The Normal Farmer - Completed

It was a rainy Sunday night. Ronald O'Sullivan was returning home from the market. It was raining more than when he left home in the morning, so when returning, he was walking near the buildings to get some shelter. Even the weather was against him. Ever since he was born, he has had terrible luck. His father left while his mother was pregnant. When giving birth to him, she died in a dark alley, away from the busy streets and completely alone. His cries attracted some street dogs that licked him clean. Two of the dogs holowed, and that called the attention of a passing citizen. He didn't want to get involved in that strange situation, with a dead woman, five street dogs, two of them howling, and a crying newborn, so he took the baby and left him wrapped in empty garbage bags in front of the nearest church. From there, the priest sent him to an Orphanage, where he stayed until he was 18 years old. A family eventually adopted all the other babies and children, but not him. His normal features and serious look never granted him any special attention from visiting families. Ronald spent some years working in several underpaid jobs, but over the past two years, he had a rented clean room, a job at a restaurant during the week, and worked at a local market at the weekends as a cashier. He even learned how to smile more, and that, together with his politeness, earned him the sympathy of regular customers. Despite everything that had happened to him, he didn't think of himself as unlucky or unhappy. He always thought he was fortunate, because things could be a lot worse. He could not even be alive if it weren't for that stranger that placed him in front of the church. He remembered that around the corner of the next building, there was an alley with a low fence he could climb and save at least 15 minutes of walking. As soon as he made the curve to enter the alley, he fell into a hole. A bright light engulfed and blinded him. ... When Ronald opened his eyes, he noticed that, strangely, he was inside a cave with a high ceiling and torches on the walls. On the ground, there was a circle with some weird runes engraved on the rocky floor where Ronald was laying down after that strange fall. All around, it was even stranger. An old man with a big white beard and long white hair was standing and looking at him. The old man was wearing a strange dark robe, and he had a staff with a rough stone on top. Around the circle, there were five men with robes, but they looked younger. About two metres away, there were ten soldiers, with either swords or spears in their hands and some leather brown clothes. Leaning against the nearest wall, there was a young boy, not more than 15 years old and dressed in clothes full of sparkles and frills, seated on a chair with a servant near him, moving a big fan. That younger said, with a nasal, irritating voice and with a weird accent, "So, it worked! Quick, High Mage Hakal, measure him!" The old man went to a chest near the young boy and brought a transparent round Sphere with three steel stands attached. He placed that weird Sphere on the ground outside the circle where Ronald was and spoke to him, "Come here, place one hand on top of this. We need to check your status and Mana." Ronald didn't move, at least for a couple of seconds, and then he noticed the soldiers raising their weapons while looking at him. So, he got up and went near the Sphere and placed his hand on top of it. The old man looked at him and pointed to the Sphere. "Say your name and age for the records. It will then measure you." Ronald had no choice, so he did it. "I am Ronald O'Sullivan, 25 years old." The Sphere shone and became white. In the interior appeared letters and numbers; supposedly, they were about him. Race - Human Name - Ronald O'Sullivan Age - 25 Job - World Traveller LV - 2 ATK - 300 HP - 200 Skills - none Hp Armor - 0 ATK Weapon - 0 Equip Intelligence - 0 Equip Wisdom - 0 Physical Attributes: Strength - 10 Quickness - 10 Body - 10 Mental Attributes: Intelligence - 10 Wisdom - 10 Special Attributes: Willpower - 10 Mana - 10 Xp - 0 The old man spoke in a low voice, "This is not possible! You are even weaker than a Farmer!" The young boy shouted from his seat, "Hey, what are his stats?" The old man seemed afraid of telling him, so he checked again the letters on the Sphere. Then he turned to the young boy. "My Prince, I don't understand, but... he is weak, even weaker than a Farmer…" The young boy got up and got closer to the Sphere and, after reading what was there, he shouted, "How will I grab the crown before my stupid older brother? This guy is useless!" He then went to his chair again and ordered his guards, "Guards, kill them all! I don't need a Farmer and some useless Mages!" The guards approached the younger Mages, who were looking at the old one. The old Mage spoke quickly, "My Prince, we can try again! There's still Magic left in the Magic Circle! If we let this chance pass by, the next time this Magic Circle will gather this kind of Magic will be in 200 years from now!" The young boy raised his left hand, and the guards stopped, and he warned the old Mage, "It's better if you don't fail me again, or I'll have all your heads, including your apprentices and that stupid commoner!" The old Mage looked at Ronald. He seemed somewhat relieved. "Move to the side. I will perform the ritual again." Ronald looked at him and asked in a low