Saturday, May 4th, 2069
Class Awarding Feat Achieved!
Class Available.
Uncommon rank: Spearman
You have unlocked three synergistic Stats and gained access to your inherent Qi.
You have killed a monster in a Portal with a spear.
You can now select the Spearman Class.
Spearmen are granted two Skills:
Body Reinforcement (1) - E-Rank
Pierce (1) - F-Rank
Agility and Strength are unlocked and can be increased through the Spearman Class.
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Class Awarding Feat Achieved!
Class Available.
Rare rank: Battlefield Healer
You have unlocked three synergistic Stats and gained access to your inherent Qi.
You have unlocked the Common-ranked class: Healer.
You have additionally saved someone’s life and killed a monster in a Portal.
You can now select the Rare-ranked class: Battlefield Healer.
Battlefield Healer’s are granted two Skills:
Heal (11) - E-Rank
Cleanse (11) - E-Rank
[Locked] and [Locked] are unlocked after choosing this Class and can be increased through the Battlefield Healer Class.
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Class Awarding Feat Achieved!
Class Available.
Rare Crafter Class
You have unlocked three synergistic Stats and gained access to your inherent Qi.
You have learned the Gathering Skills of Mining, Harvesting, Gardening, Butchering, and Skinning.
You can now select the Crafter Class.
Crafter’s are granted three Profession Skills:
Alchemy (1) - F-Rank
Leather Working (1) - F-Rank
Blacksmithing (1) - F-Rank
[Locked] is unlocked after choosing this Class and can be increased through the Crafting Class.
My brain whirled, and I wished in that moment for Smegma to not be suddenly absent again. A quick check in on my Mental Universe showed me that I wasn’t having new Skills formed, and his disappearance wasn’t guaranteed to be short.
“Are you having a stroke? A heart attack? What is going on?!” My father practically shouted, breaking me out of my distracted musings.
His face was beyond worried and pale, but I saw him sigh slightly when my eyes refocused on him. It must have looked strange when I suddenly started reading something that hung in the air that was only visible to me.
“Sorry, I’ll tell you about it tonight, yeah?”
My father clearly wasn’t happy with that response and as I tried to brush him off so I could stand. He seemed to either resist slightly or not move fast enough because I had to move his hands on my way to my feet, or risk knocking him over.
He gave me a look that answered that thought, though. What had just happened paired with my experience of my Strength Stat. Had Agility made me faster? It was only two points though, right? I still hadn’t really gotten to test how much my Strength Stat had changed me, and I figured it was about time to start figuring out just what each of my unlocked Stats was doing.
I realized that everyone was looking at me as I scanned the cavern.
Right, the flash of light…
“What in the hell was that? Did me holding you bother you that much?” My dad asked, sounding confused and hurt.
Alexus hadn’t gotten far in her run, and was excitedly storming back toward me.
“I unlocked my Agility Stat!” I whispered right into my father’s ear.
He jerked in surprise, mostly because I had just moved at a speed that I would have called urgent earlier that day—but now felt normal.
“You-you-you. You will give me an answer to my earlier question!” Alexus ordered, after stuttering over her starting point multiple times
I could tell that she was flustered, and grasping for something to say, mostly due to her blotchy red face, and jerky pointed finger—that soon would have poked me in my chest if I didn’t lean out of the way.
She blinked in surprise when her finger passed through empty air. But then jabbed out the finger again, and I had no chance of ‘dodging’. It wasn’t like I had intended to move away from the first one, I kind of just saw it coming and flinched a bit too early.
“What is going on with you and your crew?” Alexus asked, each word accentuated with an absent minded, overly excited jab of her finger. Each finger poke increased in strength as well. I winced away from each more out of instinct than actual pain.
“Do we need to go over my earlier statement regarding operational security and Trade Secrets? Are you ready and prepared to negotiate on behalf of your Guild for proprietary information from my father’s company? I’ll warn you ahead of time—the negotiations will be expensive.” I answered. She pulled back her finger menacingly, clearly intending to jab at me harder, and flinching, I hurried to add, “I awakened another Skill, obviously.”
