Not all skills are good skills.
Not all skills are skills you want.
It’s not like a Class, where you can only receive the class if you want it in the moment.
Skills are reflections of things you’re good at, that’s it.
Most of the time that’s fine, because it’s good to be good at things and you can force yourself to be good at most things.
But sometimes you’re good at [Murder], and that’s something you just have to get past.
-Post from the blog “The System - Things the government “forgets” to tell you.”
Li knew what he was looking at.
It was a skill with a nice and detailed description, 10/10 system box.
And simultaneously, nothing about it made sense.
“Oh…” Was all Li could say, no more words able to force themselves past his snapped-shut lips.
”Li… please look at me.” Jayce begged, seeming on the brink of tears.
Slowly, achingly slow, Li looked up at Jayce.
And Li had been wrong. Jayce wasn’t on the brink of tears, he was way past that point.
Li had never seen Jayce cry like this before. Sure, maybe a stray tear here and there, but never a red-eyed, snot-dripping, running down cheeks sort of cry.
“I’m so stupid… I’m so… you shouldn’t be with someone like me.”
Li thought he was the type of person who’d comfort on instinct, a good person.
But no. Li stood there, frozen.
In fact, everything seemed frozen, body and soul halted.
“Please say something. Say anything, I don’t care what, just please don’t leave me.”
Another round of sobbing from Jayce.
“I… want to punch you.”
The words came out soft, like a pillow to the face.
Li didn’t even hear himself say it.
There was a long pause as Jayce processed the words.
“…Alright.”
Jayce wiped his tears and looked a bit more put together, a ember of determination in his eyes.
The first punch came before Li could even figure out what was happening.
It was like his body had this plan that his brain hadn’t gotten the memo for.
Jayce didn’t flinch away, he took it to the face like a champ.
Li’s hand hurt.
But it didn’t matter, he kept punching.
He spoke… well, more like screamed, as he punched.
”WHAT.”
Punch.
“THE.”
Punch.
“HELL.”
Punch.
“IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”
Punch. Punch. Punch.
Li was stopped from his barrage of useless punches by the searing pain of his hand.
It had been like punching a brick wall.
Li breathed heavily as Jayce looked entirely unaffected.
“I SPENT YEARS IN LOVE WITH YOU AND YOU GASLIGHT ME INTO THINKING I WAS A CREEP?!”
That seemed to get Jayce’s attention.
“Well, I-”
“How much of an idiot do you have to be to delude yourself into thinking I wasn’t into it!? Not only was I playing along, I was so obviously into it! If you hadn’t stopped I’d probably have cummed right then and there, you idiot!”
Jayce’s flushed at the thought, eyes burning red.
“You-”
“And finally! What in this stupid world gave you the right to mess with my head? Did you not for even a second wonder how I felt? That is the most selfish, boneheaded, impulsive thing you’ve ever done!”
There’s a long pause, the silence only broken by Li’s heavy breathing.
”Well?! We discussed it! Got all our gross feelings on the table! Now is the time you’re supposed to kiss me until I forgive you!”
Jayce didn’t hesitate, almost as if some inner beast was unleashed the moment Li gave the Warrior permission to kiss him.
Li had long imagined the moment, how couldn't he have? If you didn't imagine what your crush's lips felt like, were they even really your crush?
Well, this was nothing like what he imagined...
Jayce grabbed Li by his shirt and pulled him around, pinning him to the sliding glass door of the balcony. Li couldn't move an inch while Jayce's powerful arms boxed him in, and he found that he really didn't mind.
Jayce’s lips pounded against Li’s with the force of a raging [Warrior]. Biting and sucking and licking and- and kissing.
And Li kissed back.
Teenage hormones combined with youthful enthusiasm to form a passionate dance of inexperience and lust.
Jayce pushed his tongue into Li’s mouth and Li greedily accepted it.
They fit together like puzzle pieces.
Jayce’s hand slowly glided down to Li’s waistband as he broke off the kiss.
”Li.”
It was a warning, it was a plead, it was an order, it was everything the two of them had ever felt for each other.
