I don't own dragon age or any other franchises I place here, except for my OC
-/-
Chapter 1 Game of Rebirth
You would think gaining fabulous otherworldly power would be amazing and not extremely painful. For the most part, you're right, it felt awesome, it felt like drinking all of the coffee, taking all of the sugar, and being kissed by your one true love, all at the same time. Falling from the sky and hitting the ground felt like a right bitch.
You have fallen from A great height; you have taken 70 points of fall damage. You are prone.
Let's take a few steps back, a time before, I was intimately involved with the floor.
Flashback
I looked around, I was sitting on a couch, in a building, it seemed to be renovated, there was nothing there, except for me, and a strangely comfortable couch. Everything was white, Like that was the only color anyone was allowed to choose, the floor, the walls, shoot even the ceiling. Smooth white marble.
Where am I? How did I get here? Where is everyone? "Hello. Is anyone here?" Now I know that 'investigating weird unknown buildings' is generally a big no-no. But there was no one here, there was nothing here, in fact, I was alone in a solid white room by myself, that's usually the beginning of a horror scene. I got up off the couch and started walking around, maybe if I find a window I can at least see where I'm at, if I'm lucky maybe I can see a recognizable landmark, the Statue of Liberty, or maybe the Los Angeles skyline, shoot at this point I'll take Stonehenge. What didn't help was the fact that there were no windows or doors of any kind. I heard stories about how people were tortured using white rooms, I know for a fact I was gonna break. I don't know why people even wanted me I'm your average everyday schmuck.
"I wouldn't call you an average everyday schmuck."
That voice snapped me to attention, I swirled around only to find Morgan Freeman wearing a white suit, a perfectly crisp three-piece suit, a gentleman in all respects, sitting behind a white desk that definitely wasn't there before.
"Ugh," I said using my many years of Higher education.
"Is it the face," he said. "Usually, I try to look like something you would be comfortable looking at. something you could perceive, without your mind-melting. A lot of people find this form to be very calming.
"Ugh," Clearly my brain was trying to catch up with my mouth. I'm not an idiot, obviously, that's not the real Morgan Freeman, but I could be having a really elaborate dream.
Hate to say it Mr. Walters this is no dream, he said. Can you remember the last thing you did before arriving here?
"I, I think I was driving home," my memory was beginning to feel a little fuzzy.
"Yes, you were working late, it happens, got to chase that paper, as they say," he said knitting his fingers and resting them on the table. Looking at me waiting for me to piece all the relevant information together.
"Yeah, I was asked to do an extra shift, one of my co-workers got sick, and couldn't make it to work. I was driving home, I felt fine, I wasn't even tired." I don't understand I'm always careful when I'm leaving work at night, I usually take a 20-minute nap before even leaving the parking lot.
Morgan just nodded calmly. "Yep, you knew exactly what you were doing before you left, well rested, you were ready for your 30-minute drive back home. But the truck driver wasn't, that man was pulling a 36-hour shift, trying to make it back to his little girl's wedding, fell asleep that the wheel came up behind you, hit you hard, came off the freeway, hit a tree, you didn't feel a thing."
"But, I- "
"Sometimes you can do everything right, but you still lose anyways," his voice was somber, dare I say apologetically.
My legs felt weak, my head was spinning, I couldn't catch my breath, I was falling. I seem to have landed on the couch, I couldn't really remember, everything was just going a mile a minute.
When I was finally able to compose myself, I looked up, right into the face that I could only imagine was God. Well Shit.
"Relax Nick, take a deep breath, you're here with me." His voice was calming, it seemed to put me at ease. The room became steady, I sucked in a lungful of air, and my quaking body seemed to finally relax into the softness of the couch.
I stared into nothingness for a while. How could I not, I died. I slowly looked over to freeman, God, or whoever that was. What a weird situation I find myself in.
"So, what now?" I asked.
"Now. we sit here for a little bit, try to make sense of what's happened. I have no doubt you have many questions."
Of course, I had questions, everybody had questions, can you make a boulder that you cannot lift? is Jesus your son? which religion was most accurate? Is there alien life out there? Do animals have souls?
I didn't ask any of these questions, I really didn't care anymore, they really weren't important at this time or ever even. I guess in death not many things really matter anymore, except for one thing.
"My family? Are they okay?"
He was quiet, for what seemed like an eternity. He reached out his hand grabbing a remote from the corner of his desk, that clearly was not there before. Colored white of course. A large screen turned on behind him, showing an image of a family standing over a grave freshly buried. The tombstone read.
Nick Walters
Born 1996 Death 2021
Loving son, caring uncle, Funny brother, Slap bet commissioner
I started chuckling through my tears and my snot. I can't believe they actually wrote that. I barely remember telling Felix that's what I wanted to be put on my tombstone.
"Like most families, death tends to hit them in unexpected ways. Your brother and sisters, trying to make up for a Loss, would throw themselves at work, obviously getting rewards and promotions. They will have a hard time being able to move on, but they will. Your parents would travel and see the world, with the money you left behind, visiting new places, trying to come to terms with the loss of one of their children. Your nieces and nephews too young to really understand what's happening will grow up with stories of their funny uncle, remembering you for the comics and the gaming systems you left behind."
"You make it sound like all this has already happened."
"It has, and it will, and it might, that's the thing about being me, I've seen all that might happen, will happen, has happened, and everything in between."
"Sounds… terrible"
"It can be, at times," he said with a hint of melancholy. "But enough about that, let's talk about you."
"Me?"
"Yes, of course, you silly, do you see anyone else here." He remarked a bit sarcastically.
"Right, of course, me, the only one here, only me, here, by myself." Wow that was awkward, felt like I was a teen again, talking to a pretty girl. I wiped my face with my sleeve. It was only then, did I realize that I was wearing a large white nightgown.
"That's right!" he shouted like a game show host. "For we will now play the Game of Rebirth!" the room seem to expand, and everything disappeared, I was suddenly on My feet, and in front of me was Morgan and a giant roulette wheel. I couldn't really understand it, it had tiny, near identical lines. The only way I realized that it wasn't just one large black wheel was the little stoppers at the end of the circle, there had to be billions of them.
"Rebirth? Is there no heaven or?" I left that question a bit open-ended.
"Welllll, there is but… well, look for yourself." He snapped his fingers and a screen appeared, showing a grotesque-looking thing, simply sitting on a couch looking out into nothing. "When I created heaven, I thought that by rewarding those who did kindness they should get everything that they ever needed, everything that they ever desire, but made them into this." He said kind of motioning to the blob of a person sitting on the couch. "So, I decided that instead of having them turn into this, I would give them a new chance and a new world. You know to reinvent themselves, to live a new interesting life." He said snapping away the image.
"So, wait, does that mean I need to be born again? I need to go through childhood again?"
"Not if you don't want to. You did die rather young, I usually do give people like you a choice if you want to be reborn at your current age and move forward from how you are now, or you can start from the very beginning." He explained, "usually only the elderly, men and women who lived a long life, after all, you don't really want to be reborn as a 70-year-old man and have an amazing adventure with back pain."
Yeah, I guess that kind of makes sense. "So do I just get dropped off on a random planet."
"Don't worry, I tend to keep it in the same family of species. I will drop you off where humans exist. So don't worry about me dropping you off in some sort of fungus world."
"So, like, where can I be dropped off?"
"Well, the multiverse is an immeasurable place to be placed. You can quite literally be placed anywhere. I feel like I said place too many times. In layman's terms, I can literally drop you off in the middle of New York during an alien invasion, where you're saved by fantastically dressed men and women."
Did this man just say, he can drop me off in the middle of the marvel universe during a Chitari invasion? "Well, that's, strangely specific."
"don't worry, many places are actually removed from being picked, because of all your karma points."
"Karma points?" that sounds interesting.
"of course, did you really think you weren't going to get anything from all the good things you've done in life? Depending on how good you were worlds That would only cause pain would be removed." He then points over to a long list of, what can I only assume were powers. "Let's not forget a little help with adjusting to your new life." There was heat vision, teleportation, beatboxing to the max, and stern glare. The power seemed endless, some of them were greyed out, like Kryptonian DNA, immortality, rap God, and the ability to make people feel shame.
One really threw me out for a loop though, gamer. That was one OP-level power, I didn't think I'd done anything to be able to purchase that ability, but there was, available for purchase.
"Umm, can I pick that one?" I said pointing directly at the gamer icon.
"Mm mm, yes, but fair warning the reason that one is usually so easy to purchase is that it takes time to build, and when people get this ability, they tend to, go too big, too fast, and end up dying." Well, I guess that's a good warning to receive. I hesitate for a moment, but I chose it anyways, I promise myself that I should probably take it easy, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, in this new world, no need to rush into an adventure I suppose. After pressing the icon, I realized that not everything was grayed out, I mean that we chose more than one thing, l opposed that's pretty cool. But even with most of the things grayed out everything left still seem so cool until I saw it.
Jack of all trades- I'll take a little bit of that, and a little bit of this, and why not some of that. Gives the attribute of learning and understanding new things 25% quicker.
Clicking this one greyed out everything else.
"That's a pretty good combo," Morgan said looking at my two choices. "They complement each other very well. With this one I think you can make it pretty far; you might even make it into some sort of godhood if you do it right."
"Godhood?"
"Oh yes, there are many minor gods, usually men and women who gain the acolytes, approval, or the love of many followers, usually when they die, they reach the level of godhood, and they sort of work under me, like interns they take a bit of pressure off my shoulders sometimes." I guess that makes some sort of sense, I guess when you die you do want to meet your God instead of someone else's.
I don't think godhood is the way I want to go at it, but it could be an interesting thing to think of in the future.
"So, are you ready to spin the wheel?"
"Well, I don't see why not." Coming up to the wheel, I was able to see a tiny little scrape of red, I guess that's where the arrow is pointing at the moment.
"All right, now give it a good spin." Following his instructions, I grabbed one end and spun it as hard as I could. It literally could land on anything; I can't read any of the tiny lines. As the wheel finally came to a stop. The small line began to expand growing bigger and bigger until I was able to read what it said, Dragon Age. Dragon age as in BioWare dragon age, the dragon age, where zombies live underground, dragons rule the skies, and there's a crazy religion that has a hate boner for magic, that dragon age. Suddenly a globe appeared, it seemed to depict the entire world. I saw Thedas, it was a southern continent, actually, I have never seen the whole world, seems like Thedas isn't the biggest continent there is, I don't even think that the planet has a name.
"Pretty good beginning world," Morgan spoke up behind me.
"Are you saying I could travel to other worlds?" that was interesting, I didn't know I could do that.
"Sure, with enough power or universal knowledge you can jump from world to world. In some worlds is easier than in others. I surely won't stop you, it's quite literally an infinite number of worlds to explore, sounds like a great adventure to me. now let's give you some of these." He grabbed my shoulder with his right hand, and suddenly I felt amazing, I felt ridiculous high, my adrenaline was pumping, and I can see feelings, and taste colors, it was amazing. "I hope I don't have to see you for a very, very, long time Nick." He said pushing me forwards. For a moment, I didn't know what was happening until I felt gravity take a full grip on me, and drag me down. I felt the wind coursing through my hair deafening me. I looked around and realized I was at least 50 feet off the ground.
"Fuuuuck!"
Flashback end
As I lay prone all over the ground, I've come to the conclusion that God is not above a prank or two. At the corner of my eye, I found a small bar, it was red, so I use my logical deduction and named that my health.
By using logical thinking, you gain plus 1 intelligence and wisdom.
Umm, that's probably going to get annoying. Menu.
Welcome to the gaming system.
Name: Nick Walters
Age: 25
Level: 1
Exp: 0/50
HP 30/100 MP 50/50
Str: 10
Vit: 10
Dex: 10
Int: 11
Wis: 11
Cha: 7
Luk:30
Points: 0
Money: 0
Perks:
Gamer's mind: MAX
The ability to keep a level head in any situation. All mental Attacks have no effect. (Passive Perk)
Gamers Body: MAX
Your body is now that of a game character. Your body cannot gain permanent wounds. (Passive Perk)
Jack of all trades- plus 25% to learning new skills. (Passive Perk)
Well, that's nice and all, but I am no mathematician, I'm not going to look at my life like it's a goddamn Excel sheet. Settings.
