Waking up to find out he did not even know his real birthday did not bother Oscar for long; he had Classes to check out. Even with the limited Skills he knew of there were still all kinds of well-known Aspiration Skills that could tell you how well a Class might suit you.
He went to the campfire, but rather than grab breakfast he handled the ladle and stirred the pot of gruel, awaiting the prompt; and he was finally of an age to summon it at will–the System was at last acknowledging him.
[Class Aspirant detected. Stirrer. Basic Temperature Check.Yes/No?]
Okay… That one was probably not for him. Couldn’t my first two prompted Classes have been something more exciting?
Cooking had just been the first thing Oscar’s sleepy mind could think of to try. Next he went back to his tent and picked out his sword to go swat at a target somewhere.
When he went off and found a tree he finally got his first look at the Enticer-Skill of a Class he had actually seriously considered.
[Class Aspirant detected. Bladesman. Parry Control. Yes/No?]
It was a well-known Skill… It meant he was Tier 2 at best.
Now, the rumour about a high-tier Skill denoting a strong affinity for the Class was exactly that; just a rumour. But when making a life-long decision it still felt like every factor mattered, however potentially imaginary.
Now, [Parry Control] was respectable, it had saved more than one warrior’s life, to survive the battle and level on–where a supposedly higher-tier level 1 [Bladesman] fell. And Brunner, to Sten to the Sprites, had all agreed that even if Oscar needed a Class to turn into a truly effective killer; he was still showing promise as an amateur.
And Oscar had worked hard enough to believe them.
Meaning he could well be able to turn such a Class around through hard work, if it was truly his passion; which it was not. But could I really have resisted if I’d gotten a Tier 10 Enticer, something such as [Phantom Slash], a truly legendary Skill? Probably not, heh. I might have picked it out of sheer greed before even talking to Livia, hah.
That was a well-known starter Skill of one of Humanity’s old legendary Kings–Sonny Bluetooth. But Oscar was not feeling bummed about his low prospects so far, not at all yet. It was too exciting; the next one might be anything still.
After that he snuck around and borrowed a dagger, and then brought his own hunting bow from the orchard to try out next.
[Class Aspirant detected. Bowman. Tracking Bead. Yes/No?]
[Class Aspirant detected. Skewerer. Cutthroat Hand. Yes/No?]
Damn, this was not looking good. He had not heard of [Cutthroat Hand] before, but unless you interpreted the ‘Cutthroat’ part very generously then it was likely a weaker Skill, simply meant to steady you for the kill. Same with the [Bowman] Skill; only useful until you developed true skill of your own, and yes; at that point it might upgrade, but if you showed true promise already then a Skill like that was not going to be on offer.
He was starting to feel a bit of a hint almost, regarding the relative strengths of each Skill being offered by the System. But it was vague, like an intuition. And he was not yet sure how well it worked; all the Skills he had sensed had been on the lower end.
And the System claiming a Skill was strong was still not a given you wanted it, or could figure it out in time for it to be useful; Harold’s Tier 10 [Voidthorn’s Grasp] being a prime example. Even if Harold had felt the strength of it back then–he would still not have been able to figure the Spell out any earlier; and it had frankly been useless thus far.
But these weaker Skills should not necessarily mean Oscar was unsuited for a physical combat-Class; he knew enough from all his research that he did not take his interpretations that far; the System could well just mean to show him he was better off with a less one-note Class. Versatile, I could be called that.
Something like [Soldier] was very different from these sort of weapon-proficiency Classes. They could allow you to be much better prepared for actual combat situations–providing Skills to not make you as drained from a long march, or one to help you dig out a ditch overnight–to provide you with some advantage of the ground that your enemy was not expecting to pop up so unexpectedly. After all, what use were your sword-Skills if you fell, broke your leg and then got shot from afar?
Redd could probably help him figure out how to prompt that one; but before Oscar could head over to ask, he was finally discovered by Livia, who shouted and made him jump.
Not that he’d been trying to avoid telling her–or telling anybody, the news–he was just so focused on finding out more about his options that he did not at all want to be interrupted, not until he'd found at least one Class he seemed to have a great affinity for.
But now the time had come, and Oscar was glad for it; yet Livia was somehow looking even more excited than him, the sixteen year old with a full on System rush going to his head.
