"Wow, there goes my self-confidence, Amaya these stats are amazing! I am surprised by how good they are across the board!"
"Thanks?" I say, feeling a little nervous for some reason. The way that he is saying this makes it seem as though my stats are particularly impressive.
"Can you break it down for me what all of these mean and what it means together." I see his eyes light up brilliantly. I wondered why my questions make him so happy.
"I would love, love, love to tell you all about this. Wow, I am able to teach someone about dungeon things. This is so great!"
"You don't get to do that often?" I ask, honestly a bit surprised. He seems extremely knowledgeable.
"Of course not who wants to listen to a little kid talk about dungeons, no one that is who, and believe me I have tried. People think that you can only learn things in the official classes. Bah, what do they know. I have read books, just all the books, about this dungeon in specific. I can tell you when it came to be, the deepest level that people have gotten to, the monsters on each floor. I have read all the theories on it as well as first-hand accounts."
"That is impressive. Being well read is quite valuable indeed. Though to be admitted I would be a tad concerned if you lived in a library and did not read to gain knowledge."
"You seem well learned yourself. Do you read a lot?"
"Some." I answer vaguely.
"Some! I found someone that reads some! Adventures never read really read much at all, this is so exciting! And with your skills we might even be able to learn some spells together!"
"Spells?" I ask, confused. "Me? A magic wielder?"
'Thanks for the input. But I cannot listen to two people speak at once!' I think loudly at Zayne. I did not want him to give me head pains. "Amaya? Hello, are you okay, are you there? Did I say something wrong. Do you not want to learn spells with me. Is it because you don't know me well? I won't use spells against you or use you for a tester unless you request." he said, sounding a bit frantic. "No, I am sorry. I momentarily got lost in my own thoughts for a second. I would enjoy learning a few spells, but I don't think that would be the best class for me." "Well of course not! We are friends, so we should adventure together. And two magic wielders wouldn’t make for a well-balanced duo. You have to help protect my poor squishy self by stabbing things! I mean, look at your dexterity and agility! What a great combo for a dual wielder!" "Yes." I say. "It feels right?" I say, although it does end up coming out as more of a question. "You seem a bit confused. Oh no! You asked me to teach you what all of the traits mean. I am sorry. I got lost in my own excited talking. I mean, your stats! I can't wait to see how fast you grow." 'Are my stats special?' ‘Do you not have any air flow where you? Are we going to have to learn to fight without breathing? I… I am not sure how I can teach my lungs that.’ "Okay, so I am sure that they go over all of this in adventurer classes, but it seems like you want to get a head start on learning, which I am all for! I think that is a great thing to do. Which do you want to learn about first?" "I'm not sure. How about we go in the order displayed?" I say, hesitant. I am excited about all of this, but I am also a bit nervous. I enjoyed that test a lot. Maybe I really am meant to be an adventurer. I am not quite sure how to feel about this. This isn't proper, this isn't poised. How can I stab something gracefully? This is just so different. But I must learn. I must! "You drift of a lot don’t you. Okay let’s do it that way, it makes sense and I like that idea." Kay said with a breath takingly beautiful smile. I always think that people are the most beautiful when they are doing something that they truly enjoy. "Okay. Before I go into each trait I think it is important that I lay a quick bit of groundwork. The average range for these skills, for non-adventurers of course, are from 5-15. So think of 10 as being completely average at something, like a glass of water. After that 15 means you are skilled, 20 is considered being a genius and” Kay looks over at my skill sheet. “And a 24 means, you are a cheater. I don’t know how you did it, but you somehow broke the system, did you punch something you weren’t supposed to? But! An average person would only be skilled in one or two of these traits. That is what sets adventurers apart. Well, that and throwing ourselves headfirst into danger and the gaping maw of the dungeon." The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Oh. So, adventurers are skilled masochists in the eyes of others?" I query him. "Yes, we know pain and we like it! That is a nicer way than saying trait skilled morons." I let out a small, startled laugh at the way he phrased that. “Anyways." he begins again. "With that knowledge here is what each of these means: "Strength helps with physical might, prowess, the amount of force a person can use. A very physical skill. People high in this area often use weapons like axes, two handed swords, fists and hammers. Those are what they are the most skilled with as others struggle to wield these unwieldy things.” “Ah, so fists are unwieldly, duly noted, it is a strange note but I have taken it none the less.” "Dexterity is the ease of maneuverability and the knowledge of physical movement. It is almost like people with high dexterity see how a body should move best in different situation and can follow that knowledge. People high in this area use bows, dual blades and fans. Well, people with high dexterity are pretty much the only people that use fans." "Why is that?" "Because they seem too graceful for most adventurers. It is a profession both genders go into, but it is still mostly men." "Is it? I thought things were more equal in the dungeon." "Well, in a way we are. We are all seen as monster chow!" I give a nervous laugh. "Next is wisdom. This is the ease in which one can resist the influence of physic attacks and has a greater understanding of the mystical arts. Staffs, orbs and wands are good for these skills. Closely associated with wisdom is intelligence." "Isn't that usually just how smart you are?" "Pretty much! It is the ease of which you learn knowledge." "So how smart you are." I say, grinning. "Hehe, that means that magic users are the smartest." "I suppose?" "Glad you agree, moving on. Cunning is mental reaction time. This is the most important to speed fighters, also just called DPS. Damage per second. As they utilize every last second they can to inflict as much as damage as they can. They have to know what attack a movement can signal and react before the monster strikes." "That's pretty cool. It seems like you like DPS fighters." "I wanted to play up how cool they are since you plan to be one. As after all mages are the best and I don’t want to brag too much." That thought made me quiet. I plan to be one. I plan to be one. Those words had me spinning out. This is my life now. I need to internalize all of this. I