Mature Content Warning: A little foul language.

Author's Note: So, second chapter of the day. It's short, but it exists!

I am a little torn. This would be a perfect chapter to end this volume on, but I have not wrapped up the mermaid mission. Part of me wants to wrap it up in the first three chapters of the next volume, but the rest of me wants to wrap it up in this volume so the next volume can be devoted entirely to level grinding and crushing corpse rat, so that Scott and crew can transfer to the classic ARS setting.

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Chapter 48: OEC Public License

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Another Arvulf fell before his mighty fists. Scot could not believe how much better he fought now that he had discovered the true path of the sorcerer. He did occasionally cast his spells like he normally would now, but through the power of synchronicity he was able to do much more overall damage even if the mana cost was also obscenely high.

Scott blurred forward and unleashed a rapid strike to the chest of another Arvulf. His fist slammed into it with explosive force and it was sent hurtling away. It screamed as it burned, and died in horrible agony. The ability to combine burn and rapid strike had created a combustion blast synchronization that caused miniature explosions when his fists hit. Each strike cost him both the mana for his rapid strike and the cost for the burn spell. He had master rapid strike so he was able to hit seven times.

Unlike his spells, the cost for rapid strike had increased slightly with each level. It now required ten mana to use the skill and he could do ninety percent damage with each strike. His explosive punches only did around half the damage of an actual burn spell, but it did that damage per strike.

Scott leapt to the side to avoid an Arvulf that attempted to tackle him to the ground then he unleashed his rapid strike once more. This time he only used its normal mode. It was more mana efficient that way.

The higher level monster was crushed by the power of his repeated blows. He turned to face the last one. “Ar-Lita!”

A brilliant blue light flared up around him then a bolt of electricity arced outward from his palm and shot into the monster with great effect. The Arvulf started to spasm and the sorcerer saw it as a good opportunity to finish the beast.

Scott raced in then blurred forward. His fists pummeled the creature several times and then just before the last strike he cried out, “Ar-Lita!”

A powerful surge of raw electrical energy arced through the beast and died silently. It could not even howl out in agony. Waves of heat and wafting smoke rose up from the electrocuted corpse.

The beast’s killer smiled and congratulated himself on a job well done. He reviewed the battle report with a satisfied grin.

<<< Battle Report >>>

Victory!

Congratulations, you have defeated seven Arvulfs!

+ 8567 EXP

+ 5679 Fayth

+ 21 Ability Points

Item(s) Acquired:

Arvulf Pelt X 3

Arvulf Fang X 1

>>

“Man, look at how easy that was. I can’t believe how much time I wasted using spells the way that I had been using them.” said Scott. Sure, it was far more mana efficient to simply spam his spells when fighting weak opponents, but when facing monsters that were higher level it was much better to synchronize.

The hints had been there all along. He was on the path of balance. That meant that he should be able to use his physical and magical abilities together. His class was a class devoted to synchronization! It was less useful for most other classes, but it was the true specialty of sorcerers and to some extent, monks.

“One more battle like that and I’ll gain a level.” said Scott.

He spoke up inside his mind. “Good job, Scott! Do you want me to restore your health and mana?”

“Yes, please.” he said with a smile.

Ero made a cute little noise and then Scott felt a sense of warmth radiate throughout his body. He read the information screen that popped up then smile.

<<< Status Effect >>>

You have been afflicted by the beneficial status effect Fairy’s Serene Blessing. While you are not in direct combat or performing an aggressive action, your health and mana will regenerate at a steady rate.

>>

Ero had several abilities, but this was the most useful as far as Scott was concerned. She could only use it a few times in a given day, and would need to rest for at least an hour between uses. However, it caused him to regenerate his health and mana at a rate of roughly one point per second.

“Thanks Ero!” That was really nice of her. He knew how much it took out of her to use her fairy powers.

The tiny little fairy said, “You’re welcome, Scott.” She then made a loud yawning sound.

“Sleepy, princess?” asked the sorcerer.

Ero giggled sweetly then said, “Just a little.”

Scott laughed softly then said. “Get some rest, Ero.”

