“Dammit.”
Brian sighed as he looked at the pile of hissing goop in front of him that had once been a rabbit like creature.
“First living thing I find, and of course I have to try a full power Poison Status on it,” he muttered, walking over and kicking some dirt onto the puddle, which hissed a little louder, “Guess I’m just a bit over powered for the area. Hmmm, I wonder if I levelled up from that though. I didn’t get a notification or anything, so maybe it’s only in the background?”
With a thought, he pulled up his Status Screen again, looking over it in confusion.
Name: Brian Andrews
Level: 1
Class: Dark Mage
Job: Scribe
Skill Points: 0
Titles: [Holder of Forbidden Knowledge]
“Huh? Nothing?” Brian sighed, “Dammit, probably because I didn’t learn anything from the fight, or because the rabbit was just so weak that it barely made a dent in my experience points. Come to think of it, do I even have experience points?”
Looking back at the screen, Brian tried mentally prodding the Level option, smiling as he saw the new screen appear.
Level: 1
Experience Points: 1/100
“Okay, good,” he nodded, “So I guess I’ll just have to hunt a hundred of those rabbit things to hit level two. Bit grindy, but I can deal with it.”
Brian hummed quietly to himself as he continued through the woods, walking softly over the mulchy floor to avoid stepping in any holes or snapping any twigs. The last thing he needed right now was to get a sprained ankle or attract the attention of a predator, even if he was somewhat confident that he could defend himself with his magic. An hour passed, Brian settling into the act of walking, occasionally pausing to throw a spell at a passing rabbit creature.
It turned out that, as he expected, his Poison Ability just melted the body into goop like the first, unless he consciously subdued the effects, which was a useful addition to his knowledge. Likewise, at full strength, his Paralysis Ability seemed to cause the rabbits to have a heart attack, also killing them instantly. Even his three Curses could kill at maximum power, though the aftereffects were quite odd. Using the Physical Curse left the opponent a shrivelled husk, while the Mental seemed to just cause instant brain death. The weirdest was the Magical Curse, which saw the creatures writhe around in apparent pain for a while, before falling still, which greatly unnerved the man.
The only Ability that didn’t immediately kill was his Sleep Status Ability, though Brian suspected that if he didn’t end it himself, then his targets wouldn’t be waking up for a very long time. It had taken a bit of practice, but he had figured out that he could consciously stop the effects of his Abilities whenever he wanted, leaving the rabbit creatures mostly alive, or at least only half melted. It took him another hour of experimentation with his new powers before he actually managed to cast a spell that didn’t immediately kill or disable his opponent.
The rabbit foamed at the mouth as blood dripped from its eyes and nose, launching itself at Brian as he barely managed to dodge the attack, having to throw himself to the floor in desperation. Rolling away, he jumped to his feet as the rabbit staggered, leaping towards him again, though it stumbled at the last moment, sending it crashing into the ground instead. Brian raised his staff as the rabbit tried to stand to face him again, bringing it down on its skull and crushing it in one blow, blood and brains splattering across the forest floor and his boots.
“Damn, that’s nasty,” Brian sighed as he wiped the gore off of his staff on the ground, “Guess I should really be standing in the back row supporting a fighter or something, but it’s not like I have much choice.”
With a thought, he brought up his experience points again, looking at the number in mild surprise.
Level: 1
Experience Points: 23/100
“What?” he muttered, “But that was only the twentieth rabbit I’ve actually killed. Does that mean that actually fighting gets you more experience points? Damn, guess I know what I’m going to have to do from now on.”
The growl behind him made Brian spin around, staring wide-eyed at the hulking form that was slowly lumbering towards him from between the trees. The bear was as large as Brian would have imagined, standing at an easy six feet tall at the shoulder while on all fours, and probably around nine or ten feet when standing on its hind legs. The beast looked between Brian and the dead rabbit creature for a moment, before growling loudly.