“Obviously!” Alexus exclaimed and jabbed me again, even as her cheeks flushed from the admonishment. “But what in the—no why in the hells would you Awaken a Skill now?”
My dad regarded the interaction nervously. I could tell he wanted to help me in some way, but I forestalled him with a raised hand. People already knew about my last Awakening outside the Portal, when Demonic Vault had upgraded. So I weaved that into my lie, “It’s happened before. In each case, I think I’ve Awakened a Skill associated with Mining.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“You have multiple Skills?” Alexus asked, incredulously. Her voice rising in octaves, as she fought to contain her disbelief.
“Well—yes,” I answered. “But they aren’t very strong.”
“What rank are they?” She asked. That question got a genuine wince from me, due to her rudeness. In her hyper-excitement, she misunderstood, in the worst way. “What? Wait—” Alexus continued. “—don’t tell me you haven’t been tested?”
My wince became a grimace, because her words sounded a lot like Varnish’s. I received another sporadic jab from Alexus’ finger, even as her voice softened, “Why wouldn’t you get tested again when you re-Awakened the first time?! The world needs Hunters!”
“Didn’t you only have a Mana Pool?” A weak tentative voice whispered. My eyes turned to find Eva standing nearby, looking at me with wide eyes, that sparkled with unshed happy tears.
She’d clearly remembered who I was, and our talk while waiting in line for our photoshoot about my dream to re-Awaken a Skill in a Portal. It wasn’t a hard dream to remember since she and about eight other people around us in line had similar aspirations.
“You’re telling me, you’ve Awakened multiple Skills and have a Mana Pool?” Alexus asked, looking at Eva with soft eyes, before realizing what she said and spinning on me.
“Look,” my father interjected. “This isn’t the time or place for this discussion. We have work to do and you’re interrupting it.”
My mouth clenched shut, as a sigh of relief attempted to escape. I probably should have thought of that reasoning a heck of a lot earlier, but was just glad my father had pulled it out.
Alexus frowned at me, and then looked over to Eva, her eyes softening and then lighting up with joy. She nodded to my father and moved to Eva’s side, whispering, “I’m so glad to see you remembered him! How are you feeling?”
My father and I moved away from Alexus and Eva. My dad must have only just noticed the Miners who had stopped and were staring. “Get back to work! Do you want to beat Jagger or not?”
They all rushed back to working at the Crystals. I was pleasantly surprised to see full Crystals being pulled from the walls more times than not. I could tell by the clarity that these were a mix of F to E-Rank Crystals which likely meant that their value was nearly the same as shards or full Crystals, but I still thought it would help us stand out.
My dad turned to me. “Any idea how we’re doing against Jagger’s teams in the other areas?”
I shook my head. “I’m guessing we’re losing out in terms of quantity for both. I’m hoping we’re going to stand out in Quality, but—“ I looked around myself and then whispered, “—there are a lot of Herbs and Meats Smegma says are worth a lot, but others didn’t seem to think so.”
“So, we’re Harvesting things that aren’t valuable?” My dad asked, his voice sharp and extremely worried.
Again I looked around and whispered, “I mean, along with other things. Plus, Smegma knows what they’re good for—”
“It doesn’t matter what value you think something has. Guilds will only care about how many Greenbacks we make them. Head back and make sure they’re focusing on the expensive items!” My father responded hotly.
I grimaced, realizing that I had overstepped earlier with the Gardeners. The Cleaners were likely okay, since they were already focused on full hides—and they’d already harvested the Hearts without my direction. Surely they wouldn’t have changed anything…
“I’ll go back,” I said urgently, already scanning for Alexus and her Mana Banks.
“Good! Quality is a good thing to focus on but only if it isn’t hurting the bottom line, like with the full Crystals here. We aren’t really slowing down to get them, not with the new constantly-improving Picks,” my father explained.
“I get it! We’ll talk about this later and that food that you just ate and you can tell me again all about how the stuff I asked them to focus on is worthless,” I answered hotly, finding Alexus. “I’m going!”
* * *
We were halfway back to the Gardeners and had walked in awkward silence the entire way from the Mines. Finally, Alexus coughed and asked a question. One I hadn’t been expecting.
