“I’M SORRY!”
That was the first thing I heard when we returned from the mission. It came from Phillip, bowing his head as low as his body allowed him to.
“What?” Maria and I shared a glance, clueless; none of us knew where this came from.
Yeah, the previous mission went as terribly as it could. None of us, save for Maria, was prepared with potions for healing. Hell, I’d say her potions alone were worth her spot in the party; not to say that she was more than capable on her own.
And well, if we mentioned the mistakes we made in there… There were just too many to count. My plans weren’t infallible, and if there were any changes in the variables of that scenario, none of us would be here right now.
“It’s alright… I made mistakes too.” I said, “Maria came in clutch, your potions-“
“-Are worth sharing.” She continued my sentence. “Though, can I be honest? I… thought I’d die in there. Phew.”
Me too, Maria, Me too.
“-I was too confident in myself,” Phillip spoke, turning his head down. “I underestimated it, and you paid the price.”
Maria laughed, nudging him on his back. “Relax, you did most of the damage on that thing, be proud!”
I wasn’t conscious after the severing of my bones before their figures reached the Hobgoblin, so my recollection was blurry at best. Maria had to fill in about what happened after, beginning with my shattered bones and ending with the instant healing that happened after the mission was completed. If they failed—if the hobgoblin survived his back attack—the last memory I had would be that; the image of my friends rushing in to save me.
But what shocked me was what happened after; the points distribution that Phillip decided upon; he didn’t take any of the points. I wasn’t awake when it happened, so I couldn’t stop him from doing it. Phillip vehemently refused any attempts from us to gift his points back. We tried, multiple times, even, but he always said no.
The gargantuan 1200 points were shared between me and Maria instead, each of us gaining 600; A crazy boost to our points accumulation; and consequently, just enough for a class stone.
Wait, not yet. I needed to save up some points for the potions. What kind of a person was I to depend on Maria like that? She was kind enough to share before, and I didn’t want to take her for granted.
While Phillip’s overcompensation bothered me, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t happy with the extra points. It felt like there were deeper meanings behind his apparent generosity, but I could come up with a reason or two, one of them being the state of his psyche during the end of the fight; a face of his that I’d rather not remember.
We all kept some kind of a secret deep down inside us, and Phillip wasn’t an exception.
“I’ll get some potions for ourselves. Hey, I’ll cover yours too, Phillip.” I remarked, purchasing 5 potions without sparing a second thought; Reducing my total points to 943, just enough to squeeze in a class stone. We would operate as a unit from now on, It didn’t take a genius to conclude that we should take care of one another, sometimes, at the cost of our personal goals. At the end of the day, I couldn’t tackle these missions on my own, so investing in the party made sense.
He, again, wanted to refuse but stopped himself. Instead, he patted me on the shoulder and smiled.
“We agreed to share the points three ways,” Maria said, clearing her throat. “And that is what we’ll do going forward, right?”
The three of us shared a look. From the single mission—and multiple near-death events—A sense of camaraderie was formed, despite our differences. “So, what’s next?” Opening the missions list, I peeked at the others for their input.
“The next mission below the goblins looked interesting…” Maria scratched her chin, “But… I think it’s better if there are four of us. From the way the mission is worded, one of us needs to carry the torch.”
“I second that.” Phillip said, studying the mission list, “Based on what happened, I think I have underestimated these missions. Never again.”
In the end, We — Phillip and I — were all guilty of the same crime.
The idea itself was logical. One more party member would alleviate the burden of each one of our roles, but we also had to find someone that we could trust; A rarity Maria was a lucky find, and she made it easy by approaching us first, as for the others… any prospective party member had either died or formed their parties at this time.
So to find someone vacant—in other words, a free agent—would prove challenging.
“Before that…” Maria’s voice whipped me out of my idle musings, “I almost have enough for a class stone, do any of you have a class yet? What’s it like? Or should I save for the armor set instead?”
Saving for points meant that we were gimping our combat potential by not buying potions or skills and spells. It was a risky decision, one that could spell the doom of every one of us if not done right.
“Do what you think is best,” I replied. Of course, I was interested in the armor set too, but it was the most expensive item in the shop, a price where I had to stop spending my points on anything else to get it.
She dipped her head, deep in thought.
“I mean… in games, a class is always useful.” I continued. “So I don’t think it’ll be a waste.”
“For something at that price, it better not be.” Maria sighed, resting her arms on her hips. “I was so close, too…”
I opened the shop list.
Trial obelisk shop
Current pass level : 1
Stock replenishes in 6 days.
Free weapon voucher : 2
Item name
In stock
Price
Minor health potions
45
25 pts
Minor Mana potions
50
25 pts
Rank 0 - Armor set
1
2000 pts
Rank 0 - Class stone
1
800 pts
Rank 0 - Skill / Spell book
0
300 pts
Basic Iron spear
1
-
Basic Iron shield
1
-
Basic Iron sword
1
-
Basic Iron dagger
1
-
Basic Iron Bow
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
1
-
Basic Iron staff
1
-
Basic Iron Katana
1
-
Basic Iron Claymore
1
-
Basic Iron Warhammer
1
-
Arrows
1
3 pts
My eyes were fixed on the class stone entry. Licking my lips, I willed the screen to purchase the stone, then greeted by a purchase confirmation screen.