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It had been a long morning so far, they were set to start heading out and it was delay after delay at this point. First off one of the oxen vomited–as it turns out it had somehow managed to munch up someone's leather shoe in the night, and now it needed a little time before it could eat again or they would just be stopping again in an hour when it grew hungry and unruly.
Then Albert ended up stuck at their designated natural latrine, adamant that he needed more time before getting back up. And if nature’s toll was due then it was due, not much they could do other than abandon him to catch up, and he’d earned more respect than that by now at least.
Everyone else was standing packed and ready to go, with the thick tents all put on the carts last.
It was not until Mr Beard pointed it out that Livia noted an exception. Despite Oscar having found the time to get his stuff packed up, he was still not standing around waiting with the others, rather he seemed busy going off on errand after errand, and he had barely talked to anyone else after showing up looking distracted for a late breakfast.
Now that she approached him she immediately found that her [Guild]-master’s intuition was kicking in. The boy was laden with equipment that should have been on the carts by now, of a variety that made it seem like he had several urgent tasks to get to, and he had on a fervent look, almost like he was on a special task or something; so Livia used her [Rare Quest] Skill on a whim.
She immediately noticed how her options for Oscar had expanded by a new crucial addition: three [Quests] to get a Class.
She went up to him in a dash, barely knowing what to say yet; her mind was having too many thoughts at once and it had all ground to a stand-still.
Before when she targeted a member of her [Guild] with the Skill it always showed her a variety of options, with vague descriptions that she could only barely understand the hidden objectives of, most of the time. It had not to this day shown Livia anything when trying the next [Epic Quest] part, but it was still early days and they had several theories as to why that was.
The new addition was a surprise though; they had not tried giving an Aspirant a [Quest] before, not having had anyone at that stage in the [Guild]. Now Livia was suddenly provided with a list of three locally available, rare Classes that the System felt suited for Oscar.
Livia’s eyes were drawn strictly to the one at the top; [Squire]
[Rare Quest Available: Ride out and bring your master her shield; it appears to be misplaced. Reward: Access to Class, Squire. Hidden Objective Available. Reward: Hidden]
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[Rare Quest Available: Seek the path that has been lost for millenia; where nobody alive knows what remains in hiding. Reward: Access to Class, Explorer. Hidden Objective Available. Reward: Hidden]
[Rare Quest Available: Bring the season’s efforts of your Guild to market and negotiate a personal deal on the side. Reward: Access to Class, Guild Trader. Hidden Objective Available. Reward: Hidden]
It had been so long since they had time to indulge in stopping to progress their Classes, but this was feeling like an opportunity too good to pass up. She made a bee-line right at Oscar, who looked up like he’d been caught out.
“Oscar, what are you doing, why didn’t you come to me straight away!? I’ve got a [Quest] for you, and you’re gonna love it, the reward especially: it’s the [Squire] Class!”
Oscar looked pretty happy, this certainly sounded like it might work out better than the Classes he’d been trying out thus far. “Wow, that’s great Livia, Eh I had no idea your Skill did that,” Livia was nodding along, happily smiling. “How does it work, does the [Quest] seem hard?”
“Oh, uh, yeah. You know, vague as usual, it says you’re supposed to find me a shield. No idea how, but the Quest might help out somehow, you’ll have to try it on for size to see!”
Oscar nodded at that, but then the idea struck him. “Any other new [Quests] like that available, Livia?”
It wasn’t that Livia had been planning to hide it, she had just been expecting Oscar to jump at the chance to get the Class she had been hyping up for so long, even if she realized the specific Class might sound a bit paltry compared to some. “Uh, yeah man. I’ve got another Quest for Explorer, and one for [Guild Trader], but me and Elin have the trading part covered, she’s been behind the counter watching Solomon work his shop for over a year, so no worries on that account with me backing her up.”
Oscar could certainly buy that. He did have a head for maths, but he’d gotten started at it late in life and so was not exactly fond of the practice of filling papers full of notes.
Livia continued. “Uh, and Explorer, it might be cool, but we’re not really at that stage to send you out on your own yet, you know? Not to mention Alfred is sort of on that side of things with his [Ranging Herbalist] Class,”
As usual when arguing for Oscar to take the [Squire] Class Livia was getting both passionate and long-winded.
Oscar could see the merit of all her points, but it was still such a big decision. And it was hard picturing himself as a Rider on a magical beast, nekkid from the neck down. Although to be riding a giant owl would be pretty damn cool, how large is Algernon likely to grow, hm. He’s not fully matured yet, is he?
