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”Fold.” Domus decided after chewing on his lip for a moment and threw his cards away.
“Coward. Call.” Dalen mocked the Draenei boy and pushed a small stack of ‘chips’ made of paper to join those already in the middle of the table.
“I call it prudence.” Domus returned the comment with a meaningful look at Dalen’s vastly diminished pile of paper slices. They’d made the chips themselves from paper they’d gotten from the librarian.
“I can’t decide if either of you has the right idea. Domus is too careful, while Dalen calls everything.” The Angel boy shook his head at his friends. “Either way, Sephy is impossible to read.” After thinking for a moment longer, he too tossed away his cards. The four of them had been playing games together for months now and had grown closer over that time.
Without even a twitch in her expression, Seraphiel turned over her cards, causing Dalen to groan in defeat while the two boys celebrated their own discretion silently. “So, what subjects do everyone have next?” She asked, making conversation.
The trio she’d met at the school were surprisingly decent company for how young they were. They were a couple years older than her, but not too much. Yet they all seemed more mature than their ages implied. Not just in a precocious way, but in a way that made them seem a lot more balanced and calm than typical children of their age. Part of that was because all four of them were the smartest in their grades, regularly getting the best marks in the school. And not by small margins either. The school loved to use tests where you could answer as many questions as you had time for, which basically meant there was no upper limit to your scores. It encouraged quick thinking, recall, and the ability to answer succinctly and pick out the main points instead of just vomiting out everything you’d learned that was even slightly related to the topic.
“We’re headed for math next.” Domus gestured towards Dalen. “And Jael here has physical training.” He thumbed towards the Angel boy. “What about you?”
“You know I only take physical training and System classes. We’re going to get basics on races before we move on to Skills.” Seraphiel replied. She’d picked up the physical training classes mostly out of boredom. She liked exercise, even if she couldn’t really keep up with the older kids.
"You have mentioned that, though you never did tell us why you're only taking those two," Jael replied, suggestion clear in his voice. They'd spent a fair bit of time together, but the amount of time they'd spent talking about personal things was limited. For example, she knew that both Jael and Domus had siblings, but not how many or how old. Their relationship was still not at the level where they went into too many personal details.
“I’m being homeschooled on the other subjects, and I’m far ahead of my peers, so there’s no point in sitting in on the classes.” Seraphiel shrugged simply. They all knew she wasn’t just boasting. They could all make similar claims, and boasting in their group was somewhat pointless. In fact, what she’d just said couldn’t even be considered a boast since it, to a degree, applied to all of them.
"Explains how you beat my old records," Dalen grumbled a bit. She'd been the previous record holder on most academic subjects, which Seraphiel still had to do the tests for even if she didn’t take the lessons. That had been somewhat surprising considering how the first impressions of the Draenei girl had been that of a dreamer and a bit of an airhead. This was still true, but Dalen had many layers to her. She was certainly the type to take things at her own pace.
“Well, good luck. The Skill classes are interesting. Pay attention as they’re also important.” Domus offered good-naturedly as he packed away the cards. The ‘chips’ would stay on the table as they’d conquered their own piece of the library, and no one bothered to contest their claim. Many of their games included the use of the chips, as betting something on the outcome made things more interesting. Once someone was out of chips, they'd have to bear the shame of being the official loser until someone else claimed that title and the chips were evened out again. Dalen was the most common official loser, but she was also the only one that had managed to force Seraphiel to hold the position a single time due to the reckless risks Dalen took. Sometimes even reckless risks paid off.
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The Skill class, just like many of the System-related classes, was being taught by the same stern-faced Angel woman that had taught Seraphiel about stats so many months ago. The woman’s name was Ramiel, and Seraphiel had trouble keeping a straight face when she remembered the little sister of the same name she had been separated from so long ago. She idly wondered if the Ramiel she knew still stuck to Amenadiel like glue, or if the boisterous girl had grown out of that phase.
As the students all took their seats, the teacher created illusions of hundreds of different races, which were all grouped into ten distinct groupings. Notably, the groups got a lot smaller the further on the line they went, the last group holding only a single race. "Hello, students. Today we'll go deeper into the topic of races, or species as some like to call them. The two terms are often used interchangeably, even if it is somewhat wrong grammatically. The number of races that can be found in our universe is probably wider than anywhere else, as the gods and the System in their grace decide to add to the races almost every time we come into contact with another universe. As such, the number of races keeps increasing.”
Were those Asari and Turians Seraphiel saw? And those looked like Tau. Had this universe come into contact with universes she’d visited before? And if so, maybe someone she knew could be found here? That was both a warming and scary thought as many of the universes also had threats like Chaos or the Reapers.
