“This child is a failure as a god. He can’t learn dark or light god classes. If he stays here, he will die.” The child they are talking about is me. This happened, and I’ve dreamt it every other night since I can remember. Sometimes things happen differently. In the dream there are occasions where my father in the dream is doing this to protect me from dangerous family members. There are times when he is despises my nature and can’t trust himself near me. And there are times he’s merely worried I might grow up as a spoiled little shit. Either way it plays out the same.
“Your holiness, he is your son, you can’t mean you will murder the child.” It starts with a man glowing in holy light and ends with a woman with hair black as the void crying. The man has a head of blond hair too yellow to be natural. He always looks so stern but hopeful. Half of me finds it endearing the other half is sickened. Sometimes, I think that is why I was left here. I’m of two minds two halves that shouldn’t get along. But they do, I’m evil and good. That sounds ridiculous.
“I know of a place where he will be safe to grow and maybe, he will find his way back to us as a man.” This part is fill in the blank. I don’t know if he said the last part or if my mind added it. The place where I ended up was safe as a farm in the north with a faster family can get but that is later.
“Are you saying he can never be a god?” The dark-haired woman asked. Tears running down her eyes.
The reason why I couldn’t stay was my nature. I’m neither light or dark. That doesn’t make me not of them I’m just complicated. Neither the light or the dark will tolerate fence sitters. While my mind is in dream mode, I’m still conscious and that isn’t normal. I’ve found that in life things get easier when you catalogue what is and isn’t normal. So, next time I can play on expectations.
“Our son, if you can’t raise him then give him to me. I’ll protect him no one will get to our son.” My mother said. She is desperate to keep me almost obsessive. In this part of the dream, sometimes she holds me one last time and I won’t lie it feels good that final feeling of closeness. Some nights I couldn’t wait to sleep just so I could get back to that feeling.
“The tower would destroy him. He doesn’t have a godly class, if we keep him our very natures will kill him. He needs to be away for us, so he can grow into his own person.” Sometimes, I want her to run away with me to that tower wherever it is, any risk to remain here in the warmth. She doesn’t ever no matter how much I beg. My dreams move on a track taking out some pieces and filling in others. I’m just a member of the audience in a tourney. What is to happen will happen always.
I’m taken to a farm village in the Halo mountain valley. Population of the capital estimated 5million. 200kilometers of land of various climates. Filled with dungeon, roaming monsters, dragons, bogs, and wild raid monsters filled with unholy power closer to the mountains. Compared to the rest of the world it is a sandbox. To a young godling like me it is my only hope. I am a godling without a class, monsters are naturally drawn to me more than normal humans.
“Boy wake up.” Pa, the man who raised me and my father in this world. He insists I call him Pa. He knows I’m adopted, he even told me they found me on the porch one night. A good honest man my father.
I rose like a zombie and waved my hand creating a ball of light. He grunted in reply not bothering to shield his eyes. “Pa, its still dark out.” I opened my mouth to say something then I burst from my bed feeling pure unending giddiness take over me. “Is today they day I get a plot of land like Toomas and Thaddeus.” I stopped and straitened up. “I mean, where will I start my field Pa?” The old man gave one of his rare smiles and pulled a hoe out from behind his back.
“East of Toomas’s I made a place for you. Didn’t you notice the down trees?” Pa said. I took the hoe in hand and felt the slight boost to tilling it gave. How can I describe the hypnotic suggestions of magic? If I didn’t think about it the most natural thing I could do while holding the hoe was tilling soil.
Putting on a wool tunic and tying the rope belt on my slacks, I put my sandals on and ran out the door. The area pa described was covered in stumps and filled to the brim with roots, it would take a week maybe a month to get it ready for tilling.
“I thought we would train your light orbs while they’re at their weakest. Try not to kill too many night fairies. In this world everyone had access to series of screens we call the menu. From this menu we can see our statistics, what skills we have and how they affect us, our classes, and even perks that we inherited or gathered over time. I opened the menu to look at how much damage my light orbs should be able to do with average light.
