Origin ARS 3 (Origin A.R.S.)

by Scottie Futch

  He did instinctively turn back toward the shore, however. The ocean grew darker once you left the shore. He could see much better in the water now than he could before, but his vision was still not perfect. There could literally be anything hiding beneath the surface.

  The sorcerer felt a strange chill in the water, or perhaps it was his own fear that he felt. He did not know why, but the fun and easy hunt he had been experiencing up until this point had suddenly become cold and dark. The water was quiet. There were no finnies anywhere to be seen.

  In fact, there were no fish anywhere. I was like the entire ocean had undergone a mandatory evacuation. The only thing in the water nearby was the blood and guts of his recent opponents.

  Scott stared at the guts floating in the water. Should it be suspended in the water like that? The hair on the back of his neck rose up. He realized what must be going on, despite a distinct lack of system messages.

  The sorcerer turned quickly and swam toward shore at all possible speed. He struggled with everything he had, but his heart sank as system messages finally appeared.

  <<< Message >>>

  Predators of the deep have sensed your indiscriminate slaughter. The waters have been chummed with the blood of gore of your opponents....

  <<< * >>>

  Chum! The waters had been chummed. Scott tried to move his body faster, but it was futile. He could hear the fun and friendly calypso music slowly ebb away.

  A low, dangerous, tone began to play. *Duh... Duhn... Duh... Duhn... Duh... Duhn*

  His eyes widened as the simplistic musical score brought to mind a horror movie series that seemed terrifyingly appropriate for the moment. He spared a glance back and saw nothing but darkness.

  However, the music tempo increased slightly. *Duh Duhn.. Duh Duhn.. Duh Duhn*

  His heart began to beat rapidly as he could feel an impossibly strong presence nearby. His survival skills had granted him observational powers. He could literally feel death coming for him.

  *Duh Duhn, Duh Duhn, Duh Duhn*

  Like the sinister heartbeat of a practiced murderer, the music perfectly accentuated the moment. Scott glanced back once more. This time he saw a vague outline in the far distance. It was a big outline.

  “Fuck!” he said quietly before swimming for everything he had. Whatever that thing was, it was freaking massive.

  The tempo of the background music suddenly became loud and rapid, like a heart straining with all its might. *Duh-Duhn-Duh-Duhn-Duh-Duhn*

  Scott could see the shore in the far distance. If he could swim a little faster, last a little longer, he could make it! He was almost there!

  His heart felt as though it might burst due to the exertion. The tempo became a frenetic and angry heart beat mixed with discordant guitar riffs.

  He glanced back once more and saw that the shadow in the distance was not nearly as distant as it was before. It was still a vague outline, but he recognized the shape.

  Scott tore at the water, desperate to escape oncoming death. He had a strong suspicion that the thing coming for him would prove to be far more than he could legitimately handle. The music tempo continued to increase and the tension mounted more, and more. He no longer looked back. Instead, he focused on swimming. He was almost to the shore. He could make it!

  In fact, the music seemed to agree with him. The dangerous heartbeat background abruptly stopped. Scott glanced back and the shadowy monstrosity had disappeared. Maybe he had swam outside of its hunting area?

  He did not stop to assess, instead he turned his head back toward shore. He did so just in time to see the biggest freaking shark that he had ever seen pop up out of nowhere.

  Scott barely had time to try and evade, and did so poorly. The shark’s massive jaws narrowly missed their meal, but Scott was scraped by its steel-like scales in passing. A bright red number thirty-two popped up above his head. Simply brushing against the creature had taken more than ten percent of his health!

  The sorcerer knew that he would not be able to outrun the monster. It had been stalking him the entire time. Fish guts were not what it had been seeking. With a cry he whirled his spear around and fired off a howling gale.

  The underwater tornado hit the powerful monster cleanly, but to Scott’s horror a series of zeroes and ones rose up from its body. His most powerful underwater technique was useless against it.

  The creature banked in a slow, casual, manner. It acted like it owned the ocean, and it probably did.

  Scott prepared to dodge once more, but the massive shark began to glow with a dark radiance. The sorcerer instinctively hurled his body straight down through the water in a bid to avoid the oncoming attack. It was a movement that would have been difficult for a normal human being, but with the Soul of the Fisherman activated, movement in the water was incredibly easy.

  A blast of dark energy raced by overhead. His health dropped by another twelve points just for being close to the attack. “Shit!” cried Scott. It was deadly just to be around this thing.

  He could feel himself weakening. He had not been hit cleanly, so his body was not damaged much, but he had still lost around one-sixth of his vital energy.

  The metal-clad shark lazily swam toward him, its massive mouth open to receive its dinner. Scott did not have the time to synchronize howling wind, but he did have one thing that he could try. It was something that he had learned recently.

  “Freeze!” exclaimed Scott while stabbing the tip of his spear forward and into the monster’s gaping maw. His most commonly used spells required no extra effort to synchronize.

  A large block of ice appeared inside the creature’s mouth and froze its jaws open. It began to thrash wildly, and Scott took over sixty points of damage in the process of getting out of its way. However, to his delight the shark took three hundred points of damage! It wasn’t some impossible boss monster after all.

