Morning filtered in through his window. The light of the just-risen sun, the sound of wagons and horses and people, and the smell of freshly baked bread from next door. All of it would have, on a normal day, roused Colthorn from his sleep, but he was already awake. He was kneeling on the floor in the middle of his room carefully placing various items in his backpack.
It had been 4 days since he and his mom came back home, and after all the training he had done with his father it was time to head back out into the wilds. He was excited to get back out, doing the training that he enjoyed. Archery, hunting, camping, he loved it all. One thing that he liked out of the last 4 days was that he finally got the Mathematics Skill and the resistances that he was training for. He even leveled them up quite a bit. Four days of resistance training was all he could take though, so it was time to head out. And so, he packed.
He didn’t need to pack a lot, because his mother would be carrying most of their supplies in her bag of holding, but he did pack his bare essentials. A change of clothes, fresh socks and underwear, a sketchbook and charcoal pencils, a fire starting kit, some cordage, and lastly his cloak bundled at the top in case of bad weather. With the inside of his pack filled, he closed the flap and buckled it shut. On the top of the backpack he strapped his freshly cleaned bedroll. He then strapped a bundle of rope to the left side of the pack. He didn’t tie anything to the right side of the pack, because that’s where his quiver will hang when he puts everything on.
Satisfied with his pack, he turned to the rest of his stuff. He belted his pouch of emergency potions, two +200 Health potions and two +200 Stamina potions, and his hunting knife onto the right side of his waist. Then he put on his good pair of boots and his favorite vest and he was ready. Colthorn grabbed his bow, quiver, and his pack and walked out of his room.
Alagossa was cooking breakfast, and Jornan was at the table with a bunch of papers spread out in front of him.
Before Colthorn was able to say anything, his dad looked up and said, “Oh Colthorn, share your Status page with me real quick.”
“Uh, ok,” he said, dumping his gear next to the table. Sitting down at the table he pulled up his status page and tapped on the Settings tab at the top right corner. There were multiple sections with different boxes to check, but he scrolled down to the "sharing" section. There was a box that said "Make Public," but his parents had told him to never check that box unless he was in some court trial, so instead he checked the box that said "Friends Only." After checking the box, a silver lining appeared around the glowing blue box in front of him.
He tapped onto the Status tab.
[Status]
Skills
Quests
Library
Friends
Notices
Settings
General Info
Name: Colthorn Leokast
Class: [Child of Jornan/Alagossa Leokast (Sta)]
Race: Half-Human, Half-Elf
Level: 0th 79
Age: 7
Experience: 43.7/79
Health: 235/235
H. Regen: 4.3/day
Stamina: 145/145
S. Regen: 3.15/day
Mana: 570/570
M. Regen: 5.95/day
Stats
Strength: 20
Intelligence: 79
Constitution: 10
Will: 40
Alacrity: 44
Acuity: 45
Pending Stat Points: 0
Favored Skills:
Botanize 0th 67
Standard Language 0th 29
Basic Alchemy 0th 56
Glanic Language 0th 20
Drawing 0th 40
Geologize 0th 41
Skills:
Acid Resistance 0th 30 Analyze 0th 45 Appraise 0th 20 Archery 0th 43 Astronomy 0th 1 Cleaning 0th 41 Climbing 0th 37 Cooking 0th 9 Field Dressing 0th 30 Follower of the Sibling Moons 0th 4 Harvest Plant 0th 45 History of Malroth 0th 8 Hunting 0th 35 Jumping 0th 24 Knife Handling 0th 32 Mathematics 0th 1 Pain Resistance 0th 42 Poison Resistance 0th 25 Running 0th 50 Stealth 0th 50 Tracking 0th 36
Tumbling 0th 21
When sharing the screen, whether it was public or friends only, nobody would be able to change tabs or scroll though the page, even if they could see the screen. Only the owner of the screen could choose what the screen shows. So he made sure it showed his Status like his dad wanted. The people who the screen was being shared with could move the screen around though, but that wasn’t why his parents told him to never make his screen public. Even if someone were to grab it and run, he could just re-summon the screen in front of him. No, the reason why he shouldn’t make it public was that there were apparently malicious skills that thieves could have that let them see any public status screens around them, summoned or not. Not a very useful skill, because no one walks around with a public status page, even unsummoned.
He grabbed the corner of the screen and handed it to his dad like it was a stiff sheet of paper. Jornan took it and held it up in front of him for a second before letting go. The silver lined page stayed floating in the air. His dad started jotting down numbers and some sort of math that Colthorn couldn't understand.
Alagossa placed a plate next to Jornan and in front of Colthorn. She must have seen the look of confusion on his face because she nudged him with an elbow.
"Yeah, I don't really get it either. That’s tier 1 level of Mathematics."
"... He's using letters," he whispered in horror.
"Shhh, I know Little Coal. You don't need to Tier-up Mathematics if you don't want to. I didn't."
He shuddered in relief.
It took a bit before his dad was done doing whatever witchcraft he was doing, but it was very clear when he was finished. Jornan jumped up and shouted.
"Yes!"
