Blessed Time: A LitRPG Adventure

by Cale Plamann

  BLESSED TIME

  ©2021 CALE PLAMANN

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the authors.

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  Print and eBook formatting by Steve Beaulieu. Artwork provided by Fernando Granea

  Published by Aethon Books LLC.

  Aethon Books is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Social Media

  ALSO IN SERIES

  Prologue - A Blessed World

  1. A Good Night’s Sleep

  2. Mythic?

  3. A New Life

  4. Book Learning

  5. Newbie

  6. The First Quest

  7. Adventure

  8. Bruises and Progress

  9. The Tournament

  10. Dungeoneering

  11. Accomplishment

  12. Halcyon Days

  13. Ambush

  14. Reset

  15. Once Again

  16. Reclassed

  17. The Plan

  18. Prodigy

  19. With Great Purpose

  20. Goodbyes

  21. The Capital

  22. Academy

  23. Settling In

  24. School Life

  25. The Ritual

  26. Graduation?

  27. Squire

  28. Third Time’s the Charm

  29. Ritualist

  30. A Third Class

  31. Solo? Leveling

  32. Divine Revelation

  33. Forging Forward

  34. Evolution

  35. The Grove

  36. Fateful Encounter

  37. An Awkward Reunion

  38. Summoning Something Larger Than Your Head

  39. Being Social

  40. Legion

  41. A Night on the Town

  42. Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

  43. Old Age Should Rave and Burn At The Close of Day

  44. Rage, Rage Against The Dying Of The Light

  45. Though Wise Men Know At The End That Dark Is Right

  46. Victory

  47. An Epilogue of Sorts

  48. The Setting Sun

  49. The Cost

  50. A Proper Display of Gratitude

  51. An Unwelcome Finale

  52. Conversation Over Tea

  Thank you for reading Blessed Time, Book One

  Social Media

  Glossary

  Groups

  LitRPG

  Acknowledgments

  First and foremost I need to acknowledge my wife who has tolerated my long nights of typing and gamely tried to read the results even when they were pretty rough. I need to thank my father for loving the dumb stories and home brew roleplaying campaigns I’ve been concocting since I was a kid and pushing me to make the leap to writing as well as my mother and sister for their constant support.

  I need to thank the Brittingham Crew (Brian, Ben, Adam, and Sean) for pushing me into writing my first flawed, choppy, novels and sticking with me ever since.

  I also need to thank the discord communities over at The Silver Pen, Bad Cat Hangout and LitRPG Forum for helping me storyboard, workshop, and most importantly keep my sanity throughout the writing process. Including but not limited to (in no particular order): TheDude3445, Bri, Nulls, VeraAnne, Vowron, J. Pal, Traitorman, Origin, 4064, Fae/Kruos, NoDragons, MelasD, Vitaly, Necariin, Khend, Sam, Squirrel, Doom, and Fel.

  I also want to acknowledge those who have been supportive and helpful in meatspace- Sarah, Liz, Jack, Eric, and Jerrie. I would also like to thank the support of Princess Charlotte, my cat. Sometimes, the perfect cure for writer’s block is a small furry paw on the thigh demanding pets.

  I would also like to thank everyone in the one creative writing class I took. Your collective advice was almost as terrible as your purple prose, but you inspired me to actually publish books to prove your dumb opinions wrong, so credit where credit is due.

  Also- A big thank you to all of my supporters, but especially to Eli for being there since the beginning, Ari for stepping up to the plate and helping out so much, and Sesharan who has always been there with a kind word.

  Finally, but certainly not least, I want to thank the wonderful team at Aethon. Without their hard work over the course of months, none of this book would have been possible.

  Social Media

  If you enjoy what you read, please make sure to visit my website or reach out to me on twitter (where I talk about writing amongst other things) or join my discord where I almost exclusively talk about my existing books/what I’m currently writing.

  https://www.caleplamann-author.com/

  https://discord.gg/xzgycqtFNe

  https://twitter.com/WritesCoco

  https://www.patreon.com/CoCo_P

  ALSO IN SERIES

  BOOK ONE

  BOOK TWO

  Want to discuss our books with other readers and even the authors like Shirtaloon, Zogarth, Cale Plamann, Noret Flood (Puddles4263) and so many more?

  Join our Discord server today and be a part of the Aethon community.

  Prologue - A Blessed World

  The Church of Luxos has long maintained that the blessings are proof that the gods love us. Without them, we would face a world filled with monsters, terror, and fell magic unarmed and naked. Cynics point out that without Ankros, there would be no need for the blessings. Humanity could easily survive without the magic, status sheets, and special abilities conferred by the Sixteen if the God of Night and Struggle didn’t decide in his infinite wisdom to fill Karell with monsters and his warlike children, the Durgh.

