Origin ARS (Origin A.R.S. Book 2) (14 page)

That would have to come later, though. He had not finished his most recent battle and the hunting trips that he had made before had been much shorter than he would have liked. He did not even have thirty ability points to spend at the moment.

Scott stopped dancing around like a moron after the moment of elation passed. He had to finish planning for his coming battle. The monsters that he faced seemed to be rather stupid, but he could not count on that. They did know how to work together. Well, the goblins did at least.

He pulled out his new boomerangs and gazed upon them intensely for a moment. Their most basic information popped up in front of him not long after.

<<< * >>>

Blessed Master Ironwood Boomerangs of the Hawk [
Unique
]

A paired set of boomerangs, they were granted by divine providence. They are usable only by the one that they were designed for specifically. While they are made of a low-grade material, they were crafted by a true master. They have been blessed by the goddess Origin and contain the spirit of the hawk.

Attack:
20 (each)

Range:
30

Value:
42000

Enhancement(s):

Master-crafted:

Weapon Attack X 2

Weapon Range X 2

Weapon Durability X 2

Spirit of the Hawk:

Accuracy + 10 (Each)

Agility +5 (Each)

Attack + 5 (Each)

Special:

Eyes of the Hawk:

Target enemies with greater ease - Lock-on ability activated.

Critical attack chance increased by 10%

Absolute Return:

Even if caught or stolen, the boomerangs will always return to their true owner. They will answer their owner’s call no matter where they are in the world.

Soul Bound:

The boomerangs cannot be lost via death.

<<< * >>>

“Holy Shit!” He had expected them to be decent, but this was great. He would still lose a bit of his attack, and a lot of his defense, by equipping them due to the associated loss in his unarmed combat bonus. Still, they were very good for his level. He would also keep the attack and defense bonuses from his boots and gauntlets. They counted as wearable weapons, a separate slot from held weapons. Scott equipped his sweet looking boomerangs then checked his stats.

<<<
Status
>>>

Name:
Scott Jacobs |
Class:
Sorcerer |
Race:
Human

Age:
18 |
Level:
7

EXP:
2176

Next Level:
340

Ability Points:
29

Health:
90[90] |
Mana:
101[101]

Attack:
30[201] |
Defense:
30[275]

Strength:
34[34] |
Agility:
31[40] |
Accuracy:
22[37]

Intellect:
35[35] |
Luck:
16[16]

<<< * >>>

He only lost the unarmed combat bonus from his strength and agility. He kept his armor bonus and attack from his gauntlets and boots. Even so, his attack and defense power had dropped slightly. He had expected his attack to drop much more than it had, actually.

“It seems a little off though; shouldn’t accuracy be forty-two?” He could not see any reason for it to be five points lower than it was supposed to be, but he decided not to worry about it.

Scott closed his status screen then opened up his skill upgrade menu to check on the boomerang skill-set. His eyes widened. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. There were stat modifiers, including level-up modifiers, for his attack, agility, and accuracy. He wanted to click on them, but realized that he still had to actively upgrade his basic knowledge of boomerang skills first. He clicked on the option named Basic Dual-Boomerang Mastery, and expended ten of his precious ability points.

<<< * >>>

Congratulations! You have acquired basic mastery of dual-boomerang weapon usage!

Your attack will now be modified by Accuracy X 1.5 when wielding a boomerang weapon.

You receive no accuracy penalty for dual-wielding boomerangs.

+ 5 Accuracy

+ 5 Agility

+ 5 Attack

<<< * >>>

Scott blinked then a slow, stupid, smile spread across his face. This, this was great! It was ridiculous, but great! He immediately checked his status again.

<<<
Status
>>>

Name:
Scott Jacobs |
Class:
Sorcerer |
Race:
Human

Age:
18 |
Level:
7

EXP:
2176

Next Level:
340

Ability Points:
19

Health:
90[90] |
Mana:
101[101]

Attack:
30[277] |
Defense:
30[280]

Strength:
34[34] |
Agility:
31[45] |
Accuracy:
22[47]

Intellect:
35[35] |
Luck:
16[16]

<<< * >>>

Scott stared at his stats for a moment then smirked. That could definitely work. After everything was added up, he had actually gained over sixty points in attack overall!

At the moment, his boomerangs provided him much greater attack capacity that his unarmed combat skills. However, that was a numerical advantage only. He would not know the true capacity of his new ability until he actually utilized it.

It was almost time to head back to the battle. He returned to the grotto one final time to restore his mana and to make certain that he was as ready as he could possibly be. Upon arrival the fairy floated over to him, a smile on her face.

“Hi! You came back again.” She was happy to see him once more and it showed.

“Yes, I needed to drink from your spring one more time before I finish things up above.”

“Finish things? Do you mean, the battle that you were engaged in?” asked the tiny girl.

