《Project Phoenix》


 prologue

    My name is Lily I''m an average 19-year-old collage student I have a small group of friends who all go to school and play games with me, my parents live out of the country because my dad works for the military.


    Today is like any other day, I wake up get in the shower get dressed and eat breakfast then I head to the caf¨¦ and meet up with my friends. The group consists of me, the only other girl Kit she always plays the tank in the group, and 3 boys, Jack a nice guy who always plays the healer in the games we play, Lucifer who always plays either a necromancer or assassin, Michael who plays the DPS most of the time with a bow in the back of the group, and then I just play what ever the group needs mostly handling the crafting and odd jobs.


    We all meet up in the caf¨¦ I''m the last one to show up and when I get up to them they all say ¡°Hi¡± and kit asks me ¡°Where the hell have you been? We have been waiting in you for the past 30 minutes.¡± Just as I''m about to respond the rest of the group just starts laughing and Lucifer says ¡°You should know better the to expect Lily to show up on time for anything.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah I over slept.¡± I reply any way. I pull out my laptop and order a coffee and start playing a game with the rest of the group for about 4 hours we sit in there. We eat lunch right before we leave to go to school it¡¯s just a 5-minute walk from the caf¨¦ so we head over. I have my first class with the rest of the group we take a test in that class I believe I did well. But what was really strange was that during my next class words appeared in my vision and said


    {You have been chosen for project Phoenix you will be sent to the realm of gods in 5:00} {4:59} {4:58} {4:57}


    Ok what the hell it¡¯s not even a blue box with words its just words superimposed into my vision and wont go away what even is project Phoenix sounds like a secret government thing but the realm of the gods? Why does it feel like I''m going to be the protagonist of something? Well nothing to do but wait, its going to suck trying to explain this one to the group oh well not my fault.


    {0:09} {0:08} {0:07}¡­{0:01} {Welcome to the land of the gods}


    And then everything goes white its always white they never use anything else like why can¡¯t we have a blue loading screen or something? I''m sure that¡¯s not what I should be thinking about but why the hell not makes more sense to worry about that then the fact that I''m in a white void all by myself with words floating around my face so yeah I''m going to complain about the loading screen being white instead of something a bit more rare for loading screens maybe pink would be a good color.


    As I''m thinking this, the world around me changes and turns into that of a meeting room like you would expect from a small company and in there are my friends? What are they doing here I thought I would be meeting a god in the realm of the gods, oh well at least they are here too so I''m not alone in this.


    ¡°How did you even manage to be late to this we all had a 5 minute timer so how are you 5 minutes late?¡± ¡°Kit you really should stop asking how Lily manages to be late to everything its just a rule of the universe.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah I''m always late but have never missed anything has to do with the guild unlike you Lucifer you miss at least half of the raids not to mentation just normal quests.¡± I say but I have to admit its is kind of weird how I can even be late to a divine summoning I know I''m late to everything but you would think they would just summon all of us at the same time. At this point someone I didn¡¯t even notice was in the room starts talking ¡°Well please take a seat and we can get started.¡± Huh she¡¯s cute short blonde hair, almost pink white skin, with blue eyes that seem deeper then the ocean, if I had to guess id say she would be around 23 but knowing what this place is called I''m going to assume she¡¯s a goddess of something or another. I go sit done in the last available chair.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    She starts talking ¡°My name is Ila, I am a goddess of luck. You are all here for project Phoenix, you will be given the powers of the Phoenix and gifts from a god you will go and do what you will but you have to get stronger for if we call on you, you will answer, you are probably wondering what the powers of the Phoenix are well that¡¯s simple you will find out when you unlock them and to see hat they are just say status when you get into the new world. No you can¡¯t go back to your home world. The gifts you gain will help you survive and complete the quests the gods give you; you can work on more then one quest at a time but not from the same god or goddess. Do you understand? Any questions?¡±