In the end he just asked Livia for the day to think on it; and the delays were all over and done with by this point, so Livia was hard-pressed to argue for more time with the way she had been rushing people earlier. She looked a bit worried.
Livia agreed that taking a day was the right choice, even if it was the correct Class; rushing it could leave you with unnecessary doubts. I just hope we don't get out of range of the [Quest] or something.
They ended up putting the last few things together on the carts and started heading back to civilization; But Oscar promised to have a response for her by tonight.
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Each morning was a physical routine for Sten. It had been since childhood and his body had come to expect it.
He did several strength exercises with nothing but his bodyweight, but for hundreds of repetitions. He pushed his limberness to the point of pain–making sure nothing was stiff. Then he shadowboxed, and worked on his breathing rhythm, focusing carefully on making a perfect exhale with each strike.
Harold and Kalle had actually confessed, drunkenly, that they had thought he was mimicking his father or something when they first heard him do it, that he was merely adding on to make the same noise that Birgir's strikes probably sounded like, but with his mouth. Who would even do something so pathetic, beyond childhood? Amateurs get the funniest ideas.
Sten felt certain that he was among those at the bottom going by the gains from their visit with the Great Spirit. The lesson with a wounded warrior and a sunbear that he'd been stuck in repeatedly for the duration of the week was not easily comprehended. In fact if he had not gotten to know Van Vicci a bit closer during that final day he might well have thought the experience was merely cheap; that it was repeating due to low effort on the part of the creator.
But when he exited the valley it had instead been with a feeling of being convinced the repetition was simply to drive a particularly important lesson home. But that conviction took a bruise the morning after, when they learned how Redd had potentially been manipulated into encouraging them to go. Is the Titan actually just trying to turn me away from healing, by giving me two outcomes ending in death no matter my choice?
Sten could not fathom that being so, it felt too petty.
Today was the day they started heading back to civilization, and it was about damn time. Sten missed having walls around him, but most of all he was concerned for the woman he had found so wounded, just the day before they entered Van Vicci’s Rainbow Valley. She had yet to regain consciousness for more than a blurry minute, despite the fact she must be high level to have survived such wounds for over a day without being discovered.
Harold had made sure she was healed to the best of his abilities, but her body remained too drained for a genuine recovery it would seem.
Sten had seen it at the healing house before, but never from someone younger, or even middle aged. Only the oldest were among those whose high-level bodies would not focus on recovery for some reason, in his limited experience.
Now they had made her a soft bed that should cushion the worst of the forest’s uneven ground, from their collected sleeping gear. There had been some grumbles over not getting to ride the more and more empty cart that had originally carried their provisions, but it was hard to summon any true anger at someone who had obviously fought so hard, and for all their sakes really.
Their expedition was underway again, with everyone bumping along in good cheer. Sten hopped onto the cart to take a closer look at how she was doing.
She did not really look like a frontline fighter, but then she might just be lacking her armour for some reason; she’d had on the gambeson you would expect underneath when they first found her and cleaned her of the ruined cloth and blood.
There was certainly a strength in her face, and the tufts of her brown hair was ragged like a warrior’s, likely to be dripping with sweat more often than not.
Somehow it was like his scrutiny had awoken her; and it was clearly not welcome, at all.
Her eyes flared open, and stuck to him like orbs of vengeance, before the mouth started yelling. “AAAAHH. Get the fuck away from me!”
She was up from underneath the covers quicker than the blink of an eye, and then her arm blurred and had already shoved Sten off from the cart that was going full tilt; which was luckily not very fast.
She was clearly moving like someone over level 40. “Where the fuck am I––where is Johnny and Silvia–where Oliviana?”
Obviously nobody had any idea who she was talking about, and she still looked feverish. The pain in her eyes was making her look around frantically.
They tried talking her down, but she would not let anyone get near and only kept repeating the same question, in a more and more dazed voice. Eventually she just tipped over and fell back onto her covers, the little energy she’d been able to amass expended in less than half an hour.
The halted expedition decided it was best to simply set up camp for the night, they had been planning to in another three hours anyway, where their map showed them a waterfall–but they had water aplenty, if not quite so fresh.
Livia took that extra time to go see where Oscar’s mind was leaning.