“Can you really cure Eva?” She whispered.
I’d turned to look at her and just blinked in confusion. Cure? Oh right. I’d said I could Heal her because Smegma had said we could create a Pill…
Well, wasn’t this just perfect!
“I can,” I answered weakly. Not liking that it was a partial lie. I couldn’t right now, not unless Smegma returned. I just didn’t have the ability—
Wait.
Didn’t I have a new Class that technically upgraded my Minor Heal to Heal and gave me an additional Skill? Would that be enough? More importantly, could I show that kind of capability to Alexus and the others?
I glanced at the three Mana Banks and found Eva looking at me with pleading eyes. Not just pleading eyes but eyes that glowed with recognition and fondness. Maybe feeding her that heart meat had gotten her out of her shell? Perhaps it was the Stamina increase or the unknown regeneration at work?
Either way, I owed it to her to try…
Alexus let me come to whatever decision I was making. I assumed my emotions were clearly written across my face and just as obviously, she had put some things together as well. The things I had been doing were not normal. I was clearly keeping secrets from her—and she likely understood that I was choosing whether to share them.
With a deep breath, I opened up the Class Selection tabs, and picked Battlefield Healer.
Wisdom Stat Unlocked.
Perception Stat Unlocked.
+1 to Wisdom and Perception from Heal and Cleanse Skill Level.
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Stats
Strength: 10
Agility: 3
Stamina: 10
Intelligence: 4
Wisdom: 2
Dexterity: 10
Perception: 2
I managed a single step in Eva’s direction before the ground beneath me shook—no—it vanished. The only reason I made that startling realization was that I was suddenly experiencing a falling sensation as the four women grew taller around me.
Then my vision behind the Screen went black, even as I continued to fall.
New Screens began taking the place of the Stat unlocking ones and my left arm went numb once again, even as my heartbeat came to a standstill.
Magic Control Unlocked
Current Control: +5%
—
Inherent Soul Pool Unlocked
Soul Pool Capacity: 22
Congratulations! You’ve unlocked all available Stats and Pools.
This makes you eligible for a System Tutorial.
Upon entrance to a Portal, Brodie Flacarada will enter the Tutorial.
E-Rank Portal entered.
Tutorial Rank: E-Rank
“No husking way!” I shouted, trying and failing to find the hole I just fallen through. Instead, my eyes only found a black with no hint of light, no matter what ‘direction’ I turned in.
Perhaps the worst part was the experience that I was still speeding up in my fall. Was I going to die once I reached this Tutorial? It seemed highly likely since I had absolutely no way of slowing my descent.
I began to scream.
It must have been an hour later when my screaming cut off—and that was only because it hurt my throat so badly that it snapped me out of my brain-paralyzing dread long enough for Mental Fortitude to regain control.
How was I still speeding up?
In fact, by the sensation, I was likely moving faster than I ever had in the Ford Escort. Probably faster than any earthly plane either. Just how fast was I traveling?
It was impossible to tell, even if I was good at math, I didn’t know the laws that governed this strange empty space I fell through.
Something in the distance made me twist my body and head around. After some effort, I managed to lock my head and eyes onto the growing blue spiral in the distance. It was about the size of a star in the night sky.
However, it grew at an alarming rate, becoming a marble, baseball, beach ball, full moon, and then uncomprehendingly large in seconds. Suddenly, it felt like I was heading straight toward an actual star in the sky—that’s how big the strange swirl felt, and it was still growing.
I fought my descent, trying desperately to move myself off the current course, which was directly at the thing. It didn’t work. There wasn’t resistance or wind in this place that I could use. Instead, I just kept falling toward the far left edge of the thing that was now so big I couldn’t even see its edges.
Then I began to slow.
My body didn’t feel the force friction against the air that I would have expected from such a high-speed descent, and I was apparently being controlled by another braking force. I didn’t feel a single discomforting sensation as I quickly drew to a complete dead stop, hovering over a large shimmering blue Portal—one that looked like the Portals we had on Earth but simultaneously nothing like them due to the sheer size.
Then I was sucked in.