"Next to impossible, unless you want to spend a few centuries with me in this field." said Mid. She bit her lower lip a little and fluttered her eyelashes playfully.
Scott offered her a grin in response. "Pass. Somehow, I doubt that I would survive that even with auto-resurrection."
She chuckled softly then tugged on the brim of her hat. "Fair enough."
"It's too bad we can't spar or something so I could level, though." he said.
"We could, but I am required to not hold back in the least. I would kill you long before you gained even a single point of combat experience." she said.
"Ah, I remember that you said something similar last time."
Mid leaned on her staff and cocked her hip to the side. "Yes, it won't count unless I go all out. If I did go all out, you would die without gaining experience."
"So, there is no way?" he asked.
"Well, that's not entirely true." She offered him a seemingly innocent smile. "I can send you off on a tutorial quest."
"Really? What would I have to do?" he asked curiously.
Mid's smile became even more friendly and cheerful. "There is a certain rabbit, a wah-bunny, which likes to sneak into one of my gardens and eat my carrots. If you can stop it from stealing my carrots, I will grant you a reward."
"A rabbit, huh? Alright!" Scott nodded then stretched his limbs. This should be good to relieve his headache. The first rabbit he had ever fought on the casual server had been a fairly surprising opponent, but he had reincarnation stats this time. He had faced down monsters larger than a bus and came out the victor. It should be simple enough to defeat a furry little carrot thief.
"Thank you! You have no idea just how much I need this to happen." Mid raised her staff then made a gentle rotating gesture. A column of light arose around Scott and soon his faded from sight.
After he was gone she unleashed a well-cultivated and feminine smirk. Her staff rotated once and a window screen appeared before her that allowed her to monitor his quest progress. She just had to see how things went when he met the rabbit.
Scott reappeared in a place that had the look of an old-timey farm. There was a rundown barn painted red with a black roof. He could see a small field where the carrots were planted. The rest of the area showed little more than hard earth and scraggly bits of grass. It seemed like a terrible place for a farm, as there was little growth outside of the carrot patch.
"If I were a rabbit living in this I'd probably steal carrots too." remarked Scott. The pain in his head increased many times over. Rather, it had lapsed momentarily during his transport but it was now back in full-effect.
He clutched his head in his hands and squeezed in an effort to lessen the pain. It was ridiculous that he would experience such pain, but it felt exactly like his head was about to burst from all of the knowledge that he had acquired.
Scott staggered forward a few steps then took a deep breath. He could get through this. All he had to do was fight a rabbit. He was level one. Surely the rabbit was too.
Speaking of the furry carrot thief, it did not take long for Scott to locate the very bunny in question. It was small, overly furry, and surprisingly it wore clothes. Rather, it wore something that looked like a sleeveless vest. The vest was cream colored with a little golden fringe at the bottom. It was strange and a little unsettling. He had seen stranger of course, but something about the simple fact that the rabbit wore clothes disturbed his prior feeling of confidence.
He tried to study the little thing for a moment, but his headache intensified. He could not handle the pain much longer. He needed to end this as quickly as possible. Scott called out to the rabbit while he clutched at his left eye. The pain was particularly intense in that area. "Hey, rabbit! Get away from there."
The little bunny stopped digging around in the carrot patch. It pulled a carrot from the ground as though it were making a point about its purpose. Slowly, it stood up on its hind legs and turned its head back to peer at Scott over its shoulder. One ear flopped adorably to the side while its eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Wah?"
"Don't wah me. Stop stealing those carrots and get lost." said Scott. He figured that the rabbit could wear clothes, so it must be intelligent. Maybe it was like Herbert and could understand humanoid languages. If it was intelligent then using his words first would be the best method. He only had to stop the rabbit, not kill it.
The rabbit lifted the carrot up casually and waved it back and forth. It then cocked its head a little as though it were asking if Scott meant that particular carrot.
"Look, I've got a headache. If you're not leaving, I'm kicking your furry ass out of here." said Scott. He had reached the end of his patience.