The last bite of egg flew off Colthorn's fork as he jolted at the sudden shout. He stared at the bits of egg, now on the floor. He turned and gave his dad a glare.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Sorry about that,” Jornan laughed.
Colthorn just sighed and used a napkin to pick up the mess.
"Ok, so, Ally," Jornan said excitedly as he sat back down, “can you pull up the Survivalist class information?”
“Yeah, just give me a second,” she said, eating one more forkful of eggs before she set the fork down and started tapping in the air in front of her. A silver-lined blue box appeared under her finger. She grabbed the screen and handed it to his dad. Jornan quickly read the screen, before nodding.
“Yep, I remembered right. Here Colthorn, look at this. These are the prerequisites for getting the Survivalist class,” his dad said, grabbing both screens in front of himself and handing them to Colthorn.
He looked at the screens his dad gave him. One was his own Status, which he left floating off to the side. The other screen was his mom's page. It was open on the Library tab in the "Known Classes" section. It displayed the Survivalist class.
Survivalist (UNC)
Description: You know the wilds and you know how to get what you want from them. After many years of your ventures into the wilds you also know what dangers lie within and how to avoid them. You are a survivalist. Adapt. Improvise. Overcome.
Perks: When in the wilds, +5% of the relevant Stat to any survivalist related Skill.
+10% Alacrity to stealth skills when in the wilds.
Prerequisites: Is familiar with any one type of wild. Has the Skills: Acid Resistance, Archery, Awareness, Botanize, Field Dressing, Harvest Plant, Hunting, Poison Resistance, Stealth, and Tracking.
"Basically, you already meet all the prerequisites. You’re already familiar with one type of wild, the forest, and you just need the Awareness Skill, then you'll have all the skills needed to get the class. And you’ve already been training for Awareness, so I’m sure you’ll get it in the next couple days. Anyways, I did the math and once all the prerequisite skills are capped you’ll be level 86. When you learn Mana Sense and Mana Manipulation, that’s another level, but if you cap them, then you’ll be level 89. After that, you only have to get 1,096.3 EXP until you can Tier up and complete the quest!” Jornan was practically shouting for joy towards the end there.
His mom perked up at that, “Then I could take him to hunt Tier 2 monsters and he’ll get that 1,000 EXP really quickly.”
Whatever excitement Colthorn had felt just doubled.
“Hunt Tier 2 monsters?” he asked, “Me?”
He’d been with his mom a few times when she’d killed Tier 2 monsters before, but that had been just him watching from the bushes as she fought. But if he was supposed to be gaining EXP that meant that he would have to be a part of the fight.
“Of course, that’s only when all your skills are capped... and only the weakest of the Tier 2,” his mother added, “and I will be doing most of the work, but you’ll get to help with all the kills.”
“Wait,” Jornan cut in, halting Colthorn’s fist mid-pump, “there’s something that I want you to do after all the prerequisite skills are capped, and before mom takes you power-leveling.”
“W-what?” he asked, lowering his hands back onto the table.
“I want you to attend the Adventurer’s Academy.”
“Huh?” Colthorn blinked, he hadn’t expected that at all.
“I already spoke with the headmaster there and he agreed to let you enroll despite being younger than the average student.”
“Hold on,” He interjected, “Why do I need to take classes at the academy?”
It was his mother that answered.
“Well,” she said, “your father and I have been talking, and since your training has progressed faster than we had thought, we thought that it would be good if you learn some new skills and learn the basics of adventuring.”
“But what other skills would I even learn?” He asked.
“You could learn how to use a sword,” Jornan said, mouth full of his cold eggs.
Learning how to use a sword would be pretty cool, but...
“Mom doesn’t use a sword,” he mumbled.
“You’re right. I don’t,” his mom said, “I use knives if I have to go into melee, but I think it would be good for you to learn how to use a sword. There were many, many times when I wished I had a longer blade.”
“And besides,” his father cut in, “You could spend a few months getting to know a few people close to your age and make some friends. Wouldn’t you like to make some friends?”
Colthorn paused, mouth open to deny the statement, but couldn’t. He slowly flushed red. “Uh... yeah, I guess.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to take you hunting Tier 2 monsters before it’s too late,” she said cheerily, “but right now, we need to get going and start your mana training!”
They all stood up and Jornan walked over to Colthorn and gave him a big hug. After the hug, his dad cupped Colthorn’s cheeks with both hands and looked him in the eyes.
“You’re almost there, Little Coal,” Jornan said, voice wavering slightly as his eyes sparkled with building tears. He kissed Colthorn’s forehead. “I’m so proud of you.”
Colthorn swallowed a lump in his throat, “Thanks dad.”
“You have your emergency potions?”
“Yep, right here,” he said, patting his belt pouch.
“Good,” Jornan let him go and tousled his hair, “Now, go get your gear on.”
He did as he was told and put his pack on. Then slung his quiver strap over his shoulders, shifting it until it was reasonably comfortable on the right side of the pack, arrows sticking up above the right shoulder. The bow, which was unstrung, he slipped between his back and his pack. He had the bowstring, and one spare string, in a little tin container that he placed in his belt pouch with his potions. He grabbed a waterskin that was hanging from a peg in the wall, filled it from the sink, and hung it next to the rope on the left side of his pack.
