Throughout my entire life, I’ve not once gotten an Achievement. I’ve done everything I could think of, from feats of physical prowess in sports clubs, to acing all of my tests. Well, I rarely get anything below an A on exams anyway. Once I even went off to find a monster, though I ran away at the first sign of one. Despite this, that fated blue box never showed itself for me. At first I thought that I might have some sort of passive skill that just happened to effect all of the first things that I tried, but when I got to the more obscure things I gave up on that thought, no skill I know of can effect everything you do. I’ll at least find out what, if anything, I have soon.
Society is built around achievements. Why record someone’s grades when an employer can just ask to see what achievement they got for the exam? Anything above a C would give one for most people after all. Or failing that, an achievement relevant to the job, whatever that may be. There are systems in place for people who have passives that make achievements from test harder to get, but that won’t matter for me. Anyone who doesn’t have an achievement for anything obviously isn’t good at anything. They’re just bottom feeders, Scum that leech off of others so that they don’t have to contribute anything.
As far as anyone can tell, that’s me.
First it was strangers, those that couldn’t see how hard I was trying, that started to treat me worse. And it only got worse as I got older. As a ten year old it’s excusable, not so much 15, or 19 as I am now. Eventually, classmates that had at least known of me passingly turned. Then, teachers. Friends. By now, despite seeing how much effort I put into getting achievements, even my parents think of me in that way. I’m sure that the second I turn 20 they’ll kick me out. ‘Clearly you just aren’t actually trying, Nathan,’ they’d say, ‘You just need to put a little effort in.’ As if I wasn’t already giving it my all.
So, I guess I’ll be saying goodbye in about… 29 seconds. I stayed up late the day before my 20th birthday, to be awake when I finally see my status. I think it seems only fair to see precisely what skill ruined my life. I watched the digital clock tick down. The last five seconds seemed to last minutes, until…
Nathan Golding Lv 0
No Achievements
This is the screen that other people will see when they look at me. The only change from before is, as expected, the level. Now that I can level up, I might be able to change people’s minds about me. The things that will really determine that however, are the skills.
Skills
Skilled Lv MAX
Proficiency Lv 0
Skilled Lv MAX
Provide a percentage increase to the effects of all skills relative to level. Minimum value of [10%]
Current bonus: 0% (10%)
Proficiency Lv 0
Provide a passing proficiency with every action, equal to a quarter of the level of this skill. Minimum value of [Lv 1]
Current bonus: Lv 0 (Lv 1)
I…
As I said earlier, having a skill in something makes it impossible to get an achievement for it. This is because, outside of rare and unconfirmed cases, getting an achievement is the only way to get a new skill. This isn’t with one hundred percent certainty, passing a maths test won’t necessarily give you a skill for maths for example. Enough unique minor achievements can add together though, like getting in the top 10% of some maths competition in addition to passing the test. If you already have a skill for something though, then it won’t give you anything.
Proficiency applies to everything. I don’t know whether to be excited or upset. I guess I’ve already done enough being upset about my skills though, for most of my life in fact.
At first glance it seems really good. I mean, proficiency in everything? Then, of course, I think a little harder about it. Usually people only get skills up to around Lv 200, if they use it regularly. I could maybe get proficiency a little higher because I use it for everything, but level ups become exponentially more difficult. So, the highest bonus I can expect would be Lv 54, right?
Of course, I didn’t consider my other skill. The highest level people get to varies a lot more. Fighting monsters or people gets a lot more experience that mundane things as long as your skills are relevant, for example. Civilians usually get to around Lv 50 or 60. Adventurers, on the other hand, get to something more like Lv 100. General wisdom is that the more relevant something is to your skills, and the more dangerous the situation, the faster your personal level increases, so if I were to dedicate my life to fighting I might even get higher than 100.
If Proficiency’s minimum value is four times greater than the amount it increases every level, and not just the lowest level other than 0, then it stands to reason that Skilled would be the same. So 2.5% every level. If I get to Lv 60, then it would be 150% better, or a maximum value of around Lv 135.
Isn’t that still… not very good? I mean, it isn’t bad. But anyone with a dedicated skill would be so much better than me. And no employer would even consider hiring me if I wanted a normal job, without any achievements. Plus, I don’t get the usual government grant that people get to keep them on their feet after turning 20 and striking out on their own, because I didn’t get any achievements, so I’d have to get a job quickly.
Do I have to become an adventurer? Or whatever people call them now, I swear it changed recently. Hunter maybe. I should be able to get to Lv 50 in well under half the time.
I can think more on this tomorrow, though. I don’t usually sleep very well, and staying up past midnight doesn’t help. Heh, maybe if I level up a little I can become better at sleeping? I quickly scrawl a note about the calculations and planning I did so I don’t have to repeat it, and close my eyes to go to sleep. In the minutes before I properly enter sleep I think. Will this skill be enough to stop me from being kicked out?
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I wake up to a soft knock on my door, which must be my dad waking me up. Mum tends to be a little bit… angrier when she needs to wake me up. At least, ever since I turned 18 with no achievement in sight.
“Hey, Nathan. You packed yet?” Yep. That’s my dad waking me up. But, hold on…
“What?”
“Yeah, we kind of need you out of our room before 12. The contractor’s coming at around then to do a bit of remodelling. We were thinking of making it into a game room.” I couldn’t see my dad through the door obviously, but I had the strange idea that I don’t want to. I can pretend that he’s just tired, and that’s why it doesn’t sound like he cares, but I don’t know that I could do quite as well if I actually saw him.
“R-right. Ok. Don’t you want to, uh, to see my skill before you decide to kick me out?” My voice shakes. For two years I’d told myself they wouldn’t really kick me out, that this whole achievement business wouldn’t really drive them against me. Or, if it did, my incredible skill would turn things around. Well, I’ve got my amazing skill, and what do I have to show for it?
“Oh, you don’t need to do that. That stuff’s private you know? Plus, if we cancel the contractor now we’d lose our deposit, a few hundred silver may not seem like much, but it adds up.”
So, what, just because I don’t have any achievements that’s all I’m worth? A few hundred silver? Like, three gold? That’s barely even a month of groceries. And what happened to ‘you should only show your status to family’? Well fine, then, if that’s what they think. I’ll fucking show them. I don’t know how. Maybe I’ll become the highest level adventurer in the country, or maybe a world famous artist. Something that will prove my worth.
I thought I’d feel sad, but as I pack up all of my belongings, not as much as I’d like given that gifts mostly dried up at 13, I just feel a hot rage. I leave behind the note I wrote last night. A vindictive part of me hopes that they’ll see it and regret kicking me out. A smaller part of me hopes they’ll invite me to move back in. Whilst I quietly wheel my single suitcase out the door I squash that part of me. I don’t have room in my life for people that will throw me away if I’m not useful enough, and from this point onwards I never will.
Even as I pick a direction and start walking my anger doesn’t fade, though half an hour later when the light chill of late winter starts to set in, that my lack of options sets in too.
What exactly am I supposed to do here? I guess becoming an adventurer is my best bet. The Adventurer’s Guild may be a bit of a relic, but that doesn’t mean that no one uses it, no quite the opposite. The guild halls have potent training enchantments that are very particular with the location they have to be built in. Something about ley lines, or the natural flow of mana. In school they only covered it in passing, but the gist is that they provide a 50% boost to skill levelling speed, and all of the places that can sustain them have already been taken up. Unless people were to start building in the sky or underwater, anyway. There might actually be a few places underground, now I’m thinking about it, the teacher never mentioned.
Not that that matters anyway. What’s important is that I find a guild hall. That experience boost could be considered vital. Fortunately my parents can’t cancel my phone plan until the end of the month, so I can just look it up. It’s currently still my birthday, the 13th of may, so I’ve only got a couple of weeks. Actually, on that topic… I quickly block the numbers of any member of my family that ever texted or called me, before removing them from my phone. I don’t want to be tempted to ask to go home, or be asked to return either.
I didn’t bother conserving my mobile data, my parents can pay for that much at least, whilst I looked for a guild hall that fulfils my qualifications. The primary use for them is simply to act as a place to register for the guild, and use the training facilities. They’ve been doing quests on their website for years now, but for some reason people are still complaining. Regardless, there’s a rare few guilds that also provide lodging for members, at various costs.
After a few minutes of research I managed to find one that was a few hours of walking away, not the closest though. They offer rooms to any members that consistently do quests, at least twice a month, that are close to their maximum combat potential. Getting there would be a cinch, if only I could actually take public transportation. Unfortunately, I’ve not exactly had a job before, and I’m sure I don’t need to explain why I didn’t get gifted money very often in the past, so it looks like I’m walking.
Whilst I walk I try to split my attention three ways. I not only had to watch my luggage, but also make sure I don’t walk into anything, whilst constantly looking back at the screen of my phone to make sure I’m going the right way. I’d like to be able to familiarise myself with my surroundings, I never had much reason to be this far from house in this direction, but unfortunately the amount of effort I was putting in already was a bit of a strain on me.
Though, an hour later something changed.
Proficiency Lv 0 --> Lv 1
Current bonus: Lv 0 (Lv 1) --> Lv 0 (Lv 1)
For an incredible moment I thought that I had finally gotten an achievement, something that I could show of to my parents so that they wouldn’t kick me out. That hope was kicked in the dust when I saw that it was just a level up notification. I know that I should be excited about it, but I just can’t. It doesn’t help that it will take a while before it has any effect. I hope that I stop wanting to go home, or rather to my parents house, soon. The constant reminders hurt.
I decide to take that moment to take a break for a moment, dropping my suitcase on the grass off the path so that I don’t give people a reason to talk to me. I drop onto it, finally letting my burning muscles rest for a moment. I momentarily entertain opening my suitcase and laying down on my clothes, but I can’t really feel bothered to get up. Plus, the clouds are looking a little stormy right now. I wonder, if there is a storm, whether my parents would start to feel guilty.
It’s strange. Even now, after already being kicked out and walking for like an hour, it doesn’t quite feel real. Like a dream, or some sort of video game. I suppose that a lot of people probably don’t want to imagine that the people that raised them would do something like this, though it can’t be healthy for me.
This level up gives me hope though. I mean, sure, it may not be much right now, but it’s still something. It means that things can change. Previously, the lack of achievements left me feeling static, like I can’t do any of the things that other people seem to do so easily. Of course I can, I know that logically. There’s just something about everyone believing it, and the singular thing that measures all of your accomplishments showing me nothing, seemed to effect me more. Who could have guessed?
