Origin ARS 6 Page 21

  "Crankshaft, and those people..," said Scott. It was absolutely absurd. They had literally just left the place!

  "Who knows? We won't be able to find out anything until the task force is readied," said Rhea. She bit her lip. "The timing sucks."

  "There's a good time for something like this to happen?" asked Scott, an incredulous expression writ large on his face.

  She nodded to him. "Absolutely."

  Scott eyed her carefully for a moment. It was hard for him to understand her meaning through her expression and body language.

  Rhea frowned cutely then said, "I have to head back to work. Otherwise, I would join the task force that they are probably trying to put together outside of town."

  "Damn," muttered Scott. Her logic was impeccable from a game stand-point, but felt a bit cold from a humane view-point. It left a strangely hollow feeling in his gut for a brief moment, but he realized that she had made a point. She had also given him an idea. "There's a task force?"

  "If you turn the channel to the local access station, it'll probably have information," said Rhea.

  Scott did as she suggested. The screen now showed a man in black armor. Below his image, a repeating banner provided information about the call to arms. "All brave people currently near the city of Valkovia, heed this call to arms. The Storm Tyrant has begun a new offensive in the North. Meet on the plains outside the city before dawn."

  Rhea poked Scott in the shoulder. "You should go."

  "They'd let me join up with them?" Scott looked up to Rhea, his eyes curious. "I'm not exactly a citizen, you know."

  The elf maiden grinned at him then nodded. "Absolutely. You'll gain a lot of contribution and social experience if nothing else."

  "Contribution... What can I do with it, anyway? I haven't seen anything that I can actually do with it," said Scott.

  "All kinds of things," said Rhea. "Equipment, land, discounts, specialty items, and even free services in the area, there's plenty of stuff that you can do with contribution."

  "How do I use it?" asked Scott.

  "You'll probably have to wait till the crises is averted, but when it's over you should go to the city magistrate's office to spend it. At the very least you can trade it in for money," said Rhea.

  "Man, it's too bad you can't go." Scott reached over and took Rhea's hand. "How am I going to survive another week without ya?"

  She smiled warmly at him. "Well, aren't you sweet?"

  "It happens," said Scott. "Try to at least text me or something when you can?"

  "Of course! The time-dilation might make them come several hours after I send them, but I'll write," said Rhea.

  Herbert took the chance to chitter loudly. They looked over to him and discovered that he was pointing at his skull helmet. The beautiful construct was finally complete.

  "Good job," said Scott. "I couldn't have made that."

  The grass rat waved him off then laughed in his own special chittering manner. He then patted the helmet and pointed to Scott.

  Eager to see what would happen, Scott picked up the cat skull helm and placed it on his head. The item quickly began to twist and wriggle, soon it fit him perfectly. He clasped and then tightened the chin strap before turning to look at Rhea. "So, do I look barbaric and sexy?"

  Rhea threw a hand to her face and laughed. "You're certainly something."

  He grinned at her then turned back to Herbert. "Thanks for this! It's great."

  A somewhat bashful chitter was the little fellows response. He rubbed the back of his head then dragged his foot from side-to-side on the table.

  At the moment, Scott looked a great deal like a barbarian who had joined a local circus. It was a strange sort of ensemble that he wore. Red, yellow, and blue clothing mixed with an animal skull helm and a similar set of fur bracers. There was no chance that someone would fail to recognize him in a fight. That much was certain.

  "Hey, will you be going with me to join the task force?" Scott looked to Herbert for an answer.

  The Grassrat shook his head. He had other plans.

  "I see. You want to train or something?" asked Scott. Training was always good. He could certainly use a bit more of it.

  Herbert nodded then performed a happy little jig. His feet needed to be in motion. It was the only way to live.

  "Guess it'll just be me." Scott rubbed his chin lightly. "Wonder how long the task force will take?"

  "It depends on the number of troops in the battle. I'd guess a few days, if the Storm Tyrant doesn't attack with reserve forces," said Rhea.