Perks
Godling – This perk grants the Divine stat. Faith energy from followers can be processed and turned into divine points. +1 class slot. Every 1000 insight add another class slot.
Child of Twilight – This perk is due to your parentage. You are the son of a light and a dark god. This has given you access to both light and dark type magic. Due to this perk you are not eligible for light or dark classes. Only twilight classes can be learned.
Malnourished Godling – You were denied breast feeding from your mother. This has caused an adverse effect on your growth. -20% damage from divine skills until Malnourishment is rectified. Acquire 100 divine before age 15 to remove this perk.
Abandoned – Any faith-based energy meant for your parent deities is now toxic. +200% damage from family members with divine power. This perk is permanent and will never go away.
Perfect Night Vision – The user can see in the dark perfectly due to the dark nature of one of his godly parents. When Dark reaches lv10 the user’s influence increases by 50%
Solar Powered – The user can absorb and synthesis solar radiation into nutrients to stave off hunger. When light reaches lv10 the user regenerates 50% more MPM
My perks said it all and they were shit. Access to light and darkness should have given me an awesome class. They didn’t I’m incapable of getting one and I don’t have a way to find a twilight class. If I did, I would have already gotten it.
Classes
Empty Slot 1
Empty Slot 2
Empty like I said, if I can get the farmer class soon, that would be something. I didn’t have a way up; my mind isn’t that of a human’s. I’m built to search out ways to move forward. Not having a way forward makes me nervous. That is considered very human unless you factor in the fact I’m eight.
Magic Types
Light lv1 next level 0/15 small white crystals
Dark lv1 next level 0/15 small black crystals
Psychic lv1 next level 0/15 small purple crystals
To increase magic a user needed to kill something and pick up mana crystals that naturally dropped. Since I obviously haven’t fought any monsters yet, well I’m stuck with lv one magic.
Skills
Orb lv2 time to next lv 60s
Cost 5MPS
Description: Manipulate a single point where a specific element is drawn. This skill follows the gravitation of mana. The more mana in the original point the more power behind the attack. 1MPS is needed to maintain the point and 4MPS is needed to gather and maintain the collected mana. Start with more mana to increase the power of the attack. Gathering MPS and Maintenance MPS scale up with starting MPS.
(RAW MANA) MAG DAM (40) = Insight (20) x Skill lv (2)
(LIGHT MANA) L DAM (20) = Willpower (10) x Skill lv (2) x light (1)
Class at lv10 Mage
Telekinesis lv1 lift 100objects to next lv
Cost 5MPS
Description: Control physical matter with your mind.
Phys DAM (50) = Strength (25) x Willpower (10) x skill lv (1) x psychic (1)
Class at lv10 Psycher
My skills left much to be desired. But there were two very important parts to them. Light doesn’t way much, and it doesn’t need a lot of time to get going. That and telekinesis is a broken skill. It scales off willpower and strength because it deals straight physical damage. That means if Pa wielded this, he could probably rip mountains out of the ground. Too bad Pa has no psychic potential.
Ma does she was supposed to be a master of telepathy. But I haven’t seen any sign of that.
Stats
Markus lv8 (800xp next lv)
Race: Godling
Sex: Male
HP 250/250 +17.5HPM
MP 100/100 +23.2MPM
SP 150/150 +29SPM
Constitution 25
Endurance 15
Perception 15
Strength 25
Dexterity 15
Insight 20
Willpower 10
Charisma 15
Luck 15
Divinity 16
Thus far I could hold a light orb for 24 seconds straight before I ran out of mana and if I pushed it my stamina would go. Then if I somehow surpassed my exhaustion it would eat away at my health. But I did as Pa wanted and gathered light from what few sources existed, the stars, the moon and Pa’s lantern. The small orb floating above my hand was draining mana like crazy and in seconds I would be out for the count. I targeted one of the stumps and let it fly.
New skill!
Light Shot lv1 100dps next lv
L Dam (70) = (Telekinesis (50) + L orb (20)) x skill lv (1)
Description: A orb of light fired by telekinesis it has no impact but explodes ferociously. This skill is only the beginning of the powerful and fast casting light magic line. Light is all about hitting fast hard and continuously.