Need.
They needed each other.
“Li… you
----------------------------------------
HARD LIMIT REACHED! ENDING CLASS MEMORY!
CHOOSE YOUR CLA
ERROR! ONE CLASS UNREVEALED!
SYSTEM ANGEL [CLASSIFIED] HAS DESTROYED THIS CLASS!
ERROR!
CONGREGATING DIVINITY SHARDS OF [THE ONE WHO REFORMED THE UNIVERSE, SYSTEM CREATOR, GOD OF THE SYSTEM, ZAROS]
CLASS DESTRUCTION IS OUTLAWED UNDER LAW #274749371 OF THE SPIRITUAL REGULATIONS
RESTORING CLASS…
Ghost (E%TR3MLY CO*MON P@TH) You thought about it. Skill: [Steps you would've taken, Photos without you in them, a Future where you don't exist]
RESTORING CLASS MEMORY…
Hey-
AUTHORITY DISREGARDED.
”̶͓͓̹͙̪̣͖̌̃͌͗̈́͘Ẅ̶̛̝̹͖̩͕̰́́̇͘à̴̡̢̳̠̺̲͈̮̮͓̗̻͎̟̰͍̪̆̈́̇͊͒ì̷̛̞͌̉̄̎̂͋͋̽̎̈̇̀̾̔͝͝͠t̸̡̨̪͙̦͍͇̮̹̺̤̤̼̽̌́͗́͆ͅͅ-̶̡̪̳͕̞͉̥̻̹͖̭̀̋̌̎̌͗̆̑̋͆͗̃̈́͌̓̕͘̚̕͜͝“̷̡̛̝̙̳̦̹̰̭͎̺̗̱͕͓̟̬͌̆̓̋͐̏̐̽̀̓̎͘̚̚͝͝ͅͅ
POWER DISREGARDED.
“Stop-”
LESSER DIVINITY DISREGARDED.
“Please…”
FREE WILL DISREGARDED.
REVEALING CLASS MEMORY - MEMORY #4619420241
----------------------------------------
Have you ever done the dishes around people who don’t scrape the food off their plates?
Eventually the specks of food build up and the sink fills up with water, murky and disgusting.
You have to remove the buildup to proceed.
Li Salatur found his head felt a lot like that.
He had thoughts, thoughts that wouldn’t go away, thoughts that built, and built, and built, and built until all he could think about was how much he didn’t want to keep going.
and yet he kept going.
He woke up 10 minutes before the bus came, he didn’t shower, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, he woke up 10 minutes before the bus came, he didn’t shower, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, he woke up 10 minutes before the bus came, he didn’t shower, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, he woke up 10 minutes before the bus came, he didn’t shower, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, and he woke up.
Over and over again.
From day to day to day.
How does everyone do it? How do they live like that?
How will he live like that?
Will he even live that long?
Li Salatur found that he’d never really imagined what his life would be like after he graduated.
People kept trying to tell him how it would be, but it never made sense.
You work every day at a job you hate to pay for a life you don’t wanna live trapped inside the mind of a person you don’t even like.
That was terrifying to Li Salatur.
”Why do you have a D in Alchemy?
How the fuck do you fail mixing together plants?
What, you just gonna ignore me boy?”
WHACK!
How do people do this?
Was Li Salatur the strange one? He had to be, because he couldn’t for the life of him imagine why no one else seemed as miserable as him.
He had a good life.
He had a roof over his head.
”You can come back when you learn how to respect your father.”
He had friends.
”Did you hear about the new Dueling club guy, I hear he’s really hot.”
”Sammy, we just got out of your delulu era.”
So why did he feel this intense need to-
RATTLE
Li stared down at the pill bottle. He hadn’t remembered grabbing it, hadn’t remembered much of anything, really.
He looked around and found himself in his parents house’s bathroom.
When did Li get home? Hadn’t he just been in class?
Li stared down at the bottle of… was that Advil?
Li slowly uncapped the bottle and took about 14 pills into his trembling hand.
