Thanks to the twins, Caution returned home with two loaned books related to dark energy. The first was called Demon origins: the depths of hell and beyond. Needless to say, it was a scary-sounding book and didn’t even have the author’s name on the cover. It was thin, red, and, within 184 pages, went into detail about the ancient demon species and their origins. Lilly had told him that dark energy was mentioned in chapter 23 and chapter 29. According to the librarian, no one had ever seen those of the demon species. Similar to Caution’s previous world, other intelligent magical beings such as elves, dwarfs, orcs and goblins were seen as fantasy. Most people didn’t believe they existed because they had never seen them. Monsters, however, very much did exist and could be subdivided into hundreds of species. They were universally despised by humans for their bloodthirsty nature.
The second book was called, A wizard's guide to energy stores by Pendulum Grave which had a title that explained itself. Caution looked forward to binge-reading the books. He stored both of them in his newly discovered inventory.
For lunch, “Team Victors” took a trip to the Adventurer Student cafeteria. As predicted, Caution couldn't eat alone like he wanted to. Lilly and Yolga followed him and encouraged everyone to sit together.
“Lectures start next week on Monday,” Yolga said, eyes beaming. “What are we looking forward to the most?”
Caution looked up from his plate. He stared at his younger brother as if starting up a simple conversation was a crime.
“Advanced magic!” Lilly squealed with excitement. “I want to learn how to teleport and create my own unique spells.”
“Close combat,” Reuben said quietly. He looked at Caution who pretended not to notice.
“Same here,” Yolga said. “I’ll be honest with you… this starter adventurer sword isn’t enough for me. I need something bigger. Something grander.”
“Yes you do,” Lilly agreed. “Something big enough to match your ego. What about you, Lara?”
“Monster hunting,” she answered. “My mother always told me stories about the various types of monsters but I’ve never seen one before. I’m looking forward to slaughtering them and rearranging their organs.”
Lilly’s smile faltered. She seemed unsettled by the gratuitous graphic detail. “Okay. That’s um… Okay. Astel?”
“Specialist training maybe? It would be great to take my archery to the next level.”
Caution swallowed his last spoonful of rice and meat as he felt everyone’s eyes trained on him. Ready to leave, he stood up. “I don’t know. Graduating. I’m looking forward to graduating.”
----------------------------------------
- INVENTORY. (2/5)
- MAP
- CONTESTANT SUPPORT
Back in his room, Caution sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the settings menu. He grabbed the crimson cube floating by his shoulder and dragged it near the inventory option. A beep sounded.
Error. Creator items can’t be added to the inventory.
“Great,” Caution muttered. He ignored the map option, deciding to check it out later, and selected contestant support.
Nothing happened. He selected contestant support for the second time. Again, nothing happened.
Caution looked around, scratching his neck. He selected contestant support yet again.
“Hello!” The entity staggered out of nowhere before dramatically swaying back and forth. It stuck out its long arms horizontally to maintain balance. “It's an honour to meet you. How can I help…” It hiccupped twice before covering its mouth with both hands.
“Are you about to vomit?” Caution asked.
“No,” it grunted. “One moment.” Suddenly, its square head rotated five times clockwise and then five times in reverse. It let out a relieved sigh. “Ah, that’s better. How can I help you this fine evening?”
“Um… Classes. I don’t have a class yet because I wasn’t in the introductory phase.”
“That’s impossible,” the entity replied. “Every contestant enters the introductory phase.”
“You sliced my head off and I did the stupid mini-game. You’re not allowed to forget me like this. You told me your name was Merethe?”
The entity’s red eyes widened. “Oh! You’re the challenger everyone’s talking about! I can’t believe he told you his name. He never does that.”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“So you’re not Merethe?”
“No, I am not. We all look the same so I don’t blame you for making the mistake. Let me have a little look at your profile. By the way, how are you enjoying this new world? It’s fun right?”
Caution didn’t respond.
“Not much of a talker? I get that. So what we’re going to do is go through the introductory phase now. You should have used Contestant Support sooner.”
“The settings icon wasn’t there at the beginning,” Caution said. "I'm sure of it."
“Oh, right. Yeah. That happens sometimes."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there's a lot of money riding on this game so every now and then someone will forget to do something... if you catch my drift."
Caution stared at the entity blankly. He didn't want to believe what he was hearing. "Are you saying some of you square heads purposely make the game harder for players?"
"Not officially but it does happen, unfortunately. I’ll tell you what. Here’s a standard health potion as compensation.”
