The bath was massive, looking more like a shallow pool. The water led to an open window with an amazing view of the ocean. Sitting with water up to my chest I looked at Mac, who was glaring at me from across the bath. “I really am sorry” I repeated for the third time. Mac just started at me through the rising steam.
After some time, he let out a breath. “What is your health at anyway? That was a lot of blood and-” He gagged a little, “muck that came out of you.” Frowning, he grabbed some soap and washed his face for the fifth time, he even opened his mouth and scrubbed his tongue.
Swallowing some bile that had reached the back of my throat I thought the words “Status”.
A blue window appeared in front of me.
Name: Reigner
Race: Human
level: 0
Class: Summoner
Health: 680/1220.
HP Regen: 1.5/minute
Stamina: 2370/2370.
SP Regen: 77/minute
Mana: 85/85.
MP Regen: 9/minute
Strength: 96
Constitution: 74
Dexterity: 89
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 7
My stats had dropped by a lot. I now had less than ten percent of what my stats used to be. My int and wis were always abysmal, but that didn’t concern me. Just seeing that I had access to them made me excited. I focused on my class and the window expanded, providing more information.
Class: Summoner
Class traits: 25% increase to all summoned items and creatures.
+ 20 health per level
+ 60 mana per level
+ 0.5 mana regen per level.
The bonuses looked to be powerful. A 25% bonus will make quite the difference at high levels.
I checked to see if any of my skills followed me from the other world and thought the word “skills”.
The window was blank. No skills, old or new, appeared.
“I’m a bit over half health. It looks like all the points I earned were kept while all the stat points from levels were taken away. I lost all my active and passive skills too. I expected to see something there.”
“You have a magic class now, right? Did you check your spells?”
I slapped my forehead, thought the word “spells”, and a new window popped up in front of me. One I never had access to before.
Spells:
Summon Mana Marble (0)
There it was. my first spell. Focusing on it, I received more information.
Summon Mana Marble
Rank: 0
Cost: 30 MP
Effect: 12 MP (base 10)
Description: Summons your mana into a physical form. The marble, when activated, will give the holder some mana. Higher rank increases effect. Summoned item will vanish after 10 hours.
I spoke the words “Summon Mana Marble” and lifted my hand out of the water. I felt mana rush down my arm, into my hand which formed a slightly opaque glass ball about the size of a large marble or ping pong ball. The marble had the same feel and weight of glass. I focused on the item, trying to activate it but had no luck. I tried to squeeze it but that didn’t work either. At least it’s durable.
“How do you activate an item?”
“Oh, what did you summon? Try sending your mana into it.”
I tossed the marble to Mac and summoned another.
Mac caught the marble and said, “You don’t have to say the spell out loud. It’s a bad habit to form. Instead think of using the spell and touch your mana. If you use your starting spell a few more times you should gain enough experience to reach level one in your class.”
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Focusing on his advice I pushed my mana towards the marble through my fingers.
The marble faded, becoming more transparent until it completely vanished from my hand. I felt a small rush of energy flow from where the marble was into my body.
I checked my current mana. 38 mana left.
Thinking of the spell instead of saying it out loud, I focused on my hand and remembered the feeling of mana running down my arm. After a moment the spell activated, and another marble appeared in my hand.
I start chuckling, my first ever spell. This is amazing. My chuckling turned into a yelp as I felt a small explosion inside of me. A wave of water rushed out from where I was sitting and travelled over to Mac, smacking him in the face. A small blue window popped up at the corner of my vision.
+1 Intelligence.
+1 to Mana Marble’s Spell rank.
Level up!
3 attribute points gained
Sleep or meditation required.
I let out a laugh. “Look at that. I reached level one.”
Mac wiped his hair out of his face and glared at me. “I’m leaving.” He pulled himself out the water and walked to the changing room.
Giving Mac some privacy, I decided to stay in the bath a bit longer. I used the time to think over my stats.
My previous class, Hero, automatically increased each of my physical stats by one and gave one free stat point that I could assign how I wanted each level. I was never able to place any points into intelligence or wisdom as they interacted with mana. Each attribute stat had a direct impact on a person and could be gained from either leveling or doing something that exercised the attribute.
In the simple terms that I understood.
Strength increased how hard you hit things and let you lift heavier objects.
Constitution increased stamina, how long you could hit things for, Health, the number of times you could be hit before dying, and recovery speed, the time it takes until you could hit and be hit again.
Dexterity increased coordination, the ease of landing a hit, and speed, letting you hit things faster.
Intelligence increased mana capacity, letting you cast more spells.
And lastly, wisdom increased mana recovery, allowing you to cast more often.
To be fair, it’s a bit more complicated than that, but that’s all I bothered to remember.
Bringing up my status, I placed two attribute points into intelligence and one into wisdom. A smile tugged the corners of my mouth as I watched my magical stats increase.
I closed my status and looked at the marble in my hands. Incredible. I started laughing. I did it. I actually casted magic. “I have mana!”
Each level until level ten will bring a new skill or spell. I expect that once I wake up tomorrow, I will have access to a creature summon or offensive spell that will help me kill things and gain experience… “No more fighting up close, no more getting drenched in blood and dirt.” Feeling tears on my face I laughed even harder.
Inside the changing room was a set of clothes and sandals laid out for me. The clothes were of a dark blue cotton like fabric that felt soft to the touch. I put on the pants and wrapped the robe around me. While working out how to tie the robe closed, I overheard some girls talking to each other outside, walking down the passageway.