voice, "Can't I just go home?" The old man pointed with his head at the guards. Ronald guessed it was no use, so he went to the nearby wall and sat on the floor against it. The old Mage grabbed a bunch of papers from his pocket, and the younger Mages did the same. They then said, "Magic Field, activate!" and threw a paper from that pile into the circle. Ronald kept staring at them, dumbfounded. The circle on the ground shone. They then threw another paper, and they said, "Random Magical Being Summon!". More weirdness! In the middle of the circle appeared a small whirlpool made of light. When the whirlpool disappeared, there it was. A dog, a German Sheppard with a vest saying N.Y. K9. The old Mage fell to his knees while mumbling, "It's not possible; this time it's a wolf!" Ronald got up and went near the dog. He seemed friendly, despite being disoriented, so Ronald tapped his head while looking at the old Mage and smiled. "This is a dog, not a wolf. A Police dog, actually." The old Mage lowered his voice, "If you want to live, go hide and take cover." The young boy ordered from his seat, "Guards, kill them all, and also the wolf!" The old Mage grabbed some papers from his pocket and, with a quick nod of his head to the young Mages, he threw the papers to the nearby guards. Ronald did as he was told. He grabbed the dog by his collar and they both ran for cover. He heard some strange commands, like "Rock Ball! ", "Bottomless Hole! ", "End Life! ", "Summon Giant Spider! ", and "Summon Big Rat!". Ronald looked from behind the rock and saw one guard being smashed and his flesh spattered on the ground by a huge ball made of rock that fell from the ceiling and rolled next to the dog, taking out some guards on its way, and it got stuck against the wall near the dog's left side. Two guards fell inside a hole in the ground, and two more went down flat on the ground, for no reason. Ronald saw two whirlpools appear, and from them emerged one big-as-a-sheep ugly spider and a rat as big as a cow! He had to grab the collar of the dog really hard because he was barking and trying to get loose. Like the police officer he was, he was trying to get free to help everyone against those Monsters. The guards pierced two young Mages before being killed by the rat. The spider went straight to the young boy, cutting his head off with one paw and eating it, leaving a pool of dripping blood on the floor. His servant pierced the side of the spider with the sharp end of the pole of the fan that, moments ago, was giving wind to his master. The spider was badly wounded, but it still cut off the servant's head, and two guards used that opportunity to kill the spider. The old Mage gave a gentle smile to Ronald as if asking for forgiveness, while a guard struck his stomach with a lucky throw of a spear. The old Mage threw one last paper, saying "Sonic Blast!" and a shock wave smashed the remaining guards, along with the rat and the corridor that exited that cave. As quickly as it started, it ended. Ronald and the dog were the only ones alive. He noticed that above everybody, there were some strange balls of light. It was white on top of the young boy, his servant, and the guards, but the Mages had blue balls. Ronald went near one ball, still holding the dog, and stupidly touched it. The ball popped, and the light came to Ronald's body, and it seemed like it was absorbed! Stranger than that, it warmed him up, and it tickled! He popped every ball. Ronald thought it was better to change clothes because his jeans, hooded sweatshirt, and snickers were a pointer that Ronald wasn't from the same place as the dead people around him, and since the only ones that didn't have holes or blood were the ones on the two guards that dropped dead with no reason, he undressed them and carefully chose the clothes that could fit him. The more conspicuous he could be, the better. Checking the pockets of all the dead, he found several copper coins of two sizes, one smaller than the other one. There were also some coins that looked like silver, with two sizes also, and the young boy had a purse with several big and bright yellow coins. Gold, it seemed. Given that the old Mage addressed him as Prince and that he mentioned stealing a crown before his older brother, he was most likely the King's younger son. And since Ronald was the sole survivor, he needed to get out of that cave and disappear. Ronald picked a sword, a dagger, and a cape, just because they looked cool. A bag from one of the younger Mages completed his outfit. Looking at the Mages, he checked what those papers were in the middle of the circle and the ones that were still in their dead hands or spread all over the floor. Ronald picked one of them up and almost fainted. He fell to his knees, looking at the Giant Spider Card in his hands. It really was a playing card! On the back, it was dark, but on the front, it was the drawing of the same Spider that moments ago was eating the boy's head. The drawing had a brown-colored background, and on top of the card, there were two blue orbs like the ones that Ronald popped. And the writing on it was strange. Giant Spider - * * Attack - 900 Defence - 400 Ronald went wobbling to the place where the Big Rat died, and there was also a Card there. Big Rat - * * * Attack - 1.600 Defence - 1.000 There was another at the place where that weird hole in the ground appeared, but that card had a red colour and no orbs on top of it. It had only the drawing of a hole in the ground and it was written 'Bottomless Hole!'