“To start with, I pray that HP, MP and Stamina have been explained to you?” ZEKE asked, concerned that this lesson could get even more remedial.
“HP is my health. It goes down when I get hurt.” Alarion blessedly was able to explain. “MP is for using magic, but it can be used by some other stuff. Stamina is my ability to take physical action, to fight, run, use physical skills and so on.”
“A bit on the shallow side for an explanation, but certainly not wrong.” ZEKE nodded approvingly despite the backhanded compliment of his words. “And Aptitude?”
“Only that higher is better. And that my number is very high.”
“Again, not wrong.” ZEKE had to agree. “Aptitude has three primary uses. The first is a flat percentage increase in all experience gain for both skills and classes. This applies separate from all other modifications, such as your Single-Minded flaw, rather than being additive to them.”
Alarion gave him a blank stare. ZEKE sighed.
“Imagine you received 10 experience points. With your le-"
"What is an experience point?"
ZEKE regarded Alarion steadily for half a heartbeat. The question was so remedial that even Vitrian toddlers knew enough not to ask.
"It is the system's way of measuring your progress. When you take actions within the purview of your Class, such as fighting monsters or crafting an item, the system rewards you with experience points. You'll gain similar progress in your skills through usage."
The boy considered the words, eyes turned toward the sky as he processed the information. Then, seemingly satisfied, he looked back to the Steelborn.
"And as I was saying... imagine you earned 10 experience points. With your level of aptitude, you would instead earn 24. If this was your single-minded skill or class, you would gain 26. By comparison, Elena with her aptitude of 155 would earn a mere 15 experience, a little over of half yours.”
“Ezekial.” Elena protested angrily.
ZEKE gave her an apologetic look before turning to Alarion to explain. “That was gauche of me. In Vitrian culture it is considered rude to reveal or discuss another person’s aptitude without permission. Let alone to do so as a negative example.”
“And yet you did so anyways.” Elena said, pointedly.
“A slip of the tongue that has taught the young master a valuable lesson in etiquette!” ZEKE apologized in a way that suggested it was anything but a slip up. “Where was I?”
“There were two more things.” Alarion replied, misunderstanding the rhetorical nature of the question.
“Yes. Correct. The second is that your aptitude provides a bonus to your attribute growth. Do you know how attribute growth works?”
Alarion gave him a blank stare. ZEKE sighed, more heavily this time. “Very well, to switch tracks for just a moment. Let’s take a look at one of your classes.”
ZEKE’s hands moved through the air, manipulating the illusion of his status and selecting his Orphan class. For a moment, there was nothing, then a second window appeared over the first:
> Orphan [Rare](Rank II)
>
> Description: Survival in grueling circumstances can be a challenge. Survival as a child, alone, is nothing short of a miracle. Or dumb luck.
>
> Requirements: Level 1 Survivor Class. Age 13 or below. Aptitude of 150% or higher. No verbal or physical contact with any adult for a minimum of fifteen days.
>
> Growths - STR – +5 – 40% | AGI – +5 - 40% | VIT - +5 - 40% |INT – +5 - 40% | WIL – +5 - 40% | PER – +5 -40% | LUK – +64 – 80%
>
> Note: Due to the flaw [Single Minded] this Rank Up was automatically applied.
“As you can see, every class description contains details regarding its potential stat growths, information that is critical to determining when and if a Rank Up should be performed and to estimate your potential for growth in various areas.” ZEKE explained. “For a direct example, what is your chance of gaining +5 strength on level up?”
Alarion studied the screen for several moments. His math lessons with the Ordinate had been simple at best, but they had touched on the concept of fractions and percentages and he had been a quick study. “40%?”
“Nearly so. As I said earlier, your aptitude provides a bonus to your attribute growths of 10% of its total value, in your case, this would mean 24%. Added together, your chance for a strength growth is 64%.”
Alarion nodded, slowly. He was following along, even if the processing took longer than he would have liked.
“Wouldn’t this one go higher than 100?” He asked, pointing to his luck with one hand as he counted on his fingers on the other to reassure himself.
“Indeed it can.” ZEKE agreed, his voice approving. “In that case you automatically gain the listed attribute points, and then have a much smaller chance at gaining them again. In your case, a 4% chance for your LUK stat.”
Clearly pleased with this revelation, Alarion nodded vigorously. “If it goes around again?”
