Lilly stared at the ceiling above her, thinking about the past day. It had been a blur of frantic running and fighting that didn't really leave her a chance to think about her situation.
"This really isn't Earth... That's insane..." She whispered to herself. "I thought this kind of thing only happens to heroes and legends, the kind of people that moved worlds. The stuff of fairy tales. Meanwhile, a college student, half broke and barely paying the bills for her apartment, gets chosen to... do what? Save the world? Me?" I'm definitely not cut out for that. She thought as she rolled over in her cot.
A moment later, she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the cot and lightly smacked her face a few times. Come on, Lilly, you've got a whole fantasy world to explore. First, let's see what's in that study. Excited, she got up and went to the study, walking over the bookshelves and pulling out books that looked useful or interesting. There were many topics, ranging from Arkonion Combat Forms to Herbology and even some Magic. She pulled out all three books on fighting and started practicing, seeing as she certainly could use the help, considering her extremely clumsy battles yesterday.
Thirty minutes later, after finishing her first book, a ding! went off in her head.
Wisdom +1
She blinked in surprise. Apparently, reading books would naturally boost her Wisdom stat. By that logic, there were probably ways to boost other stats by doing mundane things. Also, the blue bar in the corner was now partially empty, indicating 100/110. After studying the bar for around a minute, she saw that it refilled by about 1 mana. That either meant it was a linear progression of 1 mana per minute or 1% per minute. She hoped it was the latter.
Lilly went ahead and read the next two books, gaining Wisdom for each completed. After finishing all the books, a fourth and final ding! went off.
[Arkonion Legacy - Class Available!]
You have found the remnants of the ancient society of assassins, Arkon. You have learned the combat forms of the Arkonian Assassins. Do you wish to carry on their legacy? [Y / N]
Warning: Accepting this class will replace all class bonuses and may remove current class skills.
She looked at the floating words in awe. Lilly didn't realize obtaining her first class would be so simple but certainly didn't waste any time in affirming her class. A long series of ding!s went off.
[Arkonion Legacy - Class Unlocked!]
Stats Increased: Strength +6, Dexterity +8, Perception +4.
Class Bonuses Granted: 200% Dexterity, 150% Perception, 150% Strength, 150% Wisdom.
[Afterimage (Active) - Class Skill Unlocked!]
Gain the ability to teleport short distances, leaving behind an afterimage. Base: 5m per use.
[Arkonion Cloak (Active) - Class Skill Unlocked!]
A cloak created from the shadows: provides slow falling and the ability to hide in any shadow. Base: 10m per use.
[Perception (Active) - Class Skill Unlocked!]
This skill allows you to feel the area around you within a range determined by your perception stat. 5m per min.
[Arkonion Combat (Passive) - Class Skill Unlocked!]
Arkonion Combat encompasses mastery of all forms of combat. You're not quite a master, but you'll get there.
Processing...
[Daggers, Unarmed Combat, Dodging Skills merged with Arkonion Combat]
[Arkonion Combat - Level Up!]
[Eye of Arkon (Passive) - Class Skill Unlocked!]
You are one with the shadows, the darkness is your friend, therefore you are no longer blinded by the light nor lack thereof.
She sat there with a dazed look in her eyes. Holy fuck, that was a lot to take in. Is it just me, or did I just become super badass? She looked at all her new skills and class bonuses, taking her time to soak it all in.
----------------------------------------
Name: Lilly Nightingale – Level 3
Race: Human
Mana: 130/195
Class: Arkonion Legacy (Rogue, Rare)
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Active Skills:
Identify (Common) - 1
Inventory (Special, 2/100) - 1
Afterimage (Class) - 1
Arkonion Cloak (Class) - 1
Perception (Class) - 1
Passive Skills:
Arkonion Combat (Class) - 2
Eye of Arkon (Class) - 1
Stealth (Common) - 1
Stats:
Vitality - 20
Strength - 23
Intellect - 11
Wisdom - 13
Dexterity - 25
Perception - 15
----------------------------------------
Lilly felt like a whole new person. She stood, the moved and twirled in ways that simply wouldn't have been possible before. Getting into a few stances, she found that it almost felt like second nature, which was a strange feeling since she barely skimmed over books. She wasn't sure how comfortable she was with some system putting knowledge into her head, but it wasn't like there was anything she could do about it. She threw some practice swings and kicks, feeling as if she's been fighting for years.
"I wanna see those stupid rats try biting me now." Despite the bold claim, she didn't go test it just yet.
Okay, let's try this teleport, hopefully NOT into the wall. She tried willing the skill to activate, aiming for across the room. Her vision went black for an instant before she was standing where she aimed, ever so slightly disoriented. Catching herself, she looked back to where she was standing before. She saw her afterimage slowly fading away as if made of vapor.
