Origin ARS 4

by Scottie Futch

  He had not chosen to bear witness to their lifestyle solely out of a desire to see more of the world. This too, was part of his training. Tomorrow they would head out to begin the mermaid rescue operation. The queen had been contacted and forces had been mobilized. She would handle the rescue operation in regards to the larger strongholds of the Shar-Shar. Scott and his crew would handle the inland operation as some of the girls had been sold off to a private buyer in Eizen.

  Today, however, Scott had decided to further his tactical training. He had to train not only to become stronger in this world, but in preparation for the next. He was strong enough to defeat the Arvulfs by spamming his spells, but he might not be able to defeat a similar beast in the classic server if he did not learn to actively use his observational skills.

  He tilted his head to the left and watched the Arvulfs at play. The largest among them was the leader of the pack. The others seemed content to leave that one alone. However, they frequently nipped and barked at each other. Every once in a while two or three of the smaller ones would circle one of their larger pack mates then use flanking strategy to divide its attention.

  The bigger Arvulf would fend off one or two attacks, but the third attack usually managed to land a nip somewhere on its furry body. Scott rarely saw a damage number higher than a one or a two float above the head of the injured Arvulf, but that did not seem to matter. They smaller members of the pack had made their point.

  He considered their actions carefully and as the hours passed he learned many things that could have helped him in his earlier fights. The Arvulfs seemed to focus on a hierarchy system that involved team work. The larger Arvulfs were team leaders and something akin to a wolf-like tank. The smaller, probably younger ones, acted as main attackers. In game terms, the small ones were some sort of damage per second pack members, while the big ones were sort of the main tank. The only ones that seemed to use their lightning attacks directly were the big ones. The smaller ones seemed to use their lightning elemental energies to increase speed and buff their damage.

  Scott nodded. It made sense. Every time he had gone after the big alpha in an Arvulf pack he had taken more damage from the smaller, faster, members of the pack. Arvulfs, even in the casual server, were intelligent enough to create a proper attack team. When they attacked another monster in the wild, the biggest Arvulfs raced in and drew all of the aggro, so to speak. They kept the other beast’s attention while their pack mates encircled their opponent. They would then rush in and attack once or twice quickly before they ran out again.

  He had personally witnessed them take down a Gold-Horn Bear like that, a creature that was easily twice the level of the lead Arvulf. The combination of short-term paralysis from the lightning attack, and the small but numerous wounds that the pack inflicted had worn it down over the course of a few minutes.

  Scott wondered briefly if he would have survived his encounters with the Arvulfs if he had not been a magic user. His resistance to magic was much higher than a warrior class. How did the other classes deal with such things? He wondered if most people just changed their equipment or learned special skills. Was that something he should focus on more once he transitioned to the new server?

  ***

  A soft laugh echoed throughout the area. Rhea nodded her head gently then said, “Sure, I would love more lemonade.”

  Ero giggled sweetly then gripped the handle of the pitcher tightly. She heaved herself backward and her tiny little muscles began to strain. Her wings fluttered rapidly and she cried out in a passionate voice. “Waaaaah-ah!”

  The pitcher of lemonade rose upward into the air. Lifted by Ero’s best efforts, she slowly carried it over to where Rhea was sitting. She leaned it forward and managed to fill the high elf’s cup without spilling much of the cool and refreshing liquid.

  “Yes! You did it, Ero.” cried out Rhea. She clapped happily and the fairy girl smiled softly in response.

  Ero slowly carried the lemonade back to where it had been before then fluttered over to where Rhea sat. “I might be little, but I can get things done.” she said, a smile on her lips.

  Rhea smiled brightly down at her then reached over and tickled her tummy with her finger. “Yes, I believe that you can.”

  Ero giggled then shook her head. “Stop tickling me, it makes me feel funny.”

  Rhea lifted her thumb up and Ero pressed her cheek against it. “OK, but when Scott tickles you, you never seem to mind.”

  The fairy’s cheeks darkened slightly and her nostrils flared a little. “Yeah, I can’t help that.”

  Rhea scooped her up then pulled Ero to her chest. “You really do like him a lot, don’t you?”

  “He’s means everything to me...” said Ero with complete sincerity.

  The elf maiden lifted Ero up then kissed her softly on the cheek. “I’m glad that he found you.”

  Ero’s blush deepened then she looked up at Rhea with eyes that shimmered softly with unspoken emotion. “I’m glad that he found you, too.” It was Rhea’s turn to blush then as Ero leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss on the bottom lip.

  “Ero...”

  The little fairy shook her head. “It’s true. You do know that if he had not found you that day on the street, I would probably be...”

  Rhea’s eyes widened in realization of what the little fairy had really meant. If Scott had not helped her out on her visit to Earth, she would have never called him to ARS. If he had not come to ARS, Ero would have ended it all due to her loneliness and isolation.

  “Ero, I’m sorry you went through all of that time alone.” said Rhea.

  The fairy smiled gently. “It was bad, but things are better now. I have my BFF, and we’re friends too.... Right?”

  Rhea nodded. “Right.”

  “Yes!” squealed Ero excitedly, before she lunged forward and hugged Rhea’s face tightly.

