News was sporadic at best, and what was being said didn’t help the unrest. Of course, all of that was before the riots started.
----------------------------------------
Four days after Kya tagged Tylan, the group of six academy students and their instructor, as well as Kya’s small group all sat together on the massive balcony of their inn, eating a light breakfast as the twin suns peaked over the horizon.
None of them were particularly enthusiastic about the meal being served, as it contained the one ingredient that almost every piece of food contained in this city: Crab. Boiled, seared, steamed, sauteed, roasted, pickled, caked, breaded, fried, no matter how you cooked it, the same thing for every meal, no matter how good, eventually got dull. Kya knew from experience that eventually the mere smell of the crab would be almost nauseating, but at this point, they were still just disappointed in the meal and nothing more.
Each day after the first had gone much the same. Kya practiced her aura control with Alder each morning and evening, sparred with Wade or Tylan during lunch, and any other time while the sun was up was spent exclusively on fighting and killing crabs. At this point, Kya could fight and kill crabs like a lawn mower kills grass. Alright, maybe not that easily, but she was becoming extremely proficient at it.
Though he had been initially quite annoyed at being tagged, Tylan had quickly gotten over it, moving on to instead find Kya and her abilities utterly fascinating. The first day and a half had been nothing but questions on the exact nature of her pushes and pulls, how light, exactly, could she make herself with her slow-fall, how she had even gotten an extinct class in the first place.
Kya had been absolutely on board with the questions and subsequent sparring rounds to test them as it gave her invaluable insight to her own abilities and limits. She’d already found out a lot of it on her own through her various fights, but the exact and precise nature of her abilities was quite fun to pin down.
First were all the tests they’d done on her slow fall ability.
- - - - -
- Ability {Slow Fall} 1-Star - 29%
- Description: Through your experience and understanding of space, you are able to moderately affect the inexorable force pulling you down. May be extended to others in close proximity at an increased rate of mana consumption.
- - - - -
Firstly, despite her regular and almost constant use of the ability in every fight since she’d gotten it, it was only at 29%. If this was her first ability, she had a feeling it would have progressed at least twice as far. In addition to just the basic increase in combat ability that understanding herself and her abilities would bring, Kya had been hoping for a leap forward in her abilities like she’d gotten with her push and pull ability.
Still, she’d been happy enough just sparring and learning about her abilities. She’d even gotten a glimpse into what a class at the Academy would be like from watching the 2-Star, Drake, mentor the group of 6 students he’d brought with him out into the academy. From what she had gathered, this was a somewhat atypical group of first year students that both already had their classes as well as combat experience that meant, if they performed well enough against the crabs, they would advance to a higher level course.
The group consisted of Tylan, a boy no older than nineteen named Relis who constantly had the hood of his black robe over his head and who talked like he was straight out of a 1950’s horror novel. One of the bad ones. And of course, he was a death user, surprising Kya not even a little bit. The others were less… dramatic to Kya, but still a fun bunch. There was Volund the Earth User. Kya had seen him and fought with him, and his ability to use sand was almost scary considering he was still just a 1-Star. There was the brother-sister duo of Gelar and Galar. They were half elves, which was apparently something of a scandal back in Lyra. Matters were made worse by the fact that the Gelar looked especially elven with a lean graceful build, long pointed ears, and platinum blond hair. While Galar looked quite human with dark brown hair speckled with blonde streaks here and there, shorter rounded ears, and well, her figure certainly wasn’t the lean runners build most elves had. They were both an Earth-Life combo class called Soul Soil that had some interesting applications from what she’d seen. When either one attacked, they seemed firmly in the support class, but their abilities to suddenly call forth small vines to immobilize, while effective now, seemed like it would be far scarier later on. The last one of their group was a small woman named Celi who hardly ever spoke, but Kya knew was a Fire-Emotion combo called HearthFire. The emotional aspect of her class, even if it was a secondary one, instantly made Kya wary and kept her distance from the girl. Nothing had happened yet, but Kya wouldn’t take any chances.
