The jingling of bells sounded out as Betrayed entered the Magic Guild. Ignoring the Quests and Guild rankings section, she headed towards the Information counter and calmly placed the quest items in front of Tilda’s bright pink body.
You have completed Slime Magician Tilda’s request
“Oh my, what a wonderful job you’ve done! I’ll bring your reward right away. Oh don’t look at me so questioningly, you completed such an important task! How could we not reward you? And it shames me to say it but, I forgot to ask for your name when I saw you before dear.”
Tilda was happily bustling and bouncing around as she put the rabbit’s feet somewhere out of sight while chattering away. Betrayed laughed and didn’t take her eyes off of the cute little slime.
“My name’s Betrayed. It’s completely my fault that I didn’t introduce myself before. I don’t really need the reward since the experience was enough.”
Tilda opened a drawer with her mouth and brought out a small bag, jiggling with what looked like coins. Upon hearing Betrayed’s words, she shook her body violently in disapproval and tears appeared in her eyes.
“Oh please do take this reward. It’s not much but it is more than worth your trouble. It would shame myself and the Magic Guild if you were to do work for us and not be given any compensation. Besides,” Her beady eyes twinkled and she leaned towards Betrayed, “it’s only right that we pay our guild members properly. You have been thinking about joining our little guild haven’t you?”
Betrayed smiled at the little slime’s words and nodded her head.
“I’m strong enough to change classes now. I’ve been thinking about it and being a Mage while learning close combat magic is a lot more helpful to me than learning large area of effect spells.”
“Wonderful dear! Just let me get the contract and I’ll change your class. Are you aware of how classes and subclasses work? After all, this is your first class change but it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be your last.”
Betrayed’s thought long and hard about Tilda’s offer. She could change her class again? That was pretty rare in video games and she had only encountered it once or twice in other RPG’s. She sighed lightly. Every little bit of new information helps.
“I’d love it if you could explain it to me.”
With a pleased expression, Tilda sat upright and began to speak.
“Well first things first, there is always going to be your main class which you can’t change. From now on that’ll be the Mage class. However, there are several subclasses; Fire Mage, Ice Mage, Water Mage, Poison Mage, Dark Mage, Green Mage, Lightning Mage, Earth Mage and Wind Mage. For a large price, you can change subclasses until you have reached level 100. Should you go beyond that limit then unfortunately you will have become too powerful for us to simply change the magical properties inherent in your body and will be stuck with the subclass you have at the time. This is why I must warn you now to choose your subclass carefully and never hesitate to try other subclasses before it’s too late. You never know if you are more compatible with a subclass other than your current one.”
Tilda tilted her head in consideration, “However, there are other ways to change your class. The Star Continent and the entire world itself is ancient. Many powerful creatures have been born since the beginning of time and should a creature be powerful enough, it can grant you a new subclass, or even a new class. Whether your luck is good enough, you’ll have to see for yourself.”
‘Interesting’ Betrayed thought to herself, ‘She’s talking about the unique classes.’
One of the things that had attracted Betrayed to this game was the fact that it had classes that couldn’t be achieved by normal means. Of course, they are extremely rare. Sometimes they did not actually have as many benefits as normal classes. But their titles and unique styles of gameplay were what many considered to be the true reward of having a unique class.
“I see,” Betrayed lifted her hand to the piece of paper in front of her and put a single finger on it. A faint radiance covered the page and the contract was finished, “Does this mean I just have to choose my subclass and i’ll be a full member of the Slime Valley Magic Guild?”
“Well I would love to be able to do that dear, but unfortunately no one that is currently in the guild has the authorisation to make you a member of the Magic Guild. You will have to take on a journey to the outskirts of Slime Valley where you will meet with a founding member of the Magic Guild who will decide whether or not to make you a member. But with your wonderful personality and skills, I’m sure that it won’t be a problem.”
Tilda bounced off away from the counter and towards a door which led further into the guild.
“We can have your subclass organised right now dear. Only when you have chosen your Mage subclass will you be considered to be a proper Mage.”
