As a new denizen of this World, Artyom started out with no levels to call his own. Thankfully, magic is independent of Systems. Of course, Systems can still exert influence over magic by making spellcasting stronger or easier to learn, but never outright prohibit it. Magic is governed by what TOAL hypothesized was an undiscovered subatomic particle that only occurred in Worlds outside of Earth. They had plenty of theories as to why and how this particle’s distributed across the multiverse the way it was, but all Artyom cared about was how it could be used. To that effect, it could be harnessed as a magical or chemical reaction within the human body or some kind of special magic-compatible engine. Turn it into a ball of fire in your hand to throw at an enemy, or use it to strengthen muscles and heal wounds. The applications of magic were only limited by imagination and skill level, of which Artyom had plenty.

It was early into the evening and everyone climbing the stairs into the cellar had finished digesting their lunch, and were in prime physical condition. The wooden steps creaked as the four made their way down. Bits of chittering could be heard between each footstep, growing fewer in number yet louder the lower they went. Yup, the place definitely had a rat problem.

“So, where did you learn magic?” asked Sae, trying to make smalltalk. The creaking had already alerted the rats, so Artyom figured there was no point in trying to act any more stealthily.

“I’m mostly self-taught,” he replied. The statement was mostly true. Artyom had been taught the fundamentals of magic the first time he was brought to a fantasy World. Beyond that, they’d tried teaching him the most useless spells, so he had to teach himself most of the spells he knew. Since then, he had sought whatever esoteric spell tomes that caught his interest and learned what he could from them as well. So yes, Artyom was mostly self-taught.

“I mean, it could be why you don’t have any spellcaster levels. You just haven’t had the chance to use your magic yet!” said Pireni. “Hey Skeya, why don’t you ask the Goddess about it?”

“Ok. I’ll pray to her about it tonight,” she replied in her quiet voice.

“How about if I turn the question around,” said Artyom. “What about you three? What are all of your levels?”

“I’m a level 12 [Swordsman],” replied Sae.

“Level 11 [Ranger],” said Pireni.

“… I’m a level 13 [Cleric],” said Skeya, after a brief pause.

Artyom considered those numbers for a moment, before deciding he didn’t have enough context to tell whether they were good or not. The only surprise was that Skeya’s numbers were higher than her other two companions’, yet she seemed to have the least self-esteem. It happened, but the party looked relatively new anyway, so their dynamic was bound to change as the party members matured.

“That’s really impressive!” Artyom lied. “I’ve been told that Ruba’s had to call in people to deal with the rats plenty of times. What went wrong with them and why do you think this’ll be any different?” Artyom was aware that his attempt at extending the smalltalk made him sound like he was giving a job interview, but he really was curious. And besides, interviews were a two-way street. He wanted to be sure that this party was worth joining, at least for the sake of gathering information.

“We’re pretty sure it’s because the other adventurers were too weak. This might be a quest for newbies, but it doesn’t mean it’s a quest for weaklings!” boasted Sae. “Pireni said it earlier, all of us have our levels in the double digits unlike the others who’ve taken on this quest, so we should be strong enough!”

“Yup, that’s got to be it,” thought Artyom. “Your extra few months’ worth of combat experience is going to be what clinches your success in a deadly battle against some rodents. Definitely.” It gave Artyom relief that the rest of the party was failing their side of the interview as hard as he was his. Maybe they’d accept each other in mutual detriment?

As Artyom chuckled to himself silently at his clever joke, they’d reached the bottom of the steps. The cellar was almost pitch-black, save for the evening sun filtering through some metal grates from the top of the far, western wall. There were several boxes spread out across the room, most of them on the floor, but a few hanging from ropes on the ceiling. It seemed like a lot of work, but Artyom figured that was how Ruba coped with the rat problem in all this time. The rats who made their home here had mostly fled, with a few prime specimens of their species present. Several larger than average rats were dispersed across the room, hugging corners of the wall or boxes, sniffing out the new arrivals. They were well fed, but not obese, from what Artyom could tell.

Almost immediately when Sae caught sight of them, he screamed a battlecry and charged at the nearest rat. It squeaked in surprise and before it could do anything, Sae had already cleared the distance and slashed at it. The rat tried to dodge but failed, and received a short cut across its midsection. It refused to go down, however, and in response emitted an even higher-pitched shriek, calling all of the other rats to its aid.

