but I only need something to practice attacking with my hands and claws. The spell also increased the level of my Magic, along with the Muto and Terram arts.
The first thing I tried was to just scrape my claws against the pillar slightly, so I know how much it'll be affected. The answer is not much. It seems my durability is enough not to be harmed with my own attack, though I do feel a pull on the claw when I try. Next, I tried punching. That didn't turn out so well, given my own claws stabbed me when I hit it. So, my durability didn't stop me from hurting myself being an idiot. Good to know.
Looks like if and when I do fight with the claws, I'll either have to turn them back into normal nails to punch, not a very effective use of magic, or fight open handed. Better to fight open handed than to waste so much magic every time I go to punch a person. Thinking about the types of creatures that fight with claws, my mind shot straight to tigers. More specifically, I thought of legends and myths of tigers. It's kind of funny, but while lions are known as the 'king of beasts' I can remember more legends about tigers than lions. None-the-less, tigers are big cats, and thus lunge at their targets. Following that line of thought, I did the same. That action gave me three skills.
Hand to Hand skill created
Hand to Hand Lv1: Gamer has started on the path to being an unarmed fighter. +10% damage when fighting without the use of outside weapons.
Cat Mimicry fighting style created
Cat Mimicry Lv1: Gamer has created a fighting style based around mimicking the movement and natural weapons of cats. +5% damage with claws, +5% increased stealth.
Lunge skill created
Lunge Lv1: Gamer has created a skill to close the distance with enemies. Gamer can jump towards a target with half of his max running speed from a standstill. Cost 20 SP.
All of the skills were decent, and they were only level 1. I don't know what the max level is for each of them, or if they even have one, but they're going to be very useful now and in the future. Disregarding that for now, I lunged at and attacked the pillar until it was destroyed. Considering the description of Charles Atlas Superpowers allows one to learn how to break through concrete with the right training and the Hand to Hand Fighting skill's damage increase percentage, that didn't take long.
Going to leave the building, I checked the options menu for certain settings that should be there. The main one I was looking for is notifications for during combat, which I wanted to turn off. Sure, that meant that after combat stopped, I could be flooded with notifications, but that was better than having them interrupt during a fight.
After leaving the building I was in, I found a goblin in just twenty seconds of walking. Remembering that I'm the Gamer, I threw out an instinctive Observe. A moment later, I felt rather silly, nothing in the power description said that was possible. And then I got the notification.
New skill Observe has been created. Normally, this would not be possible with just this system. Due to two factors, it was allowed. The first is the presence of magic, especially magic specifically used for perception and understanding. While it is not a spell and doesn't use magic, the framework is there. The second is the part of the Gamer system that translates reality, for you, into an RPG.
Basic Goblin: monster (alien), E-Class
A basic goblin created by Nilbog, which is classified as an alien due to being created from a template by a Biotinker, which was taken from another world.
Huh. That's interesting. I wonder what that will do with my wildcard power? Either way, is should help somewhat. Readying myself for combat, I lunged out of position to attack the goblin. It was... disappointing. Given I hadn't turned my claws back into nails yet, I managed to rip the goblins throat out of its neck. That, of course, killed it instantly. The action gave me the Rip skill, to rip pieces out of the target. The goblin dropped $10 and a chipped, almost broken sword.
Good to see that aspect of the Gamer is working. Even if I do have a more than likely chance to get useless drops from monsters, anything I kill is going to drop money, and seemingly whatever it has on hand, given that sword was in its hand before I killed it. Money's always useful, and occasionally I will get useful drops. I do have a question though, why the throat? I mean, sure, it was effective, but that wasn't where I was aiming. Because it is classified as an alien? It would make sense. I'm going to assume that, given this is probably the lowest class of enemy at E, E-class enemies give 15 exp as this one did, and higher classes give more. More exp, more money, and better items.
Either way, there's no point in sticking around for longer than I have to. This area may count as something like a dungeon, with all the worthless enemies that I can kill for loot and experience, but I can always get quests for that sort of thing. Sure, I won't be able to just kill people, but I'll still get more experience in the long run. And for now, that meant I had to escape Ellisburg.
Mandatory Quest Created: Escape Ellisburg! C-Class
The Gamer wishes to leave the goblin infested city for elsewhere. Going in any direction will allow you outside, but be careful of the protections placed around the city by the Protectorate. Be ever wary of what lurks in the streets where men cannot see. No time limit.
Success: 5000 exp, Transform Self- Tiger spellbook, Destroy Goblin spellbook, $10,000
Failure: Death
Well then. A mandatory quest with decent rewards and a horrible fail consequence. It's also the only fail condition. The only choice is to move onwards. Doing so, and sneaking around the place to try not to get caught unaware, I found my next goblin. Now, I can either sneak past, or kill it. Considering it's another Basic Goblin, I should be able to rip out its throat to kill it instantly. But that isn't the only problem. There's also two other Basic Goblins, and one new goblin that I observed from my hiding spot.
Goblin: monster (alien) D-Class
A normal goblin. These are a bit stronger and smarter than the average person, and lead small groups of their weaker brethren. Not too difficult individually for someone with a decent training, however they have some knowledge of tactics and know how to command the groups of basic goblins they lead enough to generally require multiple trained soldiers fighting together. In close combat, anyway.
That will make this difficult, but not impossible. First things first, I need to kill the weaker ones quickly before they all gang up on me. That would be... not an almost certain death scenario, but it wouldn't be fun for me. Waiting for one of the goblins to walk past the alleyway I was hidden in didn't take long, and when they walked past my hand darted out to grab its throat. Instead of ripping it out, I crushed it to make sure it couldn't alert the others. Watching its corpse dissolve in front of me, I felt nothing. These were creatures created by a madman, they had no morals and wouldn't care about killing people, so I felt nothing over its death.