Are there any changes you wish to make to the display?
Use a simpler method of displaying abilities. Suddenly I felt a small headache come on. OK, ouch.
Name Nick Walters
HP 35/100 MP 50/50
Str: can lift 15lb water jugs in one hand
Vit: jogs sometimes
Dex: can bend without creaking bones
Int: big brain time
Wis: knows left from right
Cha: shrug, dateable
Luk: tend to find money on the floor.
Points: 0
Money: 0
Well, it seems like I'm healing okay. And I'm a pretty average dude all things considered. I'm not going to lie, I just laid there prone until my health returned back to me. When my health reached the 75% mark, I stood up and gave a good look around. I was back in my work clothes, black cargo pants, and a white polo shirt, I had a jacket but I took it off in the car. I seem to be in some sort of prairie or a valley of some kind. There were few trees but it was mostly open land as far as I can see, I guess he put me somewhere where I would not be eaten alive quickly, that's nice. The sun was high in the sky so I believe it was midday, my shadow was right underneath me so I could only imagine it was noon.
First things first, as I looked around, I focused deeply on a plant no more than 3 ft away from me.
Through your actions and effort, you have gained a new skill
Observe: what's this, what's that, what's that do, why does it look like that? With this skill, you can determine the properties of items and the level of people. (Active Skill)
You are unskilled in this ability, Rank: initiate.
Elf Root
Elf root is one of the key components in making a health potion due to it having heavy nutritional value. elf root can be found just about anywhere rumor says, that when an island is ever formed, elf root is the first plant found.
Nice. This is probably one of the greatest Powers this thing has, identification. So, in the totem pole what exactly is, initiate?
System ranking.
Ranking
Initiate
Novice
Intermediate
Journeyman
Advanced
Expert
Master
Grandmaster
I suppose this would be an easier way of trying to figure out how well my skills are, compared to how much it would be if it was the percent of a number Plus 8 to the max power of 6 or whatever the hell. Okay next should be the gamer store.
Welcome to the gamer store, your one-stop shop for anything and everything.
I'm not going to lie the game shop is pretty cool, it had everything from a Portal gun from Rick and Morty, to fancy snow globes, the problem was, everything caused money, and lots of it, and I have none of it. But I'm just happy I have it, the money will come in time, and all I have to do is be patient and smart.
Quest alert: where are you? Newly transported to the world of dragon age, find out where you're at, find the nearest village and gain information.
Reward: 1000 XP, and map of the area, 5 gold.
Seems like a solid place to start. Knowing a little bit about how villages form, I found the nearest river, and simply just followed it.
Using logic and reasonable thinking your wisdom and intelligence have increased.
Awesome, just keep working through my problems, slow and steady and I'll get there.
-/-
After half an hour of walking down the river, I finally found my first signs of civilization. It seemed to be footprints, my observation skill showed me that it was the footprints of a bipedal being about 180 lb. Looking intensely at where the footprints started and where they let off, I believe this may be a watering hole.
Due to your actions and effort, a new skill has been made.
Tracking – shhh, I'm hunten wabbits. This skill allows you easily find tracks and hunt down your prey. (Active skill)
You are unskilled in this ability, you are, initiate.
I'm beginning to think my gamer is just going to use everything as a skill.
The tracking skill is kinda cool, I felt like a Witcher, the footprints seem to be highlighted making it very easy for me to see where they lead, but it only goes to about 15 ft before it sort of putters out, so I guess I just need to stay on track and follow the footsteps. Actually, this is kind of interesting, as I kept following the tracks, I have an alert that said that my tracking rank went from initiate to novice, new information came up saying that the tracks that headed towards the river started at 180 lb., but the tracks returning was about 200 lb., and my range seemed to expand more, maybe up to 20-25 ft I wasn't really sure. I'm actually very shocked at how quickly it leveled up, it's probably because it was a low rank to being with, I have no doubt getting to a grandmaster rank will probably take ages.
After another 15 minutes of following the tracks, I came to what seemed to be an abandoned house, it was actually pretty big, it seemed to have been a two-story house, but it just seems to be left out to the mercies of nature, could it be that the tracks were too old, maybe my tracking skill is still too low, I can't distinguish new prints, to older ones. I used observe on the building.
ran shackled house
durability: 75/400
Occupants: 1
this house once sturdy and strong could hold up a family of six, but those times were long ago and now it seems to be falling apart.
Can't gain any more information at initiate rank.
I stared hard at the building imagining what I would need to be back up to snuff. Most likely an entire retrofit.
Due to your actions and effort, a new skill has been made.
Construction – can, we, build it!? This skill allows you to create and repair buildings and other large structures.
You are unskilled, you are initiate. (Active skill)
Almost immediately there was a list of things I would need in order to repair this building and have it back up to snuff. Actually, it was kind of interesting, all they told me is That I needed to bring three logs, 4 bricks, and another 4 blocks of cement, for 55 points of durability. It didn't show anything about tools though, so I'm guessing it would just magically fix itself. And what if I had a higher level in construction, would it take fewer resources or would my resources make the building bigger? These are all very interesting questions that I would no doubt have to figure out in the future, but for right now I need help.
"Hello!? Can anyone hear me in there? I am a bit lost and need some assistance." I cried out loud enough so someone can hear me inside the building. There was no response. That was actually a bit concerning, according to the information someone lives here. And if the tracking information is correct, it's probably an adult. With the ability to carry at least 20 pounds of water and any equipment to have on them. Whoever's in there might just want to be left alone.
But before I had the chance to turn around and walk away, I heard an agonizing moan. At this point I had options, I could simply walk away, return back to the river follow it and see if I can find a village. Or I can investigate what I only imagine is a dying person in a ran shackled house, well you know what they say, fortune favors the bold.
As I slowly walked up the steps of the house I can hear it Creek under me, I'll admit I'm not the fittest person on the planet, but I couldn't be over 200 lbs. though. I feel like these floorboards are just mocking me as I walked on, every Creek was, "lose weight," it hissed "no one loves a big boy, why are you crushing me." At this point, I'm going to fix this house or shut it up by just straight up destroying it.
"Excuse me, I hope you don't mind the intrusion. I heard a distressing noise of pain in here." I narrated my way into someone else's house, trying to be as non-threatening as possible. It wasn't until I was finally inside what seem to be a living room, the inside wasn't exactly better than the outside, but you can see that someone was trying to take care of this place. I picked up the moaning again coming from down the hall from the living room that splits up into three different rooms, the moans seem to be coming from the center bedroom, or at least what is probably a center bedroom. Seeing everything through my observation and tracking skills I can tell that neither the other two rooms were used, at least not frequently, there seems to be a small layer of dust on everything, but the center room. As I knocked on the door to the room, I can hear the moaning become louder and feeling as brave as I was going to get, I open the door slowly.
On what seemed to be a makeshift bed, laid a woman, or would look like a woman, in fact, she didn't look human, at first, I thought she was a qunari by the large horns, but she also had a tail, so instead of a qunari it seemed more like a Tiefling. Like dungeons & dragons' kind of Tiefling. She seemed to be about 5'8", with a light brown complexion, if slightly pale from whatever was afflicting her. I thought she was bleeding out her face, but after closer inspection, it turned out to be some sort of face paint running down her face because of all the sweat she was producing. Her hair was a strong red, that only seemed to reach her neck. Her horns curled over her head, making them seem like buns. She was wearing what seemed like white monk robes. I'm getting the impression that I'm not in Thedas. I gave a quick observation of this person, trying to figure out who this is.
Tiefling sorcerer
Name: Jak Hope
Age: 23
HP 250/300 MP 400/400
Level: 10
Abilities unknown, need a higher level of observation
Jak born of a human father and a Tiefling mother, gain her power of sorcery at the age of seven, she is now out on her pilgrimage to grow her power and be of use to her people.
Due to your actions and effort, a new skill has been made.
Medic – will I ever be able to play the piano again doc? With this ability, you are able to view and understand illnesses and injuries that other people may have and how to cure them. (Active skill)
You are unskilled, rank initiate.
Ailments:
Slight lead poisoning
Headache
Stomach ache
Itchy horns
Scrapes
Bruises
Chap lips
Stub toe
low fever
Slight dehydration
Slight hunger
well, this is interesting, it seems I'm not in Thedas, or at least not in the continent of Thedas. I also have a woman here suffering from just, a buttload of things, with no real way of helping her.
Okay, it's time to start thinking this through, the gamer practically gives me meta magic, the ability to quite literally use my imagination, and my magical ability to do magic. So, if I focus on healing and direct that power to my palms I would create healing palms, right?
Due to thinking things through with logic and deduction you gain plus one to intelligence and wisdom.
Coolcoolcoolcool. Okay, so all I have to do is focus on healing, and push my magic out of me. Now, how the hell do I do that? Oh, who am I kidding I just started taking deep breaths and pushed, my hands out as if that would do something, I totally felt like Tobey Maguire in the first Spider-Man movie. Afterward, seeming like hours doing wild and random poses I felt something coming from my gut, I slowly started pushing it towards my hands. That's the only way I can accurately describe it. I was just flexing all my muscles and slowly moving it to my hands, and just when I was about to throw in the towel my hands began to glow.
Due to your actions and effort, a new skill has been made.
Healing hands - you got, The touch! Healing hand allows you to heal anyone as long as you are touching them. Heal 3 HP for 5 MP. When HP is at Max, healing hands begins to heal ailments. (Active Skill)
Healing hands cannot heal hunger or dehydration.
You are unskilled, rank initiate.
Putting my hand on her forehead I began healing. I couldn't cure her all the way, at least not yet, I can only do 30 points of healing. And boy that hit me like a train, when my mp hit 0, I felt terrible, I felt like retching everywhere, I just collapsed onto the floor, I'm pretty sure this is what they call magical exhaustion. As I lay there on the floor trying to catch my breath, I started slowly breathing in and out, in and out. I remember reading in some comics that nature had magic or something like that, that's how druids gain their power, right? As I was slowly breathing in, I got a prompt.
Due to your actions and effort, a new skill has been made.
Magic absorption – I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! You have gained the ability to absorb magic around you. When absorption is active you cannot move or the spell will be broken. Plus 10 to magic regeneration per second when using this ability. (Active skill)
You are unskilled, rank initiate.
By being calm and understanding how magic works you gain a plus five to magic regeneration per second and increase your mana points by 10.
Whoa, that's actually kind of cool, I could only generate about one point of mana per minute. Hot damn, I was just fascinated watching my once-depleted mana points regen all quick-like. I mean, yeah, obviously it's only doing that because I'm at an extremely low level, but it's still pretty cool to watch. The headache slowly left me and I was able to place my feet under me. Let's try that again, slower. When her HP maxed, a prompt appeared.
Jak Hope has multiple Ailments, what do you wish to heal?
Slight lead poisoning – 70 MP
Headache – 10 MP
Stomach ache – 10 MP
Itchy horns – 3 MP
Scraps – 3 MP
Bruises – 3 MP
Chap lips – 1 MP
Stub toe – 3 MP
Low fever – 40 MP
Slight dehydration – not possible
Slight hunger – not possible
mmm, so it seems like medic just throws out things at me that can be cured, not that it has to be cured. But this was good by curing the lesser ailment my healing hands skill will increase, and with that, I started with her chapped lips.
You have cured your first ailment. All ailments are 10% easier to heal.
That dropped lead poisoning to 63 points, still too much for me right now, but it was a good start. After curing everything but low fever and lead poisoning a new prompt appeared.
Through your hard work and determination, your Healing Hands skill has increased, going from Initiate to Novice
Healing hands - you got, the touch! Healing hands allows you to heal anyone as long as you are touching them. Heal 10 HP for 5 MP. When HP is at Max, healing hands begins to heal ailments. Healing hands now decreases the amount of MP to cure someone by 10%. (Active skill)
And with that Lead Poisoning drops to 56 MP, perfect. I used Magic Absorption to recoup my mana to cure her fever. This caused her to stop squirming all over her makeshift bed, opened her eyes, looked at me a bit confused.
