Aetheria’s Awakening – Soulforge Legacy Book 1

Falling to my hands and knees, I panted. My lungs pulled in the cold air as I tried to catch my breath. By the way my sweat had stopped pouring off me, I knew I was severely dehydrated. The elf kept calling on me to stop, to take a break. His words taunted me but I didn’t fall for it. I wouldn’t, I couldn’t, not until I hit the bastard. Just one hit would do.

Yet I couldn’t. Nothing I did had allowed one of my hits to make it through his defense. It was like he knew where I would attack before I did, but that would mean that he wasn’t just a few levels above my own, but a shit ton above mine.

Not that his apparently high level would have gotten me to quit fighting. It was my own body's weakness that ended our fight. First came the numbness. Robbing me of my coordination before eventually causing me to fall to the ground. Even holding myself up on my hands and knees quickly became too much.

The world started to spin as my arms slowly gave out. For some reason though, I didn’t feel anything. It was as if I was watching everything through glasses. The problem was that even that was slowly becoming harder. Black spots and blurs appeared in my field of view, growing and multiplying until even my sight was taken from me.

As I floated in the darkness, I wondered if this was what it was like to die. Would my first death in this place be from pushing myself? God, I hoped not. That would be a bit embarrassing. I tried to pull up my status sheet, not expecting anything to happen.

Yeah, nothing happened. My mind just continued to sit there in space waiting for something to happen. Likely the game was waiting for my virtual body to give up before giving me the option to respawn.

A cool sensation filtered through the hazy numbness this dark space provided. It started at a spot just over my heart before oozing out. The sensation seeped outward in a lazy spiral. Where it touched, feeling slowly returned.

As whatever it was reached my head, my vision returned. I found that, while I was on the ground, I was no longer on my front. My eyes looked up into the scowling eyes of the elf. His hands hovered over me as some sort of magic spell poured out of it and into my body. “What the FUCK were you thinking?” He demanded as he helped me into a sitting position.

My mouth was dry and gritty. The feeling was bad enough that I didn’t want to talk until I had something to drink. So we sat there, staring at one another as he waited for me to answer his question. Each waiting on the other to break the silence. Finally, I gave in. “Can I get some water?” While I had tried to talk normally, my voice barely came out loud enough for me to hear it. Sounding almost like I had been chewing on gravel.

Thankfully, he seemed to understand what I was asking for. Another rubbery container of water appeared in an outstretched hand. “Drink slowly. While I might have dealt with the majority of the symptoms, I couldn’t just fix you. Maybe if I was a healer I could have but I am not.” By the end, he seemed to be rambling. I half listened as I took slow sip by slow sip of water.

At first, the water didn’t even make it to my throat, let alone my stomach. My dry mouth soaked it up like a sponge. Eventually, after my mouth drank its fill, the water made its way into my stomach just as the container ran dry. Still, I didn’t talk. My mind ran in circles as I tried to figure out just what had caused me to go berserk like that.

I mean, I knew why I had, but it was the first time that an emotion had taken such a powerful hold on me. It was strong enough that nothing else could break through. Strong enough that I could not stop fighting until my body forced me to do so. I didn’t even want to know just how close I had come to death.

Barti shifted until he was crouching as he waited for my mind to work through everything. The silence that filled the room was only broken up by the sounds of our soft breathing. Well, until my stomach decided that it wanted to make its demands known.

Barti laughed as he stood up. “Want to get some dinner and discuss some things?”

The offer caught me off guard. “Sure,” I took a proffered hand. Feeling that he was expecting me to ask the question, I gave in and asked. “But I have to know, how did you block everything? You made it seem so easy. Is it because you have a high level? What is your level?”

Smiling, he started for the door. “One thing at a time. Let's start with my level. I am level sixty-seven.”

Hearing just how high his level was caused me to freeze. It was no wonder that he was able to move like he did and block everything. To him, I probably looked like a slow and clumsy fool playing at fighting.

My stopping didn’t seem to phase him as he continued talking. “As for blocking you, that is easy when you are still too weak and slow. Though I will say that you have some potential but only if you keep training.” His hand held the door open as he let me pass through before closing it behind us. “While you can train on your own, I think you will find that me and my friends can do a decent job teaching you, if you still want to train with us that is.”

Did I want to train under him? I mean this guy was the demon that had driven my body to the brink not once but twice. That fact should have been driving me to run away, yet here I was feeling a bit excited at the prospect. But why? He seemed to have people’s respect and trust based on the banter between him and the dwarf earlier. But if so, why me? Surely with his strength, wouldn’t he have his choice of people to train? So why was he asking me?

I couldn’t take it and asked the question.“Why?”

“Why what?” He responded loud enough for me to hear him over the noise that filled the room.  The place wasn’t loud with any one conversation. It was more like every little bit of every conversation that made it through the enchantments built upon each other, filling the place with noise. “Why am I asking you if you want to train under me?”

