Chapter 7 – First Class[i]

On the long walk back to town, Fey realized she was finally level ten and could advance to her first class (*awkward happy dance*). Checking the system clock, she saw that she had several hours left before she had to wake up. Time passed three times as quickly in the game compared to real life, so that one could experience a full day’s adventure on eight hours of sleep. Fey had plenty of time to acquire some class skills. Bright with anticipation, she set off to find the warrior class instructor.

As it turned out, there were two warrior instructors. Fey found them sparring a little ways from the town centre; she easily followed the sound of clashing metal to its source. Leaning against a tree, she watched their skilled movements.

Based on their identical platinum-blond hair and glacier-blue eyes, she guessed that the pair were siblings, maybe even twins. The system notice informed her that the female, armed with a double-ended spear that fanned out into five sharp points on either end, was Irrilana, and the male, using a more traditional sword, was Irrilathan. The sparring took the pair all across the clearing as Irrilathan tried to close the distance between them to bring his sword to bear, while Irrilana tried to keep him back and take advantage of her weapon’s superior reach. Their movements were fast and graceful, and they were clearly enjoying themselves. This game really is quite realistic. Fey had even forgotten for a moment that the two were NPCs. Who would have thought that warrior trainers would spar in their free time?

Finally, Irrilana trapped Irrilathan’s sword between two prongs of her spear and sent it flying with a twist, a move that forced her to let go of her own weapon as well. She then charged directly at him. Irrilathan set his stance for the impact and prepared to grapple, but instead, Irrilana dove just beyond the edge of his grasp to pop up behind him. Throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed his cheek and said, “I win.”

Irrilathan laughed, and simply said, “Fine,” before walking towards Fey as if his sister weighed nothing at all (and as if she clung to him on a regular basis, which she did). Casually holding out a hand, he spoke a word and his sword flew directly into his grasp (coolness factor off the charts). He spoke.

“Greetings, adventurer. I assume you have come because you wish to begin the journey towards becoming a warrior.”

“I do,” replied Fey.

Irrilana released her grasp and dropped lightly to the ground, also summoning her weapon. “Warriors have many skills and strategies, but what they all have in common is fighting at close range, dealing and avoiding death by inches. Are you prepared for this? If not, becoming a mage or an archer may be more suited to your taste.”

To be honest with herself, Fey was really more suited to being a mage, being rather uncoordinated and pain-intolerant (and having no aim, so archer was out, too), but she still wanted to be a warrior. She was a creature of habit who always picked the warrior class when she played fantasy games, since before virtual reality, her lack of coordination made no difference. As well, warriors were the best class for solo playing, having both reasonable attacking and defending powers. Suck it up, she told herself, the pain setting is only 20% of real life.

“I am prepared,” she said resolutely. To add a cliché, she added, “I will look death in the eye and I shall not flinch.”

“Then go deep into the forest,” said Irrilathan, pointing into the forest, “where the shadows are deep and creatures of the dark reign. Defeat ten different creatures and bring back the tokens of your victories. If you succeed, you will be deemed worthy of the title of warrior.”

Fey marched off in the direction Irrilathan had indicated. When she was out of earshot, he chuckled.

“ ‘Look death in the eye and not flinch’? Was she serious?”

“I don’t think so,” said Irrilara. “Nobody could say that and be serious.”

Some time later, having travelled deep into the forest (stopping to let Amethyst cannibalize some slimes), the leaves of the trees abruptly changed to a darker shade of green and the system notified:

Silly game designers. Do the leaves literally have to be darker? Okay, I’m here, now- “Ahhh!”

Fey’s internal dialogue was interrupted by a flying creature swooping towards her face. Instinctively, she swiped at it wildly, managing to splat it against a nearby tree, where it slid to the ground, momentarily stunned.

Upon examination, the creature resolved into a small, humanoid shape equipped with dragonfly wings. Crap. I’ve killed a fairy. I’m going to the fantasy equivalent of hell, where I’ll be eaten and tormented and – Eeek!

The fairy-like creature had raised its head, revealing blood-red irises surrounded by obsidian sclera, and hissed at her before again launching itself at her face. Being slightly more prepared this time, Fey managed to swipe it into another tree on her first try. It appeared definitely hurt after the second impact, with a drop of blood dripping from its mouth.

Apparently changing tactics, it began chanting in a strange, hissing language. Deciding that it would be best if she did not find out the hard way whether the creature was just swearing or casting a malicious spell, Fey frantically looked for a way to interrupt its speech.