"Hi there." I greeted her, waving my hand at her. I think she took exception to that because the first thing she did when gaining full awareness was punch me in the throat.
You have been punched in the throat for 5 points of blunt damage. Stunned for 2 seconds.
Fuck, that hurt! As I stumbled away, she jumped from the bed landing on her feet and rushing to the other side of the room picking up a stick that looked like a broken broomstick.
"inbola sademisu!?" she screamed at me pointing her stick at me, making me come to the conclusion that the broken stick was probably her magic staff.
"What?" I wheezed. You got to be kidding me! A language barrier! Come on game give me something!
Due to your actions and effort, a new perk has been made.
Linguistic – Hi, Hola, Bonjour, Ni hao! The universe is filled with many interesting people, and those people speak interesting languages, and now you do too. All languages will be easier to understand. +20 % to understanding other languages. (Passive Perk)
Calculating years of Language comprehension... due to learning one of the most difficult languages to a moderate degree in your past life, you have been given the perk, Accent.
Due to your actions and effort, a new perk has been made.
Accent – how do you say, "toilety"? You can speak and understand other languages, but it will come out choppy and hard to understand. The longer you immerse yourself in a language the less the accent will stay. +10% to understanding other languages. (Passive Perk)
That helps.
"I said, WHO IS YOU!?" that's better, if slightly weird, I guess Accent works both ways, her accent had a slight Romanian twang. I put my hands up in the universal sign of surrender.
"My name is Nick Walters." I complied, I didn't know how to fight or have any spells, best not to annoy the woman 9 levels, my senior.
"Why you here, Nick of Walters?" she said stepping closer, causing me to back up against the wall.
"I'm lost, I was looking for help. Stumbled into this place, and found you moaning and squirming on the floor. Used my magic to heal you." I didn't think that her knowing about my magic would really be a problem, due to her also having magic. "You, umm, are still aren't fully healed, you still have some lead poisoning."
"Poison of lead?" she asked. being a man of the modern age, I knew that lead is one of the deadliest metals out there, I'm not sure if she knows that. She was giving me a bit of a glare. "How you know this, Nick of Walters?" oh, maybe I was a bit presumptuous in me thinking she didn't know.
"My magic gives me insight about people, and if they are sick," I explained.
Due to your actions and effort, a new skill has been made.
Honesty – the truth shall set you free! Speaking the truth, no matter how bitter, gains the admiration and loyalty of those around you. +10% to convincing someone to your side. (Passive skill)
You are an unskilled, rank initiate
"I see. Then you have my thanks." she pulled back her staff giving me room to breathe, but before I got a chance to catch my breath, she slammed me up against the wall and whispered, "if I find out you lie, Nick of Walters, I'll make sure you in much pain before you die."
"u-understood." wow this woman was scary and intense. She started walking away. "Woah, hey, wait I haven't cured your lead poisoning!" she might be scary, but better to have her in my corner than to have her at my back. She turned to look me in the eye for a brief second, trying to see if I was lying or had any ill intent.
"Very well healer, but I see you. No tricks." clearly this woman is pragmatic and justifiably wary. I observed her again.
Tiefling sorcerer
Name: Jak Hope
Age: 23
HP 260/260 MP 400/400
Level: 15
Abilities unknown, need a higher level of observation
Jak born of a human father and a Tiefling mother gained her power of sorcery at the age of seven, she is now out on her pilgrimage to grow her power and be of use to her people.
She thinks you're a horny weirdo.
"Why you looking like that?" I gave her a confused look. She then mimicked my observation face, and, oh boy, weirdo was putting it mildly. If her impression of me was in any way describing me, I looked like a thirsty sailor who hasn't been to shore in many months.
"Uh, sorry, uh, I have to make that face, to, uh, see if anything is wrong with you."
Due to your actions and effort, a new skill has been made.
Lying – no, he's the clone! The ability to tell a fib, nothing sweeter, build your web of lies and deceit and manipulate those around you. +10% to trick people into believing you. (Passive skill)
Clearly, she didn't believe me, shoot, I didn't believe me. She just grunted.
"Just do your healing." I just nodded and extended my right hand. She just stood there looking at me.
"I need to touch you for my healing to work." she just looked at my hand, and with the most reluctant look I have ever seen another person have, she grabbed my hand.
Jak Hope has multiple Ailments, what do you wish to heal?
Slight lead poisoning – 56 MP
Slight dehydration – not possible
Slight hunger – not possible
Healing her almost put me back on the floor.
For healing Jak Hope of her minor ailments, you gain 50 exp.
Level up!
Name Nick Walters
LVL: 2
HP110/110 MP 14/70
Str: can lift 15lb water jugs
Vit: jogs sometimes
Dex: can bend without creaking bones
Int: smarter than your average bear
Wis: knows not to mess with bears
Cha: shrug, dateable
Luk: tend to find money on the floor.
points: 5
Money: 0
Sweet, level up. One of many to come.
"You finished?"
"Uh, oh, yeah, sorry." Man, that was a bit embarrassing. Her hand was rough, which must be because of her staff handling.
"You need money." I think she was offering to pay me for my healing. That's kind of her, but while money would be nice, I need information more.
"No, I don't need money, but I do need information. I don't know where I am, and need some help getting the lay of the land." she tilted her head a little and I felt my heart skip a beat. That's not fair, this woman just threatened my life not ten minutes ago, she can't look that cute.
"How you get lost."
"I got teleported here with no knowledge, of where I was going to land." she gave me an astonished look.
"a powerful wizard throws you through portal?"
"Yeah, kind of." I mean, how does one explain you were thrown by God to a new dimension?
"Hum," She hummed. "You in Heart Cradle." confusion must have shown on my face. "Heart Cradle center of Shine Islands." my confusion didn't leave my face. "Sorry, no map." Damn, I guess I need to go to that village after all. Still, I at least know where I am, and that I'm on some archipelago, take what you can get.
"Umm, thank you for the information, I think I'm going to need a map. Can you point me to the nearest village?" but, before she spoke her stomach beat her to it. Cheese and crackers, that thing sounded like a pissed-off lion. Oh, yeah, with all the excitement, I forgot she was slightly starved. "Do, you need me, to, help you get lunch?"
With a tiny blush, she just shakes her head and walks out of the room. I follow her, maybe I can ask for some rations to take on the road. Walking out of the house and back around the corner I found a small tepee.
Smoke Tepee
This small hut is used to smoke jerky meats.
Durability: 10/15
1 log, three stones to fix to max
5 logs, 15 bricks to upgrade Smoke Tepee to Smoke Shack
Tepee has 20 pounds of rations
Oh, she has definitely been out here for a while. With her getting rations I decide to have a small look around, I need to level up my observation.
Maple Tree
Durability: 20/20
This tree can produce 1 gallon of maple sap every 3 days
If chopped down it can produce 5 logs
Wanting to test the durability of the tree I gave it a running superman punch.
You have punched 'Maple Tree' for 2 points of blunt damage. Your punch was sloppy you lose 1 HP.
Due to your actions and effort, a new skill has been made.
Fisticuffs – come get some. One of the first weapons Man has ever wielded, do your ancestors proud. +15% to unarmed damage. (Active skill)
Might makes right, by using your body to solve problems you gain one to strength, vitality, and dexterity
I shook my hand a little trying to get rid of the numbness. Usually, when punching a tree with all your might you tend to break of finger or two, but with gamer's body, it just leaves a numbing feeling. I checked the tree again.
Maple Tree
Durability: 19/20
This tree can produce 1 gallon of maple sap every 3 days
If chopped down it can produce 5 logs
So, 20 good punches breaks, one maple tree, good to know.
"Why you punching tree?" Jak's voice made me jump a bit. For a 5'8", 120lb woman she sure is nimble, not to mention she's carrying like 15lbs of jerky. must be because of her race.
"Oh, uh, sorry just getting used to my magic."
"You new magic, mmm," she nodded sagely. "When I young, I blow up many things. Parents very unhappy. Kinda get it now. Don't hurt yourself." too late.
I'll try not to." she just rolled her eyes. I don't believe she believed me; I really need to work on my lying.
"Come, we eat, and I take you to village. Don't want to find you beating up valley trees." She smirked. Oh damn, did she just tease me? "Grab water." she pointed to the 2 jugs of water by the tepee.
Jug of water
Durability: 2/2
A fired clay jug can hold up to 3 gallons of water
WARNING: jugs are contaminated. Jugs are made With Small levels of lead. If repeated drinking of water from this jug will cause lead poisoning.
"What wrong?" My thirsty investigation face must have been showing.
"These jugs are made with a small amount of lead. It's probably how you got sick." not only that, if she used this water to bath it could have helped speed up the poisoning.
"You sure?" I just nodded. "Damn."
"Do you have anything; we can use to carry water?" I wanted to test something. She nodded and pointed to a bucket.
Walking over to the bucket I put it at my feet, sticking out my hand, I concentrated. What I wanted to do was create water, I imagined bringing the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in the air together and compressing them until I had water.
Due to your actions and effort, a new skill has been made.
Create water – you thirsty bro? Water's one of the most fundamental necessities of life, and now you can create it. For every one gallon of clean drinking water, 15 MP is used. Be aware this skill revolves around its environment; it will cost more to make water in the desert than it would be at the ocean. (Active skill)
You are unskilled, rank initiative
Kickass.
"How you do that?" clearly, she has never seen that before. "Safe?" I just nodded my head. I reached down grabbed the bucket and took a swig. Crystal clear and cool, damn but I do good work. I passed it to her, and she also took a drink, well, a little more than a drink.
Jak Hope
Age: 23
Ailment:
Slight hunger
She still thinks you're a weirdo, but you're pretty helpful.
Eh, I'll take it. Her dehydration seems to have gone away. All she has to do now was eat the rations and she'd be at 100%. I guess I don't know how well her mental state is. Lead poisoning can affect the brain in nasty ways. I just hope I helped before it got really bad.
-/-
Jak POV
This man is strange, to say the least. After proper introductions, which he informed me that he already knows because of his strange magic, we left to the village. He has been looking at everything like it was a lust spirit calling to him. "Is that face really necessary?" the look immediately disappeared, thank the spirits.
"Sorry, not good with magic." he also had a strange accent; I have never heard of its kind before, he sounds like he has this, lazy way of speaking. Not to mention gaining his sorcery magic so late in life, while that's not unheard of, knowing healing magic is. I only know of a handful of healing wizards and most of them are near thrice his age. The only reliable way to gain healing magic without years of practice would be to become a cleric, and I don't see this man holding a sermon any time soon. I mean look at the way he's dressed, what kind of pants are those anyways, they have way too many pockets.
"Just try and not make that face to children." this is going to be so embarrassing.
"What village like?" he asked.
"it's not very big, only about 400 people live there. It a small fishing village, nothing special." it's really not that special, sure it has a magic shop, but it's mostly small magic knickknacks. The only reason I moved out here was because all the open space, less worry about hurting anyone when practicing magic.
"Do you think everyone okay, in village?"
That was a good question. It's completely possible that I'm the only one that got a bad jug, but I doubt it. And others don't have active magic to slow the poisoning. I haven't been back to the village in some time. While I may not be invested in the village, it doesn't mean I want them to die.
We were coming over the hill that led to the village so we'll get a good over view of the going Ons.
-/-
Nick POV
The village was not okay.
As we crested the hill and got a good view of the village, I could tell something was wrong.
Due to your actions and effort, a new skill has been made
Intuition - I got a bad feeling about this. intuition gives you the ability to feel your surroundings, you get a good indication of what is happening around you and make logical guesses. Intuition gives you plus 1 foresight. (Passive skill)
You are unskilled, rank initiate.
There was very little foot traffic. Even if the village is small like she said there should be more people working throughout the village. As we pass a man walking passed us, I did a quick observation.
Through your hard work and determination, your Observe skill has increased, going from Initiate to Novice.
You can now view the power of people over 10 levels compared to your own.
Human Fisherman
Samula Bassvile
Lvl: 3
HP 85/120 MP 10/10
Str: slightly below average
Vit: average
Dex: average
Int: average
Wis: average
Cha: below average
Luk: below average
Born and raised in Bassville, Samula lives a simple and clean life, but lately, he has been feeling under the weather.
