《Novus Lumen》Chapter 2: A new beginning
Advertisement
In a glade 50km from the border of the Endless forest, winds blew and with them a small grass seed lighter than air floated about. As the winds came to a stop it dropped to the ground, hiding amongst the multitude of grasses. But this one was different, it radiated such life that one could swear they felt a presence of a highly intelligent being.
This seed was the vessel that Mark used upon the death of his body, this vessel would be his new life one that he would control from the beginning. He already lived close to 50 years with his past 2 lives so he was overqualified to live as a simple grass.
He would still bear a grudge though, not to the whole human and elven race mind you, just those two who ruined his life over and over, but considering their positions it was safe bet to assume that their race would guard them with their lives.
The first was Robert Williams, the summoned hero. But Mark remembered him as the thief who killed him back on earth, which resulted in him reincarnating in this world.
The other was Rose Ironwood, an elf noble lady who in their first meeting tried to kill him but due to her grandmothers plea, Liliana Ironwood, he spared her life. Instead he placed a weak mind corruption which made her experience his first week of torture under a mind mage. It wasn’t that bad compared to the last few months under his care so it was light punishment in Marks opinion.
But the weak willed princes found it a torture of biblical proportion which almost drove her to madness. In result she hunted Mark down like an animal with her snobbish friends. But mark wasn’t a weakling. He killed half her friend before they managed to bring him down. In the end the hatred Mark had for her and his will power brought him back to life… kind of.
With his new undead visage mark hunted her and rest of her friends down, but as fate would have it she managed to survived by pure luck as she ran in to a forest patrol.
In the end due to being undead and having no control over his emotions Mark went on a rampage, which resulted in a 5-year war with the Human and Elven Kingdoms. The humans summoned a hero and with the help of elites from the both factions, with enough training Mark was supposed to be an easy kill.
But due to his Mind Flayer class and the overall lack of proper mind resistance against proper mental attack he was easily able to fight 10 on 1, though he knew he couldn’t win so he pulled back is Legion and fought the so called Heroes with everything he had. And almost won until Liliana came and helped her granddaughter in defeating him. As he laid defeated and was struggling so survive the purification performed by the priest something surprising happened. Liliana help him to protect his mind, but only the fragment which held his self, his ego, his personality, his very mind which lead to him losing all of his accumulated power leaving him with only his weakened mind fragment, strong enough to survive a few days and be implant himself in some insect, probably an ant, he liked ants.
But she had other plans, and gently put the fragment of his once great self in a tiny grass seed and left it to drift amongst the wind with the words “Live, life may have been unfair to you but try not to bear a grudge against the world. And remember anger and revenge will never allow you live a happy life” and she let the wind carry him with a smile.
Advertisement
Currently Mark didn’t know what to think, his mind has been mostly empty and he was going through his pent up emotions. He didn’t know what to do. He followed his instinct and preserved his life. And now what?
If he continued to live would fate take everything from him again? Would he fear for his life and be hunted for what he is? Would people really care for him? Would he finally stop being a virgin? His mind stopped on the last one now that he thought about it he never got laid in his previous life times. In the first he was busy with work and school college and all those marshmallows. In his second he was eying the quite girl from the edge of the village for his future wife and then then bandits attacked and enslaved him and from then one he couldn’t actually get laid in the quarry there were only men and only the guards could get some slave girls for the night. He wasn’t in to animals so that a no go in the forest.
And then he was undead which kind of derailed his sanity somewhat. And now he was a grass seed, so no hope in the future. He could almost feel a drop of liquid sliding down his surface, a gassy tear of loneliness and solitude.
But now he has a chance to have a new beginning, though he would forgive the races as a whole he would not forgive those two he would murder and kill them both in body, mind and soul not leaving a fragment.
So what is he supposed to do now? He knows how to live as a human but a plant? Well he should start with his status plate.
