Miriam came to in the dark of the mill's ruins, her back sore and head pounding with agony. The bright blue light of a System Notification pierced through her eyelids, feeling like a thousand needles of luminance impaling her nerves.
With a groan of pain, she forced an eyelid open to see what it was about, and had to blink a few times to get her vision unblurred. Still, she struggled to read through the headache.
Congratulations! You have been granted a class for advancing your race to the fifth Mortal Level. Due to the nature of Human levelling, you are not given a choice, but one is given to you based on your actions and the Strings of Fate. You have been given the class: Arcane Acolyte.
Arcane Acolyte (Rare Mortal Class)
The arcane acolyte is a student of the underworkings of magic, using their knowledge of the basic rules of arrays and enchantments to create spells. Unlike other caster classes, the Arcane Acolyte must study and develop their own suite of spells.
Stat increases: +10 INT, +6 WIL, +2 AGI, +2 INS.
+5 INT, +3 WIL, +1 AGI, +1 INS per level.
You have gained the class skill: Spellcasting Mastery.
Spellcasting Mastery (Basic Class Skill | Upgradable)
Grants knowledge and guidance regarding Basic level Arcane spells, and the ability to study and create Uncommon level Arcane spells
Warning: MP is low! When MP reaches 1%, you will fall unconscious to recover. If MP reaches 0, you will fall into a Mana-starved state and will be unable to cast for a length of time determined by your recovery rate.
You have been awarded an Arcane Acolyte Class Chest!
Well, that explained the headache and thorough sense of oddness swimming around in her head. Thinking back, she had shot.. 7 darts? 6, maybe? Either way it was clear she had used too much of this ‘MP’ and had knocked herself - the bear!
The window closed in front of her eyes as she frantically glanced around, taking stock of the situation. There were no sounds of combat, the sky through the collapsed roof was dark, and the faint, flickering glow of a campfire came from outside the door of the empty room. The firelight illuminated a small wooden chest, made with a dark wood and what looked like steel furnishings.The mill itself could hardly be called such - there was a heavy wooden beam that ran from inside to outside, but there was no millwheel nor waterwheel to provide power. She could solve that with an application of a basic rotation rune-script, so long as she could find or make a Water-Aspected momentum transfer rune-script to splice into it. She might need an extra rune or two to make them work together, but she already had a few ideas on which would work.
Miriam blinked. What’s a rune-script?
Yet, she already knew. She knew about the layers of basic script forming an array on her wand. Thinking back, she even recognized the runes for Force, Travel, and Release in one of the layers, though the rest of the layers were filled with runes she didn’t recognize.
She rested her head back against the stone wall, wincing at the sore flesh making contact with the wall, then came to realise she wasn’t too tired, just… achy. With a groan of effort, she stood, stretching out slowly as she did her best not to think of runes or anything like it just yet. That was something to figure out when she didn’t have such a pounding headache. Following the muted sounds of quiet conversation, she made her way out into the night where a group of four figures huddled around a crackling campfire. A few of them seemed to have some new gear.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Mitchell said, staring up at the stars. He hadn’t turned to see her coming. She just stared at the empty place where his left hand should have been. He patted the healed stump on the log beside him. “Come sit with me, hero.”
She stumbled over, eyes locked to his arm. It was actually gone? It wasn’t a trick? Listless, she fell into the seat beside him. She didn’t know what to say.
Mitchell glanced down at her, and she guiltily tore her eyes away from the ragged flesh. “Does it bother you?”
Miriam almost exploded at the way he asked that. Her?! “Of course not!” She fired back, aware that the rest of the group was watching them, tense.
“Well it bothers me.” He said in a tone that suggested otherwise, and turned his head back to the stars. “Not as much as this fills me with joy, though.”
Her jaw dropped, and bit by bit her headache was making itself more prevalent. “Some stars? You’re really okay losing a hand to look at some stars?”
He dropped his gaze again, and she caught his eye, noticing a spark of something other than the fire reflected within. “Think beyond the apparent, Miri. I saved your life from a bear, no two ways about it. We made it through the first day, and some of the things we can- well, not me or John, yet - the things we can do would blow your mind. Even more, look.” Gently, with his remaining hand, he grasped her chin and pointed it towards the sky. She let him.