  "Right, you have a lot of experience with large-scale battles in this world," said Scott. "How bad is this?"

  "This?" Rhea shook her head. "If the reporter showed everything properly, the main forces would be swept back in about a day. There'd be another day or two of hunting for stragglers."

  "Without Thunder Reign, the Storm Tyrant doesn't seem as strong," said Scott.

  "That summoned beast is probably the only reason that he has a chance to do any real damage. The eldritch armor knights that attacked here seemed to be around level twenty-five to forty. Pretty standard low-end cannon fodder," said Rhea.

  They continued to discuss the Storm Tyrant for a time. Rhea revealed all that she knew on the subject. Level design, event coordination, and creature placements were not her department. Most of her direct knowledge came from actively exploring the world.

  Their conversation stuttered to a halt a few minutes later when Scott noticed something on the C-Vision. "Hey, is that the idiot trio?"

  Rhea and Herbert looked at the screen alongside Scott, each of them eager to see if it was true. As it turned out, Scott was correct.

  Clarence screamed bloody murder as he ran down the street, an arm in one hand, and a leg in another. A quartet of armor knights appeared before him, and he fell back. Even from the great distance that the camera man was positioned at, it was obvious that Clarence was terrified. He unleashed what appeared to be a scream, but his outcry was drowned out by the sounds of battle. Massive axe blades fell upon him with brutal efficiency. The constant nuisance who had for a time been known as First Guy, lay dead on the street. His various bits and pieces were strewn about with no regard to his former humanity.

  They watched the grisly scene for a moment. It was a stark reminder of the fragile nature of life in this world.

  "You know. We're all still together for a few hours," said Scott. "Want to make the most of it?"

  The trio looked to each other, and then nodded. Rhea would leave soon to return to work. Scott, would be fighting the monstrous hordes of the Storm Tyrant alongside people he had never met. Herbert? Well, Herbert just wanted to dance.

  For a time, the vagaries of life in a fantasy world would tear them apart once more. Now, however, they had a few more hours to spend in each other's company. It was the little moments that allowed for the greatest of joys, and granted reminders of what each of them fought for throughout their lives.

  ###

  Thank you for reading Origin ARS Volume 6! Life has been a strange roller coaster of late, but I am proud to have presented this volume for your enjoyment.

  See you next time with another moderately exciting adventure in the world of ARS. (It's probably going to be more exciting than I just let on. Shhh. Tell no one. It's our little secret.)

  ~ Scottie Futch

  Discover Other Works by this Author

  Many people ask me if I currently write other stories in this multiversal setting. The answer is yes. I do in fact write other stories that involve a man named Scott running around in a game-themed reality. I write several of them in fact.

  Most of my current stories can be found in an exceptionally rough form at the website, Royal Road Legends. Even this story, Origin ARS exists in rough draft form there. Most of my stories have what some might call a Mature rating. Be warned.

  Two notable stories that I currently work on there that have less of the romance angle and more action, are:

&nbs
p; 1. Galactic Fist of Legend – A story designed to work as an interdimensional death game parody. It features a Scott who runs around in a zombie apocalypse, and parody versions of places such as Metroid, the Mushroom Kingdom of Super Mario Brothers, and recently it hit chapter twenty and began a short parody version of dark souls type of games.

  Think about what you might read if someone wrote a LitRPG death game that operated thematically similar to concepts such as Gantz, Terror Infinity, and strangely enough... Captain N: The Video Game Master. Be warned, the writing is still exceptionally rough, as are all of the stories on that site with few exceptions.

  2. Earth Tactics Advance – One of my LitRPG in the modern day stories. It is my stab at a turn-based, tactical, survival horror, dating sim. The apocalypse happened, now everyone has to survive each battle for their lives one turn at a time. Also, monster girls want to date you. If you're strong enough to get their interest.

  There are other tales of interest to be found on Royal Road Legends as well. Some of them are even my stories.