Chapter 4

A sense of disappointment washed over Kopius as he looked at the window of information. There’s only 6? he wondered in surprise. Confused, he waited for more Practices to populate as though his interface had a slow internet connection and the rest were going to present themselves shortly.

“Is something amiss?” Oh-jin asked as Kopius’s facial expressions prompted the question.

Kopius shrugged.

He had no idea. He wasn’t from here and he was getting systematically annoyed that both Cici and Oh-jin, more often than not, forgot that fact. How was he supposed to know what’s what? Given the world of Metem that he had experienced so far, he had expected a myriad of choices; a litany of Classes, Sub-Classes and other creative deviants. The kind of list that takes several hours to pour through, another hour to filter and then the rest of the day narrowing down to a few precious choices.

“Is this it?” Kopius eventually asked, raising his hands to point at a list the others could not see.

“Is what it?” Oh-jin asked in his high pitched voice.

“There’s only six choices.”

“For Combatives, yes, six. The Non-Combatives has a much more extensive list.”

“Non-Combatives?” Kopius inquired with a shake of his head.

“Yes, Non-Combatives. The people that actually do things beside adventure and war. The scholars and sailors; blacksmith, merchants, chemist! The innkeeper and brew master; the weaver, the carpenter and farmer. The list goes on.”

“But I don’t need any of that stuff.” Kopius complained. “I’ll just pick four of these, that's easy enough.”

“That’s not how it works lad,” Cici's deep and accented voice added to the conversation. “You only get to choose one of those Combatives. The other three go to the Non’s.”

Kopius shook his head as he looked back and forth between the two men. He didn’t like the information he was being fed and somehow hoped if his head ‘noped’ long enough things would change. Part of him felt that if he could just talk to the Universe’s manager, things could get straightened out. Part of him wanted to curl up in a ball and wish it all to go away. The rest of him was still pouting about the bow and arrow thing. With the only silver lining being that one of the Practice’s was a Ranger–and he loved himself some Ranger–Kopius mentally prepared himself for a lecture.

“Ok,” Kopius said as he sat down and got comfortable. “Explain to me what I am about to get into here.”

A smile briefly placed itself on Oh-jin’s face and the old chemist composed himself like a professor in front of a classroom. He walked over to a nearby bookshelf and surprised both Cici and Kopius when he spun the top part around with little effort. As if it were on some unseen lazy-susan device, the shelf spun around to display a flat, smooth surface where countless chalk like scribbles could be seen all over. The old man placed both hands atop the self, pulled a lever and all the chalk-like writing disappeared in a small puff. He then grabbed a white stone from a basket and began to write on the smooth black surface.

On the top left, the word ‘Combative’ was written, followed by a long vertical line down the center of the impromptu chalkboard. The word ‘Non’ was then written to the right of the line. On the Combative side, Oh-jin wrote: Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, Mage, Bard, Druid. He left the right side blank.

“Does this look correct?” Oh-jin asked, gesturing to the list he wrote.

Kopius nodded as it was the same list of Combatives he was looking at on his interface.

“Excellent.” Oh-jin tapped the side of his head like he was giving his brain a high five for remembering the list.

“Upon reaching level 10,” Oh-jin began, settling into teacher-mode, “the powers of the Universe bestow all sentient beings with a list of Practices. The list is split between two categories: Combative and Non-Combative. From there, you are able to choose one Combative Practice and three Non-Combative Practises. Each Practice comes with meager boons and/or enhancements. An example would be by selecting the Fighter Practice: you would gain plus one to your Strength, Constitution, Endurance and Dexterity, as well as a Skill called Mark; you will have to read up on the details of that one. A Non-Combative Practice, like Merchant, would apply a plus one to Charisma. It would also grant you a Skill called Silver Tongue, allowing someone, among other things, to better negotiate prices or barter goods. Do you understand this?”

“Yeah, I get it,” Kopius answered with a nod.

“Good,” Oh-jin stated and then gestured at the chalkboard. “First you will choose one Combative Practice from this list. There are these six; no more, no less. Once that is selected–” Oh-jin paused when Kopius raised his hand. “Yes?”

“Why only one?”

“I don’t know,” Oh-jin answered with a hint of annoyance. “I imagine there are only so many ways to attack something. These six are just the top of the snowcap Kopius. They may seem generic–basic–but I assure you they each have significant advantages.”

“I get all that,” Kopius replied, trying his best to not sound like a pompous ass. “I’m not complaining– I just don’t want to be forced to learn–I don’t know–underwater basket weaving when I should be learning how to swing a blade or throw lightning bolts.”

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“I understand your perspective Kopius. It is not lost on me that yours is not the normal path. I am glad your Intelligence is active as I fear you would not have understood this before. There are things you can learn from non-violent actions that you can use when you are acting violent. Though I would advocate for less conflict, the way forward will require some force.”

“Some force?” Cici interjected with a laugh.

“Some significant force,” Oh-jin corrected himself. “You have an arduous path ahead Kopius, there is no denying that. A path with no certain ending. You could become Metems greatest clubsman to ever live and we may never get you back home. And then what? Do you continue on your warpath? Seeking violence for the sake of violence because it is all you know or cared to learn? There comes a time when the sword becomes too heavy; both physically and spiritually.”