“Woah, you want this?” Brian said as he held up his hands and backed away, “All yours. I don’t exactly have a way to skin it or collect the meat or anything, so bon appetite or whatever.”
The bear snarled again, picking up speed as it drew closer, drool dripping from its mouth as it headed straight towards Brian.
“Oh shit,” the man muttered, before a slight smile crossed his lips, “Well, there is something I’ve been wanting to try, and I guess you’ll make a good test dummy!”
Lifting his short staff, Brian let out a breath as he focussed not just on the mana inside him, but on that inside the bear as well. He clenched his hand around the staff as the bear suddenly reared up, raising a paw to swipe at him before he used his Ability. The bear grunted as its left hind leg suddenly stiffened, causing it to lose its balance. The beast crashed to the floor with a loud thud, quickly managing to right itself as it tried to charge at Brian again, though its paralyzed hind leg seemed to make that difficult.
“Good, that works,” Brian grinned as he started to jog away from the greatly slowed down bear, which was still catching up to him quickly, “How about we try it again?”
The bear snarled as its right front leg froze in place, sending it tumbling to the ground once again, Brian grinning like a maniac as he watched his opponent fall. The bear, for its part, didn’t let the loss of the use of two of its legs slow it down for long, getting back to its working feet and stumbling towards Brian with rage in its eyes.
“Right, let’s try this next!” the man said excitedly as he cast one of the Spells his Curse Ability gave him, the bear slowing down even further as Brian gasped, his body suddenly feeling like it was full of strength, “Woah, that feels weird.”
His moment of hesitation saw the bear manage to get close enough to swipe at him, the man only having enough time to lift his arm to block the strike. His feet skidded across the loose, loamy soil, Brian hissing in pain as he held the paw back with his arm.
“That’s probably going to bruise,” he muttered as he looked up at the surprised bear, “And I think you’re still stronger than me right now. But that doesn’t matter! Because I can still win like this!”
Brian jumped back, releasing the paw, making the bear stumble forwards again, straight into the sloppy punch that he swung at its head. The blow connected, both sides gasping in pain as the bear was forced back slightly, and Brian jumped away, cradling his aching hand.
“Ow,” he hissed, shaking the hand as he looked at the still stunned bear, “Okay, maybe punching stuff as a Caster isn’t the best idea. Guess we move onto plan B.”
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Brian gripped the short staff in both his hands and swung it at the bear as it seemed to come to, slamming the end into its nose and making it cry out in pain. Brian didn’t give it a moment to recover, jumping away to avoid its confused swings, before darting back in to strike it with the staff like it was a club, slowly battering the bear down. After several minutes, an up swing caught the bear in the jaw, throwing its head back as it let out a pitiful wail, before collapsing onto its back and falling still.
Brian waited for a minute as he caught his breath, not having realized just how badly his lungs were burning and his arms were aching after the prolonged fight. He gasped as he suddenly felt the burning strength in his body fade, making him look at the bear in confusion. Carefully, he walked around it, poking it with his staff a few times to make sure it was really dead.
“That was…easier than I expected,” Brian muttered, shaking out his aching body as he inspected the large bruise on his arm where the bear had first hit him, already turning a deep purple, “Damn, guess I’m not about to go trying that again anytime soon.”
The man turned away from the bear corpse for a moment, before looking back at it and sighing.
“Sorry, I hate to leave you out here to rot like this, but I don’t exactly have a way to skin you or store your meat. Actually, I don’t even know how to do that.”
Letting out another sigh, Brian turned away again and froze, staring at the arrow pointed right at his face in shock and confusion. He looked down the carefully crafted shaft to the slender gloved hand that was drawing back the string of the bow, attached to an equally slender leather clad arm, which in turn was attached to a young woman with a glare on her face.
“Can I help you?” Brian asked, already feeling the sweat start to form on his brow.
“How did you do that?” the woman asked, glancing past him to the bear, “Not many could best an adult Greater Bear like that, and even fewer Mages.”
