Aerys found himself in the Pantheon of Kalasi. Standing before a man with a hefty white beard and pointy hat. The old man was one of the many in this pantheon, standing on a raised platform with the same dazed look. Their chests rose and fell, and yet they seemed like mannequins at the storefront.
“May I help you, child?” said the old man. “Oh, I find great potential in you, would you like to be a mage?”
The same thing, word to word like last time, Aerys thought. After that revelation from old man Pedro, Aerys quickly headed to the pantheon to earn his class. He did a quick tour around the pantheon, getting a list of available classes that he could obtain. From the most common; warrior, mage, blacksmith. To the most unfitting for a war; dancer, bard, farmer, and artist. And all of them were like robots, or NPCs to be precise.
“This is really weird, and awesome at the same time,” Aerys said. Fiddling with his chin, trying to make up his mind on which class to choose.
“On second thought, can I have a different class with my double?” he asked. Looking around, there was no one else here besides the NPCs, and he wondered whether it was okay or not.
His face distorted and within a blink of an eye, an exact replica of him jumped right out of his body. Aerys' duplicate stood there naked, feeling the cold wind brushing against his skin.
“I know I’m you, but I really think we should prepare some spare clothes,” said Aerys’ duplicate.
“You know why I can’t right now, so let’s just stick with the program,” Aerys said.
The duplicate approached the Gandalf lookalike. “Uh, may I help you, child?” the mage NPC asked with a slight stammer. “Um, despite your peculiar interest, I found great potential in you, would you like to be a mage?”
I see. I guess even NPCs can’t keep being flat when up against nudity, Aerys thought. Or perhaps are they pretending to be robotic? He wondered.
“I accept,” Aerys’ clone said.
“Well then, may my knowledge grace your mind,” the mage NPC said. A glowing light escaped through the tip of the mage NPC’s finger, and found its place at the clone’s temple, vanishing into his head.
“So?” Aerys asked.
“How about you find out yourself,” Aerys’ clone said, handing out his hand at Aerys.
“I can’t believe I’m cheeky to my own self,” Aerys said, rolling his eyes.
“Hey, that’s who I am, right?” Aerys’ clone smirked. They shook hands, and the clone distorted. Merging back with the original as the memories he went through within those few minutes registered inside Aerys’ mind.
“It’s literally like a game,” Aerys said. Remembering the floating screen that appeared in front of his clone after obtaining the mage class. He opened his status to see whether there was any difference.
Status
Name: Aerys Highborn
Species: Human (Evo-Gene)
Level: 1
Class: -
Auxiliary Class: -
Health Points(HP): 50/50
Mana Points(MP): 60/60
Stamina Points(SP): 50/50
Strength: 6
Dexterity: 8
Vitality: 5
Endurance: 5
Intelligence: 6
Wisdom: 5
Free Points: 0
Quirk: Heightened Flight Response.
Evo-Ability: Clone(Lv.1)
“Interesting, so I didn’t obtain the class,” he said. It seemed the system thought of his clone as a separate entity. He tinkered with a few things, and by chance, he managed to open the skill window.
Skill
Basic Mana Recovery(Lv.1)
Fire(Lv.1)
His eyebrows raised. “I didn’t get the class, but I still retained the skills,” he smiled. “I would be an idiot if I don’t milk this to my advantage.” He took a quick scan at the rest of the standing NPCs, finding his next target on the list.
“But let’s see whether I can stack the benefit,” Aerys said. His clone emerged once more, and after a few Q and A, the clone retained the same stats as Aerys with no class under his name. The clone then requested the mage class, and for some reason, Aerys noticed a slight leer from the mage NPC. He might be mistaken but he swore the NPC really did leer at him. Nonetheless, the process went on and the clone was granted the mage class.
“Anything different?” Aerys asked.
The clone handed out his hand and they shook. New memories registered in his mind, and he wasn’t pleased. “So it didn’t stack, too bad then,” he said. Thinking that perhaps he could earn levels for his spells through this method. But too bad for him, the system wasn’t that easy to exploit.
“I guess I’ll try getting the other class’ skills then,” Aerys said. Going around the pantheon with his clone, filling more skills into his arsenal. By the time he finished a round trip, his skill window was filled to the brim.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
At first, he thought the skill window would be messy, but it sort of worked out to his benefit.
Skill
Warrior: Combat Instinct(Lv.1), Heavy Bash/Slash(Lv.1)
Mage: Basic Mana Recovery(Lv.1), Fire(Lv.1)
Archer: Basic Archery(Lv.1), Pierce Shot(Lv.1)
Cleric: Bless(Lv.1), Heal(Lv.1)
Rogue: Nimble Feet(Lv.1), Double Stab(Lv.1)
Brawler: Heavy Straight(Lv.1)
Summoner: Contract(Lv.1), Summon(Lv.1)
Monk: Iron Will Iron Body(Lv.1), Chakra Heal(Lv.1)
Bard: Tune Catcher(Lv.1), Song of Charm(Lv.1)
Dancer: Dance Beat(Lv.1), Allure of Rotation(Lv.1)
Alchemist: Identify(Lv.1), Create Potion(Lv.1)
Blacksmith: Smith(Lv.1)
Tailor: Sew & Stitch(Lv.1)
Chef: Cook(Lv.1)
Farmer: Plant(Lv.1)
Miner: Mine(Lv.1)
Artist: Create(Lv.1)
Most classes had two skills. But some had one, and Aerys presumed it was due to some classes having overlaps in their skills, especially the production type of classes.