A lecture, Kopius could endure but truth bombs falling from high hit a little different. Though Cory, and Kopius by extension, was more of an ‘anger for the sake of anger’ guy, the analogy still gave him pause. How many times had he–on Earth or Metem–fed into the anger instead of trying to alleviate it? How many times had that worked out in his favor? Never. That last thought gave Kopius a chuckled sarcastically.

All things considered, he didn’t even like the violence. He didn’t seek it out in order to avoid some other issue–internal or otherwise. He found no pleasure in winning–or losing for that matter. Hell, he threw-up half the time afterwards regardless of the outcome from the adrenaline dump alone. Oddly, the fighting would make him angry. Angry that he had to get violent, which, in turn, fueled the violence. There was a circular nature to the process, so much so that during an actual fight he was really engaged on two fronts. An external physical threat of pain and an internal threat of spiraling. Needless to say, battles were lost.

Kopius cleared his throat and his thoughts before replying. “If there is a way forward where I don’t have to worry about dodging swords or having my face melted off, I am all ears. But you told me to get stronger and to level up. I don’t think you said that just so that I could walk through a park quoting poetry or something. Violence is already on the table, let’s just focus on how to get me through this with all my limbs attached, okay?” He let his words hang in the air as he tongued the voided recess that was once a tooth.

“I am happy to hear you are open to a less violent approach.” Oh-jin replied after a moment. “You are correct, though, that the way forward will require a considerable amount of aggression.”

“Find a way or make one, man.” Kopius said with mustered enthusiasm.

“What’s that now?” Oh-jin asked.

“Nothing. It's just something I say.”

“Find a way,” Cici said slowly, “or make one. You know, I quite like that.”

“I’ll let you use it. It was better than: oh shit, oh shit I’m fucked.”

“Are the two synonymous?”

“Hmmm,” Kopius said with a shrug. “Maybe a little. I guess it would depend on your level of panic.”

“Indeed,” Oh-jin said as he stroked his whisky gray goatee, unimpressed. “If we can return to the matter at hand, gentleman? The side chat is neither finding or making a way.”

Like school boys caught gossiping, Kopius and Cici had the same knee jerk reaction to sit up straight in their respective seats and place their hands on their laps. Oh-jin’s goggles bore into both men for a moment, a disgruntled substitute teacher weighing the trouble these two were worth. His body turned slowly back towards the chalkboard and his head followed shortly after.

“After the Combative has been selected,” Oh-jin continued where he had left off, returning to his lecturing cadence, “the Non-Combative list will populate; from that list you will choose three. Once that is complete, a fifth Practice will be chosen for you. Now, on this fifth Practice, it will be one of three categories: Combative, Non-Combative or Variant. How this all comes to be is a question for the scholars. As for the process, it's well documented. Between Cici and myself, we should be able to explain most, if not all the Practices. Eh Cici?”

“Of course!” Cici said enthusiastically.

“Are you going to explain the Variant or is that just lazy foreshadowing?” Kopius asked.

“Yes, yes I was getting to that,” Oh-jin replied, shooing away the question with his hand. “This is the more complicated part, so pay attention.” Kopius gave his customary ‘I’ve been listening the whole time’ facial expressions and hand gestures as Oh-jin continued. “Ideally, whatever Practice is chosen for you, you would have already picked it yourself. Being realistic about your capabilities has value here. There are additional boons and benefits when this occurs. It’s a concurrence with the Universal powers that you have chosen wisely. If you choose Fighter and then are given the same, instead of the plus one I mentioned earlier, it’s a plus three; among other advantages. The same would apply to the Merchant. This is true for both sets of Practices.”

“Bard gets a plus three to Charisma and Endurance,” Cici managed to slide in with a wink and a nod to both men.

“Clearly,” Oh-jin replied. “We can discuss the specifics in a few moments. In general, most will receive a Combative Practice.”

“Why’s that?” Kopius asked.

“Because everyone wants to be a Fighter before a Lover,” Cici said wistfully, “It should really be the other way around.”

“Is… Lover an option? Like, a Non-Combative?” Kopius asked discreetly for some reason.

“No.” Oh-jin said flatly. “It is not.”

“Should at least be a Skill if you ask me,” Cici complained.

“The actual reason,” Oh-jin spat, his goggles clearly focused on Cici, “is that people–mostly young teens–want to be a Mage or Rogue because those are the Forms glorified in lore and legend. They see only those two paths as the way to honor and riches.”

“They should be picking a Druid but they pick a Mage, that type of thing?

“In a sense, yes.” Oh-jin paused to consider. “A Mage and a Druid have similarities enough that the difference would be manageable. A Mage and a Fighter however, that is a gap too wide. Keep in mind, most people will not lead combative lives. They think they will, yet for one reason or another, they will not. They will rely on their Non-Combative learnings to make their way in the world. For this reason, the Universe tends to hand out the Fighter Practice more often than not. It is useful for its Strength enhancements, Willpower and a low threshold of Intelligence. For the majority of the population that use their bodies as tools, these Attributes are very useful. Since you are most likely unaware, most of the Metemites use their bodies as tools. When you,” Oh-jin pointed directly at Kopius to show he meant him specifically, “are making your selections, try to put aside what you think you are and choose what you know you are.”

Kopius suppressed the Morpheus references in his mind and sat with the new information to process.