AN: So, here's chapter 3. Chapter 4 will be out in a few minutes as well. :)

Chapter 3: New Tactics

Time was a funny little thing. It was not quite Danny DeVito, but still it was a funny little thing. It became even more humorous when it was experienced by a race of immortal beings that could exist on multiple time-axis at the same time and actively engage in those times without causing a paradox. For instance, Aria Ardent could simultaneously exist on the mortal frame of reference that Scott Jacobs was normally part of, even while he existed in a timeless space outside of both time and normal space.

In short, even though time did not pass in relation to Scott, Aria could still exist in a timeline that did not currently include his presence though it still held reference to his existence and his future presence would still be relative from the moment of his re-insertion. The concept was simple, but it could be quite confusing to the mortal mind. It is a rare mind that can accept that one thing can simultaneously be two opposing things and rationalize how said thing can exist without falling prey to the need to cite logic and consistency.

It was in some ways, like the old grandfather paradox. It is said by mortals that if a man goes back in time and kills his grandfather, he himself would cease to exist. However, if he ceased to exist then he could not go back in time to kill his grandfather and thus would exist. This is used as a thought experiment and as a means of trying to explain why time-travel is impossible without citing poorly understood physics.

That paradox seems logical, but only from the limited perspective of a mortal understanding of time. For most mortal minds time flows in a distinct line. One event leads into another. However, for those who became known as the gods time did not flow that way. Linear time did not actually exist for them unless they chose to experience it. There were events and a flow of awareness, but they were omni-existent. If such a thing as a point could exist in time and space, then all points existed simultaneously for the gods if they were in their natural state.

The gods of the divine city chose to continually experience the concept of a mostly linear time progression for the sake of being authentically human-ish. It was sometimes as hard for them to experience linear time as it was for a normal human mind to experience the true nature of time and space. It was a bizarre, alien, concept that took a lot of effort to comprehend properly.

Currently, the goddess Origin had split her consciousness into six separate instances. Four of them currently existed in the four servers of ARS as the local planetary goddess who was also known as Origin. The fifth was her core persona that resided in the divine city. The sixth was currently driving down a busy street at the wheel of a pink Cadillac. Though her fiancé was outside of time and space, she chose to exist in his original space in order to handle some of his business. Any paradoxes that occurred during the process would be cleaned up later.

Aria swayed her head from side to side and sang along with the song on the radio. It was Michael Jackson's song Smooth Criminal. "Ba da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da duhn!"

She carefully performed a one hundred eighty degree turn that made her tires squeal and people screech in terror, before she gunned the engine and tore down the highway once more. Her phone buzzed and she looked down. The goddess of love and bad driving checked her messages while driving down the busy North Carolina highway at speeds in excess of one hundred miles per hour.

Aria snorted then leaned back and casually repositioned one of her legs so she could steer with her foot while she returned a text from Mid. What she lacked in common sense, she made up in flexibility it seemed. "She really sent him there, huh? What's wrong with that girl?" asked Aria as she used her knee to absent-mindedly steer her Cadillac around a truck that was hauling propane.

There was a short lag period between the divine city and Earth due to the need to use Earth-based technology to communicate back and forth properly. It would not do to use menu screens for every little things. That factor had caused her not to receive updates concerning Scott since she had the run-in with Sarah.

Aria wove between the cars on the road using her foot while not bothering to look where she was going. The cars moved so slowly that it was easy to avoid running into anyone. That would not keep someone else from having an accident, of course. More than one car swerved off the road onto the grassy embankment, their drivers fearful for their mortal lives.

She sent a text to Mid asking her to stop being cruel to Scott. It was not long before Mid replied.

"Hang in there baby?" asked Aria. It was a photo of a cat hanging on a clothes line with those words captioned beneath it. "Cute, but what does she mean?"

Aria rotated her steering wheel hard with her steering foot and pressed the brake pedal. Her Cadillac spun sideways and drifted a few dozen feet before she punched the gas with her brake foot and she took off again down the road she had just turned onto.

She acquired a thoughtful look. "I wonder what he's doing right now?" she sighed. "Bet it's more exciting than what I'm going to be doing with my day." She shook her head then pouted in a way similar to how a little girl might look if someone had asked her to eat her Brussels sprouts. "Meetings" *Blergh*. "Stupid military."

In the background the sound of dozens of police sirens could be heard. She was a little sad to hear them. There were a lot of bad drivers and criminals in the world. Even the police seemed to be having an exciting day. She briefly wondered who they were after to need to bring in so many officers, but then she sighed again. Why couldn't she be doing something more exciting right now? "You better show me your appreciation later, Scott." she said. A slowly spreading smile arose on her lips. She bit her lip a little as she started to envision just how much he would appreciate her.

While eight of North Carolina's finest state troopers chased after her, Aria began to daydream about how much Scott would appreciate her, and the depths of said appreciation. A slight hint of drool began to dribble from the corner of her lips and she giggled like a moron. "Oh Scott! You're so appreciative."

***

The confines of the safe room were something Scott had become intimately familiar with. He had awakened there after several of his most recent deaths. He sighed then stood up. "What is that now? Six. Seven?"

He shook his head then went to look at the salvation mirror. Little had changed since the first time that he had looked at him. The problem was that he had died too often. He had not even made it to class level two, yet.

