Of course, Arjun thought. I get wasted and then get some cosmic karma thrown my way. This shit is exactly what Raj reads about. Too bad I was never into it. On the bright side, at least the apocalypse magically made me sober. Arjun checked his Status once more, still trying to make sense of it.

Status

Name: Arjun Sharma

Race: Human(H)

Class: Mage[(Common-H) lvl 1]

Profession: None

Titles: None

HP: 80/80

MP: 70/70

SP: 90/90

Stats

Strength: 10

Agility: 7

Vitality: 8

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 7

Wisdom: 7

Free Points: 0

Class Skills: Mana Bolt(Common)

Profession Skills: None

General Skills: Identify(Common)

Arjun just shook his head at himself as he trudged through the forest. He was built for a Warrior(Common-H) class, but he could not bring himself to pick it. He had always thought that mages were pretty cool in fantasy, and it seemed smarter anyway. Why charge into the fray when he could just sit back and cast spells. Besides, it did not seem like the starter stats were too relevant. A couple of levels would be enough to skew his stats to make them more mage-like. Besides, his skill was pretty cool.

Mana Bolt(Common): Summon a bolt of pure mana that will be launched in the direction that the user wills it to. A low-level skill that is seen as the first stepping stone for mages as a whole.

Cost: 10 MP

It wasn’t a bad skill. Arjun had tested it out against a tree when he had first arrived here, and it had shredded bark where it had landed, going about halfway through the tree with the explosion on impact. It was more of a single target spell, which meant that Arjun had to use it sparingly. He only had 7 chances to use it in a fight, and his mana regen wasn’t fast enough to award him another use in a fight. Still, he had fully regenerated his MP just a couple minutes ago, and the hot lady had said that his mana regenerated at his WIS divided by 10 per minute. Same went for his HP and VIT, and his SP and END. Arjun kept walking through the dense thicket of trees, using his new staff to knock some branches out of the way.

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Staff(Common-H): A basic wooden staff. While not too reliable in close combat, this staff acts as a conduit for low-level magic power, allowing for a 1% boost to casting speed.

This staff was the epitome of basic equipment, with the 1% casting speed boost being basically nothing at all, and it was something he was definitely going to have to replace if he got stronger. But for now, it was good enough. Arjun realized that he was way better off teaming up with someone, especially in this kind of environment. All by himself, he was an easy target for any beasts who were lurking in the forest.

Arjun suddenly heard a scream, which seemed to have come from directly in front of him. After only a moment of hesitation, he started moving towards it at a fast, yet cautious pace. As he got closer, he could hear what sounded like a fight. As he broke through the tree line into a small clearing, he saw a white man with brown hair, who looked to be about 6 feet tall and built. The man was holding an axe, and was facing off against a small creature. Arjun activated Identify(Common).

[Squirrel - lvl 1]

A squirrel? Arjun thought, squinting. How is that even a fight? His doubts were quickly dispelled when the squirrel jumped, faster than Arjun thought possible, and sunk its teeth into the man’s left calf. The man screamed in pain, and Arjun noticed multiple such wounds on the man’s body. He buckled, his leg unable to hold him up. The squirrel jumped back a few steps, and the man was unable to do anything against such a small critter. His axe is not doing him any favors in this match up.

Arjun knew he had to do something, or else the man would most likely die. Arjun approached the squirrel, and then activated Mana Bolt(Common). He felt a rush of power leave him as 10 MP were drained from his reservoir and poured into the spell. The power was drawn through his body and into his staff, before finally exploding out of the top and racing towards the squirrel. The little animal had not even noticed Arjun before, having been fully focused on the man. Now, however, the squirrel seemed to have seen the spell racing toward it, and turned towards it. This caused the bolt to hit it in the chest, sealing its fate.

You have slain [Squirrel - lvl 1].

Arjun ran over to the man, who had slumped down to the ground once the squirrel was dead. “Hey,” Arjun called. “You okay?”

The man raised his head to respond. “Yeah, thanks to you. You saved my life man. That looked like a mage type spell. As you could probably tell, my axe was not all that helpful against that quick little creature.”

“You did not look like you were having fun,” Arjun said in return. “Are your wounds going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I should be fine. None of the wounds were big, but they are an annoyance. I am going to have to sit down for a moment and heal up,” The man said, groaning as he eased his way to a sitting position. With a thought, Arjun activated Identify(Common) again.

[Human(Warrior-Common) lvl 1]

Huh, Arjun mused. I can see his class on top of his race and level. Is it because we are the same species? Or is it because we have been friendly towards each other so far? Arjun waited for the man to heal up, making small talk to pass the time. As he talked, Arjun grinned when he thought of Raj, and he knew that Raj definitely picked warrior. He was also using a sword, no doubt about it.

“Alright, I am full HP now. My MP and SP are also topped off, so I am good to go. Do you maybe want to travel together?” The man said, looking at Arjun hopefully.

“Sure, why not. After all, I could definitely use someone to watch my back. And we complement each other pretty well in terms of classes,” Arjun replied, having expected the question. The man simply nodded back, and they both got up. “Straight?” Arjun proposed.

“Sure,” The man replied.

“Say, what is your name?” Arjun inquired, slightly embarrassed for not asking sooner.

“It’s George. What about you?”

“Arjun.” George just nodded again, and a tentative feeling of camaraderie and comfort in numbers enveloped them as they trekked through the forest.