The others weren’t paying attention to their screens, so I had to point out the measurement finishing before I looked back at my results. I selected yes and the screen changed.
“Aptitude Measurement Results: Fighter: 0% Warrior:10% Mage:12% Healer:20% Bard: 58% Would you like information about the aptitude categories? Y/N.” I chose yes and the screen changed again.
“Fighter: These combatants excel at melee fighting, as a fighter your job will be to get in close and cause as much damage as you can. Majority essence gained through combat; bonus essence based on damage done. Scales with Strength and Agility.” I could understand why the aptitude test had given me zero percent on Fighter. I was a small skinny dude; I’d never even been in a fight let alone used a weapon on something. I moved on to the next category.
“Warrior: These stalwart defenders specialize in getting hit, as a warrior your job will be to stand at the front and gain the enemies’ attention. Most essence will be gained through combat; bonus essence is based on damage taken. Scales with Strength and Constitution.” “Ok so a tank, so not me.” I rushed to the next two categories growing in excitement because yay magic.
“Mage: These combatants excel at combat magic, as a mage your job will be to charge high-damage spells and cause as much damage as you can. Most essence will be gained through combat bonus essence based on damage done. Scales with Intelligence and Wisdom.”
“Healer: Although technically a combat series the healers’ specialization is in healing. From broken bones to poison, stand at the back and cast your healing magic. Although their magic is mostly for saving others don’t believe them defenseless. Most essence is gained through healing; bonus essence is based on the amount of health restored. Scales with Intelligence and Wisdom.” Although the mage series sounded cool, I had to admit that I did feel more connected to the healer series. It was time for me to look at the series that I had the most aptitude for though.
“Bard: Although technically a combat series Bards differ from the rest of the series in a major way. Bard's specialization is in performing their songs, dances, and conversations have abilities that can strengthen allies, weaken enemies, and cause other various effects on the world. Bards also have an affinity with ranged weapons and poisons. Most essence is gained through performance; bonus essence is based on manipulations. Scales with Charisma and Dexterity.” This series sounded right up my alley music was my life after all I couldn’t see any other options that fit me as well. “I guess the system knows what it’s talking about.” Once I finished reading through the options the screen changed again.
“Choose the series out of the options listed.” A list of the series popped up on the screen and I quickly chose Bard.
“Congratulations you have chosen the Bard series you must now choose a class subcategory. The class subcategory will begin you on your path but does not define where that path will lead.” Another list appeared on the screen, and I read through the options.
“Bardic Archer, Bardic Blader, Bardic Gunner, Bardic Poisoner.” I didn’t know anything about guns so that one was out automatically. Poisoner seemed dangerous to me I’d probably wind up dosing myself. So, it was between Blader and Archer. I focused on Bardic Archer first.
“Bardic Archer: The Bardic Archer is a master of the bow or the crossbow. Range: Far/Mid. Scales with Dexterity” “Ok so not a whole lot of information on the subcategories.” I moved on to the other class that interested me.
“Bardic Blader: The Bardic Blader is a master of thrown blades. Range: Mid/Close. Scales with Dexterity.” It was the same amount of information for the blader. I was so excited to choose my class that when the next thought hit me it felt like a blow to the stomach. “Wait what are we supposed to be fighting?” I had let myself get carried away and hadn’t thought about all the implications. Still, I knew I had to choose something.
The biggest difference between the two options was the range. I pictured myself having to get close to something to fight it, which settled the choice for me. I was not a fan of physical altercations, because of the whole small and skinny thing. I chose Bardic Archer and the screen changed again.
“Congratulations you have chosen the Class Subcategory Bardic Archer! Standby for class choice reward.” The moment I finished reading the message a yellow light spread out in front of me and started taking shape. It only took a few seconds but as the light faded, I could see a leather case the length of a guitar in front of me. There was a large slit running down one side, and a large pocket on the face of it. I reached into the slit and slowly pulled out the object in the case.