"I need to try another tactic." he said. Throughout his many deaths, Scott had managed to defeat only one more hellion. The monsters in this dungeon would forget about his existence whenever he entered the safe room. If he died they forgot him and then their locations would be randomized the moment he stepped out of the door.

The main issue was that their skills roughly matched their stats. His skills only matched his level. They were clearly more skilled even if they were on similar footing stat-wise.

"Direct confrontation doesn't work that well. Beating the things takes too long" muttered Scott. By the time he was nearly done with one monster he was normally beaten all to hell. The worst part was that the noise from the battle drew the attention of the others. They would often show up to see what was going on and then he would die.

The problem was the length of the battle. Scott had tried everything to shorten it. He had even attempted to use the pistols that he had found. That had proved slightly useful, but only in drawing a monster away. For some reason, the damage from the weapons was low. His lack of a firearms skill was possibly the cause, or perhaps they were just low-level weapons due to the fact that he was in a tutorial dungeon?

As he sat on the cot thinking about his current issue, a useful thought occurred. "Maybe..."

He nodded. There was no reason not to try and change things up a little. Scott put his new thought into action and slipped out of the room. The corridor at the end of the hall was empty, so he moved forward carefully. He sensed for the life around the corner even though it hurt his head slightly to do so.

A life force that he had become familiar with was detected around the next corner. Scott only sensed the one monster. He took out his pistol and leaned his head around quickly in order to see where the monster was at. The hulking brute was leaning against the wall with his arms cross over his chest. He too wore the raincoat looking thing that the others wore. Scott would not know what weapons it wielded till it drew them forth.

Scott fired off a round to get the monster's attention. He managed to hit the wall just beyond the beast. It stood up straight and looked around in surprise.

"Hey, you hungry?" whispered Scott loudly before waving at the monster.

The hellion exclaimed. "Meats!" before whipping out a greatsword. Scott hissed loudly then turned and fled. The monster quickly chased after him. Scott managed to make it back to the corridor that led to the safe room before it caught up.

Scott twisted out of the way of a hard overhand strike that slammed into the floor with great force, and leveraged it into a hard spinning sweep to the monster's ankles. It was knocked off its feet and landed with a heavy *whuffing* sound. The air had been knocked from its lungs.

The sorcerer immediately capitalized on the opening presented. Scott launched a hard downward heel-stomp that slammed into the monster's face. He kicked it a few times, but it soon recovered and lashed out wildly to try and drive Scott back.

Scott obliged and allowed it to get to its feet. It was time to enact his strategy. He needed combat experience. It did not work in the same manner here as it did in the casual server. Combat experience was derived through the actual combat scenario, not just from the kill. In fact, killing these monsters might have been wasteful. Scott was uncertain of that fact at the moment, but it was possible.

The only thing Scott had to lose was his life. He'd already lost that several times. It was time to see if he could leverage that fact into a viable training method.

The hellion snapped. "You damned meat!" before it picked up its greatsword and began to hack, slash, and chop at Scott with great speed and power. The sorcerer was hard pressed to dodge the attacks, much less counter them. He took several hard strikes that bruised his arms and legs. A decidedly nasty horizontal swing had gouged through his leather armor and caused him to bleed heavily.

Scott was unable to dodge another incoming swing and he was forced to block it with his right arm. He felt the impact and the stress on his muscle and bone. However, he had managed to withstand the swing. His unarmed combat bonus granted him a natural defense of one hundred forty, but his unarmed combat skill had actually increased it by seven points. He had learned that his flesh was strong enough to resist some of the blows from these monsters, though it was still best to let the armor try to stop some of that damage.

Stopping the monster's attack with a block had caused serious stress on Scott's right arm, but it provided an opening that he could exploit. He spun to the side and kicked at the back of its knee. The monster's leg buckled slightly, throwing him off balance.

Scott threw himself forward, snaked his arm around the monster's neck and dropped quickly toward the ground in a bid to break the hellion's neck on his shoulder. The movement was successful, but was far from fatal. A shoulder neck breaker could easily end a fight on Earth, possibly even be fatal, but the hellion's health was simply too high.

The shoulder neck breaker stunned the monster, however. Scott decided that one professional wrestling move deserved another. He rolled the beast over, climbed onto its back in a slipped his arm around its neck once more. He used his other hand to comb back the beast's head and began squeezing his arm for all he was worth.

When the weakly struggling monster's struggles stopped. Scott immediately let go. He snatched up the greatsword and shoved it into his bag, and then began to rifle through the monster's pockets. He found a few coins, but nothing too exciting.

Scott left the unconscious monster where he fell then quickly moved back to the shelter of the safe room. Once inside he checked the mirror, saw no difference, and sighed. "I have to wait for the pulse."

He needed to heal and to allow his armor and gloves to repair themselves. That was apparently the special function of the so-called special equipment. His noobie armor self-repaired if he was in a safe location, such as the safe room. It would be repaired over time, much like he healed when he rested.

The cot called to him and Scott gladly went to enjoy his rest. Time passed in the timeless place. Injuries healed at an accelerated rate. His armor and weaponry were restored to perfect status. Scott awoke then sat up.

"Alright. Let's see." Scott checked the mirror and rubbed his chin. He was still level one, but he had increased his light armor level by one. He saw no changes on his defense stat. Still, he was certain that it did something.

He went out to fight a little more. While he was not certain that his tactic would work, it at least allowed him to train his light armor skill.