“Then you would be even more of an overpowered monster than you are now.” Elena scowled, irked by how greedy her ward was being. “An 80% growth is already abnormally high, as is your aptitude. While there are select ways to improve your growths, both temporary and permanent, stacking them that high would just be obscene. Get him back on track, Ezekial.”
“Of course, Mistress.” ZEKE chose not to press his luck with any jibes and returned to the core of the lesson. “The last, and perhaps most important aspect of your aptitude is that it determines the rate at which you develop baseline proficiency when trying something new. Languages, math skills, hobbies, you will be able to retain any new experience more quickly than someone with a lower aptitude, up to a point. This growth tapers out once the fundamentals have been established, you will never be a great author simply because of your aptitude, but you will be able to learn a great many languages with ease.”
“Mm.” Alarion replied with a frown.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Do not pout.” Elena chided. “You still have to try in order for your aptitude to have any effect. You picked up our language very quickly, but you would not have managed it at all if you had not tried.”
“I suppose.” Alarion remained unconvinced. “You said it was the most important, but that doesn’t seem important.”
“Baseline proficiency involves skills and classes.” Elena explained. “And the increase is not simply linear. Gaining your first level in a class or skill will take you a fraction of the time it would for someone of a lower aptitude, which will allow you to develop a more robust set of classes compared to others.”
Alarion wasn’t sure what linear meant, but the rest did sound nice.
“Now then, Let us move on to your attributes.” Zeke said, bristling slightly at having been talked over by Elena. “I assume you know enough to describe them to me?”
Alarion nodded reading off the list. “How strong I am, how fast, how tough, how smart, how…. willful?”
“It is alright. The physical attributes are easier to quantify.” ZEKE laughed gently. “In fact, if I recall correctly, Mistress Elena had a similar stumbling block. Despite considerably more education.”
“I could have you dismantled, you realize.” Elena replied cooly.
“Strength is a measure of your physical power. Lifting heavy things, doing damage with your attacks, jumping, bending objects. Pure muscle power. However, like all physical attributes, it is somewhat dependent on the body of the wielder. Ten strength for me with my mechanical body is not ten strength for you, or for Elena. The difference is not severe within the same species, no more than 20%, but there is considerable value in specializing in your strengths rather than trying to shore up your weaknesses to make you mediocre at everything.”
“Which is why you think I shouldn’t use the big sword.” Alarion frowned.
“Correct. Agility is more your forte. Dexterity, flexibility, reaction time, agility reflects your ability to do things quickly and precisely. Landing pinpoint blows, overwhelming opponents, reacting to sudden events and working with delicate materials, all of these and more benefit from agility.” ZEKE explained.
“Do I run faster if I have more?”
ZEKE made a wavering gesture with one hand. “To an extent. All physical actions contain some measure of overlap between the three physical attributes. Something like your running speed is primarily a combination of your strength and agility.”
“They can also be impacted by your mental attributes.” Elena chimed in. “Running long distance is as much a matter of your willpower as your vitality. To say nothing of how certain enhancement magics-”
“Let’s not overwhelm the young master.” ZEKE cut in. “Are you following along so far?”
Alarion nodded firmly, and ZEKE continued.
“Next would be Vitality. Endurance, resilience against attacks both physical and magical, though the latter to a lesser extent. Your ability to survive poisons and disease, as well as harsh weather conditions and starvation. Vitality is a measure of your ability to take hits and keep fighting long after others have fallen and to push through adversity that others cannot. Your vitality, on the other hand, is abysmal. Barely five points above the human norm in spite of having levels in a class specialized in survival.”
“That isn’t my fault.” Alarion said indignantly.
“No, you’re right. It is not.” Elena allowed. “Though there are plenty of ways to mitigate bad luck in your stat growth. For example, It is possible to train your attributes. This is easier for physical attributes than mental ones, but a robust training regime can add up to a 5% increase in the growth of one or more attributes. Though given the effort involved your time is better spent elsewhere.”
“Certain magical items can also provide temporary bonuses while used or equipped. Or permanent ones when consumed.” ZEKE added. “Skills can also be a vital source of attributes. I would never suggest taking a skill solely for its attribute bonuses, but they are something to be mindful of all the same.”
“Skills can also directly enhance an attribute through use.” Elena picked up when the machine left off. “Often at the expense of another. As can spells, rituals, curses-”
“Those are all the same thing.” Alarion interrupted.
