Kinkaru made his way towards the dorms. He felt completely exhausted and all he wanted was to take a power nap. As he left the statue plaza he was greeted by Tenue.
“I honestly thought you would fail the reading portion and never expected you to make it this far. I am kind of ashamed that I judged you on your mediocre stats and poor background. Imps are constantly ridiculed for our appearance, and here I am judging. I apologize.”
Tenue said with a look of determination on his little red face. Kinkaru was lost for words as he never really considered that Tenue even noticed him aside from the occasional escort.
”It’s no big deal, hopefully we can be friends or something “.
Kinkaru smiled at Tenue expressing that he was indeed unbothered. Tenues eyes lit up and tears poured out, “a mage wants to befriend me? Thank you sir, thank you!” Kinkaru didn’t expect this reaction, of course they could be friends. Then he remembered that in this world Demi humans are viewed as lesser than humans and ostracized. “It’s no big deal buddy, I have to go get rest”. Kinkaru said as he waved good bye and headed towards the dorms.
He threw himself on his soft mattress and fell deep in sleep. While he slept he dreamt of his mother and father back home. He was like a ghost watching the events after his death. His funeral was likely not that lively and his mom was collapsed on the ground crying. He was deeply saddened by the sight of the pain his death caused. At the very least he hope there is a settlement from the city over his wrongful death. Kinkaru walked through the dream world wishing he could comfort his grieving parents. If only he had been a better son, he wouldn’t regret leaving as much. All he can do is make this life count for something. The sadness of the dream filled him like a void when he heard a grunt behind him. He turned around to see the shadow of a Fraper standing directly behind him. It towered over him looking him in the eyes and breathing heavily. “What are you doing here, you’re just a shadow a manifestation of my weak magic.” Kinkaru said slightly annoyed that this beast was interrupting his family time. The ape grabbed him by the arm and pulled him through the dream world, as they walked the world shifted into a Forrest. The two made their way through wooded area until they were standing in front of a cave. The Fraper pulled him harder and entered the cave. What Kinkaru saw saddened him even further, he saw baby Frapers sitting there staring at the doorway. Through his connection with his shadow he understood these were its children. The school had captured it and taken it away from its offspring and that was why it was agitated. As they watched the children time fast forward as they lay their starving. They were too small to feed themselves and the world outside was sure to be dangerous. Kinkaru was forced to watch as the creature perished waiting for a mother that would never return.
Kinkaru was confused why his magic was in his dream. He didn’t quite get what showing him some made you scenario would accomplish. He already felt sad, he didn’t need this added on. The more he thought about it the angrier he got, his magic was bad enough and now it bothers him in his sleep.
“You’re just a shadow, stop bothering me when I have real problems.”
Kinkaru spoke with anger. The creature didn’t accept what he said and proceed to grunt back at him. Memories and emotions filled his mind as if pouring from the monster. The thoughts invaded every fiber of his being, then suddenly they stopped. Kinkaru understood now his summoning wasn’t a shadow, it was summoning the dead. Kinkaru felt sick, the implications of this power were immense. He could raise the dead. His power could change the way he looked at future encounters completely.
Kinkaru opened his eyes and saw the ceiling above. He decided to use his menu to check the time. It was early in the morning and Garth still hadn’t returned. Kinkaru decided to head to the shops and sell his leftover items from the exam. After browsing around a bit he walked into the weapon shop and was greeted with the usual welcome. Kinkaru pulled out the monster items and offered them to the owner. He was offered a whopping 5 gold for the creatures parts. As Kinkaru was thinking of selling he wondered what exactly the shop owner needed monster parts for anyways. He decided to ask the shop owner just that.
“Well isn’t it obvious? I forge weapons and armor with them. The stronger the monster the stronger the item. They even take some of the creature’s traits. For instance a basilisk blade has the chance to paralyze whoever is cut by it.”
Kinkaru was surprised at this revelation, this world was just like a video game.
“What can you make with these parts? “ Kinkaru asked with excitement. “Hmm, I’d likely make Fraper armor.
It’ll have solid defense and boost the user’s strength by 2 points. If I get lucky it’ll have the rage bonus which would trigger when the user take damage, temporarily doubling the bonus and adding it to agility as well.” Kinkaru decided that armor would be perfect for him. “How much for you to forge the armor for me instead of buying the parts?” Kinkaru inquired. The shopkeeper thought and the said he’d do it for 1 gold piece.