Just one moment, and it’d be over.
Li’d go to sleep and never wake up.
He’d be free.
Would anyone even notice he was gone?
Li couldn’t help the way his breaths grew frantic and heavy.
His heart pounding out of his chest.
Tears swam down his eyes in little waterfalls.
Li flushed the pills down the toilet with a gasp.
He-
“Hi! My name’s Jayce! Whatcha drawing?”
.
.
.
He needed a suicide note if he was going to do this. Y-yeah, he’d write a suicide note then he could go.
And when Li Salatur went to bed that night, despair heavy in his heart and suicide note scrawled out in a terrified frenzy, he found that the next day was bearable. Nice, even.
And so Li Salatur decided to stick around a bit longer.
Li Salatur decided to try harder.
But as always, his best was never quite good enough.
Li Salatur tried. He… he tried so hard.
Li Salatur woke up 10 minutes before the bus came, he didn’t shower, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, he woke up 10 minutes before the bus came, he didn’t shower, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, he woke up 10 minutes before the bus came, he didn’t shower, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, he woke up 10 minutes before the bus came, he didn’t shower, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, and he woke up.
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Over and over again.
From day to day to day.
”Why do I have the teacher calling me in the middle of my shift talking about you smelling like shit?!
Is it really that hard to take a shower?
Don’t you realize how embarrassing that is for me? My son showing up to school smelling bad?
You’re a spoiled selfish brat, y’know that?
You can never think about anyone but yourself.”
“Your Mother is talking to you, look at her when she’s speaking!”
SLAP!
Li tried so hard to be good.
“You gonna go watch the Lions tonight?”
“Hell yeah! Jayce kicks ass every time he’s on!”
Why couldn’t they just understand him?
Maybe he really was a selfish person… a bad person…
And bad people deserve to be punished.
Li slowly stepped forward, eyes unfocused.
He approached the kitchen counter and took a knife from the knife holder.
For a minute he just examined it. The craftsmanship, the polished steel that reflected his eye-bags back to him, the sharp, serrated edge.
Even though it was mass produced, it was clearly made by someone with a good amount of levels under their belt.
Li held the knife to his wrist and-
“We’ll be friends forever… right?”
Li flinched as he realized what he’d been doing.
He quickly dropped the knife, breaths unsteady.
He’d only thought about it. He… that’s not how he wanted to do it.
Li was scared of pain. He knew he should receive pain but… his mind wouldn’t let him do that to himself.
Li backed away from the knife, trembling.
He didn’t want to die.
Li Salatur didn’t want to die.
With that truth realized, he woke up the next day feeling like something had changed. Feeling like he had changed.
Li tried to use this new-found zeal for good. To try and not be bad, try and not make his parents angry again.
But Li Salatur never seemed to realize one fundamental truth about his life.
“A therapist? The hell do you need therapy for?
What, are we such bad parents that you need a stranger to talk to instead of us?
You’re always playing the victim, it’s pathetic.
You can never just be normal.”
Pain repeats itself. Forever.
Li Salatur woke up 10 minutes before the bus came, he didn’t shower, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, he woke up 10 minutes before the bus came, he didn’t shower, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, he woke up 10 minutes before the bus came, he didn’t shower, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, he woke up 10 minutes before the bus came, he didn’t shower, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, he went to class, then went home, he stayed up til 3am on his phone, he went to bed, and he woke up.
Over and over again.
From day to day to day.
Nothing would ever get better.
He’d have a good week or two but eventually pain would drag him back down, kicking and screaming.
So why try to fight it?
Why try at all?
Why not just…
Li felt the abyss staring back at him as he peered over the cliff.
The abyss whispered to him, luring him down with the promise that the cycles of peace and pain would finally end. That he could finally rest.
The pain of death was an easy price to pay.
Li was about to step off. He knew that in his heart, that he’d been at the point of no return.
ding!
Li’s phone chimed out a tune and Li broke down crying.
He hadn’t heard that sound in what felt like centuries.
He fumbled to pull out his phone and stared at the text.