The rabbit casually drew the carrot to its mouth and took a slow, confident, bite. It chewed slowly while savoring the carroty flavor.
"That's it!" Scott tore his hand from his eye and ran toward the rabbit. His headache had to stop, and the mocking bastard needed to go in order to stop it.
The rabbit tossed the carrot aside then snorted. Before Scott reached the halfway point between himself and the rabbit the wah-bunny shouted, "Waaaa-aaaaah!" and started shuffling its feet back and forth. It drew its front paws up like fists and took on a close fighting stance.
Scott noticed the strange movements of the wee beastie, but it was hard to concentrate due to his level of mental degradation. The pain in his skull was so severe that he might even welcome a kick to the face.
The twilight master leapt upward and then slammed his feet downward. He had perfectly executed a flying kick in an attempt to break the little rabbit's stance. His mentality had slipped, but he was still focused enough to recognize that the little thief had taken up a fighting stance. It would have to move out of the way due to the size difference if nothing else. Scott could capitalize on that by trying to break its balance.
The importance of technique in battles had been drilled into him in recent weeks while preparing for this new world. He had been beaten half to death by the love of his life and her sister on more than one occasion. He had also studied the way that certain monsters fought, and spent a week at a temple where master sorcerers trained. Technique was vital for true mastery.
The rabbit, however, had decided that it did not want to play by Scott's rules. Instead of dodging the incoming attack, the rabbit performed a strange counter maneuver that allowed it to hop back slightly and then actually use the air itself as a springboard for a somersault kick. It both avoided Scott's attack and countered with a powerful strike to the sorcerer's chest.
Scott fell back with a startled cry as he felt tremendous pressure bear down on him. He was sent hurtling to the ground and hit with enough force that his body actually bounced.
The rabbit landed on its feet and then stamped the ground once with its tiny little foot. That action somehow caused the half-eaten carrot to fly up into the air. The rabbit caught it almost casually then took another bite from its ill-gotten gain.
Scott gasped for air, the wind had been driven from his lungs. The worst part was that the rabbit merely looked at him and ate the carrot that it had stolen. The damned thing was taunting him!
It took an effort of will, but Scott rose again. His head throbbed and his vision had begun to blur due to the pressure in his skull. Yet, he was not defeated. The rabbit had to pay! "I said drop it."
The rabbit cocked its head to the side and presented an adorable bunny expression. Its eyelids dropped down so that its eyes were half-lidded. It tossed the carrot aside then took up its close fighting stance once more.
This time Scott decided that he would be more careful. The rabbit was clearly stronger than it looked! Instead of rushing in, he walked toward it carefully. Each step caused his head to throb a little, but when he got within fighting range he took the time to acquire a proper combat stance as well. It was an open stance to match the close stance of the rabbit.
"Wah?" asked the rabbit curiously. It eyed Scott for a moment then dashed forward seve
ral steps. It stopped well outside of the sorcerer's physical attack range and then hopped back a few steps.
Scott realized that the carrot thief was trying to feel him out. It was attempting to break his stance and composure while feeling out his reaction and defenses. What the hell kind of rabbit was it?
Suddenly a strange energy began to radiate from the rabbit. Scott was uncertain what it was. He could recognize the mana, but there was an undercurrent of something else, something that was not elemental in nature.
The rabbit was about to use a fighting skill, Scott could sense the build-up. He could not let it fire off whatever it was about to unleash or he would be in trouble. The sorcerer moved forward quickly and struck out hard with a low sweeping crescent strike.
The rabbit shot straight down into the ground! One moment it was there, and in the next Scott's sweeping kick whipped through empty air. If the sorcerer had not been so focused on the bastard bunny, he would have thought that it had teleported or had become invisible.
Though it pained him greatly Scott did his best to feel for the rabbit beneath the earth. Scott's senses could not find a proper lock. It felt like the bastard rabbit was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was like it had become the earth itself.