“Now, unlike what some might claim, the races are not created equal, and that is just a fact.” The figures of a Human, an Elf, a Troll, a Draenei, and an Angel separated from the throng and floated to the front. “Let’s use these five as an example. We’ve already touched on the topic of stats many times, and I’ve already briefly mentioned this, but the races also get stats. You will gain what are generally called Racial stats every time your highest leveled Class gains a level. As none of you have access to the System yet, this is not obvious to you, but the races themselves are also graded, and the Racial stats are gained based on the grade of your race. Generally, most Classes are heavier on the specific stats their class grants or the Physical stats, so the Racial stats usually place more emphasis on Social stats, although nearly all races also get something in Physical. Some races, like the Cave Trolls, are almost all Physical stats, which shows in their lack of Social…well, anything. Most races also give some free stats that you can place yourself on anything you choose to prioritize.”
“I’ve already told you that stats enhance what’s already there, and the races aren’t equal in their base abilities either. A Troll will always have a better base for strength than a Human, for example, but will also always have a worse base for Agility than Elves. The difference grows even more pronounced when the higher-graded races also gain more stats from their race. To give you an example, Humans are a D-ranked race, which means they get 30 stats points per level between levels 1 and 50. Elves on the other hand are a C-ranked race, with certain types of Elves making it all the way to B rank. That means those B-ranked Elves can get 50 stat points per level in the same level range. That means that over those fifty levels, Humans gain 1500 stat points from their race, while a High Elf would get 2500. That's 1000 more stat points, which is two-thirds of what the Humans get. The difference only grows at higher levels. For example, both Draenei and Angels get even more than either Elves or Humans.” With a wave of her hand, the teacher sent the images back to the groups they came from, which everyone now understood to be grouped by the grade of the race, and some races were in several grades as the sub-races were ranked differently.
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“That’s not to say a Human can’t be stronger than an Angel, and you better keep that in mind. Classes work by the same grading system, and if the Human manages to gain stronger Classes than the Angel, they can quickly make up the difference in stats, even if the difference in the base will always remain. There have been Humans that have even managed to rival Dragons in power, and perhaps more importantly, it seems that the races that tend to have a lower race grade tend to procreate faster. There are a lot more Humans in the universe than there are Angels. Oddly enough, many of the Champions also tend to be Human, so do not underestimate the other races. We made that mistake in the past and paid dearly for it.” The teacher made sure to emphasize.
Seraphiel noted that the very top end of the race scale was mostly populated by magical beings and monsters, with Dragons being the sole occupants of the highest tier.
“Now, moving on to Skills. You wouldn’t know this yet, but everyone starts with twenty Skills slots. Well, that’s perhaps a little inaccurate, as you will also immediately gain your first Class, which will mean thirty slots, but twenty slots is the base. Ten of those are what’s called General Skills. These are Skills that can be absolutely anything. They can be Physical Skills like Running, or Swimming, weapons Skills like Swordsmanship or Archery, or they can be Social Skills like Haggling or Charm. Sometimes these General Skills will Combine with your Class Skills and be included in the ten Skills you gain from your Class. Every Class you have will allow ten more Skills, though these ten will have to be something tied to the specific Class somehow. The other ten Skill slots you start with are for Social, Racial, and Passive Skills. As the names suggest, only those three types can fall into those slots, so you should consider twice about having Social Skills in the General Skill slots, since you can’t go the other way.” As she spoke, the images of the races disappeared to be replaced with Skill categories with names in each slot.
“Now some general things about Skills. If you do not have a particular Skill, that doesn’t mean you can’t perform the action associated. You can run without the Running Skill and just because you don’t have a spear Skill, that doesn’t mean you can’t use a spear. The Skill simply provides bonuses for it. Notably however, at higher levels the bonuses can get so ridiculous that you wouldn’t want to use any other weapons than the one you have a Skill for, just to use that as an example. On that note, choosing your Skills carefully is perhaps the most important decision you will make, though you can change that decision later on. Retraining a new Skill from zero is a lot of work and dropping a high-level Skill can be quite unpleasant. Another thing is that the more specific a Skill is, the more powerful the effect usually is. A general weapon mastery as a Skill, for example, is less effective, than a Skill for a specific type of weapon. Additionally, if you are a fire mage, to use an overused example, then just because you have a Skill to cast Fireball, that doesn’t mean you can’t cast other fire spells, but it does mean your fireballs are a lot more powerful and easier to use. You can do wonders with those fireballs, with very little effort, and you could certainly do more than someone that has only a generic fire conjuration Skill. That said, if you combine two specific Skills to form a new broader Skill, the new Skill tends to be of equal strength to the more specific Skills.” Several examples of Skills flashed on the lists, ranging from obvious like running, to questionable like eavesdropping, and to downright scary like torture.