Miriam caught her breath. The view was incredible. Unlike the light pollution of before, there was only one light near them, and if she turned around, she could see. Millions, at least. Bright, dim, in sweeping whorls and tight clusters the stars twinkled in the night sky in magnitudes greater quantity than she’d ever seen before. It was almost difficult to see the darkness in between the pricks of light. She tuned back in to hear Mitchell talking.
“... and when it really comes down to it, we are the first. We’re breaking new ground, treading new trails. Miri, this is a dream too good to be true for me, yet I’m awake and my own arm is pinching me to remind me of it.”
Miriam rubbed her forehead, trying to settle the pounding pain. “I’m sorry, the first to what?”
Mitchell smiled knowingly. “Do you remember when I taught you how to find the North Star?”
With her intelligence as boosted as it was, she was able to recall easily. “Big Dipper, follow the end of the spoon to the bright one.”
He gestured at the sky with a ‘go ahead’ motion, and so she did.
Her first problem was that she couldn’t find the Big Dipper. As the frown grew on her face, she looked all around her, but was unable to find that configuration of stars that had been above her for the duration of her life. “Where is it?”
“Exactly!” George shouted, causing more than one of the group to jump. “Quit this philosopher crap and just tell her.”
Mitch glared over at George, who withered slightly under his gaze. “What George is so eager to get to is that, whether the Earth has moved or we have, we aren’t orbiting Sol anymore. We’ve travelled through space.”
“And that makes it okay that you’re crippled?”
Mitchell flinched. “I… it might not be permanent, okay? Sarah got herself a Healer class and those are rare according to the system. She can only do basics right now, but she thinks with some study and reflection she might be able to figure out a regeneration spell that could fix it. Besides, my only regret is that I wasn’t awake to see how you did that.” He gestured idly at the carcass.
Now that she looked around, she noticed the skin had been removed, and a flat rock with messy cuts of meat sizzled next to the fire, George poking at it with an antique looking dagger. Overturned soil showed where they buried the offal, and despite all she had heard, the smell of cooking bear wasn’t as awful as she expected. Out of her peripheral, John handed her cloak back, and she absently took it, wrapping it around her shoulders to ward off the chill of night. A golden glow rose from Sarah’s hand, and she leaned her staff over to give her a tap on the top of her head.
It felt like a thousand ants crawled from the tip of her scalp all the way down to her toes in a second, and she let out a violent shiver. “Jeez, what was that?”
“Head still hurting?”
Miriam shook her head negatively, the motion itself proof of fact. “What was that?”
“Only works on casters. Spell’s called Mana Recycle. It’s supposed to ease out the kinks in your system from MP damage, or in your case MP overuse. I’m tapped out until morning though, Mitchell.”
He smiled. “Worth it.”
Miriam returned to his previous statement about her taking down the massive bear and couldn’t help but correct him. “It wasn’t really me, it was the wand.” She took that, too, when it was offered to her, but didn’t have anywhere to put it so she just held it awkwardly in her hand. “I just Invoked it as much as I could.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“You could have died.” Mitchell said coldly. “Sarah told me about what happens when you hit 0 MP.”
Her concern morphed into anger, no longer held back by the ache in her skull that had faded to a dull pulse. “Like you’re one to talk? Punching a fucking bear? Are you stupid, or suicidal?”
Mitchells cold expression dropped, and he flinched when he went to rub his neck with the wrong arm. “Stupid, I suppose, but I wasn’t exactly flush with time. Someone decided to provoke a bear in its den and we had to act.”
Miria’s cheeks heated, recalling it was her impatience that had started it all. She stared back at the fire. There was a brief moment of silence, until George interrupted again. “So we can all agree mistakes were made. Miriam charged in out of position, Mitchell stuck his hand were it shouldnt be stuck and I missed a critical shot. I think this is a good time for a bit of a speech. I've played enough videogames and read enough fantasy to know that during the fog of battle mistakes can and will happen. We can train all day and have perfect tactics but in the end one choice can change everything. So I guess what I'm saying is can we make an agreement not to hold any grudges on outcomes of future battles?” He stares at both Miriam and Mitchell a look of sorrow in his eyes. “I'm sorry you lost your arm, I missed and thats the bottom line. I can't take that back but I can do everything I can not too miss again.” Georges expression instantly changed to surprise as he gave the bear steaks one last flip.
