Intro: Axle Callahan

Axle Callahan was advised to give up many times before this, mostly by Alt, but now his dedication was paying off. The Hero had found his Party lacking, and was now giving a chance to join his new one to anyone brave enough to try.

You know you aren’t up to his standard, why are you trying?

Because I think, with my fighting style, I might be. Look at the beastfolk, he got in on a unique style.

You think this will help you find a better lead?

I think it’ll get us into the Fae Wild, at least. We can use a [Hemokinesis] from there, we have his signature already.

You think you’ll be in range? The Fae Wilds are large.

They also fold and twist together, and the range on [Hemokinesis] goes right through spatial anomalies. I’ll know where he is, just not how to get there.

We shall see.

Alxe walked to the starting circle and drew his blades. He could see, out of the corner of his eye, that the beastfolk man was talking to the others, pointing at him and explaining something. Axle decided to start.

…

Axle wasn’t surprised that he had passed. He was just as powerful, if not more so, than the beastfolk man, and his dual rapiers and vampirisim carried him the rest of the way. If anything, he was surprised that the Party thought they would be good enough in the first place, excluding the supposed will of the Goddess, but the Hero apparently had a skill that let him speak with the system, and got confirmation that there was no such thing as fate. All in all, it was clear to Axle that the fated party wasn’t good enough.

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“So what’s your name?” the Hero asked.

“Axle Callahan.”

“Eric Raine, and this is Wildwind, son of Ripsky.”

“Pleased to meet you,” the wolfman said.

The two were an interesting bunch. Wildwind has silver-gray fur and hair, and his voice was a deep, growling bass. He wore leather pants, but not much else, and his rippling muscles From what Axle remembered of beastfolk relations, Wildwind was supposed to be some sort of leader, so it was curious that he was here instead. It wasn’t Axle’s business, however, so he didn’t bother to ask. Eric was dressed in a strange grey shirt and beige pants. He had black hair, a stern face and bearing, and a strong body, as well as poor-but-not-terrible base looks.

“What do you see in me that is lacking in the party? From what I can tell, they’re just as powerful as me, at half the level.”

“It’s the mindset. I need people who have the will to go far, and I don’t have the time to train up these maggots. You might not be as powerful, skill- or class-wise, but you can go farther than they ever will, all because of a small headstart. Therefore, you are more valuable.”

“Interesting.”

“No, just common sense.”

“Doesn’t seem so common to me,” Wildwind interjected.

“Sorry, Marine sense.”

Axle turned his attention back to the sparring arena. Stepping up was a dirt core, stone foundation, Blue aspect man. He was wearing dark blue robes, a dark blue pinted had, and was carrying a crystal ball and an iron dagger. Both Wildwind and Eric seemed interested, and Alex was too.

“I wonder,” said Wildwind, “what a mage is doing with a dagger.”

“Is that what blue aspect is?” asked Eric.

Axle replied. “Yep. My green aspect means I specialize in green stats, such as stamina. Wildwind’s yellow aspect means he specializes in faith, specifically, I believe, in Nekonoshi.”

“Nekonashi”

“Ah, sorry. Anyway, Red aspect means physician stats, such as Vit. The Hero always has Red stats, so they’re usually the tank. Finally, Purple Aspect means that your highest stat is something like Fot or Clv.”

“Interesting. So, why is it so surprising that a mage is wielding a knife?”

“Dagger, a Knife is a tool, a dagger is a weapon, and it’s suprising because Daggers are hybrid Agi/Str weapons, which are stats that Wis-focused mages don’t use. I guess he musn’t have an attack skill yet.”

The battle had started while they were talking, but the mage had yet to go down. He really was quite skilled with that dagger, he had even managed to land a few hits, though they didn’t do much.

He is interesting.

I wonder what Eric thinks. I’m certainly not the best at reading other people, but he seems to be pretty good.

Yes, but I do wonder what his abilities actually are.

As do I.