Chapter 36:

I only had to walk for about four blocks before I noticed the hidden jester symbol on a rundown inn's sign. I'd probably missed one here or there, as they were quite hidden, and I didn't think I was that observant. Ducking in, I showed the avatar bartender—rather rare to see that, actually—my mark, and he led me into a back room that connected me to Loki's lounge.

As always, his space had changed to fit his mood. I found the god sitting over a Go board, a series of white and black stones in a pattern, as he spun the board around to play the other side. I sat down across from him, and he waved his hand, the board resetting to blank, and he offered me a pair of fists. Sighing, I tapped one, and he revealed the white piece.

"You realize I don't actually know how to play Go," I said.

Loki shrugged. "It's okay. It's something to do as we talk."

"So," he said a few moments after the game started, and he quickly explained the rules, "I was impressed by your run. Your team has issues, but there's some glimmer of potential there."

I grimaced. "Yeah, I know there are issues, but I'm working with what I have, and I think everyone's early enough along that we can—that I can mold them enough. Maybe. I don't really know what I'm doing," I admitted.

Loki just chuckled at that. The honest sound coming from him made me reflect slightly on how much I had come to trust him—on how dangerous it was that my wariness had faded. But then again, did I have any reason not to trust him? Other than apparently, he was universally hated around here.

As I struggled with my internal debate, Loki placed another stone. I looked at the board briefly, already seeing that I had made some poor choices early in the game and might as well resign. But I placed a stone anyway, just to help the conversation continue.

"Remember, a long while back, you said I would know if I needed to know more about classes."

"Mhm," Loki said absentmindedly as he placed another stone.

"Well, I think I need to know now. The unlock challenge is available."

Loki looked up at me with actual shock in his expression.

"You can't be more than level five," he said, and then he frowned. "No, you are level five. How--How?" He cut off as he thought. "No, no, that makes sense. That makes sense. So, you've been dabbling with your Focus attribute a little. That was a lot faster. I expected you to not have this conversation with me until level 50."

This was my turn to be surprised. "50?"

"Honestly, you shouldn't get a class until you're about ready to leave this hall. Most people don't get them until level 100. With my blessing, you should have been allowed to get one as early as level 50. Technically, there's no real threshold, but the more you act in line with my ideals and cause, the stronger the effects are. So why? What have you been up to?"

I frowned, thinking back. "Not that much."

Loki paused and looked as if he was watching something far away. "No. Nope. You have been up to a decent amount. I applaud your cunning manipulations."

I frowned, confused. Really, I had not done that much manipulating. Nothing more than anything like standard office politics.

"Well. Before I tell you about the class, let me tell you a little bit more about my organization. See, we aren't liked. Not by any other denizens of Valhalla. And most of the other gods don't like us either. Odin doesn't even like me, and I'm his adopted son," Loki said. "But he tolerates us because we are useful. We are the pragmatic arm. Well, I don't say I serve Odin, but we do have certain goals in line with his, and I listen when he speaks.

"So when we act, it's underhanded, deceitful, distasteful. Downright reprehensible. But we have a purpose. And in taking my blessing... you haven't necessarily joined my organization. Really, it's more of a loose alliance of independent actors. When some job comes up that needs doing, I help match with the person that needs to do it, and part of that is making sure the compensation is proper.

"But part of the job is also building up agents who are capable of acting when they are needed. It's all a little bit of a warning. This is a reinforcement of the idea that you should not let anyone know about our relationship. And also to be very, very careful when choosing a class. It will do a lot more than just govern your fighting style or role in a party."

I listened intently, every word of Loki's carrying weight and experience that I was desperate to learn from.

"So you are exceedingly new to have the option to challenge for your class. And your attributes are so low that I'm not sure you'll be able to do it, but..." Loki paused and considered me with a thoughtful expression. "Well, come on."

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We left the utterly one-sided Go game unfinished as we stood up, and he pushed a table out of the way. I helped move some chairs around. With a wave of his hand, he drew a glowing green circle on the ground.

"Stand in the center of there and grit your teeth," he said.