“Yeah, I don’t know how things will turn out. There were a lot of monsters left, and there could be even more by now since they seemed to want to keep coming while I had to deal with the others.”

The diminutive flying girl placed a finger to her chin and said, “Hmm...”

Scott could not help but chuckle at her expression. It was adorable.

“I might know of a way that I can help you.” she said.

“You do? I would appreciate it, though I’ve already been helped a great deal.”

“No, no. The spring helped you... But I want to help you personally. Will you let me?” asked the fairy.

“Sure, what do you have in mind?” asked Scott.

Her entire body took on a light red shade of color. “I... You... You could accept me as a guardian spirit.”

“A guardian spirit?” Scott thought of several obvious implications from a gaming standpoint.

“Yes, guardian spirits are spirits of nature who have chosen to join with a mortal as a protector. Basically, I would merge with you and you could use some of my power or even summon me to appear.”

“Oh, like a summoned being?” he asked.

“Yes, sort of... Would you like for me to become your guardian? You aren’t a summoner so... You can only have a few guardians.”

At the moment he could use all of the help that he could get. She also seemed to be both shy and hopeful. The tiny girl had been rather nice to him as well, so he had no problem with it.

“Sure, if you want to protect me I certainly won’t stop you.” he said.

“Great! That’s great! OK, I hereby grant you my protection as your guardian spirit!” said the fairy with great enthusiasm.

A riotous musical fanfare erupted all around them and a message screen popped up congratulating him on making a fairy contract. It went on to explain how that contract worked in detail.

The fairy faded from sight not long after. Scott looked around but could not see her.

“Hey, where did you go?” he asked.

He heard a soft giggle that seemed to echo slightly. “I’m insii-iide you! Tee hee.”

Scott laughed at the perky sounding innuendo but before he could say anything he saw something that disturbed him a bit. The radiance from the sacred spring had begun to die down. “What’s happening?”

“Since I am now your guardian spirit, I cannot maintain the spring. My powers are yours to command. This place will still be useful for acquiring pure water and other similar things, but its restorative power will be gone soon.”

Scott did not waste any further time. He launched himself toward the spring and began to drink as much water as he could. He had not yet restored his mana. It took several drinks of water, but he managed to restore his magical energy completely before the spring’s luminescence died altogether. If he had known this would happen, he would have waited to form the contract!

“Uhm, Fairy? What can you do anyway?” asked Scott.

“Do? Oh, you mean my powers? I can protect you from random encounters and I can heal you... and other things...” she replied while trailing off at the end.

So, a healing ability and protection from random encounters? That was not a bad trade-off for losing a spring that restores your health. The spring would only be useful while he was in the mine, after all.

“Well, are you ready?” he asked.

“Yes! I want to see more of the world with you.” Her tone of voice made her sound both excited and shy at the same time.

“Great! I intend to see as much of it as I can.” replied the sorcerer.

He heard a happy little cheer echo inside his head. The nameless fairy was certainly excited about that prospect. “Hey, what’s your name anyway?”

“Name? My name is Fairy, of course.”

“Seriously?” asked Scott.

“Yeah, you can call me something else if you want.” replied the girl in a modest tone.

Scott was surprised to see a window pop up that contained an alpha-numeric keypad. “Would I like to change your name...? Do you want a different name?”

“If you want to give me one... I’d love a name, if you gave it to me.” The shy tone of her reply was a cause of mild concern for the man. What was he getting himself into?

“A name, huh...?” He looked at the blinking cursor and considered what to call her. What was a proper name for a Fairy?

“Oooh, who’s Rhea?” asked the girl, suddenly.

“Rhea? How do you know about her?” asked Scott.

“A guardian force rests inside the mind of their master, so I have to make room among your memories. They are fine, of course. I don’t get rid of them or anything. Still, I have to look at them a little to find a proper place to inhabit.”

“Oh... That’s not disturbing at all...” replied Scott.

He heard her soft feminine giggle in response, but the giggle turned quickly into a gasp. “Oh, goodness... What an interesting memory!”

“What are you looking at?”

“You had a dream about the Rhea person just the other night. It was quite interesting.”

“Uh...” Scott’s eyes widened at the implications. She could see his dreams and fantasies by sifting through his memories? That did not bode well.

“Is she really that flexible? I did not think that such movements were biologically possible for an elf.”

“Hey, quit looking at that you perverted fairy.” cried out Scott.

Her feminine laughter was her only response. He just knew that she would look at that dream even more now. Stupid brain and its sexy imaginings!

Scott frowned. He did not like her looking at his memories, but what could he do now? He had agreed to have her along. He looked down at the naming screen and suddenly realized how he could have his revenge. He typed in three letters and hit enter. “Your name is now, Ero.”