“Yes, after all, I am sure you have your choice of people you can train.”

“Not as many people want to train with me as you think.” He said as he gestured for me to sit next to the wall. Quickly, I took the seat, not noticing the two ladies across the table from me until I sat down. As soon as I saw them, my attention was fully focused on the pair. I didn’t even notice the elf sitting in the chair.

Both had ears on top of their head. One was a round shape, reminding me of those on top of a stuffed teddy bear. It matched the color of her light brown hair. The other woman had ears that were more oval than circular with a darker grey color. The inside of these were not furred. Pink flesh was on full display before the ears closed up. Her hair dropped to block her face from sight as she looked down at the table. The way she acted and her ears reminded me of the mice I saw on various shows.

“Oi, Barti. Who is the girl?” The bear-eared girl asked as she slammed a mug down on the table.

“His name is Kyren. I offered him some food after all the training we did today.” He replied as he shot her a look.

She scoffed at that, “Nah, you have to be wrong ‘bout that. She is clearly not a he. Not given how small and soft she looks.”

I was tired and hungry from getting my ass kicked in training and didn’t have the energy to deal with her. Not right now. So, I rolled my eyes and ignored her. Instead trying to focus on the other girl. The act of her hiding behind her hair made me more curious about her than I wanted to admit.

“So, have you had a chance to look over your spoils from training?” Barti asked. My head wipped around to look over at him in confusion, I saw his wide grin as he continued. “Remember how I mentioned that you can increase your stats with training? The system the gods created does not calculate your new stats until after a short break. That would have been while you were still near death on the ground so you might not have heard anything.”

While I pulled up my status page, I noticed that it had changed. Curious about it, I pulled the stats sheet in another window.

 

 

Current Stats:
Strength (STR):	10
Agility (AGI):	14
Vitality (VIT):	11
Intelligence (INT):	12(13)
Wisdom (WIS):	9
Dexterity (DEX):	9(12)
Charisma (CHA)	13
Free Points:	0

 

There were quite a few changes from what I could tell. Too bad there wasn’t something like a log that could tell how everything had changed and why. As I thought that, a new window appeared, blocking both of the other windows.

 

System Log:

Initializing system.

System initialized.

Scanning occupant.

Determining starting stats.

Transitioning to an in-between space.

You have successfully made the transition. Rejoice!

Contacting local gods.

Your name is set to Kyren Vulpier.

Local spatial door located. Analyzing.

Analysis failed. Spatial magic not found.

Warning! Spatial door may lead anywhere and may be a one-way trip. Proceed with caution.

Spatial travel detected.

Determining location.

Location determined.

Welcome to the planet Paradox.

Welcome to the city of Proxima in the nation of Valoria.

You have been in the cold without sufficient protection for one minute. You have been inflicted with the Cold Debuff.

Cold Debuff: - 1 Dexterity, minor shivering, minor loss of feeling.

You have been in the cold without sufficient protection for five minutes. You have been inflicted with the Chilled Debuff.

Chilled Debuff: -2 Dexterity, mild shivering, loss of feeling in fingers.

You have been in the cold without sufficient protection for ten minutes. You have been inflicted with the Freezing Debuff.

Freezing Debuff: -2 Dexterity, heavy shivering, -2 Vitality. Thin Skin Debuff gained.

Thin Skin Debuff: Skin is thinner and easier to break.

-7 HP from Environment.

Parts of your hand have stuck to a freezing piece of metal. Bleeding Debuff gained.

Bleeding Debuff: -3 HP every five seconds.

-6 HP from Bleeding.

-6 HP from Bleeding.

-6 HP from Bleeding.

You have reached a warmer location and stayed there for five minutes. Freezing Debuff, Chilled Debuff, and Cold Debuff have all been removed.

-6 HP from Bleeding.

Bleeding has stopped.

Health recovered. All debuffs removed.

You have been in the cold without sufficient protection for one minute. You have been inflicted with the Cold Debuff.

You have been in the cold without sufficient protection for five minutes. You have been inflicted with the Chilled Debuff.

You have been in the cold without sufficient protection for ten minutes. You have been inflicted with the Freezing Debuff.

You have been in the cold without sufficient protection for twenty minutes. You have been inflicted with the Frozen Debuff.

Frozen Debuff: All dexterity reductions negated, Dexterity reduced to 1, -2 Vitality, -5 HP per five seconds.

-5 HP from Frozen x 10.

Warning! Health under 25%.

+1 HP from HP Regeneration

-5 HP from Frozen x 2.

You have encountered a sudden 20-degree difference. You have been inflicted with the Shock Debuff.

Shock Debuff: Loss of senses. Weakness. HP Regeneration reduced by 50%.

+25 HP from Healing Hand.

-5 HP from Frozen.