Betrayed hurriedly followed the small pink slime and walked through the door. Finding herself inside a long hallway, a lush red carpet was laid onto the floor and brass lamps with fires lit inside them lit the path ahead. On either side of Betrayed were long stairways which lead to the top of the building. The rich, clean decorum was the exact opposite of the outside of the building.
Tilda had bounced up one of the stairways and was looking down impatiently at Betrayed. She followed the slime up the stairs and after two flight of steps she found herself inside a small white marble room with a single glass box in the middle of it. The box was completely see through, around three meters high and looked wide enough to fit two large cabinets.
“This is the magic alignment room.” Tilda nodded her head to the glass and Betrayed stopped next to it, passing right through the material and ending up inside of the box, “As you know, all slimes are magical in nature. Our magic power is what keeps us alive. Our magical nature is very sensitive which is the reason we’re so susceptible to magical damage. But by using this device we can change the inner magic of a slime to lean towards a certain element. For example, should you wish to become a Lightning Mage the alignment device will change your magical nature to that of lightning and you will not only be highly resistant to lightning but also learn all lightning magic much faster!”
Tilda beamed at Betrayed while she was taking on a smiling face, giving the slime a thumbs up to show that she understood.
“Now all that’s left is to tell me what subclass you wish to be changed into dear. I’ll remind you that there are nine subclasses; Fire Mage, Ice Mage, Water Mage, Poison Mage, Dark Mage, Green Mage, Lightning Mage, Earth Mage and Wind Mage. The Fire and Lightning Mages hold destructive magical properties that lean towards damage based magic. The Ice, Water and Earth Mages are the trio of magics that lean towards the defensive side of things. Green Mages are concerned with interacting with and summoning spirits in order to aid the caster in battle, therefore they are considered a controlling type of magic even though they are unique in their own right. Wind Mages control the properties of air, one of the most important elements in this world and can use it to attack, speed themselves up or buff allies. Finally, Poison and Dark Mages use ancient arts which some may consider vile and detestable to win battles, such as poisoning or weakening the enemy. Now then dear, i’ll give you a few minutes to choose the subclass you wish to pick.”
‘Classes of destruction, defense, evil and other.’ Betrayed’s mind whirled through the possibilities. She had actually been a sword wielding Blood mage in her previous game Vitris Online and since it had been a class of pure destruction and evil she had quickly risen in the pro scene. But doing the same thing twice in a row had never been something Betrayed was fond of. She liked being unique and original after all.
“I’d like to be a Water Mage please. It’s definitely the class for me. No doubt about it. I’d die without water after all.”
Tilda looked quite happy, “What a marvelous class to choose. I myself, am an Ice Magician. We’ll be seeing each other now and then once you join our guild.”
The glass box began to shine with light and Betrayed closed her eyes as a wave of nausea rolled over her body. After a few seconds the light died down and she hesitantly opened her eyes, finding herself face to face with Tilda.
“Congratulations dear, you’re officially a Mage!”
You have changed your class to Mage
You have changed your subclass to Water Mage
You have gained the skill Water Bolt
You have gained the skill Water Manipulation
You have gained the skill Water Shield
You have gained the skill Water Prison
You have gained the skill Healing Water
You have gained the passive skill Water Aura
All stats have permanently increased by 10 with the exception of Intelligence and Wisdom. Intelligence and Wisdom have increased by 15.
Betrayed’s eyes widened as skill after skill after skill was gifted to her. Her stats rose to double what they had previously been. She quickly poured her free stat points into Wisdom and Intelligence, giving each of them 21 points each. She could feel her tongue licking her lips as she thought of all the benefits she had gained.
“Oh I do love seeing a smiling face after so long. New guild members are so scarce these days. No, we shouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves! You’re not a member of this guild just yet dear. First you have to go to the left mountain peak and visit one of the Magic Guild’s founding members, Lightning Magician Bratelli!”
A Slime’s Magical Journey [Mage Lore Quest]
Description: You have been informed by Slime Magician Tilda that you will need to visit the Lightning Magician Bratelli to gain membership into the Slime Valley Magic Guild. This founding member of the Magic Guild has not been seen in over fifteen years but it is known that he regularly communicates from his cottage in the Rocky Mountain Peak at the south side of Slime Valley.