Samula has no feelings toward you.
Ailments:
Lead poisoning
Stomach ache
Light fever
Headache
Limp
Spotty vision
"He has lead poisoning." I kept observing people, and just like Samula, they too had lead poisoning.
Through your hard work and determination, your Medic skill has increased, going from Initiate to Novice.
Nothing escapes your doctors' gaze. +10% to curing ailments.
"Everyone has a form of lead poisoning." Can jugs really do so much damage? I know it doesn't take a lot of lead to mess you up but this seems like a lot.
"We talk to mayor. Him map." That seemed cold, but she was right, I had no obligation to help these people, and even if I did, how would I even start? It's not like these people are going to listen to some wandering stranger that walked into town.
-/-
The village was big, but most of it was because the buildings were spread out. The mayor's house was located in the center of town, well, the town hall was the center, but it doubled as the mayor's house.
"Mayor, my family's sick and the cleric won't help!" and it seems like there's a town meeting going on. Jak grabbed my shoulder and pulled me off to a side door. That was a good call because the main door would have made me the center of attention.
Human Mayor
Cross Bassvile
Age: 71
Lvl: 8
HP 85/180 MP 60/60
Str: eater not a fighter
Vit: dying from lead poisoning
Dex: needs to start jogging
Int: stay calm and don't panic
Wis: As long as I'm calm. everyone else will be calm.
Cha: some ladies like a good man
Luk: the village he's in charge of is posioned
Born and raised in Bassville, Cross lives a stressful and responsible life, lately, he has been feeling under the weather.
Cross has no feelings toward you.
Ailments:
Lead poisoning
Stomach ache
Fever
Migraine
Obese
Spotty vision
Numbness of tongue
"So thirsty." I heard a whisper to the left of me. Looking over I saw Jak giving me a look of mild disgust.
"Shut up," I whispered back. She just smirked. The nerve of this woman, teasing me like that, didn't I cure her less than an hour ago?
"Please, my fellow townsmen, I have heard your worries and concerns. I am in discussions with the cleric."
"I heard he only cures you if you have money!" I heard someone scream from within the crowd. murmurings of agreement quietly escape from the crowd of people, and the nodding of heads seemed to make the rounds.
wait a hot picking second, how come I can understand them just fine and not Jak?
"Hey, Jak, how come I can understand them but not you?" whenever I talk to her, she comes out with this choppy accent.
"You them talk similarly."
"So, wait, are you telling me that you can speak like them, can you even understand them?" she just nodded. "Then why, aren't we speaking in that language?"
"Why I do that, you speak my language well, if choppy. Easier for me to speak my language." that makes some sort of sense, I mean if I knew Spanish but someone spoke to me in English even if it's choppy, I would probably take the English.
"My fellow citizens, the cleric is only taking patients with money first, only because he finished his monthly quota of curing people." monthly quota?
"Wait, what does he mean by that, are you saying that the clergyman doesn't have to heal everyone who comes to them?" I whispered to Jak.
"Depends on what God cleric work with. some gods demand that their followers cure all possible ailment. But some set quota after clerics can set a price for their healing." that's kind of an interesting side hustle.
"How much can a cleric charge for their services?" I mean these are a lot of people, even if they didn't have a lot of money, you could still be bringing in bank.
"Depend on cleric, how good they are, how long they've been cleric, greedy, that stuff." that sort of makes sense, when you're the only healer in town you can say whatever price, you want. but in all seriousness, this is a small fishing village what could he possibly be asking for?
"He asked for three goats!"
"He demanded my daughter's hand in marriage!"
"He demanded I give him a back massage every other day!" alright I'm pretty sure this guy is just taking advantage of people, and these people knew it because they were getting up in arms.
"Please, be calm!" Wha?
Gamer's mind has deflected 'Calm Voice'.
"What was that?!" I loudly whispered to Jak.
"Hum, oh, you resisted that. impressive, mind strong. He uses calming mind magic. It used by most politicians, no riot, easier to settle people." OK, that's interesting, so there's a lot of magic I don't know about. Can I learn this new spell, what did I even need to begin to know to begin to learn that spell?
"He doesn't seem to be a practitioner of magic." actually now that I see him, for us 70-year-old man he does look rather young, he looks like his in his forties. "How old is the mayor?"
"It hard to tell, he less than a 100 though." she was squinting up at the mayor as if that would help estimate his age.
"Less than 100? He doesn't look a day over 40. Usually, when people reach 100, they're old and withered." she gave me a strange look as if I was the one who lost his mind. suddenly her eyes got big and uh, a look of understanding flashed from her eyes.
"You from South?" does that mean we're in the north?
"South?"
"Rumors say people only grow to 100 in South." It hit me like a thunderbolt, the veil. Solas may have been a very powerful mage, but he wasn't strong enough to pull the veil over the whole world! That must mean that the fade is still closely linked with the rest of the world! People must have adapted, in the games, the elves were a long-lived race, because of the fade, and when they were cut off, that great longevity went with it. I guess the other species gained a longer life span, but how much?
"How long do people live here?" she clearly didn't like that I dodged her question, but I didn't know how to explain that I came from a different planet, at least not yet. I'll wait until I can fully communicate with her if I stay with her that long.
"Not know. My father 175, but he become wizard so he strengthens life. He said he live easily to 300 with good health." became?
"Can you just become a sorcerer like that?" she shook her head.
"Not sorcerer, wizard. Not born with magic, learn magic. Become mage. Mom sorcerer got from her." Okay, so we're playing with D&D rules, at least for the rest of the world. If we're playing D&D and clerics need a god to have powers, then why can't the chantry use holy magic, is it the veil? Is it blocking access to the Maker?
New Quest available: why have the gods forsaken us!? Find out why the gods don't answer the pleas of Thedas.
Rewards: advance in all stat attributes, 1,000 gold, one straight wish, 10,000 exp.
I just realized I don't get to choose to reject quests, it's kinda like Skyrim, hear a rumor, and off to adventure. I got a tap on the shoulder, and looking up I saw people leaving.
"We can speak to mayor now." I'm beginning to understand Jak better, is it because of Jack of All Trades, Accent, and Linguistics? If true, that's a 55% increase in learning languages, or is it due to Jak's having a similar language background as English? My first impression of the mayor was pretty good. At a distance, all you would see is a pudgy man in a suit, but up close you can really see this man's worries lines on his face he really cared about this place. "Mayor, this man need help. He got thrown by powerful wizard through portal, he lost. Came to as for a map."
"Teleported, eh?" this man had a heavy southern accent, like a Texan cowboy, a Texan cowboy from 1870. I like it. Not only that, but it seems like he understood Jak's native language.
"Yes sir." I don't know what it is about this man, but I just trust this guy, I blame his high charisma stat.
"Well son, I'd like to help, but my cartographer has been laid in bed since this mess started." at first, I thought 'why doesn't he have extra?' then I thought 'why would he?' this is a small fishing village, most people who live here know the area, and those who don't probably hear of this place by word of mouth, by the fishermen that sell their fish outside the village. The fact this place has a cartographer is a miracle in and of itself.
"Mr. Mayor, if I can help you with the sick could the cartographer make me a map?" He rose an eyebrow giving me a good look up and down.
"You a cleric son?"
"No sir, but I know some healing magic."
"Truth, he heal me, but has to make horny face, think cursed."
"Can you not bring that up." especially not in front of cowboy mayor here.
"Best he know now and not before." I really need to get a handle on my observation face.
"Mmm, usually I wouldn't trust my People's health with a stranger, but Jak's good people. So, if she says you can help, I'll let you at least try." Would you look at that, help a sick person, a sick person helps me, Circle of kindness. "Come with me."
-/-
The mayor ended up taking us to a single-story house by the docks.
"This here is old Sasha's house since she was one of the first people infected with lead. I'd be mighty thankful if you can help her first." I was a bit worried; I didn't know how badly she's been infected and if I can help her. Hopefully, I can help her and I guess work my way to the cartographer.
"I'll try my best sir." We found old Sasha on one of her rocking chairs simply looking out the window. I quickly observed her.
Human storyteller
Sasha Bassvile
Age: 196
Lvl: 43
HP 50/530 MP 400/1500
Can't read stats, observation is not high enough.
Sasha Bassvile was born in Bassville but didn't stay there. Sasha traveled the world to fight great evils and monsters. After living a dangerous life, she decided to settle back in her hometown.
She is confused about why you're here but proud she can still make men look at her like you are.
Ailments:
Dementia
Lead poisoning
Weak bones
Slight hunger
Low fever
Loss of cartridge
Slightly blind
Long term cough
Weak lungs
Headache
Weak knees
Oh, my damn. How is this woman still alive?
"Ma'am, my name is Nick Walters and I'm going to try and help, okay?" I don't know what I can really do, but I'll do my best. I turn to mayor cross. "Sir... she. she has a lot of medical issues, and while I can identify them, I'm not sure I can cure them all." He swallowed.
"Just do your best son" I just nodded, and put healing hands on her. It was a long process just to get her back to max, she even looks healthy. I thought the mayor would have left by now, but he stayed the whole time.
Sasha Bassvile has multiple ailments which do you wish to heal.
Ailments:
Dementia – 490 MP
Lead poisoning – 70 MP
Weak bones – 70 MP
Slight hunger – not possible
Low fever – 28 MP
Loss of cartridge – 49 MP
Slightly blind – 70 MP
Long-term cough – 16 MP
Weak lungs – 140 MP
Headache – 7 MP
Weak knees – 28 MP
I started listing all her ailments to the mayor. He looked heartbroken, he did perk up a little when I told him that I could cure her of about everything, but her dementia and weak lungs.
"That is a mighty claim." His skepticism was warranted, the cleric in town told him that almost nothing can help her. I would have agreed with him if I didn't have the gamer ability.
"I'm not saying it's going to be easy. I will go into mana exhaustion many times, so please catch me from hitting the floor." I felt a hand grab my shoulder.
"Have your back." Looks like Jak's in my corner.
And so, we began.
-/-
Mayor Cross POV
As I watch this young man collapse for the second time in as many minutes I could only stare in amazement. Old Sasha has never looked better, she has this flushed look on her face. In fact, she looked 55, and ready to tussle with bears again.
"Okay, the last thing I can heal will be her weak bones." A little crazy he can say that as he lays on the ground with his head being supported by young Jak. I have seen mages drop after magic exhaustion, even I've dropped after my first casting of my magic, and I have never done it again. Yet this young man just seems to ask for more. Why?
"Young man, can I ask you why you're doing this?" I know I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but I have to know, had to have a reason, why someone would go to such length for someone he never met. He just looked at me for a long while.
"Because I couldn't before. All my life I was this average person, my entire life I was nothing special, but through tragic and wild circumstances, I gained great power, and with great power, comes great responsibility." Well, damn.
-/-
Jak POV
I just looked at this man. He talks a lot like my father, how life is hard and merciless, and we should meet it with fierce kindness. Help those around you and they will help others and the cycle will make the world kinder. I guess he's kinda like proof.
"Mmm, you're a good lad Nick. Made sure you should take a break after this; magic exhaustion is no joke." That's true, magic exhaustion feels like your soul is ripped out of you in the worst way imaginable, and that's not a saying, there have been studies made of the feeling.
"Don't worry, I'm getting used to it." This can't be a normal man. He's going to get himself killed if someone doesn't look after him.
-/-
Nick POV
After my third time collapsing, I received a new prompt.
Due to your actions and effort, you have made a new perk.
Magic resilience – I can do this all day. Due to you working your magic core your body will no longer collapse when your MP drops to zero.
Magic, like your glutes, is a muscle, by working out your core it will get stronger. + 30 to your MP
This is perfect, I was getting tired of feeling like my soul was being factory reset.
"Okay, I've done what I can do for now." I looked over to Sasha who was looking right at me. "Sasha, it has been an honor to meet you, and when I get stronger and better control of my magic I'll return and cure your dementia." She just patted my hand and smiled before continuing to look out the window. For a brief moment, I wondered if this is what people back home must have felt like meeting their elderly family in a retirement home.
