Jem woke up but didn’t open his eyes. It felt like doing so would lead to him being unconscious again in short order. Better to feign sleep.
For the first time in what felt like aeons he was comfortable. Mostly comfortable. Jem relaxed into the soft blankets. The mattress was far better than the one he’d had at uni. Though it didn’t quite measure up to memory foam.
The air smelled woody and floral, like lavender and cedar but not quite. Jem rolled onto his side and his horns scraped along the bed frame. I knew it was too good to be true. That wasn’t a death induced fever dream. My body feels weird.
[Self Aware] Jem felt a chunk of his Kol drain into the skill.
You are well rested. Your bladder is almost full. Tongue and Tooth of Faith and Fae is now soulbound. You have incurred permanent changes. Your dimensional mark is 0.0681% charged.
*Ding* Self Aware has reached Lvl 1 … 3
Did that level up three times because of the magic involved in the ritual, or was it a result of the amount of Kol needed to complete it? Are those things any different?
Jem sat upright and investigated the room. He finally had a moment to relax, but he didn’t actually want to sit still. Risk of unconsciousness or not, he really needed a piss.
He peeled the blankets off himself. His legs were… They. He had goat legs. He had shaggy grey fur. It clung from his thighs all the way down to his ankles and instead of feet, his legs ended in a pair of cloven hooves. Jem knew that humans were poorly adapted for walking upright but he wasn’t sure that his current predicament was an upgrade.
Jem swung his legs out over the side of the bed and a problem was immediately apparent.
His hooves pointed towards the ceiling, it was not possible to just slide out of bed anymore. He rolled over onto his front, a dangerous manoeuvre that put pressure on his bladder. He tentatively lowered his legs and blindly angled his hooves until he felt the glorious press of their underside flush with the stone.
He pushed himself upright and flailed his arms, stumbling a few steps. It was going to take time to get used to everything about his new situation, he’d pushed up too hard. Jem gradually acclimated to the sensation of standing with his new legs and allowed himself to rise to his full height.
When he could go no further, a horrific revelation crashed into him like a bus. I’m even shorter now.
*Ding* you have unlocked the general skill [Steady Hoofing] (C) Lvl 0 Not tripping would behove you, it’s not like you want to make an ass of yourself. The ground will be firmer under your feet.
Too soon. Too soon. Give me some time to come to terms with this.
General skill slots exceeded. You will automatically gain further slots when you reach Lvl 20 in your starter class.
Would you like to replace a general skill with [Steady Hoofing] (C)? Y/N
It hated him, the system hated him. It made two satyr puns. Wait is this because I like drinking. Oh no, I won’t be able to call someone a party animal with a straight face ever again.
Jem held off on making a choice, even when the notification started flashing. He needed to find that priest. Jem rushed out the door. But I need to find a toilet first.
Clattering hooves announced his presence far before people caught sight of him. The first person Jem found was an old man, his nose buried in a pile of manuscripts.
“Excuse me sir,” said Jem.
The man looked up and peered over the rim of a pair of many-times-repaired spectacles. “Er hello young man. Are you lost?”
“No, well yes. But. Please I’m looking for a bathroom.” Jem did an awkward dance from hoof to hoof, demonstrating his need.
“Ahh yes, I’ll show you to the one by the library.”
Jem used [Identify] on the old man.
[Librarian Lvl ???]
“Ahh, identify hmm. I am one of the librarians, it would have been okay to just ask. I know I may look old but I do believe I have a youthful vigour about me. I won’t bite. Do you mind if I identify you?”
“No that’s fine by me.” said Jem.
He felt a warm tingly feeling spread through his body. It wasn’t unpleasant but he did feel like he was being watched. Not that that was a problem to Jem, he liked attention.
“You have no levels.” The man sounded surprised. “That’s not very common, most people your age rush into picking their first class. What people don’t talk about is how valuable it can be to wait until you have some good options available.”
The old man looked at Jem expectantly. “Are you going for any starting class in particular perhaps?”
Jem’s hand brushed his horns as he moved to scratch the back of his head. “I don’t actually know a lot about classes. I actually just got here."
The librarian’s eyes opened wide. “Oh I see, I thought I’d heard something like that. A dimensional mark right? I’d love to ask you some questions. Let’s go to my office.”
“Yes, I’d like that. Assuming I can ask some questions in return?”
“By all means. Of what use can an old man be, if not to help those younger than himself?” The man gave Jem a grandfatherly smile. “Right this way.”
Jem followed after the man and they came to an office door.
“Could you show me the way to the bathroom? My bladder is very determined.”
“Ah right. This way first then. I got distracted.”
– – –
Jem exited the bathroom exuding palpable relief. Jem stepped out of the door and turned down the corridor, almost trampling the Librarian in the process. The man was already steeped in his notes.