  This author, on the other hand, humbly disagrees with those cynics. We might be able to survive without the blessings and the monsters, but we would never thrive. Although the Durgh and monsters represent an external threat, kingdoms war with distressing frequency. Without blessings, we might not have the magic and martial arts to make such wars into the grand affairs they are today, but we also wouldn’t have the magic to grow crops at a moment's notice or heal the wounded.

  Plus, without attunements, what would we do for money? Some rural or poverty-stricken zones allow bartering, but not everyone possesses something that a merchant wants. If a man wants a loaf of bread and all he has to offer is jewelry, what is he to do if the baker has no need for jewelry?

  Some of my contemporaries have discussed the
concept of creating markers out of rare metals, disks, and triangles issued by the various kings with a set value. This idea seems manifestly unwise. Gold is rare and pretty, but what use does it offer to a merchant, warrior, or prince? Ultimately, it is but a few chips of a fancy rock that we’ve decided has an arbitrary value.

  Attunement cannot be robbed from you and it is awarded by the gods themselves. What could be a fairer system? Although attunement can be transferred freely between individuals, an enterprising person can simply go and earn more by accomplishing the various tasks set out by the Major Gods. Each has their own goals for mortal life and growth that are reflected in how they reward us. Fighting monsters will earn you Night attunement from Ankros, God of Night and Struggle. Research, study, and learning new spells will earn you Moon attunement from Mursa, Goddess of Moon and Magic. Serving as a harmonious and productive member of society will earn you Sun attunement from Luxos, God of Sun and Growth.

  Better yet, attunement is useful. Although classes help determine the amount of mana someone earns each level, attunement provides an important baseline for both mana capacity and regeneration. After all, each mortal has three mana pools, one associated with each attunement. Each pool is more useful for spells and martial arts closely related to the deity with whom the mana is attuned. Technically, you could try to use Moon mana to power an elemental fire spell, but even the most inexperienced scholars could tell you that Sun or Night mana would be significantly more efficient.

  Of course, some of my contemporaries say this system is unfair. Not everyone receives a blessing. The forgotten don’t have access to their status, making them unable to level or use magic entirely. Although they can still earn attunement, without their status, they don’t even know how much they have, often leading to dishonest merchants swindling them. These disabilities, combined with a healthy amount of discrimination, often lead to the forgotten occupying the bottom rungs of society, mired in poverty and barely able to eke out a meager existence.

  “Micah!” a voice called, causing a young boy to snap his head up from the dusty book he was reading. “The sun is starting to go down. You might want to finish your chores so that you can go home. You wouldn’t want to miss your birthday tonight, would you?”

  The boy slapped the book shut and slipped it onto the trolley he used to sort and file the library’s books. Keeper Ansom was right. Today wasn’t the day to be late.

  1

  A Good Night’s Sleep

  Micah Silver ran home from the library the minute the sun dipped below the horizon. Keeper Ansom, startled from his slumber, rocked back in his chair at the library’s front desk, just in time to take in Micah rapidly receding. The Keeper squinted his rheumy eyes against the brilliant orange and gold hues of the outside world before turning his head back to the magelight of his musty library. The old man chuckled fondly and stood up, his bones creaking in protest against their years of disuse, as he made his rounds of the library before closing up for the day.

  As for Micah, he barely even noticed Ansom as he raced home. Today was the day of his sixteenth birthday. Tomorrow, he would awaken blessed, imbued with a unique power from one of Karell’s sixteen deities. He would have access to his status screen and the ability to gain a class, levels, and experience. More importantly, he would be an adult, finally allowed to become an adventurer or learn a trade.

  He didn’t let himself think of the possibility that he could end up as one of the forgotten. Theoretically, it was an even chance; almost half of those born on Karell simply didn’t awaken to a blessing. But it couldn’t be him. Ever since apprenticing under Keeper Ansom at the age of thirteen, Micah had kept himself busy trying to develop the skills that might hopefully bring him to the attention of a capricious god.

  From reading the Keeper’s books while helping at the library, he’d learned the common belief that the forgotten were ignored by the gods due to their laziness wasn’t entirely correct. It was true that the gods tended to choose those with skills and temperament suited to them, but it wasn’t a sure thing. Many youths did everything they could to obtain a blessing, only to fall into the ranks of the forgotten. On the contrary, it wasn’t unheard of for a lazy student to receive a blessing without earning a single skill before their awakening.