“No... I want to stay up.” she said.

He could actually hear the pout in her voice. She did not want to go to sleep. She wanted to stay up and play. “OK, let me rest for a minute or two and we can head out to find another group of monsters.”

“Sure.” she said cheerfully.

After he had rested, Scott moved on. It was time to find another group of monsters to fight. He hoped that it would be a large one, as he wanted to increase his level quickly. He was excited about the possibilities of the future.

He needed to reach level one hundred and reincarnate before transferring over to the hardcore server. That would allow him to transfer over with an advanced class, and the extra stats would be helpful. Things would be hard, especially since Rhea was going with him and they would both be level one with only the most basic of gear and only starting character money. There would be no rapid leveling like they planned to do here.

In some ways, after learning about the other reality he had begun to see his recent adventures in a new light. It was almost as though he had been playing in a tutorial mode and now the true game would begin. He still wanted to crush Corpse Rat before they left, so they needed to reach level one hundred. Otherwise, he would have gone already.

***

“So, you told him?” asked Shara.

Origin nodded to her sister. “Yes, he now knows that he has to transfer to the original world server in order to face his destiny.”

“Do you think he can handle it? Things are a lot different there.” asked Shara.

“Yeah, he’ll probably die a lot at first but he’ll get the hang of it.” said Origin. She clicked accept on her work terminal and a recently deceased male fisherman reincarnated as the daughter of a merchant guild mogul.

“Not gonna pull any strings for him?” asked Shara with a grin.

“No, no. He has to develop on his own. If he is babied up the ladder of power he won’t be ready when the time comes.” said the blue haired goddess. She clicked decline, and a recently deceased soul of a child molesting bandit was reincarnated as a slug monster instead of as a human.

She continued her duties as goddess of love and reincarnation for a few moments before Shara spoke again. When the red-haired ninja goddess spoke she asked, “So, you going to be an elf arcane blade again?”

“Sure, why not?” asked Origin. She clicked a button. A loyal and protective cow in Eizen was allowed to reincarnate as a female minotaur.

“I was just curious. Elves take a long time to gain a level. It isn’t nearly as useful in the original server.” replied Shara.

Origin nodded to her then smiled. “That depends on how you play, I suppose. There is an experience pool that limits how much experience you absorb after all. Leveling takes time either way, might as well spend that time developing skills so that you can hunt higher level monsters.”

“True and I suppose the fact that you can only reincarnate three times does matter.” said Shara.

The goddess of love nodded once more then absent mindedly caused a rich man fromArgent to be reborn as a bullfrog. “Speaking of incarnating, what about your community service project?”

“Ah, you know. Same old, same old. Some Earth was purchase from its creator deity. An up and coming game studio decided to screw around with it and discovered that they suck too much to do it right when there is already a dedicated world-setting, so the elders took over and made it an open source community project.” said Shara.

“What was wrong with it?” asked Origin.

Shara shrugged. “Well, it seems to be some sort of typical modern Earth setting, but those idiots linked it to our Open Source World Building Template.”

“What’s wrong with using the OEC GPL?” asked Origin. Most Indie developers used one of their licenses and world settings as a basis for that sort of project.

Shara stared at her flatly. “They used our Medieval Fantasy World Engine.”

Origin blinked. “You’re kidding? They had a modern Earth and did that?”

“I know, right! They had a perfect opportunity to do a near-future Earth concept where people ran around spouting words like chummer or referred to themselves as street samurai.” said Shara.

“Shadowrun much, sis?” asked Origin. She clicked a button and a turtle in Lower Abyssinia was allowed to reincarnate as a bird. It had always wanted to fly free and now it would have its chance.

“I know. I know... Still, if not that, then something! Come on, be original! They should be developing skills like computer hacking and machine gunning or something.” groused Shara.

“So, add them in.” said Origin absently.

Shara snorted at her. “Add them in... You make it sound so easy. I’m not in programming. I’m stuck alpha-testing the second rate garbage they are making.”

“Ah, so that’s what you are going to be doing?” asked Origin. She had been curious about Shara’s position in her community project.