A brief moment passed while Scott attempted to feel the rabbit out. Suddenly he sensed movement. A concentration of energy formed near where he stood. Scott instinctively jumped backward several feet to avoid what he thought would be an attack. But to his surprise a tiny rabbit fist erupted out of the ground at the mid-point of his jump! Scott had just enough time to realize that the rabbit had tricked him before that tiny fist rocketed into the bottom of his jaw. His teeth smashed together and several of them cracked under the pressure. His jaw was shattered by the blow!
Scott was sent flying up into the air several feet, but the rabbit did not relent. It did its weird air-hop movement and leapt up after him at great speed. It caught up to him mid-jump, kicked off his chest, and then began to glow with a fearsome power.
The world moved in slow motion at that point. A loud masculine voice cried out, "Bunny!" The glow around the rabbit increased several-fold. "Bunny!" The rabbit spun in mid-air, rotated its paws around, and then pressed them together. The brilliant glow radiating from the murder-minded rabbit moved to a single point before its paws. A sphere of incredibly intense energy formed there. "Haaa!"
The Haaa! echoed through the air twice. It was as though the rabbit had shouted, but the world had laughed at the sorcerer's plight. The sphere erupted into a coherent beam of power that shot toward Scott, who had not quite hit the ground yet. The moment his back touched the earth was the moment that the beam of energy collided with him.
A vibrant explosion rocked the area. The energy directed toward the sorcerer drove his body into the earth. An impact crater revealed the true force of the blast. A thick cloud of dust covered the area just before debris began to fall from the sky.
From out of the dust a silhouette appeared. It was the rabbit. It had reclaimed its carrot and now it had come to gaze upon its victim. In a surprisingly deep voice, the same as the one that spoke earlier, the rabbit said, "Foolish boy. Your fists are as weak as your spirit."
The wah-bunny finished its carrot then dug around in its vest pocket and pulled out two copper coins. It then tossed them down onto Scott's chest and said, "Pay the ferryman on your way to hell." before it turned away. After it did, the bunny dropped down on all fours then hopped away like an ordinary rabbit.
A happy sigh erupted from the bunny before he began to pull up another carrot. He eyed the carrot lightly then closed his eyes gently and hugged it to his chest while his fluffy little tail wiggled happily.
"Stealing carrots is a rabbit's joy." he said in a far higher register than before. Gone was the commanding voice that he had used in battle.
~*~
Deep in the heart of the bedroom of a young goddess in love, Origin had an important decision to make. Did she wear the red dress that made her eyes seem to sparkle, or the blue dress that matched her hair? These things were important as her appearance had to be immaculate. She was scheduled to have a dinner date with her father for the first time in quite a while. She wanted to look pretty but also more like an adult so that he would not worry about her excessively.
"Why is this never easy?" she asked the mirror before her. She liked to dress her best, but things were different when it was for a meeting with her father, especially this meeting. He had not told her why he had wanted to meet, but she had a good idea.
While she fidgeted and made little noises related to decision making a buzzer sounded from her console. Origin glanced over to it then frowned. "Again?"
She stopped worrying about her dresses for a moment and went to see what had killed her love interest for the second time. After reviewing the information a decidedly annoyed frown arose upon her lips. "Mid, you didn't..."
Origin tapped her screen and an image of Mid arose before her. She tapped on Mid's image twice and a window screen appeared in front of the madly cackling Goddess of New Beginnings. "Mid! What did you do?"
The beautiful woman on screen glanced over to the new window screen and offered her younger sister a winning smile. "He wanted a way to solve his headache problem."
"What?" asked Origin. Scott had a headache?
Mid laughed softly then slipped her hand into the bowl of popcorn she had conjured up to eat while watching the show. "Yeah, his experience pools are overflowing and he's close to a total mental overload. At least he was."
"You sent him to fight Bruce to deal with that? You know that rabbit is an auto-level boss meant to be a challenge for true reincarnated players! There's no way Scott could have beaten him without developing his skills to match his stats." said Origin with a protective growl.