The object was a strange-looking stringed instrument. It looked kind of like a guitar but a little different. The neck was made of dark wood, there was no real body to it just a ring in matching wood and six strings which seemed normal enough. I strummed the strings, and it sounded just like an acoustic guitar which made no sense without the body. Reaching into the pocket of the case I felt something appear in my hand I pulled it out and saw that it was a guitar pick.
I turned to look at my bandmates excitedly only to see them checking out their instruments, except for Susan and Josh. Tony had two tambourines that he could connect to a new leather belt with no visible way for them to connect. Tina was checking out a new base that looked like my guitar but was made of black metal of some kind. Susan held up her fists with spiked brass knuckles on each, and Josh held a simple black choker with purple spikes going all the way around it.
I looked back down at my guitar and studied it closely. As I got a closer look a new window popped up.
“Bardic Archers soul bound weapon: Ballads Bow. This bow will grow in strength with the strength of the Bard who wields it.”
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“Badass!” I said under my breath.
“What did you get?” Tony bounded over to me and asked. I told him the name of it, and he smiled hard. “That’s so awesome! I got percussive chakram! Check this shit out.” He held the tambourines up and shook them and they made a bright sound like you’d expect, but when he flicked his wrist a certain way the metal disks that made the sound snapped together giving the tambourines the illusion of having flower petals. Tony quickly turned around and threw one of them against the wall. It stuck to the surface with a loud thud.
“Dude! My wall!” Josh complained, but Tony just laughed it off. Tony moved his hand in a circle and flicked his hand down, that was when I saw the shine of a flexible metal wire. The dangerous instrument flew back across the room, and he caught it in his hand. With another flick of his wrists, the circular blades changed back into tambourines. “Ok gotta be honest that’s awesome, but seriously don’t fuck up my walls.” Josh scolded again.
“Yooooo guys look at this!” We all looked over at Tina and she held up her bass. She took the ring that made up the body of her instrument and pulled it down. It appeared to disconnect from the rest of the instrument but before it fell away, she pushed it up the length of the neck. The ring shrunk as it went farther up, and the strings looked like they were pulled into to ring. The headstock turned to the side and the tip opened. The end of the fretboard unfolded until it was big enough to shove into her shoulder.
“It’s called Sonic Sniper!” She then proceeded to point it at the wall and a second later a low note sounded out and a hole appeared in the wall.
“Again dudes! Stop fucking up my place!” Josh looked like he was completely over the wonton destruction of his garage. The others looked at me and I started messing with Ballads Bow to figure it out. Mine was slightly less complicated once I figured it out. I lifted my guitar's body and pushed it toward the center of the neck. The strings were pulled from both sides of the neck until it was the shape of a recurve bow then they combined into one string the body shrank down to the size of a bead and that was the end of the transformation.
“I mean that’s cool and all but what about arrows?” Susan asked. That’s when I remembered my case, I rushed over to it and put the strap around my back. As soon as the case was on my back the large pocket filled with arrows I reached back and grabbed one to inspect. It was just a standard arrow. It had a shaft, fletching, nock, and a triangular arrowhead. I decided not to shoot one into the wall because I could already hear a loud whistling sound from the howling wind through the hole Tina had put in the wall. Josh looked at me gratefully and I changed my bow back into its guitar configuration. I placed it into the case on my back that was now empty of arrows.
“What about you?” I turned to Josh and asked.
“Oh, one moment.” Josh looked sheepish and quickly fastened the choker on his neck. “It’s called Vocal Poison on an unrelated note Tina could you come here?” She bounded up to him and he whispered something in her ear. Suddenly Tina slumped over, and Josh caught her.
“What the fuck man!” Tony rushed up to Josh and pushed him.
“She’s fine man! Right now, I can only release a sleep toxin it only lasts about 5 seconds!” Even as he said this Tina started to stir. Josh looked at her and smirked. “That’s for the bigass hole in the wall!” Tina scowled and Susan giggled from where she was in the corner. Tina looked over at her girlfriends and decided to laugh as well.
“So not to be a buzzkill but what do you think these weapons are for?” I asked the group.
“Duh, fighting,” Tony responded. I gave him a flat look and then rolled my eyes.