-/-
"That was an amazin thing you did, I was gettin ready to say goodbye to Sasha, but thanks to you she'll tell stories for many years yet," Cross spoke shaking my hand. "Can you truly cure her dementia?"
"Yes, but it will need more mana than I have. I believe with more power and understanding of the disease, I might be able to put a stop to it or reverse it. For now, I should grow my mana and basic healing magic." he gave me another look over, probably reassessing me from his previous assumption.
"I'm assuming you'll be able to do this with everyone?" he asked me. I can see the hope in his eyes, if he can have someone else healing the people, the cleric would probably have to lower his prices to match mine, which was practically 0.
"So, you'll be doing this all fo a map?" there it is.
"Well, I was hoping for a little more, I kinda don't have any money or a place to live. I probably won't stay here forever, but I do need a place to sleep and rest." he simply nodded at me.
"I reckon, yea probably would need something like that, we'll give you a room at the Inn for as long as Ya need. All we ask is if you do magic, other than healing magic, of course, to please do it outside the village. A Few years ago, we had a problem with a young man playing with fire, they nearly burned down the village, and the people kind of made it into law, dangerous magic outside the village." I just nodded, that's reasonable.
"He stay with me. After heal town, outside town, but close enough for emergency." Jak spoke up next to me. I just looked at her. the mayor just smirked.
"That mighty kind of Ya Jaks."
"And use him to fix house. Workout energy. Blow stuff up, keep village safe." She finished. oh, I guess she also wanted something from me. Bah, that's fine I need to work on my construction skill anyways. I am a bit annoyed about the assumption I would blow something up though.
"How are you so sure I'm going to blow something up?"
"Because everyone blows something up," they said at the same time. I just looked at them for a second, and then just shrug, I would probably blow something up. isn't that why magic exists?
-/-
You have rested in a bed
HP full
MP full.
all ailments cured.
good morning.
One of the first people I cured was the innkeeper. Best not to sleep under someone's roof if they're sick, well, that's what I believe at least. the mayor and I came up with an agreement, I would help cure people at the village center, just because it happens to be right across the church, where the Cleric can see me, who's to say? Also, if anyone can't reach me at the center, due to their illnesses, after around four o'clock, they didn't really have, clocks, in the village, we were more 'guesstimating' if anything, I would then travel to their houses. I kind of became a concierge, Doctor. I was worried that even after I healed everyone that they would just become sick again, but the mayor happily informed me that the reason lead poisoning got to everyone was that there was an incident at a local mine, they were able to patch and seal the mine stopping anymore lead from escaping, it's just they didn't know how much lead escape before they were able to close the mine.
Not only that, but with all the work I've been doing with healing hands I was able to go from novice to intermediate giving me plus 30% to curing, and healing 20 HP for 5 MP. This made curing everyone far easier than before. I also increased create water, mostly because I would just make water for people when I arrived at their houses, or in the city square, so no one would have to go and get water anywhere else, losing their place in line. My medic skill did not rise though, I think it works with discovering new diseases and ailments. I leveled up twice and was able to cure Sasha's weak bones.
Jak was with me the whole time as crowd control. She would give me funny looks from time to time, I think, people aren't supposed to level up this quickly or at least show this level of increase in abilities so fast, especially when coming into their power. It took nearly two weeks, but we were able to get everyone in the village. I was out on the village square sitting in a lawn chair under an umbrella, with Jak just waiting for someone to come for a checkup, but no one was showing up. It's a slow day.
During the week Jak and I got to know each other, I finally got a good handle on her language. I learned her parents met adventuring before settling down in the village of hope. She has four sisters and one brother all older than her, and they all got their own wealth by adventuring. That's one of the reasons she moved from her home. She didn't go more into it, but that's okay I wasn't expecting her to give me her life story, yet. I like to think we were becoming friends.
"Hey fellas." Mayor Cross greeted us. It's only been a week, but this man looks better than ever. "Slow day?" I just nodded. "Well, hope you don't feel bad that I'm happy to hear that. I got your pay for your hard work partner." he gave me a small leather pouch and a piece of parchment.
You have gained 15 gold coins.
The village of Bassvile views you as friendly.
You can now own land in Bassvile.
You have gained a map of the area
The World map has been unlocked on the menu.
"Happy to help," I replied.
Quest completed - where are you? Newly transported to the world of dragon age, find out where you're at, find the nearest village and gain information.
Reward: 1000 XP, and map of the area, 5 gold.
Rewards have been deposited into your inventory.
Level up x2
I just sat there, looking at the prompt, dead to the world. inventory. inventory. Inventory. I forgot about the inventory, a literal fucking hammerspace, wow I feel like an idiot.
"Son, Ya, okay?"
"he's okay. He does this sometimes. Just stares out into the distance, I think the teleporting may have messed up something in his noggin. just ignore him." not gonna lie, that was rude, but it is a good excuse when I'm just staring at my menu.
"Yes, yes, sorry, just, thinking about what to practice out in the valley."
Through your actions and hard work, your skill 'lying' has increased from initiate to novice. Plus 20% to convincing someone.
"Well, I wish you the best of luck you two. Just remember that Bassville will always be your friend. if you ever need us simply come ask." he shook my hand. we said our goodbyes and headed off back to the house at the valley waving goodbye to some villagers on our way out.
-/-
The house was still disheveled, but now I get to practice my construction skill.
ran shackled house
durability: 75/400
Occupants: 2
this house once sturdy and strong could hold up a family of six, but those times were long ago and now it seems to be falling apart.
Can't gain any more information at initiate rank.
3 logs, 4 bricks, and 4 blocks of cement, for 25 points of durability.
36 logs, 52 bricks, and 52 blocks of cement for full durability.
Man, I need to beat up at least 7 trees, and where do I get bricks and cement?
Welcome to the Gamer Store.
Ok, I thought about this. buying it would be the easiest way and I was right, but I didn't want to keep buying materials it was not, cost-efficient, it would be better if I just found them. So instead, I looked for a skill on earth bending.
Earth bending (skill) - 20 gold
Who boy, that's gonna set me back to zero, but it would be pretty sweet to bend the earth. I clicked my tongue. I bought it.
Thank you for your purchase, no refunds.
Yeah, yeah, take your money you leach. I watched my money drop to zero. I just sighed. Spend money to make money.
I grabbed the scroll from my inventory.
Do you want to learn the skill 'Earth bending'?
Y/N
I clicked yes, and the scroll turned to dust and entered through my ears.
Can't learn it, buy it. You have learned a skill through a scroll.
Earth bending - The ability to manipulate the earth with the chi in your body.
I dropped to the ground in pain.
your chi pathway has been unlocked.
Manipulating the earth takes 5 CP for every 10 pounds moved
You are unskilled, rank initiate
Name: Nick Walters
Lvl: 6
HP 170/170
MP 140/140
CP 170/170
Str: can lift 15lb water jugs
Vit: jog sometimes
Dex: can bend without creaking bones
Int: smarter than your average bear
Wis: knows not to mess with bears
Cha: shrugs, dateable
Luk: tends to find money on the floor.
points: 26
Money: 0
Everything hurt. I would have really loved it if it came with a warning. I heard a creak coming from my left, looking over I saw Jak.
"Um, how much of that did you see?" she just stared at me for a long while.
"I saw the scroll turn to dust, then insert itself into your brain through your ears." oh, so you mean you saw everything? I sighed.
"Well, I guess now is as good time as any." And I rolled over to the couch, well, the couch is a bit generous, I would definitely call it a log we sit on. "Well, come over and pop a squat, I think it's time I tell you everything about me."
-/-
so, we talked, and talked, and talked. But at the end of the discussion, I was able to convince her, well I had to buy something from the gamer store, but she was still convinced in the end. She wanted the couch, a real couch. She had to pay for it, well, I pay for it, she just gave me the money. not the best couch, but definitely better than a log.
the next morning, I was out in the backyard bright and early, I wanted to test my earthbending. It was actually pretty cool, the martial arts of earth bending were placed (read: shoved) right into my brain, my moves did come out a little sloppy at first because my body was just moving to the images in my brain. by noon I was able to rank up to novice. it still costs me 5CP to use the skill but now I can move over 30 pounds. I always wondered how the ranking system worked, what I've been able to come up with is that it gives me a child version, and would level up when I show a level of competence in the skill.
By using logic and reasonable deduction you have gained plus one to intelligence and wisdom.
"Here you go," Jak said rolling a broken tree over to me. I learned quickly not to judge a book by its cover, Jak could bench press me like I was a KitKat bar, it was something about how her species and how they only look beautiful to attract a mate, we didn't get much into it, but it was interesting. Jak and I decided to repair the house through my construction skill.
Chopped maple tree
Do you wish to convert the tree to 5 logs?
Y/N
Yes.
with this tree, I have over 40 logs. Now I need bricks and cement. I do not know how to make either, I knew I could get the info from the game store, but I don't have money. but now that I can fight, I need to get to a dungeon to get loot.
Looking at my world map I found small question marks. When Jak and I investigated a point of interest, we found a magic staff, Jak immediately took the staff and would not release it. I guess, it must have been a good staff. I'm hoping to find the entrance to a dungeon. The good news though, after examining the world map I found out that I am just north of Tevinter and Par volen, well saying just north is a bit of a disservice, I'm pretty far up, but at least I know if I start moving downwards, I'll eventually reach Thedas. The only slight problem is that I don't know what time it is, the map didn't show me what year of the dragon it was, or even if we were in 'the' Dragon Age. I do know that the games kick off in Dragon 9:30, I just don't know if that has yet to happen. I still don't know if I should get involved, I've come to the conclusion that canon can go die in a ditch, but I'm not really ecstatic to go fight underground zombies or flap about with Hawke, the Inquisition sounds cool though.
-/-
It took us finding two steel bracers and a pair of steel gauntlets which I put on. We finally came up to a cave and a prompt appeared.
WARNING YOU HAVE APPROACHED A DUNGEON
Goblin dungeon lvl 5
Do you wish to enter
Y/N
"Found it." It's about time, we have been wondering for nearly 3 hours.
"Mmm, ok so now what do we do." That was a good question. I checked my menu, multi-player?
Do you want to add another player to your party?
Yes!
Be aware that your experience will be shared with your party.
Do you want to send an invite to Jak Hope?
Y/N
Yes
"Whoa! So, what do I do?"
"All you have to do is accept the invite mentally." She then stares out into space. Is that what I look like?
Jak Hope has joined your party
She just looked over at me with an inquisitive look.
"Are you sure you're smarter than an average bear?" She questioned. Is she reading my stats, but her face looks just fine? is it just my face that looks extra thirsty when observing, that's not fair.
Tiefling sorcerer
Name: Jak Hope
Age: 23
HP 300/300 MP 400/400
Level: 10
Str: needs to hit the gym
Vit: needs to learn to breathe through her nose when running
Dex: can touch her toes
Int: she plays 3D chess
Wis: sometimes you punch first
Cha: out of your league
Luk: she found you
Jak born of a human father and a tiefling mother gained her power of sorcery at the age of seven, she is now out on her pilgrimage to grow her power and be of use to her people. She has a bit of a chip on her shoulder, due to all her sibling's great success.
She thinks you're still a weirdo, but you're her weirdo friend.
"Aww, you're my weirdo friend too." I joked. She gave me an annoyed look.
"I'm the weirdo? this coming from the man with like 15 pockets," she snarked. I don't really understand why she hates my pants so much, is it just, like, a weird stereotype from her hometown?
"All I hear is your jealousy." she rolled her eyes. "Are you ready?" she nodded.
Everything just swirled for a moment.
You have entered the dungeon
And, now we're in a cave. the stone gave off a strange glow illuminating the cave.
Glow stone
A stone that has been saturated with lyrium giving it a heatless glow.
dwarves try to squeeze the lyrium off the stones, but for the small amount of lyrium they gained, they decided it was not worth the effort, so these are just found all over caves and other underground locations.
I stomped on the floor using earth bending to smooth the floor and walls, leaving the glowing stone to light our way. Best not to fight in dark uneven terrain, let's not forget the fact that I'm an earth bender in a cave and most things will be slightly weaker than me, my partner is level 10, I think I got this.