Where in the past there’s been no indication that I’m any good at anything, now I’ve already seen something that proves exactly that, and it’ll only happen more in the future. Sure, it may not be what everyone else has, but why should everyone be judged in the same way? It makes me wonder, how common is something like this? People don’t often last long without any decent achievements, but surely some people would be best at things that they don’t have achievements for. Not everyone gets inherent Skills like I did, in fact getting two was extremely lucky, so for a lot of people achievements really do show where they’re best.
Well, there’s a lot of walking ahead of me anyway. The longer I take to get to the guild the higher the chance I’ll see someone else on the path, it’s only 11 am so most people would either not be leaving or have already left for work. When I get out of the suburbia there’ll be more people of course, it’s inevitable that I’ll encounter a crowd in the city proper. I’m mostly hoping to never be the centre of attention.
With a weary sigh I get up, get my suitcase and get moving.
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A couple of hours later, after a stretch of road mostly full of warehouses and the occasional store, the buildings started getting higher, and the people more prevalent. The paths become much thinner, not only because the roads were slightly wider, but also because the buildings were closer together. At night closer to the center of Reed, the city I’m in currently, the buildings are closer than even this, and the buildings taller. It can often feel surprisingly claustrophobic, even with the fact that they have to raise the pathways above the road so that there’s space to walk. I won’t be going that deep into the city, already this close to the center makes it slightly inconvenient for the people of the guild to go out and fight monsters.
I got a little lost at first past that point. I was always too busy to bother exploring the city in the past and didn’t have many friends to go out for a specific reason with, not that I’m certain whether I would have wanted to anyway. Regardless the end result is the same, every part of the city just sort of looks the same to me. If pressed to point out the differences I probably could have, but ironically the expert city planning makes it harder to navigate. Everything is on a grid, which is great for cars I would assume. It does mean that navigating by map is difficult, this old phone only has the old, mundane form of GPS. The magical version, PDS or Positional Divination System, is way more accurate, but only got developed at small enough size to fit in phones a few years ago. I’m not caught up with the newest Magitech, though I could probably be pretty good at it eventually with the way my Skills are set up so I should do some research. I think that they got it to work by using modular electrical circuits, by cutting off the flow to specific wires they can make a number of electricity-based magical arrays in the same two dimensional area.
The point is, I added at least another hour to my journey just trying to find the guild hall. I got a few dirt looks when I kept blocking the path with my suitcase whilst trying to figure out where to turn, which only got worse when people checked my name. Honestly, I was worried someone might call the police or something. I may not have been breaking any laws, but that isn’t exactly always necessary for some people to be arrested.
When I saw the medieval-style hanging sign for the guild with their logo, a classic round shield with a starburst pattern, carved into it, I practically heaved a sigh of relief. I pushed the heavy wooden double door open with my elbow and pulled my suitcase off to the side whilst I looked around.
The first thing I noticed was how old it looked. Not in terms of the actual state of the objects, although some of the chairs I probably wouldn’t risk sitting on based on the condition they were in, but the style of the place. I didn’t pay much attention to the exterior because I was in a rush, but the interior at least appears to be made largely of wood and stone. If you were to picture a medieval tavern in your head right now it probably wouldn’t be too far off, bar a few obviously incongruous things.
The lighting appears to be a number of light bulbs attached to the ends of torch sconces. I thought I might be able to see a clarity array in the filament, a relatively simple array which makes bright light a little easier on the eyes. It’s mostly designed for people that have heightened perception from a Skill, a lot of government buildings require this sort of lighting, depending on the sorts of Skills the people that enter typically have. The adventurers guild would obviously have a lot of people with those more unique Skills.
I take a moment to consider it. I probably won’t be getting anything like that will I? Neither of my Skills govern physical boosts, but still apply to anything that a physical boost might help with. It’s a disappointing weakness to have found, especially seeing as I can’t think of any way around it. I do wonder though, does magic count as a discipline? Typically Skills are split into three categories, regular skills that actually make you more skilled, physical skills that provide a tangible boost to your capabilities, and magical skills that provide a boost to your magical capabilities, or any esoteric effects that don’t fit the other two. Anyone without Skills unlocked is automatically bared from using magic, and for good reason given how dangerous it can get if done wrong. Even the relatively safe stuff like that clarity array isn’t allowed, just to be safe. That means that I don’t know if I could have gotten any magical achievements.
In the future I’ll have to test that. For now though I continue figuring out where I register. There are a few other objects throughout the large opening building that are asynchronous with the medieval style of the building, like a phone, or outlets near a few of the tables, but most of them are near the receptionists desk. Honestly, ignoring the actual purpose of this room of the building, I’d almost think it was some sort of café. Of course, the rowdy group of adventurers spilling in from the training room dispels that notion. Around a dozen people enter from a back room and pull a few tables together whilst they sit down. I put that aside for now, and examine the desk whilst I walk over to it.
There was a single person sitting behind it, based on their slitted eyes then either of Kin or Elf heritage. Kin used to be known as Beastkin, but obviously that could be considered pretty offensive, and when people stopped being quite so racist they changed it. Given that this person only has the eyes to indicate their heritage, it’s probably just a single person in the distant past. Cross-species fertility is pretty low, and there aren’t many Kin or Elves in this country. Other than the eyes, they have typical human features; shoulder-length blond hair, and an angular yet androgynous face. I can’t quite determine what gender they are, so I don’t bother trying. If there’s any ambiguity it’s best to err on the side of caution in my opinion. They have a flat look on their face, and are looking at a computer on the desk.
In regards to the desk itself, there are quite a few appliances of various kinds visible, and probably more below. There’s obviously the computer, a standard model that has had a wood-like pattern printed on it that doesn’t quite match the desk, but still leave it looking like a weird sculpture more than a computer from behind. The computer is the only thing to have gotten such a treatment, other devices such as the printer, the sign in tablet on a swivelling arm that lets it be viewed from both sides of the desk, and the coffee machine have all been left untouched. The desk itself has a short bit of wood sticking up along the edge that makes it impossible to tell what else is on the desk, but I would guess some paper, a phone, and other typical office-type stuff. The desk itself is set up in the back corner of the room on the right side, with two doors to the left of it spaced out across the rest of the wall. The leftmost door is actually where the adventurers left through. On the topic of the adventurers, it looks like they’ve produced some glasses of beer from somewhere (Some sort of spatial pocket? Would be expensive if so), and are now talking much quieter than when they entered the room.
When I get to the receptionist I catch them looking at me. I catch on their chest a nameplate that, obviously, gives their name. Aiden. I stop in front of the desk for a moment nervously, realising that I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to do after this point.
“Can I help you?” They ask in a fittingly flat tone of voice.
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Nathan’s parents had mixed feelings on kicking their son out. They’d thought of a lot of reasons for it; he’d never gotten a job and needed to learn responsibility, almost everyone moves out at 20 at the absolute latest, he obviously doesn’t have much respect for anyone if he isn’t willing to get any achievements. They told themselves that really, they were helping him. If he is forced into a difficult situation like being kicked out, he’ll come out of it with an achievement, after all. Then he might be able to get that government grant, it isn’t uncommon among people that don’t get achievements early on in life to start getting some as soon as they turn 20.
On some level they knew they were just giving in to peer pressure. Their own parents, and siblings, and friends all telling them to kick out that no good waste of space of a son of theirs. On that same level they also knew that it was unfair. They’d seen first hand how much he tries, how much he deserves an achievement. Maybe he really did have a Skill or two that somehow covered everything he tried, but it just seems so farfetched.
They thought it would be easier to just sort of get him out as fast as possible. They weren’t actually having a contractor in that day, it would simply be absurd. In fact, they weren’t planning to get a contractor in at all, not for at least a few months. They can’t quite say why. Maybe they too were hoping that he would come back.
Nathan’s dad, Jack, didn’t want to see his son’s Skill. As I’m sure you can guess, there are a few reasons. Maybe he truly didn’t care to see it, but maybe he didn’t think he deserved to. What sort of father caves so easily to the opinions of others? Just because he’s learnt all his life that achievements are the only way to truly know what someone’s capable of doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily always true.
Of course, it’s too late for those sorts of thoughts. His son had been gone for a few hours already, and he doesn’t know where he went. He decided that he should look through Nathan’s room, just to see if he left anything important behind, or maybe a note of some kind.
Surprisingly, there actually was a note. On a scrap of paper on the dresser were a few numbers, that he struggled to understand. Stuff like ‘Lv 60 = +150%, Lv 54 = Lv 135’. It must be related to that Skill that Nathan mentioned, though what it means he doesn’t know. Jack’s Analysis inherent skill, Lv 152 at the moment, kicked into action. Obviously this is referring to something that increases per level, seemingly a bonus that increases by 2.5% every level. Why level 60 though? That means that it probably isn’t based off of Skills, Lv 60 isn’t a notable level for anything that he can think of, nor is an additional 150%. Of course, he doesn’t know exactly what it refers to, it’s possible that those values are relevant for something obscure.
But the second part, Lv 54 = Lv 135. Well, 135 is 250% of 54, or 150% more. That implies that whatever the first section is referring to is likely multiplying the level of something. Not his overall level most likely, there’s never been any sort of Skill that effects that, only the other way around. On the other hand, Skills that make other Skills more effective aren’t uncommon, at least for inherent Skills. Usually a specific category of Skills, like woodworking, or swordsmanship. Jack takes a moment to check something, seeming to think it confirms his theory. Lv 54 seems like a fairly arbitrary number, but it isn’t too far off of being a quarter of the highest level most people reach. Of course, that number is highly suspect, a lot of people exaggerate their Skill levels because there isn’t anyway of checking them.
If he has one Skill making his other more powerful, and he has to have no more and no less than two, then his other skill has to be wide reaching enough to prevent all achievements he could have gained. Does such a thing exist?
Is it possible that he not only has two inherent Skills at once, but that both of them are so exceedingly rare on their own?
There’s one way to find out. He tries to text Nathan first, only to find out that he’s been blocked. That’s… not as surprising as he wished it was. He starts to wonder if they hadn’t perhaps been a little bit hasty. His wife Sandra didn’t seem to think so. She’d always been harder on him. She wants him to do well after all, and when it seemed from an outside perspective that he didn’t care to try anything on his own, she first took things to a slight extreme. Not too much, and she gave up completely after a few months of no change. Now, she seems to largely hold the same opinion as everyone else. It’s unlikely that Nathan would block only one of his parents, though Jack decided to ask Sandra to call him later anyway.
If Jack were in the same situation as Nathan, then he would probably join the adventurer’s guild. Lv 135 Skills aren’t bad, but that’s only at Lv 60, and that level of skill, at that level, would seem to show a pretty low level of effort on his part to potential employers, especially given how much high levels increase Skill growth. Nathan may not know that last part admittedly, it’s not really important for most people to know so only those that are actually interested in the topic tend to know.