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Cost 10MPS
Light Mage class unlocked lv10
It stood there as the light orb hit a stump and exploded spreading bright light. The stump blackened then caught fire. Eight more quick shots quickly brought the skill up to lv3. When my mana was drained completely. I slumped down feeling it dip into my stamina.
Light Shot lv up x4
“Impressive, you took to maging like a fish to water. Well, till what you can and in a few hours finish the stumps. If Toomas or Thad has anything for you to do they’ll find you.” Pa turned to leave then stopped. “Before I forget, here take these.” He tossed me a packet of seeds. “You can gain the mana manipulation skill if you pour mana into them. It’ll teach you how to control it.” Pa walked off to begin working the main field.
I did as I was told and ignored the feeling of power blasting things with light gave me. After a few hours a window popped up.
New skill!
Till lv1 till 5m to next lv
Utility physical damage (375) = Endurance x Strength x Skill lv
60SPM
I had this in the bag. My hoe stabbed into the ground causing the tough ground to break up and I hit it again for good measure. Every smack with the hoe pulled it closer to leveling up and with it the damage would double. Sweat beaded down my face as my stamina was quickly eaten away. Being 8 and only level 8, I only had so many stats.
Like any normal human I was born with a flat rate of 5 stat points per attribute. Except for divine that one was 1. As I grew older, I naturally leveled up. Every year a human will gain a level on their date of birth. Until they are 11. At 11 we are considered men and old enough to join the academy.
I want to be a kingdom mage or maybe a lore warden. Thad says I would have better luck joining a knight’s chapter, and Toomas says I would have better luck grafting wings on a pig and teaching it to fly.
The sun was rising, and the night fairies swarmed me. They dove into the loose dirt I made and froze it solid. They dove down and ruined all the work I had done. Then the sun’s rays began to spread across the ground and the fairies panicked. A few hid under my shirt and began making things cold.
As you can imagine, I wasn’t still like a statue. I ran around in circles smacking my shirt feeling solid lumps and when I hit them they bit me. “Expose them to the sun, that will get rid of them.” Thad said chuckling as he walked up. I was so busy trying to get the vermin off me I hadn’t heard Thad.
“Or you could give them succor until night. Doesn’t matter what you do, they will probably die soon anyway.” We turned our heads at the humming chirping sounds of day fairies waking from their sleep within flowers and tree blossoms. Swarming death Ma called them. They made up for lost time and began finding the hidey holes the night fairies made and dragged the blue skin critters into the sun. Where they melted.
Cold damage 100DPs
New skill!
Warm Body lv1 Endure cold for 3 hours next lv
Passive
Description: In response to the cold your body burns energy to increase your body temperature. Explore this skill and you may gain more than you thought possible.
Cold damage negated (25) = constitution (25) x skill lv
There was no choice, I pulled my shirt up and showed the little critters the sun. They all bit me again getting in a final blow.
Cold Damage 100
Cold Resistance 25
Cold Damage taken 75
It seemed the only time I took damage was when they bit me. That’s probably why I wasn’t dead yet. I fell down shivering. Waiting for something worse to happen. Hypothermia was normal from a night fairy attack. That normally only happened to those foolish enough to attack one of their underground hives.
“Get up Markus you aren’t going to die from a couple of bites. Hitting them wasn’t the smartest thing to do.” Thaddeus said in irritation. My eldest brother Thaddeus stood at six foot ten inches tall only two feet shorter to than Pa’s 9ft 10inch. Thad had a heavy build from working hard and hunting local mobs in the forest. He was 15, old enough to be called to war. Thad decided not to join the academy in the capital.
Toomas was 13 and failed his exam. He was a qi user and a powerful one at that. Unfortunately, he was disqualified for killing his opponent. That happens when they don’t surrender. Toomas would have to wait another year before he could try out again. There was still the option of joining one of the temple monasteries, but it was unlikely Toomas would join one. Swearing off women for a few techniques and power wasn’t his idea of a good bargain.