Jem coughed lightly to get the librarian’s attention. But there was no reaction. Jem waved a hand in front of the man, gleaning a similarly lacklustre response.
Jem clapped his hands together and the librarian startled. It would have been comical but something about the intense concentration felt more like magic than the mundane. Jem wondered just what kind of skills a librarian would have.
– – – –
[Organisation] Was clearly not one of them. On every available surface of the man’s office there was a pile of books. Even the chairs by the desk had books on them. Jem picked up the pile of books on one of the chairs and gingerly placed it on top of the pile on the adjacent chair. I feel like I’m enabling a hoarder.
“So classes.” Said the librarian.
“Classes?” said Jem
“Yes, classes! Tell me what you know about them and we can work up from there.”
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It turned out that Jem knew very little about classes and that they had a lot of working up to do. Jem also learned that the man’s name was Haywood and that he had worked in the Empress’ library for more than 30 years.
Jem appreciated the small talk, but he was antsy. He’d noticed the dimensional mark’s charge ticking up and he didn’t know exactly what it meant, but it felt like a noose hanging over his head. At least, if it kept steady at the current charging rate it would take a little more than two years to hit 100%.
From what Jem could tell classes were where the majority of any person’s power came from. The example that the librarian gave was that a person might be able to obtain a general skill that improved the quality of vegetables in their garden, but that it would take a [Farmer] class to do the same for an entire farm. The [Emperor] had a similar skill but its affect was on the scale of the whole empire.
The tradeoff was a low-intensity but wide-scale buff rather than a strong buff limited in scope.
Apparently, you couldn’t know exactly what skills a class would give. They would differ from person to person, but the names and descriptions would give large indications. While the quality, which was apparently what the letter grades on skills also referenced, could be used as an indicator of the general power level a class might bring.
Haywood said it was more of a compounding power boost. A Lvl 1 with an A rank Class couldn’t beat a Lvl 20 with a D rank Class but at Lvl 25, that A rank classer might be able to beat a Lvl 35 with a D rank Class. Haywood also said that higher-quality classes tended to give more stats.
Haywood’s introduction to quality ranks led Jem to discard [Pain Reduction(E)] for [Stable Hoofing(C)]
They discussed Jem’s skills and Haywood said that with [Unflinching(D)], [Pain Reduction] was obsolete. Jem would still feel the pain but the skill would stop him from reacting to it by accident, and therefore there was no harm done. Apparently, [Unflinching] was easily levelled and was almost guaranteed to evolve into a higher quality skill eventually. The calculus was harsh, but Jem had limited skill slots.
When Jem mentioned [Altered Presence], Haywood said it was worth keeping, but that it would be more fun for Jem to figure out the intricacies on his own. When asked for a justification, he said that having higher quality, and higher levelled skills was a good way to improve the quality of options during his future class selections.
Jem wasn’t sure if the silence on [Altered Presence] was because Haywood truly thought it would be more fun that way or if he just didn’t know how it worked. You can just admit you don’t know something old man. It was a little irritating but Haywood was already so much better than that priest and her daughter.
Jem resisted the urge to look over his shoulder.
“Do you think you’re ready to pick your [Starting Class]?” Asked Haywood. There was a gleam in his eyes and a tension in his muscles that betrayed his readiness for motion. Jem recognised it from his dancing and martial arts training.
“I suppose I am. What do I actually have to do?”
“You need global experience. Normally you’d do some kind of starter quest issued by the system for an experience reward, but for us I think monsters would be the best path. Your quest got used up after all.”
“Aha. I knew they existed.”
Haywood clapped his hands together and leaned back. “Of course, you wouldn’t know. Monsters. This is marvellous. Say would you be willing to accept a spell that will transcribe your thoughts? Just for today?”
“You’ve been incredibly helpful Haywood but I’ll have to decline.”
“A shame, but I understand. Well, shall we be off? We have to find you some experience.”
– – – – – – – –
Haywood teleported them both and, in a few jumps, they were outside the walls of the capital. Around the gates, there were little settlements, though some of them could probably be described as large and sprawling. Even from a distance Jem could see that they all looked clean, but in some of the settlements, the buildings were closer to tents and hastily constructed lean-tos than houses and homes.
Beyond the walls and settlements there were open fields growing all sorts of crops. A couple of Haywood’s teleports brought them in amongst the fields and Jem recognised the crops as a mixture of grains, legumes and vegetables but none of them were ones he was familiar with from Earth.
When he looked at them words like betil and fronge came to mind. Jem had already thought it weird, but the Fae ritual was beyond just language. He knew the names of things he had just seen for the first time. How could he explain his ability to identify a thing while having no knowledge about it?
On all sides, the farmland was ringed in dark old-growth forest. Guards patrolled the boundary, and their eyes scanned deep into the trees. Jem and Haywood walked towards the boundary, as they approached the edge a guard came up to them.
“Papers, please.”
