~Thorben~
Thorben was in a state of shock. Had the server interface created a unique class just for him? The words “Arcane Sword Wraith” seemed to sink into his very being and reverberate throughout his soul. It felt right, as if it had restored a piece of him he didn’t know was missing. He felt as if he had always been an ‘Arcane Sword Wraith,’ and now just had to figure out what it entailed.
[Arcane Sword Wraith Class: A legendary class of reclusive warriors who wield both blade and mana in a dance with death during battle. Not much is known, but it is rumored that as adherents to the “Code of the Wraith” they hone their very soul as a weapon that serves their Purpose.]
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[Character Profile Updated]
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[Initializing Character Attribute Assignment Sub Routine]
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[Character Error Detected. Exiting HUD. Auto-Command: Adieu]
“Boy, you okay?” Thorben heard as he opened his eyes. Both Aldwin and Alfred were kneeling down amidst a clutter of broken dishes and splintered wood, staring at him with morbid curiosity.
“Actually, yes. I feel better than I have in a while. Tired. I’m not sure I’m recovered, but I feel like a heavy weight has been removed from my soul. What happened here?” Thorben glanced around at the circle of destruction radiating out of his chair.
“Damn kid, you sure make a man need a drink,” Aldwin said, glancing at Alfred, who shook his head.
“It’s past the supper hour. You’ve been standing stock still, unconscious most of the day, and just before you rejoined us, a swirling mass of dark grey smoke enveloped you for several dozen heartbeats before disappearing in a flash of blue light.” Alfred said. “Don’t worry. It looks worse than it was. The damage is minimal, a little mess is all.”
“How’d it go?” Aldwin asked, with a sliver of anticipation showing on his face. “You must have had some interesting choices based on your appearance.”
“My appearance?”
“Best if you see for yourself.” Alfred made his way behind the bar to grab a hand mirror.
As he returned, he handed it to Thorben. Thorben gazed into it, his eyes widening in surprise. The tan skin he expected to see was instead a very light, pale gray. His other hand reached up to feel his cheekbones, which were sharper. His features were a bit more angular. Some would even say chiseled. He’d been fit before, but now he was downright sculpted from stone. He ran a hand through his now dark gray hair, that somehow didn’t look elderly but just devoid of color. It was enigmatic. The most shocking change was his eyes. His distinctive blue eyes had disappeared, and something eerie had taken their place. Thorben’s pupils were surrounded by slowly circling whisks of grey smoke backlit by a dull, almost indistinguishable blue and with sporadic starbursts of purple.
“What happened to me?” He asked, dropping the hand mirror as he entered a state of shock. In the blink of an eye that it should have taken for the mirror to hit the floor, Thorben made a last ditch effort to catch it. Expecting to hear it shatter on the rough wooden floor, it shocked him to see he had caught it. Is my reaction time faster than before?
Aldwin and Alfred shared a brief look of disbelief. Alfred reached his hand out, took the mirror and made his way to the bar, letting Thorben compose himself. He returned a short while later with two mugs of ale. He handed one to him, sat down, took a swig of his, and ignored the incredulous look from Aldwin. “That’s a good question. Why don’t you tell us?” Alfred said.
After a long swallow out of his own tankard, Thorben explained everything that had happened. His error messages, compatibility ratings, and original class ranking options. He accessed his HUD and promptly closed it, letting out a sigh of relief that he could actually close it this time. He then accessed it again and read his new class description aloud, ending with the final error message and subsequent boot from the process. As he finished, Alfred went up to refill the ales. This time returning with three tankards, to Aldwin’s apparent relief. Thorben couldn’t help but chuckle at his antics.
“Have you tried to allocate your attribute points since then?” Aldwin asked.
“No, let me try now.” Setting his ale on the arm of his chair, Thorben thought, “HUD.”
