John moved fast, weaving between the trees at an inconceivable pace, but the Blaze Elk kept pace. Its bulk meant it moved slower than John did, but the forest around it smoldered and turned to ash, clearing the terrain to improve its footing. John would jump over a log, only for it to lose form and join the debris of the forest floor in becoming cinder moments later.
Arik flailed about in the larger man’s arms, staring directly into the Beast’s eyes. He felt completely out of his depth. His flesh felt like it was melting off his bones just from proximity to the Blaze Elk. Surely, he was dead.
Then the grip around his waist loosened, and he picked up velocity rapidly.
“Make yourself scarce, kid,” John’s voice bellowed, “I’ll handle this and be right back.”
Arik tumbled into some especially-sharp foliage, which broke his fall just as thoroughly as it broke his skin. He quickly turned back to watch John. An emotion somewhere between shock and confusion churned within his heart. Was the teacher suicidal?!
Instead of seeing the man burn into a charred husk or get gored by the voluminous antlers adorning the elk’s head, he saw an armored hulk bringing down an axe into the Beast’s side. Gone were the clothes that barely obscured the man’s bulging muscles, replaced by intricate red armor. Arik had been thrown to the side, so he got a good view of the helmet, which bore no eye-slits.
Even more impressive than the armor, John had grown over a foot. The man, who had previously been approaching seven feet, now seemed closer to nine. Not only that, but his equipment actually still fit him. He wondered if the gear had grown to match him in size, or if he’d had armor made to fit him when he, well, got big. Arik thought he would have noticed if John had been carrying a set of massive, red-stained plate armor, but maybe he had a Skill, or access to a spatial storage device? A Journeyman might be able to afford something like that.
Flames erupted from the Divine Beast’s body as John hacked into it with his greataxe. Arik half-expected the armor to melt into slag around him, but that didn’t happen. In fact, Johnseph didn’t seem to react to the flames at all, and stayed on the offense.
Arik struggled to watch the fight. He knew it was a unique opportunity to watch a high-Degree Journeyman slay a Beast far beyond Arik’s own capabilities, but between the speed they moved and the haze of the heat, the boy could hardly keep an eye on it. Even through his blurry eyes, though, John seemed to be winning. The elk would move back to get some space, and the warrior would close in and land another hefty strike. It would blast fire at him, only to receive yet another cut for its efforts.
The battle ended before even a few minutes had passed, with John cleaving deep into the Divine Beast’s neck. It struggled on for a few moments, but the flame in its eyes dimmed, and it slumped to the ground. Johnseph shrunk back down to his normal size, his armor vanishing into thin air. He spotted me in the bushes after just a moment, and a disappointed frown crossed his face. “I told you to hide, didn’t I?”
Arik opened his mouth, but no words formed, so he closed it and nodded. John let out a sigh and ran a sweaty hand through his hair. “I’ll let it go this time, because you’re inexperienced, but when your teachers tell you to do something, you do it. No questions asked. Got it?” Arik nodded his head again. John shook his head and muttered something under his breath, but dropped the subject.
He walked back over to the corpse and tossed it into his bag, confirming his use of spatial storage to the boy. “Divine Beast meat sells for a premium to scientific institutions and noble houses alike. Apparently it provides small amounts of Divine Essence, aiding fertility and growth during youth if prepared right,” he said with a shrug, “I’ve tried it and it tastes fine, but there’s no significant difference. It’s just like extra seasoning based on the Essence type the Beast used. This one will probably just be spicy. It’s also just not worth preparing, in my opinion. You basically need to strip it of most of its Essence, which requires specialized equipment and people trained in using it. Eating it straight gets you sick.”
Arik was curious, but not enough to ask if they could try it, considering the associated costs and risks. Maybe someday, when he was a Journeyman himself, he’d try eating one of his kills, but that was for future him to worry about. In the meantime… “Back to walking?”