“Easy for you to say that was half my health.” I said and spat out a wad of flam.
“Yea, I’m sure it was, Pa told us to help you with your first planting. We would help, but the ground is frozen. It would take a pickaxe to break through. So, we aren’t going to bother with planting until you till the ground over again. Instead, Toomas volunteered to teach you the bow.” Thad said.
“What? I didn’t volunteer to teach the runt the bow.” Thad smacked Toomas on the back making him stumble forward. “What was that for?” Toomas yelled.
“Be nice Toomas and teach our little brother how to use the bow. You have nothing but time until you check your traps, right.” Thad said. Toomas grumbled but nodded his agreement.
Taking an old bow out of his inventory and quiver of arrows he tossed them to me. “Come on over to the hay bail. We painted a target on it. If you can hit the yellow, I’ll let you keep the bow and quiver.” Toomas said and looked to our eldest brother. Thad gave a nod to us as we headed behind the pig pin.
We were about twenty yards from a big hay bell half picked at by Stan. The chimera liked to eat at things just to mess with us. I remember once I left my good sandals outside, because I stepped in some pig shit and Stan ate them, with his goat half. The goat kept huffing at me knowing what its breath smelled like.
“Well your target it a bit smaller than it was. So, good luck. Let me see what you think an archer should stand like.” I put my left foot forward held my left arm straight towards my target and stood up straight. “Bend you knees or you might pass out.” He tapped my right foot until it was where he wanted it. He rotated my shoulders and bent my left elbow. “Good, this is how you should stand when your trying to kill something. Now knock an arrow.” I took an arrow out of the quiver and held it on my fingers. “Pull back,” Toomas said, and I pulled back until the broadhead nearly touched my fingers. “Take aim,” I lined the broadhead with the target the increasing light played havoc with my night vision.
For a few heart beats I waited for the command. I kept my form as close to what he told me as possible. My muscles struggled to keep the string pulled back. I sensed it coming the order that would drive my arrow towards the target. Hit or miss it would determine whether I kept the bow or not.
“Fire,” I released the arrow and watched it zoom out bending and shifting in the air until it hit. The arrows duck feather fletching showed itself amongst the yellow. Toomas had a satisfied smile on his face. “Markus you did good. Go get the bow and let’s do some shooting.
New Skill!
Archery lv1 deal 100dam to next lv
Description: Fire an arrow, bolt, or even a sword from a bow and hit a target.
Long Range Phys Dam (375) = Dexterity (15) x Strength (25) x skill lv (1)
Arrow damage 1x (375) – 10x (375)
While I walked down range to get the arrow, I couldn’t help but feel like I was a frail glass cannon. Any gust of wind could end me, and my brothers knew it. They were always watching for signs of monsters. Even Stan was wary to let me get too far away from him.
I quickly did as my brother said and came back up range with a full quiver of arrows. Toomas had his personal bow out. A white wood enchanted weapon he had made from a dru wood branch, strung with silk from a Midra a lv100 black funnel web drider. She was a powerful drider that lived near the bog. Toomas had given her several animals he trapped to woo her into giving him a fresh spool of her silk. The shaft of his arrows was of a vampire willow lv50, the fletching roc feathers, and the broadhead taken from a lv 150 flint giant. His brother pulled back on the black silk bow string and the weapon pulled without a sound. The blood red shaft of the arrow looked heavy. “What are you waiting for Markus pull back and stop admiring my bow.” Toomas said lightly.
I quickly notched an arrow and pulled back aiming for my target. “Are you still seeing Midra?” I asked him. He fumbled and released his shot. The arrow hit the dirt and exploded in a massive crater. The shaft stood out and the ground where the arrow hit was glassed. I could feel the sudden release of heat and wondered why he was shooting at a hay bail with that. Taking the initiative, I carefully shot and hit the small white of the bullseye.