have to know what everything means and how to use all of it in order to survive. I had always planned on using my knowledge of how to utilize my movements to help me, but that was supposed to be in very different ways. Though Mother did always say seduction was a form of combat. "Stamina is next. Stamina means how much physical energy a person has. The more stamina you have, the more skills you are able to use, especially back to back. Think of it! Spinning jump kick to the head, dodge, roll, pop up behind the enemy, stab them and distract them. While they are busy wondering who stabbed them..." his voice trails off for a moment. "BOOM! Exploding fireballs! Freeze-ray their feet. Bwahaha they are stuck and unable to flee." He tips back his head and laughs with glee. "Ahem. I apologize for my exuberance. Agility is how quickly you can move. This is obviously good for dodging hits... Also great for running away. Fleeing for your life!" "Of course. Dodge and flee." "Very important to know how to do." "Agreed." “Charisma in the world of adventurers means how effective your buffs and de-buffs are. You want to strengthen someone or help make them faster for longer, or make an enemy weaker? Use charisma! I think it is something about making people think they are stronger and faster, you know like tricking them." "And outside of the dungeon?" I ask, a bit teasingly. "How charming you are. How affective you are at getting people to give you discounts, or go on dates, or... Well." Kay shrugs his shoulders. "Huh." I say. Who knew. I wonder what it will mean for me that my charisma stat is so high. Can I charm people even through my hood? Will I eventually be able to repel things and not just negate them? Probably not but it was a fun thought. "Health is, well, health. How physically healthy you are. The more health you have the more you are able to take a beating before you are kaput. “Often said right alongside of health and stamina is mana. This is the amount of magic energy contained within someone. Thus, you can think of it as the number of fireballs they can cast before becoming a useless sponge. This is able to grow the more skilled a person becomes." "How charmingly odd. I like that very much." “Another thing to keep in mind is these stats are opposed to each other” he looks at my stat sheet again “usually. They are opposed to each other usually.” “I don’t understand, how could your own stats be opposed to one another?” “Well no one is really sure why, but the rule of thumb is you don’t have high stat values in any of these pairs. Strength and intelligence, endurance and cunning, dexterity and agility, stamina and wisdom. You may notice that charisma does not have a pair, and there is a very good reason for this.” “Pray tell, what reason might that be?” “Ahh, it’s because no one really knows. Just one of those things that you can describe but not explain. The sky is blue, why, because it likes the color.” "You are such a good teacher Kay. Thank you for taking the time out to teach me. Do you think I can meet up with you later so you can tell me about the rest of these? The talents and traits?" "I can, but why not now? Do you have to go somewhere? Have I been talking too much, oh I have made this terribly awkward haven’t I?" "Not at all, I just need to find housing before it gets too late” I say. I really should have thought about this before now, but it didn't really cross my mind. "And you are sure that you don't want help with any of that?" "Well..." I say and think about how awful it had been to try to get here. "Can you show me on a map where there is a quieter neighborhood?" "I can try, but it is a very noisy town, I don't know how comfortable you will be." "Why is that?" "Well, the quietest and possibly safest area is the beast-kin zone. Well, if you are a beast-kin." "Zone?" "Well, it's a bit bigger than a neighborhood, but still small enough to be its own thing so people decided to call it a zone." "And why wouldn't I be comfortable there?" "Well, they are very welcoming to people of their own races. It's not that they are mean to other races, just protective of their own and have a ‘why are you in our part of town’ vibe." "Pray tell why they behave in such a manner?" "Well, because of the discrimination against them. People say that for there to be beast people that "people" had to mate with beasts and have their children." I wasn't sure how I felt about that to be honest. I was kitsune, fox-kin. Also part wolf-kin, so I was beast-kin, a demi-human to some. Knowing the history of my people clarified some of his points. Some "beasts" were intelligent enough to shape themselves as human, to live amongst them, learn their ways. The fox-kin came from foxes with a spark of divinity within them, causing them to be blessed with long lives, beauty and health. They were able to have offspring with other races and have the fox-kin side stay dominant. People were jealous of their gifts and feared them. Some other beasts were similar, though without a spark of divinity. Eventually people learned of the difference, but it seemed that people began to revile them anyways. So, there was truth in his statement, but it was also untrue. We do not have relations with those without the spark of intelligence, without consent and knowledge and trust and respect, and... "Such narrow minded, thick headed, unkindly perverse minded arrogant soup for brains!" "Don’t forgot misogynist. They are misogynist, what did you say soup for brains?” "Are they?" "Yes. So, Amaya if it isn't rude to ask, what race are you?" "I am a mixed blood beast-kin. So I think that would be the safest area for me to live." "Yes, yes it would be. You would think that being adventurers would cause race discriminations to wither and die, but it doesn't. People that don't go in dungeons still need people to hate, people they can see." "They do not need to hate anyone. It is a choice." I hiss. "I agree. But what can you do? Let's just get strong enough to beat-up all those that torment people that are different than themselves." "Kay, do you have to deal with such cretens?" "Yup!" he says, smiling. How could he smile about such things. "Being an orphan who may as well have been hatched out of a book doesn't allow me to have too many friends. Also, I am a half elf. Humans seem to be okay with it for the most part, but other elves see me as unclean and beneath them, further beneath them than they see humans, further than the dirt on their shoes! “And, well, some elves see people as little more than beasts that learned to say a few words. Good human, here have a sandwich." "I am a long way from home." I say. There is so much to learn. "Kay, let's get strong enough to strike down those bullies and cause them to be afraid. To be very, very afraid." I say, and although I don't know it my eyes glow the same color as my fox fire. “Oh, I was more of thinking of just showing how awesome we are, wouldn’t that be enough? Amaya? You have scary glowing eyes going on.”