Chapter 1: Chapter 1 – A New World

 

*The goddess Nuella waits*

That was the message Victor could see on top of his vision. It was printed in soft letters, on top of a thin film of gossamer that he could easily see through when necessary, so it didn't become an obstruction.

Victor looked down at the case for the tenth time that day. Never had he been so conflicted or reluctant to load up a video game and try it out.

He had been desperate to play this game since he saw the packaging, and the price. The oddest thing he could ever imagine is that everyone who looked at the case frowned, and put it down again.

When he asked, they said that the sticker was a hologram and the price went up to one hundred and twenty dollars, the cost of a premium triple A game that included rare and unique items. Also, they said the case changed to show a pixelated game that looked terrible.

Victor had picked it up in curiosity, but the case remained the same, as did the price. Free.

As he examined the case, he noticed that the scene looked even better than before, and more realistic. At first, he thought it was a hoax, but the more he looked, the better it looked until it turned into photographic.

Several character types could be seen. Dwarves, a necessity within fantasy games. Humans, the only playable race. Goblins, with sharp fangs and poisoned weapons. Orcs. Giants. Sprites, or pixies, he couldn't tell as they seemed to be the size of humans. Almost demonic creatures that seemed humanoid, but benevolent. Elvish peoples that somehow seemed cruel. It was an odd, but delightfully realistic looking scene.

It was a war scene, and the battles looked fierce. There was magic. Ancient armor types, and advanced types based on higher tiered metals were worn. Leather armor. War hammers. Maces. Swords. Bows. Catapults. Those items made him quite happy.

He liked the ancient periods depicted in some games. He liked how there were no guns, bombs, or missiles. Real life was difficult as any fool with a gun was dangerous. A fool with a sword was more dangerous to himself than anyone else.

That was Victor's personal opinion, but if he could travel back in time, he would realize that humans have always killed each other. Whether it was for money, politics, glory, or fame, humans have always murdered each other. Guns just made the art of death more efficient.  It wasn't the gun, but the one using it.

Victor finally picked up the box again. He didn't know that the reason he could see a message from Nuella is that there was something in the box that disappeared when he took the box home.

He put the installation CD into his computer, booted it up, and started the massive download. Meanwhile, he began to read the manual.

"A status plate? That's an odd thing to need." Victor whispered. "A status plate is a magical tool that scans the owner, and quantifies his abilities, his knowledge, and his skills into levels and tiers, in order for the owner to know which skills they should work on, and advance. Levels are equated with experience points as that is the only meaningful way to quantify how a person has grown, or not grown. There are special categories for XP, including total, needed until next level, wasted from level up, purchased." He scratched his beard.

"Purchased?" He scanned through the topics.

"Purchased XP is less effective overall on building a person's character. It can increase stats, however, will not effective overall fighting strength, battle skills, or magical abilities as the purchased XP was not earned, and did not get earned due to advancement while in battle. Purchased XP has merits for those of a business nature, who wish to use their earned silver and gold to purchase XP at the adventurer's guild. The Adventurer's Guild, the Mercenary Guild, and the Merchant's Guild are all sources of XP purchased from adventurers, or soldiers, who have some unavoidable wasted experience points. These guilds sell the XP to nobles, and higher ranking soldiers, and sell skill books to the ones who sell the XP." He nodded thoughtfully.

"Well thought out system. Also, the status plate now makes sense. If people could know at a glance, then they train their skills more diligently in certain areas. That would make it easier on Earth as well. A master leveled technician could easily be identified, and bullshit artists would also be identified." He continued to read the information.

"Status plates are crafted from the birth of an individual, connected to that person, and kept in a vault until they come of age. Once they come of age, community laws indicate whether they have to show upon entry to a town, or if they are scanned for crimes and karmic balance." Victor put his fingers through his beard and groaned.

"Karma. Damn. This could be a difficult game, but I've always enjoyed these kinds of in depth and well thought out worlds."

Victor continued to read about the in game knowledge, while his computer began to display strange messages, banners, and an image of himself.

Character name - Baris.

Detected disdain towards Karma balance system. Negative karma added.

You are reading story A Gamer and the Goddess of Karma and Balance at novel35.com

 

* * *

 

"Nuella, did you manage to find someone? You know we don't have much time left before that being closes the portal." Ethys said with a frown. "Why is there a mortality rate drop in this area?"

"Balance, dear sister." Nuella said to her sister goddess, Ethys. "Didn't you notice what they did under their city?" Nuella said, and frowned. "How strange. Why won't these things stick?"

"What do you mean 'Under their city?'" Ethys frowned and focused on the city. "Really? Did those fools create their own dungeon?"

"They are humans, dear sister. Rather than trade, they wished to control the flow of magic crystals. That area is a low tiered land, so the cost to the land is high as the dungeon drains off manna and magical sources." Nuella pursed her lips.

"What is going on? Why won't these things balance out for this guy?" Nuella finally shrugged, and didn't see the look of guilt in her sister's eyes, until it was wiped away as she panicked.

"Those idiots! If they don't move to cull the monster population, it will overflow!"

Nuella shrugged again. That wasn't her problem. Only balance, and her dear sister would have to learn some lessons from her foolish interference in the way each goddess handled their sphere of influence.

Racial traits. Inherited traits. Negative status traits. They should all balance out, but Victor's character information looked far too imbalanced, but nothing she did could fix it, so she relied on her memory to sort it all out.

No Maximum level cap. Skill observation and creation.

Balanced with Starter Town lockout, and no starter gear.

"Negatives out of balance with karma, but it looks like there is too much negative karma for his personal character." Nuella pursed her lips. "Add No Hitpoint Limit, and No Stamina Point Limit. But this needs balance again? Starter Town lockout, and No Starter Gear."

"Negatives out of balance. How strange. No Manna point limit. No Magical Source limits. But this needs balance. Starter Town Lockout, and No Starter Gear. Still out of balance. This could take a while."

Nuella looked like she was in a feedback loop, but in reality, she had a curse placed upon her by her sister. Ethys hated Nuella's obsessive compulsive behavior in regards to balance and karma. Things had become much easier since she placed this curse, but it had some drawbacks. One of those drawbacks was short term memory loss for the small details.

This had unforeseen complications in regards to Victor. As negative karma traits were piled one on top of the other, positive were piled on as well. The only problem as that every time she would  input some negative, they were the same ones, and forced the previous ones to merge.

The positive ones ended up taking up so much room, the system choose to abbreviate them.

'Positive traits - OTAS, NMLC, NHPL, NSPL, NMPL, NMSPL, NCSPL, NSL, NEL, NAL, NIL, NCL, NPL, NSPL, NEPL, APH, ASHTPIF, SCP, SCP, DI, MSWLMH, NEPCO, WSPFSP - All traits abbreviated due to space limits. No primer included.'

Even the ones Nuella first put in were already abbreviated, and she could no longer remember what they meant.

 

You can find story with these keywords: A Gamer and the Goddess of Karma and Balance, Read A Gamer and the Goddess of Karma and Balance, A Gamer and the Goddess of Karma and Balance novel, A Gamer and the Goddess of Karma and Balance book, A Gamer and the Goddess of Karma and Balance story, A Gamer and the Goddess of Karma and Balance full, A Gamer and the Goddess of Karma and Balance Latest Chapter