Mash walked across the alley and looked through the window of the new building. It was a tall narrow building that was starting to lean to the side. He noticed that the walls and floors were scorched. That was evidence enough that the building would collapse soon. He was confident that with a few determined pushes he could probably topple the building. He wasn’t certain if this building would be enough to collapse the merchant one with the general inside. After gauging the height, a little bit more, he thought that it would probably work. He could probably get away even if it failed. He paused, wondering if this was something that he wanted to go through with. Did he want to kill the general, what about the other boys in the building?

He decided that he didn’t care. That was it. Now that he had the opportunity to kill the general, he wasn’t sure if he should take it. It wasn’t regret or empathy, rather, it was the knowledge that it wouldn’t change anything. Killing the general wouldn’t change people’s perceptions, it wouldn’t give him access to the blacksmiths, it would only serve to make things more complicated. Then he remembered something, a scene from a few years ago.

After Jason had died, the stream of people that approached him grew for a while. Many people wanting a fight, some just to throw insults. He didn’t let it bother him and would win almost every fight that he got into. He only lost against older kids now, those who were already 15 years old and got a new class. That day had been slightly different.

He was approached by a group of three kids, two were his age but one was two years younger. His stats were beyond his age, closer to those who were already 15, so the kid was out of his depth. They seemed confident though and ganged up on him while he was at a local park. He was training, the park had become a place he went to often. He chose the location because his family could find him there if they needed him. That also meant that other people could find him there as well, but he was used to getting into the occasional fight. It had become a good training option for him, and he started planning for them to him.

This fight wasn’t a surprise, nor did it go unexpectedly. The three boys were not strong enough to keep up with Mash, and he easily defeated them. The biggest problem was indeed the youngest kid since he had a fire creation ability already. It had caught Mash of guard and burned his arm. It wasn’t too bad since the kid was so inexperienced, the fire being much weaker than it could’ve been. He easily beat them, using his stick to strike at wrists and other joints. he didn’t go for hits to the neck or head anymore, knowing it could cause problems. The difference was that his sister arrived as he was finishing the fight.

He plunged his stick into the abdomen of the youngest boy, not to pierce his body but to nock the wind out him. It worked and the boy fell backwards, but the end of the fight was interrupted by a scream. His sister running towards the little kid screaming at Mash to stop. He tried to approach them, to reassure his sister that the kid was fine. His sister moved between the him and the boy, her gaze fearful as she looked at Mash. He saw that she was crying, her face giving away her real emotions. Mash then took in his surroundings, looked over what he had done more carefully.

The other two boys were still unconscious, and he noticed some blood on the shirt of one of them. Another’s wrist was turning a slight shade purple and was probably broken. He was certain that beneath their clothing, there would be similar bruises across their ribs. He couldn’t say anything to his sister’s gaze and dropped his weapon. She lifted the youngest kid’s shirt, revealing several purple bruises, and the last strike had obviously broken a rib. She started to treat him, using her skills and the medicine that she had on her. Mash didn’t say anything, he barely moved still remembering the look his sister gave him. His siblings had always been on his side, had always had faith in him, and he had been betraying their expectations.

Remembering that scene, he decided he couldn’t kill the general. He might have wanted to, but his mind was swimming with thoughts of his siblings, and he knew how they would feel. Coming to that conclusion, he realized that he didn’t want to kill people just because of his own pettiness. He was dancing a fine line between becoming a criminal and living a better life. For now, he didn’t want to disappoint his siblings, and strove to live a better life. Knowing that his mind was broken, that killing was wrong despite how he felt, he decided that he would just head back to work.

Before going back to work, Mash went to the merchant building in order to see how the fight was going. He watched as the soldiers, the general included, all fought against the goblin horde. There were more goblins than he had first seen. The general was standing at the front of a triangular formation, as he cleaved through several goblins with a single swing. He carried an obnoxiously large axe, and Mash thought that it probably required around 100 strength just to hold. Mash even made out two hob goblins and a few goblin shamans. The general was struggling to protect the other soldiers while fighting. Mash thought that if he really wanted, he could kill everyone in the room. Although, that wouldn’t make him a good knight.