“I know fighting but what are we supposed to be fighting?” When I asked that question the room went silent. The only sound being made was the wind outside. I thought about the mana distribution and checked the screen that popped up.
“Mana Distribution: 6% Estimated Time to Completion: Three Hours and Forty-Five Minutes.” I sighed and lifted my head.
“Something tells me we only have a few hours before we figure out the answer to that question,” I said solemnly. We decided we’d practice our weapon transformations and see if we couldn’t find out more about the system before the countdown ended, and that’s what we did. For the first hour and a half, we practiced changing our weapons and moving with them. After that, we tried a bunch of different commands to get new windows to open.
We were able to get two new screens and a HUD in the next hour and a half, the first was the status screen.
Nathan Schute: Bardic Archer
LEVEL 1
STRENGTH: 3
CONSTITUTION:5
AGILITY:8
DEXTERITY:15
INTELLIGENCE:6
WISDOM:6
CHARISMA:8
Looking at the numbers on my status screen I wasn’t sure if they were good or bad, so I asked the others about their stats. Most of us had similar stats give or take a couple of points each of us had higher dexterity and charisma though. All of us except Susan, had a much higher strength and agility which made some amount of sense. Susan may have been a 5’4” blonde beauty queen, but she was also a state-level judo champion. Meanwhile, the only other person who had even played a sport was me, and I wasn’t sure if winter guard for two weeks that ended in a broken tooth even counted.
Susan gave us a teasing smile and lifted her arm in a mock flex and kissed her bicep. Tina laughed at her girlfriend's antics and I just rolled my eyes. The next screen we were able to open was a skill tree.
BARDIC ARCHER SKILL TREE
1 SKILL POINT
PERFORMANCE ARCHERY CONVERSATION
NOTE: SOME SKILLS HAVE OVERLAPPING FUNCTIONS
All of the skills were blurred out, but I had one skill point to assign. Based on the explanation for the bard series most of the essence for bards comes from the adoration which made me want to lean towards a performance skill, there was even bonus essence rewarded for manipulation which meant conversation would be a good choice as well. I only even knew what essence was because of the HUD we’d been able to unlock as well. Three bars showed up in the peripherals of our vision. Horizontal health and mana bars at the top of our vision and a bar that showed essence gained to the next level. Mine showed zero out of one hundred essences.
As I was thinking about what choice to make about my skills, I happened to look at the hole in the wall. I then remembered the conversation from earlier. I didn’t know what we were going to have to fight but we were going to have to fight something. That settled the decision for me, and I focused on assigning my one skill point to archery. The skill list was updated as soon as I’d finished.
BARDIC ARCHER SKILL TREE
0 SKILL POINT
PERFORMANCE ARCHERY CONVERSATION
STEADY
NOTE: SOME SKILLS HAVE OVERLAPPING FUNCTIONS
I focused on the new skill and more information appeared on a new screen.
“Steady: The body moves with or without permission. This skill will stop any excess movement that may affect the aim. Skill is affected by Dexterity stat the higher your dexterity the longer you can keep this skill active, the shorter the cooldown, and the greater the effective range. The time limit is five seconds. Cooldown one minute thirty seconds. Effective range 100 meters.”
I pulled out Ballad's Bow and quickly placed it into its bow configuration. Knocking an arrow, I instinctively knew how to activate the skill. I could feel it when it took effect my hands didn’t twitch, I learned how to place my feet so that I was steady. I adjusted my arms and they stilled, and I could control my breathing so that the tip of the arrow stopped bobbing up and down. Aiming at the hole Tina shot through the wall earlier I released the arrow right before the skill went on cooldown.
It silently soared through the space not touching the walls at all. The skill was different than I thought that it would be, I had expected my body to just snap into place but instead, it was like knowledge just popped into my head and I knew how to move. The only problem is I was slow I almost didn’t even get the shot off. I practiced the skill for a while longer until a new screen appeared.
“Mana Distribution Completed Flora and Fauna updated.” It was then that I noticed the wind and thunder had stopped. I thought that the worst of it was over but then a new kind of screen appeared, a red screen with a flashing “WARNING” entered my field of view, the lights went out and that was when the voice started.