After his breakdown was out of the way, they went about picking Trixie’s class. She had wound up with the same three starter options as himself, and after some deliberation, they had both concluded that mage was the best class for her. Her form was not suitably equipped to handle bows or swords, and even if she had one her size, it would not deal as much damage as a larger one would. Spells on the other hand, had their power largely determined by your stats, specifically INT and WIS. Trixie had actually explained this, stating, ”It is no different from a warrior or archer. STR increases the power you swing with and draw your bow back, respectively, and END can influence how long you can swing or shoot. Similarly, INT increases the power of your spells, while WIS increases the amount of time you can cast. As you know, VIT increases HP, END increases SP, and INT increases MP. One thing unique to spellcasting, however, is that WIS increases the versatility of spells, or how much they can deviate from their base state. It is never anything crazy, however. For example, a Mana Slash(Common) skill will be able to cause some splash damage, or maybe leave lingering electric damage. Not very impactful, per se, but it does add up over time. The greatest mages can completely change a base spell, but we won't be able to follow in their wake for a long while.”
After that mouthful, they set out to gain some EXP for Trixie. She told him that she already knew how to use Mana Bolt(Common) at a proficient level, so she didn’t need to practice on the creatures for now. That left Raj to mindlessly stumble around, killing everything in sight. While he was engaging a pack of wolves, a sudden thought came to him. “Say Trixie, how did you send those emotions to my mind? Are you some kind of mental mage or a telepath?” Raj asked as he bisected the last member of a wolf pack in half. He marveled at the sheer ease he had dispatched them by simply imbuing his strikes with his Dao Fragment of Reality. They felt like pieces of wet paper before his newly strengthened attacks, and posed no challenge whatsoever. For a lack of better words, his Dao seemed to make the blade feel more real. The blade hummed with power, as though the Dao itself was offended by anything trying to escape its confines, the confines of reality. Additionally, after some experimentation, he learned that he could control how much Dao energy was getting put behind each attack. He was able to settle on an amount of energy that was both somewhat sustainable while still empowering his attacks to a good level. Franky, the whole thing was enough to make his head spin.
Trixie’s response to his prior question was enunciated by a slew of kill notifications.
You have slain [Wolf - lvl 9].
You have slain [Wolf - lvl 9].
You have slain [Wolf - lvl 9].
You have slain [Wolf - lvl 9].
You have slain [Wolf - lvl 10].
Trixie hesitated upon seeing Raj’s unfocused eyes, but his gesture for her to continue prompted her to start talking as she realized he was looking through his prompts. “Yes, that was actually something I wanted to talk to you about. We have a bond that connects us. All bonded individuals do. We can communicate through it mentally eventually, though that takes some time and some more levels before we can do that. Our bond needs to be deepened, and that happens passively with levels. It can also happen if we undergo life threatening moments together, but even then there are certain unidentifiable criteria that must be filled, making those rare.”
Raj had closed his notifications to ask her a question, but she seemed to have sensed it before the word left his mouth, and she waved him off. “Yes, I’ll explain how you can tap into the bond. It’s quite simple, actually. Just close your eyes and try to feel a foreign presence in your head.”
Raj did as she instructed and closed his eyes, searching his mind for a trace of what she had described. After a few frustrating tries, he was finally able to triangulate the bond. “Huh,” he said in wonder. “You feel soft and warm.” His eyes shot open upon realizing how that sounded. “Uh, I mean, ahem,” he stumbled through words for a few moments before acquiescing, his cheeks red with embarrassment, his eyes studying something particularly interesting on the ground.
Trixie, however, seemed largely unbothered by his misstep, and continued talking without missing a beat. She didn’t miss the opportunity to insult him, however. “Honestly, I don’t know how I ended up with a dunce like you. You can be yourself around me, we are bonded for crying out loud. If you keep tripping over yourself for everything you say, we’re both in for a long life.” After a tentative nod from Raj, she concluded,”Anyways, that’s how you access the bond. If you reach deeper into the bond, you can also access my status page.”
Raj did just that, and after a few moments of concentration, pulled her page up.
Status
Name: L’thsnixzsiarla Velair
Race: Fairy(H)
Class: Mage[(Common-H) lvl 2]
Profession: None
Titles: None
HP: 60/60
MP: 90/90
SP: 72/80
Stats
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Strength: 6
Agility: 12
Vitality: 7
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 12
Free Points: 0
Class Skills: Mana Bolt(Common)
Profession Skills: None
General Skills: Identify(Common)
He was pleasantly surprised to find that she had already leveled, and had split her Free Points between INT and WIS. Seeing as how she would be a full-time mage, and not much help in melee, it made sense. Interestingly enough, it seemed that starting stats were skewed depending on race, with Trixie having less in the way of physical stats, with AGI being the outlier, and more gifted in the magical department. Those imbalances between races could easily be overcome with a few levels, however, rendering it moot.
