Hundreds of kilometers from the small town of Sarasoor, a proper city sprawled. Named Erinthee, it was a prospering Level 7 [Border City] with roughly forty thousand people making a living there. True to its designation, it was at the southern edge of the Preserved Band.
Erinthee, after becoming spirit touched nearly two centuries ago, had developed is own unique quirks and traditions over the years. Twenty five year old Nykosh could be seen lying on the grass outside the Armoury, his entire vision filled with the grand southern clouds. They were tinted a brilliant orange by the sunset. To Nykosh, it almost felt like starting up into a sea of fire from unfathomable depths.
”Oi! Brooding brat! Get off the lawn and come join us for a bite!" That was Kriten, out after finishing up his minor parts quota for the day. Nykosh made no effort to get up, knowing that the burly Level 7 [Bulk Forger] would haul him up in short order.
Kriten's face then blocked out the glorious view as he leaned over him. "That's a downgrade in view" Nykosh muttered, sighing up at his coworker's broad face, with a bushy blond beard covering the entire lower half of his face and extending down his neck. Those beady brown eyes narrowed at him behind think protective goggles. With a grunt, Kriten lifted him clean off his feet, making him dangle off his thick arms.
It was a funny sight, and there was a short of amusement from the onlookers as Kriten held him up like a life size plush toy, one that was leaner and taller than himself. Nykosh remained stoic as he was let down in a moment. The senior workers at the Armoury loved to show off their Strength, which was a bit past the limits of an Untethered person.
Truthfully, Nykosh didn't mind all that much these days. Strength was a very prickly topic when he refused to Quest for the [Guardian] class and left Sarasoor to take up advanced studies here in Erinthee six years ago, but his family was slowly coming around to his choices.
Nykosh tuned out the talk of tasks done and evening hobbies being discussed by the group as they walked to the nearby eatery. This group, like a lot of a spirit touched people working for the city administration, came from elsewhere.
Being a loner by nature, Nykosh was at the outer fringes of the young and single crowd. Kriten had become a proper friend solely due to working next door to him, sliding past his aloof attitude after months of casual greetings.
The other three in the group seating themselves at a free table were all from the Small Equips research team. Stygia quickly moved to dominate the conversation, enjoying the fawning adoration of her assistants, Lothor and Erika. "I just love the stew here. It beats boring old bread and gravy at home any day, don't you think?"
Erika nodded in agreement. "Yeah, obviously Unskilled meals can't beat the Level 4 [Mellow Cook] here.” She then took her time going through the huge menu on her personal screen. People mostly didn't make any screens visible unless they wanted to share some particular info, but that focused gaze was something anyone would recognise.
Lothor chipped in. ”I think she's Level 5 now. There was a offer day to celebrate it last week. I kept my discount token. I'm thinking of using it in case you want to celebrate your recent success, Stygia."
Kriten waggled his eyebrows at me, unnoticed by the others. Of course, everyone at the Armoury knew of Lothor's crush. Stygia had quite a few admirers. Most of those dreamed of landing a date with stunning redhead, but some, like Kriten and himself, liked her sharp mind.
"Oh, that's right! Congrats on your class. [Jeweller] to [Crystalline Enchantress] is quite a big deal!" Nykosh beamed. "So... Tell us! What're the upgrades?"
The others looked on in eagerness as Stygia made a show of reluctance. Generally, the details of a person's class, skills, and everything else wasn't something broadcasted to anyone and everyone. But as more and more people became spirit touched, sharing some things with friends was seen as no bigger deal than tell them your favourite food.
"Oh fine! If you must know, [Jewelcraft] got updated to [Studded Manacraft]. It makes it much easier to make jewellery with embedded gems and I can enchant them with better boosts." Stygia didn't hold back on a smug smile.
Kriten whistled. ”Yup. That sounds like quite an improvement. I guess the Armoury will be getting a lot better rings and necklaces soon. The [Sentinels] will be quite pleased."
Erika sighed ”That's amazing. I just got my first integration last month. I'm so far from any specialization.” She finished her schooling a year back and started at the Armoury six months ago. It took her a while to move from the generic [Adult] to [Crafter] and was a bit embarrassed that the step was quite minor.
Nykosh soothed her. ”Hey, it's not a race. Class transitions are basically an affirmation of your life choices. You are not even twenty yet. Nobody expects you to know exactly want you want. I spent a while getting my attributes up after getting [Adult].”
Kriten snorted. ”What? You took time to increase attributes? You're still a limp noodle I can toss around.”
Lothor and Erika looked a bit uncomfortable. They were younger than the others. Kirten was nearly thirty and didn't mind ribbing the others, but there was some awkwardness with teasing an older person.
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Nykosh threw a friendly punch at Kriten's shoulder, putting just enough Strength to knock him a bit. ”Letting you pick me up is only me not using my Strength. Its just pity, you know. Can't have you looking weak in front of the others."