Task: Locate and talk to Lightning Magician Bratelli.
Quest difficulty: E
Quest is not optional.
Unable to refuse quest
Betrayed carefully read over its details. It was a rank ‘E’ quest in terms of difficulty. The quests in The Last God were all ranked F, E, D, C, B and A from easiest to most difficult. She felt it was only right that as a level ten with a class that she was being given a quest ranked as the second easiest. Even C ranked quests were usually the types that required several people with high levels working together to complete.
“I’m sorry Betrayed, but I can’t give you any weapons until you’re a guild member. But I’ll give a letter to the magic weapon seller down at the market so that he’ll give you a discount. Look for Acham and tell him that Tilda sent you.”
Betrayed almost let out a gasp as Tilda’s black eyes appeared to be watering in sadness.
“No, no! It’s fine Tilda. You’ve already done so much for me. Thanks for everything Tilda. I mean it.”
“Never mind me, getting all teary at my age. But that reminds me! You aren’t the only person going to meet Bratelli. One other person stopped by just a few moments ago, if you’re lucky they’ll still be in the lobby and you can form a party for safer travels! Rocky Mountain Peak is a dangerous area after all dear. Do you know how to form a party?”
Betrayed didn’t have the slightest clue how to form a party but she’d had enough experience in gaming that she was sure it would work it out by itself. She nodded to Tilda and they began head back. While they passed through the lavish red carpet, Betrayed brought up her Status Screen.
[table]
Status ScreenNameBetrayedLevel10ClassMageSubclassWater MageHealth200Mana250Free Stat Points42Stamina20Strength20Agility20Vitality20Dexterity20Intelligence49+4Wisdom46Racial Trait (Slime):
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20% reduced physical damage
20% increased magic damage taken
Water Aura:
40% increase magical resistance against water based attacks. [Stacks with effects of ‘Racial Trait (Slime)]. Total: 20% increase magical resistance against water based attacks.
Skills:
Water Bolt [Rank 1]:
Description: Water Mages long ago perfected the firing of magic-imbued water projectiles to deal devastating amounts of damage onto their foes.
Effect: Fires a bolt of water towards an enemy target. Damage: 25 + Int x2(106)
Mana Cost: 15 mana.
Cooldown: 1.5 seconds.
Water Shield [Rank 1]: Water Mages of all eras have spent years contemplating their one weakness; Their lack of defence against enemy attacks. After many years of research they found that using water to tap into their inner magical power and surrounding themselves with it would allow them to negate any and all damage taken.
Effect: A thin membrane of water imbued with magical power will surround the user and shield them from all oncoming attacks. Every point of damage dealt to the user’s health will instead decrease their mana.
Mana cost: 10 mana per second.
Cooldown: 60 seconds after deactivation.
Water Prison [Rank 1]: The spirits of water have long used their element to bind, stop and imprison enemies and innocent travellers alike.
Effect: Enemies will be bound where they stand for 3 seconds by tendrils of water.
Mana cost: 20 mana.
Cooldown: 13 seconds.
Healing Water [Rank 1]: Water is the origin of all life. When life was first born, water made an oath to always protect and heal that which had been born within its depths.
Effect: Healing water will gush from the user’s hand or magical instrument and heal all it touches for 50 Health per second. Lasts 5 seconds.
Mana cost: 50 mana.
Cooldown: 120 seconds.
Water Manipulation [Rank 1]:
Description: Increased magical affinity with the element of water has given your body the rare ability to freely control the flow of water within a five metre radius. However, ancient and natural laws have dictated that this ability not be used for harm lest the world itself be affected by its power.
Effect: All water within a five metre radius may be moved freely and turned into a solid, gas or liquid at whim. This ability may not be used to attack others.
Mana cost: None.
Cooldown: None.
Water Aura (Passive):
Description: The increase in magical affinity towards the element of water has given your body a resistance to all water based magical damage.
Effect: 40% increase magical resistance against water based attacks.
Mana cost: None.
Cooldown: None.
*Smash*
Betrayed sighed when she saw that she only had a single attack oriented skill. She had expected something similar to occur when Tilda had said Water Mages were a defensive class but it was still surprising to see that she had gained four defensive abilities. Five if she was to include Water Manipulation as a defensive ability. But that seemed like an ability which would be more useful out of combat. She would have to see how she could apply it in different ways later.