“I can’t say I’m not liking this, but this is pretty cool, borderline cheating of course,” Aerys said. Taking his steps closer to the mage NPC from before. After squandering every opportunity he could get, now it was time to earn his class officially.
“Hi,” Aerys greeted with a smile. “I would like to be a mage please.”
The NPC did his work, and the questioning look on his face was rather obvious of how he saw Aerys acted and behaved.
Congratulation! You are now a Mage.
Bonus stats distributed; Intelligence +5. Subsequent class-level increases will be in an increment of 2 points.
Detected beginner-level spells, spell/skill transfer denied.
Detected unrelated spell/skill to current Mage class. A penalty will be given. Except for Mage-type spell/skill all skills will receive a penalty of decreased growth rate by 10 times.
Silence fell on him. Aerys stared at the sudden notification that he had never expected. The still quietness went for a while as he noticed a gaze piercing at him. Looking up, the mage NPC was staring at him.
“You knew don’t you?” Aerys asked, frowning.
The subtle frown on the mage NPC only appeared briefly before gone in a second. “Oh, you’re a mage. Have you received the complimentary gift for becoming a new mage?” the mage NPC asked with the fakest of smiles.
Aerys narrowed his eyes, leering at the NPC. “Just give it to me, please,” Aerys said with a restrained voice.
He left the pantheon with a wooden wand in his hand. Using the skill Identify gave him a glimpse of what the wand actually was.
Novice Spell Wand - A wand made out of a rowan tree. The sliver of inherited mana from the rowan tree allows a smoother transition in spell casting. Effect: 10% decrease in casting time. Requirements: Mage-Class.
“Not bad, I guess,” Aerys said. Twirling the wand a few times as if he was Harry Potter himself. “So a quick trip to the nearby field?”
From Pedro’s recommendation, he was advised to familiarize himself with the way of fighting in this world through the nearby fields around the perimeter of the city. The fields weren’t counted as outside of the city and thus provided the inhabitants of the city a chance to level up and also acted as a food source. With a big city like this, the demand for food would be staggeringly huge, and without any farms around, Aerys wondered how the city kept itself from a hunger endemic.
“It’s really a cow,” Aerys said. His short trip out of the city found him to the closest plain, inhabited by a herd of cows. They roamed across the plains, grazing the grasses even when they were under the moonlights. It wasn’t normal per se as they should be sleeping by now. They even mooed a few times as the experience was no different from a school trip to a dairy farm.
Aerys used Identify.
Cow Lv.3 - A special breed of cow in Orientation. Highly aggressive when assaulted in comparison to cows on Earth. Boasting great strength in their charge. Recommended material for a great steak.
Aerys titled his head. The description wasn’t actually helping in a way except for the part where these cows were special when compared to the ones on Earth. I feel bad doing this, but let’s think of them just like monsters in a game, Aerys thought. He made a clone and the duplicate stood beside him. The chilly wind brushed against the clone, prompting him to hug his body.
“I know we’re avid procrastinators, but shouldn’t you at least take care of our welfare?” the clone specifically pointed at his naked self.
“Sorry about the clothes, but you know well what should we do first,” Aerys said.
“We? Don’t you mean me?” the Aerys’ clone smirked, knowing his role. He found himself a stray cow, the furthest from the herd. The clone raised his hand, aiming his open palm at the grazing bovine. Vocalizing the foreign words that kept revolving in his mind like a teleprompter.
Aerys stood at a safe distance, observing carefully at would unfold. A sudden bright flash pushed away the darkness for a brief second as a small flame like the flame of a torch flew and hit the unaware cow. Then he saw it. The flame grew and burned the cow alive, throwing the bovine into a maddening thrash.
Aerys frowned. Seeing firsthand the atrocity that he had caused. Why it can’t just be a goblin, he thought. Clenching his fist tight.
Even though he knew it was necessary, killing a cow for experience was a rather tough pill to swallow for him. “Is that it?” he asked as the maddened cow came to a halt. The cow lay on the grass, unmoving, with the flames slowly trickling down until darkness returned once more.
Aerys came closer to his clone, who was kneeling beside the burnt carcass of an otherworld cow. Both frowned from the foul smell of burnt keratin, yet neither of them backed away.
“That was rather anti-climatic,” the clone said. Poking around the burnt carcass with a stick he found on the ground. “I was expecting a full-on bull-charge, but I guess the spell did pack a punch.”
“But the cast time is too long,” Aerys said, who stood there with his arms crossed over in front of his chest. “If it’s a more aggressive monster, fifteen seconds isn’t going to cut it. We would be dead meat if we just stand there like a statue.”
“Let me guess. You want me the clone to be the tanker, am I right?” the clone stood up, resting his hands on his hips. “I know I’m you, and I won’t die. But can you at least give me an armor or something? Getting hit isn’t fun, and it’s fucking painful. So—”
The clone distorted, vanishing into Aerys as the original received his clone’s memories and as well as something else.
Level up to level 2
Mage-class level up to level 2; +2 Intelligence
“I see,” Aerys smiled. Unlike what he knew about his skill, in this world it was more than just receiving memories and bouts of body aches.
“I better not waste time then,” Aerys said. A new clone emerged as both of them shared the same expression, smiling with the same thought in mind. Both of them uttered the same thing in the exact cadence.
“Let’s see how far we’ll go for the night.”