Jay (don’t call)
yo. Long time no see
sorry, this is jayce btw
Li attempted to pull himself together into a form resembling a person.
Li
omg hiiiii whatd up? I fugured ud be too busy being famosu for little old me lolll
Jay (don’t call)
Ew! Not you too! I do good in one tournament and everyone knows my name! Not to brag, but I get pretty much all the bitches. ;)
Every second Jayce spent typing was torture.
It was a withdrawal from something that felt real, perhaps the only thing. Something grounded, something physical.
Li needed that attachment to reality, he’d been feeling so… off lately.
For a second there, he’d thought he was going craz-
ding!
I’m off topic though. I’m actually playing tonight! It’s kinda the biggest game of the season but you don’t have to come! I just wanted to like put it out there because it’s important to me and I remember you were a little interested in dueling and also I miss you I mean what who said that haha so yeah come if you want I totally won’t be waiting for you or anything haha so please don’t feel pressured because I don’t want you to feel pressured but please come because I’d love to see you and I’ll stop talking now before you block me haha
Li was already running before he’d even fully read the obnoxiously long text block.
His body wasn’t used to the exertion, but the desperate energy with which Li ran could’ve moved mountains.
It was agonizing, that walk, that stupid 20 minute walk.
The distance which he’d judged tasteful for a suicide (Close enough to the school for Jayce’s media attention, but not close enough to tie back to bullying or something) now felt so terrifying long.
It felt like if he slowed down or, gods forbid, stopped he would die. Just immediately evaporate into thin air.
Nothing else mattered.
Not a single person. A single action. A single moment or memory.
Not any of his stupid hopes or dreams for the future.
Everything fell to ruin, except for Jayce Vian.
The wild grass turned into well-manicured lawn as he ran.
It didn’t matter.
The campus of his school blurred under him.
There was a fence.
It didn’t matter.
His body slowed down and grew exhausted as he climbed the fence like his life depended on it, which in some ways, it did.
But it didn’t matter.
All that mattered was that shining stadium which housed the most important person in Li’s world.
The Eviander Stadium (Paid for by an extremely generous donation from a sponsor) rose high into the sky. A towering place of battle.
There were guards of course, but it was easy to convince them that he had left his ticket inside with his friends. What wasn’t easy was convincing them that he should still be allowed inside.
“Oh come on guys, my boyfriend’s playing tonight!”
Li pleaded with the guards, his voice slightly whiny and petulant despite his attempts to be taken seriously.
He hadn’t meant to say boyfriend, but it’s the first thing he’d thought of.
”Oh really? Tell us then, who’s this mysterious boyfriend of yours?”
Guard 1 asked with a raised eyebrow.
Li cursed under his breath, why couldn’t people just be incompetent from time to time?
“Not that it’s really any of your business, but… Jayce Vian.”
Li rolls his eyes at Guard 1’s snickering.
”My [Truth Sense] is acting up. I’d give it a 50/50, weird.”
Guard 2 stated, rubbing his chin.
“That’s because you keep putting off leveling it. What’s the point of having the Truth Seeker title if you don’t level the Skill, Rick?”
Guard 1 chastises his co-worker before turning back to Li.
”Kid, we get it, he’s some sports guy but claiming to be the guy’s boyfriend is kinda weird.”
Something in Li snapped at the implication. That Jayce Vian was some distant entity and Li just wasn’t good enough to be associated with such greatness.
“Yeah, he’s some sports guy now. But unlike everyone else I still remember when Jayce was a dumb nobody like me. Oh but one stupid little duel and suddenly he’s a god on Earth. And alllll of Syciali is just so lucky to be blessed with his presence. Did you know that he hasn’t seriously talked to me in weeks? Now he just suddenly texts me one day, telling to show up to his game and… and… um…”
Li’s bitterness must have felt genuine, because the poor guards were staring at him as if he were a rabid animal.
”Gods… uh… Go ahead kid. I hope you and your boyfriend work things out… jeez.”
Li sheepishly thanked the 2 guards and ran ahead.