Scott pulled his pistol from his bag. The unconscious hellion was no longer on the floor where he had been left to lie. That meant that the dungeon had reset. He found the monster in the same location as before. Since he had not died, the layout of the monster locations had not changed.

Once again, Scott took a shot at the monster. Surprisingly, it whipped out another great sword and charged toward him.

The sorcerer did not make it back to the point that he had before because he had been momentarily delighted to see that he could keep looting the same items if he wanted. In short, he had limited bag space, but he could farm these guys!

"Stop meats!" snapped the hellion as he whipped his greatsword downward. Scott took a hard cut along the back that sliced through his light leather armor and caused him to bleed a little, but he had managed to narrowly avoid being cleaved in half.

He turned quickly and struck down at the beast's rising hands with a double downward hammer fist. The greatsword was knocked from its hands just before shut swung his doubled fists upward to slam under his chin. The monster's head was knocked back by the continuing combination move. Scott turned counter to his current movement and swept the monster's leg. This hellion was not an unarmed combatant. That much was certain. Without his greatsword he was easily knocked around by unarmed strikes and takedowns.

Still, he did have incredible health and stamina. The hellion launched a desperate kick that Scott mostly avoided. He could feel the bruise beginning to form along the side of his calf, however.

The sorcerer kicked, slapped, and dodged as best he could to lessen the fallen monster's strikes. Despite his superior position, Scott had trouble hitting the monster in a vital spot. The desperate flailing of the hellion's limbs were unskilled but powerful.

Scott chose to hop back a short distance and allow the monster to get back to his feet. The hellion was the perfect opponent at the moment. He had little in the way of unarmed combat skills, so it was not that difficult to take him down to the ground. However, he was extremely dangerous with his greatsword. That forced Scott to have to act quickly to avoid taking damage.

Thus began a dance with death, the partners in that dance were a twilight sorcerer and a hellion. The hellion would swing his blade and the sorcerer would do his best to dodge. Sometimes the sorcerer avoided the attack. Sometimes he was hit and paid a heavy price.

Loud shouts began to echo down the hallway after a few minutes. The sound of the fight had drawn another hellion.

"This is my meats! You fuck off!" snarled the hellion before whipping his blade around in a furious arc.

"Meats!" roared the incoming hellion. It would be there soon.

Scott saw that as the perfect time to end the fight. The next time the hellion made a heavily committed attack, Scott kicked the blade to the side turned quickly, and launched a fierce uppercut that slammed into the beast's chin. Its greatsword dropped to the ground as it staggered back.

The sorcerer scooped it up and raced off toward his safe room. The sounds of screaming hellions echoed through the corridor as the meat made a mad dash for freedom.

Once inside his safe room, Scott made a bee-line for the salvation mirror then checked his stats and skills. There was no change, but he had not really expected to see one. His plan would take a lot of time and effort. He also had to wait for the experience pulse so that his acquired knowledge would be absorbed properly.

"Man. I hope this is working. That guy is tearing me apart." Scott was fortunate that his current opponent was a heavy weapon user with little in the way of skills beyond swinging his weapon. A gun fighter, or a light weapon wielder, would have already torn him apart by now.

He stuffed the greatsword into his bag then flopped down on the cot. It was time to recuperate from his battle once more.

A series of short, but dedicated, battles began after that. The moment Scott thought that another hellion was going to approach, he did his best to get an opening in the battle and then raced off toward his safe room. During those battles he had run out of ammunition or magic charge, whatever the pistols used. Scott had resorted to stepping out from behind the corner and saying random things to irritate the monster that he had used as a training dummy throughout the day.

He fought the same hellion over two dozen times, and managed to knock it unconscious three of those times. His headache increased severely in intensity during this time due to the heavy usage of his unarmed combat skills, but Scott felt that the plan had to be working.

There was no way to know how much time had passed since he had begun training in the way that he had. He felt like the better part of a day, perhaps two days, had passed but there was no sense of time in the dungeon.

"Guess I better get back to It." said Scott with a sigh. Was his plan working? His light armor skill had increased to three, but beyond that he had no idea.

Scott glanced at the salvation mirror to make certain that his progress was saved, but then stopped cold. The mirror told him something interesting!

Scott Jacobs

Race: Lunarii | Class: Twilight Master

Age: 18 | Max Lifespan: Ageless

Level: 2 | Title: The Reborn

Attack: 140[147-154] | Defense: 140[151-159]

Strength: 100 | Agility: 100 | Vitality: 100

Intellect: 100 | Charisma: 100 | Attunement: 100

[--]

"It worked? Hell yeah! It worked!" Scott laughed loudly and slapped himself on the thigh. "Damn, I almost gave up on it."

The thing he was most excited about was his headache. It was gone. Finally, the constant pain in his head had disappeared!

"What I have here is a chance to increase my skills a great deal and farm for a lot of items. Mid was right, I definitely need to take my time and learn everything that I can." Time did not pass here in relation to the rest of the universe. He was slated for the next insertion schedule into ARS, but everyone scheduled for that insertion would start at the same time since the gods pretty much did whatever they wanted with local time.

His goal was level five, but it was also the headache. When he had both reached level five and his head felt like it was going to split open, he would be ready to move on. That would mean that his combat level had reached its peak in relation to his social and skill experience pools.

"That's perfect." said Scott. He could level to five, bank another four combat levels, and then spend his first day or two out in ARS proper socializing and learning about the world. The city alone should be something wonderful to behold.