. Ronald also picked the 'Sonic Blast!' Card, which had a light blue colour with no orbs and a bunch of others from the Mages hands. He sat on the floor, against the rock where he and the dog were hiding during that weird battle. The dog was seated next to him, and Ronald took that chance to take off the dog's vest and place it on top of his old clothes on the floor. The dog rested his head on Ronald's leg, and while Ronald was caressing the dog, he talked about his next move to see if the dog agreed with him. "Well, it seems it's just you and me, pal. We need to find another exit since that corridor over there has collapsed. And real soon, or we will run out of oxygen." Ronald guessed the dog understood him because he barked, got up, and started smelling the hole in the wall next to them, where previously a Rock Ball was stuck. Ronald got up and picked up the red card from the floor with the drawing of a ball made of rock. He got four piles of playing cards. Ronald thought it was better to separate them into different pockets in his clothes, considering they came from different owners. He had a hunch. He went quickly to the transparent round Sphere with three steel stands attached and placed his hand on it to see if the stats changed because of the orbs that he popped. Race - Human Name - Ronald O'Sullivan Age - 25 Job - World Traveller LV - 50 ATK - 7.500 HP - 5.000 Skills - none Hp Armor - 0 ATK Weapon - 0 Equip Intelligence - 0 Equip Wisdom - 0 Physical Attributes: Strength - 10 Quickness - 10 Body - 10 Mental Attributes: Intelligence - 10 Wisdom - 10 Special Attributes: Willpower - 10 Mana - 2.500 Xp (x2) - 250 And then, some new letters appeared, saying, "Each XP gives 5 points to spend on Attributes. You have 1.250 points. Choose the Attributes and the number of points to allocate". It then showed just the Attributes. Physical attributes: Strength - 10 Quickness - 10 Body - 10 Mental Attributes: Intelligence - 10 Wisdom - 10 Ronald frowned and said, "I guess I'm supposed to place some points, but since I don't know the best options, I'll leave this for later." The dog smelled the Sphere, so Ronald thought it was okay to check his status. "Here, boy, give me your paw. So, if you place it on top of this, and say your name..." The dog was looking at Ronald, so he tried to order him, "Speak!", and the dog did a loud "Woof!". Ronald smiled, and since he looked like he was three years old, Ronald told him to speak three more times. Then, they both looked at the interior of the Sphere. Ronald didn't really think it would work, but it did. Race - Dog Name - Woof Age - 3 Job - World Traveller LV - 2 ATK - 300 HP - 200 Skills - none Hp Armor - 0 ATK Weapon - 0 Equip Intelligence - 0 Equip Wisdom - 0 Physical Attributes: Strength - 10 Quickness - 10 Body - 10 Mental Attributes: Intelligence - 10 Wisdom - 10 Special Attributes: Willpower - 10 Mana - 10 Xp (x2) - 0 And Ronald became depressed. The dog had the same stats he had before touching the orbs! He looked at the dog and said, "Well, boy, you need to pop some of those orbs to get stronger. And you even got a funny name, Woof. Well, now we need to figure out a way to get out of here. Let me just grab this weird Sphere and let's go check that hole the Rock Ball did. We need to learn what are the better Attributes for us, right?" The dog didn't answer. They both went to the nearest wall, and Ronald grabbed one torch. He put the torch in the hole and looked through it. There was another room, but it was full of things. He entered, and the dog followed. Maybe because he liked Ronald or because he was afraid, but he didn't leave Ronald's side. There were some torches on the walls, so, using his, Ronald lit them all. A quick look around showed a caldron in a corner, a fireplace on a wall, some chairs, and on top of the tables, there were tubes, pipes, chests, swords, rings, necklaces, bracelets, books, small boxes with Cards inside, and one small box, thinner than the others and with some engravings. There was a name inside the box under the front cover, but it was hard to read. "Riattus. Strange name, right, Woof? Well, yours isn't any better, but still…" Suddenly, Ronald heard a voice coming from somewhere near him, saying, "Finally! I thought I would be stuck in there forever!" Ronald looked around, and near him, there was an ancient man with a faint glow. He looked like a ghost; he could almost be seen through. Even the dog was looking at him with his head tilted sideways as if trying to figure out if there was a man or not, and Ronald shook his head while screaming, "Great, now I am seeing ghosts! This day is getting better by the minute!" The old ghost was stretching his arms and legs, and he then looked at Ronald. "I guess ghost is the proper way to call me. But I don't like it. I am the Great Sage Summoner, Riattus. Pleased to meet you." Ronald thought that at least he was polite. "Hello, I am Ronald O'Sullivan. And this one here is Woof. What is a Great Sage Summoner? And, where am I?" Riattus looked at him with a sad face. "I guess you are another World Traveller that was brought here against your will, right?" Ronald confirmed by nodding, and he continued, "That means at least 200 years have passed. Or even more. I'm not sure how long I was inside that Card Box." Ronald looked at the box in his hand and asked, "You were trapped here?"