by A F Kay
Scanning…
Scanning Complete
Anomalies: True (Memory Substrate Contaminated)
Revival: Halted
Anomaly Alert Notification…
_Notification Override_
Anomalies => False
Revival: Restarted
Anomalies: False
Imprinting…
Imprinting Complete
Revival: Successful
You are being attacked!
50% defense reduction (Prone)
You have received a blow to the head
You have taken 5 damage
You are being attacked!
50% defense reduction (Prone)
You have received a blow to the head
Critical Strike!
You have taken 20 damage (5 base+(5*3)critical)
You have been stunned!
You have been healed for 32 Health! (Minor Heal)
Accessing Map…
Ruwen stopped reading the log and closed it. Had Uru been the one to override the anomaly? And his revival time didn’t make any sense. The rich could afford to be revived faster, but he’d expected his to take over a week. Instead, it had taken just over five minutes.
And no wonder Hamma had felt bad. She had struck him. Twice! He noticed the 3.46 second gap between the last time his memories had been taken by Uru and the time of his death. Not a big deal since the memory was probably of water filling his lungs and his hatred of the high priest.
The three second time gap was nothing compared to the high priest’s son-in-law, who had lost six months of experience and memories. That meant he had been gone from Deepwell a dangerous amount of time. Ruwen’s parents had only been gone a month when the incident happened. What had the high priest’s son-in-law been doing the previous five months before Ruwen’s parents joined him?
“You fall asleep?” Hamma asked.
Ruwen opened his eyes to find the blonde priestess standing over him.
“Just dizzy from the concussion,” he said.
Hamma gasped and her eyes glazed as she inspected him. A moment later she glared at him. “You don’t have a concussion.”
Ruwen smiled. “Not anymore. You’re stronger than you look.”
Ruwen inspected her. Her settings must have been public, because he received more information than he expected.
Name: Hamma Blakrock
Class: Order
Sub Class: -----
Specialization: -----
Class Rank: Novice
Level: 6
Health: 120
Mana: 235
Energy: 240
Not being able to see her attributes was disappointing, but he knew in time when his Perception skill increased enough, they would be visible to him.
She gave a small laugh. “Who would have guessed I’d have to invest in Strength as a priest. But moving bodies around is heavy work.”
Ruwen’s cheeks burned again, but this time from embarrassment. He was naked under this blanket and if Hamma moved bodies…
“You look like an apple. Relax, I see naked people every day. I don’t even notice anymore,” she said.
That didn’t make him feel any better.
“How are you feeling? Is the headache gone?” Hamma asked.
“Yes, it’s more of dull ache now.”
“How does your stomach feel?”
“Empty. And I’m kind of thirsty.”
“Okay, if you don’t puke in the next ten minutes, I’ll give you some food and water. Then you’ll be on your way. Are there people waiting for you up top? Parents or a girlfriend?”
Ruwen’s cheeks went from hot to on fire.
Hamma laughed again, the sound light. “Oh, Ruwen, you are too easy.”
Hamma left the room, and Ruwen shook his head. Girls always made him uncomfortable, and Hamma seemed to enjoy making it worse. He’d certainly never met a priestess like her before.
Staring at the ceiling, he decided he’d avoided his Profile long enough. With a sigh of resignation, he focused on the small tree icon in the upper left corner of his vision. Text overlaid the grey ceiling. A small upside-down triangle sat next to his name, and he selected it. The text expanded, providing detailed information on his stats. If he was going to face this, he wanted to see it all.