“Yeah. I have to pick a background and enter the world as a child. I’ll actually be stuck there for twenty whole years!”

“Ah, that’s not so bad. How much time will pass here?” asked Origin.

“About a month. All of the alpha-testers will be inserted at the same time and have to grow from birth to adulthood so that we are part of the world or something.” said Shara.

“So, you’re going to have to grow up on a modern day Earth, meet lots of humans, and make friends?” asked Origin.

“Yes...” replied Shara. She tried to pout. She really did.

“You suck. If I did not have Scott, I would trade with you in a heartbeat.” said Origin.

Shara stuck out her tongue at her sister. “It would be better if the world was not going to be wrecked. I swear, don’t these idiots even think of the people whose lives are going to be ruined by this?”

Origin blinked at her. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, you don’t know?” asked Shara with a hint of surprise in her voice.

“No... Tell me.” said Origin.

Shara sighed. “They did not copy and repopulate the world with fresh souls. They did a baseline world update.”

Origin stared at her, hard. “That... That is highly unethical.”

“No kidding! Those poor people are going to have their entire existence screwed over. I’ve looked at the current timeline that was set up and saw what happened when they attached the world to that open source version of ARS.” said Shara.

“What did they do?” asked Origin.

“They had everyone fall asleep at the same time so the world could update! So many people died. It made me sick.” Shara growled low under her breath.

“Whoa... Did they make reparations for the deceased?”

“No. No, they did not.”

“That’s disgusting!” snapped Origin.

“It’s also why the world was taken from them and made a community project. The new project leaders are trying to salvage the situation and keep hope alive, so to speak. Still, that Earth has been ravaged. I’ve seen what is coming. They have a hard time ahead of them.” said Shara.

Origin’s teeth ground lightly. What those idiots had done was little different than what those jerks on the council wanted to do to her beautiful ARS. Why must her people do that? They want to be human so badly that it hurts them inside, yet they callously disregard the needs of the very people that the gods worship! Every good thing in the divine city was a realization of a human ideal that the gods loved. Why ruin a perfectly good Earth and cause havoc among its inhabitants?

“Why can’t they, the council or these people, see what they are doing is wrong...?” Origin sighed softly.

Shara shook her head. “Wish I knew, sis. They worry so much about player retention that it blinds them.”

Origin’s dainty fists slammed down on her communication’s table. She snarled out, “Damn the players!”

She looked to Shara and shouted, “What about the people! What about our people? I am sick of this... this... this shit!”

Shara’s left eyelid twitched. Her sister, her sweet and normally gentle sister, had just said such a thing. She reached down and placed her hand on Origin’s shoulder. “We do what we can to make their lives just a little more bearable, maybe?”

Origin’s fury lessened slightly. She looked down and to the side while her chest heaved. “Yes, I guess you’re right.”

She looked back up at Shara then nodded. “You’ve grown up a little, haven’t you?”

Shara leaned forward and winked at her. She gave her sister a view of far more of her cleavage than Origin had any desire to see. “Think Scott’s noticed?”

“Shara!” Origin gasped aloud and then pouted at her sister.

The ninja girl laughed loudly then tousled her older sister’s hair. “Now now.”

Origin refused to relinquish her pout, despite her sister’s antics. She was in no mood for her sister to hit on her Scott. She might be the goddess of love, but she took after her father more than her mother in that regard.

Her father was the god of loyalty and hope. Her mother was the goddess of fertility. It would be better to say that Origin was the goddess of monogamous romantic love rather than the sort of thing that her mother or older sister Mid championed.

Shara kissed her sister softly on the cheek. “You might want to show him how you’ve grown sometime, sis.”

Origin’s face turned bright red. “Since when do you speak in such a fashion?”

The ninja goddess laughed softly. “I speak that way all the time... I just have no Scott of my own to show my growth to, unless you count the one who had a heart attack.”

“He was so fat...” Origin shook her head slowly. She could not truly envision a Scott who was shaped like a pumpkin with feet. Even her divine talent for imagery fell short of that feat.

Shara pouted then sniffled a little. “Yeah...so fat.”