Archery lv up x2
“Nice shot and yea, we are getting close. What do you think, I should introduce her to Ma? Hey Ma, I know how you dislike mixed breeds and condemn their existence, but this is my girlfriend Midra, she’s a drider and I plan to have a bunch of mixed breeds with her. When’s lunch my spider girlfriend wants to know. She tied up the Jones family from the farm over. You know that lovely couple that you have tea with on occasion. Well they’re her dinner. What are we having, oh what’s that. I’m no son of yours, and your disowning me. Why mother I had no idea you would react this way.” Toomas said and winked at me. “Markus, I know you don’t care that I’m dating a monster, but Ma does. If you follow in my footsteps, I’m sure she will disown you. She thinks my relationship with Midra was just to get string for my bow.”
“She sounds nice, you always come home with that stupid smile on your face, so she makes you happy.” I said. He narrowed his eyes.
“You think my smile is stupid huh. Just wait until you find a girl, I’m going to tell her about all the times you wet the bed and that time you caught the barn on fire. Oh, that one time you thought that our eggs needed to be salted with all the salt.” Toomas said.
“Hey, I was four and Pa said salt was good for you.” I said, trying to save some manner of face for my past.
“Go back and work on tilling I’ll find some dirt to fill the hole I made.” He said, and I made to go only for him to stop me. “When you plant something just focus on your mana and try to force it out into the seed. Having an idea for what its supposed to do is important. If grown correctly some plants can boost a stat or two for a while.” Toomas said. “Don’t put mana into it without a plan.”
I made my way back to the stump filled plot and prepared myself to get rid of the stumps. Despite the breather returning my mana to 100%, I still only had 10 shots to work with. The skill was level 5 after destroying the other stumps. If this kept up I would have one over powered ability. Skills weren’t like classes they didn’t stop leveling after 5stars. My skill could keep going up the more I practiced it. That’s whey you didn’t underestimate anyone. If your throw skill is lv100 and you had only 5 Strength and 5 dexterity you would still deal 2,500 damage minimal if the object was heavy or was meant to be thrown, it could increase the damage further. 2,500 damage could rip through the side of a brick wall with ease. Now let’s say the thrower was like Pa with 10,000Strength and 8,000Dexterity. You end up with 8,000,000,000 physical damage minimal. 20,000,000,000,000,000 damage is needed to level throw up to 50 much less 100. So, most won’t turn throw into something like that. High level skills were easier to lv into the hundreds than simple skills like throw. Men could fight for life times and never raise a skill beyond 30. Much less reach 100.
I raised my hand. “LLLLLLLLLLight Shot,” I called firing my full pay load in rapid succession. Powerfully condensed balls of light fired at incredible speeds smacking into the stumps and expanding encompassing them and leaving behind ash filled holes. That’s just how light damage worked, it basically burned things to ash.
My head pounded as my mana drained to nothing. That’s why I wasn’t allowed near a dungeon yet, or even allowed to hunt in the forest like my brothers. I don’t have the mana for long drawn out battles or the mana regen for regaining MP in time to be of any use. I didn’t have the defensive skills needed to compete with anyone alive. Other farmer children already have earthen skin the most basic defensive skill. Constitution needs to be 30 before the skill can be learned. It’s the simplest defense skill in existence.
The sun rose, and I felt my mana regenerate a little faster. There were so many skills I needed that I just didn’t have access to yet. It would be a year before I could get them. I tilled for a few hours letting my mana recover and gained several levels in the skill.
Hours passed, and the sun was high in the sky when I finished tilling. Tilling was lv 10 and I was reimbursed for every lv I’ve gained. I had 20 class points to spend. And the Farmer class was unlocked. I payed the 10 class points it took to unlock the class and suddenly felt invigorated.
Farmer lv1 0 of 5 class points to next
Class rank 1star
+5Endurance x class lv
Farmer Skill
Growth lv1 Grow 1 plant to maturity to next level
Passive
Utility faster growth time (1/20) = Endurance x Skill lv (1)
Hidden effect
Divine Influence
Description – Adds a bonus effect through divine power. This can cause plants to gain intelligence and seek to devour their creator. Warning grow things at your own risk.