General
Name: Ruwen Starfield
Race: Human
Age: 16
Class: Worker
Hidden Class: Root
Level: 1
Class Rank: Novice
Deaths: 1
Diety: Goddess Uru
Experience: 0/1000
Pools
Health: 100/100 (Stamina*10)
Mana: 160/160 (Intelligence*10)
Energy: 200/200 (((Strength+Stamina+Dexterity)/3)*20)
Attributes
Strength: 10
Stamina: 10
Dexterity: 10
Intelligence: 16
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 12
Ratings
Knowledge: 35
Armor Class: 0 (Armor+(Dexterity/10)+Shield)
Encumbrance: 0 (Pounds)
Max Encumbrance: 150 (Strength*15)
Critical Chance %: 2.00% (1+(Dexterity/10))/100
Power Strike %: 2.00% (Strength/5)/100
Haste %: 2.00% (Dexterity/5)/100
Dodge %: 4.00% (2+(Dexterity/5)-(Encumbrance/100))/100
Persuasion %: 4.70% ((Charisma+Knowledge)/10)/100
Resilience %: 4.00% ((Wisdom+Stamina)/5))/100
Endurance %: 2.00% ((Strength+Stamina)/10)/100
Cleverness %: 37.60% (((Intelligence+Wisdom)/10)+Knowledge)/100
Perception %: 2.60% ((Dexterity+Intelligence)/10)/100
Resistances
Elemental Resistance %: 6.00% (2%+Resilience %)
Poison Resistance %: 6.00% (2%+Resilience %)
Acid Resistance %: 6.00% (2%+Resilience %)
Mind Resistance %: 6.00% (2%+Resilience %)
Order Resistance %: 6.00% (2%+Resilience %)
Chaos Resistance %: 2.00% (-2%+Resilience %)
Disease Resistance %: 6.00% (2%+Resilience %)
Light Resistance %: 6.00% (2%+Resilience %)
Dark Resistance %: 2.00% (-2%+Resilience %)
Regeneration
Health Regeneration per second: 0.20 (Base% (0.2)*Health)
Mana Regeneration per second: 0.40 (Base% (0.25)*Mana)
Energy Regeneration per second: 2.00 (Base% (1.0)*Energy)
There were three other tabs: Abilities, Spells, and Skills. But they were all empty. He returned to his Profile and studied it. What was this Hidden Class? It didn’t seem to give him anything of value. His attributes were unchanged, and there were no spells or abilities associated with it. His hopes fell. Maybe this Hidden Class wasn’t going to help him after all.
His Knowledge Rating seemed really high. Probably from all the time spent in the library. Especially this last year. It didn’t seem to do much for him other than his Cleverness Rating. But who cared about being clever? Cleverness wasn’t going to give him the power he needed to get his parents back.
Ruwen closed his Profile and stared at the grey ceiling. Grey, just like his future. This was the worst day of his life.
Chapter 3
Hamma reentered the room. “You look miserable.”
“I’ve had better days,” said Ruwen.
“Really? People are usually a lot happier after being revived. Maybe it’s because yours went so quick. Fastest I’ve ever seen. Not that I’ve been here as long as Brother Yull, but –”
Ruwen interrupted her. “What’s normal?”
“It’s rude to interrupt.”
Ruwen’s face flushed.
Hamma leaned down, and he smelled lavender. For a moment, Ruwen thought she was going to kiss him. His face felt so hot he hoped she didn’t feel it. Hamma pulled something under his bed and then jerked his bed into a chair.
Hamma shook her head
but didn’t tease him about the color of his cheeks this time. Ruwen’s blanket slid down his chest and pooled around his waist. He pulled it back up to cover the red birthmark over his bellybutton. The roughly circular-shaped birthmark was only the size of a fingernail, but its bright red appearance made it look like some sort of terrible tattoo, and it made him self-conscious. In fact, it seemed a little smaller. Maybe Uru fixed blemishes where she could as you were being reformed.
His recovery room was narrow with a row of about thirty beds along one side. Ruwen sat in the first bed, closest to a half-closed door. The door had the same strange rounded corners as the other doors he’d seen here in the temple’s basement.
“Okay, I need to verify you’re in the correct body. Sometimes the templates get mixed up.” Hamma’s eyes glazed over, and she mumbled while she read what her interface showed her. “Yep, you look correct: 5 feet 2 inches tall, grey hair, pink eyes, buck teeth, no eyebrows –”
Ruwen leaned forward his heart thudding. He was 6 feet tall, had black hair, light blue eyes, and his teeth and eyebrows were fine. Oh, Uru help him, had they put him in the wrong body?
