Raiya: Starter Zone - A LitRPG Saga: Archon's Chosen - Book One Read online

  James rubbed his face with both hands, pressing on his eyes with his palms. “NO. To both of those questions. Where am I? And how are you standing in front of me? You are a character from the game and I…” he trailed off.

  James sat up and looked at Sharktooth “Wait. Last night I reached level 100, finished the quest, and got my world first achievement. Then you looked at me through the screen and then I woke up here. Did you do this to me?”

  Sharktooth smiled, which was terribly unsettling as James had never seen a shark smile except in a Pixar movie and that did NOT do these horrifying rows of teeth justice.

  The strange being answered each question in turn. “Of course, I did, this is your reward for freeing me from my imprisonment, as I have already explained. I asked if you wanted to be an Alpha tester and you accepted. Of course, you didn't click the link to read the terms of service. You accepted my offer and now you are here, at your selected starting point.” Sharktooth shrugged. “Why is this so hard to understand?”

  “I ACCEPTED... WHAAAAT?” James shouted, dragging out the words. He scrambled to his feet and stepped up to look Sharktooth directly in his beady shark eyes. “I obviously didn't realize that you were going to be a real god or something and then teleport me, NAKED, to a fricking island in the middle of nowhere.”

  “To be honest, this is an Alpha so there were bound to be some bugs.” Sharktooth responded. He snapped his fingers and a pair of silken trousers appeared on James’ body.

  A prompt appeared in the corner of James’ vision, he unfocused his eyes and a the prompt enlarged.

  You have found Silken Pants, Light armor, Item level 1, 2 Armor, Durability 5/5, weight .2 kilograms

  James looked down and saw he was now wearing a pair of pants identical to what Sharktooth was wearing.

  “Umm… Thanks. So back to what I was saying before, I did not know I was agreeing to be teleported to…” Sharktooth cleared his throat, cutting James of mid-sentence.

  “What!?” James asked angrily, his fists clenching, standing defiantly before a Shark Headed god.

  “I didn’t teleport you, it’s a bit more complicated than that. It isn't just some magic trick that some 60th level wizard can cast. I tore a hole in the universe and bent spacetime just to bring you here, to this very spot. It was an extremely complicated process that took me centuries to perfect before I was imprisoned. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure I would get it right with the whole... being out of practice for a thousand years.”

  James just stared, mouth agape. After a brief pause he snapped his jaw shut, his anger overtaking his ongoing confusion. “What the hell would have happened if you had gotten it wrong?”

  “To be honest, I don't actually know. My guess? You would have spent an eternity in the space between reality, floating through the raw energies of chaos until your mind no longer existed as you understand it. But I didn’t, and you’re fine.”

  James just slumped his shoulders, then he threw a punch which landed firmly on Sharktooth’s nose. James screamed in pain, his hand shattering against what felt like a solid steel anvil. Sharktooth only smiled.

  “Feel better?” The Shark God asked the puny mortal before him.

  Clutching his shattered hand and hissing through clenched teeth “You broke my freaking hand man!” James noticed a red bar in the corner of his vision and a small broken bone icon blinking under what he assumed was his health bar. He focused on it in his mind.

  You punched The Immortal God Sharktooth, you have received 35 damage in feedback.

  You have broken bones - 3 fingers - Maximum dexterity reduced by 80% for any action requiring the use of your hands.

  You have gained 1 reputation point with The Immortal God Sharktooth

  “Technically you broke your own hand, I had nothing to do with it. Honestly, what did you think was going to happen?” Sharktooth said with a toothy grin.

  Still in agony, James growled “I was hoping to demonstrate how pissed off I was that you kidnapped me from my world and brought me to wherever this is against my will.”

  “You mortals just don't listen. I offered you the opportunity to be brought to this new world, you of course agreed. Therefore, I did not kidnap you, I completed my end of the bargain. Now you have to do what I brought you here for, to test my new game.” A smiling Sharktooth answered plainly, his words overwhelming James’ will and forcing him to understand the permanence of his situation.

  “Listen, you are the first person from your world to inhabit this game world. But you are not alone. This world is populated by fully realistic characters who will become your friends and enemies. You will fight and probably die. It will be a painful journey, as this really isn't a game in the traditional sense. You are really here, and you can really die, though not to worry, your award for completing the quest from last night granted you a unique bonus!”

  Sharktooth gestured and a screen filled James vision again, this time he was looking at a character sheet of himself, his stats listed clearly. Next to his stat block was a list of passive perks:

  Alpha Tester: Your status as an alpha tester gives you full access to all skills, even racially restricted skills. This will allow you to fully test the systems of PoDS 2.

  Rosetta Stone: You can speak any language you hear with perfect diction as long as your intelligence remains above 8. This only applies to languages spoken by sentient beings.

  First Come, First Served: As the very first player to be an Alpha Tester, You gain a starting class kit containing gear specific to your selected starting class.

  James carefully reviewed the listed perks and even through the blistering pain of his shattered hand, he couldn't help but be impressed. These were some extremely powerful bonuses that would definitely come in handy.