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Kinkaru checked his inventory and realized he only had 8 silver. He counter offered with that instead. The shopkeeper agreed under the pretext that the remaining 2 silver would be paid later. Kinkaru handed him the parts and the shop keeper vanished to the back. When he returned he had what appeared to be a very furry chest piece, torso, and what looked like arm guards. Kinkaru wondered how he knew his sizes and how it was made so fast. The shop owner informed him that magic items mold themselves to the user. The process is Called binding. This would fit him and only him perfectly, if someone else wanted to use the armor they would have to take it to a shop or have high smiting skill. The shop owner declined to explain the smithing process as he wanted the business.
Kinkaru stores the items in his inventory. He was glad he raised his strength as he now had 15 slots of storage. He decided to check his schedule and saw that he had a class coming up. Kinkaru arrived at the usual classroom when he realized he forgot to check his rank. After reviewing it on the board he saw he was now ranked 50 in the school. He wondered if it was because of his level or because of his performance in the match. He also noticed Garth was ranked 49 and Sarah was ranked 20. There were only 150 students left. Kinkaru took his seat and waited for his friends to arrive. Sarah arrived first and looked warm down. But Kinkaru still thought how she was oddly beautiful, even with rings under her eyes, Garth arrived next and he was covered in scratches as if he had been in a fight recently. He two fist bumped on sight and Garth bragged “I told you I’d get you to pass” he smirked as he made a thumbs up gesture. Sarah then spoke up “um he only passed because of me. I did all the hard work.” “From what I saw, he saved you from an undignified death.” Garth said with a laugh. “If it had been me I wouldn’t have fallen for their lousy trap.” Garth spoke with confidence. Sarah shit him a middle finger the turned back towards the teacher’s desk.
The teacher stood up and amplified his voice with magic.
“Congratulations students, your officially part of the elite. All of you are destined to have better lives than the rest of the population. What you do with your education is up to you, but you will certainly have more offers than you can wade through. But before we begin today’s lesson there is an announcement I need to make. There is a new school rule, all students must move into groups of 2 or more when on school grounds. You may no longer be alone as there have been reports of students being attacked. Don’t worry, we will find the person responsible for these actions soon.”
The students groaned out loud.
“Quiet, this rule is in effect right.....now. Also due to the short attendance this year, all students will be moved to the main dormitories. We have decided that we will allow you to pick up to 2 roommates for the housing. That’s right, you and 2 students will be sharing a house and not a dorm. That’s the perks of your status and you will notice that there are far more that are to come.”
Kinkaru looked at Garth and Garth nodded. The teacher said up to 2 that meant they didn’t have to have a 3rd. The teacher began to speak again “today’s lesson is on levels”.
The class went on for another 2 hours discussing the properties of levels and their functions for the owners. To summarize the details here is what was said in a way that makes the most sense. A typical human in Kinkaru original world was around Level 2 or 3. An athletic man would be around level 5, and a professional athlete would be around level 8. The rare humans would sit at around level 10, these people are known in history as myths. Think of someone like King Arthur or Hercules. As for levels in this world the scaling is as follows 1-10 normal people, 10-20 can fight an entire village, 20-30 fight and entire city, 30-40 fight an entire country, and finally 40-50 God like power that can change the scale of the world. A typical mage never makes it past level 20 as the XP requirement is insanely high. The demon king hero of myth was rumored to be around level 35. Kinkaru was unique however as he received the bonus 15 stats from Death. That makes him comparable to someone 3 levels higher.
Kinkaru and Garth headed for their new home after class. The house was solid brick with a green roof. There was a privacy fence around the back and a gated front. You needed a student I.D to open the gate. The inside reminded Kinkaru of a mansion, there was marble counters, a water fountain in the entrance, and crystal lights everywhere. It was bigger inside than out which meant it was magic as well. The room Kinkaru picked was bigger than his entire house in his old world. This house blew his mind. He threw his bag in the floor and laid on his new omg sized bed. This was the most comfortable thing he had ever touched in his entire life. He almost passed out on initial contact. Then there was a loud bang on the door. Garth answered and Kinkaru could hear him from upstairs.
“Ah hell nah, you ain’t staying here.”
Kinkaru peered out his door to see what was going on. At the door was Sarah holding what looked like a single bag of clothing.
“You two are the only ones I know and the teacher said we had to have a roommate.” She responded as she pushed her way in. Garth started to protest when Kinkaru spoke up “come on Garth this place is huge, you will hardly notice her.” Garth didn’t like this and yelled back
“what, this house is tiny. You should see mine. Fine, but I ain’t calling her friend!”.
Kinkaru didn’t really understand why he didn’t like Sarah, but it looks like they have a new roommate regardless. Sarah walked to the fountain and started to chant, as she did the water turned a slight darker blue. She then muttered “insurance” as she walked up stairs and took the room across from Kinkaru.