Mash had been in the cell for far longer than was reasonable. He believed that it had been around five days but couldn’t really tell exactly. There were no lights or any other ways for Mash to keep track of the day. He could only tell by counting the number of meals he had received so far. The food wasn’t as good as back home, but easily better than he had expected. The meals seemed to be well balanced and usually contained a meat of some kind. He knew that at least three days had passed though as he had leveled again for his birthday. He had spent his birthday alone, and in the dark. He was a little sad for missing it, but worried a lot more for his sister. Mash believed that the general was keeping him intentionally and hoped that his father would manage to get him out. He didn’t want to consider any other alternatives, as those would mean a much longer stay.

He hadn’t been wasting his time though. The cell was big enough for some of his exercises, and the quiet had made meditation relatively easy. He even managed to practice some spear motions, although he couldn’t get it perfect without an actual spear. His stats had improved since he got down here, especially his mental stats. He had spent far more time meditating, as it also let him sort through some of his thoughts. He had come close to grasping something important after killing Jason. He had begun to realize the fundamental nature of classes, but it was incomplete. He had been stopped moments from realizing how classes were made. A person could get a class that would fit only them. The hero Arthur for example had the class “Arthur the Hero”. Since getting so close, Mash had tried addressing the subject in many different lights. If he could figure out how to pick and choose classes, he could easily become one of the strongest people ever. When someone got a new class their old skills would remain, and in most cases evolve and adapt to the new class.

Even though he didn’t crack the code, he did realize that he needed to get a better grasp of mana. A magic skill, of any kind, would be vital to his class and future. On top of that, he decided that he no longer wanted to be a knight, or guard, or even a sentinel. While those classes weren’t bad, Mash knew that they were not right for him. They offered a wide variety of skills and increased a person’s stats drastically. The class was useful, but Mash now believed the more specific a class the better. The smaller the scope of a skill was, the more dramatically it improved a person’s control over that skill.

Endure for example, was a poor skill because its effect was extremely open-ended. Mash was practically forced to find a fighting style that would specifically work within the restrictions of the skill, that was of course, if he wanted to use it properly. It wasn’t all bad though. The generality of the skill meant that he could use it to cover a wide range of tasks. Since the skill could cover all his stamina needs, Mash decided that it would be better to focus on his magical stats. He wanted to go into a specific mage class, like an ice mage or a fire mage. While that would narrow his abilities a lot, it would enable him to utilize his one skill to cover the weaknesses of an otherwise narrow class.

With that in mind, he continued his meditations. With each of his breaths, he was trying to pull in mana more directly. He couldn’t connect with the mana because he didn’t have a class that granted him the mana manipulation skill. However, he thought that he had noticed a difference with his increasing stats. Perhaps his body had begun adjusting for the classes he would get in the future, or maybe it was just in his head. Maybe, he just wanted to believe that he was gaining something while down here. His stat improvement was nice, but he knew now that using them was more important than gaining them. He decided to check his stats anyways, to see where he was.

Name: Mash Class: Runner

Level: 7

Health: 160/160

Stamina: 240/240

Mana: 180/180

Fortitude: 16

Endurance: 24

Strength: 12

Agility: 15

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 18

Charisma: 7

Free Stats: 14

Skills: Endure

Endure: Go beyond your limits. Continue current action even after depleting stamina

He was doing well. He hadn’t really known how his charisma had gone up, but that was a small change compared to the improvement in his wisdom and intelligence. Spending most of his time meditating was showing results, although, it had already started to plateau. His intelligence hadn’t gone up in a while. It had gone up soon after he had leveled but had not risen since then, and now his wisdom had caught up too. He wondered if maybe there was a more physical reason for his block. Perhaps his class itself was blocking his mental stats from rising higher. If he was going to be locked in a cell, he wanted to make sure he was still making progress. He would meditate until after dinner, and if nothing changed, he might have to consider something else.

Dinner came and went; it was a stew that had thick chunks of beef and chicken inside. The entire thing felt soft in his mouth, the meat having stewed for a while. Mash had realized that he was always the last person to receive his serving, and it usually came out cold. Today though it was still hot, they had probably left the stew on the fire, and that warmth felt good.

His stats though, hadn’t changed, he wasn’t feeling like he was making any progress. Not with his meditation, and not with his understanding of classes. There was a solution that he thought of earlier, he could use the free stats that he had been hoarding so far to power through his blockages. Perhaps a higher intelligence and wisdom would let him figure out something new. It would also set him up for receiving a magical class. Most people would wait till the last minute and raise their stats to try and get specific skills in the class that they wanted. Mash couldn’t wait though, if he was stuck in here without making any progress, he thought he would lose his mind. It was the only thing that he could even see consistently and didn’t want it to stagnate. He had made his decision and allocated his free stats to his intelligence and wisdom, his endurance would be an interesting choice too, but its growth had barely slowed down.

