Intro: Wildwind, son of Ripsky
Wildwind was having a bad month. His pack, the Storm Song, had been stolen by the Jagged Tooth pack, his bonded mate was made to do lowly maid work, a true waste of her tactical genius, and the sacred ordinances were broken, both by the alliance with the Demon Queen and the usurping of a pack not in one’s region. Now, he was drinking in the Adventurer’s guild, running out of money, wasting his life while his love suffered. At level 5, he wasn’t even powerful enough to take the weakest quest in the area. Not without a party, anyway, but who would join a party with the temperamental beastfolk?
Then, the Hero walked in. He was with a party, so Wildwind immediately discarded him from his thoughts, but the rest of the lobby looked at the priest in his party and started celebrating.
“It’s the Hero!” they said. “We’re saved! The demon queen shall be vanquished!”
That got Wildwind’s attention. The Hero of the Century, if the rumors were to be believed, was kind and benevolent, and if he didn’t have his full party yet, Wildwind might be able to stand in until they found his replacement. He cast [Cleansing Winds] to sober up, and walked over.
…
Rather than talk to the people approaching him, as the Hero was wont to do, he walked directly to the training grounds and started setting up. It had taken the Hero and his party quite a bit to do so, but now they were ready to demonstrate their skills.
The cleric (who was apparently the princess, judging by the way people talked to her) went first. She didn’t have any attack spells, but plenty of buffing and healing spells, so a stone rank guild official tested the speed of her winds. She held up remarkably well, for a dirt-rank. Wildwind was only just stone-rank himself, Lv. 12 to be exact, and his own wind affinity would only barely have beaten out hers. Goes to show how important a good class was, not that his [Wild Cleric] was bad, but [Fated Cleric] was very powerful.
The dwarf was next, he had earth and metal affinities and was quite the tank. His result was much the same as the Princess’s, punching up a Rank.
All of the other members turned out in the same expected power range. Wildwind was opening the door to walk back inside and skip out on the Hero’s test when the crowd gasped. Wildwind looked back. Rather than a sword, like every other hero before him, the new Hero was holding a strange metal construct. It was clearly a weapon, no doubt about that, but it was strange. Especially strange that the Hero seemed to have pulled it out of thin air. The Stone official stepped up again, but the Hero told him to stand down. Then, he pointed the weapon at one of the targets, pulled a switch, there was a loud *CRACK*, and the dummy’s head exploded.
Interesting. It’s a shame I’m not the Fated Cleric, I want to learn more about this skill.
Then, the Hero turned to the fated party and spoke.
“All of you are lacking in skill, power, and potential. I will not travel or fight with such a subpar team.” He turned to the crowd. “Any of you that want to audition to join my team, you may. Form a line, and the Stone official will test you, while I watch. I’ll let you know if you’ve passed, if I don’t come to you, you failed. Go.”
Well, there's the opportunity. Maybe my misfortune has turned around.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
…
When Wildwind’s turn came, he made the most of it. He started with [Cleansing Winds] to buff his Agi and then rushed the stone rank with abandon. The stoner blocked, but Wildwind grabbed, fainted right, and landed a blow to the stoner’s shoulder. He winced, but managed to leverage his superior Str to wrest his weapon back. Wildwind was about to charge again when the Hero stopped the fight.
“Stop,” he said, “I’ve seen enough. That’s quite the unique style you have Mr…”
“Wildwind. Just Wildwind.” He was sure he had failed, adding even more bitterness to his voice.
“Congratulations, you passed.”
Wildwind was shocked. How could the Hero have judged his worth with just one exchange? He wasn’t going to question it though, he had a chance.
When Wildwind and the Hero walked over to the Fated Party, the princess immediately launched into a furious rant about the Hero’s decisions.
“What are you thinking?!!!”
“That I need Marine material to complete Marine-level missions.”
“What does that even mean?!”
“In my reality, the strongest military in the world is the Marines. They can complete any mission, lift any burden, and do the impossible time and time again, and to do that, they are very choosy about who gets in. None of you have the motivation, dedication, or skill to get in, and Mr. Wildwind here-”
“Just Wildwind,” Wildwind cut in.
“Wildwind here has those things. Likewise, he has a unique, unpredictable fighting style, just as much “potential” as you, and doesn’t have to be with me to get stronger. This will massively increase the scope of our achievable tactics, with just one person.”
“But were the Fated Party!”
“I don’t give two shits about fate, Mrs. Malfoy, I care about efficiency in my operations, and you are not that.”
“You won’t beat the Demon Queen without our booster and synergy skills. She punches higher above her weight class than we do by three times. But, if we work together, we can achieve five times.”
“Marines reach ten times working alone. I’ve no clue what you’re talking about.”
“This world isn’t nearly as loose as your own. If her Str and Fot are higher than yours, you’ll lose a contest of strength every single time, and her stats are boosted through the roof, every single one of them.”
“I don't have to worry about that, I can just slaughter some creatures and turn them into skills.”
“You’re an idiot, and we’re screwed.”
Wildwind cut in again. “Would you two please be quiet? Someone interesting is about to fight.”
Standing in the ring was a young man(?) with white(?) hair, a bloodred bucket hat, and a matching trenchcoat. His fighting style was just as interesting as Wildwind’s, when he got into the ready position, he drew two strange blades, clearly a form of rapier based on the way he wielded them, but with two blades instead of one, and what looked like the teeth of a gear on the inside. His trenchcoat pulled up and back, elongating into a scarf. Then, the young man got into first stance. He stood with his shoulder facing the opponent, holding one of his rapiers with a bent elbow, tip pointer at the opponent, and the other lifted back with the other hand to where one drew a bow, with the hand to the cheek. Next, he hinged open the back rapier, spun it around, and when it was back into first stance, it was gripping in its gear-teeth the scarf, now off of his neck, condensed into a long, thin blade that extended just as far as the forward blade. Then, Wildwind got the goal.
“He’s using… blood? Probably, he is a vampire, you can see it when he smiles, to extend the reach of what appear to be rapiers, without compromising the rapier stance, and gaining the ability to switch which side is away from the enemy and a second weapon.”
The Fated Party stared at him, except for the Hero.
“What? I may have the beastfolk mentality and body, but not all beatfolk have Red builds. I and my mate both have blue builds, she’s a strategist, and I’m a cleric.”
The dwarven tank was shocked. “Cleric?! Then why did you charge straight forward?!”
“I still have the beastfolk body, which means beastfolk Red stats, and I use the buffs on myself. That’s my mate’s strategy, I used it to become both Champion and Head of the Wild Storm Pack. Not that that matters much anymore.” The last part was whispered.
“Color-coded stats?” the Hero asked.
“Red is Vit, Str, End, and Grt. Green is Stm, Agi, Dex, and Eff. Blue is Int, Wis, Foc, and Per. Yellow is Fot, Clv, Cha, and Wil.”
“Dang, Malfoy,” the Hero said, “you’ve got those down pat.”
“Why are you calling me Malfoy? My name is Sophia. Can’t you get that through your tough Red skull?”
“Malfoy was a famous person in my world. He was known for being a stuck-up, entitled brat.”
“WHAT?”
The argument devolved from there.