Novels2Search

2. Trial by fire

When the white light finally faded away D was standing in a completely black room with a strange being. It was somewhat humanoid shape, far bigger then D, that seemed to be completely shrouded in darkness. D couldn't make out any of the figures features, it was if the figure was made of complete darkness with somehow an even darker outline. It first started to speak in what D thought might be French, then Spanish, then a profusion of different strange languages really quickly. D lost it and finally yelled "What the fuck is going on!?"

"Oh English, I see, I'm here to oversee your pick of class, before you are sent back to Earth to compete for the title of world champion."

"What like in boxing, or an MMA fight. Also what the hell are you?" D was rambling but extremely confused. The figure was animated like a living being. It spoke with its hands or what D assumed were hands. It even has some head movement. Either D had truly lost his mind or this was for real.

"My name is Brava. I am an AI. You have been selected as a champion, you must remember your training?"

"Training? What the hell are you talking about I blacked out and now I'm here. I haven't received any training. Why was I selected as a champion?"

"This is not a normal occurrence at all. Your spark clearly is marked as a champion, one of The Ten must have been in contact with you. Your spark glows bright, your mana is dense, someone has to have been training you." Brava said

"Listen I can fight. I've been doing it my whole life but I have no idea what your fucking you're talking about. What's a spark? Mana you mean like a video game? Because I'm a beast at call of duty! What's a class? Why don't you just tell me what's going on?" D was getting upset, he could see himself breaking this AI soon enough, if it kept up with these bullshit weird answers and questions.

"Time is limited, we only are here to choose your class as a champion. As a champion you will start at level 5. You will be stronger then most of the people around you when you return to the start of this planets battle. Are you ready to choose your class? I have several million Terrans to go threw today. It will have been but a mere moment on your home world when you return. I suggest you go all out. For if a champion falls behind The Ten will push more challenges at you to force either growth or death." Brava didn't mean to seem cryptic, but for the last decade he had seen this over and over. Plus AI's could be wiped if they weren't effective at their job.

"Fine, I'll choose my class but this is some bullshit. I have no idea what's going on. How am I suppose to make a choice with no idea what that choice will mean for me?" D was pissed now. Any moment he was gonna lose his shit and see if this so called AI was breakable.

Brava waved his hand and to D's eye it was magic. Screens appeared in his vision. He blinked several times not quite understanding if this was real or if he truly did lose his mind. The screens were floating, but also somewhat transparent. As he read them, it was almost as if the screen knew when to scroll, the followed his eye movement, even when he turned his head or looked up and down. Technology like this didn't exist on Earth, this was something D had never seen or heard of before.

Class 1: Battle Mage

Mana infuses your limbs and weapons. Close range attacks deal +n damage n= half your level plus strength. Battle mages can only use their personal mana type when attacking. Every level gained will allow you to choose 3 points to be added to your attributes. Class rank: Uncommon.

D read the first screen and now he was totally lost. Brava said as a champion whatever that meant he started at level 5, but what were his attributes?

"Hey how can I pick one of these and be sure it's the right one I don't know my attributes!" D asked.

Brava almost looked like he was shaking his head as if the AI could think, this person is dumb. " Truly you are the worst trained champion I have come across. Think in your minds eye "STATUS SCREEN". The system will show you your attributes.

D was about to jump across the room and show this stupid AL what he was capable of, but he took a breath and thought to himself "STATUS SCREEN". To his surprise it fucking worked. A new screen now appeared in his vision.

Champion Daemon Bar

Level - 5

Strength: 6

Dexterity: 5

Perception: 4

Mind: 3

Mana: 10

Health: 98/100

Mana: 70/70

After class selection all new stat points will be available for allocation.

Holy shit! This is like a video game! He had no idea if his stats were good, bad, or average. At least he could figure out his damage output with the class he selected now. "Hey Brava that first class said uncommon. You said I have 5 classes to pick from as a champion. What's the rarest class I have to pick from?" D knew class rarity in games could mean a huge boost. When he and The Crew weren't doing all they could to keep control on there small portion of their shit hole city, they gamed just like a lot of other people. D thought the uncommon behind his first class choice meant he must be in for something better. Maybe being a champion actually came with some benefits, besides starting at level 5 and being pushed to the brink of death.

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Brava waved his hand again "You have two classes at epic rarity...Error..." The Al started shaking slightly "The champion list should include only one Epic class..." More shaking and white lines appeared throughout the black figure "Class selection debug in progress...Error..." The white lines started traversing the figures body and the shaking intensified. Then as suddenly as it started, it ended and Brava was once again a solid black humanoid. "Class selections correct, choices will be allowed. Sorry, in all my time; champions have only gotten one epic class to choose from. Two should not be possible. Maybe it has something to do with your lack of training? This is highly unorthodox."

