A wet splatter heralded the entrance of a clump of moist, freshly-turned soil. The packed earth that lined the stubby wall didn’t move an inch, even with the force behind the collision. The dirt quickly spread out, covering a section of wall with another layer of compacted earth.
Emilia’s lips clamped together, a frown of concentration appearing on her face as she held her arms out towards the fresh patch. With a groan, she pushed her open palms forwards, her arms trembling as she strained against some invisible force – as if the air in front of her was solid. Barely visible to the eye, the new layer compressed even more, the clay-like dirt thinning until it was indistinguishable from the rest of the wall.
With a sigh of relief, she relaxed, dropping her outstretched arms. She huffed tiredly, chest heaving as sweat flowed down her face and neck. She flopped to the ground, closing her eyes against the harsh sun. Why did I ever think being a Mage would be fun?
Her rest was cut short however, the sound of footsteps approaching. She groaned and opened her eyes, hoping it was just Lariss, coming to complain about their circumstances once again. It was a strangely therapeutic activity for the two of them. Not that Emilia thought she was friends with the girl, she was far too hostile for Emilia’s liking.
“You’ve gotten better at manipulation I see,” the dry tone of the Questor had her scrambling to her feet. Flustered at his unexpected appearance, her face reddened and she started to stutter out an explanation. Kenemen however, just waved her off.
“I can see you’ve been working hard.” He strode up to the wall, inspecting it closely. “Probably don’t mention this if you apply to a Construction Guild. It’s not too bad for an untrained novice though.”
Emilia frowned at that. Even if true, that was a bit harsh. She’d spent two days working on this wall. She’d still be working on it if the others hadn’t all pitched in, carting dirt with their bare hands and slapping it onto the wall, allowing her to focus on smoothing and hardening the surface as more materials came in. It had been a long two days, the camp defences so far being just as much work as their days of travel through the Rift.
“Should be decent enough protection against the smaller creatures.” Kenemen nodded at her and patted the wall. He turned and left without another word.
Well now what am I supposed to do? She thought, as she looked over the wall critically. She ducked through the small entranceway and looked down the steep slope. This side of the bluff was the only entrance to the top, so the investment of time was well worth it. Not much could protect against that ridiculous behemoth that Kenemen had killed though.
Perhaps a raised platform behind the wall, for guard duty? She nodded to herself. That shouldn’t take too long. As Kenemen had said, her speed and control had improved quite a lot over the past two days. It was amazing the progress she was making – now that she was being forced to adapt and learn as quickly as possible. Keeping the camp safe from the unknown hordes of Rift monsters that undoubtedly lurked out there was a responsibility she didn’t want. But she didn’t exactly have much of a choice.
With a tired sigh, she walked back inside the wall and flopped to the ground.
Definitely need a rest first. She sighed with relief as she laid back down, content to listen to the sounds of clashing blades echoing from the far side of the clearing.
----------------------------------------
A blade cut through the air, glancing off the sword that rose to intercept it. A quick step, and again it moved with intent, this time thrusting towards the figure wearing a steel chest-plate. It clanged off the metal before the armoured figure managed to bring his own blade back into play, swiping desperately, but too late.
They stepped back, lowering their blades once both had acknowledged the end of the bout. Silas breathed heavily and wiped at his brow.
“Those extra stats are just too much.” He said, looking disparaged. Katai didn’t blame him for looking a bit down, he had just just been thoroughly beaten, seven bouts to one. Before he’d gained his second Class, they’d been pretty even. Silas had been quicker, but Katai was more tactical, luring his friend into a foolish attack or manoeuvring him into a vulnerable position. Now though, he could win most bouts on pure speed and power. It was a complete mismatch if he’d ever seen one.
“Well if you actually accepted a second Class one of these days, it’d help a lot.” Katai said, gently rebuking his friend. He was far too indecisive about his final Class choice.
“I know,” Silas sighed, sheathing his blade and walking over to the water skin that hung from a nearby tree, “You know what it’s like though. I’ve got nearly thirty Classes to choose from and they’re all Common. None of them are particularly exciting.”
Katai nodded and accepted the water skin. “I know. But you need to make a choice soon. When we start going out to fight, you’ll be losing all that experience and skill gains for the Class.”
Silas eyes seemed to glaze over and Katai waited patiently for him to finish, taking small sips of water.
A sound from the entrance made him look over to see Yoto returning. He hadn’t returned empty-handed either.
The quiet man dumped a carcass onto the ground. Katai grinned at the sight, looking over the strange animal. Wait, it is an animal, right? It’s furred, and about the size and shape of a deer. Weird that it has such black fur though, there’s not a speck of colour anywhere. How unnatural. And is that an extra pair of legs? He stepped closer.