Ok, there still the other two basic, as well as the leader. The dead goblin won't stay unnoticed for long, so I need to be quick. Looking to the wall next to me, I tried to see if my claws would help me climb. They did, I got the skill for it, and I went to hide in another alley. After some more waiting, I Lunged out of my hiding spot and grabbed the throat of the next goblin on the way to the next spot. Crushing the throat of this one as well, I decided to test if I could sneak behind one of them without alerting it. That didn't work, and both of them noticed me. Abandoning stealth, I simply shoved my arm through the weaker one's chest and ripped it back out before it could hit me.
Now alone with the regular goblin, I waited for it to strike first. It did so quickly, with a growl, and I dodged the clumsy strike. Even as new as I am to martial arts, I could tell it had absolutely no training- and instinct told me to dodge, as this goblin swung at me with an axe. I couldn't dodge completely, and thus got clipped on the shoulder. Grabbing the arm with the axe, I ripped it off the rest of the goblins body and threw it away. I guess that's what it meant when it said this type of goblin had some knowledge of tactics.
Previously, this goblin was sitting on the ground, I assume on top of the axe, and I couldn't see it. When the other goblin noticed me, it must have hidden the weapon from my sight, to have me underestimate it. Whether it really is that bad at attacking with fists or not, it helped me think it weaker than it was, having me let my guard down some, which it took advantage of. Going and racking my claws through its face finished it off, and I sat down to wait for my regeneration to heal me. Now that combat is over, I looked over my notifications.
Stealth skill created
Crush skill created
Climbing skill created
Sense Danger skill created
Hand to Hand leveled up to 8
Cat Mimicry leveled up to 9
Lunge leveled up to 5
Stealth leveled up to 3
Rip leveled up to 6
Crush leveled up to 2
Climbing leveled up to 2
Physical increased to 11
You have leveled up to 2
James Greenwood
level 2 (0/200)
HP: 55
MP: 120
SP: 110
Well, that's a lot of skill level ups. But I guess that makes sense, using so many low leveled skills in combat. Now, to continue the quest. Now, at this point I have several options. I could run around, killing things until I reach an exit. I could just try to kill everything in this city. Neither are very good options. The last option is I continue in the direction I have been, killing only the things in my path. The quest gives me enough experience to level up seven times, currently. As I kill things, that will give more exp, so that number will change by the time this quest is finished. It's still a good amount of experience, however, so the third option is the way to go. All I do now is just walk.
XXXXX
By now, I'd estimate I'm almost halfway to escape. I've wandered across five of those groups of goblins. For the most part, they were the same leader and two-three basic, each of them fighting with either sword, axe, or fists. However, the fifth group had a fourth basic that had a bow, for some reason.
Using the same tactics as with the first group, none of them were alerted to my presence before they were all killed. All that exp had me reach level three. Currently, I am staring at the goblin in front of me.
Fire rep. Goblin: monster (alien) C-Class
A goblin created by the biotinker Nilbog, rather uncreatively named, which is about as strong as a normal goblin. However, these have the special ability of replicating with fire, through the process… well, there isn't actually a description for it in English, so let's just say it does.
It looked mostly normal, insomuch as these goblins did in the first place, except for portions of its skin that were partially melted. Taking a look around the area, I didn't see any other goblins, so I dropped down on this one as well.
And that's when it all went to shit.
XXXXX
And I'm going to end it here. I'm sorry for not posting anything sooner, but I just kept getting new ideas, losing interest, and just reading more fanfiction than I could make. The choices are at the very bottom, if you want to see them.
Okay, more on this Gamer system. It won't be all in your face like I've seen with some, I.e where every attack is shown the damage to health and such, but it will be there. It will also be a bit more realistic than some. The translation of reality will occure, so the MC will always have a base damage for any attack, but taking an enemy's head off with damage them more than giving them a scratch.
The class system, to start with, goes from E-SS. SS is the level of Scion, multiversal end-world scenarios. S is a single world ending scenario, like certain Endbringers if they went all out. A is Leviathan sinking Japan or the destruction of several cities. B is the destruction of half or an entire city, like a fully a ramped up Lung. C is most Parahumans with obviously above-peak human abilities. D is quite a bit better than average to slightly superhuman, and the realm of most Thinkers and trained soldiers. E is anything average or less.
The large gap between ranks is intentional, and more of a generalization than a rule. Accord, for example, would be E or D if confronted without given time to plan, and S if left alone for a week with enough information. James is currently C, with the potential for S, but nothing beyond that. After all, he has no way to travel through dimensions. Nilbog is known as B, but can, at most, be considered A.
Those goblins are particularly weak examples of their classes, and thus give less experience than they should. E is normally 20, D normally 60, etc.
That Observation skill wouldn't normally be possible, except it was tried with an (alien) before anything else. Knowledge is power, and power can help kill things. If he had tried it first with anything else it wouldn't have worked, even for these goblins. And yes, it will almost always be about that vague.
And now for the CYOA choices.
Worm CYOA V3
Standard Mode: 0
Victory Conditions +2
Apprentice –3
Hermetic Magic [Archive]
Wildcard –1
Alien Slayer (3)
The Gamer -4
Charles Atlas Superpowers –1
Man of Mystery –1
Wanted +1
Local PRT.
Without a Map +2
Ellisburg
And there it is, the product of about six days work after months of nothing. Well, goodbye, and lets hope I can post again before waiting half a year.
