1.00
' ♪ Living is a dream
When you make it seem
Enchanted ♪ '
[Dreamer level 1]
[Skill - Lucid Dreaming]
"-arry! Harry! Wake up, Harry! We might be in trouble."
"I'm up. I'm up. I must have dozed off. Is the gym closing?" replies a boy groggily removing his earphones.
"No. I don’t know what the hell is going on, but we're not in the gym anymore."
"What?"
And indeed, there was no gym. Not even the city. Three boys were in a vast plain, grasslands for mile around in all direction interspersed with patches of small bushes or dirt here and there. Far off from the distant north, all the way up to the east was a jagged mountain range covering a little over a quarter of horizon. A tiny rain cloud was visible in a north-eastern pass between the mountains. A rising moon and a setting sun, coloring the evening sky with a red hue. Yet, for such a grand vista, was not a soul or civilization in sight.
"GODDAMMIT!! Ollie!! Are you messing with me again? How far did you even drag me out?”
“It wasn’t me. Listen, I wasn’t -”
“How did you even manage this? Who else is in on it?” Harry began checking his phone, only two songs had gone by while he was napping. “I was barely asleep for 5 minutes.”
“I’m telling you, we just got here, alright. One second we were in the gym, then we’re here. Like we teleported but no light or nothing.”
“Teleported? Wha- I can’t get any signal. Where even are we?” Harry began his waving around his phone for better reception.
“I don’t know, I’ve been telling you. It’s just us and that guy over there. Harry?” At this point harry was spaced out, with almost a hysterical expression. Where he was looking, they could see the moon far above mountain range far across the horizon. And just above the range, just peeking over was the second moon, larger and purple like a cheshire smile.
“I must be dreaming. What was it? A dreamer? Yes, lucid dreaming, I’m just dreaming.”
“Hate to interrupt your daydream buddy, but I think we should make a fire” cut in the so far silent third individual. “If you hadn’t noticed the sun is going down, it might get cold and it’s definitely gonna be dark.”
--
Thus, the Grand Design witnessed the arrival of three individuals among many others,
It had given the class not because the
--
Sun had just gone down, but the light had yet to fade, and it was already apparent that the night was going to be cold, especially for the two teenagers fresh off the gym with sweaty t-shirts and trousers. The third hadn’t reached the gym proper but walked in through the door into a different world. When an innkeeper found an inn somewhere far north, the three had managed to build a small fire and enough kindling to last a while. And around the fire they sat assessing their situation and possessions.
Harry had nothing other than the clothes on his back, a phone and an earphone going dead in one ear. Oliver or Ollie as his friends called him, was holding a towel and half a bottle of water more than Harry. The later-introduced Theo, a familiar face in the gym but a stranger to the other two, had the most, in the sense that he had a bag prepared for a gym session. A towel, a bottle of water, a pair of wrapping bandages, a wallet, 4 keys in a carabiner, and two protein bars, one of which he magnanimously shared to be split between Harry and ollie.
“I suggest we head towards the mountains, look for water along the way.” Theo began.
“Aren’t we supposed to wait for rescue when we get lost?” Ollie replies.
“Rescue? In a different world?” a tinge of annoyance in Theo’s voice.
“Yeah, we need water. But do we have to climb a mountain? We don’t even have any food” Harry interjects.
“We don’t have to climb it immediately. If nothing else, that’s a vantage point. We can get the lay of the land, check for cities if any. Besides, aren’t rivers supposed to flow down from the mountains? Water cycle and all that.”
No one argued. They would head toward the mountains tomorrow by unspoken agreement. But tonight, they slept, although fitfully, late, and tired.
And they levelled.
Theo, last to fall asleep, unlike the other two, woke up immediately after, quietly contemplating the implications. Stranded in the middle of nowhere in exchange for superpowers was a good deal in his opinion. In fact, for Theo, a fan of survival shows, there were no downsides at all. He only regretted not holding a knife when he was transported. Every survival show he ever watched suggested having a knife increased the chances of survival dramatically, and most of them started with one already equipped. He tried shaping a stone into a knife, but couldn't find the right type of rock for it in the dark. Hours later, having achieved nothing, Theo went back to sleep. No voices interrupted his sleep this time. When he awoke again, Harry and Ollie were already awake and silently discussing their own classes.
“-I got a class too, but I thought I was dreaming. Ironically my class is [dreamer], Ha! Did you get any skills too?”
