He had ended four more boars and dismissed those prompts.
Skill Increase:
Inspect - Initiate - 5
Polearms - Initiate - 4
Heavy Armor - Initiate - 6
Skill Gained: Butchering - Initiate - 1
Improves the yield and quality of items yielded from butchering. Each level provides a 1% increase to gross yield and 0.25% chance to improve the quality of yield by one rank. Current Increase: 1%, 0.25%
Six nodded and withdrew some bread and what appeared like a very pink apple of some kind. A sip from his waterskins refreshed him and he took a minute to look around and appreciate what he was actually in. An ancient forest in a land of fantasy magic surrounded by people who were something other than human. Then the damn raccoon showed its face, timidly coming from nowhere and rubbing its hands together in hopeful anticipation.
Six broke a chunk off and tossed it at the little creature who caught it between its paws and with a quick sniff began to devour the bread. He smiled, the thing was kinda cute and was probably harmless. He went to pet the thing but it quickly skittered back, its hackles raised. So the taming skill wasn’t complete magic, at least not yet. Jeffums had told him about skill ranks and how skills “evolved” at each rank up, every twenty skill levels. Maybe things would change when he gained his Apprentice effect.
Crazy. Thinking about magic reminded Six of the grimoires he had consumed. He had held off using magic in the city and through a combination of nerves and a lack of experience neglected to use them in the battle with the boars. That needed to change.
He lured the raccoon with a trail of food and found Denny at the front of the camp and followed the man off into the forest.
"Hey, Denny, do you know anything about magic books?" Six was working to close the distance with the man, the raccoon bounding behind.
"Not much, they're expensive and won't break past your affinity. Most are not worth it because of how quickly you can raise skills at lower levels. High level skill books are ridiculously expensive and are very rare because of how long it takes to make one. Undervalued gear in my opinion."
Magical gear? That reminded Six, “Hey can you identify magic items?”
“I can take a look.” Six held of his hand that had the two rings he couldn’t identify.
Denny looked at them for a moment and chewed his lip thinking. “Yup, You got yourself a ring of Quickened Minor Heal and a Ring of Improved Jump. Six gained item profiles once Denny explained the items and their details.
- Immortal Steel Ring of Quickened Minor Heal -
Rank:Average
Rarity:Unusual
Weight - 4 G
Durability 50/50
Traits: Can be activated once in a twenty-four hour period to instantly heal 27 damage. Requires attunement.
- Immortal Steel Ring of Improved Jump -
Rank:Average
Rarity:Unusual
Weight - 4 G
Durability 43/50
Traits: Improve jumping height and distance by 150%. Requires attunement.
Skill increase: Inspect - Initiate - 7
Six was kinda blown away by what he had. One ring could instantly heal him and the other more than doubled his jumping? Now he understood what Elyria meant when she told him about his “ring.” He should have found an appraiser in Olisrosa. There was no point in continuing to berate himself, so he stopped and focused on improving instead.
They walked a bit more before Six began the questions again. “How do you feel about magic?”
“It's useful but it changes people. I don’t much feel one way or another about it.”
“I would like to practice some spells if you’re ok with that.”
Denny smiled ruefully. "Are you licensed? Magic is illegal."
"No, I’m not. But I've been told it's pretty lawless right now."
“Yea, but Olisrosa is not lawless and they are loyal to the empire. Pretty sure I saw a few spellcasters fighting amongst those soldiers. They would be against unlicensed magic.
“I thought these people wanted to get away from the old bullshit. Why would they let soldiers of the empire come along?”
“You'd be better off asking Alison that question but I'd assume she wants their swords.
That made sense. “They definitely helped with those boars, you see Gatbark on his b-” Six tripped hard and pitched forward to tumble down a small decline. His armor protected him from stabbing branches but did nothing to prevent him pinballing down the hill and slamming into a solid tree trunk. He let out a pitiful moan.
Skill increase: Heavy Armor - Initiate - 7
He only lost 30 points of health but holy shit, he could have snapped his neck.
"What did we learn?" Denny asked with a mirthful smile.
"Learn? Watch where the fuck I'm going," groaned Six.
Denny laughed and waited with Koda and the raccoon as Six struggled back up the small hill. "That's right, today we're training the most important skill for long term survival, perception." Then he crouched and pointed at something low to the ground.