He left his safe room and went out to find his training partner. The hellion was in his customary spot. Scott grinned. It was time to get to work.

***

In the parking lot of the headquarters building that Scott had been assigned, a little red Camry pulled gently into an empty parking spot. Aria stepped out then sighed at her car. "Man, can't believe I had to change it to another car."

While driving with her customary safety consciousness, she had realized that the state troopers were after her for some reasons. Normally it would have been fun to be detained by the police and get booked as a criminal, but she had a time schedule to keep. She had been forced to quickly change her car from a pink Cadillac to the next thing on her list, a red Camry.

Aria pouted at the car. It was fun to drive it, but she had liked her convertible. Maybe she would change it into a jeep next? A jeep could be fun.

The vehicularly downgraded goddess locked up her car then strolled into the headquarters building in search of the only contact she had. Upon entering, she met with a Lieutenant James, who called up for Captain Johnson.

A few minutes later the middle-aged captain came down the stairs and walked over to the duty desk. He glanced at the lieutenant then over to Aria. "You needed to see me about something, ma'am?"

Aria smiled brightly at the captain then said, "Yes. We should go to your office."

"Ma'am, I've got a lot of paperwork to do. Is this about one of my soldiers or...?" asked Captain Johnson.

"It's about Scott Jacobs. I'm his fiancé." said Aria flatly.

Captain Johnson blinked. "Scott... Jacobs." He turned to his duty officer. "Hold all my calls unless it's the colonel or better."

"Yes, sir." said Lieutenant James before glancing over to the absurdly beautiful woman. She remembered Scott Jacobs as a man who was almost too pretty to be real. Now there was a woman in front of her that could easily match that. Where did these people come from?

Aria followed the captain up to his office. He locked the door behind them and sat down at his desk. "How can I help you?"

"I suppose I should get directly to the point. Just to be clear, you spoke to me a few months ago when my fiancé made an offer to your government." said Aria.

"Yes, I recall. It's still hard to believe. Are you really ... You know."

Aria glanced at him then looked over at his desk lamp. "Is that special to you in any way."

"That lamp? No."

Aria pulled up a menu screen. She manipulated a few buttons and the lamp shimmered. In its place, was now a puppy.

"The... That. Did you just turn my desk lamp into a dog?" asked the man in surprise. The desk lamp dog growled cutely then wobbled around. It was a Labrador retriever pup, and quite adorable.

"Yep. So, not to be rude but can we dispense with the whole am I really a goddess thing please?" asked Aria with a warm smile.

"Fine by me. What can I do for you, Ms...?" asked the captain politely.

"Ardent. Aria Ardent is the name that I go by on Earth." she said.

"I see. So, what can I do for you Ms. Ardent?"

Aria wasted no time and began to discuss the situation. "Your superiors are not putting much effort into the offer that was made. However, Scott has received orders to report in two days. That won't be happening."

Captain Johnson rubbed his forehead then sighed. "Can you tell me why?"

"He's currently fighting hellions in an old subterranean transit authority building on the ARS classic server. Afterward he'll need to adjust to the new world-setting."

"Hellions? What are they?" asked the Captain with interest.

"A race of demonic ogre that is focused on vitality and strength. They aren't that bright in comparison to a human but they're pretty solid fighters and craftsmen."

Captain Johnson acquired a thoughtful expression. "That world you speak of, it sounds like a fascinating place."

"It is, though most places that are different than what you are used to tend to sound fascinating." replied Aria.

He nodded slowly. "That is true, even on this world. As far as your fiancé, I don't know what I can do. If he does not report he'll be in a failure to report situation."

"I suspect the main issue is that your superiors do not believe you?" asked Aria.

"It's an exceptionally difficult thing to believe. I could not even convince the colonel to meet with Sergeant Jacobs. It's too fantastical." he said.

Aria tapped her chin for a moment. "Well, there might be a way. My father and Scott have said that I can speak on matters pertaining to this issue, especially if something came up during Scott's transition to the new server."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Simple. You have shown interest in ARS. Would you like to be one of the people who gets to go?" asked Aria.

"What? Me? I admit that I have a certain interest, but I have a lot of responsibilities here."

"So, go explore during your time off. Do you have family responsibilities that would make it difficult to train on the weekends?" asked Aria.

"Ah, no. I've never found the time, really. I suppose you could say the army is my wife." said the man in a tone that bespoke a hidden sadness, but also a little humorous self-deprecation.

"In order to accommodate Scott the time difference was set to a four-to-one ratio. Weekend training would give you a week at a time to explore if nothing else."

Captain Johnson acquired the expression of a man who was both hesitant and intrigued. "I would be able to transport back and forth at will?"

"Yes, though if you are killed you will be stuck here for twenty-four hours. If you die on Earth, though, you won't respawn. We can't allow everyone who might cross over to ARS to have infinite respawns on Earth." she said.

He rubbed his chin. "Ma'am you make quite a case, and it is true that if I could show my colonel first hand, he could move things along."

Aria reached out and took the puppy into her arms. It growled and snuggled close to her. "You should know something. Your government wasted so much time that Scott realized that he did not want people with heavy destructive powers running around Earth, so the classes will be restricted a bit."

"Ah, I see. That is unfortunate."

"Yes, but he also realized something else. Allowing only America to have super human soldiers could be highly damaging to the world. So, every country will be allowed to have a few."