  He immediately considered escaping, but the sound of ice starting to crack caused him to ignore that impulse. Instead, he chose to do something that he had not tried yet. The freeze spell had limited usage under water. It had proved invaluable for that shark, but he had mostly used it to encase finnies in ice when he was bored or needed to try out crowd control methods.

  The Burn! spell did not work right underwater, even with synchronization. However, there was a possibility that his other spell might be useful.

  Scott reared his arm back and then hurled his spear with all of his might. The attack received a small bonus from his accuracy due to his spear-fishing related skills. However, the real goal was to deliver a shocking surprise to his fishy-foe.

  The spear dinged off the side of the monster. It should have done no damage to the beast. However, the Flash! spell arced outward with a brilliant light and a loud crackling sound. Scott received a strong electric shock and lost a few dozen points of health, but he was far enough away that he managed to survive the electrical power of his attack. Luckily, he did not become paralyzed from the shock. The shark, however, took eight hundred points of damage then stopped thrashing altogether. It was weak to lightning and not a boss monster at all! The mighty behemoth of the deep burst into motes of light. Scott retrieved his spear then smiled at it.

  The background music changed quickly. Scott awaited the battle report and was not disappointed.

  <<< Battle Report >>>

  Victory!

  You have defeated an Infant Blue Mithril Shark.

  + 240 EXP

  + 52 Fayth

  + 2 Ability Points

  Items Acquired

  Mithril Scales [large] [Rare]

  Blue Fang of the Deep X 1 [Rare]

  Shark Meat X 60

  Shark Fin

  <<< * >>>

  Scott stared at the battle report for a moment and then nodded. “So, it wasn’t even level thirty? What was with that background music?”

  He could not understand the purpose of that. Had the game world decided that it wanted to give him a heart attack? The only thing that made sense to h
im was the thought that the monster was highly resistant to physical damage. A pure fighter would have had no chance at all if they were on a similar level. A mage with no physical skills or weapons abilities might have had the same issue since only synchronicity and a thrown spear had worked to take down the beast. Of course, a mage might have had a long range lightning spell.

  The lucky sorcerer swam toward shore once more. He had managed to defeat a powerful monster and learned a valuable lesson about hunting alone. Don’t do it in the ocean, if you’re far from shore.

  Once he made it back to shore he pulled out the items that he had just acquired then nearly collapsed from the joy of it all.

  <<< Item >>>

  Blue Fang of the Deep [Rare]

  The fang of a mithril shark holds great destructive power. It can tear through almost anything.

  If you use the Blue Fang of the Deep you can learn the Primal Magic: Blue Water Fang. It is only available to certain aquatic denizens, summoners, sorcerers, and ninja masters.

  Would you like to learn this spell? Yes | No

  <<< * >>>

  “Sorcerer’s can learn it? Hell Yes! I’ll take a free spell!” said the sorcerer.

  Scott clicked on the yes option. A brilliant light flared up around him followed by columns of water. The light and water began to dance in a tight spiral around the man. When the dancing lights and water faded a new message appeared.

  <<< Message >>>

  You have awakened to the primordial power of water. You may now develop your skills accordingly.

  You have learned the Primal Magic: Blue Water Fang

  You have gained the magical patterns for flowing water, tearing water, and piercing water.

  Your skill information has been updated.

  <<< * >>>

  “The hell? Magical patterns?” Scott opened up his status screen and noted that nothing seemed to have changed other than a bit of experience from the shark he had slain. He opened up his skill menu and blinked.

  <<< Skill >>>

  Primal Magic

  Utilize primordial magic directly after experiencing it with your body. Use your innate understanding of the natural forces to create unique new abilities after facing powerful opponents.

  <<< * >>>

  “What does that mean? Will I learn monster magic if they hit me with it? Maybe Rhea will know...” Scott closed down the primal magic listing then looked at the spell he had just obtained.

  <<< Spell >>>

  [Primal] Blue Water Fang [LV. 0]-[Force I] Mana 1[0/100]

  Using your connection to the element of water, create a piercing fang of water that tears through those who oppose you.

  Elemental water spell, you have a 5% chance to engulf and asphyxiate opponents.

  <<< * >>>

  “I wonder what’s different between that spell and the water spell that I can get normally.” Scott still had not acquired all of his basic spells yet due to upgrading his stats, and trying to boost up Ero’s abilities.

  Scott turned toward the ocean and thrust out his hand. He thought about the spell, and envisioned something simple as the linking idea. He chose water spraying from a fire hose. “Blue Water Fang!”

  Small spiraling columns of water rose up around him then danced in a smooth circle while they flowed upward to a single point above his head. When all of the water had merged together inside the ball a spinning spear of water shot forward toward the sea.

  It was a fancy looking effect, but other than its appearance Scott was not impressed. It only had a force of one and used a single point of mana. It could not do that much damage, right?

  He tried to cast the spell again, but found out that it actually had a cool down period of one minute. “Seriously? I have to wait a full minute between casts for a spell that weak? I can spam burn...”