Oh, that’s not a leg. He grinned ruefully as he looked up at Yoto.
“You sure it’s edible?”
The stoic hunter nodded seriously and reached down to one of his many daggers. With a wide-bladed, stubby knife, he reached down and easily pierced the fur of the deer-creature, creating a long slit down the length of its body.
Realising Katai was still standing there watching, Yoto looked up with a frown.
“Trust me, I’ve been doing this a long time. Gyas probably hunt these in the ravines.” He went back to his skinning, “My second Class also advanced recently, which is helping.”
Oh, and he didn’t tell anyone? Surprise, surprise.
“Congratulations Yoto, that’s great news! If you don’t mind sharing, what did you get? You had a Trapper Class before, right?”
A minute of awkward silence passed before Yoto decided to begrudgingly reveal his Class. Katai didn’t think it was his natural reticence either… He still didn’t trust Katai after the Blood Mage revelation. He frowned unhappily. He tried not to let it get to him, but the distrust still hurt.
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A lot of the village Warriors looked up to the experienced hunter, Katai included. He was reliable, skilled and absolutely dedicated to his job – providing fresh meat, pretty much every day, for the villagers of Tiaston. He must have gained at least an Uncommon, if not a Rare Class for his progression.
“Yes, it was Trapper.” The older man spoke evenly, continuing to prepare the animal as he talked, “I received a few Uncommon choices, but the one that spoke to me was Honey Trapper.”
Uh, that doesn’t sound all that good to me… What kind of Class has honey in the name? Especially since his other Class is Sharpshooter. Much cooler.
“I can see you don’t think much of it.” Yoto remarked calmly as he looked up at Katai. Embarrassed, Katai tried to say something, but was cut off by the man raising a bloody hand.
“Do not worry. I’m not offended. I thought the same, before I read the description.”
The solemn hunter wiped his hands on a patch of clean fur and grabbed a handful of twigs from nearby. He placed them on the ground in an upright formation, leaving a gap underneath, much like Katai would have done to start a fire. That was clearly not the case here though. Muttering under his breath, Yoto waved his hand over the sticks.
A prickling curiosity made him want to look under the twigs. He moved closer, wondering what Yoto had done to place something hidden underneath. Closer and closer he was drawn in, his face approaching the formation, before the pile was suddenly swept away.
He jerked back, realising with a start that he’d been enraptured by a simple pile of sticks. What had just happened?
“Now you see what it means. I can make traps and lures that will seem like they hide something valuable to whatever I’m trying to attract. Then the trap will close around them. Much more efficient than the simple Trapper.”
Katai stared in wonder, starting to smile at the obvious satisfaction of the hunter. It had been so subtle and effective!
“So I guess this works on any creature, animal or human?”
He nodded, “Correct. I can target something if it’s in the vicinity, or set it to a more general attraction for beasts or people.”
Huh. That sounds like a really handy tool for ambushes. It might even be useful for distracting some of the creatures lurking around here.
“Just be careful with your progressions Yoto.” The voice of Kenemen so close made Katai jump. He must have snuck up on him while he was distracted with the honey trap.
“I assume it’s using a small amount of Illusion magic?”
Yoto nodded.
“That’s very closely related to Mental magic. Be careful, if you work on progressing your Illusion aptitude, that you don’t do something that might end up with a restricted Class. Certain members of the Court don’t take kindly to people dabbling in their exclusive areas of expertise. They’re not Forbidden, but they’re not far from it.”
Again, Yoto nodded solemnly. “The Class granted me the requisite magical aptitude, so it’s very low.”
“Good. I can give you some exercises if you would like to advance it any further, just be aware of the dangers.”
With that, Yoto turned back to silently preparing the carcass.
Uninterested in watching any longer, Katai left him to it and walked back to Silas, who was finally coming back to reality. Kenemen stayed where he was, occupied with his own status.
“So, anything?”
With a shrug, Silas shook his head unhappily. He’d tried, but he just couldn’t choose any of those boring Classes.
“Maybe you should ask Kenemen. He’s the only one of us who knows more than the standard Classes from the village.”
“Maybe. I just don’t want to bother him with trivial stuff like this.” Silas said, looking uncomfortable.
“Just ask him.” Katai’s tone didn’t brook any arguments. Sometimes Silas could be annoyingly stubborn when it came to issues he didn’t want to deal with. Things he wanted to avoid generally stayed that way until someone else forced the issue for him.
Reluctantly, Silas walked over to the man and waited impatiently for him to return his attention to the physical world.
With nothing to do except rest for now, Katai brought his own status messages up. He hadn’t done much that was combat-related since the battles on the way in.
