Rewind: A Grimdark LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1) by James Callum (reading tree .txt) 📕

to keep their curses at bay while a select few used them to frightening effect.

Each curse came attached to a specific race, but you could choose any curse from any other race if you so chose. Jacob’s first run through, he kept the human’s curse of Undeath.

Curses worked pretty simply on the surface, but like most things in Pyresouls there was a hidden complexity to using curses effectively.

As with most MMOs, Humans were the middle-of-the-road race. No stat was larger than the other, making them a solid choice especially when nobody had any clue what each of the stats did.

Despite that, any Human in Pyresouls was several times stronger than their counterparts on Earth. It was one of the primary reasons that players of Pyresouls who managed to survive the Collapse were so integral to the survival of those less fortunate bystanders around them.

What little people could understand after the Collapse suggested that a single point in any stat was equal to an average human. Two points were considered twice as strong as the average human, and so on.

Having 3 points in STR was the equivalent of a world-class bodybuilder. While 3 points in AGI made you as fast as some of the gold medalist sprinters.

Starting at 5 in every stat gave even a first level of Pyresouls a ridiculous advantage.

Alec had chosen human and regretted it. There was a lot of contradiction within Pyresouls and the world of Lormar. It suggested that balance was important but by doing so you were made ridiculously weak. It would take exponentially more Souls to level up and raise all your stats if you spread them out.

At higher levels raising a single stat could easily cost upwards of 20,000 Souls. Most of the dangerous enemies – enemies that when taken head-on gave you a 50% chance of survival – only gave around 800 Souls. And any time spent grinding for more Souls was time another person was progressing deeper into the realm of Lormar.

There simply wasn’t time to do more than one thing well and even then it often wasn’t enough.

I’ll need to decide on what I want to be before I choose a race, he thought, going over all the races for a brief refresher. Based on his discussion with Alec, he already had a good idea for what he wanted.

But he knew he had time and so he indulged himself. After all, he would only get to relive this once.

Elf

Rare and reclusive, elves are known for their superior swordsmanship and archery among the races. They are, however, less inclined to wield heavy bulky weapons and armor. They are also the likeliest of all to view the world through the lens of one who keeps to the old ways. They hold to their traditions well, allowing them unparalleled use of Harmony.

 

VIT: 3 | AGI: 7

END: 5 | TMP: 5

STR: 4 | DEX: 7

INT: 2 | FTH: 7

 

Curse: Fractured Sight

Boon: Peer into other realities and gain valuable insight into hidden paths.

Bane: Potential realities have a habit of bleeding into one another, letting in unspeakable horrors.

 

Fairy

Keen-minded but slight, fairies are renowned for their cunning and trickery. It should come as no surprise then, that they specifically aligned to the turbulent art of Chaos magic and the underlying Vile Intent that empowers it. Their excellent use of magic comes at a cost. They are physically frail and must work harder than other races to bring physical prowess to bear.

 

VIT: 2 | AGI: 8

END: 2 | TMP: 9

STR: 3 | DEX: 5

INT: 9 | FTH: 2

 

Curse: Soul Thief

Boon: You gain valuable insight when collecting Souls.

Bane: Memories can be overwhelming, blocking out threats around you.

 

Karhu

Powerful, nomadic people who keep to their tribalistic traditions. These large hulking bear-like people excel with a strength of arms but due to their past transgressions find it hard to bear the Guilt required of them. What they lack in magical strength they more than make up for in sheer physical prowess.

 

VIT: 9 | AGI: 5

END: 7 | TMP: 1

STR: 8 | DEX: 8

INT: 1 | FTH: 1

 

Curse: Ursinthrope (Werebear)

Boon: Increased physical prowess and defense.

Bane: Uncontrollable bloodlust.

Jacob was disappointed with being a fairy but that was because he misused it and could only find two spells during his entire time in Lormar.

Of all the curses available, the two most appealing were Ursinthrope and Fractured Sight.

Jacob had heard of enough people dying from Soul Thief while trapped in a memory that blocked out all senses. Most people didn’t even realize they died until the memory ended and they awoke next to the last Pyre they rested at.

If each kill that granted Souls provided some glimpse into that person’s life, it would be all but impossible to concentrate in a fight with more than one enemy. An all-too-common occurrence.

I’m good with a sword and shield, if I could use some magic to bolster both of those I might be in a good position. But that would require finding the spells.

Unlike every other MMO out there, spells had to be taught or found. You couldn’t make your own, and you didn’t get a spell simply for being a caster-type. Something Jacob had found out the hard way.

Every race had specific strengths and weaknesses. Karhu were powerhouses but you’d spend at least the first four level-ups boosting their TMP up so they could equip anything beyond the starter equipment. Which was also different per race and something that even Alec hadn’t known much about.

As strong as the karhu were, they lacked any magical prowess and he wanted to try and bolster his physical attacks with magic. Several enemies in Pyresouls were highly resistant to one form of damage or another. That made it incredibly valuable to have multiple weapons and damage types.

And finding a weapon that dealt magical damage was not only incredibly rare, but it also required an amount of INT or FTH (based on the magic of the weapon) to use.

Fairy was already out of the running, he played them last time. Using them well