Thankfully, an answer to her problem was (literally) sitting on her head. Fey grabbed Amethyst and threw her at the fairy-thing, yelling, “Interrupt its casting!” After landing about a metre from the creature (because our heroine could not throw accurately to save her life), Amethyst hopped over and landed directly on the fairy-thing’s face (*glom*). As Amethyst was fairly transparent, Fey had a purple-tinged view of its face as it was being squished (not a pretty sight).

That sounds useful against mages. Cheerfully, she called out, “Good job, Amethyst!” Amethyst happily jumped up and down on the fairy-thing’s face (*squish*squish*squish*).

Magic then nudged Fey’s foot (the mushroom had been alternately hopping along by her side or sticking to her boot in the same inexplicable manner that it had stuck to the giant tree). Looking down, she saw that he (it was just decided that Magic is male) was looking expectantly up at her, wanting to help.

Since it was already immobilized, Fey decided she might as well train Magic’s Spore attack until it was more useful in battle. Pointing Magic’s cap at the fairy, she told him “Cast Spore, but don’t hit Amethyst, okay?”

Nodding, Magic sent a cloud of spores towards the fairy-thing’s torso and legs. (The spores were released from the cap’s underside, complying with the actual physiology of mushrooms, but then proceeded to violate the laws of physics by curving around the cap and landing on the fairy-thing.)

Fey was so pleased that Magic had managed to inflict poison that she patted him several times.

Ahhhh!!! Frantically, Fey checked her status:

Two times six per minute times five minutes is… sixty! Fey’s current maximum health was 122 points, so she was extremely worried about letting it drop so low. When health dropped, penalties in all stats – especially strength, dexterity, and movement speed – were applied to mimic the effects of injury in real life. If another monster suddenly attacked her as this one had, she would likely be dead. She was so busy panicking that she almost did not notice the second part of the system notice.

Phew. Thirty damage I can handle. She settled down to see if Magic’s poison was enough to kill the possessed fairy, as the system notice had named it. She could have attacked the weakened creature with her dagger, but scientific curiosity about the effects of Magic’s ability (and cowardly avoidance of combat) made her wait.

After almost five minutes, as the poison’s effect was about to wear off, the possessed fairy started convulsing. Fey jumped up, dagger at the ready, yelling, “Amethyst, get away from there!” but instead of attacking, a black fog rose out of its body and coalesced into a vague shape with demonic red eyes. Thankfully, instead of attacking her, the shape dissipated in the wind.

“Thank you,” said a small, weak voice.

Startled Fey’s attention was drawn to the (unpossessed) fairy. Its eyes were now a beautiful shade of blue, and it smiled weakly at her.

“You freed me,” it continued. “Thank you.”

Uhh… “You’re welcome.”

“That evil spirit possessed me several weeks ago and has been wreaking havoc in the forest ever since, but it left rather than die within this body from the poison you inflicted. I can die in peace.”

“Die in peace?” Oh crap, I’m killing an unpossessed fairy. I’m going to the fantasy equivalent of hell, where I’ll be eaten and tormented and – Wait, I know! Remembering the way she had saved Amethyst, Fey pulled out a health potion and dumped it on the fairy, who coughed and spluttered even as its pallor receded and it became visibly stronger.

After it had caught its breath, it moved its limbs experimentally, then rose into the air with a delighted laugh, its wings buzzing faster than the eye could follow.

“Thank you!” it exclaimed again, hovering in front of Fey’s face. Seeing Fey’s butterfly marking, it said, “You are one of the Forest Guardian’s! No wonder you came to my aid.”

Huh? Fey had not realized that the Guardian’s Blessing she had received at Pine Grove could increase in level. She checked its description:

That’s pretty freaking awesome. Increased regeneration meant that Fey required less rest between battles, would need less expensive potions, and would be less likely to die in the heat of battle.

The fairy regained Fey’s attention. Executing a graceful bow while hovering, it said, “I am Stelli, and I am in your debt.”

Looking at Stelli’s androgynous face and body, Fey was unable to determine whether the fairy was male or female, but she felt it was wrong to refer to a non-monster as an ‘it’. Fairies might not even have genders. They could spawn out of mushroom spores and fairy dust, for all I know. Whatever.

“My name is Fey.” Fey rather disregarded Stelli’s comment about being in her debt; she was more concerned with whether that wispy possessing spirit (thingy) counted as a creature she had defeated, or whether she still had ten more to go.

“Is there any way I could be of assistance to you?” Stelli persisted.

“Well… I am currently on my warrior quest.”

“Excellent!” Stelli exclaimed (he/she seemed to be rather excitable). “I shall help you. I am quite adept at support magic.”