“And that’s two, baby!” He looked off into the middle distance, in what was quickly becoming the telltale sign of someone reading their menu, and a minute later turned to them with a pleased grin, even as blue sparks drifted from his feet up to his head.
“Hello friends, please meet your new Ranger-Cook combo!” He declared, even as he tossed the rock with the sizzling steaks into the river. “That would’ve been trash and gotten us poisoned! Did you know that Spinebear is poisonous when not prepared properly? I do now! I mean, I knew it was poison, but now I know how to cook it anyway. Pretty cool, right?”
As George went and carved a new strip of meat from near the Spinebear’s… well, spine, Sarah huddled against John, looking tired herself, and Miriam decided to take stock. “So George has Ranger and Cook. I hate to say it, but you’re probably going to be on hunting/cooking duty for the foreseeable future. Sarah got Healer… I assume that’s MP based healing?”
The woman nodded in response. “It’s pretty involved. I don’t just have a ‘Heal’ spell, I’ve got a suite of First Aid spells. I had to cast four different ones just to get Mitchell stabilised, and he’ll need a few more Hemo-Rejuvenation casts before he’s back to proper. I just need more rest first, MP’s too low.”
Miriam nodded. That sounded proper. She’d always had struggles with healing spells in games. Say you were hit by an arrow: Did the heal spell force it out? Did the arrow parts inside the body just disintegrate? Where does the wood fibre go?
Now it sounded like Sarah would either yank it out or cast a spell to remove it, a spell to disinfect, and then a spell to close and another to repair? Not fortunate for them, but she hoped Sarah would be able to develop and study her own spells, just like her.
“Well, I got one too.” She announced proudly. “I am an Arcane Acolyte. I use the basic rules of magic to make my own spells.”
Sarah squinted. “You didn’t even get one?”
A frown followed. “No? Why, did you?”
“Oh yea, I’ve got 12 spells. I have one for removing radiation damage, and another for settling mental effects, so I’m pretty sure I can already provide better healthcare than a fully-stocked hospital. At least, for one person.” She happily explained as George handed out thin slices of the meat. It was unspiced, but it reminded Miriam of beef. Or chicken. Or… well maybe it didn’t remind her of anything.
Sarah took a bite then asked. “What’d you get in your chest?”
“Haven’t opened it yet.” Miriam admitted
“Huh. Well, don’t wait too long. I got a robe that takes all the chill out of the night. Plus, it’s got pockets. Then a staff to help me heal, and some shoes, and a bag full of a bunch of useful stuff.” She pulled at the sleeves of the long, white robe. To her, it looked like a monk’s habit, but then again she’d never done any sort of research into monasteries so even with her boosted intelligence she couldn’t recall.
George spoke up. “I got a bow, which is John’s now, and a quiver to hold my arrows. Quiver lets me summon arrows if I run out but its pricey, with my MP I’d only be able to do three or four before I’d be tapped out.”
Mitchell chimed in. “They’re stronger and don’t miss as often, though.”
“Yea, that’s true. Got a set of leather armour too, and a pack full of ‘useful stuff’. Think of a class pack from our tabletop.”
John plopped her chest beside her seat by the fire, having retrieved it from the ruins during the conversation. “You’re like the parents on Christmas. Open it already!”
Miriam sighed and pushed the lid open, flinching when the chest disappeared and a bundle of items attached to a pack appeared. The most obvious was a staff, a folded set of robes, and a heavy tome in some sort of leather harness, all secured to the pack.
“There, I opened it. Now, I’m exhausted, so Mitchell and I are going to bed.” She rolled her eyes at the jeers and scooped up the roughspun pack, turning to the fire to wait for her crippled fiance.
He grimaced. “Actually, I was going to take a watch. If anything shows up, I want first crack at it. Maybe I can get myself a class before morning so I’m not holding us back.”
Miriam stood and grabbed his only working hand. “No. We’re going to sleep until morning, then you’re going to help me make my first spell.”
