Free Origin A.R.S. by Scottie Futch Page A

smiled. There was a familiar guard on duty. “Good afternoon Sergeant Arne.”
    “Lad! Good afternoon to you as well. You seem to be keeping busy.” The guard sergeant who had saved Scott from grass rat related death eyed the novice sorcerer for a moment.
    “Yes. I just finished up collecting some rabbit parts for Farmer John.”
    “Did you now?” Arne’s eyes lit up. It was not a hard request, but it could take a while.
    Scott nodded at the man then called up his inventory screen. “A farmer told me that I am supposed to turn them in here at the gate, though?”
    “Ah, yes. You’ll have to take your bounty chit to the town hall to get paid, but we can take the proof off your hands here. Follow me.”
    Scott followed Arne into the gate and over to the gatehouse. The good sergeant pointed at a table near the far wall. “Just dump them out there, and one of the recruits will sort them later.”
    “Thanks.” Scott walked over to the table and dropped the various whiskers and pelts onto the table.
    Arne eyed his haul critically then asked, “Lad, you didn’t gather any meat?”
    “Uh no...Was I supposed to?”
    “No, for the quest anything you got would do. Still, it seems a waste not to get a bit of meat out of your hunts.”
    “Uhm...” Scott was not sure how to tell the man that he had gotten no meat because none had dropped. The people of this world seemed to understand the game-like nature of its existence, but how far did that extend?
    “Ah, you’re a sorcerer and a young one at that. You probably don’t have any survival skills.”
    “Survival?” asked Scott. He had the lore ring that he had received from Mid, but it required a great deal more experience to acquire the survival skill than he was willing to expend on the task at present!
    “Yes, lad! How are you going to survive in the wilds without them?”
    Scott thought about it then said, “Well, I don’t know. Maybe I will just have to gnaw on a monster while it is attacking me?”
    Arne snorted at him then started to laugh. “Lad, lad. Save up some money and buy a survival lore crystal ring. Lore rings are expensive, but at least you can learn the skills.”
    “I haven’t seen any for sale at the local shops.”
    “Yeah, you’d have to wait till Regal Alice is open. She will probably open tomorrow night.”
    “She’s only open one day a week?” What kind of business model was that?
    The guard sergeant shook his head. “Regal Alice is a lore sage merchant. When she comes to town she opens up shop for a week, usually.”
    “What’s a lore sage merchant?”
    “You’ve never heard of them?” asked Arne.
    “I can honestly say that I have not.” said Scott.
    Arne rubbed his chin for a moment. “Lore Sage Merchants are people who have mastered the skills of a lore sage and a merchant. Sort of like a Mage-Knight, or a Celestial Arc-Paladin. Regal Alice mastered both skill sets completely and was able to reincarnate as an advanced class, the Lore Sage Merchant.”
    Scott’s eyes lit up immediately. Such a thing was possible? He could develop an advanced class? “I thought it wasn’t possible to completely master the skills of another class?”
    “Ah, no. That’s not quite right. You can master multiple classes. You just need to do it one at a time. You can also just upgrade into an advanced version of your current class, which is what most people do.”
    “One at a time?”
    “Yes, for instance I am a guard but that is not my class. I am a Rogue Knight. I mastered the arts of the rogue and the knight. When you reach level one hundred you can reincarnate as a new class and start again.”
    “Really? So, that means that you have reincarnated at least twice now?” Scott had not expected to find someone who had done so in his first town!
    “A few more times than that, lad. I was a bit wayward in my early years.”
    “Wow, interesting.” Arne was someone who had repeatedly reincarnated. No wonder he could paralyze a horde of