“Do you have any spear-related skills?” The tall armored man asked.
“Yeah, it’s super awesome. It’s called Stab Dismemberment.” Zellin announced proudly.
“Show it to me.”
Zellin took out his bronze spear and held his rear hand near his head, with his left hand, slightly lower, in front of his chest, holding onto the middle of the spear, angling the spear downwards. His grip with both hands, encased the spear with his palms facing the bottom of the spear, and his fingers wrapped around the top.
“Are you an idiot?” The man asked. “The way you’re holding spear basically cuts your maneuverability in half. How are you going to defend?”
“Relax, big guy. As I said, I’m a Summoner. This stance is purely attack-based; meant to attack openings while my pets ravage my enemies. I call it the ‘Pole-Vaulter Stance.’” Zellin said with a smug grin, before rapidly stabbing out with the spear like he was churning butter, causing the trainer to suppress a laugh
“Right…” The man he says with a half-smile, not knowing whether he should be impressed. “Unfortunately, that skill is almost useless when facing the enemy yourself. It’s only redeeming quality is its speed. Now put away your spear. I’ve prepared several other pole arms for your use. First, we’ll start with the short staff. Staves will teach you the basics necessary in wielding all pole arms.” The man instructed, beginning Zellin’s lesson.
Later that day…
Zellin and his friends have each received 1500 gold to buy their preferred skills at their respective colleges, and also to buy any manuals or learning-purposed books they may have. It was the most profitable day Zellin’s ever had, and as such, he was quite happy.
“Man, what a work out eh?” Zellin said as he leisurely walked forward with his hands behind his head. “I hope we don’t have to work that hard every day.”
Liu looked down and pinched his eyes near the bridge of his nose; sighing before responding. “Zellin… You only trained for an hour before we had lunch and left. You can’t keep saying stuff like that. You’re making us all worry about you and ourselves for even associating with you.” Liu said as if he was speaking to a troubled student with unused potential.
“Hey, now…” Zellin said, drawing closer to Liu to put his arm around his shoulder. “Are you worrying about me, big guy? Don’t worry man. When it’s needed, I always pull through. Life is like riding a river to your dreams; all you need to do is go with the flow.” Zellin preached with an easy-going manner.
Liu forcefully closed his eyes, blocking out the rest of the world. I really, really want to beat him to death right now, Liu thought to himself.
The group approached the dilapidated, wooden Summoner’s College and waited outside while Zellin went in.
As Zellin walked in the building he saw two light-haired girls standing at the counter, talking to Principal Lin. One was several inches taller, and the other was about Zellin’s height.
“Well, if it isn’t our most recent Summoner.” Principal Lin called out, interrupting his conversation with the light-haired girls.
The two girls turned around, revealing their very similar and equally pretty faces to Zellin. Damn, he thought. They’re like different sized twins. Very odd.
“Oh, it’s the boy who hid behind a rock during the dungeon clearing.” The taller girl said, recalling where she saw him.
Zellin could only smile wryly. “Zellin. Nice to meet you.” He said with a slight bow.
“Senah, and my sister, Sasha.” She said, nodding her head. “Are you part of the guild?” She asked, slightly curious.
“Ah, yes. I joined a couple days ago.” Zellin replied casually.
“Have you heard of the upcoming Noob Village tournament?” Sènah asked.
“Ah… No, I can’t say I have.” Zellin replied, after which Sènah went on to explain the Noob Village Tournament.
The tournament happened every 5 years, and was divided into three separate tournaments for the three separate Noob Village floors from the various bases throughout the city. Teams of 5 people would all fight for the glory of first place. The prizes were usually class specific items, so receiving the equivalent of the items in gold was also an option. But the true prize was the fame received after winning; it was very useful to have on your resume if you wanted to join a top-tier guild, as Noob Village was only for people under Level 30.
The next tournament would start at the beginning of the new year, about half a year away.
“Anyways, my little sister is emotionally dead inside and doesn’t know how to make friends, so would you be a dear and form a team with my sister for me and join the tournament?” Senah asks, leaning down to Zellin’s eye level and patting his head. “With two Summoners, you’ll surely make it quite far in the tournament for your level.”