As Wade apparently knew the man from when she’d been training with her own class, Drake had allowed her to sit in on the morning and afternoon classroom sessions over a meal. She’d learned the history of the crabs, the history of Cetus, She’d caught glimpses of what her aura training was building towards in the offhand comments made by Drake, though none of his lessons had yet directly broached the topic.
This morning, they finally arrived at something she’d been eagerly anticipating but felt it would be rude to broach on her own.
“So then” Drake began as they all started in on their breakfast of crab sausages and crab soup, “Who’s made the most progress? I haven’t sensed any of you passing a threshold yet, so you’re all still on your second or third abilities, but how have we done this week?”
While Relis started talking with his annoying, probably fake breathy and gravelly voice, Kya pulled up her character screen as she’d been doing a couple times a day since arriving in Cetus.
- - - - -
Character Screen
* Name: Kya Ophelia
* Race: Human/Founder
* Race Benefits: Loot the Corpse, Identify, Translation
* Class: {Space} - 1-Star - 42%
* Class Abilities: Push and pull - 2-Star - 00%, Slow Fall - 1-Star - 29%
* Class Benefits: Aura, Inventory
- - - - -
Forty-Two Percent. Kya knew, from her talks with Wade and Alder, that she was making superb progress. But still, for her it felt painfully slow. She wanted nothing more than to reach a new threshold.
Perking up slightly, she hid her grin when she finally heard Relis say at the end of his tirade that he felt himself about halfway through his second ability. The others didn’t have a character screen like she did, and instead had to use a mix of introspection and instinct to get a feel for their abilities.
Next came Tylan, who said he was nearing the end of his second ability, and was hoping to be on his third and final ability before returning to the school at the end of the week. Volund was right there with him, and the two grinned at each other with knowing looks. Kya senses either a budding rivalry, or a budding bromance there, but hadn’t yet broached the topic. She had learned very quickly that anything remotely alluding to the concept of relationships was a raw nerve for Tylan.
The twins and Celi were slightly different, as they had a subclass rather than one of the main twelve. They had already unlocked all three of their abilities, although the first one was the only one to have reached 2-Star. Their overall progression was on pace with the rest, but the twins said they were only about a fifth of the way through their abilities, with Celi being a bit further ahead at third of the way through hers.
If Kya had to guess their percentages, she’d place Tylan at around sixty percent; close to his next threshold but not quite there. Relis and the twins were in the forties with Kya, while Celi was probably in the low fifties. She couldn’t be sure, and the others could be exaggerating their progress, but she felt good to be at the same level as them.
After everyone including Kya had said their approximate progress through the ranks, Drake nodding at each one in turn, he said “That’s excellent work, truly magnificent. Each of you youngsters are blossoming into the powers and abilities you possess with remarkable speed and poise. I couldn’t be more proud of you.”
He turned his attention to another table on the balcony where they all sat. A second group of students sat there, laughing at something they hadn’t heard, food hardly touched on their plates. Drake sighed when he looked at them and then turned back. “Some are not as well suited to power as others, but blossom in time, they will as well.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Kya had seen the other group fight, and they were… less experienced than Tylan’s group to say the least. From what she gathered, they were the children of nobles or wealthy merchants who weren’t as suited to open combat, but still insisted on taking the placement test with the others.
“Now then” Drake began “I know some of you have already heard this from teachers and mentors, family members and the like, but it’s still worth going over again.” He turned his attention to the twins and Celi. “You three already have subclasses, and can attest to this, but for you four, you are coming up on your last chances to go for a subclass.”
On the table he laid out twelve pieces of crab sausage in a circle, grouping them in fours.
“You all have the main classes, of course. The four elementals,” he pointed to the first group of sausages, “The four ethereal” he pointed to the second group of sausages, “and the four enlightens.” He pointed to the last group of sausages.
“You lot all, through one method or another, managed to get a primary class. However, if you’re going to claim a secondary one, the only time you can ever do it is before you get to your second threshold.”
Drake paused for a minute, getting one full sausage link, and arranging the other eleven around it in a circle.