Blood Aptitude has reached 65%.
Blood Resistance has reached 65%.
Battle Cry has reached level 6.
Yep, those were the messages he’d received after the last battle with the Gyas Megasoma. Nothing gained from preparing the camp defences yesterday, nor the long sparring session today.
Non-combat gains were so much slower, he knew that first-hand. It’s why Hiram drilled them so often and so hard, so that they could gain skills at a decent rate without endangering their lives. It was disheartening though, that all the hard work counted for so little. Though I shouldn’t discount the value of repetition and getting used to my skills. Or using them while fatigued. There are plenty of benefits from drills and training that aren’t tied to skill level. Reasons repeated plenty of times by Hiram of course, as he drilled them over and over again.
His attention was brought back to the present when he heard Kenemen talking.
“What are you interested in? It’s important to match you with a Class you’re going to want to develop and use right from the start.” As Katai had come to expect, Kenemen was happy to help. For a Questor, with their brutal reputation, he was a remarkably normal person. Just a very powerful ‘normal person’, Katai thought, thinking back to the slaying of the giant. He suppressed a shiver and turned his attention back to their conversation.
“Well, my problem is I can’t decide on a single Class. Once I read the description, I kind of lose interest, I guess?”
“He always get excited about new skills or Classes,” Katai piped up. “and he likes to interrogate anyone who gains a new Class. If there’s one thing I know about Silas, it’s that he loves learning about all that. He’s always curious and wanting to explore the possibilities and talk about what could be done with a skill.”
Silas shot a glare at him and scuffed his foot on the ground. Katai just rolled his eyes. Now was not the time to be embarrassed by his interests.
“Hmm, ok I have some ideas then. Believe it or not, there are plenty of people like you in the Capital Silas. They’re drawn there like moths to the flame. The lure of a city full of every type of Warrior Class, as well as the high-levelled crafters and all the Noble houses full of Mages – it’s a haven for Scholars of all types. Not to mention the Academy of course.”
“So… you think Scholar is a good Class for me?” Silas still sounded unsure.
“Sure. If that doesn’t interest you, there’s some other similar Classes I could suggest.”
“Um…” he looked between the two men, his face a bit frantic about being put on the spot.
“Why do you suggest Scholar then? Is it Common?” Katai came to his friends rescue, buying him some time to think.
“It is indeed Common. It’s a very general Class – I’m actually surprised you haven’t gotten it already.” Kenemen said, “It can be used for any kind of writing or reporting, but in your case I’m suggesting it because it can be used as a research Class. You could document Katai’s Class and skills for a start.”
Katai had a sinking feeling when he heard that.
“It leads to some very interesting Classes, like Magic Researcher or Gifted Teacher. All of its advancements are pretty much universally respected so you can’t go wrong with it.”
That didn’t help. Katai exchanged a look with Silas.
“So, the requirements?” Silas spoke up hesitantly. Katai could tell he wasn’t really hopeful, there was no way he could take the Class. It was too bad, because it sounded like the perfect fit.
“Well, usually it’s unlocked just from everyday stuff. A lot of people unlock it when learning to write. Otherwise, writing a bunch of reports accurately, or creating some literature will do the trick. The hard part will be finding enough paper for you. I don’t have enough on me.”
Again, Silas glanced at Katai, awkwardly meeting his eyes. He looked back at Kenemen and sadly shook his head.
“We can’t read or write.”
For once, Katai saw Kenemen looking speechless. Surely, it wasn’t that surprising. The only people in their village who could read were a couple of the Elders and the Trader who visited regularly. There was no need to teach the rest and not enough teachers in any case.
“Hmm, that does make it difficult.”
With a shrug, Silas seemed ready to give up, turning away hopelessly from the pensive Questor.
“I know!” He clicked his fingers victoriously, “It will be a bit of an experiment but it might work. How’s your memory?”
Silas blinked, taken aback. “Uh, ok I guess?”
“We’re going to see if memorisation works the same as wrote reproduction. Instead of re-writing reports on paper, you’ll memorise them and recite their contents!” Kenemen chuckled happily, pleased at his solution. He looked expectantly at Silas.
Katai could only grin at the bemused look on his friends face.
“Hopefully it won’t take an entire novel of memorisation to unlock something.” Kenemen mused, either ignoring the blooming look of horror on Silas’ face, or too caught up in his own plans, “It’ll probably unlock something different from Scholar as well, maybe an Uncommon Class? Surely it’ll be difficult enough for Uncommon…”
Silas started backing away from the muttering Questor, as Katai tried unsuccessfully to stifle his laughter. It was certainly going to be an interesting camp for the next few days.