“Yeah, [forage]. I can vaguely feel? feel the sticks and such around here. What’s your skill?”
“… it’s not as useful as yours. But in my defence, I got it the minute we got here. I can [lucid dream]”
“…yea, that’s not useful at all.”
“I guess it wasn’t just me then. You’re a [ranger] too?” Theo joins in
“What? No, I’m a [scout]. You got [ranger]? That’s so cool. And Harry here is a [Dreamer]. What skills did you get?”
“[Detect Water Bodies]. And I detect water that way. West? Feels like a stream flowing down from the north.”
“we’re in a different world and we can level up. Is this really … real? Are we in a game? Like VR matrix”
“I don’t know. Feels too real, Harry. And the teleport was too seamless, you know. We even have the things we were holding.”
“The question is what else is game-like? Will monsters pop out of nowhere? Cuz’, unlike the game I can still feel pain. And what’s the game over mechanics? I doubt we have multiple lives.” Theo’s questions left everyone thoughtful for a while.
“I’m sure we’ll be fine. We just need to find some weapons or something, fight some slimes and skeles. I wonder if there is magic here. FIREBALL!!” Ever the optimist Ollie was unsuccessfully making different hand gestures.
“Keep it down. There could be wild animals around if not monsters, which is not entirely impossible.” Theo warned.
“If there were magic, it would probably show up as skills. There could be a magic class even. But skills themselves could be magic. How else would you describe it.”
“… you’re a wizard, Harry.”
“Shut it, ollie, that joke got old years ago.” But that did make him think and secretly hope it was true. He would even try to light or levitate things later, privately. It would be embarrassing if he failed.
“Why don’t we save the discussion for the road, yeah? The water feels far, and we still need to figure out food.”
There wasn’t much of a camp to strike so they gathered everything and set off towards the water.
--
During their travel various theories were exchanged, regarded, and dismissed. They tried various experiments including voicing out common commands for most games, among which ‘options’, ‘inventory’ and ‘observe’ didn’t produce anything, while skills and classes gave ambiguous results. There were no obvious pop ups or anything, just a vague list of their class and skills at the back of their mind almost like an echoing memory of their initial level-up.
By midday they hadn’t figured out anything conclusive but had grown rather bored and tired despite the mysterious phenomena yet nowhere near their impromptu destination.
“Are we there yet?”
Past mid-day and they hadn’t even made it a third of the way. Theo was getting worried that he had seriously misjudged the distance. And despite their travel the scenery hadn’t changed at all. The mountains were exactly where it was, not even a slight change in angle, and there wasn’t much of any other landmarks. If it weren’t for his skill, he wouldn’t have known if they were making any progress.
“Are we there yet?”
They didn’t have any food, so they had just kept walking. None of them were ready to admit they were tired before someone else did so they had just kept walking. Theo would occasionally catch Harry covertly rotating his wrists or making grasping motions. Had he sprained his wrists? He hadn’t complained so they just kept walking.
“Are we ther- oh, water.”
That brought Theo up short, as they should’ve only been halfway there, and his skill hadn’t alerted him of any water nearby. He relayed this to the others but there was clearly something shimmery amidst a patch of deeper green a short distance away.
When they carefully got closer, it was indeed water, almost a puddle slightly larger than a bathtub. And still nothing from the skill.
“So, skills aren’t infallible, eh? Good to know.”
“What was the skill again?”
“[Detect water … bodies]. There is a size limit, I think. Probably distance too.” And wasn’t that enlightening. “It’s getting late anyway. We should camp here.” There was still a lot of sun left but it felt like they had been walking for a lot longer than a day.
“Yea, not sure about that.” Oliver was looking at an impression in the mud.
Paw prints, large and deep.
“Ok then, we take some water then walk a while longer.”
“I don’t know. Is this water even drinkable?”
“We’ll boil it then. Beggars can’t be choosers, and we’ve run out of what we had.”
“Boil it in what?”
“We'll figure It out. But we have to leave. Whatever that thing is, might be back soon.”
And so, they did, walked a fair way away with nervous energy. When the sun neared its zenith, they built a camp again.
“Bears are afraid of fire, right?” Oliver had gathered a large pile of sticks and dried leaves, no doubt helped by his skill. Besides, he had no intention of letting the fire out tonight. And during his enthusiastic search he had found something more.
“What’s this?” Harry was holding a lumpy orangish not-quite broccoli almost potato.