"Wait! That! We can't allow that!" exclaimed Captain Johnson. "Can you imagine the problems if some countries had super human soldiers? Even most of the first world countries would be tempted to do terrible things with that kind of power and we have stable governments!"

"Yes, but the thing is that it really isn't a decision any mortal government gets to make. Scott could just call it off altogether. He is only offering this at all because he feels that he could use a little help in safe-guarding ARS in the future. It's not like you could imprison him or even execute him and make it count."

"Dammit... This. Is there any way that you can change your mind? At least keep this away from countries that have a lot of armed infighting?"

"We can do that. Honestly, he would probably prefer that countries that allow unsavory things like slavery and such not be allowed to participate."

Captain Johnson calmed himself a little after hearing that. This was a great opportunity for America, and Earth in general. He could not speak for his superiors or the army in general, but they would be fools to let this chance slip away.

"You said that the classes are going to be restricted now? By classes, you mean like classes in a video game right?" he asked.

Aria smiled at him. "That is more or less correct. Most of what he authorized were ones that allow for physical abilities and healing powers. Much like your reluctance toward the idea of every country in the world acquiring super soldiers, he realized that allowing most countries to have mages and sorcerers could be disastrous."

"Well, that makes sense, but Healing powers are allowed? Those could be incredibly useful. They will work here as well as there?" asked Captain Johnson.

"All skills will work. That's the reason for the new limitations." said Aria.

Captain Johnson nodded slowly. "If I go, I can go back and forth at will, correct?"

Aria smiled brightly. She had him now. This little meeting had proved to be quite fruitful, and it would solve a lot of issues. She could just feel it. The puppy licked her face a little and she rubbed the back of his adorable little head. The only problem left unresolved was what she should do with the little guy now that he existed.

**

Blood, bright red blood, not only does it make the green grass grow but it also splatters in a disturbing arc when mortal flesh is torn asunder. Scott knew this effect keenly as he once again felt the terrible bite of an axe against his chest.

He fell hard to the floor and began to bleed out rapidly. He could see his severed arm several feet away from where he weakly struggled to maintain his existence. The massive axe blade fell downward once more and then he knew nothing for a time.

An unknown amount of time later, Scott awoke in the safe room. He growled in frustration at his latest death. His plan had gone so well until he had turned that last corner too short and tripped over his own feet. It was a stupid way to have his life end. After all of the times that he had navigated that short set of hallways, it had taken only one mishap to give the greatsword wielding hellion the chance he needed to take the sorcerer down. What was worse, after that the monster locations had reset. He had died four times since then due to the randomized layout and roaming hellions.

"This has to stop. There must be a way to get an edge in these fights, dammit!" snapped the naked man. He had reached level two earlier, but that did him little good if he could not even reach his damned corpse to reclaim his gear.

His lack of equipment had been a serious issue during the last two battles. His corpse thankfully remained unmolested due to the fact that this was a tutorial dungeon, but that was cold comfort when he was brutally slaughtered every time he got close to it.

Scott frowned leaned back against the wall and sighed. What could he do? His attack range was limited by his body. Even if he had his pistols they were out of ammo and did little damage to the hellions anyway. If he had any sorcery to use then he could conceivably have a chance, but all he had to work with were weak elemental powers that were more utility that combat worthy.

He thought about his magic for a moment. He existed in a place where he could heal rapidly. Even if he was killed a few times all he had to do was keep going out there again until he found a situation that he could handle. "This would be a perfect time to train my magic further..."

The twilight sorcerer closed his eyes and thought about the situation. His sorcery skill level was low, but his stats were roughly those of someone who had reached a level between twenty and thirty. Theoretically, he should at least be able to create a combat grade spell. He could use three spells at level one in the casual server. Scott had tried to mimic them through training and development, but he could not quite figure it out while he was in the Field of New Beginnings.

He rubbed his chin. "The old saying about every journey beginning with a single step... Maybe I'm trying to do too much?"

Scott opened his eyes. "Maybe..."

A thought occurred to him. It was something that had crossed his mind briefly before, but he had not really been pushed to try and develop that line of thought since his head would not stop pounding at the time. "Step-by-step..."

He stood up and moved to the center of the room. Practice would make perfect. For now he would ignore the hellions and work on his magical skills. He had all the time in the world.

Scott focused on his breathing for a moment then began to focus on his [Stable Orb of Brilliance]. For now he would repeatedly cast the two spells that he had created that did not require a secondary target until his mana ran out. Afterward he would rest.

He gestured with his palms and called out, "Stable Orb of Brilliance!" The orb of brilliantly shining light appeared directly above his head and greatly brightened the room. He immediately moved shifted his thought processes and focused on his Earth elemental spell that he had decided should be called Stone Skin out of a sense of tradition.

As he concentrated on the slightly more difficult power, his body began to glow with a soft green light. After a moment he called out the name of the spell and a sheen of light green could be seen softly shimmering against his skin.

The stone skin spell ran out after only twenty seconds, so he went through the process of casting it again. He continued to do that. Several minutes later his orb ran out of power so he started the process of casting it again. At that point he felt exhausted. Even with his enhanced mana due to reincarnating, he had not developed his spells to the point that they were energy efficient.

Casting them through the system in the manner that he was did not allow him to make the spells more efficient, but it did allow him to practice quickly casting his spells. It was important for various reasons.

Scott took a nap and then repeated this process. He did this over two dozen times before he checked the mirror. He had not increased his combat skills at all since gaining his next level, but after constant usage of his magic he had managed to increase his twilight sorcery and primary magic skills to six.