I moved into the center with no small amount of trepidation and was careful to move my tongue out of the way of teeth and braced for pain. The pain didn't exactly come. It was more like what I imagined being shot with a taser felt like. The feeling only lasted for an instant before I sagged, almost collapsing, and Loki frowned.

"Hmm. Now, you actually might have a shot. You have decent aptitude. I can tell that with even only two Focus, you could actually sense magic around you. That's impressive."

"What does that have to do with the class?" I asked.

"Well, there's a challenge to have a class, and in order to have a class, you need to be able to use either skills or spells."

I frowned, thinking about the skill book I saw for only 50 gold, and Loki held up a finger, interrupting my thought.

"I see where you're going with that. No, you can't use those. I mean, you can use them, but that doesn't count. No, in order to get a class, you need to develop a skill or spell from scratch. It doesn't have to be unique, but it has to be through your own understanding, and based off of what you develop, you will get options for classes related to that and your experiences."

"So, how do I develop a skill or spell?" I asked.

Loki frowned. "It's difficult. This is one of the reasons why most people don't even get classes until level 100, even if they get a blessing. And because, well, it's really hard. And, if you get both...well, don't worry about that until later."

He handed me something that looked to be a wooden Rubik's Cube, but the pieces didn't shift, though colors did flash across when I poked at it gently. "This is a magic puzzle. I won't tell you more, but play with it. It'll help."

"Okay. This will help me develop a spell?"

"Maybe, depends on what you do with it."

"If you get me more, maybe I can get one of my teammates to explain more about magic to me."

Loki shrugged. "You might get something out of them."

"Okay. How do I develop a skill?" I asked.

"That's complicated," Loki said. "Well. Skills are harder than spells in many ways, and it's more difficult to go for a pure physical class. Most who do take a bit longer to get their class. So, you know the young guy who came up with that idea about space and time, all that nonsense?"

"The theory of relativity?" I asked, not exactly familiar with physics.

"Yeah, all that nonsense," Loki said, waving his hand. "Well. This is a bit about mixing metaphors and looking at things from odd angles, but you can think of magic, mana, whatever you want to call it, as time. We move through that. We interact with it. Just the way that your natural perception can change how you experience time, your Focus attribute can sort of change how you interact with magic."

I nodded. There had been moments where it felt like time had slowed down for me. Connecting that to me feeling magic was a bit of a stretch, though.

"Skills don't work off of mana. They work off of the corollary in this very strange analogy that would represent space. I don't think you can even sense that sort of stuff yet. And—" He frowned, thinking of words. "I'm sorry. I'm not normally used to explaining this sort of stuff to someone who doesn't have a better understanding."

"Well, maybe one of my teammates can explain it better. Helga did promise to teach me," I said.

He looked at me with an unreadable expression. "Um, no offense, Miles, but that would kind of be like a caveman trying to explain nuclear physics to a dog. No offense, of course."

I frowned, wondering how I wasn't supposed to take offense by that analogy. "Okay, so I need to figure out how magic works."

Loki shrugged. "Not really. You just need to learn how to do one sort of thing that could be considered a spell. Well, you surprised me before. Maybe you'll manage it sooner than I thought. The puzzle will help. Go ahead and read the book your friend gave you. Oh. And don't look at any skill books or spell books for inspiration. If you touch so much as touch one of the ones related, the skill won't count."

I nodded my understanding. And I waited. This was a lot of information. It was too generous. Even if he would insist on not taking payment, I didn't feel comfortable staying this much into his debt.

"I suppose I owe you information in exchange," I offered.

Loki frowned. "I suppose, if you must. Yes. I will reserve the ability to ask questions or say three pointed questions sometime later."

I nodded reluctantly. It only felt fair. It was odd that I was the one insisting on making this a deal. As if I reminded Loki of his place, his mask slipped on, and he asked if I wanted to continue our game. I politely declined.

Soon, I was tiredly trudging up the stairs into my room, where instead of leaping on the bed like I wanted to, I sat at the small chair, pulled out the puzzle, and prodded at it with my meager magical senses.