Name: None
Age: 0
Race: Grass
Age: 0
Potential: 0,00010
Subrace: Meadow Grass
Grass: 0
Level Points: 0
Level: 0
Strenght: 0,00001
Endurance: 0,00001
Physique: 0,00001
Agility: 0,00001
Dexterity: 0,00001
Inteligence: 0,86427
Wisdom: 0,63482
Willpower: 1,96482
Control: 0,73281
Perception: 0,00001
Charisma: 0,00001
Soul Magnitude 1,05201
Well he is grass, that’s for sure and the most common one meadow grass. It usually doesn’t grow taller than 10cm due to “predators”. But if grown in seclusion it can reach close to 1m in length before it’s too heavy to support itself. Now grass won’t be able to view its status, and what’s with the abnormally high will? Sure he has a title that boosts willpower but not that much 1.5 max so it should be close to 1.5 ish.
So he decided to viewed his skills
Class Skills:
Skill points: 0
Grass:
Non-Class:
Traits:
Growth (lesser): 1
Unbreakabable Will
Photosynthesis(lesser): 1
Know thy Self
[Ok everything is so empty I had around 20 skills last time. Guess those priest really did purify me to LVL1. I’m not sure if I should be happy or angry with them, most definitely happy with Liliana for giving me a good start. I probably would have chosen an ant or something but a grass seed? What do I get as grass anyway?]
Grass: (0/ 25)
You are grass, no way to put it any better, and as such you are at the bottom of the food chain, even trees will feed upon you, but don’t fret you gain a boost worthy of your kind and witch each level up you become more resilient and better able to sense your surroundings and control you roots. As any other plant you “plant” for the long term allowing you to grow without any problems and as a bonus you can harvest energy from the sun itself.
Advertisement
Gain: Growth (Lesser); Photosynthesis (Lesser)
+0.00001 starting stats
+0.00002 Endurance per LVL
+0.00001 Physique per LVL
+0.00001 Control per LVL
+0.00001 Perception per LVL
[Well I’ve never been a plant so I got no idea whether it’s good or bad. And what about my traits]
Unbreakable Will;
The holder of this title has been through unimaginable obstacles in his life, he has fought bled cried but kept moving forward, never looking back and smashing everything in his path with his will. It will be hard to find many, such individuals across the world.
Double effective Wisdom
Know thy Self…
Yu have trained and examined yourself for countless days, and have gained better understanding of the self in the process.
Allows one to view his own status.
[Well impressive I guess the Unbreakable will is considered a tier 3 trait, too bad I don’t know how to get the others from 2 tier and up I used to have intelligent for being a sarcastic smartass. From what I know most people are born with the better titles like genius, charming etc. guess it’s my luck. I wonder what the skills do.]
Growth (Lesser) (1/ 25)
Like many other you learn to grow one step at a time. With every level improves speed of growth.
Gains a bonus level every 5 skill lvl instead of 10 and an extra skill point for maxing out skills. Applies to all skills.
Photosynthesis (Lesser) (1/ 25)
A basic skill for a plants, it allows them to use sunlight with the nutrients extracted from the soil to produce food for themselves. Higher levels improve the efficiency of gathering sunlight.
That explains his increase wisdom his title Iron Will has improved. The weakest version is Strong willed which give 1.2 modifier to willpower he gained while working in the quarry and the Iron Will with the mind mage.
When it comes to monsters and people alike, power is divided in to circles and levels. Levels aren’t that important and are gained by killing monsters, in other words a quick way to get strong, on the other hand every time a skill gains 10 levels it gives a free level which you can add to a class of your choice and every 20 you gain a skill point which can be used to improve a skill and 10 skill points to upgrade the rarity of the skill making it give more bonuses witch each grade you get 25% stronger in almost every aspect.
Most skills don’t show grade until upgraded but will be usually assigned a grade. It starts from lesser, minor, common, greater and grand.
Now for a person to be considered a 1st circle Mage, for example, he has to have at least 1 mana point with density of 1 or 10 with density of 0.1 etc, a mage related class, and a mental attribute above 1. Now the level of the class is not important as the skills you have. A wise sage once said “I’m not afraid of a mage with 10 000 spells, I’m afraid of a mage who trained a single spell 10 000 times”.