Caution caught a small triangular blue vial tossed by the entity. He suppressed a strong urge to complain. “Thanks. Nice to know I have to worry about the creators fucking me over as well as the other contestants.”
“Your welcome,” the entity said, ignoring the sarcasm. “So in the introductory phase, we give contestants a choice between five classes. We’ll do the same right now. Choose wisely because you can’t change it.”
A screen appeared before him, displaying a wall of text.
Caution folded his arms and began reading. “Let’s see what we have here.”
Warrior- Basic starting class. Focused on power and survivability while sacrificing speed. Tends to use a combination of one-handed weapons and a shield or a two-handed weapon.
Stat bonus per level: +2, Strength, +1 Vitality, +1 Stamina, +1 Free point.
Rogue- Basic starting class. Focused on quick attacks, evasion, and finesse. While faster than the warrior, it comes with a decrease in attack power and survivability. Mainly uses weapons such as rapiers, daggers, small hatchets, and throwing weapons.
Stat bonus per level: +2 Agility, +1 Strength, +1 Vitality, +1 Free point
Archer- Basic starting class. Focused on ranged combat mainly using bow and arrow, coupled with light options for melee such as short swords and daggers. The class is fast and flexible, focusing on agility over strength.
Stat bonuses per level: +2 Perception, +1 Agility, +1 Strength, +1 Free point
Mage- Basic starting class. Focused on magical combat. Mages are more creative with how mana is applied and can consume more of the abundant substance. They wield powerful destructive abilities, though often lack defensive options. The class mainly uses relics and staffs to amplify the power of magic.
Stat bonuses per level: +3 Magic, +1 Perception, +1 Free point.
Healer- Basic starting class. The healer can mend injuries, remove afflictions, and amplify the power of themselves and/or their comrades. The class is weak in solo combat, lacking offensive options, but powerful when surrounded by allies.
Stat bonuses per level: +3 healing, +1 magic, +1 Free point.
Right off the bat, Caution ruled out the Healer, Mage and Archer classes. They sacrificed what he valued the most in battle— the core components of physical fitness. They were also classes which didn’t seem to specialise in one on one fights. As a former professional boxer, he had a problem with this.
That left the Rogue and Warrior classes which specialised in agility and strength respectively. Both stats were equally important and he didn’t like the idea of trading one for the other.
Based on the title alone, the warrior was the cooler class but he couldn’t ignore the fact that it didn’t have agility as a stat bonus per level. What was the point in being strong if his attacks were too slow? Evasion was the best form of defence. On the other hand, landing powerful blows had always been his forte as a boxer. Overwhelming strength could swiftly end a fight or get him out of a pinch.
Caution whistled. “This is a tough one.”
“Oh, I bet it is,” the entity remarked. “Take as long as you need.”
After ten minutes of deliberation, Caution nodded. "I've come to a decision."
"And what will that be?"
"Fuck you."
"What?"
"Fuck your unfair game. I'm not picking any class. I don't need one. I'm not a warrior or rogue or healer or mage. I'm Manny Okoro. I'm the champ." A silent rage had pounced on him after remembering that an asshole cheating was the main reason he was in the game to begin with. "Your friends are watching this aren't they? Here's a little message to whoever added the settings feature for me late-- you're going to need to do better than that. I'm winning this game, you hear me? No matter how many tweaks you make, no matter how many things you remove or alter, I'm still winning! Fuck you!"
The entity hiccuped. "I'm too drunk for this. Listen, playing without one of the five main classes was always an option. You're already doing so. Custom classes is a thing."
"Then why didn't you say?" Caution yelled
"It's a hidden option unlocked when a contestant doesn't pick a class. Each time you level up, you earn 5 free points but miss out on all the skills you would typically get. I've called your custom class The Champ. Is that okay?"
Caution's scowl disappeared. "Yeah. That's... that's perfect. How did you know?"
"It was obvious, contestant. Do you need anything else?”
Custom class "The Champ" Has been created
Three hidden skills have been revealed.
“Do titles have any effects?" Caution asked, staring at the announcement before him with intrigue.
“They do have effects and, no, I can't tell you what yours does."
“Interesting.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“Very well. If you need us, you know what to do. Before I pop off, one last thing…”
The entity’s red eyes blinked rapidly which made Caution uneasy. He had felt the same way right before Merethe beheaded him. It was the feeling of helplessness, a mix of despair and doom.
“The Early Game is an underrated phase of the Half-Dead, but it’s my personal favourite. You're highly entertaining so please don't disappoint us. We’re watching.”