More importantly, in the Adventurer’s Guild, he might be able to get to Lv 90, or even Lv 100. At that point, his Skills might be approaching Lv 300, and with what he assumes is a Skill multiplier it’s only even more potent. Jack dialled the nearest Guild he knows of, only 30 minutes to an hour away on foot and the one that Nathan would have gone to. People don’t have much reason to call specific branches, so the receptionist picked up quickly.
“Um, hi. Has anyone joined at your branch recently? My son left to join a few days ago and I just want to know how he’s doing,” He didn’t quite say he kicked his son out. Honestly, the receptionist would probably believe it was the right move, but it still doesn’t seem like something you just say to strangers.
“No, not unless there’s a secret receptionist’s desk I don’t know of, ha-ha,” a masculine voice responded. Jack didn’t appreciate the attempt at a joke, theoretically this could be a serious issue, and the joke wasn’t even any good.
“Ah, alright. Thanks anyway. Do you think you could call me when he does join? His name is Nathan Golding.”
“Yeah, sure I can do that.”
“Thanks, I really appreciate it.” Jack hung up the phone and sighed. It doesn’t look like he’s opted to join the Adventurer’s Guild, he would have made it there at least two hours ago. In that case, who knows where he’d be? All he can do at this point is hope that he turns up somewhere.
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So I just joined the Adventurer’s Guild.
The process for joining was… annoying, to say the least. The standard procedure involved going to the training area to do a combat test, of differing difficulty based on your level. My level is 0, so I would do the easiest test, whatever that may be. Some of the tests have a reasonable threat to a persons life, specifically those for people above Lv 30, though even that is relatively insignificant. In general the threat stays pretty low, because it increases as a persons skill does. Despite the low risk, legally the receptionists have to have the right to turn away people they think can’t handle it, so long as they have good reason.
It took a lot of effort to convince them to let me try it. I had to tell them about Proficiency, though I kept Skilled to myself. Fortunately, the guild get’s a lot of different, often strange, people, so whilst Aiden themself hadn’t seen anything like my situation, there have been similar examples in the past. Some time ago, there was apparently someone who might have gotten the same Skill as me, that is to say, they got Proficiency. It didn’t work out too well for him though, because he couldn’t get any other Skills. They were still reluctant to let me take the test, but they at least understand that there’s little to no threat for the lowest test.
“Fine. If it’ll shut you up, I’ll let you take the combat test. Follow me.” Aiden spoke in the same flat tone as they did for the entirety of the conversation. At first I thought it was because they didn’t like me, but now I’m starting to think that they just always speak like that.
They dropped a plastic sign on the desk and walked away to the door just to the left of the desk, to the right of where I assume the training rooms are. I looked at the sign, which was just a typical ‘back in 15 minutes’ type of thing, though it was facing the wrong way. I turned it around so that people that approach the desk can read it easier.
“Is it alright if I leave my stuff here in the lobby, or is there like, a locker room or something?” I ask just because they didn’t mention it at all, I wasn’t sure whether they even noticed. I guess they did though, because they rolled their eyes at me.
“Did you read the contract? You agreed to a divination spell being placed upon you to track if you’ve committed any crimes, that’ll continue to update your sheet,” they showed me a sheet of paper that was slowly being filled with my name at the top, “even after today. If anyone in the guild steals it we’ll know, and anyone else has their name recorded automatically upon entry.”
I’d heard about that spell. It was almost made illegal, it’s one of many spells compatible with contract magic. In the end, they decided that it could only be used on physical contracts, anything digital like the terms and conditions of a website was automatically voided.
They led me through the door to the left of the desk, where there was a short hallway that turns right, opening into a large room with an empty stone archway in the back of it. There is a rack of weapons to the left, and an old looking dial with magical arrays carved into every inch of it. Most of them were in the standard circular form, though circles don’t fit together very efficiently, so it seems they also made some in atypical shapes to fit a few more in. I imagine that those arrays are just for the control scheme of whatever this test is, I’m sure that a circle a few inches in diameter is far too small.
“For the most basic test, you will be facing an unarmed, low level kobold construct. You get to use any of the weapons in the room to do so. You will be scored based on speed, efficiency, and the damage you take in the process. The highest score you can achieve is 30. If you wish to leave now you may do so, otherwise you do not get to ask questions. The test will begin 30 seconds from now.” Immediately after completing the clearly practiced speech, Aiden moved over to the dial and stood next to it.
A kobold construct? I hadn’t realised that they use constructs for this, I was under the impression that they were incredibly expensive to run. Maybe it has something to do with the arch? This must be another part of why the guild is still so popular then, my research wasn’t very extensive. It makes me wonder what could have been done with these ley lines using modern magitechnology.
“15 seconds. I wouldn’t normally give a warning but you’ve sort of just been standing there.” Was that a hint of exasperation I detected in their voice? Well, it’s not important. I already have some idea of what weapons I want to use.
I walked over to the weapon rack and took a second to take stock of what weapons they had. The classic swords, bows, and such. Also flails, morning stars, throwing knives, and more. There wasn’t anything especially unique, obviously, but that’s fine. I want to make or commission a more unique weapon that makes better use of Proficiency, but for now I just need to go for versatility. Quickly, I took three throwing knives, a broad sword, and a rapier. The knives I just stuffed in my pocket, the rapier I could put through the loops that are supposed to have belts in them. The sword I just had to hold in my hand.
With the remaining time I took and loaded a crossbow. It was a bit of struggle, I’d never done this before after all, but Lv 1 in a cross bow skill is enough to at least know how to load it in some way.
I glanced back at Aiden. They had their hand on the dial, which I saw made some numbers light up around the outside of it, and a glowing line on the dial itself. He currently had it pointed at 0, of course. There was a button which slid out of the centre of the dial as I watched. Without warning me, Aiden pressed it in.
As it turns out, a warning wouldn’t have been necessary. There was a loud electrical humming emitting from the gateway. Over the course of a few seconds the purple light that I knew to be mana steadily coalesced into the short, scaly form of a kobold.
I quickly ran through what I knew of kobolds from school. They mostly taught us about them in early years, telling us how best to run away from them. Kobolds are now one of the rarer monsters in this area, because they are most commonly found in areas with a heavy dragon presence. Since the Dragon Treaties of 2001, 12 years ago, they haven’t been anywhere nearby.
The point is, I don’t know as much about them as I would about, say, gnolls. What I do know is that their scales aren’t actually very tough. They are very reflective, not only in terms of the tangible world but also the magical. So, they’re safe from the sun, and highly resistant to magic. What this means is that my current methods of attack, exclusively physical, should be relatively effective.
I pointed my crossbow at the still forming kobold. The second it finished forming, I pressed the trigger, launching a bolt into the monster’s left shoulder. Blood spurted out and splashed on the ground, and the creature yelped in pain. Momentarily I felt guilt, but had to remind myself that it was just a construct, and a monster ignoring that. The blood disappearing when it hit the ground reminded me of that.
I stepped closer to the kobold and threw the crossbow at it, now useless because I won’t be able to reload it fast enough and didn’t bring any other bolts. It hit it on the head which, combined with being surprised by the bolt, caused it to stumble backwards. It didn’t fall though.
I didn’t give it the chance to recover however. I was now in melee range, so I slashed at it’s chest with my sword. I was caught off guard by the way it dug through the kobold’s flesh however, dropping the sword in shock and disgust. Though I wished I didn’t have to, I forced myself to not avert my eyes from it. The cut with the sword was far more grizzly than the bolt, a jagged slash that was almost more torn than cut, tearing scales out as well. I ignored my dropped sword and instead drew the rapier.
Quickly, before I lost my nerve, I jabbed it into the kobold’s face. It skittered across it’s skull, drawing bloody lines across it’s face, before sinking horribly into it’s right eye. I felt the warmth and wetness of the blood that hit my face following for only a moment before it faded like the blood before it. Shortly following that, the kobold faded away as well, causing the bolt to clatter to the ground noisily.
The noise of the bolt helped me ignore the bile that was rising in my throat. I would need to fight it down if I were to have any chance proving them wrong, but I wonder, is it truly worth it? Of course, the real question is do I have any choice?
“That was actually quite impressive.”
Startled, I spun around and pointed my rapier at the receptionist. I swiftly dropped it when I realised what I was doing, I must have still been on edge from the short fight. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to off put by it.
“Y-yeah, I guess it was,” I agreed shakily, “What… was that good enough?”
“I’d give you a 17. You took care of it very quickly, but dropping the sword was foolish and inefficient. Not taking damage isn’t terribly impressive here, some people do get hurt but never anything too serious. There were other minor issues, but many of them weren’t being recorded here. What matters is success, in adventuring.”
What did he say the highest score was, 20? I didn’t do too bad then, in that case. I think that they might seem more interested in talking to me now that I’ve done well on the test, so maybe they really didn’t like me at first.
“Given your low level, you probably levelled up once or twice from that, though because it was during combat you’ll have to prompt it to tell you. I’ll let you take a look at that first, then you can come see me at the receptionist desk.” Aiden started to leave after that comment.
Right, levelling up. I sort of forgot about that. Oh! Speaking of things I forgot, I can check people’s names now, can’t I? Just before they leave, I check their name.
Aiden Thresher Lv 73
Titan Slayer
Lv 73? I guess that they use retired members for receptionists. The achievement isn’t too surprising. Every decade or so, there’s some massive monster threating some place or another, though not anywhere nearby for quite a while ago. He probably helped kill one of them some time ago, though what exactly he did to get an achievement for it I don’t know, it’s hard to kill something using a Skill you don’t have.
Anyway, he’s right about levelling up, I really should take a look at that. First, I think I should check levels for proficiency. I think I was already pretty close to a level, so I should be able to get at least one.
Proficiency Lv 1 --> Lv 3
Current bonus: Lv 0 (Lv 1) --> Lv 0 (Lv 1)
As expected, I got one… not, two levels. Does it maybe get more experience if I do different things? That does sound familiar, and it only makes sense that making full use of a skill would make it level quicker. At this rate, it’ll only be a few days until it gets to Lv 8, which would give a bonus of 2, instead of 1. Now, my actual level. I’ll go to my full status, so I can see the new effect for Skilled at the same time.