Ruwen held out his hands and shook them. “No, no, there must be a mistake. I –”
Hamma grinned and slapped his leg. “I’m kidding. It’s impossible to get put in the wrong body.”
“You were joking?” Ruwen asked as his heartbeat slowed.
“I’m surrounded by priests all day, and it gets pretty boring. I have to make my own entertainment.”
Ruwen leaned back. “That’s really mean.”
“Or really funny, depending on your perspective. You should’ve seen your face.”
Hamma disappeared into the other room and returned with a glass of water.
Ruwen drank the entire thing without taking a breath and handed the glass back.
“Thanks,” he said.
Hamma nodded. “You are welcome, child of Uru,” she said in a gentle voice. “May her light give you peace.”
Ruwen stared, mouth open. Her voice and demeanor were the opposite of how she’d been acting.
Hamma stared at him with an innocent face and then laughed.
“That’s how they expect us to talk,” she said. “It’s so stupid.”
Ruwen could see more of her now. She wore a white robe with the blue circle marking her a priestess. She had the lean build of a runner.
“A week,” she said.
“What?”
“Earlier you asked about normal revival times. You took just over five minutes. I didn’t know that was possible. That little cow patty from this morning paid a lot of money to be on the priority list, and he still took three days to bake.”
Ruwen knew who she meant.
“Bake?” he asked.
“Sorry,” she deepened her voice to sound like a know-it-all teacher. “The proper term is revival. It consists of the assembly of a new body from base components, the imprinting of memories and abilities on that body, and a final check to make sure no anomalies are detected.”
In her normal voice, she continued. “It’s easier to just say baking. But Brother Yull hates that term. Not proper and all that.”
Ruwen remembered the anomaly messages in his log. “What causes an anomaly?”
“Lots of stuff. The revival baths might not have all the resources they need, or something is wrong with the information Uru has, or –”
“What does memory substrate contaminated mean?”
Hamma put her hands on her hips.
“Sorry,” he said.
She stared at him for a couple more seconds and then relaxed. “Well, that means there are already memories in the new body. Before the imprinting of the old memories. That error isn’t possible because you’re still in the revival bath. There isn’t any way to make memories.” She narrowed her eyes. “How do you know about that error? You shouldn’t—”
“Sister Hamma!” a male voice shouted from the other room.
Hamma clenched her hands and whispered, “If one more person interrupts me today…” She turned to the half-open door and yelled back. “I’m in the recovery room Brother Yull.”
“There is a new Worker in the queue, Ruwen Starfield. Fusil wants him paused,” Brother Yull yelled.
Hamma’s eyes grew wide, and she stared at Ruwen. She faced the door again.
“Why?” she yelled.
“It is not your place to question, Sister. Do as you’re told,” Brother Yull responded.
Hamma’s hands clenched again. It made Ruwen angry that Fusil was still trying to hurt him. The high priest had already ruined his life. Why make things worse? Hamma turned and stared at him for a few seconds, but Ruwen couldn’t read her expression.
“Sister?” Brother Yull yelled.
Hamma stood up straight and faced the door again. “Yes, Brother. I’ll pause his revival bath…regardless of its current state.” Hamma paused a moment and then shouted. “For how long?”
Brother Yull’s voice was faint like he had already started to leave. “Until you’re told differently, Sister.”
Hamma stared at the door for a few seconds and then faced Ruwen. “Uru’s armpits, I hate those guys.”
Ruwen winced. It made him uncomfortable that a priestess talked like this.
“Whose bed did you pee in?” Hamma asked.
“I didn’t do anything. Fusil never even presented me to Uru. He just marched me down to the tank and drowned me.”
Hamma’s eyes widened. “Fusil did your ceremony? He usually only does the rich and important ones.”