    So she¡¯s the tutorial while that makes it easy. ¡°I think I understand so we get gifts to start then when you complete quests from different gods or goddesses we gain more gifts, but in exchange we have to help anytime a divine being asks for it. Am I correct in that?¡± ¡°Yes that would be correct though not any divine being only gods or goddesses.¡± Just as I thought there are more then just gods I''m going to guess angels. ¡°Of course Lily is the one who gets it first that¡¯s why she¡¯s the face of the group, but one thing I have a question about is the new world skill based or class based changes your entire play style so its important to know.¡± It makes since jack asked that one he¡¯s the strategist. The goddess replies ¡° it would be a skill based world you use skills to make things easier but there will be classes as well.¡± She pauses and looks at the group to make sure no one else has a question and after about 15 seconds continues ¡°well if you have no more questions we will start what you would call character creation a few simple rules first none of you can pick the same race as each other, second can¡¯t pick how pretty you are that will be based entirely of your charisma stat you can however pick your body type hair color skin color and anything else along those lines, third you can not start with the same starting gift as each other you will all get 2 identical ones as the rest of your group and one that you get to pick.¡± So we don¡¯t just keep are body then how are starting stats chosen oh please don¡¯t be random stats please don¡¯t be random. Well I guess I should try thinking status to see if that works


    {Name: Lily Thornrose}


    {Class: none}


    {Race: please chose your race}


    ¡°Hey guys what race should I pick I''m thinking catkin but maybe human of half elf would have better stats for this?¡± ¡°Go with what you want I''m pretty sure the rest of use are going to go with are normal races ill be an elf, kit will be human, Lucifer will be a gnome, Michael will play the dwarf.¡± ¡°Ok so I think ill go half elf then.¡±


    {Name: Lily Thornrose}


    {Class: none}


    {Race: Half-Elf} {Age: 19}


    {Skills: none} {Skill points: 0}


    {Traits: Phoenix born, Facile}


    {Titles: none}


    {Spells: none}


    {STR: 8} {DEX: 11} {AGI: 11}


    {INT: 10} {CHA: 12} {LUCK: 10}


    {WILL: 12} {END: 8} {WIS: 9}


    {Attribute points: 0}


    {Quests: none}


    {Fire: 200%} {Water: 100%} {Earth: 0%} {Air: 20%} {Light: 0%) {Misc. 100%}


    {Please chose one of the following traits}


    {Linguist: you learn all languages 600% faster}


    {Combatant: you learn all combat skills 600% faster}


    {Mage: you learn all magic 600% faster}


    {Generalized: you learn everything 300% faster)


    {Doctor: you learn everything related to healing 600% faster}


    ¡°Hey do you guys mind if I take {Generalized} as it fits my job better then any of the others.¡± The first one to answer is Lucifer ¡°It¡¯s clearly the most overpowered but I don¡¯t mind besides ladies first right so you pick first.¡± Everyone else agrees with that and so I take {Generalized} kit takes {combatant} and everyone else takes what relates to their specialty except Michael gets {linguist}. After we pick all of that I read over the traits I have now


    {Facile: you are a quick learner you learn everything 400% faster)


    Well shit so that¡¯s either 7 or 12 times faster to everything seems a bit OP well I hope it doesn¡¯t get boring.


    {Phoenix Born: you have the powers of the legendary Phoenix you have a 200% fire affinity and you will be reborn every time you die}


    So we respawn, I wonder what the catch is? ¡°I''m not the only one who has the {Phoenix born} stuff right it like I''m not the only one you it says ¡®you will be reborn every time you die¡¯ right it says that for you guys as well right?¡± again the first person to answer is Lucifer ¡°Yeah says that here too, wonder what the catch is?¡± ¡°Yeah me too seems like something that can¡¯t be cheap, but I''m not willing to test it not that we could in here anyway.¡±


    ¡°Well now that all of you are done with your selections I wish you all good luck.¡±


    {You have been wished good luck by a goddess of luck you gain +10 luck}


    ¡°Well that¡¯s nice of you miss Ila.¡± I hear Lucifer say before we get sent out of the realm of gods.

