Lysander smiled as he walked gingerly towards his father. Adelbert placed a hand on his shoulder. “I have something for you.” He said as he looked in his son’s eyes, a hint of pride in them. They were almost the same height now. The man turned, taking the bundle he was holding earlier, opening to reveal its contents. Lysander went wide eyed as he saw a shiny metal war hammer and a shield. The hammer was roughly two feet long, with a quite big head. Lysander picked it up with trembling fingers and weighted it in his hand: holding it before the half point, where the grip was, he found he could swing it with ease. The shield was round, roughly eighteen inches of diameter. It could cover his chest well. He held the weapon and shield for a minute, making sure he was comfortable with moving while holding them. His father had tried to teach him the sword or the spear, but the boy always preferred maces and hammers to other weapons.

“So you decided to take up adventuring…” His father said with a soft, understanding smile. “I know it’s my fault,” he commented with a half laugh. “I shouldn’t have told you stories of my earlier adventures when you were little.” Lysander beamed towards his father. Adelbert had been an adventurer in the past, and, after settling down in Oar’s rest, when he discovered his wife was pregnant, he thought he’d go back into the profession after Lysander had grown. After Amalthea, his wife, died during childbirth, he decided to stay, and become a guard in the town to guarantee a future to his child.

Lysander nodded. “I will make you proud, father.” He said with an eager voice. “Gann said that to be declared fit for adventuring, Ciara and I will need to recover a gem from the cave in the forest.” He explained to his father. “The tall elf that accompanies him is an emissary from the guild.” He continued. “They’ll register us as adventurers on our return.”

His father looked towards Gann and the elf, before taking another bundle of cloth, a bit smaller. He opened it and handed it to Lysander revealing a bit of dried meat, a healing potion, some bandages, a small knife, and flint and tinder. Lysander took the supplies and stuffed them in his backpack. “We have three days of time.” He said as he twisted his head to glance behind his shoulders, towards Ciara.

Ciara was talking to her parents, reassuring them that no, she did not go mad, and yes, she did know what she was doing. It seems she didn’t mention her plans to them. She quickly turned on her heels and walked towards Lysander. They used to play together when they were little. They weren’t as close now as they were then, during their teens they didn’t have much chance to talk. She spent most of her days studying under her mother, which was the town’s healer, who taught her magic hoping she’d keep the family tradition going. Her father was the owner of the only inn in the town.

She stopped in front of Lysander. “We’re going today.” She declared. He nodded to her. She seemed to have packed some supplies of her own. She hated being unprepared. Her parents were looking at her, concerned and defeated. She was a very calm and rational young woman, but when she decided to do something, she could be awfully stubborn.

Lysander stretched and looked towards the forest. The crowd of people that was present moments ago had already dispersed.

Adelbert watched Lysander quietly as the young man stepped away from him, walking towards the path that led to the forest. As Ciara joined him, they looked at each other, before he turned to look at his father again. Adelbert waved. “Good luck, Lys!” He shouted towards his son.

“Nervous?” Ciara asked to Lysander. “Me?” He replied. “Never.” He grinned back towards her, starting to walk towards the forest.

The forest near Oar’s rest was, compared to the small town, quite big. It covered most of the north part of the island the town was built on. To the south, one could find mostly hills and smaller woods, with bigger town and cities. Not that the island itself was massive. It would take a person roughly three full days of travel to walk from one end to the other. The population of the island was almost entirely human, only the biggest city, Wavebreak, had a more diverse population.

The woods were inhabited by low-level monsters, mostly animals and kobolds. It was said, in fact, that the cavern was the lair of local band of kobolds. For Lysander and Ciara, adventurers in training, it was the perfect place to mark the start of their adventure.

They were soon surrounded by the trees. Ciara took out a map that was given to her by Gann, with an X marking the location of the cave. She started to hum, inspecting it. Lysander stepped closer to her and inspected the map with interest.

“It doesn’t look too far.” He commented. “Probably two hours of walking, maybe three.” He added afterwards. She nodded to his comment. “Unless we encounter a lot of monsters and need to stop to heal.” She said, looking towards him. He patted the hammer that dangled from his belt. “Ah, don’t worry about that!” He said with a wide grin. “I’ll deal with them!” She rolled her eyes, folding the map and putting it back in her bag. “Sure you will.” She commented. She thought she knew the type: eager, over confident, and slightly dumb. She was mostly right. She was smarter than him for sure, but, if his physique was something to go by, he could probably back up the claim of being able to kill a few monsters.

