> Chapter -2147483645 (stats and skills)
The entire wagon reverberated like a bell when Ada’s hands shot up in the air so fast that she wasn’t able to stop them from striking the armored roof. Several rangers winced as they held their ears.
“Hey, everyone can relax. I vouch for Ada,” said Alex. “She might not currently be human, but she is definitely the person I knew from before I joined the rangers. She knows about things I’ve never told anyone else, things that would be impossible for anyone to have learned, as well. Also remember how we all got the notification when the Shimagu went extinct? She’s definitely not one of them.”
After a few seconds, Marcus asked, “Alex, are you sure? You’ll take responsibility for her?”
Alex sighed. “Yes Marcus, I’m taking responsibility for her. If she murders us all in our sleep, please feel free to blame me.”
Marcus sighed audibly. “Fuck it, good enough for me. Stand down, rangers,” he commanded.
The tension in the wagon was slowly diffused. Hands were removed from weapon hilts, and the rangers visibly relaxed. Ada slowly lowered her hands.
After several minutes of awkward silence, Lucius spoke up, “That still doesn’t explain what’s going on with your stats. Spill. What are your full stats?”
“Sure, OK, this whole thing is fucking absurd, but why not,” said Ada. She thought about her [Status], focusing only on her stats. The increasingly familiar blue window appeared before her eyes.
[Name: Ada]
[Race: Outsider (Humanoid)]
[Age: 29]
[Mana: 130/130]
[Mana Regeneration: 120]
Stats
[Free Stats: 144]
[Strength: 13]
[Dexterity: 13]
[Vitality: 26]
[Speed: 13]
[Mana: 13]
[Mana Regeneration: 13]
[Magic Power: 21]
[Magic Control: 39]
Ada read this off for Lucius. She then said, “I really don’t know how that compares to anything, or how I should distribute my free stats.”
Lucius thought for a moment. “Hmm, well, for mage classes we usually recommend trying to hit even 10s on magic stats, and work on acquiring the [Meditate] skill before going for a class advancement. You can also wait on doing an advancement in order to try and do something meaningful that might grant you a higher quality tier. Most people still end up getting either a pink or red quality at best, though there are some who are touched by gods and earn a divinely granted blue quality class from that, like an [Acolyte] or even an [Oracle], but that’s really between you and your god.”
“Lucius, her starter class is blue quality,” said Alex. “Got any clue as to why or how that could happen?”
“No, I do not,” said Lucius. “The only thing I could even guess at is that she was god touched at birth. I don’t know enough about the holy orders to speculate about how that could happen. In any case, Ada, you said you wanted to be a mage, yes?”
“Yes, but I also want to use a sword,” said Ada.
Lucius closed his eyes, doing some quick mental arithmetic. Then he looked back to Ada and said, “OK, I think you should bump all your stats that are at 13 on up to 20 to start, then your speed up another 10 points to 30, your vitality up to 40 -- these are really your primary defensive stats, speed helping you dodge attacks and vitality helping you survive the ones you can’t dodge. Then raise your Mana and Mana regen up to 40, and your Magic Power and Magic Control both to 50. That should be exactly 144 points.”
Ada did as he recommended, and then double checked her stats.
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[Name: Ada]
[Race: Outsider (Humanoid)]
[Age: 29]
[Mana: 400/400]
[Mana Regeneration: 345]
Stats
[Free Stats: ]
[Strength: 20]
[Dexterity: 20]
[Vitality: 40]
[Speed: 30]
[Mana: 40]
[Mana Regeneration: 40]
[Magic Power: 50]
[Magic Control: 50]
“OK, that’s done. And you were right, all free stat points spent. Now what’s this about a [Meditate] skill? Do I need to have something like that?” she asked.
“It’s not an absolute necessity, but having it will guarantee you get offered some kind of mage based class.” Lucius paused for a moment, and then continued, “If you want to wait a bit and try to get the skill, I can lead you through some guided meditation, which should get you the skill.”