[Purchase: Rank 0 - Class stone?]
Closing my eyelids, I chose yes.
Within the next instant I bought the stone, I felt the presence of an alien object floating right above the ground, about a meter away from where we stood. Excitement filled my bloodstream, and I peeked through, witnessing the stone in its full glory.
And… Well, it is a stone, alright. I expected it to be pretty; presenting itself like how a typical gemstone was, but what was displayed in front of my eyes was just a regular rock, like those you’d see when you walk outside.
To say that it disenchanted me would be a slight understatement. But, perhaps all may not be what it seemed.
“What’s that? Did you just buy a rock?” Phillip spoke, studying the almighty stone I just bought with almost all of my points. “Wait, is that…”
“Yep.” There was no need for me to clarify any further. “Like the saying goes… Don’t judge the rock by its underwhelming nature.”
Maria chuckled, unable to contain her laugh. “Well, try it out, then. I want to see what happens.”
I raised my arm and touched the cold surface of the stone. At first, it felt like how all regular rock felt; The coarse exterior prickled my nerves when I held it close in my palm, the lack of heat dissipating from my skin, then the absolute rigidness of this object that allowed it to retain its form no matter how much force I put into my fist.
But that was just the beginning. As I grew familiar with the stone, it began to heat up on its own, as if there was a core inside of whatever this stone was made of. Then, it glowed, its color turning from its usual ashen white to a dim orange. All of our eyes were wide in shock after witnessing such an unusual event; Although, should we even be surprised anymore at this point? The extraordinary events that led up to this moment were deserving of their place as the strangest times we’d ever lived in.
Yet, we remained as stunned as any normal human would be.
[Class stone used. Due to your rank, The sanctum does not deem you worthy of selecting your class.]
“What?” I blurted out, annoyed. How stingy is this sanctum?
[Class found.]
Class : Death’s conscript
Rarity: Rare | Affinity: Death | Tier : 0 - upgradeable.
Level : 1 (0%) | +2 strength, toughness| +1 Vitality| +2 Arcane, Arcane.Power | +1 Arcane. Defense
To be the death’s Emissary, one must walk the path of the damned. To be the Death’s will, one must delve into the deepest corners of their own heart. That journey begins from being the instrument of the Death’s will, allowing its seed to grow inside of your soul.
At the furthest corners of the Universal Sanctum, We await you.
At the deepest center of the Universal Sanctum, You will find your True Death.
Flabbergasted, I stopped blinking at the sight of my class description. While the title of the class was somewhat disappointing, Conscript meant that I was some type of a recruit; however, how could I be the recruit of Death itself? I mean, Death wasn’t a God, nor was it an organization. It was a concept, an understanding, and also, an inevitability. The end of one’s path.
The two of them were curious about how I had reacted to my class, and as much as I would love to explain it; I simply… couldn’t. There were just too many questions that I would want the answer to — The description itself was full of nothing but confusing texts — and I ended up only explaining that it was good with a hesitant thumbs up.
“Do you feel any different?” Maria asked, her curiosity unsated, “Tell me more!”
As for how I felt…
“I don’t think I’m any different than before. It’s just business as usual.” I said, shrugging. “The only difference I could perceive was the attribute bonuses, and even that was a fleeting difference at its best.”
Speaking of attribute changes…
[Displaying status in a compact format, adding fields from class bonuses]
[Now displaying status in an intermediate format.]
STATUS
HEALTH
44/44
MANA
40/40
RANK
-
Level
7
POINTS
18
RACE
HUMAN - 1
ACTIVE CLASS
Death’s conscript (1)
SUB CLASS
none
FREE ATTR. PTS
2
ATTRIBUTES - BODY
ATTRIBUTES
Class Bonuses
Total Attr.
STRENGTH (12%)
4( +1, +1 )
2
8
SPEED (54%)
2(+2)
-
4
TOUGHNESS (3%)
6 (+3)
2
8
VITALITY (87%)
6(+3)
1
8
RESISTANCE (2%)
1
-
1
ATTRIBUTES - MIND
ATTRIBUTES
Class Bonuses
Total Attr.
ARCANE (10%)
8 (+5,, +1)
2
15
ARCANE. POW (83%)
7 (+1)
2
10
ARCANE. DEF (20%)
1
1
2
WILLPOWER (12%)
1
-
1
AFFINITIES
SOUL INTEGRATION
Equipped soul
Goblin Nightblade
Skill
Camouflage
Attribute bonuses
Strength + 1, Speed + 2, Arcane +1
CLASS
Name :
Death’s conscript
Level
1
Attribute bonuses :
+2 Strength, Toughness, + 1 Vitality | +2 Arcane, Arcane. Power, +1 Arcane.Defense
??? - unlocked after clearing the trial
The status page looked as imposing as ever. From just a glance, the new-ish display did make things somewhat easier to understand, The progress bar had been moved to the side of the attribute name itself, and I could track the bonuses from my class with ease from the new column.
Looking at it again, I couldn’t help but keep a smile at the progress I’d attained. It wasn’t much — There were close to no differences in terms of how I felt physically speaking — But if my limit was to lift 10 kg before I got here, now, I’d be confident to curl something fifteen or higher. But without any real weights, who knows?
“YOU ALMOST KILLED US!”
We turned our heads away, watching the commotion from a distance.