+25 HP from Healing Hand.

Shock Debuff deminishing.

-5 HP from Frozen.

+25 HP from Healing Hand.

Frozen Debuff removed.

Freezing Debuff removed

Chilled Debuff removed.

Cold Debuff removed.

For repeatedly surviving freezing conditions when you should have died, you have gained 1 Strength and 1 Vitality.

Shock Debuff removed.

Registration detected: Guild.

Guild Rank detected: E.

Unlocking Shop Function.

Training room detected.

Evaluating Stats.

Generating Quest. Rank: Common.

Daily Quest - Exercise I: Run 5 Miles. Perform 25 Pushups. Perform 50 crunches.

Daily Quest Competed – Exercise I: 10/5 Miles. 50/25 Pushups. 100/50 Crunches.

Secret Quest Completed – Do double the required amount. Double Rewards.

Generating reward.

+10 XP for completing Mission.

+2 Strength.

+2 Agility.

+2 Vitality.

Training Combat Initiated.

Training Combat Finished. Result: Failed.

Extreme Dehydration Debuff Gained.

Exhausted Debuff Gained.

Exhausted Debuff: -3 Dexterity. HP Regeneration reduced by 25%. Mana regeneration reduced by 25%

Extreme Dehydration Debuff: HP Regeneration stopped. Mana Regeneration stopped. -50% HP per second.

-43 HP from Extreme Dehydration.

+50 XP for attempting. (Difficulty Modifier: x5.0)

+1 Wisdom.

+1 Dexterity.

Skill Gained: Punching 1.

+25 XP from learning a skill.

Punching 1: Learn to throw a punch that won’t break something.

-21 HP from Extreme Dehydration.

Warning! Health under 25%.

+15 HP from Water of Healing.

-18 HP from Extreme Dehydration.

Warning! Health under 25%.

+15 HP from Water of Healing.

-17 HP from Extreme Dehydration.

Warning! Health under 25%.

+15 HP from Water of Healing.

-16 HP from Extreme Dehydration.

Warning! Health under 25%.

+15 HP from Water of Healing.

Extreme Dehydration has been reduced to Dehydration.

Dehydration: -1 HP every second. HP regeneration reduced by 25%. Mana regeneration reduced by 25%

-1 HP from Dehydration.

+15 HP from Water of Healing.

-1 HP from Dehydration.

+15 HP from Water of Healing.

-1 HP from Dehydration.

+15 HP from Water of Healing.

-1 HP from Dehydration.

Thirst quenched. Dehydration fading. Health loss has been removed.

Minor Hunger Debuff Gained.

Minor Hunger Debuff: Stealth reduced. -1 Intelligence.

 

Damn, that was a lot of information to go through. Most of it was redundant or no longer affected me. Barti must have seen my expression as he chuckled. “You can change how the information is presented. I have mine separated between a few tabs.”

“I ignore all that junk.” The bear woman said as someone walked up to our table with a platter of bowls. Each filled with some sort of stew with a thick slice of bread. It smelled like heaven. Quickly shutting the screens down, I accepted a bowl as it was passed to me.

I nearly dropped it as the liquid was fucking hot. Almost burning my hand through the bowl. Still, the smell caused my mouth to salivate. “Hah, the look on your face.” Barti said, “It's almost as if you have never eaten a stew before.” I hadn’t but I wasn’t going to say that.

I picked up a spoonful of stew. Lightly blowing on it as I changed the subject. “So, I can get levels from just training?”

“You can,” Barti answered before he ate a large spoonful of his stew. It was as though he didn’t care that it was practically boiling. “But realistically only for the first few levels.” Which made sense. The devs probably wanted to give the players a taste of leveling up before upping the difficulty.

“And what would be the best way for me to get experience?” I asked, trying to think of the various ways other games had. Trying to figure out what might be best for me.

“The gods that designed the system made it so most anything that took effort and time gave some sort of experience. Especially if it betters you or a skill.” The mousy woman spoke in a hushed voice. Barti and the bear woman looked at her with raised eyebrows. “But generally combat is the best option.” She finished, shrinking in on herself as she did so. I took the time to eat my now cooler spoonful of stew. It was amazing.

I had expected fake meat but the texture was all wrong. Not only that but the flavors were more vivid and rich than I had ever eaten. The stew tasted like something created by a culinary god. For some reason, the flavors reminded me of something from my past. A memory long since worn away by time and age. I barely heard anything the other two were saying as I took in spoonful after spoonful without stopping.

“Mindi isn’t wrong,” Barti said, “But seeing as the storm has only just let up, it will be a few days before you are able to go out and hunt.”

“Why so long?” The bear woman asked. “Surely he should be able to hunt in the snow.”

“Not unless you want him to freeze,” Barti said, gesturing to my shirt. “That isn’t a training outfit.”