  “So I am in a game that you created, but this isn't just some virtual representation. From my broken hand and this agonizing pain I can see that this is legit. I have a character sheet, I have Health Points and Mana Points. The first thing that comes to mind - Why aren't my health points regenerating since I am not in combat?”

  Sharktooth grinned mischievously, “I told you, this isn't the game you know. Only rest or magic can restore lost health at your level. At later levels, there might be interesting perks that grant regeneration or some other forms of personal healing.” Sharktooth waved his hand in the air, suffused with glowing green light.

  The pain in his hand disappeared and he looked down to see his mangled fingers shifting back into place. He closed and opened his fist, surprised his hand was restored to normal.

  “Umm, thanks for that.” He said, flexing his fingers. “I assume there is an end game? A way to win and restore me back to my world?”

  “Absolutely! Every game has a win condition. This one is pretty simple. Reach level 100 and complete the final quest.” Explained Sharktooth.

  “Okay but what is the final quest?” James asked, still admiring the condition of his magically healed digits.

  “Ah ah ah,” he taunted. “No spoilers. So, are you ready to begin your journey to level 100 and to build your legend throughout Earth 2?” Sharktooth asked earnestly.

  “Earth 2?” James asked with a snicker.

  “What? I told you it was an Alpha, you ungrateful dick.” Sharktooth shook his head. “How about Raiya, does that work better for you, master?” He spat the last word thick with sarcasm.

  “It’s much better than Earth 2.” Looking around, James was struck by a sudden realization, “By the way, is this an Island? In the middle of the ocean?”

  Sharktooth nodded.

  “And are there any settlements on this island?” James continued.

  Sharktooth shook his head in the negative.

  “So, is there a boat or something somewhere?” James asked, growing a bit concerned.

  Again, Sharktooth shook his head no.

  James sighed. “Why did you bring me to a deserted island like Tom Hanks in Survivor?”

  “You picked this as your sta
rting point over the Village of Samford and over the capital of Falcons Reach.” Sharktooth replied like it was common knowledge.

  James closed his eyes, frustration boiling behind his eyes. “How the eff am I supposed to get off this island!” He yelled at Sharktooth.

  When there was no response, James opened his eyes and realized he was alone, on an island in the middle of an ocean, on a brand-new planet and he had nothing but a pair of Silken Pants.

  CHAPTER THREE

  With a sigh, he sat down and took a few minutes to come to terms with his new situation. He was in a game, but one that had real consequences. Pain was not an approximation, nor was it a joke. When he had broken his hand, he nearly fainted from the sheer agony.

  He had been naked but at least Sharktooth was generous enough to give him a silly pair of pants. Nothing would be worse than getting some poison ivy on his dingle and he was honestly glad to have them. They provided almost no protection, so he would need to figure out how to make or get better armor ASAP.

  With a sudden jolt, he remembered something from his character sheet. His unique perk First Come, First Served said he would receive a set of gear to match his starting class.

  “Okay, so I can get some free starter gear, but I need to pick a class.” He said to himself. With a thought he brought up his character sheet. He looked over the basics and saw

  Character Name:

  Not Selected

  Starting Class:

  Not Selected

  Attributes:

  Strength:

  5

  Dexterity:

  5

  Constitution:

  5

  Intelligence:

  5

  Wisdom:

  5

  Charisma:

  5

  “Aww man, these stats suck. With that intelligence I can't even benefit from my unique Alpha Tester perk. Well I guess I better do something about that.”

  Below his stats he saw a button that said Create Character. He focused on it and thought “Yes please!” And the button lit up and his vision faded to black. He was now staring at what looked like a standard video game character creation page. His first option was select gender.

  Just to see, he clicked female and his character model grew a busty chest and shapely hips, his hairstyle changed, and his face softened. He looked inquisitively at this super feminine version of himself and thought, “Damn that’s an ugly woman.”

  He quickly switched back to male, having seen himself as a member of the opposite gender just didn't sit well with him. He confirmed his selection. The next screen was a race selection dialogue. He looked through the available races.

  Humans - short lived but gain more skill points than any other race

  Elves - Long lives with an affinity for strong magic’s

  Dwarves - Stout and strong, dwarves have a natural affinity for melee combat and metal working

  Gnomes - Clever and mischievous, gnomes have a natural affinity for tinkering and traps

  Were-beasts – Were-beasts are a combination of human and animal. Strong natural armor and weapons

  Merfolk - This species thrives underwater but can live on the surface at a penalty.

  Sprites - Smaller than Gnomes but bigger than fairies, sprites generally prefer living in natural formations like trees or caves.

  “Well that’s interesting, I can change my race?” He thought. He cycled through Elf, Dwarf and Gnome the standard humanoid races. Each time he picked a new race, he saw his body change to match the standard features common to each race. When he selected Elf, he grew taller, thinner but felt his mind grow sharper and is muscles felt more dexterous. His face elongated slightly, and his eyes changed from blue to a deep gold, the color of leafs in the fall.

  When he chose dwarf, his whole body shrank to about five feet. His chest was corded with muscle and his arms were like tree trunks. Also, the thick beard he suddenly had was braided to his waist and was adorned with beads of various metal.