"I had to cast my spells a few hundred times to reach this point. This is definitely going to take a while." said Scott.

Still, he had nothing but time. He had to see if increasing his skill level in magic would allow him to create new spells. At the very least he wanted to get those skills to level ten while he was here. Thus began a lengthy period of training his magic. He awoke from his nap fully refreshed, and spent his time casting his spells until his mana was as empty as it could possibly be.

The process continued for one hundred rotations, it was a decision that Scott had decided upon due to how many runs he had been forced to make just to increase his skill level to six. Whenever he completed ten rotations he would check the mirror.

"Well over a thousand casts of my spells and I only gained one skill level." remarked Scott. Had he been out in the world, it would have taken days, perhaps weeks to achieve this level of growth unless he chose to spend a small fortune on mana restoratives.

He rubbed his chin. At this point he was dying to go out and fight again. He had been cooped up in this room for what had to be at least one or two days of repetitive non-stop training.

"Fuck it. This is more important than my boredom." Scott sighed loudly then nodded. He got back to work.

He checked the salvation mirror thirty rotations later and he was happy to see that he had finally increased his magical skills to level eight. "Man, no wonder people level their class then back train their skills."

Scott did feel fortunate in many respects, however. He had never once needed to use the bathroom, and felt neither hungry nor thirsty. He suspected that sleeping on the cot had a lot to do with those effects.

Tirelessly, the twilight master spent his time grinding his skills. It took nearly another four hundred rotations to get his skills to level ten. He had cast the same two spells thousands of times. It was a feat that might have taken months on ARS, and did take several days of mind-numbing dedication in the hellion dungeon. Mid had not been kidding when she had claimed that it took a lot of time and effort to train past three skill levels per class level.

"Finally." said Scott. He has reached level ten in both arcane mastery and twilight sorcery. The mirror also showed another interesting thing. "I can choose specializations!"

Scott tapped the twilight sorcery skill and saw a short list. There were six items listed.

[Special Options]

Elemental Lightning Mastery I

Elemental Earth Mastery I

Elemental Water Mastery I

Elemental Fire Mastery I

Elemental Wind Mastery I

Celestial Mastery I

[--]

After checking through the selections his eyes lit up. "This... This is what I was waiting for!"

Each of the masteries would allow him to improve his overall ability to develop and utilize that specific element. His general twilight sorcery skill would improve all elemental masteries by a small amount, but these individual specializations would improve a specific elemental mastery further. They also increased magical defense against that element slightly.

"It would be easier to develop one of the five basic elements, but celestial mastery..." Scott felt a strong pull toward that specialization. From what Mid had said, few classes or races had access to direct training opportunities for that sort of magic. If nothing else a slightly higher defense against it would be a good idea since it bypasses normal elemental and magical resistances. Scott chose to specialize in celestial mastery.

[Specialization: Celestial Mastery]

Through tireless work in the development of your magical might and your racial connections to the power of the celestial bodies you have unlocked your hidden potential for the mastery of celestial energy.

Your ability to develop celestial spells has slightly increased.

Your defense against celestial energy has minutely increased.

Your celestial spells will require slightly less mana to develop and utilize.

You have obtained the basic celestial spell pattern [Radiant Starlight]

[--]

"A spell pattern?" That sounded promising! His biggest problem when it came to spell development was that he was uncertain how any of it actually worked. He had stumbled across the three spells that he had learned, but without an actual magic tutor he was lost. He understood intuitively why master mages were depicted as studying for a life time to create powerful spells.

He could feel the knowledge of the pattern unfolding within his mind. It also appeared on the mirror under a new subject heading [Spell Patterns].

[Celestial Spell Patterns]

Radiant Starlight[Basic]

A spell pattern designed to generate an energetic phenomenon that spreads outward in all directions starting from a singular point.

Minimum Creation Requirements: 2 Mana threads, 4 Celestial Mana threads, Attunement 40

Process: The pattern is created by utilizing two threads of mana in a cross patter. While holding these threads of mana, draw celestial mana to the convergence point at the center of the cross from four directions that bisect the right angles created by the cross. Once the threads are tied draw the energy into a tight sphere at the center.

The sphere created will begin to radiate a steady flow of celestial energy in an omni-directional manner and will continue to do so for the duration of the applied spell.

Application: This pattern is best applied to area of effect spells and used in conjunction with other elemental forces that emit a radiant effect.

Suitable Sub-Elements: Fire, lightning

Unsuitable Sub-Elements: Earth, Wind, Water

[--]

"Threads of mana?" asked Scott. He rubbed his head for a moment, but his question was answered by the knowledge that had been unfolding within his mind. He decided to give it a try immediately.

Scott lifted his right hand and pointed with his index finger. He touched the center of his power, his mana, and focused on moving it up through his body to the tip of his finger. After that he willed the power forward to a point just beyond his finger tip. It caused a slight lightning-like energetic effect where mana skittered out from his finger and stopped in the air before him.

He drew his finger to the side and the mana hovered in place where here moved. Scott drew a thin horizontal line of mana roughly the width of his palm. He then moved his hand up and drew a similar vertical line that inexpertly bisected the horizontal line.

The glowing energy floated in the air and made a slight crackling sound. The hard part began when he tried to touch the celestial energy within the area. There was little to be found due to the enclosed space. However, he did have a little within his spirit due to his connection to the heavens. It was a struggle but Scott managed to draw four more lines of energy each of which bisected the right angles formed by the mana cross.