“I don’t know, but my skill pointed it out so it must be something. But that’s not the important find. Look, I found … a Stick !!”
“A Stick?”
“Yea. I can make a spear out of it. Fight off the Bear if it comes around, you know.”
“…”
“What?”
“First off, that’s too short to be a spear. And have you ever seen a bear, you definitely can’t fight off a bear even with a decent spear. Also, it might not even be a bear at all. More likely a leopard or a dingo considering the environment.”
“A beast then, and it’s still better than nothing.”
While Harry and Oliver were bickering, like the previous night, Theo had started a small fire with sticks and a shoelace, same as the previous night, propped the broccoli-potato over it. To Harry and Oliver's astonishment, you can boil water in a plastic bottle without damaging it much. The bottle got warped, they had to do it anyway, either that or risk disease. Theo had not found any suitable rocks along the way either. He hoped he’d find flint near the river at least. After a hearty meal of toasted broccoli-potato and light conversation, they went to sleep. This time, Theo was eagerly the first to fall asleep. The level ups and skills he received were within his hypothesis, so he didn’t bother waking up. Unlike Harry who woke up immediately.
“I got a new class.”
Oliver was sitting by the fire, grinding the tip of his stick to a point with a rock. “You can multi class? What did you get?”
“I’m a [Wanderer] now. And I got [Delay Exhaustion].”
“You were bound to-” Oliver’s phone chimed.
Before any hope could set in, Oliver continued. “Oh, my battery’s almost out.”
“You didn’t turn off your phone?”
“I didn’t want to miss anything if we got contacted, you know. I have it in battery mode.”
“You dumbass, save it for when you need it.”
“Yea, I guess.” He laid down and the two fell into silence each wondering if they could return or be rescued or even just contacted.
“Even the constellations are different here. We must be really far out from earth. I don’t recognize any, but they look brighter somehow.” Harry’s thoughts had been wandering towards home and what their friends and family might be up to. And ever so gently, dread began creeping up. “Hey, do you thin-”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“YESSS!!”
“Jesus, Ollie!”
“What the fu-” Theo woke up frantically looking around and slowly settled as he realised what had happened.
“I got magic. I got Fiyaaa!!!” Oliver had levelled up.
“What, seriously?” Harry was too excited to be jealous yet.
“Watch this.” Oliver took a stance, feet apart, his hand extended out, palm forward, fingers clawed, other hand gripping the wrist, he cast “[Fire Starter].”
And a guttering flame and few errant sparks appeared and fizzled out in his palm.
“You fuckwad woke me up for this?”
“But look, it's Magic.”
“Fuck You. I’m going back to sleep.”
--
[Scout level 4]
[Skill - Food Danger sense]
[Skill - Basic Crafting]
[Skill - Fire Starter]
[Dreamer level 3]
[Skill - Daydream]
[Wanderer Level 2]
[Skill - Delay Exhaustion]
[Ranger Level 4]
[Skill - Delay Hunger]
[Skill - Food poison resistance]
[Skill - Lesser endurance]
--
The next day they walked some more. Theo had woken up early and tried to fashion a bow out of sticks and bandages, failed miserably, destroyed the evidence, and sat by the fire to patiently wait for the other to wake up. Oliver woke up chipper than a horny songbird and by midday, had managed to find two broccoli-potatoes along the way.
“I think the days here are longer.”
“Yeah, time on ollie’s phone was all wrong. Also, i don't know if you noticed, but it’s easier to get a restful sleep and still wake up early.”
“Could be longer nights too. Or something in the air. Fresher? Or just magic.”
“Hmm. Think we could see it? Magic, I mean. Or maybe have a skill related to sensing it?”
“Hey! Hey! Look what I can do.” Oliver had a brotato in one hand and waving in the other hand was a fire trail.
“I have a theory, see. Classes and skills are based on what we do but also how we think, most likely. Like the bad water issue yesterday, I was thinking in the line of ‘fuck it’, ‘not much of a choice’, ‘deal with the consequence later’ and Oliver over there was noticeably trying to avoid it. I think that’s the reason for the variance in our skills, why I got the [Resistance] while he got [Detection]. Intent and action towards the intent.”
“Intent, Huh?”
--
Oliver’s skill had been invaluable so far, and soon proved its worth again.
“Guys, I found an arrow. Broken, but doesn’t look too old.” He was holding an arrow broken in three pieces as if someone had stepped on it. The arrowhead was made of metal but attached to the shaft with a string.