Zellin raised an eyebrow. Why are you trying to dump your sister on me? Zellin thought to himself, a little suspicious of this girl's intentions.
“Ugh… Yeah, sure.” Zellin agreed, slowly removing Senah’s hand from his head. “Just make sure she doesn’t try to trap me into a marriage.” He says with a bitter smile.
Senah raised her eyebrow in confusion. “Okay…” She said slowly. “Well, then. Hear that Sasha, I’ve made you a new friend. Be sure to follow him everywhere he goes. Okay, well I’m off.” She said, before swiftly leaving the two behind in the building and exiting.
Zellin turned to look at Sasha who was staring at him expressionlessly. After a moment of awkward silence, Zellin decided to completely ignore her and stepped up to talk with Principal Lin.
Zellin eagerly bought several spells with a wide grin. After which he asked for some instruction manuals and textbooks, but all Principal Lin had was an incomplete textbook on the Primordial Tongue. Zellin didn’t bother asking what it was and simply bought it.
As Zellin gave Principal Lin the money for the incomplete textbook, he looked over at Sasha, who still had that same blank look, but she also had her hand raised to Zellin, as if she was expecting something.
“What?” Zellin asked with a sideways glance.
“Buy me skills too.” She said frankly, like it was totally normal.
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Zellin simply smirked. “Are you serious? I just met you a couple minutes ago; why would I spend money on you?” He asked in amusement.
“We’re friends.” She said simply.
Zellin’s brow raised as he thought, Is she really pulling the friend card after knowing me for a couple minutes? Isn’t this girl a little too weird for her own good? Zellin thought about it for a moment before sighing and agreeing. It isn’t my money anyways… “I’ll buy you one.” Zellin said, expecting gratefulness.
But all he got was the expressionless response of, “Five.”
Zellin couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Are you serious? No, forget it.” He responded. Sasha didn’t say anything more, she simply pouted and closed her eyes. What’s she doing? Zellin wondered. After a moment, tears started to stream out of Sasha’s closed eyes and she started to sob softly. Are you effin serious? Zellin thought to himself. “Fine, I’ll buy you two skill books.” Zellin said grudgingly.
Sasha’s face quickly turned expressionless again. “Four,” She said with her blank, tear-stained face.
Zellin’s brows furrowed. He was seriously annoyed. This girl is like a little succubus. But instead of stealing my soul, she’s stealing my money. And instead of seducing me with sex, she’s doing it with a pitiful little girl act.
“Okay, four.” Zellin said with a sigh. Though he was annoyed, he was quite weak to little girls.
“Okay.” Sasha said with a smile, but she was secretly thinking, what an idiot.
Zellin bought her a Summon Water Elemental spell and a Summon Charm Demon spell, along with both the Heat and Strength enchantment spirit spells. Enchantment spirits were similar to normal enchantment spells used by Enchanters, but they were only usable on the Summoner and his or her summons or those who he’s formed a contract with.
“Hey, little summoner. Interested in a quest?” Principal Lin asked Zellin as he was about to turn away.
“Hmm, sure. What is it?” Zellin asked.
Principal Lin played with some menu options. “See for yourself.” He said as a quest information screen appeared before Zellin, which Zellin began to read.
The question of whether the Ethereal Mouse’s existence is unknown to almost all. Whether this rodent is extinct, simply non-existent or superbly hidden is for you to find out. Seek out an Ethereal Mouse and return your findings to Principal Lin. Do you accept this quest?
Zellin nonchalantly hit yes, not caring too much whether he could complete this quest.
“It is said that Ethereal Mice like to live in graveyards, but are rarely seen by others. Here.” Principal Lin said, handing a piece of paper to Zellin. “This is a recipe for Ghost Crackers. This can only be made by Enchanters with the cooking skill. You’ll need to slay some ghosts for their ectoplasm to make it.” Principal Lin explained, causing a simple nod from Zellin.
After that, Zellin left, hoping to never see the little succubus again, but unfortunately she followed close to Zellin’s side, and approached Zellin’s friends with him.
“Who’s this?” Liu asked.
“Everyone this is Sasha. She’s a little succubus who will steal your soul so everyone just ignore her.” Zellin announced.
