Father’s P.O.V

He was having trouble keeping his calm. Normally, he found it easy to forgive Mash’s mistakes and behavior, but this was unacceptable. He wanted to know what class his son had gotten, but Mash was just staring into the ground, obvious disappointment marring his face. He spoke with as much authority as he could muster, managing to contain his worry and expectations.

“Son, what class did you get?”

He kept the patience out of his voice, forcing Mash to react and give him a truthful answer. The words he spoke were strained, and quiet enough that he needed to lean in closer to hear.

“Runner...”

Trailing off as Mash revealed the class, he glanced around between them. As his father, he felt waves of emotion pour through him. Disappointment, at not being at the level of his siblings, or even receiving a respectable class. Anger, at getting a class that defined Mash as a coward. Regret, as he blamed himself for not properly guiding Mash to receive a better class. He had grown complacent since his other two children had received good classes without any intervention on his part.

As his father, he didn’t know what to say now though, remaining calm had taken most of his effort. He wanted to explode at Mash, asking him about what he did to receive this class. With his given stats he should’ve been able to get something better. Being a military commander meant that there were certain expectations of him, and he could already feel the whispers and stares that would follow his back for raising his son to be a coward. Though it wasn’t the end of the world yet, Mash could still learn to correct his behavior. Getting his son a better class should be possible, he would just need to be stricter with Mash.

Not knowing what to say or how to look at his son, he turned to face his wife, and saw tears beginning at the edges of her eyes. The light having faded from her eyes as the reality settled in. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Mash getting up and running to his room, clutching his presents to his chest. He would need to comfort his son, but his priority was his wife. He could check on Mash tomorrow and come up with a plan for him.

____________________________________________________________________________

Mash P.O.V

Sitting on his bed, Mash combed over the book that his siblings had gifted him. His family’s mixed reactions to his class caused his thoughts to spiral. His siblings had taken it in stride, telling him that he was overreacting and that his current class didn’t matter. His parents, on the other hand, had been stunned, only nodding after his brother started explaining what Mash should do moving forward. Mash didn’t hear much either since his mind was focused solely on his failure.

However, he had needed to face them, and looked towards his parents. He felt their disappointment more than saw it, his vision blurring with the beginnings of tears. It was the silence that gnawed at Mash, and he wished that they would say something. Hoping to hear them yell at him, he had sat there waiting but nothing came. Instead, Mash tried to see what was written on their faces, even if just to confirm what he believed would be there. His mother had a pained expression and was on the verge of tears herself, looking at Mash like he had died. Mash pushed through his growing sense of dread and glanced at his father. His usually stoic father had grimaced as Mash met his eyes, and Mash’s heart sank when his father looked away. Mash shuddered remembering the gesture, and how he lost all control of himself and ran into his room, he didn’t want to cry in front of them.

Even after calming down, he could easily picture their faces. Sitting there, he was no longer reading the book, instead trying to drive the scene from his mind. He wished he had paid more attention to his brother’s advice. As if on cue, Arthur opened the door and walked into Mash’s room as if nothing had changed.

“You really should clean your room; I’m surprised you don’t trip walking around in here.”

His voice carrying its usual calm tone, and Mash felt a little comfort in realizing that his brother, at least, would treat him the same. Something was different though, and Mash focused on the stack of paper between his arms. With a tone that left no room for argument, he handed Mash the papers and spoke firmly.

“This is what you’re going to do starting tomorrow.”

Mash looked down at the papers and realized they were a series of exercises with times that seemed agonizingly early. His brother was not done there, as he took a seat on the bed and seemed ready to give him a lecture. Mash was feeling down and wasn’t ready for this. He tried cutting off his brother, but his brother barreled forward ignoring him altogether.

“I can tell that you're unhappy with your class. I won’t lie and tell you that it’s great, but it is good enough. Did you actually read the book?”

Mash was not prepared to answer the question but managed to push some words out.

“I looked at the runner class a little bit.”

He sounded like a spiteful brat, and he knew it. ‘Looked’ was a good way to put it, having read up on his one skill and then just staring at the picture of a man running. His brother either didn’t seem bothered or didn’t care and pressed on.

