It was like a stampede as people from all corners of the Village came sprinting out, wanting to get the first look at the new Classer. Kei nor Callum were exempt from this excitement as they too quickly dashed over, followed by Stanis's group who would be lying if they said they weren't confused. It made sense that another Strong person in the Village would cause excitement, but this much? It was clear they were missing out on something, but they followed the crowd anyhow.
A few seconds later, they were at the Classer's Hall. Or at least as close they could get considering the crowd of people which acted as a barrier, blocking them of almost all vision of the new Classer. It was a few seconds later that they realised they were wrong, the Classer hadn't even exited yet and there was this kind of excitement already…
The light coming off the roof of the Classer's Hall kept shining, although the crowd excitement did eventually go down as seconds passed. It was at this time that Stanis thought of something, to which he turned around to look at everyone in his group. Aaliyah, Jayesh, Scowly and of course she wasn't here…
Now almost certain that he knew who the new Classer was, alongside the rest of his group who had already thought as much, his excitement began to rise as he imagined how much stronger Orena would get. He didn't know when she had slipped away from the tour, but it made sense she had done so considering she had the most contribution for the Goblin's Camp, which in turn had definitely raised her level above 20.
A few more moments passed, in which time a few big shots of the Village came through. The crowd split like a hot knife through butter as they parted for these big-shots. Something Stanis was confused about here in the Village was the ratio of men to women, he had thought the average would be 3 to 1 or such after the apocalypse, but instead it seemed more like a bit over 1 to 1. This was even more evident in the group of big-shots who were basically a perfect split between the genders.
Stanis's thought-track was quickly broken apart by an explosion of sound from around him; the door of the Classer's Hall finally opening. And to no surprise, the one who came out was Orena.
Quickly the big-shots group moved, one of them moving towards Orena in haste. The lady caught Orena's hands, before muttering things far too quiet for Stanis to hear over the ruckus around him. After a brief chat, the lady motioned for the noise to quieten down as she began speaking.
"Today is a day to celebrate, after all another Classer has joined our ranks!". She raised her hands, followed by another round of cheering.
"Let this be another testament to our Strength, further proof as to why we can and WILL survive and more importantly thrive." Her motions were wild, her voice energetic and her whole image charismatic.
Stanis was certain by now that this was the rumoured leader of the Yona Village: Alyona. She had light brown skin and curly hair. Her figure looked like any other woman's with nothing really standing out, although the signs of ageing through her greying hair and sparse wrinkles gave hint to the wisdom she held.
Next to her stood Orena, the focus of attention for most people, although she herself seemed confused as to why she had to stand there like a zoo-animal. Her bloody war-paint and dirty braided hair gave quite the image to the spectators, her body as straight as a spear giving further testament to her ferocity. But the more Stanis looked at her, the more he felt something was different.
After staring at her for a few seconds while ignoring Alyona's speech, Stanis came close to giving up before asking his group.
"Doesn't she look different to usual?"
Neither of three seemed to notice until they really focused on her, after which Jayesh spoke first.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Yes, same but different. She has the same appearance, but no longer the same feeling…"
Aaliyah and Scowly agreed with him, giving affirmation to Stanis's doubts. It took a few more moments until he realised what it was: the whole aura around her was much more volatile than before. The other three had just identified this as a change in feeling, but Stanis was certain that it was something more…
After a bit of thought, he decided it might be something to do with mana, after all his increase in Intelligence and Wisdom had to do something, right? So he remembered the sensation he had felt days ago, the first time he had tried to manipulate darkness. He had started by simply moving mana around his body, and so Stanis replicated the sensation as he forced mana towards his eyes. It was by no stretch a quick process as Alyona's long speech was almost over as he managed it, before starting to drain himself of that mana.
His vision very quickly grew sharper, and more importantly allowed him to see finer details which were previously invisible. It was alike being colour blind, only to suddenly see all the shades of colour. With his new vision, which was starting to strain his eyes, Stanis stared at Orena. She must have felt his stare as she broke her attention away from her spear she had been fiddling around with, and towards Stanis, curling her lips as she did so.
The very air surrounding her was volatile just as he had thought, it was almost like the surrounding air was getting cut as Stanis saw multiple, light scratches around her. All the cuts were random, and also light as none actually managed to slice through the air, but their weakness went over Stanis's head as he stood there gobsmacked. He then caught Orena's eyes on him, the glint in her eyes sharper than that of a blade's, causing Stanis to quickly subvert his own pair as he felt a dull pain across them.
A grim smile spread across Stanis's face, despite the pain his eyes were now in. Clearly his large investment in Intelligence and Wisdom hadn't been useless as he could already feel the effects. He could only barely suppress his excitement as he realised he hadn't even tested out any of his affected skills.
He was brought back to reality as the final wave of applause broke out, Alyona's speech apparently over. Shortly afterwards as the crowd began to disperse, Orena was about to walk over to Stanis's group when she was once again caught by Alyona, brought into the midst of the group of big-shots as they walked over to the largest Building in the Village. After a quick internal battle, Orena waved towards Stanis's group, before following the big-shots.
At this, Stanis checked his own Status.
Stanis Volkov
Age: 18 years
Mana capacity: 28 (regeneration is capacity/4 per hour) (Mana capacity is actually 32, however 4 points are currently in use)
Level 19 (Progress to the next level is 3%)
Strength: 22 [21]
Dexterity: 22 [19]
Constitution: 23[19]
Intelligence: 22[13]
Wisdom: 20[12]
Tenacity: 21[18]
Skills: Layman's Rush, Scout and Sense, Light Healing, Destructive Mana Recharge
He was level 19, only a level away from level 20 and more importantly, only a level away from getting a class. Stanis wasn't as interested in the loud reception he would receive as much as the skills he would gain, just like Orena had obviously gotten.
He nudged Kei and Callum, before asking if they wanted to go to the Mountains. By the fact that the Village was expanding as far to the Goblin's Camp which was hours away, it was obvious all the nearby weak enemies had already been cleared out. This left only the Mountain monsters, to Stanis's knowledge anyway, whom he would only have to kill a few of before levelling up.
"Ahh, you're in good luck my friend. I'm thinking there is an expedition, or raid if you shall, into the Mountains a day from now. I heard it's going to be quite a big one as well as Alyona wants to get rid of the slight that is the fact that there are monsters living right next to the Camp."
Pleased with the news, Stanis talked a bit more with Kei and Callum before departing. His destination wasn't the tents to get a good night of sleep but rather the Forest.
After walking back over the bridge and into the Forest, Stanis found a quiet spot away from sight before beginning. If his control over mana had increased so much, what then about his control over darkness?