It was then, that I heard a cry coming from deeper in the cavern, and a goblin came rushing at us. Thinking fast I stuck my foot on the ground raising a pillar of stone, slamming it into the ceiling. In the avatar series, you don't really see how destructive earth bending can be, sure they show how cool it looks, but in real life it is terrifying, that goblin exploded on the ceiling, I'm thankful I had Gamer's mind or I probably would have thrown up and turned around on that spot. There was gore everywhere until the blood began to glow and then turn to dust.
You have slain a minor goblin for 10 exp.
You have gained 5 copper coins.
Two more came right behind their little friend, but before I arranged a meeting with their gods a lightning bolt from my left slammed into one traveling to the other and flash-frying them. Looking over I found Jak with her staff outstretched.
You have slain 2 minor goblins for 20 exp.
You have gained 8 copper coins.
You have gained one stone dagger.
That cemented our dungeon delve. I would smooth out the terrain end crush any goblin that would attack in a straight line, and when I got tired Jak would blast them with lightning. That worked great for most of our delve. It was when we ran into our first hobgoblin were things changed.
Hobgoblin level 9
HP 50/50
MP 15/15
hobgoblins belong to a family of creatures called goblinoids. They are often found lording over their cousins, the smaller goblins, and the fierce bugbears.
He hates you for killing his minions.
It rushed me. The first thing I did was to use a stone pillar smashing it against the ceiling, all I did was piss it off. it got back up and continued to rush me, but before it could get to me Jak blasted it with a lightning bolt hitting it in the side of the head causing it to tumble into the floor. This thing was relentless, even after getting slammed into the ceiling and blasted in its face it got back up and tackled me onto the ground. It brought up his big meaty hand and hit me across the face.
you have been hit for 20 points of blunt damage.
you have been hit for 20 points of blunt damage.
I might have a clear mind but I still feel pain. Grabbing one of the dozen stone daggers I've looted I slammed it into its ribs. It screamed backing away from me. Wasting no time, I used earth bending to control the dagger, shoving the dagger through its ribs, up its chest, through its throat, exploding out its head. It stood there for a moment before falling back and turning into dust before it hit the ground.
You have killed a hobgoblin for 150 exp.
You have gained 1 gold and 10 silver coins.
You have gained broken steel chest armor and 1 healing potion.
Due to your action and effort, your skill has increased earthbending is now at intermediate.
Earth bending - The ability to manipulate the earth with the chi in your body.
You can now control the earth at a decent level. You can now make simple shapes with earth. 5 CP per 50 pounds.
"Are you okay, I didn't want to hit it with magic when you were so close." I waved her off, it was painful, but with gamer's mind, I could see that would have been a bad idea. This place had friendly fire on. That fight only lasted less than 30 seconds, but being under that thing was not pretty, and I didn't want to relive that.
I got cocky, I thought that 'because, I have a high-level partner, earthbending, and the dungeon level was five that everything would be OK. I really should take Morgan's warning a lot more seriously. I used healing hands on myself, back to full in less than a minute, healing classes are really overpowered.
"How are you in MP?" I asked.
"I'm at 200." that's half her mana. I earth bent a deep pit down In front of us with spikes at the bottom, making it impossible if not very difficult to get to us, then I layered a very thin piece of earth to be on top of it making a trap.
due to your actions and efforts, a new skill has been made.
Trapping - gotcha now sucka! a device or enclosure designed to catch and retain animals, typically by allowing entry but not exit or by catching hold of a part of the body.
All traps you make are 10% more difficult to spot
"let's take a break, 30 minutes?" I asked. She shrugged, and walked over she sat next to me handing me some jerky. I need to learn how to cook. Then we heard a scream.
You have killed a hobgoblin for 100 exp + trap assist 50 exp
You gained 90 silver coins
You have gained 1 steel dagger
Neat.
-/-
We started playing this smart, before, any goblin we would just continue doing what we did before, but when it came to hobgoblins, I would just throw them into a spiked pit. It only took one hobgoblin to jump over my pit, and of course be skewered by one of the stone knives I kept on me, to realize that I should first stumble them, by making a small impression on the ground making them trip over in their mad dash to clobber me.
It was about another 30 minutes of us just merking these guys, that we reached a large cavern. Well clearly this is some sort of boss arena, at the other end with a single doorway that led somewhere I could see it from so far away. I smoothed out the ground as we were walking making sure we wouldn't trip on anything. Halfway there hundreds of goblins popped out of the cliffs surrounding the cavern. They all began cheering, at the other end of the cavern I once entrance caved in. Thumping noises were coming out from the other hallway. Keeping one eye on the goblins and the other one at the door a huge bugbear came running out holding a huge club.
bugbear level 13
HP 150/ 150
MP 15/15
Bugbears are born for battle and mayhem. Surviving by raiding and hunting, they bullied the weak and despise being bossed around, but their love of carnage means they will fight for powerful masters if bloodshed and treasures are assured.
He is happy you made it this far, so he can kill you in front of all his minions.
It started waving to its goblin minions in what now seems like stands.
"That thing looks ugly," Jak stated.
"I have already made three pit traps. Wait for it to rush, and look out for the goblins." Don't trust them not to start throwing things at us. My traps were plainly obvious to see if you know what you were looking for, thankfully she has seen enough of them to know where it begins and ends.
It roars slamming its club into the ground trying to look intimidating. it got angry that we did not show any sign of fear and rushed us. I created a hole that would reach up to his knee right before he reached my trap. catching him off guard he tripped but using his long arms he grabbed onto the side of the trap. Only to be hit by a lightning bolt to the face causing him to scream in pain, but still, it holds on to the cliff. I slanted the wall he was holding onto making it impossible for him to grip on to. It screamed as it fell into a hole. I stood still for a while; I didn't get a notification. I clap my hands together causing the whole he fell into collapse onto itself.
you have killed a Bugbear Chief for 300 exp + 50 exp.
You have gained 4 gold and 40 silver coins
You have gained 1 bugbear warclub
All the goblins in the stands started screaming and running in different directions and before we knew it, we were alone in the large stadium. I raised walls that led directly to the exit making sure we weren't attacked by the other goblins that may seek revenge. Reaching the hallway, a prompt appeared.
You have reached the end of your first dungeon.
You have gained 1 gold treasure chest, 5 gacha tokens, 5000 exp, + 40HP, + 40 MP, + 40 CP
By completing your first dungeon you have gained the skill dungeon create.
Dungeon create - the ability to make dungeons to gain XP and loot.
No mana is required to create a dungeon
For completing your first dungeon you gained a skill Instant dungeon escape.
instant dungeon escape - It's a skill that allows you to escape any dungeon you've created at any time.
That's what I'm talking about!
-/-
The trek back to the house was filled with us hooting and hollering about how awesome we were. I leveled up 4 times and Jak 2 times, it was at level 10 that I realized that leveling up from here would be difficult, I need at least twice as much as before.
Tiefling sorcerer
Name: Jak Hope
Age: 23
HP 350/350 MP 480/480
Level: 12
Str: needs to hit the gym
Vit: needs to learn to breathe through her nose when running
Dex: can touch her toes
Int: she plays 4D chess
Wis: sometimes you 'lighting blast to the face' first
Cha: I am your thunder goddess
Luk: she found you
Points: 14
Money: 7G 30S 15C
Jak born of a human father and a tiefling mother gained her power of sorcery at the age of seven, she is now out on her pilgrimage to grow her power and be of use to her people. She has a bit of a chip on her shoulder, due to all her sibling's great success.
She thinks you're still a weirdo, but you're her best weirdo friend.
Her magic doubles every level? Must be a trait.
"I'm so happy, I'm not going to give you shit for the face," she replied with a big smile. She must be happy, I guess when a bag of money falls from the sky and hits you over the head, very little things make you angry. Let me tell you that really caught me off guard, I thought I was just gonna have to hand over half the money I earned in there, apparently, the game decided that it would just give Jak her side of the money.
Name: Nick Walters
Lvl: 10
HP 250/250
MP 220/220
CP 250/250
Str: trees are no match
Vit: jogs every morning
Dex: parkour!
Int: you can make a healthy schedule
Wis: you do your healthy schedule
Cha: nice glutes
Luk: tends to find money on the floor.
points: 50
Money: 7G 30S 15C
I was looking pretty good, I think? In any case, we just simply decided to call it a day, we'll look into the store and see what we need to buy to fix up the house tomorrow.
-/-
"We need beds, and chickens, and running water, and a dog, and a magic dummy, and-" Jak just listed things on and on. When she realized she can buy anything in the store she just started listing things off. She's been like this for 10 minutes. "And a dog, wait did I say that? Make it two dogs." she really wanted a dog, because that was the 5th time, she said that.
"Before we're trampled by canines, we should open this bad boy," I said pulling out the gold chest from my inventory. Whoever said more money more problems is an idiot, more money means more opportunities.
Do you want to open this chest?
Yes
You have gained 30 gold, one random skill scroll, Boots of Swiftness, and 3 gacha tokens.
Boots of Swiftness – be the wind! Movement speed will increase by 75%.
I pass them over to Jak. She gave them a look over and nodded putting them on. She's a mage, she tends to be best at a distance. Looked at the scroll.
Copy item – this skill allows you to make copies of an item. Warning: magic items can't be copied.
I learned this skill, if I can make one brick then I could make as many as I need afterward.
"Now the Gacha tokens." I was kinda excited I could get anything.
"what's that?" she asked.
"Gacha tokens, are tokens used to gain something from anywhere in the universe." she just rose her eyebrow. I sighed, "even a dog." her face lit up.
Gacha token spin!
You gained
1 Lego piece
1 Kyber crystal (blue)
1 golem skill scroll
1 magical drafts and potions by Arsenic Jigger
1 condom (not used)
1 pair of fuzzy slippers (pink)
1 Zune (charger not included)
1 ballpoint pen
I immediately learn the golem skill.
golem creation – this skill allows you to create golems from anything as long as you have enough material. MP cost depends on what the golem is made of, its size, and the instructions given.
You are unskilled, rank initiative
I was so happy; I was planning on buying this skill because I could create an army given enough time. I'm going to practice till the sun goes down. I gave Jak the potion book, she just read the first page and returned it.
"You can speak my language, but I can't read yours." she shrugged. I looked at the book.
Do you wish to learn magical drafts and potions by Arsenic Jigger?
Yes
You now know how to draft and create potions.
Do to reading a book you have gained the skill potion making
Potion making - just add an eye of newt, that usually works. This skill allows you to create potions in your inventory without the need for specific tools.
All potions made have a + 5% chance to become a greater potion.
You are unskilled, rank initiative.
The book turned to ash. Well, I hope I'm not a dunderhead. I'll see what I can do with everything else later.
Welcome to the Gamer Store!
Jak jumped next to me at alert. I sighed.
"let's look for a book on how to fix the house first." she gave me a reluctant nod.
The ins and outs of base building – 1 gold
Perfect I added it to my cart.
crafting (skill)- 5 gold
Cart
Periodic table of elements and you – 1 gold
Cart
I felt my forearm squeezed. I guess my 'unreasonable purchasing' is taking too long. I sighed and switched over to the pet section. That's a lot of pets. They had everything, I felt like I was looking at the wall of powers all over again. They had Krypto the Super dog, for the low, low price of 23 trillion gold coins, and if dogs aren't your cup of tea, they had 5' Skyrim spiders for 30 silvers. I adjusted the search for dogs under 5, I felt my armed being tighten, 10 gold, the tightening eases.
3 hours. 3 long hours. And we were no closer to picking anything. I stopped scrolling
I found him.
Dogmeat(F4) – 7 gold
Perfect, Dogmeat is perfect. He's an amazing companion, friendly, smart, loyal, fierce, and adorable. Jak looked a bit reluctant, she wanted to raise a dog from puppyhood. I told her that we're adventurers and that would mean that we would have to do dangerous things, and can't bring a puppy into that. She just nodded, I could tell she wasn't happy, but this was for the best.
Cart
I bought a few more things.
x2 soft memory beds, basic earthenware making, 101 ways to make and use cement, how not to eat garbage, cooking, and you - 1G 20S
Cart
I was looking at a book I wanted to buy.
Rune crafting (skill) – 20 gold
It was pricey, costing as much as earth bending, but earth bending was a great investment. I decided to buy it.