The forest was quiet, only the song of some birds echoed through the green trees. The canopy of leaves let some sunrays illuminate the thick undergrowth. The smell of grass was omnipresent.

Soon, however, the quiet was broken by some low snarls and growls.

Lysander and Ciara were walking slowly in the forest and stopped. They soon realized the source those noises.

A pack of three wolves were slowly closing in, surrounding them. One approached from behind, and a couple from the front. They looked skinny, probably hungry. Lysander extracted his hammer and shield, immediately stepping in front of Ciara. He felt a slight rush of adrenaline from the situation, getting into a fighting stance. Wolves were level one monsters, and, even for novices like him and Ciara, they threat they posed was low. Unless they were being careless. He breathed slowly, steadying himself as he wrapped his hands around the handle of the hammer so tight that his knuckles whitened. The leather of the grip felt natural in his hand. He stepped forward, towards the closest of the wolves. It snarled at him and readied itself to strike, stalking closer. The other two wolves were simply watching, at the moment, moving slowly towards the action.

Lysander took another step, hammer ready. He breathed in, raising it over his shoulder, waiting to be closer enough to strike.

A sound broke the quiet, startling him. “Arcane bolt!” a female voice called from behind him. A purple and blue, slightly oval shape darted from behind his shoulders, hitting the wolf on the muzzle.

Ciara hits the target for 10 damage.

Ciara smiled as the wolf was pushed back by the attack, blood leaking form its mouth. Arcane bolt was a basic spell, the easiest to cast of the offensive spells. Lacking any elemental attribute, it was raw magic shaped into a ball and thrown from the caster’s hands. The force of the hit was akin to that of a large rock thrown by a sling. “Arcane bolt!” She repeated, another ball of magic flying past Lysander. The wolf recognized the attack, dodging left before lunging at Lysander, him being the closest target. Lysander recovered from the surprise of seeing her magic, and swung. The sounds of bones crushing echoed in the forest, red stains appearing on the hammer head as it struck the already bleeding skull of the wolf. The smell of fresh blood filled Lysander’s nostrils.

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You hit the target for 7 damage.

You slew the target.

40 Experience points are shared among party members

The wolf fell on its side, breathing its last breath. Lysander felt like celebrating. His first kill. His first experience points. He turned towards the other two wolves, Ciara doing the same. They stepped back slightly to keep them both in their line of sight. She held a hand out, purple and blue energy swirling slowly around it as she chanted. “Arcane bolt! Arcane bolt!” She chanted twice a few seconds between the chants. Two orbs flew towards one of the two wolves. The wolf dodged the first one by jumping to the side, but got hit by the one that followed.

Ciara hits the target for 8 damage.

Lysander stepped in. The second wolf had started running, and was lunging towards the young spellcaster. The young man stood in its way in the fraction of a second, swinging his shield with his left hand, bashing the head of the wolf that retreated

You hit your target for 5 damage.

You gained a new skill!

New skill: Shield proficiency level 1

The wolf got back on its fit, lunging at his right side. Lysander roared, striking with the hammer. The wolf dodged the blow, leaping and trying to sink its teeth into Lysander’s arm. Lysander barely dodged the bite, the fangs of the wolf cutting lightly Lysander’s right arm, opening a small hole in the leather protecting his forearm and scraping some of the skin beneath it.

You suffered a shallow cut. Hp -5

Current HP: 95/100

Lysander gritted his teeth at the stinging pain. He held the hammer, raising it again as he used the shield to block another bite, soon driving the hammer in the side of the wolf. The bones made a satisfying crunch as the ribcage of the wolf was shattered by the blow.

You hit your target for 9 damage.

You slew your target.

40 Experience points are shared among party members.

You gained a new skill!

New skill: Hammer proficiency level 1

The wolf was on its back, its exposed ribs broken, blood flowing in copious amounts. It was quite a grim sight. Lysander smiled to himself.