A scoff was his response. “You know it. That’s the kind of life you’ll live if you want to do this long-term. You should always be moving.”
And so, after Arik had collected himself, they started walking again.
===
Another night, another Waking Dream. This time, though, there was something he hadn’t fully expected waiting for him.
Name: Arik
[Blessing of Celestial Skies]
Age: 18
Stats:
Physique: 16
Limit: 14
Talent: 11
Wisdom: 10
Essence: 7
Purity: 19
Free Points: 4
Primary Class: [Stellar Paladin] (1) -> (2)
Skills (3/5):
￮ [Heavily Armored] (1)
￮ [Bladework] (3)
￮ [Starlight] (1)
￮
￮
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Secondary Class:
Tertiary Class:
Skill Points: 4
This level showed just how strong the Blaze Elk had been. Normally, Essence would be dispersed into the atmosphere, but it would also be drawn into nearby living creatures as well. The amount of pull that someone had was based on how many levels– or rather, how much Divine Essence– they already had. It functioned something like gravity, as far as Arik knew. There was also a certain cap to how much Essence a person could store at once. You could only gain 1 level each Waking Dream, after all, and you wouldn’t be able to absorb any more after you’d already gained enough to accomplish that. Of course, it took more Divine Essence to get a single level as you got stronger, but the cap remained at 1.
Having gained a new level, Arik had to make some decisions about his free points. Essence (that is, his Core’s capacity and not the total amount he had in his body) was currently his lowest stat, and he’d probably need to raise it eventually, but for now, physical combat was the way to go. His Talent and Wisdom could also definitely use some work. With this in mind, he raised his Talent and Wisdom to 12, and used his last point to increase his Limit.
He took special note of his insanely high Purity and his skill points. Sadly, neither of those really mattered yet. When he got more spells, especially buffs and auras, his high Purity would be great, but for now, it wasn’t all that important. All it meant was that he could have two casts of [Starlight] up at a time, which meant almost nothing to him. He could assign skill points to increase the level of [Bladework], but skill points were also used to gain new Skills, and he’d prefer to expand his repertoire before doubling down on any one thing. He’d need 1 more Point before he was able to do that. The first 10 Skill levels were also the easiest to come by, though they were the cheapest as well. It wasn’t like he was in desperate need of immediate power, though, so he’d rather save up for a new Skill.
Skill points were also used to combine Skills, which was a very interesting proposition. He didn’t really have any good targets for it now, though. [Starlight Bladework], maybe? That would probably be some kind of attack spell. I could try to get a fighting style with [Heavily Armored] and [Bladework], but that sounds like a bad idea right now, when I’m just getting started with the Class. Skills could combine into different things for different people, most often influenced by factors such as Class and behavior. His blessing would probably also influence them, by his reckoning. That makes combining [Starlight] into something else more attractive, but I’ll still hold off until I’ve got all my Skill slots filled or an obviously good combo. Then I’ll just need to save up. Skill combination was expensive. Combining two Skills from the same Class into one cost 10 skill points. You could also combine them across multiple Classes, but that was even more expensive, and it wasn’t like he even had another Class. He’d like to have at least one combined Skill by level 25, though, where he’d advance his Class and gain another one.
Advancing a Class felt complicated, but was simple in theory. You’d basically pick one of the Class’ Skills and focus on it. Then you’d get three options for the Skill, and it would evolve into something called a Mastery. Masteries were separated from your normal Skill slots, and couldn’t be affected by skill points anymore, whether that be for leveling or combining. Their level was also limited to the level of the Class they were seated in. However, Masteries were vastly stronger than normal Skills, and the new Class you gained focused around granting skills that worked well with it. If Arik were to turn [Heavily Armored] into a Mastery, his 2nd Degree Stellar Paladin Class would turn him into an incredibly durable warrior.
