When I woke up, morning had come and with it another day of travel. I hid any evidence of my presence in the cave and left to find my destination, the destination being a bandit camp, somewhere in the north of the forest.
Around midday I found a clearing. A small stream, probably the same as the day before, ran through it and berry bushes grew on the edge. After I had eaten my fill of the fruit I decided to rest for a little while. I sat next to the river and trailed my feet in the water. It glittered in the sunlight and reminded me of the shards stuck in my flesh. I sighed and lowered my full body into the flow. Like yesterday I raised my hand to my face. When I flexed my fingers I could make the crystal dance. I let my hand fall to my side and closed my eyes, feeling the water flow around and over me. My mana surged through me, less gentle than the last time and almost forceful. But instead of blacking out a transparent field of text appeared before me. I had heard about these. The adventurers guild called them ‘Status Interfaces’ and used them to display an individuals race, class and skills. Law enforcement also used them in verifying a persons identity. On rare occasions people could see their own or others’ interfaces without magical help but most used an item like, for example, an Identification Orb. Hopefully this would give me some answers.
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20 years ago an old, kind woman bought a young Lightelven slave. She cared for her and treated her as if she was her own grandchild. But all things have to end, happy things especially and the old woman died, 18 years after. With no relatives still alive, her property was auctioned of to the highest bidder, including her servant. The slave rebelled, insisting that her mistress had set her free with her last worlds but who would be foolish enough to believe a mere Lightelf? And so she ended up in the service of a noble. As a beautiful, young elf she quickly became one of the lords favourites.
She made friends with the other concubines and servants. One of the maids was a young woman, just barely just an adult. When one night this girl came to her, crying, clothes torn and her skin marked she lost it. It was fine as long it was herself or another of the older women. But not her, she was still a child! And so, burning with anger she confronted the noble.
The next part of the story is a blur. She had met the lord, told him not to touch the younger servant and he answered something she did not like. Next thing you know, chaos reigns the mansion. Smoke is billowing down the halls, fire spreading throughout the rooms and the screams of panicked people fills the air. And in the middle of it all stood Iona, perplexed and wreathed in flames that do not burn her.
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The field that popped up looked as if made of mahogany. The letters were cursive and inlaid with gold and the wood carved in patterns like curling flame. I reached my hand out for it instinctively but, of course, passed through it. It wasn’t actually there after all. I started to read out its content.
Iona of the Clades
Race: Sunelf
Class: Slave/Scourge
Abilities:
Etiquette (Class:Slave)
Unassuming (Class:Slave)
Scorched Earth Tactics (Class:Scourge)
Healing Surge (Class:Scourge)
Cleansed by Fire (Class:Scourge)
Burning Wrath (Racial)
Sunborn (Racial)
Immortality (Racial)
Status (Special)
Archive (Special)
I wordlessly stared at the text in front of me. What did it mean when it said ‘Sunelf’? I was a light elf, always had been, right? As soon as I just thought that, more text appeared below my race, as if to explain what it was.
Sunelf
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An ancient race of elves. Their command over fire and their exceptional regeneration made them a terrifying enemy to face. Sunelves were divided into three ranks, consisting of 7 classes in total. This hierarchy was known as ‘The Functions of Light’
I had the feeling that it would tell me more about these functions and classes if I concentrated on it and, yep, another field of text appeared.
The Functions of Light
A pyramid of power levels amongst the Sunelven military. At the bottom are simple footsoldiers, archers and mages. Though the lowest rank they are respected and powerful in their own right.
Above them are their more specialised Flamewalker, Sunshooters and Firewraiths. Flamewalkers are footsoldiers with exceptional regeneration and the ability to alight their blades with fire. Sunshooters are archers capable of firing pure radiant light from their bows. Firewraiths are magicians that can become beings of living flame.
At the very top are the Scourges. Called that for their ability to devastate entire armies. They are capable of summoning storms of fire, waves of disease or control the weather to diminish the enemies resources. They are the masters of Scorched Earth Tactics and were justly feared by all.
So, according to this I was a member of an ancient and long extinct race of warriors and, to top it all of, was one of their most well trained and powerful? Yeah, sure, as if. Something must’ve gone wrong when the Orb shattered. I would figure that out latter, first I wanted to look at my skills. At least those that I believed were real.
Etiquette
You known how to act in front of nobility or someone of otherwise higher status than you.
Unassuming
People barely pay attention to servants. As long as you are clothed and behaving like an employee, nobody will watch you.
Against my better judgment I did look at the skills I gained from supposedly being a Sunelf Scourge.
Scorched Earth Tactics
A scourge has mastered the practice of depleting enemy resources, the following are most commonly used:
Fury of the Sun
The sun beats down mercilessly, drying out
any plants and rivers as well as preventing rain.
Hell on Earth
The ground splits open and spews forth fire and
destruction until nothing but ash is left.
First Horseman’s Ride
Plague and Pestilence sweep through the hills
and infects both sentient and non-sentient life.
Healing Surge
The higher your adrenaline the faster you heal. Whenever you are critically wounded or are exceptionally angry, your injuries rapidly mend.
Cleansed by Fire
The fire in your veins burns away any disease or poison inside your body. You are immune to their effects.
That…was overpowered. If I really did possess these abilities I would be virtually unstoppable. I mean, wounds that heal the faster the more injured I am? Immunity to almost all diseases and poisons and the capability of unleashing cataclysms? Oh boy.
Burning Wrath
You have a instinctive understanding of fire and it’s associated schools of magic. In addition, your flame spells are stronger than average and your body is impervious to burns. However, the volatile energies cause you to be more irritable and you may lose control over the fire when aggravated.
Sunborn
As long as you have sufficient contact with direct sunlight you don’t need to sleep, eat or drink in order to survive. Also, your magic and regenerative powers becomes stronger when in daylight.
Immortality
Unless confined in a lightless space for excessive amounts of time, you do not age. You grow to around 25 years old at which point your body stops to change.Though some Sunelves have stopped ageing earlier or later.
So far I still understood things. If what it said was true, the incident at the manor suddenly made sense. I had been angry and set stuff on fire, said fire didn’t hurt me and I got out unharmed. I was currently 22 so the age thing had not effected me yet. The only thing left now were the ‘Special’ skills.
Status
Due to being attuned to an Identifying Orb, you may inspect any creature’s status (including yourself).
Archive
You may identify plants and the like with ‘Status’ and automatically record their information.
As soon as I had finished reading the skill a secondary window appeared.
Would you like to activate ‘Archive’?
Y/N
Tentatively I reached out and pressed yes. Or I would have if my hand didn’t phase through the notification. It still registered the touch though.