Finally the first of the two epic classes popped up in D's vision. D was pumped, this was like when he had his brother hack his game console so he could see threw walls. Maybe this was gonna work out in his favor. D finally settling down and started to read the class descriptions in his vision.

Class 4

Undying Assassin

Mana can be used to stay undetected. First strike = 200% bonus damage. User has ability to shadow step, shadow jump, and shadow block. If user loses health from target of assassination when target is killed all health will be restored. 5 attribute points per level to be assigned.

Class rank: Rare.

D thought about it and it seemed like a badass class, but he wasn't the covert type. He could be, he guessed, if he wanted to be. He had no idea what shadow jump or block or any of that meant. But he knew that 200% bonus damage for the first strike could come in handy. In most fights he and the crew got into he dropped most people with his first shot anyway. This would more then double his striking power, he would hit like a freight train. D didn't like one thing though, he had to kill the target to regain lost health. The guys and D rumbled with other crews all the time and he was sure he had put people in the hospital many times, but kill someone, if he had to he guessed he could. But this sure made it seem like he was being forced to. He thought about it some more and decided to check the last epic class and compare the two.

He mentally nudged that class over to the side of his vision and the final class appeared.

Class 5:

Void Demon

Your mana is the void it will disrupt all mana attacks except attacks infused with light mana. Demon classes are unique. The more damage Demon classes take, the more damage they can output. Small chance during battle to go berserk. When berserk, Void Demon will not be able to tell friend from for. 6 attribute points per level.

Class rank: Epic

Hmmm D was disappointed it didn't seem to have any skills like his other epic class started out with. Still 6 point per level and he was level 5 already so he would have 30 points to play with. The berserk seemed like it could be a problem if he was about to find the guys during this whole mess. Still he was pretty sure he knew what he was going to pick.

" The classes seem to not give much information. Anything you can tell me about the different class ranks?" D asked Brava

" Yes common classes will allow the user to select a new skill every 25 levels. Uncommon gets a skill every 20 levels, rare gets a skilled every 15 levels, and finally epic gets a new skill every 10 levels. The skills will be related to the class you select as well as the battles you engage in."

"Anything else about classes I should know?" D asked

"Yes after you select your class you will need Exp to level. You won't know how much Exp you will need per level until a class is selected. If you reach level 100 you can upgrade your classes rarity. There is also racial upgrade shards that you will be forced to battle for at level 25 should you stay alive that long." Brava answered like he has said this same thing a thousand times.

" So there is a better class then epic?"

"There are several above epic but until your mana and body can handle the power of those classes without destroying itself you won't be able to choose them and I cannot tell you about them." Brave said "Now please select you class as I said I have to do this many more times."

D thought over his two options he didn't know what type of mana the Assassin class used it didn't say, but that class came with some skills at least. Still maybe it was because the Demon class was so close to what he was known on the streets as it had an appeal to him. "I choose the Void Demon class." Again, his vision went white but this time it was like his head was splitting in two. Information was just being thrown in there. He had a faint feeling of moving or traveling but that was it. He opened his eyes to find himself laying on the ground in what appeared to be a forest. He was still alone but he could see in several directions that there were beams of light shooting into the sky. The sky itself looked like a moving wave rainbow of colors, almost like rainbow fire. He wasn't sure if he was still on Earth or if somehow he was on a different plant. The trees looked semi normal, they just were huge. Three times the size of a normal earth tree. No way he was in the city anymore. His hopes of finding his friends were getting slimmer then he liked. He could only hope one of the lights shooting in the sky was the correct direction to head toward to find his brother and friends. Slowly rising to his feet, D started heading towards the closest light pillar. After walking only a few steps D remembered he had stats points to use. He thought "STATUS SCREEN" making his stats appear in his vision again.

Champion Daemon Bar

Void Demon Epic

Level - 5

Free points available: 30

Before his screen could load he threw them in 10 to strength 5 to dexterity and mind and 10 into mana. Then finally let his screen load.

Strength: 15

Dexterity: 11

Perception: 4

Mind: 9

Mana: 20

Level 5

Experience required to reach level 6 - 1200

He wasn't sure if perception being lower then the rest was going to be a problem, but he knew maybe he could level soon enough. Well that was if he could figure out how to gain Experience. He looked back up at the beams of light and continued making his was towards the closest one. He had no idea what direction he was traveling in the sky was just a mix of rainbow swirls and he couldn't see the sun. It must still be there though, it was as bright as if it were daytime. He only hoped the guys would do the same and make for one of these big beams of light. That was when he heard a roar coming from behind him. He spent some time in the woods growing up, but this didn't sound like any animal he had heard before. Then the ground began to shake. D was always one to fight first and ask questions later but when the monster broke through the tree line, he thought "Nope!" and his legs were already moving, running for it.