“Well, at least we know there is civilization here. Possibly mediaeval. Think they’re friendly?”
“It could be just someone tired of the cities, living off the grid. Pretty good place for something like that.”
“Arrow means capable of violence, at least.”
“Come on, the river’s close. Maybe we’ll find more on the way.”
The river was in sight not long after. Wide and slow, deep and clear too as they could see some glimmer from the rocks at the bottom. And particularly eye catching were a small grove of spindly trees along the banks and numerous blue fruits hanging slightly out of reach.
Ten feet tall with huge vividly green, most leaf shaped leaves. The grey trunk looked too thin for its size and branches were thinner still. And despite it all, it didn’t even move to the wind.
Frankly, it looked more like a child’s drawing of a tree brought to life than an actual tree.
“I’m not too sure about this one, guys. [Forage] points to the fruits but my [Food danger sense] says ‘No!’. and look at the leaves, it’s like a creepy statue.”
The fruit in question was huge and hairy. Like a peach the size of a coconut, without a crease, and blue. None of the three had ever seen a tree or fruit like this. Further signs of being in a different world, no doubt, or just Brazil maybe.
“We can at least camp here, use these trees for firewood. We can try spear fishing with fruits as bait instead.”
When Theo failed to drop some by throwing rocks, Oliver decided to climb a tree to get at the fruits. “What the hell is wrong with this tree? It doesn’t even bend, much less break.” He was hanging off the lowest branch, visibly too spindly to support its own weight, let alone Oliver’s. But there it was, not even flexing. When Oliver let go, the entire tree just vibrated with a low hum and dropped a light shower of fruits.
“Oookaaaaay. [Food danger] just doubled in some of those.”
Oliver soon figured out that the fruits had pits in them. In fact, they were more pits than fruit. These perfectly round cores were poisonous and the fruits themselves were fine but if these easily damageable cores were even slightly bruised the entire fruit became poisonous.
“Ugh, It’s so sweet.”
“High calorie? That’s helpful, right?”
After countless attempts, Theo finally managed to knock off some more fruits with stones and soon with the danger sense, the edible portions were sorted out in the bottles and the poisonous bits were tossed into the river. Harry was soaking his feet nearby with a spear now upgraded with the arrowhead.
“Hey, Ollie. Is Harry always like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like his head is in the clouds or something. He’s been zoned out most of the day.”
Sitting on a rock near the shallows, Harry was staring out across the water and indeed looked dazed. Much to his companions’ worries, during the excitement of classes and the “fire” last night, he had forgotten to mention his [daydream] skill.
Harry’s aloofness was just as odd to Oliver who had known him for years, but they weren’t exactly in any normal situation. “Must be dealing with the whole another world thing. … . You seem to be taking it in stride though.”
“Yeah, always wanted to try this Bear Grills thing, you know. I just wish I had my knife with me. Plus, it’s a different world. how cool is that.”
“Right? and there’s magic. Actual magic. It’s so-” he was cut off by a yelp of surprise from the river.
“You alright, harry?” When they approached, Theo and Oliver saw the cause of Harry’s astonishment.
Dead fish were starting to float up and gently bob down the river.
“I think it’s the blue fruit pits. Think they are edible?”
“Just a tingle from the [sense], should be fine once we cook’em.”
And so they did. They built a small fire at the edge of the grove, the opposite side of the river where the ground was drier, and had some fishes roasting over it. Harry didn’t pay much attention to discussion during dinner either. If he had, he would have noticed an odd mixture of awe, disgust, and respect in the other two’s expressions for being able to chow down on the “fish”. But his mind had wandered away; his thoughts divided, muddled like all dreams. During the day, he had [daydreamed] of possible classes and skills he could get. As they sat by the fire, he [daydreamed] of his home again and a thought kept nudging at the back of his mind. And when he fell asleep, heard the voice of the classes, and slipped seamlessly from daydream to a real dream he came to a startling realisation. When he had been awake or fully cognizant, he kept forgetting about his home, his friends and family, any sort of emotional connection back from Earth.
--
[dreamer lv 5]
[Skill - Instant Nap]
[Skill - Dream Walk]
That felt right to the Grand Design. Fair. The [dreamer] had accumulated sufficient
Usually, the design would repress the memories of the previous world in
While the Design pondered this, the [Dreamer] had already noticed the tampering. In an effort to distract and buy more time it threw him another
--
[Skill - Dream Sense]
Harry felt the boundaries of his dreams he had never noticed give way. As if made of translucent glass he could see through.
