"Well I must say you are a gifted boy, you have great attributes for your age."
But I was anything but happy with my stats. My strength was only eighth. With all the praise I had gotten over the years I had thought it would be a lot higher.
" I'm weak and will never be able to wield my longsword."
I knew I was sulking, but could not help it.
"Lad relax, I'm not trying to sell you shit painted as gold. You are only thirteen so you do not have to worry. You have only just started to grow and with some strength training we can easily get some muscle on your body. Instead you should be happy and check your constitution. It's really hard to get it up to double digits at your age if you are not a dwarf or orc. All that smithing and weapons training have really given you a robust body."
I perked up and tried to smile.
"Really? You are not just trying to make me feel better?"
He just gave a hearty laugh.
"Elric you do not understand. Let me explain…
Ten is the base for a normal adult human.
Most boys your age would and should be happy if they have one attribute at ten or higher."
Well when he put it that way it was hard to continue sulking. In fact I was actually pretty awesome, a genius in the making. How could I have ever doubted myself?
"Anyway, now that we see your attributes we must start to plan for your future. And with that I mean what class you should take when you turn fifteen. But first I want you to send your skills and talents if any."
I focused for a moment and a new window with information showed itself. Before I started to read I sent over the information to Thorgrim
Skills
Mathematics:
22
Read/Write:
32
Climbing:
22
Stealth:
26
Survival:
27
Healing:
12
Ride (horse):
33
Arcane knowledge:
16
Crafting skills
Smithing:
29
Carpentry:
15
Herbalism:
11
Skinning/ Leatherworking:
12
Bow making/ Fletching:
16
Cooking:
9
Weapon mastery
Longsword:
34
Shortsword:
26
Dual wielding:
17
Axe:
24
Hammer/ Maces:
21
Spear/Lance:
25
Bow:
29
Crossbow:
3
Polearms:
17
Unarmed combat:
25
Shield:
26
Dagger:
19
Talents
Three Souls As One
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Martial Gift
Knowledge From Another Life
Abilities
Shield bash
Charge
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Spells
Lv.1
Lesser mage armor
Magic missile
Damn, when you saw it like this you started to realize how much training I had done over the years. I was really grateful to the old dwarf for dragging me out when I really just wanted to play around.
"Lad, I want you to check your three talents. Focus on them and you should get information."
As I looked over the first one Three souls as one.
Three souls as one
Makes the person with this talent able to have three classes at the same time without the experience penalty. His highest leveled class will be his official level when earning experience.
Description: Because of problems at birth with a necromancer ritual gone wrong. Three souls joined in a battle for supremacy of the unborn child. The goddess Shyann interfered thanks to the blessing her paladin Alexander cast on the baby. She bound the three souls together making it one soul with three spaces. Each space can contain one class.
"Wow, this is great. Father, you must see this."
I sent over the information. And I could hear him swear in surprise.
"So that was what happened when we found your mom."
It hit me when he said it, I was a product of three people. It felt weird to think about it. Thorgrim seemed to recognize my sudden uncertainty.
"It is nothing to worry about son, the God your mother served stepped in and helped. And she is the goddess of healing, light and justice so don't you worry. You are you, it's just that your soul is bigger than others. And from what I can read, that is a good thing."
Normally when you had one class you stuck to it until it hit level 20. Sure some people got one more but then they had a 25% exp penalty before they had to split the experience between both classes. If they had three classes they would get 50% penalty. Which made it really hard to gain levels. The good thing with more classes was that when you got them to level 20 you would have more and often better classes to choose from. And you would have more abilities to choose from faster.
" This talent is a real cheat as long as you pick three classes at the same time. But that's not all, show me the next Talent."
I did as told, but questions started to grow in the back of my head. If my mother was such a devoted priestess, then who was my father?
I can't believe a priestess of Shyann offers that kind of healing. As I wondered about this the window for the next talent showed itself. And I sent it to him before reading the text.
Martial Genius
People with this talent learn weapon skills and combat abilities easier.
Description: This talent was originally given by the northern God Edur, God of Battle and Honor. It has then passed down through the generations for over six hundred years.
" Dad, Who is the God Edur? And why have I not heard about him?"
The dwarf seemed to be in deep thoughts when I interrupted him with my questions. And he looked up at me.
" Well lad, how to explain this… first you must understand that there are different groups of gods called pantheons. We dwarfs have our gods and the elves have their gods. Some lands have a mix of gods from different pantheons. Like here in Astrana, this land is a mix from the elven, dwarven and the imperial pantheons. You follow me so far?"
I nodded Helga had told me some about the dwarven gods, and in our house we sent a prayer to Idion and Shyann now and then.