*CRASH*
“Hey!”
The 20% increase in defence against water based magical attacks was an insane ability. Not only was it passive, meaning it never turned off, but it didn’t come with any negative side effects such as taking extra magical damage from lightning or earth attacks.
“Hey run! HEY”
A loud yell resounded through the area towards Betrayed and she looked up in surprise. A young man was running at full speed towards her with a large monster following close behind. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as he jumped over the Magic Guild counters and smashed his arm into Betrayed. She shook from the impact and found herself being lifted into the air with a single hand, putting her face to face with the monster tailing them.
“Holy crap, what is that thing?”
The monster’s face filled her vision. Bright blue eyes were surrounded by green moss and ancient stones. It looked like some sort of golem.
“Would you kindly be quiet while I concentrate, because I AM RUNNING FOR MY LIFE.”
Betrayed felt her body being jerked up and down as the man carrying her jumped over objects and the hallway flashed on the edges of her vision, the monster was gaining speed and seemed to be drawing ever closer to them.
Tired and a bit frightened by the monster’s eyes Betrayed looked down and got a good look at her kidnapper. The unknown man was clearly a player. He was a bright red slime that was at least 6 foot tall and lanky. His thin arm flailing as he ran and skinny legs said that he was clearly the type to spend his hours playing games indoors. He was wearing a green robe that barely reached his knees and a green hood that flapped annoyingly at her face as he ran.
“My name’s Betrayed. Water Mage.”
Looking at the back of the running man’s head Betrayed could swear she saw him smile as she spoke. Blurting out her name seemed to be the only thing to do in the situation.
“The name’s Slim. Green Mage. Has anyone ever told you that you sound like a chick?”
Betrayed rolled her eyes and then realised that she had changed her appearance to look like that of a man’s.
“Shut up and run up those stairs.” She pointed with her only free foot towards the stairs. Turning her head back around to look at the monster, the man leaped into the air and her stomach churned. To her surprise, the monster immediately ran after them instead of simply charging in a straight line like she had expected it to. It was indeed a human shaped golem. The stairs creaked in protest as a thousand kilos of large rock thoroughly covered in moss smashed down onto them in pursuit of its prey.
“Its following you?!”
Betrayed would have smacked herself in the head. Or smacked him in the head. Betrayed could hear the smashing of wooden stairs as the golem began to chase them deeper into the building. They had already reached the second floor but Betrayed’s face sunk as she realised that the second floor was empty and there was nothing for them to hide behind.
*Wheeze*
“Sorry”
*Wheeze*
At least he apologized. The man walked a few more steps before dropping Betrayed onto the floor. She groaned as she fell on the hard wooden tiles but instantly shut her mouth. The golem had reached the second floor entrance and had already located them.
“Water Bolt!”
Half a meter of spiraling water flew out of Betrayed’s wand and straight into the golem's stomach while smiling in relief as a blue light of a critical hit shone. Very quickly, her expression did a 180 turn as she discovered that she had dealt no damage. It only served to anger the thing. Looking at her with overwhelming killing intent, she rose her hands defensively.
“Water Prison!”
Aquatic tendrils shot out of the wooden boards and intertwined themselves around the golem's limbs, firmly locking it into place.
“I didn’t even dent the damn thing.” Betrayed felt wronged, “Can critical hits even deal zero damage?”
The wheezing man turned to face her, “Oh right, It may be too high level for us to attack. Did I forget to mention that?”
“No, you clearly told me with your god damn actions!” She turned to the golem just as the tendrils were weakening. With barely a second left until the spell expired, the monster broke free, “Why did you even grab me in the first place?!”
*Grr*
A low growl left the golem’s rocky mouth and the Water prison turned into harmless water. It immediately lifted its arms and pointed them towards the duo. Large beams of green energy gathered at the tips of its finger and ominously screeched in increasingly loud tones.
“If you would please point those things away from them.” The golem emitted blue light and shuddered. A large ice spear had appeared in the middle of its stomach, “And I won't hold you at fault for destroying our Magic Guild.”
