Chapter 31 - Evolved Party

The most average-looking wooden door was right there, in front of my eyes, with a big "Exit" sign on top of it, and I was too busy jumping up and down on a dumb patch of grass to notice.

I picked up all the stuff that I threw on the grass to test it out earlier and walked towards the door.

That damn old man. He was messing with me.

I grabbed the door handle and tried to push, but the door did not budge. I tried again, this time harder, but the result was the same. If I tried pushing even harder, I would risk breaking the door and getting stuck here forever.

And then... it opened.

Oh, I needed to pull instead

The door opened and a golden, blinding light came out of it, making me turn my head and look away from all that brightness.

Not much of a choice. I would either walk into that or stay here, in the middle of an endless sky forever. I closed my eyes and took a walk of faith through the exit door.

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I opened my eyes and saw a familiar, awfully unkempt beard right in front of me. I was back. I was safe. I was also being shaken for some reason.

"Jinden-o! Jinden-o! Are you alright-o!?" Jack said, panicked.

Still laying down, I looked around and tried to make sense of where I was and what had just happened. Everything got a bit clearer in my mind after a few seconds.

"Hey, Jack. I'm fine. I'm back. Relax"

He let me down, but did so a bit too abruptly, resulting in me hurting my upper back on the floor.

"I thought-o something-o was-o wrong-o. You were gone for-o so long-o and-o then-o you started-o spasming-o for-o no reason-o. I thought-o you were a goner-o"

"Yeah, the rock, paper, scissors took a while..." I answered.

"The what-o?"

"Nevermind. It's not important. The important thing is..."

I suddenly sprung up and took a proud stance with a confident smile on my face.

"...I got my class! I am a [Skirmisher] now!"

"Wow! Good-o job-o!" Jack congratulated me. "Welcome to the evolved-o club-o! I knew this-o would-o be the class-o you would-o choose."

The mayor stepped in and interrupted us with her usual rude attitude.

"Well done, stupid," she said. "I did not expect you to get it."

"What do you mean you didn't?" I said. "You literally said I was one of the few to manage to land a hit on you. Speaking of which, you scammed me! I was not supposed to fight you! The old geezer in the sky told me everything!"

"Did-o he just-o call-o Lord-o Ersalon-o 'old-o geezer-o in-o the sky'?" Jack said surprised.

The mayor gave me a kick that sent me flying, which required the consumption of another healing potion to recover from the hit.

"Don't you dare call Lord Ersalon an 'old geezer' ever again!" she yelled at me. "You are a thousand years too young to even talk about him!"

"old geezer," I whispered.

Another kick came my way, but I was completely expecting that and was able to dodge to the side without a problem.

"Maybe you are not so mighty after all. I have a class too now," I taunted her.

"We get it, idiot, you got your new class. What are you going to do next? Throw a party about it?" she said mockingly.

"That is exactly what I'm going to do, actually. But not here."

Jack looked at me and his eyes shined bright, almost as bright as the door in the sky, while a big smile was forming, covering all the distance from one ear to the other.

"To the Peacemakers!" we both happily shouted and lifted our fists in the air.

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The inn's door made a loud "bang" as I slammed them open. I had returned to the Peacemakers' inn. But I was not the same man anymore. No. I was evolved! And I made sure everyone knew!

"I got classified!" I shouted, throwing my fists in the air, with a big smile covering my face.

Everyone looked at me, silent, puzzled, drunk.

"What?" a voice shouted from the far behind.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"I said..."

I took a deep breath in

"...I am evolved!"

A lot of cheering and shouting and the sound of tankards bumping into each other was heard throughout the inn, while the same voice from the back asked, "Who is this guy?"

Jack and I walked up to the counter where Kiril was already sitting, finishing tankard after tankard of ale.

"Hey, Kiril!" I said. "I see you took this celebration really seriously. You must have been really excited about the news."

"Are you kidding me?" The innkeeper came up to us, slamming on the counter the two tankards he was holding in his hands, intended for Jack and I. "This little guy-"

Kiril hit his arms on the counter while still having his head almost completely into the tankard.

"This guy," he corrected himself, "has not stopped drinking for a single waking second. I don't even know what his tab says at this point, but it's definitely enough to buy me a golden statue and have it built on top of the roof. But how can I charge him when he looks like this? I mean look at him!" he said as he refilled Kiril's tankard. "Look at that chelicera and tell me it's not the cutest thing you've ever seen."

"It's not the cutest thing we've ever seen," Jack and I responded immediately and simultaneously.

We both drank our ale and ordered another round, which we carried with us as we walked around the inn, talking with all our friends acquaintances.

Wrel was sitting on a table close to a corner, along with a few friends of hers. They were singing along one of the songs that could be heard inside the inn and playing an odd board game where each player was in charge of a small 'army' and had to find a way to infiltrate the enemy and eventually conquer them. From the looks of it, she was doing much better than her opponent, who seemed really worried about the outcome.