It took a moment for Six to see it but a thin line of twined cord was stretched past the way that Denny led him down.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Skill gained: Perception - Initiate - 1
Improves the ability to detect hidden, obscured or otherwise abnormal aspects of one’s surroundings. Each level improves the chance to notice aspects by 0.99%. Current Increase: 0.99%
Denny stepped over this. He knew about it. "Did you lead me into a trap?"
The old man smiled. "Yes."
“I could have died.”
Denny waved that away with a dismissive hand. “Nah, I saw how much punishment you took this morning. You're pretty tough.”
“I could have broken my neck.”
“Stop whining.”
Six nodded at that. "You set that up when?"
Denny untied the simple trap and rolled up the cordage. "Last night."
"Any more I should be aware of?"
Denny shrugged with a mischievous smile. "I guess we will see."
Six sighed. "Aight. Any tips?"
"Keep up and look for oddities. Traps are meant to blend in but usually have tells. The trip wire was in plain sight so its presence should have been enough to catch. Might want to invest in some Wisdom too, that feeds both Perception and Insight. Let's go." Denny turned and marched off into the forest.
"Wait, please." Six begged as he jerkily stepped after the old man. He was not confident in his ability to catch every trap at the speed Denny hiked away, but Denny marched on as if he didn't hear anything.
Six scanned the forest floor and it took a bit but he eventually caught the next trip wire.
He stepped over and left it behind, the thought of Alison tripping producing a snicker. He stopped and turned around, it wouldn't be right to leave that for her to hurt herself. She really hadn't done anything wrong. He dismantled the trap.
He picked a tree at random and willed the casting of stone spike, the knowledge told him that while silent casting was possible verbal incantations of the spells was highly recommended. He uttered the spell's name, “Stone Spike.”
A two meter spike of stone erupted from the forest floor and slammed into the trunk of the tree, it tore through the bark and penetrated deeply, it remained there. It cut through 37 of his mana, 7 more than the reported cost, most likely because the forest wasn’t made of much stone.
Stone Wall was a bit more nuanced in the allocation of the volume of conjured stone but he could roughly make a two by two meter square of a reasonable thickness. Both spells needed to originate from earth for the spell to work. He tried to conjure one in the air and found he could not complete the spell, but he knew this, the knowledge had informed him of such. He knew they would not work on water either.
He channeled Plant Growth but stopped when nothing immediately happened. It did not seem useful in the immediate future so he put it aside in favour of practicing the stone spells instead.
The casting was effortless but still felt foreign, he needed such things to be fully assimilated, subconscious and instinctual. He understood the concept of progressive overload, you only adapt when challenged. So he pushed, emptying his mana pool consistently. He considered trying out blood casting but hesitated to do so in front of another person, even someone as chill as Denny. Needlessly lowering his health pool seemed like a foolish idea as well.
Over the next few hours of travel and practice Six found many traps, some he did not find. Trip wires mostly, a few rope snares and a ten foot pit trap. He felt pretty helpless at the bottom of that hole. Even with his passively improved jump he couldn’t reach the ledge, he considered taking off the armor but Denny tossed down one end of a rope, helped him back up and dusted him off.
“I’m gonna die to one of these traps, you know?” Six was already tired of these things, though he had gained a level in Perception, Taming and Earth Magic though and he had found more herbs too.
“Nonsense, let's go.” Then Denny began walking off.
“We can’t just go and leave this big ass hole on the trail. What if someone falls in?”
“Who’s gonna fall into a clearly defined hole? No one is that dumb.”
Six thought back to his homeworld and shook his head. “Someone is foolish enough to stumble into it. Someone.”
Denny stood there looking at Six before nodding. “Yer right. Here, back up.”
Six stepped back and observed as a vast amount of earth poured from Denny’s hand and quickly filled the hole. He saw a ring gleam on Denny’s finger and it clicked. “Spatial?”
Denny nodded. “It's an easy way to hide stuff.” They continued off. “Have you thought about what classes you want to aim for?”
“That was a piece of information not widely spread in my home, we were very sheltered, I’d love any advice. “
“Hhmmm, well you get to pick your class at level ten, and most people in the city don't get past level five, maybe six. Because of that people with classes are usually specialists at the top of their profession, soldiers or mercenaries, or travellers of some kind. Cavaneers, messengers, guides like me. I am a ranger by the way, asking or analyzing others isn’t the most polite thing to do.”
“I need you to teach me that by the way.”