Most of the goblins seemed focused on breaking through the formation, but he noticed two that were making their way towards the exit. They were cowards and disgusted Mash. He moved to cut them off. They would run away and look for easier prey, as they were not willing to risk their lives. This is what he was defined as when he got his class.

He didn’t have a weapon on him but with his mana manipulation didn’t need one. The goblins were only about 3 feet tall and looked like starved dogs. He could easily make out their rib cage through their sickly green skin. They saw Mash and ran at him while yelling incoherently. Each of them had a rough stone dagger, they could hurt him with the penetration skill. Mash hadn’t practiced with daggers either, but wasn’t afraid. Mash waited till they got close before exploding into motion himself.

The sudden moves had startled them, and one had stopped bracing for a blow that never came. The other ran towards Mash blindly, seemingly unfazed by his sudden movements. The goblins were pathetically slow, and Mash had easily dodged its first strike, managing to get his own hands beneath the goblins chin. He pushed up with as much force as he could muster and used his mana to increase the force as well. He heard a loud cracking noise as the goblins neck broke. Even before it could hit the ground, he had used the motion to trample over the dead goblin and tackle the one that had frozen. He pushed it to the ground as he swung his body around, bringing his left foot down on its head. Despite his thick boots, he could feel the goblin’s skull breaking beneath his feet. He knew that his stats were high for his age, but it was only now that he realized how much stronger he really was. The knights down there were still fighting the goblins, and here he was, perfectly fine, after killing two goblins in a few seconds. Mash chuckled slightly as he walked out of the alley. He was going to be a little late for work.

Mash felt the power rush into him and knew that he could pick his next class if he wanted too. He didn’t, at least not yet, if he leveled early now, people would think he had killed someone else. He guessed that was true, considering that he did kill those goblins. However, he didn’t want to make his life any harder than it already was, so he could wait. He would get to pick his class in three days when he turned 14. He continued to walk to work while contemplating what classes he might get. When he managed to get out of his thoughts, he noticed some people were staring at his feet as he walked, he looked down realizing that his left boot had been stained green by goblin blood. Thankfully there were only a few people out this early. Also, there weren’t many people in the outskirts who would talk to guards. He walked to a nearby well and used some of the water to clean his boots. With that taken care of, all he had left was work.

______________________________________________________________________________

Mash didn’t celebrate his birthday the night before this time, instead he used the time to study more on classes and what the typical traits were. There were a countless number of classes someone could get, but you did find some commonalities between them. Phrases or subjects that would reappear or would offer a related skill. Mash had spent the last couple of days studying these in preparation. He had been able to choose a class for the past few days but held off to appear more normal. He was meditating in bed, waiting the last couple hours in his room while his parents prepared to celebrate. It would be just him and his parents, but that was fine. After having accepted that he would leave, he found it a lot easier to interact with his parents. Their relationship had improved a lot recently. He moved the clock to his room so that he could wait for the right time. He glanced at it, deciding that it was close enough and got started. He felt the familiar rush of power as he focused inwardly, it had been annoying that he couldn’t do this for the past couple days.

He felt like he had been transported somewhere else, opening his eyes he saw three iridescent pillars of power. They were the only things in the space, and they stretched on towards the heavens. The first was a mix of red and black that seemed to swirl chaotically. The power felt destructive. The next was a mix of green and blue that seemed oddly familiar, like a strange tree. The last was a pure darkness and poured down like dense rain. He knew that he hadn’t really moved and was just within his own mind, but it didn’t stop him from staring in wonder. He had read of this experience, but the reality was much more daunting. Reaching towards the red one, he could feel the information lodge itself into his mind.

Dragon Observer: You live dangerously, having dared to glance upon a Dragon’s ungodly majesty.