Nathan Golding Lv 2
No Achievements
Skills
Skilled Lv MAX
Proficiency Lv 3
Skilled Lv MAX
Provide a percentage increase to the effects of all skills relative to level. Minimum value of [10%]
Current bonus: 5% (10%)
Proficiency Lv 3
Provide a passing proficiency with every discipline, equal to a quarter of the level of this skill. Minimum value of [Lv 1]
Current bonus: Lv 0 (Lv 1)
So I got two levels then. Not bad for my first fight, especially given that it was just a low level construct. And it shows that I was right about Skilled, now that I’m Lv 2 it has a bonus of 5%. So long as it doesn’t change at higher levels, which not many Skills do, it’ll start to improve at Lv 5. Unfortunately, there also aren’t many Skills that start at max level. In fact, there actually isn’t a max level that anyone is aware of. Of course, to find it people would probably have to live much longer than they currently do.
There isn’t really much further consideration I can do on level ups. The simplicity of my Skills is a blessing, in that I don’t have to worry about prioritising anything over anything else, I just have to do as much as possible. I can see why I didn’t get any achievements honestly, even outside of the reasons I already know, with all the things it’s possible to get proficiency-based skills for there isn’t a single thing I do based on my own merit. Even finding unique ways to use multiple Skills in concert would just be a result of some other Skill, Creativity or something along those lines.
That doesn’t matter of course, having the assistance of a Skill doesn’t mean that I can’t do my best.
Back at the receptionist desk, I see that Aiden is sitting in their chair and typing on the computer, when walking past to the front of the desk I noticed that he had some sort of form with my name on the top, and the number 17 next to it. It must be related to me joining. I suppose they wouldn’t have much use for my level either, theoretically someone could be Lv 100 just based on office work, technically. More realistically, someone could be Lv 50 from pretty much anything, without combat being anywhere in the equation.
I cough to get Aiden’s attention once I’m situated on the right side of the desk, causing them to turn to face me with a vaguely annoyed look on their face.
“Hmm? Oh, you’re done then? Your guild application is effectively done, I’ve already inputted all the information you’ve already given me. I just need you here to turn you away if the background check turns anything up, and to give you your first quest. Just a legal reminder, you should have noticed that in the contract you signed you allowed us to use divination for the purpose of identifying significant criminal activity. Just a moment.” They turn back to their computer, a clear message that I need to wait until he’s done. I nod and decide to look around the room.
The quest was another thing I’d already heard of, another extension of the combat test. The first one is just to help make sure you can fight in a less controlled situation, and ensure the first part wasn’t a fluke. Past that, quests are given a combat score value based on the difficulty. You need to have either a combat score 40% higher than this score, or a team of people with different scores based on party size. The default, 4 people, needs everyone to be at 100% the difficulty of the quest.
I hope to find a party some day, but unless I can get an achievement with the system, I’ll need to get some actual achievements, stuff that people can’t just deny. Combat score might be able to do just that, but not with everyone. For the moment, I’ll aim for being a solo adventurer. I heard the persistent tapping of the keyboard suddenly cease.
“Nothing showed up on the background check, so you’re all clear to join the guild. Would I be right in assuming your going solo on your first quest? And do you have any weapons to use?”
“Yes, I will be solo for the foreseeable future. Or, I don’t have any parties lined up anyway. And no, I don’t have a weapon. Um. By the way, how would getting lodging with the guild work?”
“In that case, based on your performance in the test, you can have a standard guild broadsword,” they pulled a broadsword in a sheath, with the same symbol as the sign outside printed on it, onto the desk, “Your first quest will be to go to a village called Woodtown to investigate a monster attack. Someone got attacked by something small when in the nearby woods at night, based on their report it shouldn’t be anything serious. You can use the emergency beacon in the bracelet you will be given if it turns out to be more serious, at which point a diagnostics spell will determine of an immediate extraction is necessary. This bracelet can also be used to access any of the empty rooms if you go through the leftmost door, and up the stairs. You can also read up more on the guild procedures and facilities in your room or on our member website.”
They put a simple, albeit thick, metal bracelet on the desk next to the sword. I assume that I can just read about how to activate the bracelet when I read up on everything else, so I guess I should just head to my new room? I pick up the sword, my Lv 1 insight vaguely telling me how to affix the sheath to my waist, put on the bracelet, and drag my luggage through the door to the… stairs.
As he said, there was a staircase, along with one open door to the left which I can see leads to a training room, and a closed door that’s probably another staircase that has a ‘Staff Only’ sign on it. More worryingly, is the stairs. There’s no elevator that I can see, perhaps modifying the building risks harming the magic arrays, and obviously no teleporter. I resign myself to having to take the thing, already just short of being too heavy to easily take the distance I have, all the way up a flight of stairs, until someone claps me on my shoulder. For the second time I spin around and threaten someone with a blade, Proficiency ever so lightly nudging the way I draw the sword. I fortunately stop myself before I actually pull it more than halfway out, though I really need to get a handle on that. Maybe I didn’t get enough social interaction, I wasn’t the most friendly even before being ostracised, so the slightest surprise is well beyond what I’m used to.
“Woah! Feisty, ain’tcha? I just noticed you headin’ over here with your luggage. Thought you might need some help carryin’ it up these stairs, and my party’s just a bunch of spindly mage, rogue, and archer types.”
Before me was possibly the largest women I’d ever seen, certainly much taller than me. I myself aren’t exactly above average in terms of height, though I’d never measured precisely. My limbs, however, are a little long, which makes me seem a little thinner than I actually am. From all of the effort I’d put into getting achievements over the years I’d gained a decent amount of muscle, though it was more of a lean, athletic sort. Of course, even if I had double the muscle I had, it wouldn’t out me at even half of hers. In spite of how absurdly thick her arms were, she didn’t look the least bit out of proportion, at a height that had to be around 8 feet. How I didn’t notice her earlier I didn’t know, maybe she had some sort of Skill for it? She certainly had a physical Skill, though what exactly I don’t know. It could be anything from a straight up physical enhancement, to self healing that let her body safely grow more than it should have.
My first instinct was to pass her off as a musclehead, just like movies and such have taught me. However, I noticed an analytical glint her eyes that I recognised from my father. She most likely had a similar mental Skill to him, maybe even the same one. She seems younger than my dad, but likely close to his level in the skill due to her risky life style, and the same Skills at the same levels tend to do the same thing.
“Yeah, sure, I’d appreciate the help. I didn’t really realise that there would be a staircase to deal with to be honest.” I had no reason to antagonise her. She’s doing me a good turn after all.
For a moment I considered whether I should ask her name, until I realised I was making the same mistake as before.
Anehlia Spark Lv 51
Iron Wall
Lv 51 is about within my expectations, and the name is expectedly unfamiliar. The achievement seems like a variant of the relatively common Stone Wall, which is typically gained by Tanks. If I’m right about her analysis Skill, I’d bet that she purposefully chose an achievement that, whilst certainly impressive, combined with her appearance makes her seem rather simple to most people.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“This thing get’s tons o’ newbies sort of stuck, I’m sure they’d put an elevator here if they could,” she hefted my suitcase, holding it over her shoulder in one hand with little visible strain, “So, no achievement? That’s the sort o’ thing that gets you famous round here, you know. Adventurers know never to judge a book by it’s cover, and a Skill wide enough to block enough achievements to leave you with none is pretty rare. Just lettin’ ya know, you probably only turned 20 today, yeah? Well, we adventurers look out for each other, and people rarely move out so soon fer good reasons. Certainly move out a lot though. Well, I’ll let you take it to one o’ these rooms. You should be able to manage that, aye?”
Whilst she was talking, we made it up the surprisingly short flight of stairs, just one set of stairs, a landing, and then another heading back the direction we came, putting this floor directly above the lobby. It seemed too long for that, but I hadn’t found much mention of spatial magic in the guild. And, as she said, there were a series of rooms here. Three on either side, and another flight of stairs following the same pattern as the first. All but one of the doors were already open, which I took to mean that they were all free for the taking, made certain when I noticed that there was a name on the closed door and none of the others. I nodded to Anehlia and gave her thanks, before parting ways to take the closest room to the stairs, the first room on the right. The other empty room couldn’t have been any further from my new one, an unintended consequence of my choice, though not an unwelcome one.
The bracelet, sitting uncomfortably on my arm, vibrated as soon as I passed the threshold of the room. When I glanced at it I saw some blue lights, though they faded before I could examine them further. A rectangle of wood on my door glowed briefly with the lines of complex-looking arrays covering it, which were replaced with my full name. I traced the letters, finding that there was no seam between them and the rest of the plate, the only indication that anything had change was visual, making me wonder whether it was done using illusion magic.
I pull my suitcase into the room and close the door behind me. The room itself is fairly empty, it looks basically like a hotel room, except for the weapon rack opposite the bed. I’m pleased to note that there is a television, I never got the chance to use it very often at home because my parents were always using it, it was even on in the background whilst they were doing something unrelated in the living room. There’s no computer, but there is a desk, and I brought my own. It’s not the fanciest thing, in fact it doesn’t have a single array in it. I considered modifying it to add one, but I’m not actually sure what they’re used for in modern computers. Maybe cooling? Plus, it’s dangerous to play with magic like that.
Magic seems to interact with Skills strangely. First of all, in the classification. There are some magic Skills that are almost identical, but somehow fall under completely different categories. For example, Fire manipulation, Pyrokinesis, and Fire control. These are regular, magical, and physical respectively, but all do the same thing. Secondly in the levels. Most people would only ever be able to get a magic Skill to somewhere between Lv 50 and 100 if they spend their entire life on it. The only exceptions are, of course, Elves or humans with Elven blood. So long as a person has more than around 1.5% Elven genealogy in their ancestry they are able to level up magic skills completely normally, and having any more doesn’t change it past that.
All this is to say that magic often follows strange and hard to predict rules. There’s always been problems with magic, but it was only when someone made a mistake in a light array that blew up half a school, my school in fact, that laws became stricter. Like many, I’ve been much more cautious in regards to magic since then, and haven’t even touched the idea of making an array.
Magic is something that I can consider later though. I’ll get settled in later as well. First, I’ll read up on the guild like the receptionist said to, and then I’ll get to training.
-----------
The training room is a large, mostly empty space with weapon racks and training dummies lining the walls. The training dummies each have different weights to test more powerful Skills, though I’ll be taking the lightest one. Some of the heavier ones I don’t think I could even carry to the middle of the room.
The main thing I’m here for though, is the increase to levelling speed. According to the pamphlet it’s a 50% boost whilst anywhere in the guild, not just the training room, which means that any time spent in the guild is beneficial.
I decide that the first thing I should practice with is the broadsword, seeing as that’s the weapon I’ve been given. I don’t use my actual sword for practice of course, I use one of the wooden weapons off to the side. There’s no-one else in the training room currently, I guess this isn’t a very popular guild? Regardless, it means that I get my pick of the weapons for what that matters. They aren’t in perfect condition, but they are all about the same.