“So, what skill did you get?”

“Endure.”

The single word came out with more anger than he had intended. Mash wanted to apologize but couldn’t muster the energy for it, not wanting to talk about his class at all, especially now.

“It’s a good skill, meant for developing your stats. While it won’t help you once your stats get around twenty it should help you get there, before your next class. The plan is straightforward enough, but I will help you with it tomorrow. After that, you should be able to handle it on your own. Raise your strength to 15, and I bet you will probably be offered a knight variant class.”

His brother unbothered by Mash’s tone spoke easily. His words had comforted Mash, since his knowledge of the skill showed how much effort he put in. His brother paused to give Mash the opportunity to look at the exercises. Mash froze as he fully processed his words and immediately began scanning the schedule. If he could become a knight then that would solve everything, it was a class that everyone had wanted. He would no longer be a coward.

Looking at the schedule he realized that he would not have much time to play, which was a small price to pay for getting a better class. There was something else there too, he felt a strange eagerness to train. To get use out of his skills and progress his class. Normally, he wouldn’t want to work so early in the morning but looking at the schedule made him want to start immediately. Not knowing the cause, he was glad to feel the desire to improve believing it would let him get a better class.

“I’ll do it, let’s start now I can--”

The words poured out of Mash like a flood. He wanted to feel like he was doing something useful. In fact, just running would be enough, and he wanted to get going.

“No, go to sleep for now, and in the morning, we can get started.”

His brother’s reply had blocked Mash’s words like a dam. Wanting to argue, he was about to speak, but his brothers next words stopped that idea.

“If you don’t go to sleep and instead decide to start exercising, then I will make you wait a week in bed before starting.”

The words were said coldly. It was times like these which made him seem more mature than his age. He was thirteen and would be considered an adult when he turned fifteen, but that didn’t stop him still acting like their father.

“Fine, I will go to sleep.”

Giving him a smug salute, Mash found himself grinning stupidly.

“Good night, Mash.”

His brother smirked a little as he said the words and headed to the door. Mash smiled a little more when he noticed how carefully his brother was walking.

“Good night, and thanks Arthur.”

Mash did begin to feel more optimistic as he lay in bed, the conversation playing out in his head. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Ten minutes later, Mash was lying in bed. He wasn’t asleep though, planning on waiting for a bit before getting up and starting on some of his brother’s exercises. His brother wouldn’t find out anyways. He heard a knock on his door though. Mash knew it wasn’t his father or brother as they would never knock. He was worried it was his mother and wanted to stay silent but had thought better of it. Some small part of him wanted to talk with his mom.

“You can come in.”

Mash said the words apprehensively. The door opened revealing his sister. She started walking in, with a book in each hand, when she tripped and fell.

“Will you clean your room; you are not some kind of animal! At least turn on some lights!”

The words came out as a loud whisper as she pushed herself to her feet. Mash immediately complied, he leaned over the bed and pushed the window open. His window had small wooden doors, that he needed to push out to let air in. This was easily Mash’s favorite part of his room, just by having the window open there would be enough light for him to see easily. Most of the rooms had glass windows, but his didn't and he was glad for it. Feeling the outside air was comfortable.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think about it.”

Giving some deference to his sister, as she was the one that usually helped Mash with his studies, he apologized honestly. However, his eyes were following the books though as he spoke his next words.

“What are those?”

“These are to help you get a better class. One is a book that mages use to feel mana, and the other is my notebook to help guide you while you read. People can only really start doing these after getting their first class, and it’s complicated. I don’t know what class you will end up with, but it will probably let you escape your current class.”

She rushed through the words speeding up as she spoke more excitedly. Catching her excitement, he began shaking in his bed. Finding himself grinning, he knew that he wasn’t smiling because of the books, rather because both his siblings had made plans to help him.

“Thank you, Luna.”