“Well, I suppose there’s nothing else for us to do except to grind levels. Let’s see where we can get you before the sun falls,” Raj said, transitioning their focus into one of battle. Raj set off in pursuit of his next battle, Trixie trailing dutifully along.
*****
By the time the day had ended, Raj looked like a monster. Dried blood caked his body, though hardly any of it was his. His eyes were bloodshot, fatigue having taken over. Still, his efforts weren’t for naught. Trixie had gained 5 entire levels, while he had gained 2. For a day of work, that was more than solid, especially considering Trixie was nearing a point where she could fight alongside him effectively. Once she tiered up to G, it would make grinding much easier. It got to a point where Raj had to question the unfairness of it all.
He was met with an eye roll and a curt explanation. Yes, well, bonds are typically mutually beneficial. The reason many people elect to go through cultivation solo is purely because if a bond or the human they are bonded to dies, the other’s mental state is thrown into disarray. At best, they are left with half the mental capacity, along with numerous side effects, such as unchecked emotions and nonexistent mental defenses that can never be fixed. At worst, they follow their bond to an early death.”
Raj’s face paled at the thought before speaking his own inner musings. “I guess bonding really is a lifelong thing, huh? For better or for worse.” Maybe he should have waited a bit longer to consult with other experts about this topic before bonding, but he had simply followed his gut. There was no point in wallowing in regret, anyways. The important thing to do now was to make sure both he and Trixie lived.
Shaking the despondent thoughts away, he pulled open both of their status pages to check the progress they had made today.
Status
Name: Rajeev Narayanan
Race: Human(H)
Class: Swordsman[(Common-G) lvl 14]
Profession: None
Titles: Giant Slayer, Vitality I, Strength I, Enlightened One(G), Agility I, Endurance I, Intelligence I, Wisdom I, Dao Disciple
HP: 460/500
MP: 220/270
SP: 228/360
Stats
Strength: 64(61)
Agility: 72(64)(+5)
Vitality: 69(66)
Endurance: 51(49)
Intelligence: 46(44)
Wisdom: 43(41)
Free Points: 0
Dao: Fragment of Reality
Class Skills: Mana Slash(Common), Dash(Uncommon)
Profession Skills: None
General Skills: Identify(Common)
He sighed in content, seeing his [Giant Slayer] title working hard. He had elected to focus his free points on his magic stats, but Trixie seemed to have done the opposite, and shored up her weak points.
Status
Name: L’thsnixzsiarla Velair
Race: Fairy(H)
Class: Mage[(Common-H) lvl 7]
Profession: None
Titles: None
HP: 120/120
MP: 220/220
SP: 130/130
Stats
Strength: 11
Agility: 17
Vitality: 12
Endurance: 13
Intelligence: 22
Wisdom: 22
Free Points: 0
Class Skills: Mana Bolt(Common)
Profession Skills: None
General Skills: Identify(Common)
She had exploded in power in just one day, making Raj excited for the next day. He was confident she would evolve, and then they could make a push for the final objective of the tutorial.
Welcome to the Tutorial
Information: The Tutorial will proceed for 30 days. The only required criteria for completion is survival. Anything else is extra and will thus be rewarded for.
Countdown: 22 days, 19 hours and 29 minutes
Tutorial Contribution(TC) will be given to all participants for any actions that impact the tutorial or the beings inside it. This includes slaying monsters or other humans, as well as completing or contributing to the completion of objectives. The leaders in terms of TC will be given rewards at the end of the tutorial in accordance to the amount of TC they have. TC is not visible as points by the participants.
Objectives: A power lurks in the grassy plains to the East of the forest. Defeat the monstrosity and its 3 most powerful subordinates to complete the objective.
Today had been a long day, considering all he had been through. He had a long gap since his last nap due to first the bonding with Trixie, and then the consequent series of fighting. Additionally, he had come to find out that using the Dao left great spiritual strain on the soul. This would prove problematic, as it made him even more sluggish and tired than he should be. Trixie speculated that it was more of an issue due to the fact that he had gotten his Dao very early on in his cultivation. While he wasn’t complaining about the Dao at all, it certainly did complicate things.
For now, however, his only concern was to sleep in the cave they had first bonded in. After some consideration, and a little encouragement from a cold draft that spun its way through the cave, Trixie elected to sleep on his head, using his far too long hair as a nest of sorts. The extra weight actually didn’t bother him, and filled him with warmth. After muttering out a “goodnight” to Trixie, and receiving an equally droll response, he fell asleep.