  Was there something that he was missing? When another minute passed he tried the spell again. The same thing happened. He was confused by the way the spell was designed. It made no sense for a spell that weak to have a cool down effect.

  He tried it a third time, but noticed that the water seemed to flow for a longer period of time if he held onto the image of the fire hose.

  “Was I imagining it...?” asked Scott to the empty beach. It was possible that he had. However, it was also possible that he had hit on the true power of that spell.

  Scott waited till the cool down period ended and then cast the spell again. This time he concentrated on the image of the fire hose for as long as he could. The water continued to flow for nearly a full minute before a much larger spear of water shot forward.

  “It’s a spell that can be charged for greater effect!” Scott’s eyes widened. He felt like dancing.

  He decided to check his spell again. He grinned at what he found. Instead of three casts out of one hundred, the skill showed nine out of one hundred. Charging it longer counted as multiple uses!

  He checked his status and his happy moment quickly faded. His mana had been nearly depleted in the process. Charging it obviously required more than one mana per extra charge. If anything it felt like each additional charge must have cost double compared to the one before.

  The cool down period had also increased, it seemed. He had taken a short time to check his information and there was still over a minute left before he could use the spell again.

  Scott waited until the waiting period ended then tried the spell again. This time he focused for the pulsing sensation that he had felt before. Once he felt the pulse three times he released his concentration and the large spear of water lanced out with whirling destructive force.

  He checked his status then nodded. He had been right. Charging it three additional times caused the spell to require fifteen mana. Scott could not verify it, but he suspected that the additional charges increased the spell force each time. The spell had a debilitating cost, but he was curious to see what would happen when he developed it a bit.

  At the moment he could charge it an additional seven times at full mana. After he gained another level he might possibly be able to do it eight times. The destructive force could only be equal to his burn spell at best, at the moment. However, it could be leveled-up. Would the mana cost go down like before? Would something else happen? Scott definitely wanted to find out.

  He went back to the tent and checked on Rhea. She still slept soundly. She would probably be back within the next two or three hours. If he rested for a short time then used the tent’s bonus healing effect, he might be able to reach one hundred casts before she returns.

  Scott stretched out on his bedroll and closed his eyes. A short nap sounded like a good idea, either way.

  Chapter 9: Everything to Me

  It was a beautiful day. The pond rippled beneath the feet of happy little insects buzzing about. A fish would occasionally hop out of the water, do a backflip, and splash down again. The shore of the picturesque pond was occupied by a man who sorely needed this sort of time to himself.

  Scott reared his arm back and then casted his fishing line forward into the water. On the ground next to him was a plastic cooler with several happily smiling fish that seemed all too eager to be eaten.

  The man sighed in contentment. He had not been fishing in this manner in a while. The sun blazed high above, the pond waited tranquilly just below, and the fish were biting. It soothed his spirit in a way few things might.

  All good things come to an end, however. When the end came it was not with a bang, but with a soft feminine giggle.

  Scott looked around the area while he tried to see who was giggling. A low, dangerous, sounding background tune started to play. It was a somber song intermixed with creepy discordant tones.

  A soft whisper emanated from his left. He whipped his head to the side to try and find the culprit. He saw no one, but the creepy nature of the moment increased when a beach ball slowly bounced into the area and then rolled to a stop at his feet.

  “The hell...” The hair on the back of his neck stood up. S
omething very wrong was happening here.

  A sweet and familiar voice softly sang out, “La... la-la, la-laaa... la.”

  “Ero! Is that you?” cried Scott.

  The background music suddenly began to play eerily familiar song lyrics. Scott shuddered in response. What was the girl playing at?

  ~One... two... Ero’s coming for You ...~

  “Shit! Ero, this isn’t funny...” said Scott. He was seriously creeped out right now.

  A soft skittering sound caught his attention. A feminine giggle echoed behind him. He whirled around, but no one was there.

  ~ Three... Four... You’ll cry for more...~

  Scott’s eyes widened. What exactly did the weird little fairy mean by that? “Ero, come out here!”

  ~Five.. Six... When she shakes her hips...~

  The sorcerer backed away from the pond. Maybe it was not Ero after all? Maybe some random monster had come for him. It would be best to try and reach a safer location.

  Scott turned to walk away but tentacles sprouted up from the ground and formed into a squirming wall. His anus involuntarily clenched at the sight. That was certainly no longer a direction that he wished to use in an escape!

  ~Seven...eight... You’re gonna stay up late...~

  The sorcerer turned around and around in slow, frightened, circles. He watched as a wall of tentacles rose up then moved rapidly to surround the area. He was trapped!

  ~Nine... ten... You’ll cry out again and again...~

  “Ero... Stop this...” said Scott. What was with this weird vibe!

  A dark, seductive, chuckle echoed through the area. Scott’s attention was drawn to the pond. From beneath the water rose an incredible sight. A beautiful blond woman with perfectly proportioned features rose upward in a steady and radiant manner. Light shined all around her. It accentuated her curvature and beautiful smile to great effect.