“She can steal my soul any day. In fact she’s already stolen my heart.” Reyal said with a wicked grin. “Hey, Zellin, is she single?”
“Are you serious Reyal? You're not tall enough to ride this ride.” Zellin exclaims in a defensive manner. How did I forget that this guy was such a pervert? Zellin asked himself.
“I’m 14.” Sasha said blankly. “And yes, I’m single.” She continued, giving Reyal a coquettish wink. “I’ll go out with you if you buy me skill books.”
Zellin simply shook his head. “Seriously, finish puberty first.”
Sasha followed the group as they went to everyone’s respective Colleges, and she also followed them all the way to their home. Despite anything Zellin said or yelled, she continued to follow silently, ignoring his protests. When Zellin looked to Coral for help, she simply shrugged her shoulders. Zellin could only let her follow, helplessly. Can't this girl take a hint? Zellin asked himself. She's taking the friend thing way too far for someone I just met.
When they got home Zellin asked his nameless teacher to find a teacher for Sasha also, so she wouldn’t follow him around all day. The teacher sent a servant out to find a teacher for Sasha, after which he forced Zellin to train for the rest of the day.
As he trained, Zellin asked his teacher if he knew of any low level graveyards for him to visit. His teacher placed a marker on Zellin’s map of Ultimate Super Fighter City and its surroundings. The graveyard was a place called the Unfortunate Child Church. World Moderators placed the bodies of unlucky noobs. Depending on the noob’s death, his or her spirit might be too angry or disheartened to re-enter the cycle of life, and instead manifest their spirits into vengeful ghosts.
Later that night, Zellin collapsed onto his bed, as tired as he ever was. His muscles were sore from too much exercise and from being beat with a quarterstaff repeatedly. But he didn’t go to sleep just yet. Instead he opened his inventory and took out the incomplete textbook on the Primordial Tongue.
Zellin began to read as he knew he wouldn’t have enough time otherwise with his new training regimen. The book introduced the Primordial Tongue as being the language that created the universe, and as such, this language also had the power to destroy it. The written version of the language were somewhat used when inscribing enchantments or when creating Runic Formations.
It read, This language cannot be seen as an actual language that associates itself to the world. It must purely be used as a tool to produce a desired effect. If one was to begin to truly understand the Primordial Tongue as a language, it could produce disastrous if one’s mental discipline was insufficient.
As Zellin began to ponder on the subject... he suddenly realized that he had just forgotten everything that he had read. What the fuck? Zellin thought in shock. Could it be that my Wisdom stat is too low? He wondered.
Zellin continued to read, repeatedly reading a single sentence multiple times before moving on, so as to memorize the subject easier. Zellin didn’t appreciate being slighted by a book, so he was determined to memorize the whole thing. Before long, Zellin was mindlessly repeating sentence after sentence, until he simply passed out.
The next morning…
The sun had barely risen over the horizon when Zellin’s nameless teacher’s foot found itself on Zellin’s face. “Come on; up. It’s time for your morning exercise.” He said, after which Zellin got up with a groan and dressed himself.
Zellin and his friends trained for several hours until lunch, and by that time Zellin was completely exhausted. So he used the excuse of visiting the graveyard for a quest to escape from the torturous training his teacher forced him to do.
As Zellin and his friends left to find the graveyard, the teachers silently shadowed them. They had been given orders to keep the princess and her friends safe, but they wouldn’t necessarily help these kids out for every little thing. They should be able to fight their own battles, but if things were too excessive, these teachers would naturally show up. These teachers had been repeatedly warned of the consequences of the event in which these kids found out that they were being watched. The king didn’t want these kids to get too comfortable.
“Shouldn’t we wait till next morning to go do this quest?” Reyal asked, slightly worried. “Player Killers become much more confident in the night, and it will be dark by the time we have to come back.”
“Easy, Reyal.” Zellin responded, brimming with confidence. “Do you seriously think the king would let the princess go out without someone to watch her? Our teachers are probably guarding us right now.” Zellin said without fear.
As Zellin’s nameless teacher heard this from a distance, he exclaimed, “What a dick.”