“Now, each class can be combined with any other class to produce eleven distinct and unique subclasses.”
Kya raised her hand, and when Drake looked up, asked “What happens if you try and get a subclass of the same type as your main class? Like a Water-Water or life-life situation.”
“There are seven of you Kya, you can just speak up, no need for hands. But good question! We call those people double dippers. Nine times out of ten, the class ritual will fail, and they’ll suffer a minor backlash causing mild pain at best, or mental and spiritual strain at worst. When the ritual does succeed though, they retain their status with a primary class, Water, Life, etc. except that they are able to gain experience at a slightly faster rate than their contemporaries, as well as have a small chance to get better abilities at higher ranks. Not to mention it will immediately push them through the second threshold, meaning they’ll have all three abilities unlocked earlier than is normal. It’s not much of an advantage, but when it takes years or even decades to progress at the higher ranks, any advantage can compound.”
Clearing his throat and turning back to his circle of sausages, Drake continued. “Now, as I said, there are a couple of ways to unlock a class for the first time, but to get yourself a subclass, you need an awakening item- plain and simple.”
The others all nodded along like this made perfect sense. Kya knew what awakening items were, having found the proverbial eye of the tiger back in the forest when she’d been saved by Wade what felt like a lifetime ago. As Drake kept talking about the importance of subclasses, Kya pulled out the eye under the table and inspected it. About the size of a golf ball, it was cold and smooth like glass. The slit, diamond like pupil had a malevolent energy to it.
- - - - -
- Item: Eye of the Reaping Tiger
- Rarity: Rare
- Description: The preserved eye from a Reaping Tiger. When used in a ritual of ascension, grants the {Death} class.
- Enchantments: Class Awakening {Death}
- Requirements: Less than two Classes.
- - - - -
- You meet the requirements for use of {Eye of the Reaping Tiger}
- Initiate Class Awakening by consuming {Eye of the Reaping Tiger}?
- Yes/No
- - - - -
What would a Space/death hybrid look like? What ability would she get? Relis was cringy as hell, but Kya had seen him use shadows like knives and cause crabs to rot from the inside out. If her goal was to become not only more self-sufficient, but more powerful and deadly, then a death class wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
She mentally selected no, and stored the eye. Even if she didn’t need a ritual and would just… absorb this eyeball or whatever, she still didn’t want to do it while sitting at the breakfast table.
Looking up at the sound of scraping chairs, Kya met eyes with… with Relis, who rather than cleaning up his plate was making a beeline for her.
He stopped about three inches from her, which was about three feet closer than what Kya would have ever wanted. She could smell his odd cologne, like fresh dirt and onions, before he spoke like an asthmatic batman.
“I sensed the call of the void, the energy of oblivion. You have one, don’t you.” His onyx eyes didn’t glow the way others did, but seemed lustrous all the same, like a cut and polished gemstone. Now those eyes bored into her with the intensity of a man trying to convince others that his weird hobby is actually super cool and you should totally give it a try. “Even though your primary class isn’t one of my path, you still have an opportunity to join, to walk alongside those of my ancestors, those of the world beyond, following in the footsteps of Kharag himself. What say you, Kya Ophelia. I will personally-”
“Alright there, Relis, I think that’s more than enough of that.” Kya interrupted, as she grabbed her half finished tray of food and stood. “Your sales pitch could use a little work. Your sense of importance is fine, but maybe come down off your high-horse just a bit next time.”
“Kya, you don’t understand what you are saying. As master Drake was saying, this is the only time-”
“Yes, yes, the only time I can claim a subclass. I know. But I think I’ll make that decision for myself, though to be fair and give some sincerity, I do genuinely thank you for your help. If I have questions, I might come to you. Maybe. Fifty-Fifty. Well, seventy-thirty seems a bit more fair, but then I’ve never been much for math.”
Relis stood there for a moment, opened his mouth, then closed it again and shook his head. He walked away muttering to himself “...don’t know what a horse even is..” which, honestly, brightened Kya’s day just a little bit more.