Name: Thorben Deepiron
Race: [unknown error]
Level: 1
Rank: D
Class: Minor Arcane Sword Wraith
+Status: [new]
+Soul Attributes: [locked-viewable]
+Soul Bank: [locked-not viewable] [new]
+Spell Book: [locked-empty]
+Quest Journal: [new]
+Equipment:
+Social: [limited-viewable] [new]
Unknown error? Locked? Limited? What is going on here? “I think my HUD is broken.” Thorben said as he navigated to the soul attributes sub section and read my stats out loud.
- Soul Attributes:
Strength: 5 [locked]
Dexterity: 7 [locked]
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Constitution: 4 [locked]
Intelligence: 3 [locked]
Wisdom: 3 [locked]
Charisma: 1 [locked]
Free Attribute Points: 0 [locked]
“Okay, not terrible, but not great. The average human has a baseline of 3 in each attribute with a max of 20. Do you have any free attribute points to allocate?” Aldwin asked.
“No, all of my soul attributes, including free ones, say they are locked.”
“Soul attributes? Hmmm. It’s rare, but you might have a negative status effect. Navigate to your status submenu and let’s see.” Aldwin had him navigate toes status menu.
Thorben opened his status submenu and expanded each category with barely a thought.
-Status:
Experience: (75/100)
Karmic Standing: Neutral
- Effects:
Soul Damage [temporary-04:14:03]
Due to over-level casting, you are temporarily unable to safely channel mana. Limit physical exertion and refrain from any mana use or you risk permanent damage.
Questionable Intentions [Permanent]
Due to your sinister spectral like appearance, you suffer a permanent charisma of 1. Players and NPCs alike will have at very least an initial innate distrust of you, while others may be outright hostile. You will have to work harder to gain positive karmic status with individuals. This does not affect anyone who knew you before class selection.
Learning Disability [Permanent]
Due to the system’s inability to verify your proper porting into Baherune, the traditional model of skill acquisition is barred to you, and you are similarly unable to allocate attribute points.
Soul Sculptor [Permanent]
As the bearer of a unique legendary class, you gain access to the soul honing system and the bound armor it provides. Soul armor provides permanent protection to your soul from external threats and automatically replaces the need for physical armor. Soul armor also provides limited skill slots on each piece acquired. Soul Armor is gained at the completion of each stage of the Pillar of Mastery. Soul honing provides the opportunity to convert attribute points into soul points that act similarly to their traditional counterpart but can only be utilized during the Pillar of Mastery advancement ceremonies.
Legendary [Permanent]
???
“Damn, kid! What is going on with you?!” Blurted Aldwin as he burst into uncontrolled laughter. “Learning… dis… dis… disability!” He continued to laugh, almost falling off his chair and spilling most of his ale. Thorben exited his HUD and stared at Aldwin with a clear lack of amusement on his face, waiting for him to stop. Alfred looked at Thorben and shrugged, not seeing the humor either. At long last, he regained his self-control. “Sorry, that was a party foul. I should know better, but between your permanent learning disability and questionable intentions status debuffs, it’s as if the game server views you as an idiot pervert. Might have to use that as your new nickname! Alright let’s explore what we can of your new HUD. Go to your quest journal, and your social menu.”
Quest Journal:
Primary Objectives:
Unknown Stalker: Discover the truth behind the Order of Buanaì and their interest in you.
Secondary Objectives:
Duke McDingleberry: Help the citizens of Drazalar. Investigate the bandits’ claims of ducal support. Take appropriate action.
Thorben then went into his social tab and noticed he had a message. He expanded the sub menu.
-Social: [limited-viewable]
+ Guilds [locked]
- Messages
New: Congratulations on your entrance into the Pillar of Mastery. Rewards are earned by the best. Continue your path to excellence and claim your due. Your Katana (Famed) has been evolved as your first unique reward.
[Katana (Famed) has been added to your equipment.]
Thorben didn’t need to hear the intake of Aldwin’s breath to know that something remarkable had just happened. He knew that this was an unusual boon. Wasting no time, he opened up his equipment sub menu.