He ignored the fake offended comeback and chose his favourite item from his menu. It was a noodle and vegetable dish with a subtle savoury flavour. The building was a proper [Eatery] linked to the cook and had a lot of features intended to polish the whole dining experience. [Cook] and its variants could even store a number of their own finished dishes in their Equipspace, keeping them fresh and ready to eat for much longer than other classes.
Nykosh quite liked the fact that the orders at their table were grouped up and appeared together after everyone made their selections. This place even put takeout orders in a single use Itemspace made from the Mana stored by the [Eatery].
Sometime later, everyone had finished their meal and Nykosh headed for the [Hostel] he stayed at. Somewhere between an [Inn] and a [Home], it catered to long time residents working at nearby places in Erinthee.
Nykosh focused on the door to his suite, bringing up the public status display.
Suite 27 Status: Locked Mana: 233/300 Unlock - 1 Mana
He unlocked the door and walked into his modest abode. Material locks like those used in Untethered places were vastly inferior. Here, there was no way for anyone to use the suite's Mana or just see the unlocking option. Even the owner of the entire building had to start an Emergency Quest at the Domain Manager office to get access to this suite, which could only be completed by proving his unavailability.
Like most places catering to the unattached worker crowd, it was a tiny place, with the entrance serving as both the area for entertaining guests and his bedroom. For just 60 gems a month, both the kitchen and the bathroom were extremely basic. If he actually had multiple guests over, the Mana capacity wouldn't suffice to let them stay more than a day.
Nykosh used 10 Mana to summon the bed from the suite's Storage. The mental flexing to ensure that the Mana was taken from the suite's pool was automatic by this point. He flopped into the soft mattress with a sigh, transferring his takeout dinner straight to the suite Storage, The Itemspace packaging wouldn't vanish till he summoned it out, after all.
There weren't any important messages that needed an immediate response, so Nykosh switched his live contacting status to available. He could call his mother himself, but she was always peeved if he happened to interrupt her socialising. She kept her availability open by default and refused to switch it off when engaged in other activities. She was set in her ways and whenever he argued that she could set up a list of people who could prompt a urgent call if she was statused as unavailable, she insisted that that would make people see her as arrogant.
A bit later, he got his mother's live chat request, right when he was in the middle of experiencing a [Seabed Explorer]'s trip off the western coast. He pulled himself out of the frozen undersea surroundings and accepted the call. The illusion of a graceful middle aged lady appeared in his room. She was dressed in a deep blue sari today, showing off a stylised pattern depicting dancing peacocks in the borders. The matching set of earrings, necklace, bangles and anklets made of corals were enchanted to be a soft orange today. The more permanent chutti designed as a five-leafed palm frond adorning her forehead and the nose stud shaped like a blooming jasmine were symbols of her achievements in her class and its levels.
Overall, the image was that of an accomplished and sophisticated woman. Nykosh was glad that the illusion didn't show either person's seating arrangements or the surroundings. He didn't want her reminded of his frugal living condition. "Good evening, mum. I just got home an hour back."
Nymesha, Nimma to her friends, frowned at her son as though she could see every line on his Status that didn't match up with her expectations. "Nykosh. I'm assuming you still haven't crossed the next integration of your class? More than a year has passed since your last one. You wouldn't want the others at your work racing ahead, dear."
Nykosh scowled at her. "So I guess we're jumping right into it. What, did one of your element shaping group brag about their grown up kid or something? Besides, you know that there is no set number of class integrations or any meaning to the intervals. It's not like a class upgrade."
"Of course I know that. What I'm trying to make you understand is that if you're properly ambitious, there is no reason for your class to remain stagnant. An integration isn't a completely lateral step either. Have you at least formed your sixth skill yet?"
Nykosh resisted the urge to just drop the call. "Amma! I'm not going to let you micromanage my progression. If we didn't have those stupid Spiritual Ascension functions I am forced to participate in, no one would know any details of my class."
Nymesha rolled her eyes. "It's not like you're sharing your status screen. Besides, celebrating major milestones are necessary for motivating oneself and others. It also brings the community together and helps progress [Family Leader] and the other domestic guidance classes. Everyone has a duty to contribute."
Nykosh scoffed. "Please... It's not like everyone attends those functions out of the goodness of their own hearts. To me, it's an annual gauntlet of father's uncles and cousins pressuring me to transition to a combat focused class. You and father won't tell them to stop, either."
His mother didn't deny his words. He could see her prepare to forcibly steer the conversation to where she wanted. "I don't think you'll be worried about it next year." It was a proclamation.
Nykosh's mind raced. His family, especially his parents, knew when and how much they could push him. He couldn't think of way his mother could get him to agree to change his class. "What are you taking about?" Despite his confidence, he was wary.
Wordlessly, the view angle switched to focus slightly above his mother's head. Then, the words that would forever change the course of his life appeared.
Nymesha Level 60 [Graceful Azure Gale]
Advancement Quest (5/9):
The strong wind has proven its power and precision. The next step is to provide impetus to the stubborn eddy trailing in your wake. As the gale guides the eddy to rise, it moves on the path to becoming a wind of storms.
Advancement Quest provided to a sprit touched lineal descendant (0/1)
Provided Quest completed by the recipient (0/1)