“How do you know I’m a Mage?” Brian asked, swallowing nervously as the woman narrowed her eyes at him, “It’s the robes, isn’t it? Probably the staff as well, right? Sorry, I talk a lot when I’m nervous. Could you please stop pointing that arrow at me? Please?”
“Why should I?” the woman growled, the sound somehow more vicious than that of the bear, “You could very well be planning on casting a Spell on me as we speak, at least I’ll be able to take you down with me if you do.”
“Okay, fair,” Brian nodded slowly, “How about this? I promise not to cast a Spell on you, and you stop pointing the arrow at me? Deal?”
“Why should I trust you?” the woman asked flatly, “I just watched you beat a Greater Bear to death with what amounts to a stick, and you think I wouldn’t be cautious?”
“Okay, again, that’s fair,” Brian sighed, “Look, I’m not here to cause trouble. The bear attacked me, so I defended myself, that’s all. I have no desire to hurt someone who could lead me back to civilization.”
“Civilization?” the woman scoffed, “Do you have no idea where you are? How did you even get out here?”
“Transportation magic gone awry,” Brian replied, “Or well…I was teleported without knowing where I’d end up. Where are we, exactly?”
“Teleported?” the woman actually seemed surprised by that, “That’s high-level magic, how did someone like you get permission to use it?”
“I didn’t, I was just sort of caught up in it by accident,” Brian shrugged, “Look, I’d love to tell you my whole life story, but it’s a little hard to do so while you’re pointing an arrow at my face. Isn’t your arm getting tired?”
“No,” the woman replied sharply, “And don’t even think about trying anything on me, I will kill you.”
“I believe you,” Brian nodded hurriedly, “Like I said, I promise not to use any Spells on you if you’ll please just stop pointing that arrow at me.”
“I don’t trust you,” the woman huffed as she continued to glare at Brian, “What if you’re lying?”
“I’m not, I promise,” the man sighed, “Look, do I need to say it three times in a row or something to get you to believe me? Is that a thing in this world?”
“Three times?” the woman blinked, “What are you talking about? And what do you mean by “this world”?”
“Right, that’s getting back to the life story thing,” Brian chuckled, immediately stopping when the woman scowled, “Okay, okay, I was accidentally summoned here with a bunch of kids who were destined to be Heroes or something. I’m not, so I got teleported away.”
“Summoned? Heroes?” the woman blinked, before letting out a low sigh and lowering her bow, “Fine, I don’t entirely believe you, but you don’t seem to be that much of a threat. What level are you anyway? You’d have to be at least level ten to take on Greater Bear like that.”
“Last I checked, I was still level one,” Brian shrugged as he nodded towards the bear corpse, “Hold on, let me see if I levelled up from taking that guy out.”
Level: 1
Experience Points: 47/100
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Brian sighed, “All I got was twenty-five experience? I was sure that fight was worth at least fifty!”
“What?” the woman blinked as she stared at Brian in confusion, “Do you mean you took on a Greater Bear at level one? How? You should have been obliterated!”
“Like I said, I got summoned here by a goddess, her name was Fiore, and all of us got a bunch of bonus Skill Points for it. I may have broken the system a bit and ended up with more than I should have, so I’m pretty strong, I guess.”
“You guess?” the woman sighed, “Kills a Greater Bear at level one and thinks he’s “pretty strong”? What even is this man?”
“Brian,” Brian said, “My name. It’s Brian Andrews, what’s yours?”
“Alessia Hunter,” the woman, Alessia, replied, “Now, I believe I heard you say that you didn’t have the tools nor the knowledge to skin and quarter that bear?”
“Nope,” Brian shook his head, “I’m kind of hoping you do, though. Go ahead, take whatever you want from it, I’m not about to complain.”
------
Dylan scowled at the soft clothes he was wearing, the outfit entirely too fancy for his tastes.