“What?”
“Analyze.”
“Ah. Sure. Anyways, you are offered a list of options to choose from that are based on your experiences, skills levels, Fame and Clout. The more you have achieved the more you may be offered. Some trusted items may also serve as inspiration for a class. Classes offer access to new techniques, maneuvers, and spells, it also provides passive bonuses to many things. For example, my Ranger class gives me a bonus to my movement in non-urban environments. When I received my class I was offered three maneuvers, I chose Power Shot, which scales off my Archery skill. The mos-”
“I need you to teach me that too,” Six slipped in.
“Archery?”
“Yeh. Sure. The most important thing a class offers are perks, which are mostly unique aspects of growth specific to your class.”
“Mostly unique?”
“There are some perks that are shared amongst a few types but most are unique to the class they belong to. Anyways, any ideas?” Denny asked.
“Enchanter?”
“Enchanter? Do you even know what you're talking about son?” Denny sounded almost irritated.
“What?”
“That’s a non combat class and one of the most resource dependent.”
“Yea, so? Enchanting is always OP, and it’s most likely a highly specialized, well paying profession.”
“Oh… Pee?”
“Overpowered.”
“I don’t understand.”
“In my home, the people who could make things were the ones to move forward. A good spear is far stronger than my bare hands.”
Denny snickered. “Unless you took a monk or pugilist class.”
That brought Six back to the fight at the inn and the man with the wicked swing. But, no, “I want to make things. I don’t want to fight.”
“Live in the city if you want to make things. The fighters can protect you”
“No.”
“This makes no sense.”
“Trust me, the tropes are pretty clear, if I can only have one class then I want to enchant things.”
Denny raised an eyebrow as if Six was a fool. “What Tropes? You only have one class and its determines everything after that! Do you even have the enchanting skill?”
“No.”
“Then you aint getting Enchanter as a class. What’s your highest skill?”
“Uhhhh.” Six checked his character sheet and saw that he amassed a crap ton of skills, they were all Initiate and just bonuses but it gave him a slight rush to see the recorded improvement. Heavy Armor came in at the top with level 7.
“Well you will most likely get offered classes associated with Heavy Armor, probably Heavy Infantry, if you have enough clout you could get Knight.”
“My class can't change if I get more clout later on?”
“No.”
Six nodded. “Enchanter.”
“I don’t think that's possible unless you find an Enchanter willing to teach you or find a text on enchanting.”
“Do I have to choose immediately?”
“Not choosing the immediate power increase is generally considered bad tactics for anyone not rich and well protected.”
Six nodded. “Well Enchanter is the ideal. If I can’t pick Enchanter I suppose something like Earth Mage or Druid.”
“There is an Earth Mage class but there is also the Geomancer class and I do know a Druid, nice guy.”
“Alright, so that’s something to work towards. I guess I need to power level my Earth Magic skill.”
Denny looked dissatisfied but didn’t press Six any further, he could recognize the stubbornness of a fellow grump. He relented and gave his advice. You are on a good trajectory to receive the Druid class, I would keep practicing Herbalism and Survival, don’t waste time on Archery, your stone spells should be enough to give you an advantage until melee and there will be melee. Both Druid and Enchanter lack movement based spells or maneuvers. All of this is dependent on your affinities of course. Practice Plant Growth as much as you safely can. Hopefully Druid shows up on your list.”
Six nodded. “Thanks.”
“Really you should be aiming for something rare like Moving Mountain or Unstoppable Dreadnought.”
“Classes have rarities?”
“Of course!” Denny said emphatically
“Is there a relationship between the rarity and effectiveness of a class?”
“Yes, but not really, no. Warrior is a very common class but is theoretically just as effective as Time Blade. Time Blade may have a far more versatile toolkit but that is not insurmountable and some say that the simplicity of the more common classes gives them an effortless lethality. I am of the opinion that it is not what you have but how you use it.”
Six nodded. “Then why are you so against me being an Enchanter?”
“Warrior is a combat class. Enchanter is a non combat class.”
“Could I, as an enchanter, learn Warrior maneuvers and Druid spells?”
“Well, if you had the affinity and the mentorship, yes, but you wouldn’t have access to their perks!”
“Then I want to be an Enchanter.” He held up his hands and displayed his rings in his best anime pose. “Behold! This is the mighty power I wish to leverage!”
Denny facepalmed.