Before Betrayed had time to blink, three more spears stabbed through the humanoids chest, their deadly edges facing towards her and Slim. The golem fell onto the ground with a harmless cry. Lifting itself up, it promptly fell flat on its face as more ice spears pierced its already tattered body. It realized that it was about to become a corpse and thrashed its body around in an attempt to escape.
“This isn’t the place for an advanced rock golem to be. What are you doing here?” An unfamiliar and awfully cold voice greeted the two’s stunned faces.
Betrayed had no idea what an advanced rock golem was but her shock at the situation was quickly washed away as she saw that the source of the ice magic was a familiar pink slime.
“Tilda!”
*ROAR*
The golem stood up and screamed, causing the walls and floor to tremble and blowing Betrayed and Slim backwards.
“Oh dear.”
Another ice spear materialised in thin air and stabbed through the golem's side, forcing it to turn around. Without hesitation, the pink slime summoned a dozens more spears and slowly tortured the thing. It would have been quite pitiful, if only it stopped screeching. Slim appeared beside Betrayed and watched the scene in amazement.
“Holy crap, it’s like watching a cute grim reaper slowly poking someone to death.”
Betrayed glowered at him.
“I’m sorry. I’m finding it difficult to talk to a guild breaker.”
Slim raised an eyebrow at her and his translucent red skin wobbled as he laughed, “I think I managed to do some good today. The exercise was… breathtaking.”
She rolled her eyes at his lame attempt at humor and the rock golem’s cries rang out as it was stabbed with more spears. It had begun to look like a porcupine but Betrayed noticed that Tilda hadn’t hit a critical hit yet. Was that on purpose?
“Hang on a second,” Betrayed looked towards Slim, “How did that thing even get in here? And why was it chasing you?”
Slim fidgeted uncomfortably and drew the green cloak closer to himself, “It really wasn’t my fault. I’m a Green Mage, we summon nature, but nature isn’t so kind as to be controlled by a greenhorn.” Betrayed lifted an eyebrow at him but didn’t interrupt, “I was downstairs waiting for that slime to come back down and give me a quest when suddenly it hit me.”
“Let me guess.. a bright idea?” Betrayed retorted.
“No a lightbulb. But you’re right. I did indeed have the so-called bright idea of trying to summon my first spirit creature.”
Betrayed whistled, “So you summoned that thing on your first go? Wait, what, why is it trying to kill you then?”
Slim shrugged and shook his head.
“When you’re trying to summon something new for the first time there’s always the chance that it could go wrong and instead of a small spirit you get a bigger, more powerful spirit. But since I didn’t have enough magical power for it to consider me it’s equal it decided to rampage instead.”
“My thanks for dragging me into that.” Betrayed let loose with words dyed in sarcasm.
He seemed not to mind.
“No problem.” Slim smiled and put his thumbs up into the air
With a final pathetic cry, the golem ceased squirming and lay limp on the floor. Its body began to vanish and Tilda smiled, bouncing towards Betrayed and Slim.
You have aided in the slaying of a Summoned Ancient Moss Golem. Due to your contribution of 0% damage you gain 0 experience points.
Slim looked at the ground curiously and a look of disappointment crossed his face, “It's a pity that no items drop when you kill a summoned monster.”
“In the first place, it was your summoned monster Mr Slim.”
Tilda’s voice dripped with anger and the temperature of the room lowered to a chill.
“I do hope that you don’t hold back Betrayed in your journey. She’s such a lovely person. I wouldn’t want her to be killed due to an accident you caused.”
It took a second for the words to sink in. Betrayed’s eyes widened and she looked at the idiotic red slime standing next to her as he guiltily fidgeting around. He raised his head in a defiant gesture and looked directly into her eyes.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
He swung his hands around his waist and swept his upper body towards the floor in an exaggerated bow. His red nose barely scraping against the wooden floor. His actions caused loosely restrained laughter to tug at the tip of his tongue. It was hard to say whether he was begging for forgiveness, making light of the situation or was simply born that way.
“Slim the Slime at your service.”
Betrayed groaned internally at the man's words.
This was going to be a long quest.