Cart
Before purchasing my things, I sold everything I got at the dungeon, and come out with a whopping 3 gold coins. Eh, better than nothing.
34 gold coins were our outcome. Again pricey, but worth it.
Thank you for your purchase, no refund.
Suddenly glowing sand particles combined slowly forming the shape of a dog, and just as the form finished a bright light flash blinded us. Taking a moment to regain our eyesight, all we could hear was a constant thumping noise. When our eyes finished readjusting, we found, sitting on the floor, a 2 feet 4 inch, 78 pounds of pure post-apocalyptic wasteland badass, happily panting, slapping the floor with his tail.
Dog guardian
Dogmeat
Lvl: 8
HP 400/400
MP n/a
Str: will take you to the ground and bury you
Vit: has been shot and walked it off
Dex: I AM SPEED
Int: understands English
Wis: you say stay, I stay
Cha: the best boy
Luk: tends to find the best person for the job with a 97% accuracy rate.
Dogmeat is the best boy in the wasteland, Bar none. Traveling from one end to the other in a post-apocalyptic hell hole, he helps where he can. He has many urban legends that mention him.
Dogmeat is your loyal companion and loves you for you.
Jak crouches down and extends her hand. Dogmeat sniffs it, then moves up to her and licks her face. She giggles pushing him away. She looks my way and nodded.
"His perfect." She stated as if I didn't already know that. We had just over 10 gold, best keep it for a rainy day.
Do you wish to read 'The ins and outs of base building'?
Yes
The ins and outs of base building has been added to the construction skill, you now know how to build officiant bases.
there were now blueprints on how to build different bases all elaborate and grand in scope. these will take me forever to build, I don't need an overly bombastic base, only somewhere that would be safe and difficult to attack. A blueprint appeared, a helicarrier. kick ass, I started toggling with the design moving it from a science build, to a magical one, with fewer wires and robotics, and more runes and magic. It will take hard work, I can see it now, flying through the sky and visiting new places.
New quest
Base building - if you can't bring the loot to your base, bring your base to the loot. Build yourself a magical helicarrier.
Rewards: 50 gold, 10,000 exp, your own base, title: captain.
I quickly learned crafting and Rune crafting, these two will be essential to my base building.
Crafting – why buy anything, when you can build it with your own two hands? This skill allows you to craft any item with your magic as long as you have the right material. The larger the creation the more MP is needed.
You are unskilled, rank initiate
Rune crafting – the code of the universe. Room crafting allows you to write in a magical language on items that would then give them a unique property. Runes work by writing the language and infusing it with magic.
You are unskilled, rank initiate
Time to start training.
-/-
Jak POV
It has been a week since the dungeon delve. Nick seemed to have lost his mind ever since he got those skills. Every day he makes over 20 small 2-foot golems to go collect small mundane items, clay, rocks, sticks, just about anything they could find. By the 3rd day and 60 golems running around later, he started making tables, chairs, desks, dog houses (dogmeat was ecstatic), spoons, forks, wood shoes, plates, just about everything. On the 4th day, he started making bricks by the dozen and collecting different kinds of dirt saying he needed it to make cement. On the 5th day, we were standing outside the house as he touched the house it began to shift and mold until it snapped into place, looking brand new, nothing looked like it would fall apart any time soon. On the 6th day, he started having his small army of earth golems dig up a large part of the surrounding house. On the 7th day, we had a picnic, something about one day of the week should be for resting, his cooking skill was pretty good.
And here we are, on the 8th day, Nick told me what he wanted to do with the surrounding land around the house. He's crazy. He wanted to raise 1400 feet of earth so he can travel in style. I repeat he's crazy, but if he pulls it off, he would become the greatest mage ever known. And as his friend we could, oh, I don't know, a swing pass Hope to show off a bit.
"Sounds super cool." I gave him two thumbs up.
"I know right." he had the biggest smile I have ever seen.
-/-
Nick POV
It has been 2 and a half weeks since I explained to Jak what I was going to do. My golem skill was raised to intermediate, and now I can make golems 5 feet in height, and out of different objects. I made a tree golem and a chair golem just because I could. I have been going back to the village selling anything extra I made for a small profit gaining me the Merchant perk.
Merchant – welcome stranger, what will you have? Everybody wants something somewhere somehow, why don't you sell that thing?
You now have a + 10% to haggling.
I would visit Sasha and talk with her, I made just about everything in her home into a golem so she would have something watching over her. I still didn't have enough mana to heal her dementia, so I gave her a small healing rune that would slowly regen her health if she ever got injured. I made a small mana rune for myself hoping that would increase my MP, and to be fair it did, but it wasn't enough, any rune work I made was not journeyman-level material. So, I started working around the village, just building and upgrading houses and projects the small growing village needed. I would see Jak and Dogmeat come into the village to remind me it was time to clock out when I would lose track of time.
I also got around to buying the land around the house, I didn't want the mayor to get angry at me when he sees me take a small hill with me when I leave. I paid him 5 gold and ten golems that would work around the town, I put a mana regen rune in their body so they wouldn't crumble over time. I would then program them to work for any working mayor of the city, as well as make them unable to purposely attack any townsfolk, but anyone attacking them or the village was fair play. I Waved goodbye to the mayor as I headed back to base.
-/-
There was a moat now. I had my golem boys, my G – boys if you will, start making plenty of space so I can make huge boulder thrusters, 6 in total. The boulders would cause balance and mobility, so I had to make sure they were huge and solid. I found three so far, but before I started adding runes to them up, I worked on smaller volleyball-shaped rocks, not only for testing but for satellites, using them to flesh out my map, I was going full Tony Stark, holograms everywhere. The first few only sort of just floated 6 feet off the floor for like 6 minutes. A bit of a letdown, but I did get it to float which was good. It was after the 8th version that I used too many mana regen runes that the rock rocketed off to places unknown that I got some better results. The problem with that was that it didn't stop, from the tracking runes I placed it just kept going into deep space, or at least I think it did, the information that came back just stopped after a point.
"Still got the 'flying to places unknown parts' problem I see," Jak said walking out with a tray of t-bone steaks.
"t bone steaks, you shouldn't have," I said reaching out for one. She slapped my hand away.
"Good, cause I didn't, these are for Dogmeat and I." She corrected me tossing one of the steaks into the air where Dogmeat appeared and snatched it and returned to his house.
"So, other than to tease me with steak, what brought you out here." I gesture to the yard, where we were sitting on the picnic table I made.
"Just checking on you, you've been sending things into space for like 2 days. Just making sure you haven't lost whatever marbles you had left." She actually looked a little worried.
"I'm sorry to worry you, it's just trying to get one of these rocks to stay up high enough to send me information on the earth below." She looked at me.
"Have you made a control rod?"
"Control rod?"
"Yeah, juice the rock, then with the control rod slow the rock before it goes too far away." She explained.
"But the rock would have to be way up high to the point I can no longer see it, how would I know to stop?" she shrugged.
"don't you have a viewing rune? Just put one on the rock, send it up, and stop it when you think it's high enough." She made a very good point, but I need to make a temperature rune because the exosphere is supposed to be super-hot the closer you get to space.
It took three more times before I got the right height. I jumped up grabbing Jak and spun her in my arms. She just laughed.
"Put me down before I barf all over your dumb face!" she giggled. I rushed over to Dogmeat, but unlike Jak, he was happy to be carried.
-/-
Things when pretty smooth after that, I would just send two satellites up a day, one in the morning and one in the evening and my holographic globe in our living room slowly began to take shape. It was when I sent out the 5th satellite that I got the prompt I was waiting for.
Due to your hard work, you have upgraded your Rune Crafting from intermediate to journeyman.
You can now make journeyman-level runes as well as full runic sentences. You can now place runes on clothing.
This is what I was waiting for. All those days of making golems with mana absorption runes, the satellites, the increased durability runes on every plank of wood in the house, nothing short of a meteor would destroy that house. I ran into the house and grabbed the nearest pair of socks, we really need to clean up around here, eh, I'll make a cleaning golem later. On one sock I place a mana rune and on the other a mana absorption rune. Looking at my equipment menu it showed that each sock was doing what the runes told them to do. Looking at my mana it increased by 50 points putting me at 270. If I put this rune on every piece of cloth I had, undershirt, shirt, jacket, pants, underwear, two socks, and a necklace, I would gain + 400 MP putting me over the amount needed to cure old Sasha. That brought a smile to my face.
"what's got you so happy?" Jak spoke coming out of the kitchen eating a sandwich and wearing the pink cotton PJs I made her.
"Who has two thumbs and can make runic clothing? This guy!" I said pointing my two thumbs at myself. She just stares at me for a long moment.
"So?" she asked. I sighed.
"That means that I can add runes to every piece of cloth you wear," I explained. She dropped her sandwich, which Dogmeat didn't hesitate to eat. She booked it to her room and came back with a bunch of clothes. She passed her clothes to me.
"Hop to it! After this we can go dungeon delving again!" she jumped in excitement. She really got into delving after our first time, we would dungeon delve every other day. It was a good way to gain money, release stress, and level up. We used to go to the goblin dungeon at first, but after she solo-ed it we decided to try a higher-level dungeon. That led us to my Dungeon create skill, and we ended up taking on the zombie hordes.
Flashback
19 days ago
We were standing in a post-apocalyptic city ruin.
"Is this what one of your cities looked like?" she asked.
"Well, yes, but less destroyed." I looked around, maybe I should see if I could take some things, like toilets or copper pipes, it would be easier than making them. I was making the base with magic but if something were to happen to the magic engine, I would have an electric backup, and to make sure it had enough juice I would use a Badassium core arc reactor, but it was expensive, but do you know what wasn't expensive, Ivan Vanko's design. I think it's because it was just an inferior model, but that's okay, I can boost it with magic.
"Eat lightning, you undead bastards," Jak screamed, shooting chain lighting. Oops, I lost focus. Even Dogmeat had killed two already. I created 2 golems costing 200 MP.
Cement golems
Durability 150/150
A golem made of cement. They are programmed to protect you.
I looked over to a zombie.
Undead minion level 7
HP 60/60
MP 0/0
A corpse reanimated to stalk the living to make more of itself. This is the undead minion of a powerful magic user.
They maybe 2 feet, but my golems were making short work of any zombie that got too close. I looked over to Jak who was shooting her lighting with wild abandon, killing at least 3 zombies per shot. I was getting prompts like crazy, I turned off my notifications, it was getting distracting.
"Hey! Calm down! You're going to burn out too quickly!" I hollered. She turned to me with this wild look on her face. It made me take a step back. She blinked and her face went back to normal.
"Sorry. Sorry. Just, killing undead is seen as a noble hero's duty, and their names are placed in the hall of heroes." she huffed out some air. I think that's the chip on her shoulder talking.
"that's fine, but don't blow your wad at the beginning of the dungeon or you'll become a sitting duck."
"Right, right, sorry." she patted her face getting her cheeks in the game. "So, what are we doing? Unlike with the goblins, there is no straight line to the exit." she was right, we're in a city, and there are many places a boss can hide, but if video games and D&D taught me anything is that bad guys love a great view. I looked over to the only intact skyscraper with lights still working.
"There," I said pointing at it.
"Of course, evil wizards love tall towers." eh, I guess that's the stereotype everywhere.
-/-
It took us over 30 minutes of fighting slow walker zombies to make it to the skyscraper. That's when we were met with a 9-foot behemoth.
Juggernaut level 15
HP 300/300
MP 0/0
A juggernaut is an overly charged corpse that is chock-full of mana, this zombie is now larger and more powerful than its fellow undead horde. This zombie is a minion to a powerful magic user.
Before it did anything, Dogmeat rushed between its legs causing it to bend down for a swing of opportunity, missing by a mile, allowing me to bury it up to its neck. Jak followed up with a lightning bolt to its head, paralyzing it, and my golems finished it by smashing their cement fists on its face until it resembled ground meat. I love those types of battles, one-sided favoring us.
"Great job everyone. The boss is probably at the top," I stated. I put my cement golems in my inventory and pointed to the elevator. "Guess we are going up." I pressed the top button moving us upward.
.