The only thing classes provide is extra skills and stats. And stats only effect the mind, body or soul, so far the only known soul attribute is Soul Magnitude which is a direct representation of the souls’ strength, the easiest way to increase it is to live, every 1000 years of life would increase by one.
As for the other attributes there are five physical ones which depend on the body, four mental, which depend on the mind. The last tree attributes are perception, charm and the before mentioned soul magnitude, the first depend both on body and mind, and as a matter of fact all 12 attributes are dependent on each other you can have the greatest intellect in the world but use is it without the wisdom to manage it.
The natural potential of the humanoid races is 1. Humans are a prime example as every one of their stat can reach a base maximum of 1, with training and elixirs potential can be moved from one stat to another, but they can be only surpassed by pushing yourselves to the limit, of course you can go beyond the limit with the bonus stats from classes and some rare skills.
But you won’t truly be breaking your limits. For instance, those who follow a god, like paladins or priests have double the potential due to a blessing of their god, or thoroughbred noble families whose offspring have close to 2 limit but their stats would be multiplied by 2 along with their upper limit, so they have to breach past 2 points instead of 1.
An exception to this is again the soul magnitude, even if it reaches past one point it doesn’t give any benefits.
Elves on the other hand are born with a blessing of the forest that increases potential by 20% and they have some inborn skills to shuffle the caps around, but that’s about it.
In short a 1st circle need 1 specific stat above 1 and a resource of 1 with density of 1, and maybe a purity of 10%
A 2nd circle needs 2 specific stats above 1 or one above 2 and a resource of 10 with a density of 1, and maybe purity of 20%
Now purity would be total ratio of resources like mana in the person’s body, for example if at the first circle your mana is 10% pure fire mana you are considered a fire mage, with that one tenth mana you could make pure fire spells which are both two times stronger and two times cheaper, in other words four times better, but that’s just a formality to be recognized as an elite.
And so on and so forth up to the 10th circle, what’s beyond it nobody knows. After all the closest Belur kingdom has a court mage of the 5th circle.
And why was the grass seed previously named Mark was thinking all about this? Who knows he recently had his mind and soul cropped so let’s hope it isn’t mental. And in the end all he had to do was wait, not that hard when you have almost 2 points in willpower.
While waiting and enjoying the darkness that having no sensual input brings, Mark decided to choose a new name for himself something to symbolize hi new fresh start, there was no way someone would know he is a plant now anyways ad Liliana won’t tell anyone, why would she? She was the one who put his soul in to a grass seed in the first place.
So with a thought he inputted his new name on the status sheet, one that represents his bright new beginnings (Author: as a worshiper of the sun god
)
Novus Lumen
Advertisement
- In Serial170 Chapters
Threadbare
BREAKING ANNOUNCEMENT! Threadbare Volume 1: Stuff and Nonsense, Volume 2: Sew You Want to be a Hero, and Volume 3: The Right to Arm Bears are now available on Amazon.com! For US residents, you can find them at the following links: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3. Residents of other countries, please browse your local Amazon market.Meet Threadbare. He is twelve inches tall, full of fluff, and really, really bad at being a hero. Magically animated and discarded by his maker as a failed experiment, he is saved by a little girl. But she's got problems of her own, and he might not be able to help her.Fortunately for the little golem, he's quick to find allies, learn skills, gain levels, and survive horrible predicaments. Which is good, because his creator has a whole lot of enemies...Advance chapters are now available on my Patreon, for those who wish to read ahead.(Cover by Amelia Parris)My name is Andrew Seiple, I'm an author and a long time roleplayer. I am the writer of Threadbare, and I own the rights to this story, and many others. I've published works on Amazon before Threadbare, but this is my first litrpg. You can find my various stories available on Amazon.com
8 161 - In Serial206 Chapters
The Infinite Labyrinth