“Your aid would be welcome,” said Fey, figuring that the fairy might be helpful, and at the very worst would be useless, so she had nothing to lose. It was unlikely that Stelli would be so bad at casting buffs that he/she would accidentally poison her (not that Fey wasn’t incompetent enough to do that to herself).

“Here we go, then!” Spinning very quickly in the air, Stelli said, “Blessing of Vitality!”

Cool.

“Come on!” Coming out of his/her spin with no sign of dizziness, Stelli sped into the trees so that Fey had to jog to keep up. Where in the blazes is he/she going? Fey thought, vexed. I didn’t even say what my quest was – Ahh! Stelli had led her straight to a giant beetle twice the size of Amethyst, with a shiny black carapace and mandibles that looked like they could take a finger off. Stelli flew in wobbly circles around the beetle and cried, “Dizziness!”

Although the creature still had the increased health of its level, Stelli’s magic essentially rendered the beetle several levels weaker, as long as Fey was fast enough to avoid being attacked. Emboldened, Fey put her pets on the ground and gave them the (rather vague) command, “Attack!” then drew her dagger and advanced (at a walk) while Magic and Amethyst (sounds like a name for a spell shop) hopped along beside her.

Upon reaching the beetle, which was about ankle height, Fey shrugged and tried Plan A. What does one do when one wants to kill a bug? Hoping the beetle would not explode like the slugs, Fey Stomped down as hard as she could.

Ow. The beetle’s shell felt more like a layer of stone rather than a chitinous exoskeleton. Instead of breaking under the impact, the beetle’s body simply bounced off the ground after sending a jarring shock up Fey’s leg. Provoked, it went after Fey’s ankle with its huge mandibles, forcing her to jump around awkwardly to avoid them.

Seeing how miserably Plan A had failed, it was a good thing that Plan B (not the morning-after pill) bounced into the picture. Magic and Amethyst both charged and bounced off the beetle, to very little effect. (In fact, the beetle didn’t even notice and continued to attack Fey’s ankles.) I don’t think physical attacks are ever going to be their strong suit. Indeed, with their soft, squishy bodies and lack of mass, Fey would probably do more damage to her opponents by hitting them with a pillow than having her pets ‘body slam’ them.

“Do something else, you two!” Fey said, giving the beetle a kick that knocked it back several feet and hurting her foot in the process. Stupid boots, she grumbled, wishing she had a pair with more substantial defence. Unfortunately, pet intelligence was proportional to level (currently not very high), and so Magic and Amethyst milled around confusedly rather than doing anything useful (not very effective… That was a Pokemon reference).

Thankfully, Stelli chimed in with some helpful advice. “Go for the underbelly.”

Oh. Nudging her toe under the beetle, she flipped it over onto its back. It rocked back and forth on its curved shell, legs waving helplessly in the air. Before she could chicken out from the ickiness of touching a giant insect, she sent her dagger plunging down into its underside, where it easily broke through the thinner shell and into the beetle’s soft tissue. Its legs spasmed, but kept waving. Eeeweeweeweew. Praying it would not explode and spray her with beetle guts, she stabbed again, closer to the head. The beetle died by drying up and crumbling away, leaving behind a few coins and a very conveniently-sized piece of exoskeleton that Fey pocketed as evidence of its defeat.

“Come on!” Stelli cried, zipping away through the trees, and again, Fey broke into a jog to keep up, scooping up Magic and Amethyst on the way. Halfway along, she tripped over a root, but managed to stay on her feet without dropping a pet (thereby reducing the number of grace demerit points she incurred).

Tripping along, she nearly stepped on her next opponent. This would have been bad because the creature was covered in thick, pointy five-inch spikes. In fact, it appeared to be a pair of eyes, spikes, and nothing else. Fey’s nearness appeared to offend it, and it bristled, spikes waving ominously. Oh boy. I really hope those spikes aren’t poisonous. Stelli flew in wide circles around the spike-thing, starting to glow brighter and brighter. Then he/she yelled, “Blind!” and became as bright as a small sun.

“Ahh!” As Stelli had not warned Fey to cover her eyes, the debuff affected her as well, and the light really hurt (Magic and Amethyst just blinked cutely, seemingly unaffected). The spike-thing did not appreciate the light, either; it went from bristling to shaking so violently that it sprayed spikes in all directions (and of course, the spikes on its body didn’t appear to get depleted at all).

“Oww!” The monster did not require accuracy; it simply filled the 64800 degrees around it with spikes[ii]. On the bright side, the spikes did not appear to be poisonous. Shielding her pets in her arms (with her luck, it would pop Amethyst like a water balloon), she sidled over to the spike-thrower, drew her dagger, and viciously slashed it in half (she really doesn’t like being in pain).