Ciara chanted “Arcane shield!” a disk of purple energy stopped the bite just in time. The wolf stepped back, preparing to attack. She breathed heavily, chanting again. “Arcane bolt!” The energy darted from her fingers, the shield transforming into a ball and shooting in front of her, towards the wolf. It hit the open maw of the animal, breaking its jaw and throat, killing it.

Ciara hit the target for 15 damage. Critical hit!

Ciara slew the target.

40 experience points are shared among party members.

Level up!

You have levelled up. All stats +1.

You can now choose a combat job.

Jobs available: Warrior, Archer.

Lysander looked around. The three wolves were dead, the danger had passed. Ciara looked unscathed, and despite the small cut on his forearm, he was in good shape too.

Lysander knew about combat jobs. It was something that everyone that gained their first level would have to choose. The list of jobs available changed from person to person depending on their training, their stats, and sometime special factors. His intelligence was too low to become a Mage, after all he had no knowledge of the arcane, and his dexterity was too low to become a Rogue. He smiled. It was an easy choice. He focused, choosing. It was natural for him. Interacting with the prompts that appeared in the mind was something everyone could do. Warrior.

Warrior: Combat job.

A job specialized in using melee weapons.

The job focuses on high strength, constitution, and moderate dexterity.

The job allows the user to deal more damage with melee weapons.

Advanced jobs will be available at level 5, 10 and 20.

Are you sure you want to take this job?

YES NO

Lysander focused on the word Yes, accepting.

You are now a Warrior.

Strength +2, Constitution +2, Dexterity +1

You can now choose a new skill.

He felt a rush of strength invigorate him. He had also gained a skill. He knew skills could be acquired by practicing them and levelling up, and could be ranked up by using them more in battle. He had seen his father use some skills, remembering one that allowed him to hit three times with a single strike of the sword. He focused again. Available skills he thought.

Available skills

Provoke

Shield Bash

Wild Swing

He inspected each of the words in his mind.

Provoke: Use MP to draw the attention of any number of enemies onto you.

Forces target(s) to attack you instead of another target for 10 seconds.

Requires a shield.

MP cost: 10 MP per foes affected.

Increasing ranks in this skill will make the skill last longer.

Shield bash: Your shield bashes can inflict the stun condition on an enemy.

Hit the target with your shield to have a chance to inflict stun.

Attacks with a shield become stronger.

Stun: unable to act for three seconds.

Requires a shield.

MP cost: 10 MP per use

Increasing the rank of this skill will increase the chance of the condition being applied.

Wild swing: Use MP to power up your hammer blows.

Attacking with a hammer will deal more damage, with a chance of knocking back an enemy.

MP cost: 15 MP per use.

Increasing the rank of this skill will increase the knockback effect.

Lysander pondered. For him, all three of the skills looked really useful. He thought of the battle that had just happened. Provoke could be dangerous to use, but he could use it to protect others. Shield bash could have its uses: stunning an enemy left it unable to attack and open to being hit. Wild swing surely seemed flashy but sounded less useful than the other two, not to mention the MP cost. He chose Shield Bash.

You gained a new skill!

New skill: Shield Bash level 1.

The knowledge of how to use the skill filled his mind. He looked towards Ciara. She seemed lost in thought as well, probably going through the same process he just went through. After all, they had the same class and level, at the start. He walked towards her, slowly.

Ciara seemed to snap awake a few moments later, smiling towards him. “Our first level up!” She almost shouted, excited. “What class did you go for?” She asked. Lysander titled his head. “Well, Warrior…” He said. It seemed obvious to him. “I’m guessing you went for Mage?” He asked. She nodded. “I just didn’t want to assume.” She replied during the nod. She looked at his arm, curiously. “Are you alright?” She asked him. He nodded with a sigh. “I didn’t expect that wolf to get back up so fast.” He confessed, shrugging a bit. “Well, lesson learned, I guess. It’s just a scrap.” The two turned towards the path they were taking, the three carcasses of the wolves behind them. “We should move before more of them arrive.” Ciara told him. “We’re not too far from the cave, after all.”

Lysander agreed. He allowed himself to take a moment to feel proud of what had happened. A warrior. He looked forward, before turning towards Ciara and smiling. “Let’s go, then.”

-End of chapter 1-