“A couple of words on Class Skills. Most Classes have to deal with something we call a ‘Skill Tax’ which means that they have a couple of Skills that they will have to keep to make their Class viable in the first place. To stay with the fire mage example, as they’re one of the worst offenders, the most common Skill taxes for mages are an affinity with your element, which makes all your spells of that type more effective, a conjuration Skill that allows you to create your element and shape it according to your will, and a resistance Skill to your own element. A fire mage that doesn’t have the conjuration Skill can’t cast a thing with no fire around, and it would be a real shame if they burnt themselves with the aftereffects of their own spells. A more common and less dangerous element, like earth for example, might get away without those two Skills but would find themselves in trouble in certain situations. And while the affinity skill might seem underwhelming at first, it literally makes everything you do with your element easier, and at a high enough level makes all your spells much more powerful. In some ways, the affinity will always be the strongest Skill the mage has. Other classes have their own 'Skill Tax' but more often than not those Skills will only make you stronger and are considered mandatory for a reason.” The teacher noted that some students were losing focus again, so she moved on despite there being so much more to say.
“Now, many of you are wondering how to gain certain Skills. The simplest way is to perform an action associated with the Skill repeatedly and with a purpose. If you want to be offered a Skill for running, for example, then just keep running, with the intent of gaining a Skill. In this way, we are most often offered Skills for things we do a lot anyway. It is also one of the reasons why people train before their Status opens. If you’ve spent years training archery, not only are you more likely to be offered the Skill when you unlock your Status, but you’re also much more likely to be offered a Class associated with the Skill. The Classes and Skills we are offered all depend on our own efforts and achievements. It’s also why conscientious parents take their children around to do activities that are likely to unlock specific and useful Skills and Classes. The System also remembers our training, and you will have an easier time leveling a Skill you’ve trained a lot before unlocking your Status.”
The rest of the lesson was spent discussing various Skills and how they might acquire them. After the lesson ended, Seraphiel headed down to the lobby where her brother and mother already waited for her. “Ready to go Sephy?” Her mother asked cheerily. The nickname had stuck and was spreading. It usually did. “Don’t want to say goodbye to your friends?”
“You know we’ll spend time together tomorrow anyway.” She pointed out. “We’re headed for the shops before training, right?”
“Yes. You’re both growing like weeds and need some proper clothing for the dojo.” Her mother reiterated. She mostly liked to just play dress up using her daughter as a doll, but Seraphiel didn’t mind that much. Not that she agreed on growing fast, though she supposed it was all relative. She was perhaps growing a bit faster than the normal Angel, but she was only approaching seven years old, which would make her less than five in human growth while looking like she was maybe six. That wasn’t very fast by her books, but then again, she’d spent eons in her first life just existing. Her concept of time was a little weird by most standards. She’d saved some universes in less time, and she had spent more time just napping.
She did miss her family though. Her original family that is. Her earlier thoughts about Ramiel had reminded her about her siblings. Father was a jerk and could go rot for all she cared, and Mother had always been a little…special. Her siblings were another matter though. Some of those siblings were allowed to visit her on occasion, but only a few of them did so regularly. Azrael was her most frequent visitor, along with Amenadiel popping in every now and then. Lucifer had only visited twice, though that wasn't by choice as he was just as constrained by his punishment as she was by hers. Uriel had visited a few times, and even Michael had visited once. The rest barely remembered her anymore though. For them, it had been thousands of years after all. For her, it had been a lot longer, as time worked a little weirdly between universes. She could barely remember what little Ramiel looked like anymore…
As she was standing in front of the long mirror of the clothes shop, she once again noted that her current appearance was a surprisingly close approximation of what her real body would’ve looked like as a child. She had long blond hair that fell to her lower back in natural waves. All Angels were naturally fair, and she certainly qualified, although childishly cute was the more accurate term at the moment. Her deep blue eyes were like bottomless ponds, while her face was like a miniature version of an adult. Her golden wings looked almost metallic in their sheen, and she knew they were much sturdier than they looked. Or they could be. Angel’s wings were whatever they wished.
She had been the first humanoid creation of Father and Mother, and they had mentioned several times that they might have gone a bit overboard when creating her. As their first humanoid creation, and someone made in their image, the two had aimed to make her perfect in all ways, and in some ways, they had succeeded. The two had toned down their perfectionist tendencies with their future creations, deciding that imperfections added to the whole. Not that her siblings weren’t almost as supernaturally attractive as her real body had been. Lucifer and Amenadiel were perfect examples of that. Many of her other siblings had chosen to appear more mundane as time passed, perhaps as a way to show their individuality. Or perhaps they had wanted to look more like the mortals.
That was an impulse she’d never shared. She was what she was, and had little desire to hide that fact, although this life might turn out a little different. Her new mother had mentioned that most Angels took the appearance of another race while traveling outside Angel-controlled lands. It seemed that their race had incurred quite a bit of hostility in the past, and it was not uncommon for them to be targeted, either for slavery or for death. Apparently, they also gave great experience as well. The most common form for the Angels to take was a Draenei, which was just one of the many reasons the two races were now in an almost symbiotic relationship. Of course, the other races were aware of this as well, but killing Draenei just on the off chance that they could be Angels was a little more evil than most societies could tolerate.
The idea of hiding herself wasn't a very appealing one, but she also realized that she’d have to make some accommodations due to the fact that she didn’t have the power she was used to. Maybe this would be one of those accommodations. Secrecy just wasn’t her thing, but sometimes needs must.