He protested even as he followed. “Why so soon? You have the wand, and I don’t even have a weapon.”
Their argument devolved into mutters and sweet whispers as they made for and entered the ruins.
John’s eyes flickered over to the raised dirt where they had buried the corpse of the man they had found within the ruins. He again felt unsettled and let a shiver pass through him. It was unnatural. Sarah had said that body had been there for over a year, but this all only started last week.
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The dawn of the next day rose with the sickening stench of rotting flesh and the yipping of coyotes as they stripped the carcass of the bear clean. George was the first to awaken, and quietly awoke Miriam as well, keeping her quiet and bringing her to the door.
She frowned. “I thought you said it was poisonous.”
He scoffed lightly. “Yea, to us. Those little guys have stronger guts than we do. Or I guess more Constitution, now. Did you get any from your class?”
“My brother in-” Miriam froze, a thought suddenly occurring to her. “Wait, do you think Sarah could’ve gotten Cleric instead of Healer? Nevermind. Yea, I got nothing for CON. Just what we trained up before. I think we’re getting distracted, though?”
“I’m not.”
Young Coyote Juvenile
Level 4
Analyse skill insufficient for more data
Processing…
Analyse skill has been upgraded to Identify (Common).
Young Coyote Juvenile
Level 4
HP - Low
MP- None
Stamina - Medium
Upgrade Identify for more data
“Well that’s new.” George muttered to himself as he fit an arrow to the string of his bow. There appeared to be four coyotes total, and he bet he could hit two, especially now that his arrows weren’t arbitrarily missing their marks.
“What’s new?”
“Analyse got switched to Identify. These guys have low HP, no MP, and moderate Stamina.” George replied, still staying quiet.
Miriam squinted her eyes.
Young Coyote Juvenile
Level 4
Analyse skill insufficient for more data
Processing…
Analyse skill has been upgraded to Scan (Uncommon).
Young Coyote Juvenile
Level 4
MP - None
MP Skills - None
“I just got Scan instead, which says they don’t have any MP skills.”
“Compare them after this?”
“Sure.”
In an odd turn of events, it was easier for the two to keep their minds focussed on the enemy before them than think about the implications of upgraded skills.
Miriam knew she could think her way down a rabbit-hole, and so the easiest thing for her was just to accept the system. In a way, it was good: It had quantified many things she’d wanted quantified in her life. For a brief moment, she panicked, realising she hadn’t taken her medications the night before, but in a now practised mental motion, swept it aside to think about later.
George, on the other hand, was ecstatic about the system. He’d been an avid reader and watcher of all things Isekai and here he was, in a world similar enough to his own he had the advantage yet with added fantastical elements that he could learn about and discover. Two classes, as well, though he had yet to level either of them. The main bonus from the classes was that ethereal lightning bolt. Or was it the skill?
His limbs moved smoother than before, with less weight. He felt like he was holding a toy bow, and when he pulled back on the string he could feel the quivering and uneven bending of the weapon. With no expectations, he aimed and loosed.
It was surprisingly easy for the two of them to take down their quarries, though not as quiet as they had hoped. A single arrow brought down the first coyote, and two Magic Darts from Miriam took down the second, though at this closer range, she felt like more of the force was being transferred to the target. It was certainly a louder pop, like bubble wrap instead of soap bubbles. Between the two ranged combatants, half the coyotes were dead before they knew where their attackers were, and the other two failed to flee in time.
“Jerks!” Mitchell called out, struggling to rise out of his bed - which happened to be his cloak draped over him and a rock for a pillow. “Nefarious plotters. Detrimental thugs, juvenile cretins!”
A foot lashed out, and silence reigned for a second before a muttered. “Ow. But they stole the kills. I need a class.”
“Doesn’t matter.” John said severely. “Class or no class, we’re only waking up because those coyotes probably smelled the bear stench on the ruin and thought there was another one in here. Otherwise all of us would have woken up with teeth in our throats. We build a wall today.” His tone brooked no chance for argument, and Mitchell dragged himself to his feet, wondering how he was supposed to help with only one hand.
He also wondered if he was expected to tell Miriam that he wouldn’t be able to help her with spells today, but seeing Sarah make a beeline for her, he left it to the Healer.