“Well, he thinks my parents hurt his family and he –”
Ruwen stopped talking when Hamma snapped her fingers.
“Now I know why you sounded familiar. I had just started down here when Fusil’s son-in-law came out of a revival tank. His foot hadn’t formed right, and it gave him a limp. They discussed killing him again so his body could be built correctly, but he didn’t want to lose any more attribute points. Plus, Fusil and his son-in-law were in a hurry to get back to where he’d died. Some sort of important cargo. Wow, I haven’t thought about that day in a while. People were running around like crazy. All our revival baths were full. There were people in the queue that had to wait a week to revive. The only time that’s happened. Must have been over thirty people. The whole party revived except for two. Both named Starfield.”
Ruwen looked down. He couldn’t escape his name or the automatic guilt everyone placed on him. It was quiet, and after a few seconds, he glanced back up. Hamma looked at him, but not in an accusatory way, more like curiosity.
“Now I understand the special attention,” Hamma said.
“Fusil acts like I had something to do with it. Like I’m part of whatever happened.”
Hamma looked lost in thought, but after a few seconds, Ruwen’s curiosity got the best of him.
“Why didn’t you tell Yull I was already out?”
“I’m tired of those sanctimonious, controlling, fart sniffers.” Hamma paused a few moments. “On my Ascendancy Day, the Order statue glowed so brightly it hurt my eyes. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why Uru put me here. The last Class I thought I’d get was Order. I’m not exactly a rule follower.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Ruwen held up his hands. “It means thanks. Those guys have it out for me for something I didn’t do. For something I don’t think my parents did. They’ve taken everything from me. It’s good to get back at them in a small way.”
Hamma relaxed and then smiled. “It does feel good.”
Hamma reached behind Ruwen and brought out the sack with his clothes.
“Get dressed while I give you the speech. Then I’ll sneak you out of here.”
Ruwen waited for her to turn around, but she didn’t.
“I’ve already seen everything you’ve got, Starfield. I’m the one that pulled you from the revival tank, remember?”
Once again, b
lood rushed to his face.
“Oh, that color just never gets old,” Hamma said. “It’s adorable how shy you are.”
“Well, I don’t spend a lot of time around people.”
“You don’t say.”
“No really, I’m usually in the library…”
Ruwen let the sentence trail off when he realized she was being sarcastic. Hamma giggled and then turned around. Ruwen slid off the table and started to dress.
Tring!
You have discovered a blessing from Uru…
Name: Cotton Underwear
Armor Class: 0
Quality: Common
Durability: 3 of 8
Weight: 0.12 lbs.
Effect: Support.
Description: Not meant for protection.
Ruwen closed the item notification and focused on the small star icon next to his log. A page appeared with his preferences, which must have reset when he revived. He changed the threshold for item notifications from Common to Uncommon. He didn’t need a description of his entire outfit. He began dressing again.
Hamma began her talk. “Okay, if you paid attention in school you know this is your only free revive. After this, you permanently lose a point from every attribute. Killing stuff or questing will get you more experience than crafting, but it’s a lot more dangerous. Leveling up will get you four attribute points, but dying removes six. You do the math. If you suck, it won’t be long until your attributes are below average, and you’ll get debuffs. That’s when the accidents start happening. Bad Dexterity and you trip and fall down some stairs. Dead. Bad Constitution and you get sick. Dead. Bad Strength –”
“I get it. Don’t die. Especially at my current level where everything is already close to below average.”
“Not everything,” Hamma said.
Ruwen gasped.
“I can almost feel the heat hitting my back from your blush, Starfield,” Hamma said. “I was talking about your Intelligence, you idiot. You really have a dirty mind. We’re in a temple. Please try and purify your thoughts.”
Ruwen heard the playfulness in her tone but couldn’t tell if she was telling the truth. She really knew how to keep him off balance. Maybe he wasn’t as smart as he thought. Or maybe Hamma was just that clever.