“They are very much not.” Elena protested. “Rituals differ from-”
“Mistress Elena.” ZEKE interjected. “The basics. We are teaching the basics.”
Elena frowned. “Ah. Right.”
“The three physical attributes come together to determine some of the others. For HP, all races have a base starting pool, in my case 200, in your case 50. From there your strength, agility and twice your vitality are added together to get your maximum HP. A myriad of other factors can then impact this total further, such as class abilities, traits, feats of strength, flaws, spells and so forth.”
“That doesn’t seem fair.” Alarion said, as the Steelborn finished his lecture.
“What doesn’t?” ZEKE inquired.
“You start with four times as much HP as I do. That doesn’t seem fair.”
“The world often isn’t.” The metal man admitted. “Though in this case it is more of a trade off. Humans are more versatile than any of the Descendants. As a group your aptitudes tend to be higher than the Steelborn, and while you have no particular strengths, you also have no substantive weaknesses to exploit.”
“So we’re boring.” Alarion frowned.
“I would say versatile.” ZEKE countered.
“You also just finished telling me that there was-” The young man deepened his voice to the best of his ability. “Considerable value in specializing in your strengths rather than being mediocre at everything.”
Elena crooked an eyebrow at the near verbatim repetition. Clearly Alarion had been paying better attention than she had given him credit for.
“That comment is intended for an individual.” ZEKE bristled at having his own words so readily thrown back at him. “Consider your humanity as more of a blank slate. You can grow in any direction you wish, without penalty, while others have some paths closed off to them by dint of their birth or creation. I myself am often jealous of the sheer potential of your kind.”
“So then I can wield the giant sword.”
“It is an Imperial Greatsword!” ZEKE snapped back. “And that was not what I-”
“If he wishes to try, let him.” Elena interrupted.
“Mistress Elena.” ZEKE said after a deep pause. “You assured me that the specifics of the boy’s training would be left in my hands.”
“And they are.” Elena spread her hands, unwilling to battle on the issue. “That was not a command. Merely a time saving suggestion. He already has his mind made up, and no explanation is going to trump practical experience in why it is a bad idea. Let us suspend this part of the lesson for now and let him learn by doing.”
If ZEKE could frown, the Steelborn would have been positively scowling. Since he could not, he instead invested in a heavy sigh. “Very well. If you would prepare the field, Mistress Elena?”
Elena stood, and approached Alarion. Looming over the young boy she reached down and carefully plucked a single strand of his white hair.
“Ow!” He protested to no avail as Elena continued in her stride toward the center of the courtyard. She took a few quick glances about, familiarizing herself with the layout and the distances between the long and short edges of the rectangular space, then clapped her hands in front of her and began casting a spell.
It was different from any Alarion had yet seen, which was admittedly a sample size of four. Unlike the Evaluation, Heal Wounds – Minor, Restoration – Minor and Display Status spells which were cast by weaving symbols into the air, this time her hands remained close together in front of her chest, working in largely symmetrical unison through a series of odd shapes and patterns.
Silver light swirled around her in a small, localized dervish and in that swirling light Alarion could make out what looked to be letters. No. Symbols. It hurt to look directly at them, his eyes instinctively losing focus or slipping away the moment he stopped trying to concentrate on them. Over time they solidified, becoming more real and less distressing with each repetition of her chant.
That in and of itself was a thing of disquieting beauty. Alarion did not know the language, but he knew, somehow that what she was repeating was poetic. A song of some distant and unknown place that grew closer and more tangible with each stanza, with each enunciation of forgotten words.
The air cracked as the spell neared its completion. Not the sound of thunder, but an unnatural break in the fabric of reality. Alarion’s ears popped, then began to ring. A color poured forth from unreality, taking the shape of a man that should not be-
Then reality snapped back into place. The thing remained, but the sense of dread that had permeated Alarion’s very bones at the sight of it had fled to nothing the instant the spell had resolved. Now it was just an oddity, a royal blue haze of smoke and darkness. It was several feet wide, and had no distinct shape, now more of an amorphous ball than a man.
“What…. what was that?” Alarion asked when at last his voice returned to him.
“That, Alarion-” Elena replied as she dabbed at a hint of blue-black blood that oozed from the tear duct of her right eye. “Is the difference between a spell, and a Ritual.”