Name: Mash Class: Runner

Level: 7

Health: 160/160

Stamina: 240/240

Mana: 300/300

Fortitude: 16

Endurance: 24

Strength: 12

Agility: 15

Intelligence: 30

Wisdom: 20

Charisma: 7

Free Stats: 0

Skills: Endure

Endure: Go beyond your limits. Continue current action even after depleting stamina

Mash immediately felt different. He knew that people with high intelligence and wisdom tended to act more mature, but now he understood why. His actions from a couple days ago seemed foolish. Even now some of his thoughts felt inept, like they were too simple to be his own. He knew now why he had grown more distant with his father, why they had started treating him differently. His stats were making him grow, he matured faster, both physically and mentally. It was an obvious result of gaining stats beyond what most children had. His mental stats were stalling because those were supposed to be the limits of children, in fact that was why many of his stats had slowed. His endurance though wouldn’t affect his body directly, which was why it kept growing. He was connecting the dots that he would never have noticed if he didn’t raise his intelligence and wisdom. Mash guessed that the real reason kids were told not to use their free stats was so that they would remain children. Mash had to wonder if his brother had done the same thing, maybe his sister did too. They always felt smarter than the other kids, or maybe Mash was putting them on a pedestal.

Mash felt a lot better; he was literally not the same person he was a few moments ago. Those plateaus, that had seemed so large, were far beneath him now. He felt like his meditations would be more worth while too, and he was already coming up with new ways to improve his other stats. He would raise them to 20 as fast as he could, hoping that that was the natural limit of all stats. He was about to ignore charisma but managed to come up with some ways to improve even that. His determination was reignited as the path became clear to him.

He would unblock all his stats, but that was just the first step. He had realized one of the things he had missed earlier. Most skills just let you do things you could do with training, some more easily than others. Meditation was the perfect example; he had been doing it for years even though he didn’t have the actual skill for it. He was determined to touch mana by the time he got out of the cell, he didn’t know if he could cast magic but had already begun to get a feel for mana. He thought that he might even be able to touch it directly.

So, his days went on, stuck within a cell and caring less and less about how much time had passed. He had honestly accomplished a lot in his imprisonment, breaking through some of the restrictions his age had placed on his stats. Sadly, he used up his free stats so he couldn’t raise his fortitude beyond its limitation. He had even managed to touch the ambient mana once. He didn’t connect with it like a mage would have but managed to push it slightly. It wouldn’t do much but was the first time he ever used any mana. It had felt liberating, as though he had finally broken through his bonds. He knew the irony in feeling that way while he was stuck in a cell, but didn’t care. It really felt as though he had removed a collar that he never noticed before. Now he could gently push and pull at the mana around him, he couldn’t wait to see what his next class would be. He thought again on his stats to bask in the feeling of progress.

Name: Mash Class: Runner

Level: 7

Health: 160/160

Stamina: 270/270

Mana: 310/310

Fortitude: 16

Endurance: 27

Strength: 14

Agility: 16

Intelligence: 31

Wisdom: 21

Charisma: 8

Free Stats: 0

Skills: Endure

Endure: Go beyond your limits. Continue current action even after depleting stamina

He was finally released. It had happened suddenly. The guards came at the usual time, when they typically brought lunch, but instead, had come to let him out. They looked conflicted as they let Mash out though. There were two of them this time too. Usually only one would come. The one unlocking the cell spoke.

“It is time for your sentencing.”

The guards sounded strangely sympathetic. The obvious concern in their voice was making him worry. Would he be killed? The question passed through his mind like an arrow, but he decided that was probably not the case. He would be shackled or something if they were planning on killing him. Shaking his head slightly, he asked the first question that came to his mind.

“How long have I been in there?”

Mash hoped they would answer the unasked question and explain why he had been trapped for so long. They didn’t.

“Two weeks, it is the 23rd day of the 13nth month. Now be quiet.”

Mash was about to ask another question but stopped realizing why they had told him to be quiet. They were about to enter the fort proper again and would certainly be surrounded by knights. Mash had oddly grown closer to the two guards who had overseen him. They were the only ones he could talk to, and they would often share a conversation with him while he ate. The one who had spoken was Albert, and the other was Steven. They were rookies, about the same age as his brother, and each had the knight class. They would most likely head to the capital at some point too, but for now were stuck with whatever duty was easiest. They had complained about the mindless chores that they were instructed to do. They were grateful that monitoring Mash had gotten them out of their routine.

The fort was like he remembered, but now there was a group of knights lining the walls leading him to the ruler’s throne room. This city was not an independent kingdom and was instead ruled by Duke Gallam. He was a powerful ice mage and had become a duke after slaying a wyvern. It was as close as one could ever get to slaying a dragon. Actual dragons were basically gods and could easily destroy the whole kingdom.

The duke’s throne room didn’t have a real throne since he was not an actual king. Instead, the room was a large empty circle with a table that filled half the perimeter of the room. The duke’s seat was at the center of the arch, and knights filled all the other seats around the table, three on either side of him. He saw his father and the general from earlier. There were four others whom he didn’t recognize. He examined their faces realizing they all looked tired, haggard even.

“What happened?”

The words slipped past Mash’s mouth like a gust of wind. He really needed to get better at keeping his mouth shut. It seemed that merely raising his stats wasn’t going to improve his self-control. Everyone in the room was now definitely paying attention to him. Did they actually forget about him? Did they just leave him in a cell because of inconvenience? Mash was slowly getting angrier and was about to scream, but the duke’s words cut through his rage like a sharpened sword.

“There was an attack.”