  “Hey now, what did I tell you about naked face hugging?” asked Rhea with a laugh.

  “Wait till Scott is around so we can make him turn red in the face?” asked Ero curiously.

  “Exactly.” replied the elf.

  Ero giggled cutely then snuggled against Rhea’s cheek. “Don’t care. I like to give hugs.”

  Rhea shook her head and Ero went for a bit of a wild ride. The little fairy laughed happily all the while, but once the ride ended Ero said, “Be glad it isn’t like that one memory of Scott’s.”

  “What memory?” asked Rhea.

  “Hmm? Oh, that... It was about these weird little things that jumped up and latched onto people’s faces. Afterward the person became pregnant and then they would give birth during dinner. Though, why the baby would pop out of their rib cage is something I still don’t understand.” said Ero.

  Rhea blinked then chuckled softly. “I think I know what you are talking about.”

  Ero laughed a little then smiled. After a brief moment she tilted her head to the side and then said in a crafty manner, “Too bad I can’t get you pregnant with a face hug.”

  “Ero! You...” said Rhea in surprise. What had come over the tiny little thing?

  The fairy laughed again then snuggled against Rhea’s cheek. “Let’s try anyway. Come on Rhea, get pregnant!”

  “Ero, stop!” called out Rhea.

  The little fairy giggled happily and cuddled the elf girl’s face. “Pregnant! Pregnant!”

  “No, I don’t wanna!” wailed Rhea. She reached up and started to pull at the fairy, but she refused to be dislodged without the use of force.

  “I’m going to get you so pregnant, Rhea!” cried out Ero.

  “No, no!” Rhea pulled at Ero for a moment then cried out, “I don’t want anyone to get me pregnant but Scott.”

  Ero blinked then noticed something out of the corner of her eye. “What was that, Rhea?”

  Rhea jumped up from her seat and shouted, “I want Scott to get me pregnant!”

  “Wha...?” asked a familiar voice.

  Rhea’s eyes widened in shock and her lowe
r lip began to quiver. “Scott. You’re back?”

  “Yeah...” he said hesitantly.

  Rhea’s face turned bright red and she looked down at the ground. “Uhm...”

  Scott coughed once then turned away. “Ah, yeah...”

  Ero giggled softly. Her work here was done.

  Chapter 3: The Virtuous Slave Master

  The city of Eizen was a lively place filled with a multitude of people. Scott could see the hustle and bustle from atop the hill that his group stood upon. It promised to be quite the interesting locale. People streamed into the gates of the city from various directions, and from the current distance those people looked like a river of massed humanity that wound its way through the city entrances and out of its exits.

  “The guy we are looking for doesn’t live in the city proper, right?” asked Scott. They had discussed the situation a little on the way to town. Eizen seemed like it would be an interesting place, but the truth was that they were not planning to stay in the area for long. They needed to complete their current assignment and settle things in this world. Unfortunately, sight-seeing would have to be put on hold.

  Shade, the ninja who had been assigned to guide their way, nodded his head once. “Correct. The slave master lives on the outskirts of town where he sells rare monsters and humanoid non-citizens of Eizen to the highest bidder.”

  “Do you know if he has sold the mermaids, yet?” asked Scott.

  Shade glanced toward the city then looked back to Scott. “The people who we have in place have not seen any mermaids leave the area, but we cannot be one hundred percent certain. At the very least there are eighteen of them currently held at the slave master’s tent.”

  Rhea frowned down at the city. “Unfortunately, enslavement of monsters and demi-humans is considered improper in Eizen, but is still legal. We can choose to rescue them by force, but we would definitely have to leave the kingdom if we did so.”

  “So, let’s save that for the final option.” said Scott.

  “Right, we should just see how much the slave master wants for them. If he is willing to sell, we can just buy their freedom and maintain access to Eizen.” she said.

  Scott was not thrilled with the idea of paying a man who had basically purchased kidnapped girls, but the important thing was to get those girls out of there. Though, if pressed he would admit that he had a strong desire to just kill the man and be done with it. Whatever process had caused the growing bloodlust within him, he did not mind it in this instance. Anyone who would buy and sell young girls as a business was a horrible person who deserved whatever happened to them.

  Ero, currently seated within his mind, piped up, “Scott, it will be alright. We’ll save those mermaids.”

  “Yes, you’re right Ero.” he thought strongly. He could feel the warmth of his fairy friend’s response to his agreement. She loved it when he agreed with her confident statements.

  “Let’s get going.” said Scott.

  “I will take you to the slave master’s quarter, and show you the proper tent. However, Crimson Shadow has not been paid to directly intervene.” said Shade.

  “That would be fine, thank you.” replied Scott. He had not expected the mercenary ninja to get involved in any conflicts. They ran a business. Killing would cost extra. Though, Sharde had offered a twelve percent discount on assassinations for the rest of the month. When pressed about the reason for a twelve percent discount, she had simply said that it was less common than ten percent and not as good as fifteen. In short, she had chosen to be arbitrary. Scott suspected that she thought that it would make her sound witty and mysterious.