“Uh oh, I think I made it mad. A little help, guys?” asked Sae.

“On it!” shouted Pireni. She unholstered her bow, pulled an arrow from the quiver on her side, and took aim at the forming mob of rats. She waited until she could pick a single target from the flowing wave of fur and tails, and let loose. Her arrow flew across the room and collided with a rat on the far right of the group, passing right through its midsection and sending it flying to the back wall, where it collapsed without so much as a chitter.

“Dang it, I missed!” whined Pireni. “I was aiming for the one in the center.”

“Better you missed right instead of the left, then!” said Sae in reply, noting how he was equidistant from Pireni’s intended target to where she had actually hit.

As Sae’s head was turned, one of the rats bit him in the leg, its teeth puncturing his leather pants and failing to pierce his skin, but eliciting a yowl of pain from him nonetheless.

“Aah! It bit me! That hurt!” shouted Sae at no one in particular.

“Oh! I’m on it!” replied Skeya, clasping her hands together in prayer as she began chanting in a whisper. A silvery glow filled with gray motes surrounded Sae, relieving him of his pain. He visibly calmed when he felt its restorative effects.

“That’s better, now let’s finish this!” shouted Sae. “Pireni, let’s go all out! And please don’t hit me! [Sharpened Edge]!”

“Right! [Piercing Shot]!” replied Pireni, as she nocked another arrow.

Sae began slashing wildly, his sword cleaving through the wave of rats, taking out one at a time. Each of these slashes cut deeper than the first, and every consecutive hit led to an even faster one after that. Soon enough, he was a whirling dervish, culling the rats like a farmer harvesting wheat. That’s not to say Pireni was slacking. She fired off arrows at an impressive rate, hitting rats left and right. By the time the battle had died down, all of the rats who opposed the brave adventurers were dead, either by sword or arrow.

“We did it!” shouted Sae! “I knew we could!”

“Of course, we all knew!” replied Pireni.

“Yeah!” Even Skeya let out a quiet shout of affirmation.

Once their cheering had died down, they turned towards Artyom.

“Well, I guess we didn’t really learn that much about you from that,” said Sae. “We didn’t even give you a chance to cast a single spell! Maybe you can on your next mission?”

“But I did cast spells,” replied Artyom. The party members looked at him in confusion.

“What do you mean you cast spells?” asked Pireni. “I didn’t see you even throw a single fireball!”

“Oh, that’s not the kind of magic I specialize in.” The others looked even more confused.

“Alright, if not that, then what did you cast? I didn’t see a thing,” said Sae.

“Did you notice how that rat bite went through your armored pants, but not your skin?” said Artyom. “Or you Pireni, didn’t you notice how your shots got so accurate during your second volley of arrows? That’s my style of spells; making people stronger and the enemy weaker.”

“Now that you mention it, yeah. That bite hurt, but it only felt like getting hit, not stabbed,” said Sae in deep concentration.

“Same here, that has to be a new record for me, in terms of accuracy,” replied Pireni, also in thought. “It definitely wasn’t a [Skill], though. You don’t have any yourself, do you Artyom? Because of the whole no levels thing. But I always thought [Skills] were the only way to affect other people like that.”

While it was true that [Skills], the costless profession-specific spells provided by Systems, usually provided such esoteric effects that wouldn’t normally be learned as a spell, Artyom specialized in spells that affected the capabilities of himself and those around him. The “Ironskin” and “Focused Mind” spells were good, if basic, examples of that.

“Then did you use your magic on Skeya?” asked Pireni. “She normally hesitates when someone gets hurt, but she cast a heal immediately!”

Skeya looked down in sadness, probably in realization that she hadn’t been brave on her first combat mission.

“No, actually. I just cast it on you two.”

Skeya looked up at Artyom in surprise, and grew a smile when she realized she really was brave. Of course, Artyom would keep it to himself that there were two targets to his “Focused Mind” spell. Satisfaction in your achievements was the first step to building self-esteem, and really being able to do things of your own accord. Skeya would be able to heal on a dime from now on, if Artyom judged correctly.

“Way to go Skeya!” the other party members congratulated her. “It looks like we’ve wrapped this up. Let’s go tell Ruba that we’ve solved her rat problem!”

“What are you talking about?” asked Artyom, interrupting the impromptu celebration. “These were just the guards. There are still plenty of them in the walls.”

The others simply looked at him in horror.