She was having a sip of her ale every couple of minutes or so. When I asked her about it, she told me this was the perfect amount in the perfect frequency so she can enjoy her drink while still having a clear mind with the ability to stay focused on the game.

"Yay! You're dead!" Wrel happily said to her opponent, who had just lost at the board game they were playing.

"Ahh shit," her opponent responded. "Let's play again! Next time I'll surely capture two of your legionnaires."

"Sure, we can have a rematch a bit later. For now, go bring another round of ale. Loser pays, right?" she giggled. Her opponent left and headed towards the counter.

Wrel then turned to me.

"So, I heard you finally got a class, right? Isn't the [Trapper] really cool? Did you choose the [Trapper]?"

"The [Trapper] was indeed very cool," I agreed, mostly because I didn't feel like arguing at that point, "but it wasn't the class I chose. I went for the [Skirmisher] instead."

"From the little time I have spent fighting alongside you, I am not too surprised, though I could definitely see you as a [Paladin] too, the way you wanted to help everyone."

"It's not like I could let them die, could I? It wouldn't make sense."

"Yeah, but you did more than just keep them from dying. You were going to lose your mind with the slightest hit," she laughed.

"I was not!" I sipped an angry sip of my ale and kept walking, right on time as her friend/opponent just came back with two tankards in hand.

Walking a bit further, I saw Tim, who was on his grindset. There was a group gathered near one of the inn's walls. They were all playing darts, and apparently they were playing with money.

Tim being an experienced archer—which he proved in the cave by hitting spider eye after spider eye after spider eye—had no trouble hitting the bullseye over and over with his darts. He took advantage of the compromised decision-making abilities of the drunken guild members and now he was making more gold than what he knew what to do with. If he kept going like that for a bit longer, he would easily be able to afford to cut off his broken leg and buy a new one instead of drinking a healing potion.

"Hey guys!" he said as he saw as passing by. "Do you want to play some darts? It's really fun!"

"It may be fun for you," I replied, "but I have more chances of beating Jack in a fight than winning against you on darts."

"I don't-o think-o so," Jack said.

"Are you kidding me? Look at this guy! He can't miss!" I nodded at Tim, gestured him "cheers" and kept going around the inn.

I was wondering where Sanor was. I had yet to see him since I came back to the guild, but my question was answered shortly after. He was once again alone, outside, practicing his moves. It seemed that at that point he was focusing on dodging and weaving because there was a lot more head and body movement and much less punching. I had come to almost expect this kind of behaviour from Sanor, so I was not as surprised by it as I was by the numerous tankards of ale that were sitting next to him. One of the few signs that he had at least something in common with the rest of the Peacemakers.

Walking around the guild, I met a lot of new guild members I did not have the chance to meet yet, like another Anthir—who I got surprised to see welcomed into the guild, knowing how the innkeeper felt about Anthiri people—and he told me he was a mage. He showed me his staff, with which he could do a bunch of tricks, like spinning it faster and faster on his index finger or throwing mini fire balls.

Of course I also made sure to pass by the table of the guy who did not know who I was and give him a not-so-brief rundown of everything that had happened ever since I spawned in front of the [Tiny Forest].

I ran out of ale just in time as I reached back to the inn's counter for a refill. Kiril was even more drunk than when we arrived, now half sleeping on his seat and there were a couple of guild members painting funny pictures on his face with painting oils.

My night ended with me going outside to talk to Sanor. I brought some more ale with me since he seemed to really enjoy it.

I greeted him and placed the tankard right next to the rest of them, on top of a weirdly smooth rock that was there, while he was still practicing his moves. Since he was always training alone, I thought I'd offer to train with him for now, for a bit. Maybe that would make his training more effective or at least more enjoyable.

He seemed to be trying out a new style of fighting, for which he needed to either be drunk or at least act like he was drunk. I did not understand the reasoning behind it, but I got my ass kicked anyway, so I couldn't say anything. Thankfully, I also had my fair share of tankards beforehand, so I was not really feeling much of the pain that should be there. Still, I decided to go back in after a few minutes, not wanting to be a punch recipient for the whole night.

I should have no problem beating him if I was actually using my sword. Maybe if I was not drunk and exhausted too, but that would be unfair. I was evolved after all.

It was time to go rest. It was a long day with a lot of fights and a bunch of weird things happening, including meeting an old man in the sky and being brutally beaten at rock, paper, scissors.

I picked Kiril up on the way to my room. Saying that he had too much to drink would be an understatement, as that was the case two hours later. At that point he was flirting with alcohol intoxication.

He now had his own room, right next to mine, in which I took him and of which I wish I had no recollection. What once probably was a perfectly fine room was now completely covered in thick spider webs, looking like something straight out of a nightmare. There was no such thing as a bed anymore, so I placed him in the middle of the room and he would—hopefully—find his way to wherever he would sleep by himself.

I left him there, closed the door behind me and went to my room, next door, where I would have one of my deepest sleeps yet, trying to forget about the room I just witnessed.