  Shade led the trio down the hill and then helped them to cross the road by using a specialized aura to cause people to step aside without even realizing what they were doing. It was an assassin’s secret skill that allowed them to move through crowds without being noticed or running into someone.

  Scott could not help but notice the man’s professional nature as they moved swiftly. The entire time that he had been in this world, all he had done was murder wild animals and worry about his ability point advancement.

  However, the ninja who carefully moved before them was definitely a creature of the world despite the fact that he was a player. Was that the result of actually becoming part of the world instead of treating it like a game, or did level increases slow down so considerably after level one hundred that mission based guild assignments were simply more interesting?

  The sorcerer considered those thoughts carefully while his group moved through the busy roadway. They eventually joined a small crowd on a side road and continued forward on leisurely course along the side of the walled city.

  It took the better part of an hour to navigate the lengthy road as Eizen was a massive town with a large and powerful wall. Such a thing was to be expected of a capital city.

  Eventually, they came within sight of the slave master’s quarter. It was a place where various people sold various other people for fun and profit. It was surprisingly cheerful and had a festive atmosphere. Scott thought that he might be sick after he had spent a few minutes walking through the area.

  He glared hotly at a man who lashed a whip across the back of a small child. Said child had a golden ring through his nose and the horns of a bull, but he was still a child.

  Rhea reached over and squeezed his shoulder. Scott glanced at her and saw that she had a grim expression, but after a moment she shook her head. Now was not the time to cause a scene.

  His expression became sour and he resigned himself to the task at hand. It would be problematic enough to rescue eighteen mermaids, much less every other slave in the quarter. Had they a small army and a way to move rapidly, they might have at least tried. At present there were only three of them who would fight a battle here. The ninja who led them was just a guide after all.

  After spending a few minutes witnessing the horrors of slavery in a fantasy world, Shade had led them to a large tent in the center of the area. Dozens of heavily armed and armored guards were seen throughout the area, only a few of which were human.

  “I should caution you, as a favor to the guild master. The guards here number a minimum of thirty-seven at any given time. Each of them is at least level one hundred twenty and is assumed to have reincarnated at least four times according to their stat distribution. Further, their equipment matches their level on average.” said Shade in a casual, yet still professional, manner.

  Scott had to fight down a hiss of annoyance. Even Rhea would not be able to simply cut them down if that was true. She had managed to reach level twenty-five, like she had thought that she would, but that would only help her go so far. Even her overpowered equipment would not allow for that.

  Unlike monsters, players and playable race locals had powerful mitigating factors that dropped the damage dealt to them by a large margin in order to make player-versus-player events more interesting. Those factors were also in place to keep too many local people from dying from collateral damage when players fought in the streets. Between the levels, stats, and gear of those guards, Rhea would have a severe issue attempting to even survive a fight with one of them in a one-on-one battle. An attempt to fight thirty plus guards of that caliber with their current resources and capacity would be nothing short of suicide.

  Scott had a higher level, thirty-six, but compared to those guards he was a gnat. Rescuing the mermaids through the use of force was not an option. Combat had been considered the final option before, but the truth was that it was no longer even an option. If the power of the guards was taken into consideration, it would be impossible to get the mermaids out while fighting. They did not have legs other than during the nights of the full moon, so they would have to be carried out one-by-one and transported.

  Of course, he might just be thinking that. Rhea might be able to take out the guards. He asked her that very question through party chat. “Rhea, would you be able to take out one of these guards?”

  She replied quickly. “N
o, not with what I have at the moment. If I had all of my best equipment, put all of my banked ability points into my combat oriented stats, and had the element of surprise...”

  She thought for a moment then continued, “...there might be a small chance that I could at least survive the opening rounds of a fight with one of these guards. I don’t know if I could do enough damage to kill one at this level. Maybe, if I was fifty or sixty... Maybe.”

  “Is the damage mitigation due to level differences the problem?” Every moment could be a teachable moment. Stats were not everything, and equipment could only take someone so far. A monster one hundred levels higher than someone’s current level would be a problem, no matter how many times that person had reincarnated.

  “That’s a large portion of it. If I did damage at all it would be in the single or double digits, even with a sword that negates defense.” she said.

  Scott thought for a moment then said, “It would be like swinging a butter knife at a stone wall, then? It might chip away at the wall, but it is going to take time to see the other side.”

  “Exactly. Though, in this case the stone wall has a blazing bastard sword of exploding death that can deliver five digit damage numbers per swing.” replied Rhea.

  Scott groaned inwardly upon hearing her clarification. He had forgotten that damage mitigation was less effective if you went backwards. The guards were at least three milestone levels ahead of her. She would have practically no special defense against them. Her stats would have to face off against their stats directly. She would be heavily nerfed, while they would have nearly their full power at their disposal.

  It was one of the few attempts at fairness in the casual server. Items were not level-locked normally, so someone who reincarnated a lot might have a sword meant for someone who was level four hundred, but they would be level one. A level one player with such a weapon might be able to take out a level one hundred monster in one hit, but that monster could still do the same to that player even if they had armor to match their sword due to the mitigation effect. It would be like a glass cannon death match where the first strike wins.