 Ch: 1

    (Lily)


    I awoke in a forest as a Half-Elf and glanced down at my body well at least I have clothes even if it is just a dress and not something to actually be protective. So I guess the first thing would be to look around and hope my guild mates aren¡¯t far from here. Lets start getting skills first I should probably get the simple skills like {running} and things like that if they exist. So I start running to what should be east and after about 5 min I get a notification


    {New skill gained: Running}


    {New skill gained: Navigation: Forest}


    {New quest gained: have 5 tier 1 skills and 2 tier 2 skills)


    So two skills and a quest well right now running isn¡¯t as tiring as it was just a bit ago I think I can keep running for a little bit longer then I''m going to have to stop I wonder why there isn¡¯t a stamina amount listed. I keep running and doing everything else I might need to from climbing a tree to punching the tree hoping for more skills might as well try right even speaking and dancing or singing anything that might help me in anyway in the future. I keep doing this all day in 30-45 minute increments stopping for 5-10 minutes I between to keep my self from being to fatigued to run or fight in an emergency after all of that I got several notifications


    {Your skill running has leveled up x9}


    {Your skill running is now level 10/10}


    {Your skill Navigation: Forest has leveled up x4}


    {Your skill Navigation: Forest is now level 5/15}


    {New skill gained: climbing}


    {Your skill climbing has leveled up x9}


    {Your skill climbing is now level 10/10}


    {New Skill gained: dancing}


    {Your skill dancing has leveled up x3}


    {Your skill dancing is now level 4/10}


    {New skill gained unarmed fighting}


    {New skill gained singing}


    {New skill gained English}


    {Your skill singing has leveled up x9}


    {Your skill singing is now level 10/10}


    {Your skill English has leveled up x5}


    {Your skill English is now level 6/10}


    {Do to repeated exercise you have gained 1 point of endurance}


    Do to leveling that many skills I have gained 45 skill points probably way easier then it should be but hell I''m not going to complain as long as it doesn¡¯t get to boring.


    I kept doing the same things only including more skills and trying to max all of the ones I unlocked after about 2 days of that I come to a port city that seems to be a human city I walk into the city hoping that they wont try and enslave me cause I don¡¯t have any combat skills quite yet well other then unarmed at level 1 which is probably not good enough and even with a 10 END I probably cant quite out run anyone. As I''m walking in I notice with my perception skill that quite a few people are looking at me with disgust and some seem to be planning some thing, why cant the starting village be nice I mean come on I need money a weapon some armor stuff like that but if I cant get it here and I cant learn how to make it then I''m definitely not going to like this. Well lets just walk into town and make money the same way you always do in the beginning of a game stealing yes I know I''m probably going to have to play the hero latter but cant I just you know do neither or both, oh well I spent forever grinding my {stealth} skill even going as far as to use that to get around combat instead of raising my combat skills so hopefully it was a good choice.


    I walk around for a while and disappear into the crowd and start-taking coin pursues because how else do you make money from pickpocketing people without knowing a fence.


    {New skill unlocked: pickpocketing}You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Nice that was easy after another 20 minutes I gained another level in it but then I tried to steal from a richer looking guy and he caught me so I did what anyone would do I started running hoping that I can actually out run the law after running for about 20 minutes I get to a bar that seems to be a little less reputable costumers I also gained


    {New Skill Unlocked: Navigation: populated areas}


    {Do to having 5 tier one skills and 2 tier 2 skills you will gain a new trait the next time you sleep or die the trait will be based on the skills you have acquired}


    {New quest received: Gain 5 tier 1 skills and 5 tier 2 skills}


    Ok well that¡¯s nice all of that but now I need to gain 10 more skills yeah I guess I just have to keep doing strange things. Looking around I find an open table and go sit down I order a cheap drink and a meal not trying to starve yet but I have {hunger suppression} from being in a forest with no food and working out as much as I could so I don¡¯t need to eat yet, wonder if I can evolve skills? Oh well I hope I''m not a light weight, I take a drink from my pint and surprisingly or not I don¡¯t get drunk so I take another gulp and then another it doesn¡¯t taste bad at least not as bad as I was expecting


    {New Skill unlocked: Poison Resistance}


    {New Skill Unlocked: Poison Tolerance}


    Well that probably helps me not get drunk lets see if we can level it up with out getting drunk so I order a few more and keep drinking while keeping my eye out for someone less the pleased with me being here but don¡¯t find anyone but I hear a few people asking what crew I''m on, while I''m not technically on a crew but if I had to say id just use the guild name Phoenix which thinking about it is probably one of the reasons why we were picked for project Phoenix oh look at that


    {Your Skill Poison Resistance has leveled up x3)


