"How's it feel?" Na-Ya was standing next to me, her small glowing hand pressed onto my hip. I could feel the warmth of her healing light through my clothes.
"Much better. Thank you, Na-Ya." A week before, Rennar subjected me to a gauntlet of physical tests to prove that I was ready to leave, and he didn't go easy on me. Luckily, I managed to pass his tests and proved I was good to go. But... I'd been more sore the past week than I'd been in my whole life. The dwarf had no mercy on me.
She lifted her hand and smiled."Good. Now keep up with your exercises when you're on the road, and don't do anything too crazy out there. I expect you both back within the month, okay? And don't let Tristan do anything too foolish. He's not as smart as he thinks, and he tends to get in trouble."
I smiled back. "Don't worry. We'll be back before you know it. I promise."
"You better be. It won't be the same around here without you two." She patted my shoulder and left the room.
It had been twelve months since I'd come to the temple, and I felt like a new guy. I'd finally just about caught up to Ro-Saleh in physique, if not technique, and I was probably more fit than I'd ever been. All the training and the daily exercises had paid off. I looked into my little mirror and flexed. I was pretty bangin' if I did say so myself. I still didn't have all that much feeling in some of my fingers, and I needed to stretch every day to keep my leg limber, but I was back, baby. And now I was about to go on a real quest, like a goddamn hero.
I heard a knock on my door. "Come in."
Tristan's mop of hair entered first, followed by the rattling and clanging of our gear. He'd finally convinced Lady Varga to let him go with me, and she'd offered him some old gear that had been sitting in the temple's store room. It looked old, but it was a start, and that's all we'd need. "Don't help or anything. I've totally got this," he grumbled as he weaved through the doorway and into the room. I obeyed his command and watched him struggle.
With a huff, he threw the gear onto the floor. My eyes met the two things I wanted more than anything: a decent-looking sword and a round wooden shield. I snatched them up, buckled the sword around my waist, and slung the shield on my back. Now I was a real hero.
"Damn, you actually look pretty good," he said as he pulled a mace and another shield out of the pile and did the same. With the mace dangling around his hip, he looked like a real priest.
"You don't look so bad yourself, my guy. I can see it now: Tristan, bonker of heads, master of the light."
Tristan's usual scowl fell away, and I could see a far-off look in his eye. He wanted this as much as I did.
We got started getting the gear sorted and packed away. There was some dried food, a cast iron pan, some firestarters, a couple of cloaks, some toiletries, and a couple of blankets. He'd also grabbed a bundle of rope at my request and a few other useful things that I hadn't thought of. Once I'd done most of the packing, I pulled out a few books, some ink, a notebook, and a few quills. Arden was insistent I continue the work he gave me since I hadn't quite finished my studies yet. I had been translating a historical text about historical monsters, and I'd learned a lot from the work. He'd had me focus on that since he knew I wanted to hit the road, and I didn't mind either; it was a great way to pass the time and keep up with my studies.
Before long, we had our packs packed and our gear strapped, and we were ready to roll. I threw my pack over my back, struggling for a minute with the order of pack and shield, and then was ready for real. I had already put on some leather armor Ro-Saleh had dredged up, so there wasn't anything left to do. A minute later, Tristan looked equally ready, and we nodded to one another.
I gave a last look at my room. The bed was made, the sheets tucked away. The only indication that I lived here was my old clothes, the ones I arrived in, which sat neatly folded in the corner. Na-Ya said she'd keep my room tidy for when we returned. A wave of emotion washed over me. This was my little sanctuary for the last year, and I'd grown pretty fond of it. But adventure called.
Later, room.
"You ready?" Tristan was waiting by the door.
"Yup. I am now."
"Good, you big baby. Let's go."
Stolen novel; please report.
We exited the room, and I closed the door behind me. The latch gave a final satisfying click as the door shut. I didn't know what lay ahead, but the door seemed to encourage me to go find out.
***
Our feet crunched in the dirt as we marched along the beaten trail. We'd left the temple hours before and, after the initial giddiness of being on the trail, we had traveled mostly in silence. That wasn't so much because we didn't want to talk but because Tristan had forgotten his canteen and was tired of me picking on him for it.
Wanting to break the silence, I asked the first question that came to my mind. "So where's your hometown again?"
"It's a place called Musskin. It's just north of Llyn, about a half day."