I stood in front of the mannequin, sword held in my right hand. I momentarily wondered whether I should use two swords, but decide not to just yet. Maybe when I actually have a second sword. I’d probably be able to use two swords just as well as one actually, even if they’re completely different. A thought for later.
It feels kind of silly to just hack at a wooden dummy. How do I even start? I guess… I raise my arm to the left and slash diagonally downwards with all the force I can muster. The training blade hits the dummy at a weird angle, jarring my hands and getting a splinter stuck in the dummy. I quickly drop the sword, purposefully this time, and ignore the clatter as it hit the ground. I couldn’t identify anything wrong with my wrists other than the pain, though it got a little worse when I clenched my hand so there may have been some issue I didn’t find. This is as good a time to practice with my non-dominant hand as any I suppose.
I picked up the sword in my left hand, feeling out the weight of it. It felt much more awkward to hold than in my right hand, but as I level up it should get better.
This time, I attack much more carefully. I start the slash in the same place as before, albeit mirrored on the opposite side, and tap it against the dummy. I know that the sword has to stay perfectly straight, and probably hit the dummy at perpendicular to the tangent. I really don’t think that using terms from geometry actually makes sense here, but it’s how I’m visualising it, even though it’s probably wrong. I’m hoping that I should be able to get an idea of how to hold the sword whilst it’s moving by going through the motions slowly beforehand. I also moved slightly further away, far enough that only the tip of the sword should hit the dummy. That should mean that I don’t hurt myself too much.
I take a breath to centre myself. Both of the other times I’ve tried to attack with this thing I’ve dropped it, and once I’ve actually hurt myself with it. The rapier I have a little more experience with, from taking a fencing extracurricular. I dropped it when it became clear I wouldn’t be getting an achievement, but I had a baseline. That’s actually good reason not to go with that one, I should be able to get experience faster with something I have less experience in.
It still feels so strange holing a sword in my left hand rather than my right, but I ignore that for now. With no reason to delay, I once more slashed the dummy. I felt my sword drag across the enchanted fabric that covers the body of the dummy and immediately got worried that I failed again. It seems that worry was unfounded however, as I finish the motion, stopping with my sword held down to my left. I feel a smile form involuntarily on my face at my success, only affirmed by the next thing I saw.
Proficiency Lv 3 --> Lv 4
Current bonus: Lv 0 (Lv 1) --> Lv 1
Finally! Some actual change in the bonuses. In effect nothing has changed, but it’s a sign that I’m making progress. Until something actually improves, I’m going to keep looking out for those.
It’s probably nothing, but for some reason the knowledge I get from Proficiency feels more solid now, than before. It was previously undetectable, but now it’s like I can feel it at the edge of all my thoughts. Again, it’s probably nothing. Tons of Skills have a minimum boost like this, and I’ve never seen anything to indicate that the bonus is somehow less substantial for that starting period.
I shake my right hand again, Proficiency telling me that although the pain has gone down marginally, it’s probably not a good idea to use it yet. So, still basking in the glow of progress, I line up to practice another diagonal slash.
-----------
I practice this for half an hour, at which point I finally switch back to my right hand. I expected it to feel unnatural at first, just because I’d been using my left hand for a while, but in fact it just makes it seem so much easier. I only practice for another ten minutes before I get another level in proficiency. I decided to switch up at that point and do a horizontal slash, which I find is actually a lot easier, though it has a lot less power in it. Whilst I almost-mindlessly tried to perfect it to the best of my knowledge, I also tried to plan out my future training plan, though I didn’t get very far. At some point I’ll have to move on to something else, but I don’t quite know what. At that point I was interrupted by another level, much faster than expected. And that leads me to here.
I was still doing horizontal slashes, but I went back to my room to pick up my headphones. I synced the audio array in the headphones with my phone, I had to disconnect it from my laptop first which was pretty annoying. My thought process was that if I work on two things at once, I’ll level up twice as fast. So, I decided to go for a maths studying guide. It basically just asks questions then gives you some time to answer them, though I only get a minute because I’m too busy to pause it. And I have to do it all in my head. Basically it’s a lot more difficult than it’s supposed to be, but this is the best I’ve got. Plus, this might technically count as more Skills than I thought.
So, there’s Swordplay and Maths, obviously. Then, Multitasking. There might be a mental mathematics skill of some kind, and a quick thinking skill. So, either three, four, or five Skills at once. I would imagine training more Skills at once has diminishing returns because I can’t properly focus on all of them, but with multitasking that issue would slowly be reduced, surely?
Well, that’s not something to consider for quite a while. For the moment, I just focus on training. Even though it gets really boring. It doesn’t take long to get Lv 7, only another 15 minutes or so. By the time I get Lv 8 though I start to wonder if there’s some sort of Boredom Resistance skill that I’m also training, because I could barely handle it. As soon as I got Lv 8 though, it strangely became slightly easier. I can think of one explanation though.
Proficiency Lv 7 --> Lv 8
Current bonus: Lv 1 --> Lv 2
The bonus for Proficiency increased to Lv 2. I know for a fact that there’s a Willpower skill, mum has it, so it probably just kicked in at the end there. I’m still done with training for now though, especially because of another bonus I improved.
Nathan Golding Lv 3
No Achievements
Skills
Skilled Lv MAX
Proficiency Lv 8
Skilled Lv MAX
Provide a percentage increase to the effects of all skills relative to level. Minimum value of [10%]
Current bonus: 7.5% (10%)
Proficiency Lv 8
Provide a passing proficiency with every discipline, equal to a quarter of the level of this skill. Minimum value of [Lv 1]
Current bonus: Lv 2
I also hit Lv 3 overall. I don’t actually know what that gives me personally actually, I know that you get some sort of physical boost when levelling up, but I’ve never looked too much into it. Regardless, there isn’t really much reason to know, it doesn’t seem like there’s too much that I could do with it. I think that now I’m ready to go on my first quest.
-----------
All his life he had failed to get any achievements whatsoever. He’d tried, so many times, so many different things, and nothing had ever worked. Of course, he was limited in what he could try. Monster hunting seems way too dangerous, and they don’t have any access to magical materials, his parents weren’t exactly the richest.
They promised that they’d always support him though. Really, they were very understanding. He does live in a small village though, a very tight knit community. He didn’t think his parents could get away with anything else. And it was a good thing too, when he got his Skills at 20. That’s right, Skills. He almost went right to tell his parents about both of them at the time, but one of them gave him pause.
Max Silver Lv 9 [4]
No Achievements
Skills
Mask Lv MAX
Capability Lv MAX
Mask Lv MAX
Allows you to replace your name, achievement, and level with a faked version.
Capability Lv MAX
Allows you to view your Stats. Gives an additional three stat points per level. Improves the effectiveness of stats relative to level, to a minimum of [5%]
Currently: 9%
Stats Strength : 16 Agility : 11 Constitution : 13 Intelligence : 15 Wisdom : 14 Charisma : 10 Luck : 15
This is what his Status currently looks like. Those stats all started at five, and he figured out that around three points get distributed every level, though he’s not certain that it’s always the same. He has to distribute his new stats as soon as he levels up, even if he has the notifications turned off, which is rather annoying.
Anyway the Skill that he decided to keep quiet was Mask, which lets him hide his identity. That sort of Skill is incredibly rare, or at least it seems like it is. In reality, you have to be a criminal to get it, and a pretty bad one at that. Not the type of person that would want to become a suspect in every single crime, for sure. Especially because all of the examples he found could only change your name. Keeping it secret has already paid dividends as well.
You see, none of his Skills can level up. And, as has been established, he can’t get achievements. Most likely, Capability increasing the effectiveness of his Stats means it’s already helping with everything, so he can’t get achievements. The only way of improving he has is levelling up. The thing is, he would level incredibly slowly just in normal life, without any proper Skills. He used Mask to pretend that his level was 4, but that might be an overestimate, and it’s already been days. He’s gone out and killed a few monsters, only two or three times, and that was what got him most of the way to Lv 9.
He's going out again tonight, Masked as the name he’d compulsively first thought of Mike Star, and masked physically. Apparently, there’s some sort of monster that’s been spotted, which should be able to give him some decent levels if he can get it before the Guild comes to take care of it. If he can’t use Skills he’s going to have to figure out how to brute force his way through life and, as much as his parents don’t like it, that means being an Adventurer.
-----------
I may have been just a little over zealous on deciding to do the quest, it was late after all. So, after eating the once-per-day free meal, I went to bed, to set off the next morning.
The trip to Woodtown was, to put it lightly, boring. I’ve had my license for a few years now, but unfortunately don’t have enough money to get a car, so I had to take public transportation. There’s a guild fund for quest-related transportation available to anyone that doesn’t have enough money, it covers any travel within the country, with more money for more urgent quests. Mine isn’t considered high priority, so I only got enough to cover the bus there, a bus which I only just caught. It only comes around once a day, because of how far Woodstown is from the city.
A few hours later, and I was here. It was frankly a lot smaller than I expected, there couldn’t be more than twenty people, maybe thirty if I’m being generous. Getting there was the end of what the quest told me to do, so now all I had to do was find the thing. Hopefully it won’t take too long, I don’t have anywhere to stay, and couldn’t get any money for it due to how simple the quest is.
After getting off the bus, I stood at the bus stop whilst I once more looked over the information I had available to me. First my surroundings, though there wasn’t much. There was a shop and a bar of in one direction, and houses covering everything else. The village is simply a number of houses and a few other buildings lines up against the road, though they all seem to be on the same side of it, and there is a dirt road that goes behind the ones I can currently see. On the other side of the road is a forest. The trees are all rather tall, at last three times my own height, maybe four. The trees have very few branches or leaves on the trunk, almost all of them are at the canopy. There are bushes at the base of the trees however, a few of which appear to have plants of some kind on them.
For my purposes, the more useful information would be that which the guild gave me, which I received on my phone.
‘Quest received from Woodstown. At approximately 7 pm, May 10th, a resident was in the nearby forest for unspecified reasons. The forest was quoted as being “strangely dark, like midnight”, which is the likely reason they failed to get a good look at the monster. The only description given was that it was “a black blur with sharp claws. It was at least as big as a dog, maybe bigger”, which was taken to mean between 30 and 40 cm in height. Expect a medium physical threat, ambush tactics, and possible shadow manipulation. Possible residences for the monster are marked on the attached map.’
Most monster-slaying quests have actual names to go with the monsters, but in this case there probably wasn’t enough information to go off. Fortunately they gave me somewhere to start the search, or I’d be completely lost. I move to put my phone in my pocket, but accidentally bump it into my sheathed sword. Right, I usually put my phone in my left pocket, but that’s where I’m keeping the sword, so I moved it to the right. I’ll have to get a backpack or something to keep my phone in for future quests, I could just drop it to the ground before fighting anything.