Mash could feel himself smiling and didn’t even mean to, it just felt right. His sister was smiling now too, telling Mash about the basics of each book, and what he should do to get started. Mash couldn’t grasp it exactly but was able to understand how mana functioned. If he could just figure out how to feel it, then he could start working with it. He couldn’t feel it within him and figured he would have to look at some of the methods in the book. Normally, one would only bother learning this if they had a magic related class. Mash believed that if he could figure it out, it would guarantee him a magic related class.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

His sister yawned, and Mash followed like an echo. Speaking through the next yawn, she said her goodbyes.

“Good night, Mash, I’m going to go to sleep.” She got up and carefully made her way to the door, making sure not to trip again. “Oh, and happy birthday.”

“Thanks, and good night, Luna.”

Mash was genuinely grateful but was distractedly looking through the books at his feet. He felt like he was close and the exercises in the books seemed to be getting him somewhere. Normally, it would be difficult to sit still, but performing the exercise was enjoyable, each attempt was more fun than playing aimlessly. He found them to be like the meditation skills that monks would have, but more focused on connecting to ambient mana in the world. Another thing that was different was that rather than sitting as you did for monk meditations; mages would meditate by focusing on their breathing. Maybe he could mix the two.

He pulled out the book he had gotten earlier and flipped to one of the pages on monks. He found the meditation skill easily enough as it was one of the most common skills monks would get. Mash tried following the pose in the book. While mages focused on bringing in mana, monks focused on pushing out foreign mana and improving the quality of their mana. Mash thought he understood what both were going for and thought his idea would work. Sitting cross-legged on his bed, he started meditating trying to feel for the mana within his body.

He didn’t know how long it had taken him, but eventually he felt something. It was like the energy he had felt when getting his class, but somehow it felt more like him. Once he felt the mana, it changed his perception, like a sense that he had just awoken. With that sense he managed to perform the monk exercise and push out the mana that he felt earlier. It was surprisingly painful. Like pulling the hairs from his head, but instead they were within his body. He coughed roughly, it felt like he was pulling at his lungs unnaturally. He pushed through and focused on drawing mana in to fill those gaps, and the feeling passed. The new mana seemed to fill the places he had emptied earlier. The next time he completed the cycle, it went much smoother and involved only a small amount of discomfort. Apparently, that was normal though, at least according to the meditation skill. He kept repeating the process for the rest of the night.

He woke up early in the morning. He didn’t remember when he had fallen asleep, and he was still sitting in the posture for meditation that he had earlier. He focused in on himself eager to check if he had made any progress last night. He didn’t think it was likely, but his wisdom and intelligence weren’t particularly high.

Name: Mash Class: Runner

Level: 1

Health: 60/60

Stamina: 100/100

Mana: 60/60

Fortitude: 6

Endurance: 10

Strength: 2

Agility: 5

Intelligence: 6

Wisdom: 5

Charisma: 1

Free Stats: 2

Skills: Endure

Endure: Go beyond your limits. Continue current action even after depleting stamina.

Mash stood up in disbelief. His intelligence had gone up by 2 and his wisdom by 3. That was a single night of meditation and he had gained 5 stats. He wanted to scream, laugh, and dance. He felt like he wanted to explode, he needed to do something. His brother, as if he had a sixth sense for appearing at the right time, opened the door. His brother spoke quickly. “Good you're awake, we can get started immediately.” Mash began his training in earnest.

______________________________________________________________________________

Two Years Later…

Mash woke up by himself, it was early in the morning and none of his family members woke up this early. His brother used to wake up around the same time as him, but he left for the capital a few days ago. After getting the apprentice sentinel class, he was named as a potential hero candidate. He was more likely to end up as a sentinel than a hero, but either class was famous enough that the kingdom wouldn’t risk losing him.

There had been a big ceremony for his departure, with a small festival being held in the district. His brother hated every moment of it, spending most of his time with Mash since not many others would. He knew that he would be treated differently but was still surprised by the amount of people who looked at him strangely. Most faces were filled with pity, but there had been those that felt more dismissive. The other kids were horrible and either mocked or ignored Mash and the festival had just stressed this reception.

He thought that the runner class was common but learned that was not the case. Apparently, it had very specific triggers, most of which would occur without the person’s knowledge. This gave the class a worse reputation, since the most known triggers were cowardly actions, hence it was dubbed a coward’s class.