“Oh! One last thing before we head out there for the day,” Drake called as the group two tables began breaking apart. He smiled under his thick, curly mustache as he continued “alignment tonight about an hour after sundown. Crabs should have retreated by then, so you’ll have to stand strong and earn your keep against pretty much everything else. Should be fun!”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Carcello, Hjaldin, Ken, Phil, and Narissa had, unfortunately, been placed into a more permanent team than originally planned. Apparently they had “done well” and “mapped out the area efficiently” as they wandered and argued non-stop. This meant that, to Carcello’s horror, they’d been completing missions for the army, as well as contracts for the guild pretty much non-stop for the last four days straight.
Normally, this wouldn’t have been a problem. Fighting monsters, advancing their abilities, even if it was a forest teeming with low-level monsters, they had a well-rounded and well-trained team. The problem?
“You are utterly pathetic. This whole forest is pathetic, that snake was pathetic, and yet it still managed to bite you and make you, if this is even possible, even more of an idiot. I think that makes you less than pathetic. It makes you an imbecilic, lamentable, feeble, inadequate, moronic-”
“Narissa, just heal the man, no need to hit him over the head with a thesaurus.” Hjaldin said with a sigh.
Ken had identified the monster as an ancient viper, and then about three seconds later been laying on the ground with two bites on his arm. Phil, who had been making steady progress over the past few days, rammed his spear into the snake's body before stomping it into the ground. With a ripping, tearing noise the viper split off from the part of it’s body that was impaled and tried to escape, but Carcello leapt forwards and brought down the head of his hammer with as much force as he could muster, causing a small eruption of green and red goo when he made impact.
Now, the team sat around Ken as he lay on the ground staring blankly up at the sky.
“You uh… can heal him, right?” Phil asked, “He isn’t already…”
Whipping her head around, Narissa leveled such a glare at Phil that you’d think her class was fire, rather than life. “Of course I can heal him, this is child’s play, don’t be insulting. This venom isn’t even particularly dangerous, it’ll just paralyze and give him some hallucinations for a while. Give me a minute and he’ll be back on his feet. Maybe it’ll even help him think straight for a change.”
“Prettyyyyy lady” Ken said with a hiccuping giggle, his head rolling back and forth like a reed in the wind. “You have a good nose. Not too long, not too short. A good nose. Boop, boop. Who knows. Knows nose knows nose. Why do we make sounds that mean different things. We should make different sounds for different thinks. Things. Thinks things. Why am I on the ground?”
“By Ferona’s lost name, if he doesn’t shut up, I’m going to knock him out.” Narissa said, hand reluctantly still outstretched with a faint glow. She moved the rest of her body as far away as possible.
Moving away from the group, Carcello stored his hammer after wiping off the gore from the snake, and looked around. About 300 yards ahead, there was a small rise in the terrain, and through the forest canopy, they could make out a the top of the hill. For the mostly flat and level forest, this was one of the largest hills they’d seen.
“I’m going to scout the top of that hill there,” Carcello called out. Hjaldin nodded before crossing his arms and looking back at Ken, who was already getting much of the color back to his face and arm.
Storing his boots Carcello felt the soft forest floor with his bare feet. He had found that his ability worked with his boots on, but drained slightly less mana when he took them off. So then, focusing on his mountain climber ability, Carcello stepped forwards and in a moment was ten paces further than his step should have carried him. A wicked grin on his face, he stepped again, and again. This ability was a steady drain on his mana, meaning he could only use it for a couple of minutes at most, but since it gave him speed that rivaled a peak 2-Star, he really couldn’t complain. In less than a minute, he stood in a small clearing at the top of the hill. There was a broken fountain with a small pool of clear water in its cracked basin. The overgrown and messy hedges were still faintly arranged into what once must have been a beautiful pattern. And ahead, past the bushes and gardens, was what they’d been seeking for the past day and a half: The last temple used by the last god of space.
Carcello took a deep breath, held it for a moment, before letting it hiss out between his teeth.
“Here we go.”