Another ranger, whose name Ada had missed earlier, spoke up, “It’s gotten quiet outside. I think the flock may have moved on.”
“Thanks Quirinus,” said Marcus. “We’ll give it another 20 minutes and then check on things.”
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Two days later, the town of Odessos was finally in sight. Ada and the rangers had pulled the wagon all the way back from the remote farm that had been destroyed by goblins, with each member of the party having taken turns at the yoke in pairs. In between her turns at pulling the wagon, Ada had gone through sessions of guided [Meditation], and several of the rangers had assisted with training up her other skills. She had even managed to learn the local writing system. There was still quite a bit of the sorcery primer book that she was having trouble with, but that would get easier with time -- especially since [Cunning Linguist] would continue gaining levels after she completed her class advancement.
Ada called up her skills to look over things, finally getting more used to pulling up information from the system.
General Skills
[Walking: 8]
[Vigilant: 8]
[Basic Survival: 8]
[Meditate: 8]
[Cunning Linguist: 8]
[Identify: 8]
[Pathfinding: 8]
[Cynicism: 8]
With her skills leveled and stats allocated, Lucius had advised Ada that she was now as ready as she could reasonably be for a class up given the time available. It would be better if she had some time to gain some life experience, as hardships tended to reward higher quality classes, but her goblin encounter at such a low level should probably result in being offered something decent. Still, it was a good idea to class up before entering the town, for her own safety. Civilization had a tendency to attract unscrupulous people who wouldn’t think twice at attempting to take advantage of an attractive woman with a low level, and especially someone who identified as a child.
She was also advised that her first class would likely progress quickly, given her apparent age and already high stats would allow her to take on significant challenges should she choose a combat oriented class. The rangers had offered to transport her the rest of the way back to the capital of the empire, and Marcus had even expressed interest in recruiting her to the [Rangers]. Given the carnage they had seen her wreak against those goblins, apparent low level or not, spoke to her resolve of character, and he felt she would fit in well amongst other [Recruits].
Ada didn’t have the heart to tell him that she really wasn’t a joiner, and had no intention of signing up to be a Ranger. Even so, she did want to stick with the team, at least until she had a better idea of what was going on in the world around her and how she was supposed to fit into it. Staying close to Alex was also a significant incentive. The two were getting along like gangbusters, and Alex had even spent some private time helping Ada level up her new linguistics skill.
The rangers stopped the wagon for the night with around a six hour journey remaining. Alex explained that it would be better to approach the town in the daylight rather than try and deal with the night watch guards at the town wall. Guards were generally decent at their jobs, but they were less likely to be harassed or require waking anyone up in order to deal with corrupt guards attempting to extort the ranger team. That was rare, but it had happened to them once already on this patrol circuit.
While everyone was enjoying their evening meal, Marcus spoke up, “Ada, you should go ahead with your class up tonight before we enter Odessos.
Ada asked, “Alright, so how does this class up thing even work?”
“It’s very easy. You just think about advancing your class, and then you’ll enter a soul space where you get to communicate with your inner self. That self will have the intrinsic knowledge to assist you through choosing the best class to suit you,” said Lucius. After a short pause, he continued, “Meanwhile, out here in the real world, you’ll simply enter a deep sleep with sparkling lights around your head. Unfortunately, this does leave you exceptionally vulnerable until you complete the process.”
At that, Atalanta said, “Don’t worry, we’ll watch over you and keep you safe.”
Marcus added, “We’ll be doing watch tonight in three shifts, three at a time. Alex, Quintus, and Nyssos, you have the first watch. Quirinus and Pliny, you’re with me on the second watch. Atalanta, Martelius, and Lucius, you have the third watch. Ada, whenever you’re ready, hop on into the wagon, get comfortable, and then go ahead with classing up.”
Ada nodded. “I guess now is good enough,” she said, standing up. She stepped up into the armored transport, rolled out the borrowed bedroll, and layed down.
Then, she entered the world of her soul.