"Good, now to the north of the dwarven clans on the other side of the mountains lie the Great fjords. It's a hilly area with fjords and rivers, the people who live there are hardy seafaring warrior people. And Edur is one of three major gods in their Pantheon."
"But how can I have a talent that he has gifted, I didn't even know about him before now?"
"Well that would probably come from your father's side, I have never heard from Aldrin about any Edur elf warriors. But it does explain your aptitude when it comes to wielding weapons."
Well that would also probably explain why they never found my father, or why mother never told anyone who he was. Can't be popular to be in love with some follower from a different Pantheon.
Anyway there was only one Talent left so no time to waste. I sent it over as I began to read.
Knowledge From Another Life
Makes the person with this talent relearn earlier known skills 25% faster, also grants +2 to wisdom.
This talent was created by The Goddess Shyann, it let's the soul keep some knowledge from an earlier life.
" Hmm… too bad we don't know what those skills were. But you do have a talent for math and you learned to read and write easily enough. So maybe you were some kind of fat scribe or lazy noble? They do tell the common people that they know best after all!"
Too bad I didn't have any mana left or I would have sent another spell at him.
"Nah, I must have been the late emperor, writing out edicts about how dwarfs no longer should be allowed to drink beer or mead so the short fat bastards finally could get some work done!"
I could see how he started to turn red, and slowly lowered myself in to a defensive stance.
"Boy… I shall show you just how short and fat this bastard of a dwarf really is."
He suddenly moved in fast, fainted with a left straight only to follow up with an uppercut to my stomach. I was able to block both and was about to give him a knee in return when he suddenly pushed me, I tried to take a step back but he had somehow gotten his feet around my ankle and I fell on my arse for the second time today. He smiled as backed up with his hands in the air.
"And the crowd cheers for the handsome dwarf who defends us from the evil emperor!"
I could do no more than laugh along with him. It had become something of a game for us to throw jabs at each other. Thorgrim resounded that someone will always try to get under your skin. So I best learn how to talk back or how to throw a punch, preferably both.
"So hero of the dwarfs, what classes should I take?"
"Well my mead stealing emperor, I think you should become a monk and reflect on your heritc ways."
He smiled as he sat down facing me.
"No seriously father, what is your advice?"
"Well if you are serious about keeping that dragon around, then you more or less must take a combat class."
I had been thinking about this and had come to the same conclusion. Aldrin insisted on me becoming a mage, but I was not sure that I wanted to spend so much time researching the arcane. I loved roaming around with Belinda hunting and exploring.
" I have been thinking about becoming a ranger, I asked Belinda yesterday and she said that she was willing to form a bond and become my animal companion."
He nodded along and seemed to think it over.
"That would be a good choice, and I can see how she would benefit from it."
The thing about animals or magical monsters was that they could not level as we do and had to rely on their natural growth. But if they created a bond with someone they would be able to get a lesser version of our classes and level alongside us and while also getting the benefits of their natural growth.
"But that is only one class, and with that talent of yours you have two more to pick. I would suggest some sort of spell caster. Remember that if she can become your familiar then she will have access to your mana pool."
" Yeah, we talked about it and she thinks I can class as sorcerer instead of wizard if I want, I only have to get my mage class to level twenty."
"That may be true, if I remember correctly you need some kind of magical creature's blood for that class. Either way it is still a good choice to take the mage class. But that still leaves one slot open."
I knew what I wanted, but I should probably take some kind of healer class. Like druid or try to become an acolyte of some God. But since I had started to train at the order I really fell in love with the feeling of invincibility while wearing full plate mail armor and charging down the field with a lance in my hand. The problem was that I did not like the binding oaths the paladins had to swear to get divine magic. And that left the path of the knight after the fighter class, but wearing full plate while sneaking around in the forest? No thanks!
" Well I have one but… I don't know if it is a good one. I want to take the fighter class."
You could se how he was trying to stay serious but a smile could not help but find it's way on to his lips.
"Well it is a good choice but not the best one, is it because someone have been spending a lot of time with his horse?"
I could feel how my cheeks started to burn and I lowered my eyes, trying to look at anything except Thorgrim.
"I would like to be a knight."
My voice was low and barely above a whisper.
" Haha lad, I knew there was a warrior in there. But remember this, it's not a perfect choice but you are the one who is going to have to live with it. So it is better to pick something your heart wants. Besides, you are going to have to level one to twenty, three times as slow as the rest of us. And to tell you a secret, I know that there is a dragon knight class at tier three. And you have already cleared the hardest part."
I was happy he was not against my choice, and to be honest I really looked up to my father and he had started as fighter and then chosen to become a dwarven defender. He was all about more armor being better.
"Well now that we know the path before us, we just need to put together a training plan. And I will speak to Aldrin about reading material for the ranger and mage path."