Vision still spotty from the blinding light, tiny punctures and scratches marking her right arm, Fey was still vexed, but curious enough to look up her new ability:

Awesome. Fey had a feeling that this would become one of her favourite moves in the future. Picking up the spikester’s largest central spike and some coins, she turned to scowl at Stelli.

“I thought you were going to cast helpful magic.”

The fairy’s hovering dipped guiltily. “Sorry.” Making a complicated gesture in the air, he/she called out “Minor Heal!” and the wounds on Fey’s arm closed. Unfortunately, the holes and bloodstains on her sleeve did not also spontaneously disappear. Fey groaned. While she could probably remove the bloodstains (let’s not get into how she has experience with bloodstains), she had no idea how to repair holes. She called upon her favourite ability when dealing with minor problems, formally known as ‘procrastination,’ and went back to her quest.

Seven unlikely creatures later, Fey headed back towards Irrilana and Irrilathan to present her tokens.

“There are only nine items here,” said Irrilana with a (elegantly) raised eyebrow.

Stelli darted forward to hover in front of the warriors. “The tenth monster she defeated was the evil spirit that had possessed me,” he/she piped (technically, it was the first, but no need to complicate explanations).

“Indeed? That must have been quite an undertaking,” said Irrilathan. Unknown to Fey was that possessed fairies were actually level 20, 10 levels above her. It was possible in Fantasia to defeat much stronger monsters by taking advantage of their weaknesses; in her case, she had used blunt physical attacks against a much smaller creature, multiplying the impact damage it had taken several times (that this feat was accomplished completely accidentally makes it more miraculous, but less impressive).

“Then you have completed your warrior quest.”

“Take this sword,” said Irrilana, producing a sword, sheath, and belt from nowhere, “as a symbol and privilege of your warrior status. You may now begin your education in close-ranged combat, whether armed or hand-to-hand.”

Fey accepted the item with caution. The blade was as long as her forearm from elbow to fingertip, plenty long enough for her to dismember herself.

“As well,” said Irrilathan, “we will teach you an ability exclusive to the warrior class: how to channel arcane energy into your blade to increase its power and destructive potential. Draw your sword.”

Fey pulled her new short sword out of its sheath with her dominant, right hand.

“Now focus your energy and push it into your blade.”

Fey imagined a steady flow of energy travelling down her arm and into the metal, and the blade began to glow a radiant white.

“Impressive control,” said Irrilana, “but you need the energy to burst free from the blade to do any damage.”

Fey visualized more energy, enough that it exploded from the blade, and angry white flames with an inner purple heart burst a good six inches from the edge of the metal. (She thinks of her energy as purple, and so it is. Awesome huh?)

“Good. Now tone it down a little,” said Irrilathan, and Fey reduced the flow of energy until the flames only flickered an inch from the metal.

“Very good. The flames take very little energy to maintain passively, but can use up enormous amounts of mana when directed towards attacking. Use your blades wisely, warrior.”

It was clearly a dismissal, but Fey had a question. “Do you teach any skills related to dual-wielding?”

Irrilana’s eyes sparked with interest. “Dual-wielding? Now that is an interesting and difficult path, to be able to use weapons in both hands with equal skill. Most people have a dominant hand,” she said, nodding towards Fey’s right hand, which she had used to draw the sword, “and if a weapon is held in the other, it is wielded with less skill. While neither of us specializes in dual-wielding, the path towards it is very simple: you must strengthen your non-dominant hand until it can wield weapons with the same ease as your dominant hand. You must become ambidextrous.”

Irrilathan chimed in. “I suggest that you find yourself a second weapon, perhaps a long dagger, for your left hand, and practice fighting holding two weapons. As you gain experience, gradually increase the length of your second weapon until it matches the first.”

“Thank you for the advice.” Fey bowed and left (the dignity of the moment was rather ruined by the mushroom sticking to her boot, the slime on her head, and the fairy buzzing around).

Back in the forest just outside the Moonwood, Fey turned to Stelli. “Thank you for your help.” Indeed, despite the spikester incident, the fairy had done more good than harm, and had enabled her to finish her quest much more quickly than would have been possible without his/her help.

“You’re welcome! See you around.” Stelli quickly disappeared into the forest.

Fey took the opportunity to inventory her character.

Not bad for a day’s work. Seeing that it was almost time for her wake-up call, Fey decided to log out rather than get stuck in the middle of a task.

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Footnotes:

[i] Chapter title credit goes to Lord Vitor2510

[ii] 360 degree around it in a horizontal circle times the 180 degrees above the ground in a vertical circle. This is not actually how 3-dimensional angles are measured; half a sphere is 4π steradians.