I’ll just have to be careful for this fight. In the meantime, I looked at the map they gave me to figure out where the closest place was. It was difficult to figure out the orientation though, because the roads were laid out symmetrically. I’d just figured out which direction north was when my phone was suddenly pulled out of my hand. For a moment I just stood in shock that someone would be so brazen before remembering to look at whoever just robbed me.
Mike Star Lv 19
Grand Thief
Lv 19. That would explain the speed that they were moving at, almost double my own running speed. I wasn’t aware that there were any notable criminals in the area, though 19 is fairly low so they must be new. For some reason they were wearing a black cloth mask over the lower half of their face, even with their name on clear display. Unless there’s some way of hiding your name? He hasn’t heard of anything like it, but there’s a lot of things he hasn’t heard of, and the government probably wouldn’t want a way to trick the system to be wide spread.
Even still, it seems pretty foolish to steal from a guild member in broad daylight. Laws for assault can be pretty shaky in general, but with guild members it’s even worse, because technically it’s impossible to say that a person is completely unrelated to whatever quest they happen to be doing at that moment, and the quests are of course supported by the government. If someone with an achievement like ‘Grand Thief’ is hurt by a guild member, then there’s almost no chance of it going poorly for the guild.
So, thinking quickly, I try to figure out my best option. They slowed down just after stealing the phone, and now changed direction and started heading west towards what I think is the nearest nest, if my memory is right. That means that they have to cross just a bit of open field until they get to the forest, giving me a few more seconds to plan.
I don’t have any ranged weapons on me, but there are a few rocks on the ground. They won’t be enough to take the thief out on their own, but they could slow them down. Plan set, I started moving in their direction, scooping up a few rocks on the way. Already they were halfway to the trees, where it wouldn’t take much to throw of my aim completely. If they have any stealth skills then, combined with their speed, I probably won’t be able to follow them easily either.
I launch my first rock at them, aiming for the back of their head. It falls a bit short and hits their neck instead, causing them to flinch and stumble a bit, though they recovered easily. Their recovery seemed somewhat unskilled though, which I thought was strange, but I put it out of my mind. Instead I threw another rock. This one clipped their ear, sailing past them but getting less of a reaction than I hoped. I was down to two rocks and had barely slowed them at all, they were seconds away from the tree line. The last two rocks I threw in quick succession, successfully hitting the back of their head, and their back. I expected the dual hits to get more of a reaction than the others, but instead they barely reacted at all, almost like the rocks never did much but they just expected them to.
Without having to worry about aiming I sped up slightly, but was still well behind the thief, I’m not calling them Mike so I guess I’ll go for Star. My run slowed to a stop at the treeline, where as I expected I completely lost sight of Star. This is where I noticed something else strange. Logically a thief, especially one with an achievement like Star’s, would have Skills that can hide their movement or presence, or something along those lines, even at Lv 19. However, the track they left through the forest couldn’t really be much more obvious, with crushed grass and snapped twigs lining the path. Perhaps they were pushing themselves to get away from me more than I had initially thought.
I feel like with all the oddities surrounding this person there must be something to be figured out here, some connections to draw that I’ve failed to notice, but that isn’t really a priority. I know where they’ll be heading after all.
Rather than going to the closest spot, I close my eyes and try to recall where the next one is. After all, they’ll have to take some time to check it for the monster, so I might be able to get there before them. I didn’t put too much effort into memorising it, but I know from my parents that a side effect of most mental skills is the effect they have on your passive actions. For example, having a memorisation Skill would make you passively attempt to memorise everything that you see. It would be more effective to actively use the Skill of course, but for even a Lv 1 Skill there’s value, the system only adds onto your base ability rather than measuring it, so there’s always something there.
I was right of course. It wasn’t a clear image, but I could just visualise the map. I have no idea the distances involved, but I know that if I were to go north west from here I’ll eventually see the trees become much taller, this portion of the forest was part of a regeneration project from some high level Guilder. Oh hey, that’s the new word! Guilder, not Adventurer. Because they, or rather we, don’t do adventuring anymore, just questing.
Anyway, there’ll be a pretty clear demarcation between these trees. The next point is just on that border, on the edge of a small clearing. Supposedly, if the monster truly uses shadows, the greater light in the clearing should create more of a contrast between the light and the shadow, making it harder for people’s eyes to adapt to the darkness. The monster itself won’t have figured this out, but it would either be instinct, or a pattern that they recognised but don’t understand.
I suppose the reasoning isn’t too important, what matters is that Star will be heading there soon, if no next then surely just after that. Plus, I can see about searching for the monster whilst I wait there, it would be really something for me to get to it first.
As I walked I made sure to keep watch on my surroundings. The people obviously didn’t keep too close track of where the monster attacked, so I could be in danger no matter where I go. For the first ten minutes I travelled in a peaceful silence, a quietness that set me at ease with the knowledge that I would certainly be able to hear any monsters coming. For that time, however, a small part of me felt that something was strange, though whether it was instinct or Skill I couldn’t say. And then I realised.
In hindsight I suppose it was obvious, it’s something of a trope in a few stories, but a forest is typically full of all sorts of creatures. There are outliers, as in anything, such as the many magical forests where only monsters can survive. This isn’t one of those forests however, the emergence of such dangerous areas is closely monitored. In the case that a normal forest is silent, something is wrong.
I froze.
I don’t know exactly where the clearing is, but at most it should only be twenty minutes away. Ideally, I would fight this monster once I get there, so that I can wait for the thief to arrive and ambush them, to get my phone back. If fight it any earlier I would have to drag the corpse with me the entire way so that I can prove I completed the quest. Perhaps more importantly, the clearing is likely a more favourable place for me to fight it. The possible shadow magic throws off my logic in that case, I don’t quite know how well I could handle it so I don’t know how it would effect the fight.
Plan set, I set off once more, trying to keep the same pace as before with the hope of getting the monster to stalk me for longer. If that’s what’s happening at all, I suppose I could just be making assumptions.
Out of the corner of my eye I see a shadow flit past me, towards my back. I quickly spin around with the hopes of catching it by surprise, only to see nothing there. It must have been nothing. The wind, maybe.
I thought that it was just that, little more than a hallucination. However, as I continued onwards, I noticed those shadows again and again, always doing almost exactly the same thing. A blur heading behind me. Not only that, but there’s another suspicion of mine that is floating around in my head, something that I aim to prove. I stop for a moment to take careful note of my surroundings.
The next time I see a shadow I wait a few seconds before trying to compare it to my memory. It’s a different location of course, so I expect some differences. However there was one thing in particular I was hoping to find, and after a bit of searching I find it, when crouching down to look at the roots of a tree.
It was only a vague comparison, however as far as I can tell the shadows are ever so slightly deeper. Unfortunately, I can’t quite remember what the shadows were like when I first entered the forest, but I do feel much more unnerved than initially. Unfortunately, like the rest of the analysis I’ve been able to do, it’s impossible to say for certain that it wasn’t from outside circumstances. The shadows could be deeper because of the movement of the sun, and most of the nervousness I’m feeling should be from the consistent blurs I’m seeing. In spite of the lack of evidence, I’m almost certain that I’m right. The monster is distracting people with the shadow, and then carefully deepening the shadows around them, without them noticing. Like the idiom about a frog in a boiling pot, they won’t even notice until it’s too late, and they’re all but plunged into darkness.
Following this discovery I endeavoured to continue doing the same thing. There wasn’t much that I could do with this information because I was aiming to fight the monster, not flee from it. Seconds later, the decision was taken out of my hands. I had spent too long stood still and the monster had gotten suspicious,
The only warning that I get is a slight rustle of the leaves of a bush close to the ground. The only noises so far had been the wind moving leaves, but that was exclusively near the canopy of the trees. I don’t have the Proficiency to draw my sword quick enough for this moment, and with no rocks or branches immediately available to pick up, I’ll just have to try to swat it out of the air.
I spin around, flailing my closed fist towards the thing behind me in a clearly unpractised movement. I feel my hand brush past some fur, but not make contact with anything substantial, so I try to bring my other arm up to block. Instinctively I also raise my left knee up to my chest. That actually ends up being more useful, making contact with the unidentified monster and knocking it off it’s course. Rather than sinking it’s teeth, or claws, or whatever it may have into me, my arm managed to catch it’s belly and hold it away from me. I find myself laying on my back, with the monster I’d been hunting suspended in the air above me, a slowly growing throbbing pain in my right arm and my back shoulder, from impacts with the monster and the ground.
In spite of the rabid sounds it’s making in it’s attempt to hit me, I have a moment of peace. I know where the threat is, and it’s under some degree of control. I quickly try to identify the creature before me.
The first thing I noticed was it’s matte black fur. It’s covered in a reflective oil that I can feel getting on my hand, though my arm is covered by a long-sleeved shirt. Under ordinary circumstances I feel that this oil, combined with the deep black of it’s fur and the shadows it manipulates, would make it impossible to discern any individual parts of it’s body, not without any Skills to help you anyway. These circumstances don’t seem very ordinary however. First of all, it seems that it can only manipulate shadows it is in contact with, as the shadows surrounding them faded over the course of a few seconds after catching it. This, combined with a vicious looking scar on running up from it’s left shoulder to just under one of it’s pitch-black eyes, makes it about as easy to see as a regular black cat. That’s not all however, as the oil itself is clumping up in different places on it’s fur, which ruins the sleek and smooth look it would likely have ordinarily.
I didn’t look too far into the bestiary, but there was a list of a few monsters attached along with the quest information. As far as I can tell this is a Nox Panthera, though why it is alone, and why it’s here, I don’t know. They usually hunt in groups of two or three. The oil on it’s fur is supposed to absorb light when exposed to mana, but of course there isn’t any here.
As curious as I am, it’s not my job to figure that out. There might be another Panthera nearby, but with the shadows fading it seems unlikely. On it’s own, in this situation, it isn’t much of a threat to me. Despite the name, these are much smaller and weaker than ordinary panthers.
It’s annoying to weasel my sword out of it’s sheath, but I manage. With a swift motion I swing my arm to the side, slamming the Panthera into the ground. I hold try to hold it there whilst I bring my sword up, but it manages to scratch my arm and I instinctively pull away, yelping at the surprise. The Panthera scrambles up but can’t get away before I bring my sword down, the blade colliding firmly with it’s back. This leaves it with a massive gash and stuns it for a moment. I don’t want to drag this out so I line my sword up and slash at the back of it’s neck.