  Regardless of the rumor’s statistical accuracy, it drove Micah to work harder. Every weekday, he studied the tomes in the library, hoping to be rewarded with skill levels in spellcasting once he awakened. On the weekends, he practiced with the spear handed down from his older brother Trevor, repeatedly attempting to hit the sack of straw swinging back and forth from the plum tree in the family garden or practicing the basic forms that Trevor taught him.

  Thinking about Trevor brought a smile to Micah’s face. He’d been the first person in Micah’s family to receive an Uncommon Blessing, the ability to throw a spear and have it return to his hand. Beyond his combat ability, Trevor was blessed with the innate knowledge of a previously unknown spear style. As soon as he received the blessing, Trevor had joined a midsized adventuring guild, the Lancers. After training for a year, he’d begun operating with a small party cleaning up the feral boars and small monsters that plagued the countryside around Basil’s Cove.

  Trevor wasn’t high enough level to challenge a dungeon yet, but his team let Micah join them on some of their simpler missions. By the age of fifteen, Micah was able to kill a boar all on his own, a feat that earned him constant praise from his older brother. Although it wasn’t much compared to the rest of their team’s martial arts, it was an impressive enough achievement for an un-blessed youth.

  Trevor was a vanguard, a whirlwind of stabbing and prodding spears that harassed and kept monsters at bay while Glenn and Meredith, the axeman and pyromancer of their squad, finished them off. Rounding things out was Renee, the team’s archer, who provided non-magical ranged support for the rest of the fighters.

  Micah would grudgingly accept being a warrior or vanguard like Trevor—he was good at it, after all—but that wasn’t where his heart was. No, Micah wanted to be a wizard. He’d settle for becoming an elementalist like Meredith, specializing in one affinity of magic to the exclusion of all others, but his blood sang for proper spellcraft.

  Ansom was a weaker wizard, only having low affinities in Earth and Wood magic. Still, even the old man’s low-level rituals—twisting the two affinities together to make golems of stone and iron—absolutely set Micah’s mind alight. From the first time he’d seen the creations helping Ansom move books around the library, Micah knew that spellcraft was his future. Never mind that most blessings came with limited to no magical affinity, forcing the adventurer to learn a martial art to channel their mana. Every fiber in Micah’s being longed to make it happen.

  On his way home, Micah stopped in the market to pick up some last-minute supplies before the benefits of his age faded. Luxos, the God of Sunlight and Patron of Humanity, commanded that all of his followers provide aid and succor to youths. All reasonable purchases and education were free until he became an adult, at which point the god would cut him off, forcing him to earn his own way in the world.

  Well, not exactly free. Luxos provided Sun Attunement to the merchants, usually slightly above the market rate for whatever was purchased, to ensure that their “charity” didn’t harm them in the long run. Tomorrow, if he wished to purchase something, Micah would have to trade slivers of his own attunement, the font of all mana production on Karell. Of course, once he was blessed, he’d be able to go out and earn attunement on his own by engaging in acts smiled upon by the gods.

  Saying goodbye to Old Lady Jacobson, Micah loaded the sack onto his shoulder and headed back to his home. Trevor was out on a mission, wrapped up in important business and unable to come back for Micah’s birthday, but that didn’t mean that the rest of his family would let him celebrate alone.

  Excitedly, he opened the door to his home, a midsized wooden building attached to his father’s tailor shop. Immediately, the scent of freshl
y baked cake hit his nose, and Micah smiled. In the main room of the house, his father, Jon, stood next to his mother, Veronica, a hand affectionately draped over her shoulder. Meanwhile, Esther, his younger sister, bounced from foot to foot in excitement, her eyes fixed on the dinner table.

  “Gods, look at you,” Jon, a beanpole of a man just beginning to show gray in his beard and hair, said with a wistful smile on his face. “It seems like yesterday you were begging to apprentice at the library, and now you’re of age.

  “I keep forgetting how big you are,” he continued, stepping around Esther to wrap Micah in a hug. “Remember, no matter what happens tonight, you’ll always have a home here. Not everyone needs to have some sort of grand magical destiny, and I could always use another set of hands around the shop.”

  “Hush, dear.” Veronica brushed his father aside before putting her hands on either side of Micah’s face. “I know that you’re special, Micah. All of my babies are. Trevor has his spear, you have your books, and Esther will find her own way. Don’t let your father put the seed of doubt in your heart. You were born for greatness and I know it. Just call it a mother’s intuition.”