Not that he had much choice in the matter after him and his entire class had appeared in the middle of some sort of summoning room, immediately having sheets thrown over them to cover their naked bodies. He’d appreciated that, at least at first, until the other people in the room had bundled each of them off to separate rooms to “get ready” for some sort of ceremony. Now he was dressed in medieval looking finery and sitting on the bottom of a large plush bed, just waiting for something to happen.
“Lord Hero,” the female voice said as the door to his room opened, revealing a woman in what looked like a nun’s outfit, “It is time for the Revealing Ceremony. If you would please follow me.”
“And if I don’t want to?” Dylan asked, his voice and expression cold, “What if I don’t want to be a Hero? Or even help you people? I know nothing about you!”
“I understand your reluctance,” the nun woman said kindly, “More shall be revealed to you should you attend the ceremony. Please follow me.”
The two stared at each other for a minute, before Dylan finally let out an annoyed sigh and stood up, walking over to the door and out into the hallway, finding most of his class waiting for him.
“Sup, man,” his best friend grinned, “Never took you for the type to throw a tantrum.”
“I wasn’t throwing a tantrum, Miles,” the teen muttered, feeling his cheeks burn slightly as the rest of the class chuckled quietly, “I was just…shut up.”
“Nah, I get you, man,” Miles sighed, “All this? Crazy, right? I’m still expecting to wake up on the morning of the field trip and all this to be a really weird dream or something.”
“Yeah,” Dylan chuckled, “It really is an “or something”, isn’t it?”
“Come along now,” the nun said as she started to lead the group down the hallway, “Please keep up, as it is easy to get lost in the palace if you do not know your way.”
The group was led to several more rooms, picking up the last of the students, before they arrived at a pair of massive, heavily decorated doors.
“The ceremony will occur in this room,” the nun explained, “Do not worry, only those inside will know your secrets, and all have been sworn to secrecy.”
“Our secrets?” one of the other students asked, sweating slightly, “What does that mean?”
“Your Class, Job and current Abilities,” the nun replied, the boy immediately relaxing, “Come, it is time.”
The massive doors swung open near silently, revealing a grandly decorated room, tabards and banners hanging from the walls as a massive crystal ball sat on a pedestal in the centre. The class headed in slowly, looking around in amazement at the lavish decorations before the doors swung quietly closed behind them. A man stepped out from behind the crystal ball, a gentle smile on his face as he bowed to them, his bright red cloak hanging over his shoulders as a golden crown sat on his head.
“Greetings, Heroes,” he said in a strong and smooth voice, “I am Lloyd Aftburn Astera, King of the kingdom of Astera, and the one who requested your summoning. I am sure there are some of you who are less enthused by this act, but I ask you to stay your words and hands until after the ceremony.”
“And if we don’t?” Dylan asked, earning him a warning look from Miles.
“Then I am afraid you will have to be removed until such a time as you are calm enough to partake in the ceremony,” the king replied, the class suddenly noticing the numerous guards stationed around the room, “I sincerely hope it shall not come to that.”
“Fine,” Dylan huffed, looking back at the guards nervously.
“Excellent,” the king smiled happily, “Now, all you need to do is place your hand upon the Revealing Orb one at a time, and we shall read out your Status. Do know that we only do this to ensure the safety of our lands and have no intention to cause a slight to you in any way.”
“Okay,” Dylan nodded, stepping forwards, “I’ll go first.”
“You sure, man?” Miles hissed in his ear, “You were kind of against this a second ago.”
“If something happens to me when I touch the orb thing, get the others out,” Dylan muttered back, stepping towards the crystal, and reaching out to it.
The surface was warm to the touch, a slight jolt passing through Dylan’s arm as he blinked, suddenly seeing his Status screen hovering perfectly clearly in the middle of the orb.
“My goodness,” the king hummed, “You have quite the powerful Class and Job combination. And you appear to have chosen some excellent Abilities as well, young man. Thank you for trusting us, and please hold your hand against the orb for another minute so our Scribes can record the information.”
“R-right,” Dylan nodded as he read over the screen in the orb, letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, “Sure thing.”