“Did you hear about what happened in the meditation room?”
“Hear about it? I was helping Sera clean it! The room looked like a murder scene. We had to burn the mats”
“It was the newly summoned right? I heard he came in with the Elder Knight. Jake told me that his muscles are so big he almost mistook him for a pink Orc!”
Giggling, the ladies continued walking. I waited until their voices faded, before stepping out.
Hmm… what way was it again?
Choosing the opposite direction of the gossiping duo, I turned left and walked down the hallway.
The building was like a beautifully decorated maze of interconnecting hallways. Each of the white walls had murals of flowers, fish, clouds, and dragons painted on them. After about five minutes of walking, the hallway opened into a large library. There were countless shelves of books lined up in rows and there were large comfortable looking lounge chairs scattered around the place. A balcony floor above overlooked the room and held more shelves filled with books
People were sitting around reading and I decided to walk up to the nearest person. A young man with short black hair and no beard. He was alone and wearing the same dark blue robes as myself. He fell under my shadow as I got closer to greet him.
“Excuse me. I got a bit los-”
He slammed his book closed and stood to his feet in a rush. “What do-” His eyes, narrowed in anger, started to widen as he looked up towards me. “What do…” Clearing his throat he tried again. “What can I do for you? Mister uh…”
Not wanting to scare him further, I gave him my friendliest smile “No need for the mister. The names Reiner. I came here with Elder Knight Torak to use the…” Remembering the conversation I overheard I decided to not mention the awakening stone. “To see Hiro and got a bit separated. Do you know where they might be?”
“Right. Yes. Just wait here a moment and I’ll find out for you. Please, have a seat here”
I watched was he walked over to the wall by the entrance. He touched a panel against the wall and said a few words before walking back towards me.
“Sounds like they have been looking for you. Someone will be here shortly. My name is Richard, by the way.” Shaking my hand, he continued. “It’s an honour to meet you, Reigner. I must say, you have developed quite the reputation on your first day.”
I scratched the back of my head “Yeah… It’s starting to seem that way. Sorry for interrupting you before. What were you reading?”.
“Take a look”. Richard handed me the book. “It’s an epic love story with lots of struggles. Very engaging.”
I looked down at the book, the title read “Down the Rabbit hole” and on the back “The forbidden love story between man and beastkin, kept apart by two families at war.”
The word Beastkin brought back memories of socially awkward people obsessed with wearing animal costumes back on Earth. Oh no… Have they infected this world? Standing up I pushed the book back towards Richard “Ooh. Interesting” I lied “Well, I won’t keep you from it any longer. I’ll just wait over there.”
“Nonsense, I couldn’t possibly leave you alone. Please sit. Here, the first chapter is quite thrilling” I stepped to the side, dodging Richard’s attempt to hand the book over and took a few steps back. “No, no. I think I hear someone coming now. You should continue where you left off. Have a good evening!”
Before he could say another word, I turned around and started to quickly walk towards the hallway.
Watching from the doorway was Yui. She had changed clothes again. This time she was wearing the same blue robes as mine. Her hair looked silky smooth and was draped over her left shoulder. She is going to grow up to be a heart breaker for sure.
“Reigner, there you are. Elder Knight Torak has left and said he will meet you once you try the Tower. A room has been prepared so you may rest here.”
Yui took my arm and guided me down the hallway. “Master Gushiken has retired for the evening and asked if you would like to meet with him in the morning for breakfast.”
“Thank you. That sounds nice.” couldn’t hurt to be on good terms with this world’s hero.
A few seconds of silence went by while I sorted out my thoughts. “Yui… What happened at the Tower lobby… and here… at the Awakening stone...” Damn, it’s been so long since I last talked to a young woman. I couldn’t stop fumbling over my words.
Yui started shaking against my side. She let go of my arm, braced her hands on her legs and started laughing. Not cute schoolgirl laughter either but ugly, can’t stop yourself, snorting laughter.
“That was amazing! Never have I seen something so hilarious. The look on Mac’s face as he stood up... And the… the silhouette! I almost wish we left it as a mural!”. She bent over, unable to control herself and laughed harder. “Serves him right for knocking me over!”
“You’re not disgusted?”
Yui looked up towards me, her hands still supporting herself on her knees and she took a moment to catch her breath. “Disgusted? No. I have seen much worse in the tower… and besides, you look good in sandals.” She took me by the arm again and pulled me forwards. “Come on. I’ll show you to your room.”
I’m not sure how I felt about that comment. She is very beautiful sure, but she is just a kid. That’s a line I would never cross. Regardless of how long it has been since I felt the warmth of a woman. I mean thinking about it, I would have been fighting in in the tower before she was even born.
The room was about five metres square with a window on the back wall. Inside was a single bed, wardrobe, and a wooden desk with chair tucked beneath it. A platter of meat, sliced fruits, and what looked to be cheese sat on the desk. Yui bid me goodnight and left.
Alone in what felt like the first time in years. I sat down on the side of the bed and summoned a Mana Marble. Tossing it from hand to hand I thought about the life left behind. Reflecting on it now, It really was my personal version of Hell. Massive responsibility, insane pressure, a world filled with magic I could never touch. I laid down on the bed and stared up at the marble between my fingers. Maybe this world will be my Heaven. I fell asleep and dreamed of throwing fireballs and leading armies of magical summons.