(Story complete - Book 1 "Shanghaied", 2 "Shortcuts", 3 "Secrets" and 4 "Sanctions") It is the 19th century, and war smoulders between England and France. Any hope for a quick end to Napoleon's rampage across Europe ended when the Great Gates opened in 1800. For a fortunate few, the strange world of the Infinite Labyrinth offers opportunities, strange descriptors popping in their minds, informing them of growth, and status beyond that of a mere mortal. The materials and power crystal they bring back foster a new age, both military and civilian. Aether-powered Skyships prowl the skies, as all the great nations blessed by the Gates try to turn the blessings of the Labyrinth into immediate advantages. But for Jonas, an apprentice leatherworker, his friend Ira, and so many Londoners, the fabled ones that walk the Labyrinth are distant heroes, seen from afar. They fell short when their Potential was measured, and they fill their mundane lives with distant dreams. One man wants to break the stalemate. The Tyrant of the Dominion of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, has a plan. Eighteen years after the world changed, he will force it to change again. And when civilians are caught in the fallout, the unthinkable happens. Six people, unqualified, forbidden to ever enter the Labyrinth, find themselves stranded in a distant zone, forcefully turned into Professionals. They know little of what that means, but they have to figure out the rules that are now their lot, for they have little hope to escape their predicament otherwise. They need to understand what the descriptors in their minds mean, what each of the strange piece of gear waiting in treasure chests behind terrible guardians can bring them. They have to become Professionals on their own and rejoin the Empire. They will figure out their new lives one way or another. But will there be an Empire waiting for them when the Gates re-open? Caught in a clash of empires and high tiers, they will do what little they can. They will step up and do their best. One way or another. The Infinite Labyrinth is a slice-of-life litRPG adventure set in a real historical setting. It's a hard, crunchy litrpg. Expect blue boxes everywhere, and the system itself is very mathy. It started life as a serial. I prepared some proper worldbuilding, with enough details and background for lots of different potential story arcs, but as I wrote, I realized the main story needs to have a definitive end. So, there are four books in total, for a bit under 1500 pages, plus additional side stories, and even maybe a sequel one day. The Gore tag was added as a precaution because there are a few scenes with some light gore.
8 182 - In Serial19 Chapters
Trash Heap
Humanity has been thrown out. They are tossed to an unforgiving universe filled with strange beings with stranger cultures. Without god's firm hand those cast out have run amuck. Far away from a friendly face, John Union has been dropped onto a foreign world. He is forced to put his fear and hatred aside, to survive in a strange world. Sentenced to journeying through the dungeon with his hands tied behind his back, John has to rely on his wits and his ever growing skill set. On the way John must do horrible things to gain power.
8 117 - In Serial13 Chapters
A Fractured Soul
A man that's trying to get rid of his worst self, against a world which demands it for his survival. Vali struggles to better himself, but every step he takes forward is two steps back. On his last day on Earth, his temper costs him his last friend. On his first day in the new world, it earns him a friend. Will the new world humanity has to live in, and the new normal it brings create a place for him to fit? Or will he still be his own worst enemy, even amidst monsters and humans alike ready to kill him at the first opportunity? - On a break indefinitely. I want to finish some other projects first before this. Here's the Discord server.
8 189 - In Serial20 Chapters
(Foxy x Mangle book 1) Mangled Love
*Book 1*Mangle and Foxy are in love. Chica is in love with Foxy too, but Foxy secretly hates her. When Chica hurts Mangle, Foxy gets really mad and tells her exactly what he thinks of her. Chica gets really upset and angry with Mangle. Every day, when Foxy isn't with her, she hurts her. Soon, Mangle is all broken and Foxy fights Chica. But Foxy gets hurt! And Mangle is about to be killed.... Will Chica learn her lesson? Will Foxy save Mangle?
8 131 - In Serial42 Chapters
BRUINS
Welcome to the most dangerous trilogy of women's soccer. (1/3)
8 141