This is where his attunement stat shined. He had more than twice the minimum required to attempt this process. It proved to be difficult to use, but that was primarily due to the low amount of celestial energy in the area. If he had been outdoors it would no doubt prove simple. His attunement stat made up for that lack nicely.

Scott drew the energy together in a sphere and watched it begin to glow. Every few seconds a pulse of light would occur that lit up the whole room.

He had created the pattern, but a pattern was not a spell. It was something that could be used to develop a spell. The next step was to combine this pattern with the one spell that he knew could fit well with it. He went through the process of casting the [Stable Orb of Brilliance] spell that he had cast so many times before.

Once the spell was cast he took a moment to try and merge it with the spell pattern that he had created. Unfortunately, it did not work out well for him. He ended up losing both the spell and the spell pattern.

Scott tried again with similar results. "Probably can't just merge a current spell with it. What if I..." he said.

He drew up the spell pattern once more then studied it for a moment. He could not combine an existent spell, but that did not mean that he could not recreate the effect while using the pattern. He could not use the system to cast the spell if he wanted this to work.

While the pattern of celestial power hovered in the air, Scott performed the steps to the [Stable Orb of Brilliance] perfectly. Sadly, they did not merge at that point either.

He rubbed his chin for a moment then blinked. "Could it really be so simple?"

Scott dismissed the [Radiant Starlight] pattern and took a deep breath. He began the process to cast his orb of brilliance spell but just before the point where he spoke the name of the spell, he envisioned the creation of the spell pattern in the air before him. The energy of his spell flowed into the imagined pattern and a sphere of light emerged. It was weak and wobbled in place like a drunk on holiday, but it was there.

"Something's missing... but that's close." said Scott.

After a moment it became obvious what the problem was. Scott waited for the weak and wobbly sphere to dissipate then tried again. This time he drew out the spell pattern in the air and concentrated on the mental image of the eight-point symbol but did not complete the action of causing it to become as sphere. He then performed his orb of brilliance spell and stopped just short of manifesting it by way of speaking its name aloud.

The power of his spell merged with the pattern. He then caused it to draw together at the central point. It became a sphere of energy roughly the size of a tennis ball. It was still wobbly and unstable, but it was also far more intense in its brilliance.

Scott fiddled with the spell creation mechanics of his new concept design until his mana ran out. After a lengthy rest period he went back to work. Developing his new spell into a workable power completely drained him several times, but he eventually stabilized the energy enough that the sphere of light did not wobble.

The system called his new spell [Scott's Orb of Radiant Starlight]. He changed the name to something simpler and easier to call out in a fight. The name his chose was [Starlight Flare] since he could not just name it Radiant Starlight due to the fact that he had a pattern by the same name. It would contaminate his memories according to the name selection screen.

[Spell]

Starlight Flare

A celestial spell that radiates a series of energetic pulses that both lights up the surrounding area and damages those not in the caster's party. It does extra damage versus dark aligned or demonic entities.

Spell Type: Twilight Sorcery

Nature: Continuous effect - Pulsating

Current Maximum Effective Range: 4 yards/meters

Area-of-Effect: 4.7 yards/meters [Spherical]

Force: I

Responsiveness: 38% [Below Average]

Efficiency: 14% [Low]

Stability: 26% [Weak]

Mana Drain: Exorbitantly High

[--]

He assigned the spell to the fourth slot in his spell slot arsenal then grinned. The effective range of the damage.

Now that he had satisfied his desire to work with his newfound celestial spell, Scott turned his attention back to his arcane mastery skill. He had to choose a specialization there as well.

Specialization Options]

Improve Mana Regeneration I

Improve Attunement Efficiency I

Reduce Casting Time I

Increase Spell Pattern Creation Efficiency

Increase Mana Pool

Increase Magical Resistance

Increase Magical Power

[--]

He immediately noticed that only three of the options could be chosen multiple times. After reading the little blurbs for each option he nodded. It made sense. They were one-time increases, but he could find ways to increase them again through further training. He got the impression that he would need to find a trainer to increase them further.

Each of the specializations played an important role, but he could only choose one. Ultimately, he chose the specialization that would allow him to develop more powerful spells easier at the moment. He chose to improve his attunement efficiency.

[Specialization: Increased Attunement Efficiency I]

Your training and mastery of the arcane has allowed you to develop an improved capacity to safely draw on more of your mana. You can also more easily attune to all of the elemental energies in which your class and race is aligned.

Attunement efficiency has increased slightly.

Elemental attunement efficiency has increased slightly.

Celestial attunement efficiency has increased slightly

Maximum safe mana usage potential has increased slightly

[--]

Scott grinned at the mirror then immediately began to work on his newest spell once more. He wanted to see if there was any difference. After working with the spell for a moment he could already feel a slight difference. Certain aspects of creating it without the system help were slightly easier than before.

He spent several rotations of training and sleep working on his new spell and managed to tweak it to the best point that he could manage with his current stats and skills.

[Spell]

Starlight Flare

A celestial spell that radiates a series of energetic pulses that both lights up the surrounding area and damages those not in the caster's party. It does extra damage versus dark aligned or demonic entities.