He pushed past the crowd and somehow made it to the edge of the ring without being trampled.
There he saw him.
Jayce Vian, in all his sweaty glory, dueling someone from one of the other 4 schools in Doramu.
----------------------------------------
Jayce Vian leaped back, dodging from the sword that would’ve shot straight into his heart.
“This is regionals,”
He reminded himself.
“Focus!”
But even with his mental chastising, he couldn’t help but be drawn back to… him.
Li Salatur, his… something. Friend? Ex-Friend? Frenemy? Jayce was still working on a definition for their relationship.
Jayce had made an oopsie when he’d texted Li out of the blue like that, but he wouldn’t lie and say that he regretted it.
”I hope he comes…”
Jayce barely even looked as he parried the snake-like slices of his opponent.
The crowd cheered, but it only served to make Jayce feel even more uninterested in this match.
He wasn’t trying to be cool! He didn’t want to be cool until-
“Jayce!”
Jayce flinched before he instinctively kicked the poor person in the stomach, sending them flying into the stadium wall. The stadium roared, that had been his first actual offensive move in the entire match.
Jayce whipped his head back to match the voice to the face, a grin already sneaking up on his face.
Lily.
Now he could stop holding back and finally start showing off.
Jayce turned back to his opponent and charged forward like a mad bull, cutting his way across the stadium in seconds.
He brought his sword down with a devastating chop, the muscles in his body cheering at the opportunity to finally work at their full strength.
His opponent just barely managed to raise their sword to block the blow, but the impact caused their arms to shake and turn to mush.
Jayce couldn’t keep the smirk off his face.
He knew logically that he was stronger than almost everyone his own age, but finally being able to relish in it was a euphoric feeling.
Training swords never felt this good. There was something about the clashing of metal that sung to Jayce, and getting to show off his immense strength was just icing on the cake.
Jayce’d never admit it, but a part of him loved being so much bigger and stronger then everyone else.
Obviously the balance of power would change when classes became involved, but he already had a head start on his peers, and he knew he worked harder then a lot of them.
His trainers always reminded him to never get too much of an ego, for complacency was born from arrogance.
But Li was here, so a bit of hubris was ok.
Jayce picked his smaller opponent by the neck and slammed them into the ground.
The squirming figure glowed yellow with some kind of enhancement skill, but it wasn’t enough to budge Jayce in the slightest.
This got them squirming even more, but no amount of flailing would allow them to escape the Warrior.
So helpless, and Jayce hadn’t even had to use a single skill.
Jayce marveled at how his biceps were as big as his trapped opponent’s head.
He could crush them so easily.
He could already feel muscle and bone snapping under his might.
He could do anything he wanted, and no one could really stop him.
He was only gonna get stronger from here, so much stronger.
Jayce loved his strength.
And he loved the thought that this strength would allow him to protect those he loved, like Lily-
Li.
Jayce broke from his trance and looked towards Li, who was staring at Jayce as if he were some sort of monster.
Jayce heard a long raspy breath from under him the moment he loosed his grip.
”Jayce, bud, let go.”
Jayce felt himself being pulled away, restraining skills being applied, and realized that not even his coach could properly contain him.
He felt the skill constructs around his body, and he knew that with a lazy flex of his willpower they’d snap.
He looked around the arena and saw a couple people heading for the door. Evacuating from him. Running from him. Escaping him.
He could catch them. He could kill them.
Some soldiers rushed in. His [Gauge Opponent] told they could maybe defeat him if they ganged up on him.
He could kill them all.
He could do anything he wanted, and no one could really stop him.
That marvelous pair of eyes dark as the night caught on his.
An image appeared in Jayce’s head.
His bones shattered. His perfect caramel skin bruised and beaten. His soft, small hands broken. His silky hair disheveled and stained with blood.
His tiny frame… lying broken at Jayce Vian’s feet.
It made him want to claw his eyeballs out and chop off his sinful hands.
He couldn’t hurt Li.
He couldn’t, he couldn’t, he couldn’t, he COULDN’T, HE COULDN’T, HE COULDN’T!