Haywood started rifling through a bag that appeared from nowhere. It then disappeared.
“I’m sure it’s here somewhere.” He checked the outside pockets of his robes and then fished around in the inside pockets.“Aha, here.”
He unfastened a badge from the underside of his collar and held it out to the guard.
Upon seeing it the guard stiffened and saluted. “Sir. Please feel free to cross into the forest at your leisure.”
Haywood just nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “As you were.”
As the pair passed by the guard gave Jem an appraising look but soon directed his attention elsewhere. Before long, his eyes once more roved the forest.
Jem wondered if there was some kind of a skill to focus better because almost all the guards seemed preternaturally attentive. If there is, I need it.
“I always find it's better to walk through that last little part.” Said Haywood.
“Why’s that?” Jem asked.
“There are wards around the edges of the forest, if we were to trip them all of those guards would start swarming like insects and we’d be lucky to see a tree again by next week. If they caught us.” Haywood chuckled but Jem didn’t particularly like the idea of being locked up for a week.
“So what now?” Asked Jem.
“Now, we find you that monster.”
Jem crept around the forest. Eyes in constant motion as they darted around, seeking prey and predator alike. Haywood strode alongside, looking as though he hadn’t a care in the world. He probably didn’t. Whatever his level was, it was far higher than Jem could identify. He’d said he’d make sure Jem ‘didn’t get hurt too badly.’ Truthfully Jem didn’t like the sound of that one bit.
*Ding* Stable Hoofing has reached Lvl 1
Three hours later Jem still had no idea where a monster could even be. He’d seen no signs of anything. Nothing came towards him. Big and small, they were nowhere to be seen.
Jem’s stomach growled. For the last hour it had been loudly objecting to the fact he had had nothing to eat and he was ready to turn back. He sighed. “Thanks for your help Haywood, but this isn’t working. I think we should go back. Even if it’s just to get some food. And I think someone will be looking for me by now, I did leave without telling anyone.”
Haywood waved Jem off. “Nonsense, don’t worry about it. Here, have this.”
Haywood pulled a platter of meat and cheese from nowhere and handed it to Jem. Once it was securely in Jem’s hands Haywood plucked another identical platter from nowhere.
Instead of holding it in his hands, he simply left it floating in the air and he grabbed more from the void. He placed down a pair of large comfy chairs that had absolutely no place in a forest. “Here come sit, we can eat and come up with a new plan to get you that class.”
They sat in companionable silence, Haywood read through a scroll and Jem ate the food at a prodigious rate. Just as Jem polished off his last piece of cheese Haywood wordlessly supplied a second platter. I didn’t even realise how hungry I was until I started eating.
Haywood looked up from his scroll. “So, it seems as though we are unable to find any monsters here. That is a shame, but I think I have a solution.”
Jem looked up from his platter and raised an eyebrow in question.
“I think we should clear a dungeon.” Images of medieval torture devices and cells locking away withered corpses filled Jem’s head, but the fae ritual once more supplied information. Dungeons were trials that bent the natural world. A natural consequence of high Kol concentrations, places where Kol has somewhat come alive.
“Isn’t that really dangerous?”
“Nonsense I’ll be there with you every step of the way.”
Jem felt something tickle at the back of his mind. Something about all this wasn’t right. Why were there so many guards if monsters were so hard to find?
“Hey Haywood, why were there so many guards if the forest seems mostly empty?”
“What if a goblin tribe were to come en masse. If it were just one or two guards, they would be overrun.”
What he said was true. Though Jem had a feeling he was missing something.
"Okay. Clear a dungeon. Yeah. I suppose we can do that?"
"Great, let's go!" Haywood leapt to his feet and the telltale golden glow of his teleportation magic enveloped him.
Jem shoved the rest of the cheese from his second platter into his mouth. "Wait–"
Jem reached a hand out for the meat on his platter but his fingers closed on empty air. Haywood's spell had already ported them away.
[Status]
Jem’s Status Pre-Dungeon
Name: James Baker
True Name:
Age: 21
Classes
Starting Class: Unselected
Further Information Locked
Stats:
Vitality: 10
Wisdom: 10
Toughness: 6
Intelligence: 9
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 14
Achievements: Hidden
Notification Log: Hidden
General Skills:
Identify (E) Lvl 3
Altered Presence (passive) (B) Lvl 1
Damage Smamage (A) Lvl 0
Stable Hoofing (C) Lvl 1
Self Aware (D) Lvl 3
Flame Retardant (passive) (C) Lvl 6
Lighting Resistance (passive) (C) Lvl 5
Mind over Matter (D) Lvl 5
Meditation (D) Lvl 6
Clear of Mind (D) Lvl 5
Unflinching (D) Lvl 1
Analyse Skill (D) Lvl 0
– – – – – –
Temporarily increased system presence.
Tongue and Tooth of Faith and Fae