While Colthorn was putting his gear on, Jornan hugged and kissed his wife.
“Be safe out there, Ally” Jornan said.
With a final wave goodbye, they were off through the busy streets and out the eastern gates. Once out of the gates, they broke out into a light run with Alagossa matching Colthorn’s pace. They turned toward the northeast where there would be less adventurers, the Malrothian Dungeon was slightly southeast of them. They didn’t head deeper into the forest, because that only led to the Tier 2 areas, and stayed along the outskirts. What was called the outskirts was still a large swath of forest, and a hike around the entire forest would take weeks of travel, so they had plenty of forest to train in.
After a few hours of running, they slowed to a stop. Colthorn breathing hard. The forest was a half a day’s travel away so they still had a few more hours to go before they got to the edge. They stopped next to a lone tree and set their packs down. The water from his waterskin was lukewarm, but it was just what he needed after that run.
A tiny pebble bounced off his forehead.
“Ouch.”
“Constant awareness, Little Coal,” his mother said, picking up several other pebbles and sticking them in her pocket.
Oh great, he thought, she’s going to throw those at me as we run isn’t she?
She did.
<<<>>>
Once they finally reached the edge of the forest, they stopped to string their bows.
“Alright Colthorn,” his mom said, waving a hand at the dense forest in front of them. “You take the lead. I want you to be constantly following any animal or monster tracks, and I want you to tell me what creature it is that we’re following. When you’re following the tracks I want you to be focused on hunting down what left those tracks, ok? That way, the Hunting Skill will also level up, we will have to actually find things to kill at some point, but tracking random things will do until we find something.”
“Right,” Colthorn nodded in agreement. They’ve done this before, but they always had a little debriefing session before starting. Sometimes they did other things but Colthorn liked taking the lead. He felt like an adventurer!
“If you see a new track, name the creature, but continue following the tracks you were already following unless I say otherwise. If you see any tracks that you don’t recognize, ask me.”
A chime sounded in his head and a blue screen appeared.
Running gained 4 levels. +4 EXP.
Colthorn blinked. Only 4 levels? From running half a day? He sighed. Well, too late now.
“Hold on mom,” He said, pulling up his status page, “I forgot to change my favored skills.”
He got rid of the language skills, Geologize, Basic Alchemy, and Drawing. He left Botanize on the list, he would be using that a lot in a forest. Hunting was obviously getting added, as it was slow to level and it needed all the help it could get. Then he added Tracking, because he was just told to use that skill. Stealth, because Mom always said to when in the forest. Archery and Harvest Plant were added next just because he would most likely use them the most out of the skills that were left.
Favored Skills:
Botanize 0th 67
Stealth 0th 50
Hunting 0th 35
Archery 0th 43
Tracking 0th 36
Harvest Plant 0th 45
Skills:
Acid Resistance 0th 30 Analyze 0th 45 Appraise 0th 20 Astronomy 0th 1 Basic Alchemy 0th 56 Cleaning 0th 41 Climbing 0th 37 Cooking 0th 9 Drawing 0th 40 Field Dressing 0th 30 Follower of the Sibling Moons 0th 4 Glanic Language 0th 20 Geologize 0th 41 History of Malroth 0th 8 Jumping 0th 24 Knife Handling 0th 32 Mathematics 0th 1 Pain Resistance 0th 42 Poison Resistance 0th 25 Running 0th 54 Standard Language 0th 29
Tumbling 0th 21
“Alright, I’m good now,” he said, dismissing the screen with a thought.
“What skills did you favor?”
“Botanize, Hunting, Tracking, Stealth, Archery, and Harvest Plant.”
“Good,” she smiled, “Just the skills we’re going to be using.”
She continued where she left off, saying, “When following the tracks, you should be Stealthing at all times. I will also be Stealthing right behind you, so even if you can’t sense me anymore, I will always be right there with you. Just call for me if you need me. Use Botanize on everything. If you see any useful herb, Harvest it and hand it to me. If you use Botanize on a plant and it doesn’t work, tell me immediately, then use Analyze on it. If you see any creature, Analyze it then shoot it if it is Tier 0. If it is Tier 1 only shoot at it if it is below level 20, anything that is higher than Tier 1 level 20 is to be left alone, or I will kill it. If you kill any creature, Field Dress it and give it to me. If you miss, try to find your arrow. Questions, comments, concerns?”
“Uh, when will we start the mana training?”
She looked up at the sun and moons, there was about 5 hours until sunset.
“In about 4 hours from now. We’ll be training Mana Sense every night when we make camp, and for 2 hours every morning.”
He nodded in response and started looking around for tracks to follow.
“Horned rabbit,” he whispered, pointing at the ground a few feet away from them.
“Hunt it down,” She whispered back.
They stealthed into the forest, following the track.
A pebble bounced off the back of his head.
“Constant awareness, Little Coal.”