I thought that would be the end of it, but apparently not, so before I start to feel worse about this than I already did I hack at again. This time, it stops moving.
I lean against a tree, sliding down until I’m sat on the ground. As the adrenaline from the fight fades, my wounds start to become more obvious. My two bruises are, however, overshadowed by the four slashes on my arm, which I realise are rather close to my wrists. Strangely, I find that I’m not quite as worried about it as I should be, as though my feelings have been numbed. My logic still shines through however, and though I foolishly didn’t bring any first aid equipment, I still have my shirt. The sleeve on my wounded arm is already pretty badly damaged anyway, so I pull it taught against the blade of my bloodied broadsword. The length I cut off is just long enough to be tied into a tight knot around my arm, though I need to make a few more to completely cover the injury.
My sleeve is almost completely cut to shreds at this point, but I take it even further. After all, I need something to clean the blade with.
I start walking towards the clearing whilst cleaning my blade, but after a few minutes I realised with a start that I still needed the body, so I went back. When the sword just had some red smudges on it rather than being covered in blood, I decided that was good enough and start dragging it behind me.
Far from my previous estimate of twenty minutes, which even then was much further from the clearing than I was after fighting the Panthera, I arrive in thirty minutes. I dropped the body at the edge and look around for any signs of Star, but find nothing. Looks like I just had to wait a little longer then. I sigh and drop to the ground in the middle of the clearing.
I guess whilst I wait I should check my level ups.
Proficiency Lv 8 --> Lv 10
Current bonus: Lv 2 --> Lv 2
Nathan Golding Lv 3
No Achievements
Skills
Skilled Lv MAX
Proficiency Lv 10
Skilled Lv MAX
Provide a percentage increase to the effects of all skills relative to level. Minimum value of [10%]
Current bonus: 7.5% (10%)
Proficiency Lv 10
Provide a passing proficiency with every discipline, equal to a quarter of the level of this skill. Minimum value of [Lv 1]
Current bonus: Lv 2
Strangely, though I got some good progress for Proficiency, I didn’t level up a single time for my overall level. Hm.
So, to my knowledge, the way that levelling up from monsters is different from the normal stuff. The experts, I don’t know what they’re called exactly, think that after the fight is concluded the system might apply a multiplier to the amount of experience you would have gotten from the fight, that multiplier being different based on how suited your Skills are to combat. Generally combat Skills get more experience, though there are cases where utility-focused Skills get more for some reason, so they aren’t exactly sure. It’s sort of a new field, in the past people thought of the System as a religious thing, and most people that tried to figure it out got executed.
That’s the key though, isn’t it? ‘After the fight is concluded’. I did say that they usually show up in groups of two to three, didn’t I? But then, I don’t know why would the shadows have receded. Unless… did Star find the others? Or rather, did the others find Star? The only reason they would split up would be if there were multiple creatures they had to attack, as far as I can tell. But, as a thief, they logically wouldn’t be capable of fighting even one, never mind the possible two. I have to help! But, how?
To help me get my thoughts in order I draw an approximate map of the forest based on what I remember, and mark three points on it. On the edge of the forest where we both entered it, the possible location I originally went towards, and my current location. It looks like if I just double back on myself, but start heading off at a slightly different angle, I should have a decent chance of crossing paths with Star’s trail. I have no concrete idea how far away this clearing is from anything of course, so the accuracy of my map is extremely suspect and my plan uncertain. It’s the best I’ve got though.
Once I get there, the plan is simple. Determine whether Star encountered the remainder of the Nox Panthera pack, and if not, figure out if there’s any more at all. The actual fight should be simple, with my sword already drawn before starting I would have the range advantage, and possible the element of surprise. I’ll have to leave the corpse of the one I fought here so I can get there faster, I may be able to get another once I’m there anyway.
On the way, I notice that the forest is still quiet, which I at first took as confirmation I was close. I don’t know how long it takes animals to return in this sort of situation, so I through that theory out. I spend a while running through the few situations I could think of, planning the sort of medical attention I might need to improvise and the like. Fully realising my lack of knowledge or skill was putting me on edge, so I was thankful to find the first signs of Star’s passage and, after taking a minute to confirm that it was actually a trail and not a coincidence, follow it to my right.
Now that I was confident in my heading, I thought it would be safe to speed up a little. Not to a full sprint, but enough that whilst I would indeed be tired once I get there, I would still be able to fight.
I burst into a small, shadowed gap in the forest, not big enough to be a clearing and clearly caused by two trees being uprooted. It doesn’t leave much space to fight, but it seems like it may be fine.
As expected, I find Star being attacked by Panthera’s. What was a surprise was that there were three of them, and even more surprising is that one was already dead, it’s neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Star was wrestling with another, whilst the last one circled behind them. The thief themselves wasn’t in good condition, covered in slashes and blood. There was a particularly nasty looking gash halfway up their torso.
I’m not certain, but I think that the most tactically sound decision would have been to go for the Panthera that wasn’t being accosted, the other wouldn’t be much of a factor. Ignoring that, I draw my blade and perform a diagonal slash at the back of the Panthera that was mauling Star. It yowled, whether because of pain or surprise it didn’t matter. This gave Star the chance to turn the tides and twist this one’s head just like the other. Star looked like they were going to speak to me, so I pre-emptively gestured behind them with my sword. Understanding dawned on their face and they spun around to face their opposition.
When the Panthera died the shadows faded slightly as I expected. Yet, when we both turned to the last one, they continued to fade, leaving the clearing bathed in light. It got to the point that it seemed even brighter than it would be naturally. Star seemed to recognise something in the Panthera, and lunged at it to stop whatever attack it was planning, though I still didn’t know what was happening.
That is, until I saw a shadow in front of Star start suddenly get much darker, quickly forming a pitch-black spike floating in mid air.
“Star!” I yelled in warning, but before I could even finish their name they were already out of the way, stumbling past the suspended spike. I thought that was the end of it, until it started to move. Not towards Star however, the Panthera’s gaze remained focused on me for some reason.
I realised what was about to happen just in time, bringing my sword up in an attempt to parry. When the spike made contact it stopped dead in it’s tracks, and a moment later faded away. As I looked back up I saw Star holding the body of the last remaining Panthera. The brightness of the surroundings equalised, shadows snapping back into place like a rubber band.
Though the threat of monsters were gone, I didn’t put away my weapon. I watched the thief warily, their eyes were unfocused whilst looking over my shoulder.
“Star. I don’t want to get you in trouble for stealing my phone because it looks like you were just trying to help, so if you just return it now I’ll let you go without any trouble. If I’m honest, I’m not sure what exactly I’m supposed to do if I need to get the police involved anyway.”
I waited for a response, but they continued looking at something, their eyes flicking back and forth as though they were… reading. I sighed.
“Are you looking at your status right now?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry about that. I uh… yeah.” They were definitely hiding something. I’m not one to pry though, it’s probably related to some Skill or something.
“Right. My phone?”
“Of course, no problem, it’s right-“
They froze mid sentence whilst reaching into their pocket, eyes wide and face white. When they pulled their hand out of their pocket it was not holding my expensive, albeit outdated, phone, but rather a few shards of the glass that makes up it’s screen.
“I can pay you back for it?” They say sheepishly, though from their expression I don’t think that I believe them. Or, him as is my new assumption. It’s still hard to tell though, if their name is fake it only makes sense to make it seem like one from a different gender.
“I’m sure we can figure something out,” I make sure to exude annoyance as much as possible, to impress how little I care to make this fair for them.
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Max Silver Lv 11
No Achievements
Skills
Mask Lv MAX
Capability Lv MAX
Stats Strength : 18 Agility : 11 Constitution : 17 Intelligence : 15 Wisdom : 17 Charisma : 13 Luck : 15
Well, there’s good news and bad news for Max after his attempt at monster hunting. The whole ‘Grand Thief’ angle was perhaps a little bit impulsive on his part, by which he means that he thought of it as soon as he saw the guild logo on that guys sword. And it worked out well! He got two levels, which is pretty good, maybe. Admittedly, he came pretty close to dying, but it wasn’t too bad, the Guilder saved him!
And then there’s the guilder. He knew that he’d have to try and talk his way out of whatever punishment this Guild guy had planned for him, so he may have put one or two or three points in Charisma, which in hindsight probably wasn’t actually a good idea. He put the rest of his points into Wisdom so he wouldn’t make that sort of mistake again, which may have also not been a good idea. Fortunately it worked, and even if he broke the man’s, Nathan at a second glance, phone he should be able to get out of this alright.
Though, the fact that someone who was only Lv 5 did so much better than him against the monsters was upsetting.
“I’ve got a few options for you. First, you just pay me back. Now or later, I don’t care, so long as it happens. Next, I find somewhere to call the police from, and you get arrested. Your final option, is joining my Party. You’d have to drop the fake name, but with me vouching for you, you won’t even have to do the entry level quest. I’d prefer you take the first option, but I can’t deny that going solo isn’t the best option.”
Max considered the options seriously as he was told them, right up until the part where Nathan knows that he faked his name. He restrained himself from reacting as much as possible, though he may have let out a bit of a squeak in his shock.
“W-what? What do you mean fake name, this is totally my real name! Mark Star!” Nathan gave him a dry look, raising an eyebrow.
“Don’t you mean ‘Mike’?”
“That’s what I said, what did you hear?” He laughed nervously, hoping to stall long enough to figure out whether he could trick him. Unfortunately, even with his enhanced stats, he couldn’t figure out any way out of it, so he resigned himself to revealing his named and dropped his Mask.
“Wait, your level changed too? And your achievement?” Max’ eyes widened as he realised what he’d done. Not only had he revealed to him the full effects of Mask, he’d also shown his lack of an achievement. Though, there was something about that…
Nathan Golding Lv 5
No Achievements
That’s right! Nathan also doesn’t have any achievements!
Max turned his focus back to Nathan, who appeared to be thinking deeply about something.
“I’ll ignore whatever Skill let you change your level for another time, instead I’d just like to tell you something, and ask something in return. The reason I don’t have any achievements is because of my Skill, Proficiency, which effects every skill. Are you in a similar situation?”
Mike couldn’t believe that he just told him of one of his Skills like that, and what sounds likely to be his only one at that! It seems pretty powerful as well, though if he knows anything about powerful-sounding Skills, it’s that they probably aren’t as good as they seem. His certainly isn’t.
“I guess it’s only fair. I am. I have Capability, which makes my Stats more powerful and gives me more every level. Oh! And it also actually lets me see my Stats at all. I guess most people can’t.”
“Hmm. That is interesting. Though, I wonder what the chances that the two of us can meet, given the similarities between our situations. I’ve done some research, and it isn’t exactly common.”