Increased Lifespan (x16) = Divine (16) x skill lv
Classes were important. They determined what a user would be when they grew up. Farmer was one of the most common classes on the planet. With it I could get an easy 25Endurance before I maxed the class out and took on its evolved form. Every odd number star would give a passive skill and every even number would give an active one. This was what he needed but I didn’t like the idea of carrots living for 16 times longer. Did it mean that the carrots would grow larger? My malnourished perk didn’t interfere with the increased life span because it wasn’t a damaging skill.
With my mana at max I decided to try out planting some carrots. Yea, it was the month of Broli one of the five spring months. In 19 more days, it would be the next month. Pa was probably waiting to see if I grew anything worth selling at the market.
I jammed the seeds in the ground far enough apart to keep from accidently killing each other from overcrowding. Once they were far enough apart I placed my hand on the damp ground of the first hole. Concentrating on my mana, I began to pull it from my body and pushed it into the soil. There the seed began to take the mana in at an alarming rate.
In the blink of the eye massive green roots shot out and spread through the soil. The ground shook a bit as I fled for my life. A green top shot up. While green vines covered the ground.
New skill!
Mana Manipulation lv1 Create 1 pure mana skill to next lv
Passive
Description – This is the beginning of a whole new world of mana control. All pure mana skills are made from this original practice.
mana DMS (20) = Insight (20) x skill lv (1)
MPRM (+20%) = Insight (20) x skill lv (1)
I was going to get my brother Thad to teach me so many skills. This was the step I needed to learn barrier. 20 insight wasn’t enough for that either but maybe I could create a more primitive version of it. I didn’t let myself get distracted for long. A rumbling soon gathered my attention. Water was seeping up from the ground around the carrot.
Growth lv up x1
I looked at the carrot and a vertical yellow eye opened to stare at me. The monster blinked twice, and I leapt back falling on my back before a series of vines could catch me and wrap me up.
Divine Carrot lv20
HP 1000/1000
MP 0/0
Constitution 100
Strength 100
Perception 100
Description – This newborn plant type monster has found a underground creak and is using it to increase its lv further. If given enough time it will grow to incredible strength. Kill it while you can, or the world is doomed.
I ran back until I was sure it couldn’t get me with its vines. They were extending and coming for me. This monster wanted my divine essence to finish its evolution. The carrot was growing bigger by the second. Earth like shielding was covering it. It had earth armor before it did, and it hasn’t been grown for more than 30minutes.
Divine Carrot lv40
HP 3000/3000
MP 10/10
Constitution 300
Strength 100
Dexterity 100
Perception 100
Willpower 1
Description – This carrot has begun drinking deeply of water and sunlight and will soon gain a godly class. If it isn’t stopped carrotgeddon is sure to come.
It had the skill, but it most likely didn’t have much else. Earth armor was constitution based and gave the user steady defense. Against most damage. But at lv 1 that was just 300Defense and once broken it would have to be cast again. It was now or never.
I raised my hand and fired off a light shot. The skill impacted the carrot and its armor shattered. Its vines ripped up from the ground and wrapped around me curling and dragging me towards the monster. A vertical slit appeared in the monster’s side filled with nasty looking teeth. Raising my hand, I fired off nine rounds. The creature dropped me in the dirt and I rolled over on my side. It roared burnt all over and slowly regenerating.
Taking out my bow, I knocked an arrow and fired. The shaft exploded against the monster’s side and it stopped moving. The monster sagged, and water shot up from it drenching my plot and ruining the tilled soil.
Divine Carrot slain
Xp calculations
Divine x100 carrot (1) x lv40 =400xp
I trudged through the mud of my plot knowing that I had nothing to show for today’s work. My brothers would jeer me, and Ma would be upset about half the farm getting flooded. I could only find Pa and hope he would go easy on me.
He was on the hill next to my plot he had watched the whole thing. “Well it looks like you found the perfect place for a well. A good first day.” Pa said with a half-smile. “I don’t think carrots are your thing. Let’s try cabbages, those are less aggressive.” Pa said with a chuckle.
Next chapter age 9