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He looked at me for a long moment.
"I don’t mind, but why did you suddenly ask me? We could do this while we’re in the city," he said. "I planned to rest there for a few days anyway… maybe even a week. This journey exhausted me."
Good, I thought with a nod.
“It would be nice to stay in a city for some time,” I said, already thinking of all the things I could do.
I fled the capital right after I was freed, so I was eager to get some time to visit a city.
“That said,” I continued, “You should train a bit more. Running especially.”
He snorted.
“I have no idea which training you’re talking about, or how much running, but I’m sure that something is wrong with you. Your body just doesn’t make any sense.” He shook his head. “I’m starting to think you lied and actually have a Class.”
“I don’t have a Class, and I don’t plan ever to get one,” I said, not hiding how much the thought repulsed me.
He paused for a few moments before asking, “Do you mind telling me why you refuse to receive a Class?”
I shrugged.
“Sure, but first teach her, before she falls asleep,” I said pointing at Freya, who was listening attentively.
I was sure she could force herself to stay awake, but it was better to do this sooner rather than later.
“And I must ask again. Why now?” he asked. “I can give her a rough summary, but if you give me some time, and if she tells me which Class she wants, I can also draft a plan on all the skills she could get to maximize efficiency. The help I can give will depend on the Class, but I believe I can do a better job than the people of this Kingdom.”
Mm...
I thought about it for a moment, but there wasn't anything wrong in telling him.
“Well, just a summary will do for now. I told her that I would either take her as a disciple or leave her in the first decent place we find. Rivergate seems to fit the bill, so I plan to leave her there if she refuses,” I explained. “I want her to know what she would get, or give up, when she chooses. And I want her to have some time to consider her choices. I should have done this earlier truthfully, but you know, things happened.”
He mulled over my words for a few seconds.
“I guess you don’t want her to get a Class then. I don’t agree with you, but fine, I'll teach her,” he said, shaking his head.
He turned towards Freya.
“So, what do you know about Classes?” he asked her.
She looked down for a few seconds, probably thinking.
“Um… they say that the gods gave us Classes to make people stronger, and you can get Skills to do things better with them. We slaves don’t get to choose… we could, but the owners would not be happy, so we do what they tell us to do,” she said, with some nervousness. “We can sign the slave contract after.”
Zeph looked clearly uncomfortable with the answer.
“… well, you’re not a slave now, so you can choose as you wish,” he said, after a few moments.
“Anyway, it’s not wrong, but it’s also not completely correct. The first thing you need to know,” he said, raising a finger to count, “Is that Classes are a gift of the gods. They don’t make you stronger, but they give you the opportunity to get stronger.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“The second thing you need to know,” he said, raising the second finger, “Is that Classes give you access to Skills. Using Skills correctly allows you to accumulate experience, and the accumulated experience can be used to unlock more Skills or grow in Level.”
“The third thing you need to know,” he raised his third finger, “Is that a Class gives you access to your Statistics, also abbreviated as Stats. Every time you grow in Level, you get some Stat Points, that you can add to your Statistics. Those points will enhance your body in various ways depending on the distribution.”
He paused, holding his three fingers raised.
“These three are the absolute basics to understand how Classes works. Is everything clear?” he asked.
Freya nodded.
Basic stuff, so nothing new here, I thought as I took out my sword for sharpening.
I gave it a few quick strokes with the stone after the last fight, but there were a few nicks left that didn’t go away, and since I had the time I could as well do it while they talked.
“Good,” he said, lowering his hand. “Now I will explain how it works in practice.”
“As you know, you first need to have your first blessing to choose a Class, which is usually held when you’re fourteen or, at the latest, fifteen years old. Of course, you’re not forced to. You can choose to refuse the bl—”
“Bullshit,” I interrupted him, absentmindedly, as I passed my sharpening stone onto the sword. “Everyone expects you to have your blessing day and have your Class. It’s practically forced on you.”
He frowned.
“The gods don’t enforce it. It’s just the common expectation. You, for example, didn’t get one,” he said after staying silent for a few moments.
And what a mess came out of that, I thought, half amused, as I checked the edge.
“Yeah, yeah. Sorry for the interruption. Just go on with your explanation,” I said, not bothering to explain.
He shook his head and went on with the explanation.
“After that, if you close your eyes and pray to your gods, in the presence of a priest or holding one of the symbols of your church, you will see your Status Screen. In it, you will have various information about yourself: Name, Age, Race, Titles, Class, Level, Experience, Statistics, and Skills,” he said.
He then started looking around at the ground while continuing the explanation.
“Most people don’t have Titles. There are usually two ways to get one. One option is to perform an exceptional feat recognized by the gods, like slaying a dragon. The other is to have enough people recognize you by that Title. I tell you this because some titles are needed to unlock some particular Classes.”
He paused for a few seconds while he took up a stone and cleared the ground. Freya was following his words with rapt attention.
It seems she’s really interested in how Classes work, I thought as I glanced at her.
She was always attentive when I explained things, but I could see she really wanted to know more about this topic.
Oh, well… I sighed.
“These are the Statistics you will see if you were a Level 1 Warrior in my homeland,” he said, pointing at the ground.
He wrote:
Strength +2
Dexterity +1
Endurance +2
Toughness +2
Perception +1
Mind +1
Willpower +1
Free points 1
“Everyone always gets the same amounts of points when they level. You always get three fourths of the points automatically assigned by the Class, while a fourth you can decide where to assign them to. You always get four points until level ten. From level eleven to twenty you get eight for each level, then you will get sixteen, and so on every ten levels,” he said, deleting a few numbers.
“So let’s suppose the points keep getting distributed to the same three Stats, and I put every free point in Dexterity, my Stats at level 35 would look like this.”
He then wrote down the new numbers.
Strength +80
Dexterity +80
Endurance +80
Toughness +80
Perception +1
Mind +1
Willpower +1
Free points 0
“So until now those are just numbers, but what do they mean?” he asked Freya.
She looked at him, a bit panicked at the sudden question.
“Um… that at level thirty-five… you’re eighty times stronger?” she asked back.
“I’d be able to lift a mountain at that point,” I laughed.
She blushed a bit, looking down.
Oh, damn.
“Sorry, it was a joke, don’t take it to heart,” I said a bit awkwardly hinting at Zeph to keep going.
He glared at me before continuing.
“Good guess, but no. Each point raises the strength of a person by a small percentage. Until level ten, the increase is almost irrelevant. Even until level twenty, it’s not that much. From then on, though, it gets more and more obvious,” he said.
“It’s not just the quantity of Stat Points that makes the difference, but also the effectiveness of the Stats, since after each quest the effectiveness of the points doubles. For example, that level 35 warrior would have his Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, and Toughness raised by 64%,” he said, pointing at the ground where he wrote the numbers.
“And do you know what that means? It means that you’ll get exponentially stronger the more you grow in level,” he said passionately, “If the warrior kept distributing the points like that, by level 45 he’d have an increase for the same stats of 200%… and this is just with Stats alone. Skills also get strengthened as the level goes up.”
He paused and looked at me.
“That’s why I can’t understand you,” he said gravely.
“What could keep you away from so much power?”
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