Mid grinned broadly. "I know. His headache will be less severe now, though. His overflowing experience pools will be emptied out." Even though his levels would remain intact upon death, the experience that was not fully absorbed from his temporary pools would be emptied upon death. Only permanent experience would remain intact.
"That's cruel! Do you hate him or something?" asked Origin.
Mid took a bite of the popcorn in her hand then pulled the brim of her hat down a little. "I don't think that hate is the right word."
Origin stared at her sister for a moment then sighed. "Mid..."
"Don't worry so much little sister. He loves you." said Mid with a bright smile on her lips.
The light danced in Origin's eyes a little. "Did he say so?"
Mid nodded. "So, when's the wedding? He wouldn't tell me."
Origin's cheeks reddened slightly. "Mid, that's a secret."
Mid pouted at her sister. "No fair. I don't like it when I'm not the one with the secret."
"Suffer the mystery." said Origin sweetly.
"You stole that from your fiancé." replied Mid.
Origin laughed lightly then nodded. "He told me that once or twice. It always irritated me a great deal."
"I can see why. But don't worry dear childe, I'll take good care of our boy." said Mid.
Origin quirked her eyebrow then asked slowly, "Our boy?"
"We shared a moment." said Mid lightly.
"Mid!" exclaimed Origin.
The onscreen sage laughed beautifully then made a fancy gesture with her hand. "You are just too easy little sister."
"Don't tease me Mid. You know I'm a little sensitive right now." said Origin in annoyance.
Mid chuckled softly. "I know. Don't worry. I'll take good care of your special little man."
Origin rolled her eyes but smiled softly at her sister. Mid could be a handful, but she was a good sister at heart. In her own way she had probably did think that coaxing Scott into being brutally murdered by a rabbit with monk skills was the best way to cure his headache.
"Well, he is going to respawn here soon. I'll talk to you later." said Mid.
"Alright..." said Origin, her voice
trailing off.
The image onscreen faded out and Origin sighed. She was certain Mid would not try anything too forward, but it was still worrisome. Mid was crafty. Unlike Shara, who had the flirtatious sophistication of a walrus in heat, Mid could easily sneak another girl's man away if she really wanted to do so. Out of all of Origin's Siblings, Mid was the one who took after their mother the most.
She unleashed a soft sigh then started to turn back to renew her nerve-wracking decision making regarding what outfit to wear when she met her father. An alert sounded on her console, a different one than the one that went off when Scott died.
"Oh, they finally got back to him?" she asked. It was an alert that she had tied to his cell phone on Earth. Specifically it dealt with the US military. She had tied the alert to it so that Scott could focus on his goals on ARS without having to stop and check his voice email continuously.
She fiddled with her screen for a moment then opened the alert message so that she could hear his voice mail. An unfamiliar voice began to speak. She snorted after hearing what that voice had to say.
"Foolish little men." Scott was not going to go for their decision at all. They had decided to schedule him for a meeting in three months, but he was to report for duty in forty-eight hours. That wouldn't happen.
Origin rubbed her chin. "Well, both father and Scott did say that I could negotiate directly if all else failed."
A bright smile crossed her lips. "Why beat around the bush?"
She brought her Earth avatar, Aria, up on screen then made a few minor adjustments that she was allowed to make. Her father had said that it was allowable to upgrade her power base there slightly in case the mortals needed to see that she was not lying about her nature.
Origin hopped into her console seat and placed her tiara on her head. A brief moment later her consciousness dimmed and then brightened once more. She was now within the body of her avatar, Aria Ardent.
Aria yawned delicately then stretched her body in a luxurious manner. Scott's bed was comfortable, and quite large. After a moment she sighed then sniffed at his pillow. It had not been long, but she missed him. In a way it was like her dreams had come true. Who didn't daydream about their favorite fictional character coming to life and falling in love with them? True, Scott was not a work of fiction, but he had been just as inaccessible until recently.
Origin ARS 5 Page 5