And just beyond, surrounded by a vast void was another pocket of dreamscape similar to his own. Just one, and that looks like Oliver. Theo must still be awake.
He could see Oliver casting beams of fire at hordes of goblins and laughing triumphantly atop a slowly dissolving pile of ashes.
“Ollie?” Harry walked through the barriers with a surety brought on by his skill and immediately noticed the difference between two dreams.
For one, Harry felt the disconnect, a sense of foreignness, like losing a sense of what limited control he vaguely knew he had.
Secondly, everything looked and felt … hazy for lack of a better word, almost conceptual more than tangible.
And thirdly, Oliver looked high.
“Oh, hey Harry. Come to challenge the master, I see.” He looked distant and dreamy. Oliver doesn’t have [Lucid dream], doesn’t know he’s dreaming.
“This is a dream, Ollie. We’re dreaming. It’s my skill. I’m [Dream Walking].” Oliver blurred for a second and looked confused when he reformed.
“What? A dream?”
“Yeah. I don’t know how we can use it yet. But it’s so awesome. Maybe we can use it as a training room, like create simulations and things or send secret messages.”
“That’s nice, but let’s return to Hogwarts first.”
“Wha...” Harry was getting luna vibes from Oliver. I don’t think he can be conscious here. “hm. Ok, but let’s go back home first. Your mom must be worried.”
“Eh? About time I visited anyway.” And began walking. The road just fuzzed into existence wherever he walked, and they were seamlessly home the next instant.
A white house with green roof tiles, two stories tall; Oliver’s house. But it was missing details here and there. The windows and tiles looked flat like a terrible texture from old video games. Mrs. Peabody opened the door, and he could see the familiar living room within.
Harry turned back to look at his own home across the street. It was even fuzzier than Oliver’s. More lost details. But there was light in the windows. Could he just walk over. Would the dream hold away from Oliver, this was his dream after all. And Oliver needs this as much as I do.
He greeted Mrs. Peabody and walked in after Ollie.
Harry expected to find the living room but instead walked straight into Oliver’s room, no transition in between.
“Damn, that’s trippy.”
“What is?”
“Uh, nothing. My mom invited you for dinner, wanna come over later?” Harry went to sit in Oliver’s bed and immediately found himself sitting at the dinner table with fresh lasagna in front of him. The smell was heavenly.
“You’re a fuckin genie, mate. This… We can be Gods here.”
And then there was PAIN!
Everything was pain, the ground, the house, and everything was shaking. The very firmament screamed, and Oliver screamed louder still and popped.
--
[Ranger level 6]
[Skill - Eagle eye]
[Skill - Mark Target]
[Skill – Detect Poison]
Theo woke up the moment he got the skills. He had been trying to get [detect poison] when sorting out the blue fruit and succeeded apparently. His theory still held. Sadly, he could not test any of his skills yet. They had tossed away all the poisonous bits. And it was too dark to test his [eagle eye]. Maybe I should try getting night vision next. Rangers have those, right? He got up looking for any targets to mark. The fire was getting low in the pit. Harry and Oliver were sleeping and almost looked happy. Oliver looked smug.
Theo cast [Mart Target] on Oliver’s smug face.
“Huh, that did nothing. Was expecting a magical paintball or something. Would have been funny when he woke up. Hmm?”
There was a pull towards Oliver that he almost dismissed and when he moved sideways a bit, it kept pointing to Oliver. He turned around and his skill pointed behind him, still towards Oliver.
“That could be useful. Now if I could get [night vision] and combine it with the rest.”
He hadn't found any flint as he had hoped, but he had a few prospective rocks that he thought might work. Theo didn't want to wake the others banging the rocks so he left it for tomorrow.
He was staring out into the dark horizon with [Eagle eye] and throwing pebbles into the darkness when Harry and Oliver began screaming behind him.
Harry looked like he was still asleep and having a nightmare.
Oliver, however, had a huge snake chomping on his shoulders and dragging him away.
The pearlescent snake was so big that the tip of its snout reached Oliver’s belly from where it was biting his shoulders and the tail disappeared into the dark. It was thicker than Oliver’s well built torso and heavy enough that his panicked flailing hadn’t bothered the snake at all.
“HARRY! Wake up.” Theo kicked Harry, grabbed the only weapon they had and ran towards Oliver being dragged away.