“Wait, he is a new traveler.” Her disgusted tone told me what she thought of me. “Why are you offering to train him? He will just use the knowledge to betray us later. It’s a trait that humans all seem to share. Think about what they did last time. What you lost.” What did she mean by that? What could humans have done to someone as powerful as the elf?

 “Tindi,” Before I could ask about what they meant, Barti’s voice dropped as he spoke in a tone that sent shivers of warning down my spine. Suddenly I felt like I wanted to run. As I had nowhere to go, I forcibly distracted myself by focusing on my food. “You don’t have to remind me of such things.” I felt the danger and threat in his voice like they were physical. I must not have been the only one either because the table was completely silent.

Eventually, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tindi nod her head in acknowledgment. The pressure that emanated from the elf evaporated. Tindi didn’t wait a single moment before changing the topic. “What are your plans for this training?”

“I was thinking that you teach him hand-to-hand, Mindi should probably be the one to teach him magic while I work on his general fitness. Eventually, I want to add in weapon training as he gets stronger.”

As I sopped up the last of the stew with a piece of bread I looked up at the group. I savored the piece as I tried to figure out if I had missed anything. Out of nowhere, Tindi asked, “What level are you currently?”

“Level one. What about you two?” I turned the question back on her, curious if they were as high-level as the elf.

“Thirty-five,” responded Tindi.

“Thirty-nine,” Whispered Mindi. They were both just over half his level. It couldn’t be normal to have a party with such a disparity between levels. Was he powerleveling them or were they helping him in other ways? Hell, could they be more than just a party?

“How much experience do you currently have?” Tindi’s question pulled me out of my thoughts.

Double-checking my status sheet before answering, “Ninety-five of a hundred.” I also noticed that all of the debuffs but Exhausted had vanished.

“Shouldn’t be hard to get that last little bit to get you to the next level. Then you can select your first element...” Tindi started.

I interrupted her with a question of my own. “Element?”

She leaned back and gestured to Barti, “You want to field this question.”

“No, you brought it up.” He said as he slowly ate his bread. His eyes were locked on hers as a mischievous smile crossed his features.

“You know I suck at magic. I can barely use what little magic I have.” She turned to Mindi, “Mindi, you’re the mage of the group, help me with this explanation please.” Mindi’s head lifted enough from where she was hiding that I saw her light red, nearly pink eyes, as they flickered between her friend and me. Her body was tense, likely conflicted about answering the question. “Ok, but if I butcher the explanation then don’t blame me.”

That comment seemed like it was the tipping point. Mindi glared at her friend as she grit out a soft, “Fine.” Her body turned toward me as she looked at me. Even to my untrained eyes, the movement of her body was stiff. It almost looked like she was forcing herself to not run. Not that there was anywhere for her to run. She sat across the table from me. So, like me, there was no way out without forcing her way over her friend. She had probably thought it would be the safest spot when she had chosen it. Then along came Barti and his new trainee, me.

“Magic is divided into eight different elements and one non-element. Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, Light, Dark, Space, and Time. While anyone can technically learn any of the elements, some will be easier for the person than others. This has been called one's affinity, properties of the soul, and many other things by many scholars. While it has been measured, the reason for each person's affinity with various elements is still unknown.” She started. The more she talked, the more she seemed to relax. As if her lecturing was something that she was used to and helped her to relax.

“Through training with a master, one can learn how to cast an element just like one can learn to punch or use a weapon. There are even academies dedicated to only learning various magics.” She continued. “However, this is expensive and time-consuming. It is easier to just unlock your first element with skill points and practice using it.”

“What is your element?” I asked her, curious.

“Mainly Earth with a touch of Fire and Water.”

Looking at Barti, I silently asked him the same question. He seemed to understand what I wanted to know as he said, “Mainly Wind with some Water and Light. How else did you think I could heal you?”

“Before you ask,” Tindi said, her hands held up in surrender for some reason. “I have access to some Water magic but only enough to summon water.”

“Tindi here is one of the few people with nearly no affinity for any of the elements,” Mindi said.

“So what is stopping someone from dumping all of their points and working to grow only one or two stats?” I asked, thinking about how I could min-max my character. They all laughed. Even Mindi.

“Not much except your inevitable death.” Barti said, “For example, if a person increased their strength but not their vitality, their muscles would tear their body apart as they tried to move. Without enough vitality, magic will tear through your body as it works its way into your spell. It is a generally accepted fact that everyone should keep their lowest stat no lower than seventy percent of their highest. While that may seem stifling right now, you will find that the range of stats increases a lot as you grow.”

Thinking back over my stats and doing some quick math, I found that I was just under that threshold with two of my stats. “Um, so,” my lips went dry as I tried to ask the question. “What would happen if my strength and wisdom were, say, less than that value?”

With a predatory smile on his face, Barti's simple statement sent terror racing through my system. “We train you to increase those values.”