Mash went for a run, deciding that he would take it easy today and just enjoy the run. Before he knew it, running had become one of his favorite things to do, and he would do it for most of the day. He could go anywhere in the city and enjoyed running between the parks. At this time of the day, he was one of the only people outside, which let him run freely while enjoying the city. The morning air was fresh and devoid of the odd scents that he usually expected in the city.

While running he found himself looking towards the sky. He could spot some interesting birds flying in the distance and imagined himself flying, and how freeing that would be. He saw a few birds flying higher than the rest, dark shadows at the edges of the clouds. Dreaming about the ability to fly, he made his way back home. It was nearing breakfast and he was planning on relaxing today. Arriving sooner than he expected, he made his way to the kitchen. He stopped when he saw his mother, trying to leave without her noticing.

“So, you’re taking it easy again. How many times days are you going to relax for? Do you even want to change your class anymore?”

His mother’s tone was the hardest to listen to, being a mix of disappointment and sadness. She sounded like she wanted the best for Mash but couldn’t do anything to help him. She always seemed to catch him on breaks and would chastise him. She had tried to get him to work with her, but he would always refuse. Becoming a dedicated healer was not his dream and he hated having this conversation. Choosing not to respond, he grabbed the breakfast she had ready for him. She always made sure that there was food ready for breakfast and dinner. Before leaving the kitchen, he muttered a quiet thanks. Despite everything he was sure that his family still loved him, and he did too, even if he was finding it harder to spend time with them.

His class had changed his life. While his siblings didn’t care, his parents had been the opposite, drastically changing the way they treated them. More and more of his encounters with his mother were ending up like that but were usually more pleasant around celebrations. His father had been worse, and every time Mash met with him, he would grill Mash about any changes to his stats. When he had improvements, everything was fine, but when his stats stagnated, he would get a list of things to do from his father.

Honestly, Mash didn’t mind doing the exercises, having found it fun to improve. It felt like a game, and he was competing with his father and brother to see who would come up with the best methods to raise stats. In fact, using the endure skill made him feel incredible. It would take all of his concentration to keep the skill going, stopping his mind from thinking about how others looked at him. It pushed all the tiredness away, giving him the ability to run beyond limit, far further than anyone could know. He never told his family about how he ran to the edges of the village. Finishing the breakfast, a simple roll of bread stuffed with bits of eggs and cheese, he aimed to complete a longer run.

Three Years Later…

Mash was running. He usually ended his workouts with a run, going until dinner came around. The endure skill would allow him to keep working on his agility and endurance even after he ran out of stamina. He would be in some pain for the rest of the day after going home, but that was a small price to pay for improving his stats. Mash felt comfortable with his routine and had even improved upon his brother’s schedule after he left.

Mash himself was almost ten and would soon start working with his father to learn some of the basics in using a weapon. Mash already spent a few days at the official training grounds to “observe,” but usually ended up following along with the exercises. Mash wasn’t quite done today, so he decided to stop by the training grounds and wait for his father to finish his work.

The training grounds were plain and clean. A simple track, and a large space with some training dummies was enough for most exercises. Mash wanted to walk up to the training dummies and grab a wooden sword, but he couldn’t. He still wasn’t allowed to use the full wooden swords that the other trainees used, and instead ran to his usual spot by the side of the track.

Next to the track there was a wall, and Mash liked working in the shade. Propped against the wall, Mash found his favorite stick. This stick was the perfect weight and length. Despite not being perfectly straight, it had grooves that fit his hands nicely. The top split into a ‘Y’ shape, and Mash honestly preferred the skewed weight distribution.

Currently, Mash’s stamina was low, and he could easily deplete it with some practice swings, but instead he wanted to try and get his skill to work with the training motions. When swinging a sword properly the motions just didn’t flow. He had tried changing the motions as much as he could but found that it would just break his form. He had seen an adventurer using a spear and tried using those motions. He couldn’t spin the stick as well as the adventurer had done with his spear, but he did manage to persist for a while after his stamina ran out. He wanted to use a sword, but decided a spear would suit him better, and there were knights that used spears, even if it wasn’t common. Mash decided to check on his stats once before starting as he did with almost every exercise now.