That was it. Mash just stared at it in silence. A dragon? When had he seen a dragon? He tried desperately to figure out when this could have even happened. He needed to take a few deep breaths to even start and calm himself down. He had been shaking and was certain that he would vomit if he could. A dragon could wipe this whole city with a sneeze, and apparently Mash had gotten close enough to one to observe it. They were extraordinarily powerful beings that could even contend with the gods, and they hated humans. Was it a forewarning of an attack, but why would it bother with something like that? It could just destroy the kingdom on its own. He needed to stop thinking about it and focus on his classes, there was nothing he could do anyways. It probably just flew over the town, and he had thought it was a bird. However, a dragon class was an interesting option. It would probably provide him a fraction of the being’s own power. He didn’t know what observer would mean but thought that it would give him a flight skill of some kind. That sounded good, but Mash didn’t want to be stuck beneath another creature, especially a monster. He reached towards the next. He was able to touch this one, and it felt strangely familiar beneath his fingers.

Wood-Forged Pseudo-Monk: Forged by mana and familiar with wood, you have unimaginably altered your body to emulate the abilities of a monk.

Mash was conflicted. This class seemed to be a jumble of the known key words that he had just studied. ‘Wood’ was a simple elemental affinity, which would become the direction that his mana would naturally flow towards. It was useful, as was any elemental affinity. ‘Forged’ was a big win as it meant that he would have some form of mana creation, which meant that he could craft his own weapons and armor. That was doubly useful for him since he couldn’t use the blacksmiths. ‘Pseudo-monk’ was the biggest surprise. ‘Pseudo’ was a rare prefix that meant that he had broken some of the typical restrictions of the class. It would often provide highly specialized skills and evolutions. Being a monk, meant that the class would be able to use his endure skill effectively as well. This was a good option, although the mention of an unimaginably altered body was questionable at best. He reached for the final pillar, which essentially looked like some kind of black rain.

Dark-Forged Lancer: You have basked in the power of death, gaining from the swift and precise killing of your enemies.

That sounded good. He knew that this class would be extremely powerful. Dark was a rare element and would synergize extremely well with a lancer class. He could tell how this class would function, it would create and launch spears of pure darkness. He would easily be able to level and kill enemies with little risk to himself. The power alone should make the decision, but he hesitated. A lancer was a variation of the knight class. He had worked for the past 4 years to avoid this class. He knew that he should just take it and level, eventually he would be offered another class and could shift then, but it still bugged him. Was he willing to betray his ideals for power? No, he wouldn’t stoop so low. His other classes were good too, and he knew that power was more about skills than raw strength. Firming his resolve, he reached back for the green and blue pillar that had felt oddly familiar. He jerked awake, feeling the information and abilities flood him. He couldn’t help but smile as he stared at the improvements.

Name: Mash Class: Wood-Forged Pseudo-Monk

Level: 10

Health: 350/350

Energy: 1000/1000

Fortitude: 20 → 35

Endurance: 35 → 55

Strength: 22 → 27

Agility: 24 → 34

Intelligence: 34 → 45

Wisdom: 28 → 38

Charisma: 16 → 21

Free Stats: 5

Skills: Endure → Persist, Mana-wood Creation, Artificial Meditation, Mana Sphere, Monks False Core

Persist: Go beyond your limits. Continue current action even after depleting energy. Stats improve while at 0 stamina.

Current Bonus: +100% stats

Artificial Meditation: You have stolen the techniques of mages and monks to form an artificial technique. Meditating will increase the rate at which your body recovers, even healing minor wounds.

Current Rate: +100% recovery

Mana-wood Creation: You know how deadly sticks can be. Forge your mana into wooden creations.

Mana Sphere (Passive): Your eyes just weren’t enough. Sense the changes in the mana around you.

Current Range: 5 feet

Monks False Core (Passive): An unnatural mana core has fundamentally altered your body. Stamina and Mana combine to become energy.