Harry woke up screaming and wasn’t helping the situation much.
Theo approached the snake at the side avoiding the head and Oliver. He jabbed at the snake with the spear… and bounced.
Overcoming his shock, he hopped onto its back just below the head and realised the snake was stuck into Oliver as much as Oliver was stuck to it. Theo, holding the spear in both hands, stabbed down on its head with all his weight. And the arrow tipped short spear just skidded sideways, loosed some scales at most.
“The eyes, Go for the eyes.” Harry had recovered from his initial confusion and jumped on the snake too, trying to keep it restrained.
The Snake was bucking beneath him, but three people’s weight was heavy enough to slow it at least. Something went whistling over his head, too fast to get a good look at, but he heard it swishing for a moment and ended in a crack and a yelp behind him.
Theo jabbed the spear in its eye, harder compensating for previous two failures, and this time it sunk in deep. The snake beneath him jerked and began bucking harder. Something like a fast stick slammed into Theo’s side and knocked him off the snake. His arm was in agony when he tried to get up. There was a distinct humming sound in the air. He was still holding the spear, but the tip was missing. Harry had also been similarly thrown off and looked more injured than Theo. His shirt was cut open horizontally across the chest, but no blood that he could see. He was rubbing at his arm as If stung. All the while the snake thrashed in the dim glow of the dying fire, its shimmering scales reflecting the light oddly, beautiful and violent.
They had moved a surprisingly fair bit towards the river from their camp, and the only reason they weren’t caught up in the snake’s wild flailing were the immovable trees shielding them. Theo impulsively marked it, it’d help him keep track of it in the dark at least.
They found Oliver on his side, his shirt ripped and stained. His back wasn’t much better, two rough lines were ripped diagonally on back, like two precise miniature chainsaws were dragged across. When they helped him up, his front was in a similar state. They brought him back to the fire, and after a brief argument tried to cauterise the wound. It didn’t go as hoped, all they had were sticks after all. Eventually, they stemmed his bleeding with some dirt and his torn-up shirt held in place with bandages.
The snake was slowing down. Theo’s mark wasn’t necessary in the end as the snake soon stopped altogether.
The Fire was refuelled. Oliver was passed out but alive. The other two sat back-to-back, mere feet away from the snake carcass, neither in any mood to sleep or talk. Just processing…
They were in a totally different world after all.
Author notes:
Should I write this section, like pirate aba does? What do I even write? Let’s see.
I have an overall plan for the story in my head, I know where it’s going, just not fleshed out. I’m terrible at that. I have to read the draft over and over to add in random bits. I know when it's skeletal but not how to fill it up. Usually, I just describe random objects or details where I can, explain the characters’ thoughts/emotions or go morgan freeman.
What else? Oh the Snake, it’s an Iridescent Shield-tail which is an actual snake on earth which comes in two colors: pearl and shiny black, I just made variants: swordtail and whip tail (the one that got ollie).
If you haven’t figured it out already, the broccoli-potato they found is a yellat. They are in the gnoll-plains, just days north of manus but who’s gonna tell them that. So, the paw print was probably a gnoll. Probably. Bois got scared of nothing. … Probably. And not scared of not nothing. Until the not nothing got the bois. But that’s just how life goes.
They are going to join the canon around vol 2.
Theo’s gonna be a ranger or some variant thereof. I’m just gonna give him skills from the Monster Hunter games, but probably not the class. He just WEX-ed the snake, that’s Weakness EXploit for non hunters out there. It’s a fairly balanced game. The class itself is too specific tho, I need something a bit broader spectrum for some specific plot skills not in the game. But then again, Ranger -> Hunter -> Monster hunter is a nice progression. He’s not getting it at the moment tho. Even in-game, you need at least 50 hunts or capture alive to get the “novice” or “hunters life for me” achievements.
Besides, he is a side-ish character anyway. Like Ryoka or Lyonette. Important to the story but you don’t need to see their perspective all that much. And Pirate aba didn’t even bother giving Ryoka a class.
I personally don’t read any fanfics below 50k, there’s just not enough words for anything to have happened plot-wise, properly. And that's the only thing that makes a story interesting, the plot and THE PLOT, if you know what I mean. And I'm only going after the plot in this fic, no PLOT or shipping other than canon. So, I don’t expect this to be read until 50k either.
See you at 50k.
EDIT: P.S. This is not a Harry Potter or Dresden crossover fic. He just has the name. And he got tired of the jokes ages ago.