  When he chose gnome, he actually laughed out loud. He shrank further, standing only four feet tall but his ears became rather large to match his absurd nose. He looked like almost exactly like Nigel Thornberry from the old children's cartoon on Nickelodeon. He shuddered and clicked back to human.

  He looked over Were-beast and knew he really wasn't into becoming a furry dog person and that being a Merfolk might be great for him since he was trapped on an Island, but decided he really liked breathing air and not having penalties while not underwater, hard pass.

  He checked Sprite - and once again his character shrank, and he stood at probably 3 feet. His features were almost identical to humans, just very small and somewhat childlike. He really didn't want to live the rest of his life looking like Mini Me, so he clicked back to Human.

  “Yup! That's the one for me. I know this is a fantasy world, but I don't think becoming an entirely new species will help me in the short term. I don't know what effect it would have on my diet or health either.” He selected the prompt for next.

  You have selected Human - Humans are short lived in comparison to the other races on Raiya but make up for that by gaining skills and proficiencies faster than any other race.

  Humans gain 5 skill points per level to put into any skill they are proficient with instead of the normal 3. Additional bonus: Due to their shorter life span, humans gain 5% bonus experience for all activities.

  Do you wish to select Human as your race? Yes or No?

  He selected yes, and the next series of prompts appeared.

  Select a starting class.

  By selecting a starting class, you gain a default stat distribution that is focused on the primary statistics for that class. As you progress, you can distribute stat points as you want, regardless of your class focus. Selecting Warrior now will not stop you from becoming a Mage later in life.

  Options:

  Warrior - Powerful fighter with a focus on Strength and Constitution.

  Mage - Arcane caster with a focus on Intelligence and Wisdom.

  Cleric - Divine caster with a focus on Wisdom and Charisma.

  Rogue - Trickster with a focus on Intelligence and Charisma.

  Ranger - Ranged damage dealer with a focus on Dexterity and wisdom.

  “So, it looks like pretty standard stuff here.” he muttered to himself. Just like most roleplaying games, the base classes were generic and probably had some unique starting abilities and some skills unlocked. Since he was completely lacking the knowledge of what would be best for starting the game, so he just decided that he would go with what he always did: pick the class that would give him the most utility, the Ranger.

  You have selected the starting class Ranger.

  Rangers are dedicated to Archery, woodland tracking and hunting. You will gain the following skills at level 1:

  Tracking - Track your prey through any terrain, none shall escape you

  Survival - You have an understanding of basic survival skills, you can harvest animals for food and crafting materials.

  Ranged Proficiency - You are able to use any basic ranged weapon including bows, crossbows and slings.

  Stealth - A hunter must be silent lest they scare away their prey before they can take the perfect shot.

  Light Armor proficiency - You can wear any type of light armor without penalty to your skills

  Attributes:

  Strength

  6

  Dexterity

  10

  Constitution

  13

  Intelligence

  8

  Wisdom

  10

  Charisma

  8

  Abilities:

  Careful Aim - You draw your bow and focus, taking careful aim on your target. +20% chance to inflict a critical hit. Cast time 2 seconds. Cost 25 mana. Cooldown 30 seconds.

  Stealth: You can move silently at a reduced speed. Reduces chance of detection by 35%. Cost 5 mana, cooldown 30 seconds. Any attack made from ste
alth gives bonus damage. Cannot be used in combat.

  Starting equipment:

  Light shirt, Rarity: common, Quality: Basic, armor 0, durability 10/10

  Light Leather chest armor, Rarity common, Quality: Basic, Armor 8, durability 50/50,

  Light Leather pants, Rarity: common, Quality: Basic, armor 8, durability 50/50

  Leather boots, Rarity: common, Quality: Basic, Armor 4, durability 65/65

  Ranger’s Short bow, Rarity: common, Quality: Basic, Damage 5-8, durability 30/30

  Rangers quiver, Rarity: common, Quality: Basic, durability 30/30

  Basic Arrows x 30, Rarity: common, Quality: Basic, Damage 1-2, Durability 5/5

  Brass Dagger, Rarity: common, Quality: Basic, Damage 2-4, Durability 15/15

  Wire Trap, Rarity: common, Quality: Basic, Damage 15-18, Durability 3/3

  Do you wish to select Ranger as your starting class? Yes or No.

  He selected yes, and a final prompt appeared.

  Please select a character name. Using your real name is dangerous and could lead to people taking advantage of you through dangerous soul magic. You must select a character name for your journey in Raiya.

  With a grin, he thought of the name he has used in every game since he was a kid. “I am The Skree! Fearsome pirate, deadly warrior and master of magic!”

  Are you satisfied with your character? Yes or No?

  Skree selected yes and the character screen disappeared. He was looking out at the ocean, feeling stronger and lighter than before. His muscles seemed to be a more defined and he felt fit as a fiddle.

  “Looks like stats are going to have a tangible effect on my body,” he thought, stretching his back. “Now where is that package of starting equipment.”

  Looking around, he spotted a chest a ways up the beach toward the jungle. He stood and tramped through the sand, feeling better already. He approached the chest and bent down to open it. Inside were the items from his class starting equipment list.