    {Your Skill Poison Resistance is now level 4/15}


    {Your Skill Poison Tolerance has leveled up x3}


    {Your Skill Poison Tolerance is now level 4/15}


    15 I guess they are tier 2 skills then that¡¯s nice what do they though lets find out


    {Poison Resistance Lv 4: it takes a 40% larger does of any poison to affect you}


    {Poison tolerance Lv 4: poisons are 20% less effective against you}


    ok so I need to drink 40% more to get drunk well lets try to level those up because I need to figure out how to evolve skills or if it can even be done. So I sit there and drink for about 2 hours and somehow don¡¯t get drunk but I''m willing to bet that it has to do with


    {Poison Resistance Lv 13: it takes a 130% larger does of any poison to affect you}


    And


    {Poison Tolerance lv 13: poisons are 65% less effective against you}


    Yeah that¡¯s probably it. After another 30 minutes and another skill level a dwarf walks up to me and says ¡°Well girly no clue how but you can drink with ta best of em if ya in needa crew and ye got some skill we¡¯d be willin ta take ya in¡± I look him over and the first thing I notice is he has a fucking gun!! A FUCKING GUN!! I mean I was not expecting that it seems like an old school one but a gun nonetheless I was decently skilled with one before coming here so hopefully I can keep that skill. Oh shit yeah I should respond ¡°Yeah I think I''m going to be taken you up on that offer, and is that a gun?¡± he smiles when I accept but seems surprised I know what it is, ¡°well happy ta have ya, but how do ya know what tis is?¡± Oh I guess I should of thought about that how would I know what one is? ¡°Well you see I''m not from around here and got me some crazy friends from all over and have had a bit of training with them, mind if I give it a shot?¡± he thinks for a bit and the leads me to behind the bar and he shows me how it works having me watch him fire it the first time then showing me how to reload it he then fires it again and has me reload it which I have very little problem with because back on earth not only was I trained in firearms I was also trained in black powder and musket loading ones, so I manage to load it in 20 seconds but he was still quicker then me getting it done in about 15 but he seemed impressed and after he put a target over on the fence about 30 feet away I fired and actually hit which gave me the notifications


    {New Skill Unlocked: Firearms}


    {Do to past experience with the skill: Firearms has leveled up x7}


    {Your skill Firearms is now level 8/20}


    So does that mean it¡¯s a tier 3 skill or something well that¡¯s nice but I still need to get more tier 2 and tier 1 skills but level 8 firearms that¡¯s nice well let¡¯s reload it I reload it and manage to do it in about 10 seconds which is really impressive so I guess these skills really do make a huge difference just level 8 cut my reloading time in half. I look back at the dwarf who just has a look like he¡¯s just seen a ghost, I hand back his gun and ask, ¡°Are you ok?¡± he just stares off for a few more seconds then he grabs the gun and asks me, ¡°What levels did you says yer firearms skill be?¡± oh yeah I didn¡¯t actually mention that because I didn¡¯t have it then but might as well tell him ¡°My firearms skill is level 8 right now.¡± ¡°Well shit you wernt kindin you really did train wit em before.¡± So I have more skill then him or at least higher-level skill.


    We talk well walking over to the ship and when we get close he says that he needs to take me to the captain and see where he wants me on the ship so he takes me into the captains cabin and calls out to him he looks human he has an eye patch over his left eye a sword at his side and wearing what you would expect a pirate to wear, maybe this will be more fun then I thought. ¡°You sure bout this Darlec? Does she even got the skill to do anything on a ship?¡± the dwarf apparently named Darlec answers almost instantly ¡°Yeah I''m sure she even got lv 8 firearms so at the very least we can through her on deck to shoot the other ships.¡± The captain just thinks for a little bit then turns to me and asks ¡°You got any other skill on a ship?¡± ¡°Well I¡¯ve worked on one before and willing to learn what your willing to teach.¡± He turns back to Darlec and says ¡°Well you brought her on you teach her and show her the ropes.¡± ¡°Ey captain, well come one girly let¡¯s get you settled in we leaving in the morning and can start your teaching then.¡± ¡°Ok¡± so I follow him and he takes me to the crew quarters and gives me an empty bed and tells me to get some sleep before we leave. So I lie down and get some sleep.


    {Congratulations for having completed your first quest you get to pick one of the following traits}


    {Un limited: you have no limits to what you can learn you gain all skills 100% faster and ignore all limitations other then skill prerequisites}


    {Athletic: you learn everything relating to physical activity 300% faster}


    {Contact List: you unlock the contact list in your status you can talk with the rest of project phoenix}