Spell Type: Twilight Sorcery

Nature: Continuous effect - Pulsating

Current Maximum Effective Range: 4.5 yards/meters

Area-of-Effect: 5.2 yards/meters [Spherical]

Force: I

Responsiveness: 38% [Below Average]

Efficiency: 22% [Low]

Stability: 35% [Below Average]

Mana Drain: High

[--]

[b][b]

The changes to his spell were not incredible or particularly potent, but he was able to increase the area of effect by half a yard, and decreased the mana drain. Those two capacity upgrades alone would help a great deal he was certain.

Mana drain was a little confusing for him at first. It seemed to have dropped an entire grade, but when he cast the spell it felt like he used the same amount of mana. The only thing he could see as a likely answer was that the mana needed for the spell remained the same despite the slightly increased effectiveness. It probably linked back to efficiency.

"I doubt it is particularly powerful, but it's a start. Let's go see what the big red bastards think about it."

Scott left the safety of the safe room and slipped quickly down the hallway. It was unnerving to be in the corridor after so long. The safe room had been a place where he could exist with absolute safety. It did not take long before memories of the horrors that he had faced began to well up within him.

He did his best to calm himself by focusing on his breath control. Death was a likely outcome from what he did within the next few minutes. It was the most likely outcome. All he needed to do was be prepared for the pain that came with it and everything would be fine.

Through the first large room he silently stalked, and into the next corridor. Normally there would have been at least one hellion in that room, but there was none today. However, it was not long before he reached the double doors that separated this side-section of the authority building with the main area. He could sense two hellions beyond his current location.

Scott focused on his breath control for a moment then touched his mana. He concentrated on the spell that he intended to cast. Energies both celestial and elemental began to surge within him. He raised his hand above his head and called out. "Starlight Flare!"

Lightning, mana, and celestial energy swirled or skittered upward along his frame and combined together and a single point displayed by an eight-rayed star. Those energies converged and became a sphere of bright pulsating pure-white light.

"Hey! What that?" asked a boisterous voice. A hellion had heard Scott's cry.

Scott burst out of the double doors and lunged for the closest of the two monsters. He barely had time to reach into its odd rain coat to grab its weapon before he screamed in pain. The light pulsed and the monster cried out again. His flesh began to blister slightly and whirls of smoke skirled off his body and rose up from within his rain coat.

The monster staggered back and hissed loudly. Scott did not get the chance to do more than launch a simple front kick before the second monster slammed into his back. He was sent flying forward, but caught himself in mid-air and performed a quick and dirty somersault.

"The light! It burns!" screamed the demonic ogre. They backed away from Scott for a moment while eyeing the hideous light that floated above him. The light itself easily carried throughout the area, but the damaging effects only worked within a fairly short range. What the beasts did not know was that the light could be moved by the will of the one who conjured it.

Scott nodded his head and the light rotated forward slowly and moved away from him. The hellions backed away while they hissed at the light.

"Light burns! Light meat make me angry!" snarled one of the hellions before he revealed that he was an axe hellion. His battle axe had a blade that was easily as wide as Scott's chest.

The hellion on the left hissed something to the axe hellion then ducked around the corner. The little hairs on the back of Scott's neck rose. Was he a gun-fighter? That made no sense. If he had a gun he could have attacked Scott at range.

Scott could see his corpse up ahead. It was at the end of the corridor where the hellion had turned the corner. If he played his cards right be could back them away long enough to snatch up his body and make a run for it. As long as he could get it closer to the safe room, he would have a better chance of returning to it in the future.

The axe hellion snarled at him then grinned and then performed a quick spin to make it around the corner. A little spherical object went flying out from the corridor and bounces off the wall. Scott instinctively jumped back, but to his surprise nothing happened. He heard angry voices from the corner.

"What you mean, it dud!" exclaimed one of the hellions.

"It not go boom. It dud." explained the other one reasonably.

Scott quickly ran forward upon hearing that explanation, but the moment he got within five feet of the little sphere it shook violently. A smiley face appeared on its smooth surface and it began to click.

He immediately picked up speed and kept running past it. He barely managed to hurl himself around the corner before the smiley face's smile grew three sizes and the little sphere exploded with great force.

"It not dud!" exclaimed one of the hellions briefly just before the other hellion shrieked. "The light! It burns!"

Scott's ears rang from the power of the explosion. While the hellions screamed and flailed in their attempt to escape the horrible, horrible, light Scott tried to stop the ringing in his ears. By the time he collected himself the spell was close to running its course.

He picked up his corpse in a fireman's carry and ran back toward the safe room. If he was lucky he might even make it.

"Get the light meat! It running away!" screamed the axe hellion before running after Scott. The grenadier hellion pulled out another smiley-faced explosive and joined the chase.

They could not get too close, however, as the light gave Scott minor protection from them for the moment. They had absolutely no defense against it even if it did not do much damage to them.

"Meat! I wanna eat light meat!" screamed axe hellion as he chased Scott.

"Stop light meat! I wanna eat you!" screeched the grenadier.

The spell ran out just as Scott cleared the large room and he whirled around the corner to enter the next corridor. Just before he reached the corridor that led to his safe room, he dropped his corpse and made a mad dash for safety. Scott whipped open the door just as another grenade went flying his way.

He staggered forward and sighed. "Damn that was close. When the fuck did these things get grenades?"

Scott sat down on the table then smiled. At least he knew the spell did something good. It was weak, but it worked. Hopefully the grenade had not blown his corpse apart, either. If everything went well he wouldn't be naked much longer. Things were starting to look up a little.