Equipment:
Weapon 1: Sword of Soul Reaping (Soul Bound-Legendary)
Weapon 2: none
Helmet: none
Torso: Plain Tunic
Arms: none
Legs: Plain Pants
Feet: Plain Slippers
He selected the weapon, desperately hoping for more information, and was not disappointed.
Sword of Soul Reaping
(Soul Bound-Legendary)
Your adoptive father crafted this master crafted Katana and saturated it with a father’s desire to protect his son and unconditional love. It is crafted from the finest Dragon-Steel money can buy, folded 30 times to near indestructibility, and sharpened to a razor’s edge.
Class-Based Evolution:
Soul Bound: none may wield it but you.
Arcane Focus: Serves as a safe conduit for runic magic.
Soul Collector: Serves as both the harvester and vault for souls.
Familial Bond: The intense intent of the craftsman who forged this blade is being honored with the embedding of two soul slots that can be filled with an appropriate soul at anytime.
After he reviewed his Katana’s description, he stood in stunned silence for a moment, trying to understand exactly what his weapon was capable of. His eyes floated along the blade, admiring the etchings of the dragons on each side of the blade, both with shimmering blue and purple scales. The artistry of the etchings was so detailed that they almost appeared like they would fly off the sword. The obsidian like handle in his white knuckle grip seemed to be wrapped in a black leather type material reminiscent of miniature scales. It wasn’t until he heard Aldwin demand to know what his HUD description read that he snapped back into focus. He felt the familiar wrappings of the Katana’s hilt in his hand as he read the description aloud. When had he retrieved the Katana? Where was the scabbard? He closed his HUD.
“So it looks like I got a new toy.” Attempting to appear nonchalant, he sauntered over to his chair and sat down. A deaf person could have heard the excitement in his voice, though.
“Yep, right along with your new handicaps.” Aldwin said. It felt like a cold bucket of water had brought him back down to reality. Aldwin must have noticed because he continued, “You have a hard path in front of you. Those negative status effects are nothing to scoff at, but that new toy might be the literal and figurative edge that you need. Especially when we can figure out what an ‘appropriate soul’ means.” He took another draw from his tankard and set it back on the table. “May I?” He held his hands out to receive the blade. Thorben was hesitant, but ultimately he had to trust someone, and lowered the blade into Aldrin’s outstretched hands.
As soon as Aldwin attempted to grasp the hilt, he released it and the blade dissipated into a grey smoke, and reformed in his hands. They tried a couple more times, to no avail. “Guess that’s what soul bound means. To be honest, I don’t even remember retrieving this from my gear by the bar.” Thorben stated.
“That’s because you didn’t,” Alfred said. “The thing just appeared in your hand like it did now. Creepiest thing I’ve seen in a while.”
“As amazing as this sword is, I can’t hold it forever. Any ideas? I don’t even see a sheath.” Thorben wished that this had come with instruction on how to use it. He needed to know how to put it away. He set it down, but a few seconds after losing contact with his hand, it disappeared. And it again reappeared in his hand. “I can’t keep this sword in my hand for the rest of my life!” Go away, he yelled internally, and with that, the sword swirled into mist and disappeared.
“Whoa! What’d you do?” Aldwin asked.
“Just thought about putting it away, and poof, it was gone.”
“Okay, so think about getting it back out.” Aldwin said.
Thorben did, and it appeared in his hand. He spent the next few moments summoning and dismissing his sword. He discovered that the visualization or thinking of words was irrelevant. It was a simple process of willing his sword in and out of existence. “This is great! So much more convenient!”
“You have a few more days of rest and then the real training begins,” Aldwin said with another awkward looking smirk. Thorben couldn’t tell if it was less awkward. Was Aldwin improving his smiling skill, or was Thorben just seeing him in a different light?
Thorben, while grateful for a training opportunity, didn’t like the look in Aldwin’s eyes. He was sure that training wouldn’t be fun, at least not for him.