Name: Mash Class: Runner

Level: 5

Health: 130/130

Stamina: 210/210

Mana: 150/150

Fortitude: 13

Endurance: 21

Strength: 10

Agility: 13

Intelligence: 15

Wisdom: 11

Charisma: 6

Free Stats: 10

Skills: Endure

Endure: Go beyond your limits. Continue current action even after depleting stamina.

Not even 5 minutes had passed when he was interrupted. Mash didn’t hide while training, as there would’ve been little point to it anyways. Ever since getting his class, Mash had begun training and had quickly become somewhat of a spectacle as people watched the “runner” run.

A group of boys had walked up to him, wearing the apprentice guard uniform that all those who trained here did. When Mash turned ten, he would also get a uniform and start training, but he had a late birthday, so a lot of the kids had already started. He didn’t know the boys well; in fact, he had grown distant from all the other children as he devoted his time to improving his stats in some way. He was certain that by now his stats would easily beat most other children his age, even those with combat related classes. They might beat him in a specific stat, but he doubted even that.

He knew what was coming, the boys would ridicule him for one reason or another and then leave. It annoyed him that he couldn’t fight them, his father hated fighting and would give Mash an earful if he did. Speaking loudly, the boy in front mocked Mash

“The coward has begun playing with sticks has he. I think I saw dancers do this at the circus. No, wait, it was the monkeys.”

Grinding his teeth, Mash resisted the urge to strike the boy. The boy wasn’t done taunting him and continued beyond his usual point.

“I wonder if I can do that too”

The boy was speaking while reaching for Mash’s weapon. That was not something Mash was willing to relinquish to bully, and he stooped to his level and mocked him.

“Monkey see monkey do”

Mash said the words without thinking as he pulled the stick back out of reach. One of the others had to stifle a chuckle, Mash thought that was stupid, it wasn’t even funny. He just responded out of anger. Face red and hands waving, the boy screamed out his demand.

“Fight me, I challenge you!”

The words spread across the grounds, and the knights started gathering to watch the children make fools of themselves.

“Fine!” Mash made sure to say the words loud enough so that everyone could hear. He would not be a coward, not here, not now. His class did not define him. He knew his father would be angry, but that was better than acting like a coward. Mash distanced himself from the boy, and began wielding the stick as a spear, using the forked end as the head. The boy drew his wooden sword, it was a standard longsword type and he held it crudely, not at all like Mash’s father or brother would have. The knights around had formed a small circle, it gave them ample room for the fight.

One of the knights yelled, “begin!” The boy exploded into motion charging at Mash, raising his sword up for an obvious overhead swing. Mash lashed out with his spear while ducking to the left. He was aiming to jab the boy in the throat, to end the fight as quickly as possible. He wasn’t an expert and aimed at the obvious weak points with generic motions that even he could perform. The boy however was carried by the weight of his own sword, his swing dragging his whole body down. His head followed the swing like an amateur. Mash hadn’t been ready for this, he watched as one end of the stick plunged into the boy’s eye.

Time seemed to slow down as Mash watched the motion. The boy’s eye got crushed and seemed to pop into a mixture of blood and gore. Mash couldn’t stop his motion either and ended up pushing the stick further in. He felt some resistance which he thought must be the boy’s skull, but it didn’t stop the motion completely. However, it did strain the stick, and as it couldn’t take the full weight of the boy and Mash’s thrust, it snapped. The boy fell face first into the dirt. The sound of his head smacking into the ground left a sickening crunch, as the stick was driven further into his head. The boy stopped moving and blood pooled around his head as silence filled the grounds, and Mash knew that the boy was dead. Then it came, the rush as Mash leveled, a feeling that he had previously only experienced on his birthday.

Name: Mash Class: Runner

Level: 6

Health: 140/140

Stamina: 220/220

Mana: 160/160

Fortitude: 14

Endurance: 22

Strength: 11

Agility: 14

Intelligence: 16

Wisdom: 12

Charisma: 6

Free Stats: 12

Skills: Endure

Endure: Go beyond your limits. Continue current action even after depleting stamina.