A Mastery could be specialized into again, at which point it would become a 2nd Degree Mastery. You would get to pick another, more specialized path for it, and it would become even stronger, but it wasn’t generally considered a good idea. Powerful people probably had a few high Degree Masteries, but the suggested route was to pick new things. That way, you weren’t overspecialized, and could adapt to more situations. If someone Mastered a skill like Heat Resistance, and got a path called Fire Immunity, and then Mastered it again, turning it into something like Phoenix Healing, they’d be great against fire. Their defense against fire would be amazing. Not all enemies use fire-based attacks though, and they’d have deprived themselves of a powerful offensive or utility option. Getting to their next Degree would become even harder.
With all this in mind, Arik saved his skill points and exited his Waking Dream.
===
After almost a week of walking, the Pedagogue and the Paladin arrived in the city of Wendown. The city’s culture was very different from that of Jexticar, even visible in the architecture. Jexticar had mostly flat and angular designs, while Wendown had curves and swoops, and seemed very fancy. The building materials were similar, though Wendown seemed to incorporate a bit more color and wood into their designs, whereas Jexticar was mostly concrete, glass, and steel. Arik didn’t get too long to take in the sights, though, since John quickly whisked him below the city into some kind of tunnel system. It was large enough for Arik to walk unimpeded, but John had to crouch a bit. As they walked, the light slowly faded, until, eventually, Arik’s blessing-granted dark vision turned off.
[Starlight], he mentally commanded, pushing Essence out through his hand and into the spell’s configuration. The light was miniscule, only barely reaching the edges of the tunnel they were in, but its activation kicked his blessing back into gear, allowing him to clearly see that they were walking into a dead end. He tried to voice his concern, but was stopped by a grinding sound as John pushed his hand into the wall. After a moment, the dead end was replaced by an opening to a huge cavern. The floor dropped at the end of their tunnel, and a large, eyeless, lizard-like animal with a gray coloration flapped up to them, ridden by a lithe, shirtless man decorated by white war paint. He raised a spear up to the sky, some form of greeting. Arik saw a pack of the animals flying around in the background, ridden by whooping and cheering riders.
“Welcome, Arik, to the Spartan Citadel.”
Slate Stuff:
[Blessing of Celestial Skies]: Always have you basked in the ever-present light of the heavens, and now, more than ever, you call upon them for strength.
= +25% Efficiency with Celestial Magicks.
= +15% Efficiency with Radiant Magicks.
= +5% Efficiency with Gravity Magicks.
= You can see perfectly through any darkness or illusion so long as the light of the sun, moon, or stars rests upon you.
= You will receive additional skill offers when using relevant classes.
Name: Arik
[Blessing of Celestial Skies]
Age: 18
Stats:
Physique: 16
Limit: 14
Talent: 11
Wisdom: 10
Essence: 7
Purity: 19
Free Points: 4
Primary Class: [Stellar Paladin] (1) -> (2)
Skills (3/5):
￮ [Heavily Armored] (1)
￮ [Bladework] (3)
￮ [Starlight] (1)
￮
￮
Secondary Class:
Tertiary Class:
Skill Points: 4
[Stellar Paladin]: You draw your power from the celestial bodies who have watched over you and provided you with their light for all your life. As their holy knight, you devote yourself to their goals and ideals.
= +2 Physique
= +1 Limit
= +1 Essence
= +2 Purity
= +4 Free Points
Basic Skills:
= [Heavily Armored]
= [Bladework]
= [Starlight]
[Heavily Armored]: You ignore 0% (1n%-30%) of the weight of armor, and your movements ignore 1% (1n%) of any mobility restrictions caused by armor you are wearing. This ability only functions on armor that weighs at least 35 pounds.
[Bladework]: Your Talent stat acts 6% (2n%) higher while learning to wield bladed weapons. Bladed weapons you wield act 3% (1n%) sharper.
[Starlight]: You summon an ethereal orb of Magick that sheds light for 4 (3+n) feet. This light counts as starlight. Drains Essence. Reserves 7 Purity.