“I think I can explain that one. One of my Stats is Luck, which hasn’t increased on it’s own yet. I think it’s a special stat of some kind. I know that Stats increase based on which you use, and I’d imagine that me surviving just then was entirely Luck. Most people probably don’t increase it at all.”
“So you think that it was Luck that made us meet then? In that case, I’d like to rephrase my offers. Whilst you still can do whatever you want between those three, I think that based on this possibility, it would be best for us to form a Party, and therefore for you to join the Guild.”
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“I accept,” the thief now revealed to be named Max Silver responds almost immediately. I was worried, when I realised the importance of making a good impression on him I started to get much more formal than usually, a nervous habit I’ve had for as long as I can remember.
I’m glad he decided to form a Party with me. I’d say that the biggest issue with my Skill is the lack of force I can exert, most often any competent swordsman would have a Skill or two that amplifies the damage they deal. Capability isn’t quite that, but it’s close. Conversely, Capability’s biggest issue is the lack of skill in any of his actions. My Proficiency combined with his stats, Intelligence and Wisdom in particular, mean that I’ll be able to use whatever teaching Skills I have to help Max learn a variety of Skills without the help of the system.
I’d say we have to do some experimentation as to what precisely his Stats do, but I honestly think we don’t. Both Intelligence and Wisdom will help with learning, and in general it would be good for him to raise all of his Stats if he aims to do anything other than kill things. For now though…
“I imagine you’re quite a bit stronger than someone of your level should be, correct?” I noticed Max was about to answer my first question, but of course I already know the answer, so I just cut him off, “Don’t bother answering that, I request that you help me carry these back to Woodstown. After that you can get your affairs in order, though if it takes longer than a few hours I’ll have to wait for you at the Guild because I don’t have any lodging here.”
“Um, sure. How are you planning to get these to the Guild again? I don’t think you’re allowed to take bleeding corpses onto the bus, and even if you could it would probably be kinda rude, wouldn’t it?” He asked whilst grabbing two of the Panthera’s, leaving me grabbing the third.
“Ah.” I hadn’t thought of that. I paused mid-motion. Maybe I could borrow a large bag off of someone? I could at least carry one that way. Or, perh-
“Sorry, I can see that you’re thinking, but I have a car if that helps? I don’t really use it too often, just for running errands for my parents, so it’s in pretty good condition too.”
I should have considered that he might have solution first and foremost. If I’m to be part of a Party, if I’m to be honest most likely the leader given my Skill, I need to start thinking more about my fellow Party members. Or, Party member for the foreseeable future anyway. Regardless, it seems that our partnership is already paying off, and this is just the start.
“Yes, that would work. We’d need some way to keep blood from leaking onto it though, I’m assuming you have trash bags?” He nodded.
“That’s a good idea, I didn’t think of that. I was thinking of myself as the leader, but maybe you should be instead?”
I nod in affirmation but don’t say anything else, there’s nothing more that needs to be said. I’d like to get to know him better, not only because it’s only logical to have a good relationship with your teammates, but rather primarily because it seems nice to have a friend again. Unfortunately, I’m far too out of practice to keep a conversation going under these circumstances, or at all.
Whilst I spend the rest of the trek back in an uncomfortable silence, from what I could discern Max couldn’t be less bothered, seemingly lost in thought. From what I could guess he’s busy thinking about being an Adventurer. No, I should use the word Guilder, don’t want to offend any Guild officials if I come across them so I best get used to it.
Although, that does remind me. Unlike Max, I never checked my notifications after the battle. It’s pretty annoying that I have to check manually every time, although I’m hoping that I won’t be fighting anything for a while anyway.
Proficiency Lv 10 --> Lv 13
Current bonus: Lv 2 --> Lv 3
Nathan Golding Lv 5
No Achievements
Skills
Skilled Lv MAX
Proficiency Lv 13
Skilled Lv MAX
Provide a percentage increase to the effects of all skills relative to level. Minimum value of [10%]
Current bonus: 12.5% (10%)
Proficiency Lv 13
Provide a passing proficiency with every discipline, equal to a quarter of the level of this skill. Minimum value of [Lv 1]
Current bonus: Lv 3
Nice! Looks like my Proficiency bonus went up again, and Skilled is finally above 10%. I say finally, it hasn’t been very long. My 20th birthday was yesterday. I don’t… really want to think about it right now though. I’m grateful that I feel like so much time has passed, really, though I’d be more grateful to think about something other than this for now.
I’m currently pulling the corpse with only one arm, the bruised one. It hurts quite a bit, especially when I have to drag it around some sort of obstacle, but I shudder to imagine what would happen if I were to use the arm with the lacerated forearm. I vaguely remember something in the Guild brochure from my room about a regeneration aura? Maybe it’s part of the whole training bonus thing, it would make sense because it could help muscles get stronger after healing, so I’m hopeful. I should check after we get back.
Speaking of being back, it appears that we’ve returned to Woodstown, exiting the forest from the same place that Max entered it. His trail isn’t any less obvious, even now that the sky is starting to darken as rain approaches.
“My house is just round that corner over there,” Max says, pointing at off-shoot that I took note of when I first got here, “Listen, I know you said that you’d just wait at the guild if I don’t leave quickly, but if you want you can stay in my house? We’ve got a sofa, doubt anyone would be needing that at night. Or if you feel uncomfortable sleeping in someone else’s house you could sleep in my car, if that’s any better.”
“I think I’ll take you up on that. The bus won’t arrive for a few hours anyway.”
Max smiled, relief apparent on his face. I would assume he still feels guilty about breaking my phone. He led me round the bend to his house and showed me inside. The front door opened straight into the living room, where there was a large corner sofa close to the door, the back of which formed a pseudo-hallway separating the room into two spaces, a living room and a dining room. There were the usual things you’d expect to find in a living room, like a tv and a coffee table, though there was also a computer in the back corner. To the right was a staircase leading upstairs, and a closed door directly forward.
“I still live with my parents, or lived now I guess. Without any useful Skills, or a particularly high level, I didn’t think I was ready to leave the village until now. They’re not home right now, not to go to their job or anything because they’re retired, just to go to a party I think? Anyway, you’ll be sleeping right there,” He pointed, “unless you want the car. If you need to use the internet for anything you can use the computer too.”
He continued to explain the layout of his house, in what I would frankly call far more detail then necessary, given that I’m only staying for one night. In general, I’m now realising that he overexplains things quite a bit, although I suppose that it’s helpful to know a little bit more about him. It’s strange that his parents were so old though, if they were a decent level they would probably retire at around 90 years old or so, the improvements to constitution from levelling pushed the retirement age continually upwards as people figured out faster ways of levelling, until eventually a law was passed to change it based off a persons level. Well, his parents age is none of my business anyway.
He asked me if I wanted to check their first aid kit for some bandages, but I declined, not wanting to take anything unnecessary. I’m sure the Guild will have some when we eventually get there. I did accept his offer to wash the wound in the bathroom however.
After I finished that he quickly excused himself to go to his bedroom and start packing, which made me realise that I don’t think I ever explained the Guild housing situation to him actually so he probably assumes that I have a house or something. I also realise I never even explicitly stated that he’d have to move for this, as implied as it may have been. Another thing that I have to work on.
In the meantime, I turn on the computer, logging on as a guest account. I pretty much only got access to the internet with that, but that’s all that I need. My first thought is to try and figure out something to do purely for fun, but ultimately I decided not to. If I’m just to consider efficiency it would probably be best to relax when I have no choice but to avoid the training boost, but I can’t really think of anything to do. So instead I brainstorm ways to train Proficiency. Eventually I settle on something similar to last time, though with less sword swings. After a bit of research I found one of the better websites that people use to train Skills, at a diminished quality because I couldn’t pay for it, and switched between all of the Skills they can help with, stuff like memorisation or reaction speed.
By the time Max returned, now thoroughly and rather poorly bandaged, I’d seen some progress.
Proficiency Lv 13 --> Lv 14
Current bonus: Lv 3 --> Lv 3
If I’ve got my maths right, then when I get to Lv 15 I should get my first extra level from Skilled.
I continue to use the computer for a while after Max sat down on the sofa, until eventually he asked what I was doing. I decided to take the opportunity to explain a few things to him, training included. It’s important that I explain my ideas for teaching him. Up until this point, I’ve not been as free with information as I should be, and it’s time to change that.
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I have to cut my explanation short just a little after I start talking about the Guild’s rules, because Max notices that It’s past the time his parents were supposed to arrive. Fortunately, they show up shortly, still a little later than he expected them to, though they were at least in high spirits. Their initial reaction to seeing me was a little much, which makes sense if I consider that I was a random stranger in their house with sword at my waist. Fortunately Max was there to assuage their worries, after worsening it somewhat with his obvious injuries.
“Mum, I’ve been scouted by a member of the Guild! I’m going to join and become a Guilder, and go on quests and stuff. He even said that he has a Skill that would let him teach me better, so I don’t have to worry about not having any Skills myself,” he explains excitedly. I hadn’t noticed how excited he was at the opportunity to join the Guild. I myself only did it out of necessity. The hunt for the Panthera was quite exciting though, and I can’t deny the slight rush I get seeing my levels go up.
“Oh, Max, are you sure? It’s just, being an Adventurer just seems so dangerous. We have enough money for you to last a very long time, and by the time we’re gone and you need to make more, you’ll be a high Lv, and I’m sure you’ll have completed an Achievement by then.”
I have to say, I’m not sure that I like his mum all that much. She seems like she means well, but I don’t appreciate the narrative that he has to have an achievement to do well in life. The Guilders don’t care about that at all, at least not in any way other than as a curiosity.
“I’ve told you before, I don’t think it’s possible to get an achievement. Plus, it’s not just about the money, I really want to do this. And I uh, might owe him anyway, after breaking his phone a little bit.”
She might have gotten a little upset at him.
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No matter how much his mother didn’t want Max to be a Guilder, there wasn’t a thing that she or his father could do to stop him. He’s twenty now, with his system fully unlocked and everything. I sort of felt a little bad for them honestly, they seemed genuinely terrified to see him go to do something so dangerous, especially because there isn’t nearly as much of an imperative to do so anymore. Monsters have been pushed back far enough that the space around cities is safe for quite a distance so Guilders and strictly necessary anymore, but still face the same amount of danger.
At the end of the day however it wasn’t my decision, it was Max’s, and he chose to join the Guild.
The next day he packed all of his stuff into his car and, after a tearful goodbye with his parents, we were off back to the city. The Panthera corpses were wrapped safely in bin bags and piled on the ground in the boot of the car, and the luggage was on the back seats.
Now all that's left is to drive.