"Alright... That is SO cool." She spent the next few minutes teleporting over and over, testing her limits and trying to incorporate the teleport into her fighting. She found that she was unable to teleport more than 10 meters, nor could she teleport into any objects. She also found out that trying to go below zero mana left her with a huge headache and a heaping spoonful of regret. Sitting down with her head in her hands, she waited for her mana to come back, which took an excruciatingly long time. Once the headache faded into a dull pain, Lilly got up and looked around for a book on a way to regain mana faster. If it was 1% per minute, she'd have to wait over an hour and a half every time her mana went dry, which was simply unacceptable.
After about twenty minutes of fruitless searching, she found Mana for Dummies. She found it kind of funny to find such a title in a lair for a secret society of assassins, but she pulled it out nonetheless. Flipping through the pages, Lilly found that the most common and simple technique for regaining mana was the [Meditation] skill. The only apparent way to get the skill was to meditate, so she looked to see if there was anything else before putting the book down and getting into a comfortable sitting position.
Slowly clearing her mind, she calmed her breathing. She focused on the sound of her heartbeat, on the feeling of the air around her, the ground beneath her, the silence of the room that threatened to close her in. Several times her concentration broke, but with each failed attempt, the next lasted even longer. Finally, after about three hours, a ding! sounded off in her head.
[Meditation (Active) - Skill Unlocked!]
With this skill, increase your mana regen by a factor of five when you're stationary. You don't need to be quiet, but I'd appreciate it.
I wonder who writes these messages. Do I even care, it just said five times the normal speed! Lilly was ecstatic, now she could practice her new abilities to her fullest extent.
She spent the next several hours testing out her new abilities (leveling some of them while she was at it), completing mundane tasks such as cleaning herself (she still had grime and blood from the previous day) and the new hideout, and making herself dinner (turns out touching the runes would use up her mana to turn them on). For the record, the rat meat tasted terrible, either due to her poor cooking skills or... well no, that's probably it.
Conducting a search through the armory revealed lots of rusted gear, most of it completely unusable. Amidst it all, she found a set of dark leather gauntlets and a pair of matching boots with which Lilly equipped. She also found quite a stash of money in the chest; her inventory indicating that she had obtained 327 S and 2 G. At least, she could only assume that was a lot since she's been getting 3-5 copper per monster so far.
Now she was having a dilemma, trying to decide between spending a month or two leveling in private or heading for civilization immediately. Looking at the map left by the Society, the mountain she was in was called Mt' Kykas. Her cave faced a long stretch of uninhabited forest to the south, past that was the mountain range she spied in the beginning. To the east was more woodland, but it looked to be the residence of the elven nation, Elysium. Northeast was the Trestia kingdom of demihumans, with dwarven cities further past that within the mountains beside the coastline. Stretching past the map in the southeast was a desert, but the map didn't have anything marked there. Finally, the human kingdom, Proana, was in the northwest, with a large lake that sat in between Proana and Trestia.
Staring at the map, she realistically had many options. Going to Proana would most likely her safest bet, but that was boring. Why go to a fantasy world only to live with more humans? BORING... That left Trestia or Elysium, but since she didn't exactly have a wish to get shot with a bow for simply stepping into the forest, Lilly decided that Trestia would be her first stop, where she would get more information on all the races.
After I level up a bit first, of course. No reason to die to some bandits because I'm a level three female meandering along the roads. She sighed and got up to leave the cave for the first time that day. Opening up the stairway, she ascended the steps while activating her cloak skill. It wrapped her body as if the night sky was literally reforming itself to cover her, with the edges undefinable and fluttering on non-existent winds as she moved.
Do monsters respawn? Do they even spawn to begin with or do they have babies like normal animals? She wondered as she walked lazily back through the tunnel. As if on cue, she spotted a rat up ahead, which hadn't seen her yet.
[Cave Rat - 6]
Teleporting in, she stabbed at its head, missing slightly and cutting its back. The rat squeaked loudly in anguish, clawing at her but she was already a few meters back, her afterimage leaving the rat confused and hurt. Suddenly angry, the rat found her and leaped at her wildly, claws outstretched. Instead of dodging, Lilly casually kicked upwards, landing a hit on its chin and knocking it up into the air, spit flying out of its mouth. She jumped into the air, spinning vertically before teleporting above the rat and landing a kick onto the air-born rat, sending it crashing into the ground. She landed softly on her feet, threw her dagger into the rat and finished off the dying monster.
[Cave Rat - Defeated!]
Level Up!
[Afterimage - Level Up!]
Lilly was laughing giddily, looking at her hands as if they belonged to a different person. The difference in her combat ability was like night and day, with her coming out of the fight unscathed despite the rat being a higher level this time. So this is what it feels like to be powerful.
She didn't have any illusions as to her strength, something like the drake would probably still eat her for breakfast and chances are she was still in the low rungs of society in terms of individual strength. Despite all that, she was feeling as if she had a real chance at attaining strength in this foreign world, a world that had left her feeling extreme vulnerability and pain from the get-go.
Feeling empowered, she headed for the cave's entrance