.
.
"sooo." oh, God, no. "how's this project you're doing going?" awkward elevator small talk. I took a deep breath.
"it's going, uh, pretty good." silence. Only the thumping of Dogmeat's tail was heard.
.
.
.
"sooo, what is it?" God, please.
"I don't want to, uh, spoil anything until I know I can do it." more silence. Thump, thump, thump.
"But it'll be cool right?"
"Oh, yea, super cool" I started patting my legs. "Super cooool."
.
.
.
why is this elevator going so slow? The elevator finally dinged causing me to almost start weeping at such a wonderful sound.
The doors opened revealing a single desk with a skeleton sitting on an overly plushy chair.
Lich of upper management
lvl 21
HP 600/600
MP 700/700
After performing a dark ritual this Lich, formerly known as Keith Summers, began an apocalyptic event trying to take over the planet. He now rules over a dead planet.
He's annoyed to see you are still alive.
"So, you made it to my room of power. Decent work, I suppose," he said getting up from his chair. "I suppose this is when you're here to kill me and somehow revert my perfect world."
"No, I'm here, just, to kill you," stated Jak as she shot a lighting spear at his body. Dogmeat flanks left, as I summoned my cement golems to flank right.
"RAAAOR," he screamed shooting lasers from his eyes, forcing us to split. I summoned a piece of the floor to my hand.
"Distract him!" I screamed as I started making runes on the piece of cement. Not being told twice Jak shot him again but was met with a magic barrier.
"Using magic against me! I am the greatest mage who ever live!" he roared shooting more eye beams. even when dodging, the explosion was close enough to cause her to be flung to the ground.
The Lich's eyes began to glow again, but before he fired Dogmeat came from his right biting onto his humerus, forcing his head to tilt firing into the ceiling causing debris to obscure the charging golems from his left. Looking down at Dogmeat he began to power up, completely missing the two airborne golems jumping at him. Slamming him into the ground prone. Dogmeat took that moment to retreat.
"RAAAAARAA!" he releases a powerful shock wave turning my G–boys to dust. His rage was clear to see as his eyes blazed. "You think you can come here and defeat me so easily! Me, the ruler of this world!"
"Yeah, I think I can." he turned to me and froze. In my left hand, I held a fancy gold inlaid mahogany fountain pen, and in my left a bright red glowing cement rock.
"How?" he whispered.
"Dark magic detector," I answered waving my rock. He tried to raise his hand to cast a spell, but I crushed the pen. He jerked, then stood still.
"Damn." His body fell apart.
"What was that?" Jak asked coming over to me.
"His phylactery." she gave me a strange look. "To become a lich, you must remove your soul and put it in a phylactery, that way if your body is ever destroyed you would just reform at another time."
"That seems like a giant weakness," she said looking at the pile of bones. "Why didn't he just put it somewhere no one will get to it?"
"Arrogance, probably. He thought that only he could keep it safe." I still hadn't gotten my prompt. I looked over to the bones.
Lich of upper management
HP 150/600
MP 500/700
After performing a dark ritual this Lich, formerly known as Keith Summers, began an apocalyptic event trying to take over the planet. He now rules over a dead world.
He is terrified and waiting for you to leave.
This little bastard. He's playing dead! I nodded my head to the bones; she gave me a confused look. She's no help, I look over to Dogmeat, and through what I could only imagine was man-dog eye communication, he rushed the bones. Knowing the jig was up the lich began to form.
I used the remains of my g-boys to smack some of his bones away, causing him to reform awkwardly, giving Dogmeat time to take a shin, throwing him off balance, even more, making him fall to the ground. Looking up to shoot more eye beams, he was met with Jak's staff pointing right between his eyes.
"Damn."
I had to look away from how bright her lightning attack was.
Congratulations on clearing the dungeon!
New dungeon unlocked
Reward: 25 gold coins, one random skill scroll, 1 Gacha token, 1 gold inlaid mahogany fountain pen (soul not included), 10,000 exp.
Thanks for coming!
End flashback
I gave Jak the scroll to see if she could learn a skill. Short answer, yes, long answer, yes, but it is extremely painful. Turns out Gamer's mind does more than protect me from mental attacks. I had to be by her bed all night because she would have terrible migraines, that I would heal.
She told me that she would never do that again, but she did learn Laser eye beam, the same spell the lich had, it cost a great deal, but in her words, 'this is kick ass'.
-/-
I was back in town walking with Mayor Cross to Sasha's house. I was wearing my full mage outfit, underwear, pants, socks, shoes, buttons (6), shoelaces, undershirt, shirt, jacket, and a headband. All with mana runes, + 950 mana points that topped me at 1220.
"So, you're ready to try to cure old Sasha, eh." The mayor asked
"Yes, I have been working myself to the bone," I said flexing. Oh, damn, I looked at my muscles, and I mean really looked. I have muscles now, I used to be more on the Pudgy side, I'm just tall so you couldn't see it, but now I had more of a swimmer's body. I guess I've been distracted by all I've been doing. The mayor just laughed.
"Good to hear it son. Now let's make her day," he said knocking on her door. The door opened by itself, allowing us entrance. Inside everything was moving, brooms were cleaning, dust sweepers were dusting corners, and a teapot was flying across the room refilling Sasha's tea cup, that floated next to her, as she was on her favorite chair looking out the window. He just looked at me.
"I needed to practice," I shrugged. I wasn't going to apologize for my training, or for making Sasha's life easier. I walked over to Sasha and kneeled next to her. "Sasha" I whispered, "I've returned to cure your dementia. She just looked at me and patted my face. I smiled.
Sasha has one ailment do you wish to cure it?
Dementia – 490 MP
For a brief moment, nothing happened. Then a dull light seemed to surround her head, and as the light began to fade, she started blinking a bit more rapidly. She turned to me and Cross.
"What in tarnation, Cross what's happenin." Her voice was a bit rough but clear. She, like Cross, had a strong southern accent. "And why are you so fat?" she looked over at me, "I know you."
"Yeah, you do, just give it a minute, your mind is refreshing itself." she gave me a confused look. "Your mind is slowly repairing any damage you had." she sat back on her chair, closing her eyes trying to will the healing to go faster. She raised her hand and the cup of tea gently placed itself in her hand. She took a sip.
"Nick, right? I'm beginning to remember you. You made my house come to life," she giggled. "Thank you, it made my life a lot easier. I remember making lunch and forgot what I was doing and sat down only for my lunch to be served to me not 10 minutes later. You're a good kid." she smiled at me. Not like the ones she gave me before, before her smiles seemed fake like she wasn't all there, but this smile reached her eyes. "Now. No more sitting around, Cross tell me what I've missed since I've been out of it."
She then led us out the door and into the village.
-/-
I waved goodbye to Sasha and Mayor Cross as I left the village. I'm beginning to seriously think about what to do next. I feel like going south to Thedas, I could do good down there, but the timing is really throwing me off. For all I know I'm a hundred years in the future or past, and let's not forget about Jak, she might not want to go down south and would like to travel the rest of the world, and I couldn't blame her, I also want to travel. Thedas may not be the only place that would need our help. I need to have a long talk with her about our plans moving forward.
As I reached the house, I saw Jak sitting outside on the porch drinking some, what I think was lemonade, with Dogmeat lying next to her.
"So, how did it go? She asked.
"Great, got her up and moving, had Mayor Cross and I showing her the village."
"That sounds great, so why do you have that sad look on your face?" she's more observant than I thought, or I have a bad poker face.
"With Sasha cured and the village well on its way to becoming a town, it's about time for us to move to our new adventure. All I have to do is finish mother base." That's what I decided to name the base.
"And off to adventure we go." She smirked. I looked at her, really looked at her.
"Are you sure you want to come along, it's dangerous, we could end up going to different worlds with no way home, or mother base may plummet to the ground with us in it?" I know that testing her resolve could miss up the dynamic we had going, but this may be the most dangerous choice she might ever make. There can't be any hesitation, this is a full leap into the unknown. She stared at me for a long while, but I didn't look away.
"Can I tell you after we reach Hope?" she looked deep into my eyes; I saw a wild storm of indecision. I just nodded.
There are at least two weeks of me working on Mother Base, and however long it will take us to get to Hope, and Hope itself will be a good place to gain our bearings. All and all it would be 2 or so months before she needed to make a decision, and that's if everything goes well.
"Good, now let's go kill some zombies."
And so, we did.
-/-
It's been four weeks since our talk, and in that time, I've been busy. The first week all I did was make a basement. Well, more like I hollowed out the island I made, with the need of two engines I wanted to make, I would need more space. The second week had me adding runes on my thrusters, it was a long mundane process having to write out the rune sentences all over the 6, 15-foot boulder, but with the help of my G–Boys slowly moving the boulder I didn't need to climb all over them. The third week had me adding runs to the inside and outside of Mother Base. I added more durability runes on the inside and outside of the outer layer, and now nothing short of a planet buster was destroying my base. In the fourth week I started adding weapons, using the Kyber crystal I had I made a laser beam using it as an amplifier, a bit like the death star, no were as powerful, but enough to mess up someone's day.
Jak, Dogmeat, and I were now standing in the control room which doubled as the living room. I was using the hologram to view the front of Mother Base, and when putting it on auto we would just use the map to select a location and let the ship fly itself.
We were looking at the big red button. Jak nudges me.
"Press it."
"I am, just looking for the right words." this was a bit nerve-racking, how did Neil Armstrong do it?
.
.
.
.
"Fuck it." I slammed my hand on the button. Nothing happened, then everything started shaking. The shock absorption runes activated causing everything to stop shaking. We raced to the window.
-/-
Mayor Cross POV
I leaned back on my chair, ever since Sasha's been healed, she has been running me ragged, work is the only place for me to catch my breath.
"MAYOR!" I heard a scream from outside. Causing me to jump to my feet. What now? "there's an island flying in the sky!" what? I rushed outside, and low and behold there was an island floating upwards.
"What the?"
"Pretty neat huh?" said Sasha next to me.
"You know what's going on?" she just smirked.
"It's those crazy kids. When Nick would come over when... when I was sick, he would go on and on, and on about how he was going to make a flying base to see the world. Something about, if you can't get the loot to your base, take your base to the loot. I didn't think he could pull it off, but what do I know." I turned my eyes back to the island getting higher and higher.
"Damn crazy kids," I smirked. Here I am, barely 70, doing an office job, and those kids are going on amazing adventures. "Sasha, I heard you're thinking of going on an expedition east. Need a hand." she just smirked.
-/-
Jak POV
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. We're moving! We're actually moving! I look over at Nick, he was grinning like a madman. I looked back outside through the window and for a brief moment I saw my reflection, I too was grinning like a mad woman. We just kept going up, Nick jumped over to the controls and started pressing runes, and the holo-map showed a small hologram of Mother Base lifting from the ground showing a number.
"How high are we going?" I continued looking at the hologram go up and up.
"About 15 km up."
"How high is that?"
"Above the clouds." to stand above the clouds, this is insane.
"How long will it take to get up there?"
"About 20 minutes," he answered, looking at all the readings the runes were showing. "Everything looks good." looking out the window I saw some sort of shimmer.
"Hey, what's that?" I pointed to the shimmering wall.
"That's the atmospheric shield I made; the shield keeps everything at a 1 atmosphere all around Mother Base. So, we can breathe and not freeze this high up."
This is so cool.
-/-
Nick POV
Quest completed
Base building - if you can't bring the loot to your base, bring your base to the loot. Build yourself a magical helicarrier.
Rewards: 50 gold, 10,000 exp, your own base, title: captain.
Level up 2x
Name: 'Captain' Nick Walters
Lvl: 19
HP 340/340
MP 310/310
CP 340/340
Str: watch out for these pythons
Vit: jogs every morning and afternoon
Dex: PARKOUR!
Int: see tomorrow
Wis: living today
Cha: nice glutes
Luk: tends to find health potions on the floor.
points: 99
Money: 82G 40S 3C
Adventure, my name is Nick Walters, no, Captain Nick Walters
-/-
a/n: this is my first fanfic, just wanted to get things off my mind. I made this my pilot, if I continue to make this, chapters would be much shorter 5000 maybe a little more.