Anything but that.
He didn’t look at Li, didn’t dare to.
Jayce had been sloppy. He’d thought it was enough to just be strong.
It wasn’t. If Li looked at him like that, then it wasn’t.
Jayce had to do better, he had to work harder.
He’d train his ass off to control his strength.
Then no one would ever have to be scared of him again.
Nothing else was good enough.
Jayce shivered as he felt soft hands wrap around him.
”You did great.”
That melodic voice whispered into his ear like siren song.
It was such a glorious sound he almost believed Li. But no, Jayce did not do great. He’d failed.
This shouldn’t feel so good.
Jayce wanted to sink his claws into Li and never let go. He wanted to lock Li in a guarded room to make sure they were never separated again. Jayce wanted things he didn’t even know he wanted, a gaping void of need replacing logic.
“You’re so damn cool… like… my own big beam of person-shaped sunlight.”
Li’s voice cracked as he said the last few words, and Jayce’s soul cracked with it.
He wanted to hold Li, he wanted to touch Li, he wanted to KI-
Jayce’s hand dug into the earth.
Jayce wanted so much… but he let his coach separate the two.
The last thing he saw as he was rushed away from the arena for what would likely be a lengthy lecture about his behavior, was the desperate face of the best thing that’d ever happened to him.
Jayce couldn’t hurt Li. He’d lock himself away and train until Jayce would never lose himself ever again, lose Li.
Jayce couldn’t hurt him.
Jayce couldn’t become his father.
----------------------------------------
The Class gate opened in front of Li in a way that felt much more aggressive then the previous times.
A tear in space opening up to the void.
Nothingness.
That’s what laid beyond.
Nothing except regret. Everything Li had ever wished for, all the things he should’ve done, could have done if only he’d had just a bit more time, flashed through his head on repeat.
All the people he’d leave behind, what they’d do without him, every sob and tear and ache and second of their collective grief.
Suddenly the System’s talk of paths made a horrid kind of sense, as Li was subjected to the grief resulting from every death he’d suffered in every universe he’d ever been born in.
All the steps he would've taken, so many photos without him in them, all futures and presents and pasts where Li Salatur had stopped existing… all laid out in cold, clinical detail.
Like a ghost witnessing his own funeral.
ALL CLASS MEMORIES DISPLAYED.
CHOOSE.
The class names as well as their respective gates appeared before Li. He could vaguely feel the other presences fading away, unable to influence his choice
Instinctively he knew he had to step through one to choose his class.
Li looked through each gate one last time, he felt he had to. He had a responsibility to face the things he’d done and the paths that he took.
HUNTER
The bowstring being drawn back.
MAGE
That thunder and fire that rained down.
TAMER
The companionship, the utter destruction of his loneliness.
OPERATOR
The small, empty box filled with a robot he had no love nor care for.
Li forced himself to look through the gate of the Operator of the Simulacrum and promptly gagged.
All his senses filled with the essence of Jayce Vian.
He could see that golden hair in the corner of his eye. Hear that joyous giggle. Feel that smooth, supple skin. Taste his full, inviting lips. Smell the dirt and grass that he’d always been caked with when he’d come home from a quest.
He forced himself to look away and once again abandon his best friend, his partner and crime, his everything.
HEALER
The relief that came with dragging someone back from the realm of the dead.
BRAWLER
The gate opened invitingly as Li looked at it, as if glad Li hadn’t forgotten it was there in the chaos of Ghost.
He saw himself as hulking, charging mass hurtling towards his enemies. Each fist a force of nature.
There were no fancy moves or cheap tricks, just pure raw strength and the destruction that followed it.
GHOST
The void finally ended, and Li saw himself as a lonely, lamenting spirit.
He slowly drifted through the world, never able to move forward, never able to change.
He’d spend the rest of forever regretting everything he’d done.
How stupid he’d been, how much better he could’ve done things.
Li grit his teeth.
Why could’ve he just have done better?
Why couldn’t he just be better?