"Should we head out there?" It was probably worth going to the smaller settlements. From what I knew, adventurers frequented the larger towns, so there wouldn't be much work for newbies like us.
"Nah, there's a resident hero who takes care of most of the problems in the area. He's a bit of a douchebag, but he keeps the monsters at bay."
I laughed. I taught him douchebag after we got to know one another better. He loved the word and peppered it into his speech whenever he could. "Alright, so where do you think it's best to go? I'm all for suggestions."
"Well, there's a small town that's a day west of here. We'll hit the crossroads tomorrow. It's called Galden. It's a bit of a pit, but we should have some luck there. We'll need a few more provisions anyways, and there's a market there." He adjusted one of his pack's shoulder straps. It kept slipping and was driving him nuts. I was happy I chose the older-looking pack.
"Sounds good. You ever slept out in the woods before?"
"No,you?"
"Yeah, I used to camp a lot with my dad." A memory popped into my head, but I pushed it away. "But the worst I ever came across was a black bear. The book Arden gave me said there's some seriously scary stuff out here, and we're not exactly a powerhouse yet."
"Yeah, don't worry. These roads are patrolled all the time by adventurers, and the Legion comes through once a month. We'd have to get pretty deep in the woods to find anything scary."
I thumbed the hilt of the sword strapped around my waist. I hoped he was right.
"Oh, you should check your status screen."
"Why? There's nothing on it."
"Just do it."
I'd finally mastered pulling it up a month before, but there wasn't much to note.
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Alex
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Just Alex. Not Alex, Dragon Slayer, or Alex, Breaker of Hearts. Just Alex. I kept reading.
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Equipment
Steel Sword
Wooden Shield
Leather Armor
Traveler's Gear
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"Yup, just my first name still, plus the equipment."
"Good. You can filter out the common equipment later, but it's good to see what you have. Now visualize the map."
"Wait, there's a map?"
"Yeah. Just imagine a map in your head"
I imagined the map. The screen changed, and I could see a small dot in the center. It was moving along what looked like a road. Everything else was fogged out except for the path back to the temple, which was also visible. I realized the dot was me. "Oh shit, yeah, this is awesome!" It was kind of like GPS.
"Good, now imagine the party screen. Even though you don't have any levels, you can join parties. I sent you an invite."
"There's a party screen too?" The screen started going haywire and flipped between screens over and over again. "How do I make the screens stop changing?"
"Just think about the menu. It'll come up."
I did, and a new screen appeared.
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Tristan, Human has invited you to form a party.
Do you want to join?
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I thought "yes," and the invite was accepted.
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You've formed a party with Tristan, Human.
Select a name for your party.
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Tristan looked back at me and grinned. "You do the honors."
I thought for a moment, and the name changed. I heard Tristan groan.
"The Awesome Duo is an awful name."
"Then you should have come up with a name yourself!"
"I would have if I knew you'd do such a shit job at choosing!"
"Too late. I love it."
"I'm changing it next time we form a party. That's stupid."
"Hey, I never said I was good at naming things. You just assumed."
"Well, I won't assume again. I'm a lot better at names."
"Well, then next time you pick."
"Thank you."
"Asshole. Just watch, it'll grow on you."
"Doubtful." He shook his head.
We walked for a while, and a thought came to me. "So, how does this whole level thing work anyways?"
He looked over his shoulder. "There's a few ways to get stronger. The main way is through achievements. Everyone with a class can complete them, and they unlock your class's talents.
"Talents?"
"Yeah, they're kind of like the main abilities connected to a class. Once you get a class, you'll get some talent slots, and you can unlock those by either doing badass shit related to your class. For every two levels you get, you also get enhancements, which is basically how Rennar and Varga are so strong. I haven't gotten one yet, so I don't know much more than that. Other than that, you can also complete quests and kill monsters. Most quests either offer crystals or an enhancement, and killing monsters always grants crystals. Kill enough, and apparently you get an enhancement connected to the monsters. It'll all make more sense when you unlock a class, but that's the gist of it."
"Can we do quests without levels?"
"Yeah, we can. A lot of people do. There are even adventurers who never unlock their classes at all and just do tons of quests and kill monsters. You can actually get pretty strong that way."
"Okay, cool." I didn't know what else to ask. We needed to find some quests.
"Yeah, just ask me anything as we go. I'll let you know whatever you need to know."
As we walked, we continued up the road, chatting, joking, and enjoying the sun.