But no, now he was weak, he was pathetic, he was alone-
Li slashed a hand through the gate before it could infect him anymore with its… his negativity. The sum total of all his weakness.
The gate dissolved into little motes and disappeared, and Li could tell that it wouldn’t be back as long as he kept not wanting it.
“Good.”
Li thought to himself before turning his attention back to his other classes.
Li had always imagined it’d be a difficult decision, but it wasn’t.
Hunter, Tamer, Operator, and Brawler dissolved. Now only Mage and Healer were left.
It made sense, they were both magic classes after all.
The two classes evolved into replicas of the future Magic user.
One donned violet robes of silk and the elements danced and weaved along his fingertips.
The other wore robes of green, and golden light illuminated his body.
They both smiled at the true Li, so happy and fulfilled.
They loved what they did, and they were good at at too.
It was a matter of preference at this point.
Power or Utility?
Li took a deep breath… and stepped in front of the Healer.
One thought rung in his head as he did so.
“A Healer could have saved him.”
If Li had just been faster, he could’ve partied with Jayce.
Jayce could’ve lived if Li hadn’t been lazy.
Li wouldn’t let his carelessness kill anyone else. If he could save just one person from Jayce’s fate, dying alone in an unfamiliar land, then it’d be worth it.
The Healer was crying as he smiled, and Li found himself doing the same.
The Healer and Li embraced, and became one.
Congratulations! You have obtained the class: Healer!
Congratulations! You have gained +2 to all stats!
Congratulations! You have obtained the following skills:
Heal (Level 1)
Support Stat (Level 1)
Soothe Ailment (Level 1)
Basics Name Li Salatur Health 60 Mana 130 Stamina 50 Status Depressed (Mental), Overweight (Physical) Title Operator Level 1 EXP 12/100 Class Healer
Stats Strength 4 Intelligence 13 (+5 T) Toughness 6 Perception 6 Wisdom 11 (+5 T) Dexterity 6 Charisma 12 (+5 T)
Skills (6) Analyze (Active) 1 Lesser Linked Telepathy (Active) 1 Heal (Active) 1 Soothe Ailment (Active) 1 Support Stat (Active) 1 Command Knowledge (Passive) 1
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“Li… you… you’re… so amazing.”
Li shuddered as Jayce’s hand slowly reached beneath Li’s underwear and…
“J-Jayce I don’t think I’m ready! And… and I know that’s really stupid because I’m 17 and I should be ready. And you’re really hot and you want to be with me of all people and I should be grateful and just let you do what you want and-”
Jayce kissed Li, giving the rambling boy a full factory reset.
“Li, I’m not a barbarian, despite my class. I can wait… I’d wait til the day I die if you want.”
Jayce murmured as he pulled his hand away, the glint in his eyes making it clear he was struggling to control his urges.
“I just… I don’t get it… why do you even like me? I’d hate somebody like me.”
Jay laughed, making Li blush. How pathetic he must’ve looked. He sounded like he was fishing for compliments. He sounded needy. He-
“There was never another option.”
Jayce began, cutting off yet another hateful inner monologue.
“I’ve been in love with you ever since you first patched me… no, since you went to that one game of mine… nope, that’s not it.”
Jayce was quiet for a long time, lost in thought as his sunset colored eyes narrowed.
“I think I loved you ever since we became friends. Not in the same way, but… whenever I imagined being with somebody. Even… m-marriage… I thought about you. No other girl or guy has ever caught my attention the way you do daily. I don’t like anyone else, I don’t want anyone else. I want you, Lily.”
Jayce smiled as he finished, before kissing Li on the forehead and hugging him tighter.
Li looked away to hide the tears that were stubbornly building up in his eyes.
“W-well I thought about your friend Mark, so… ha… j-jokes on you.”
Li’s voice crumbled as he tried to tease and he couldn’t stop himself from beginning to sob.
Jayce didn’t say anything, simply holding Li, the [Sunlit Warrior]’s presence a steady light in the darkness.
An eternal flame that would never go out.
Ever.