Chapter 4

Peeled Off the Ground

Janus had never really been in a fight before. Sure, he had been in a few disputes since he started college, but none of them had really come to fists.

Speaking of fists, his was in a lot of pain. He could see the mana leaking out, casting a blue light around his clenched fingers.

I’ve got to hit him or else I’ll collapse before I can even try.

Janus ran towards Dario on the other end of the platform. Dario watched him carefully as he approached. Once Janus was close enough, he thrust out with his fist. The energy stored within discharged and a small shock wave erupted from Janus’ fist. However, the energy seemed to just bounce off of Dario. It was like striking a steel wall. Janus’ own energy pushed back at him, the force throwing him off his feet.

Oh stars! My fingers! Did I break my hand?

Footsteps approached Janus as he lay on the ground, nursing his fingers. “Not bad, kid” said Dario, towering above. “Not many people without a class can hit that hard, especially at your level.”

Janus mumbled something about broken fingers and concussions while he shakily attempted to stand up again.

Dario spoke again, “What was that? Worried about your hand? I wouldn’t sweat it. Even if it’s broken, this definitely won’t be the last time.”

Janus was finally on his feet and could see Dario flagging one of the nearby healers. The healer stepped onto the platform and approached Janus. The same green mist from earlier slowly appeared around the healers body and then stretched to envelope Janus’ own.

“He’ll be alright, I took care of the bruises.” Said the healer.

“Good, good. Can’t have him breaking this early. Don’t worry though, I’ll have some good work for you before the day is out.” Dario nodded at the healer.

The healer had a complicated look on their face, but didn’t protest as they turned and made their way off the platform.

“The others should get here soon. While you wait, I want you to keep pumping mana into your body. Don’t go too wild, I can tell you’re still dealing with mana exhaustion.” Dario took Janus by the shoulder and led him back to a bench.

“Uh, right. Yeah.”

Janus was still a little shaken from earlier, but the pain had mostly faded. He couldn’t believe how he had somehow hurt himself when he attacked Dario. It made sense with all the stories surrounding the red-haired delver, but it was still difficult to digest.

“I’m heading inside for a bit. I’ll bring the other students out here when they show. Should be any time now.” Dario said and then sauntered off through the door Janus came through earlier.

Janus began moving the mana around in his body. He didn’t want to hurt himself too badly and backed off if the pain became uncomfortable.

[Your Mana Manipulation skill has gained 1 level]

That was a lot quicker than I expected. I guess I’ve never really tried using the skill like this before yesterday.

Most of his levels with the skill had simply come from sensing the mana around him. He had been able to see ambient for nearly his entire life. Using [Mana Manipulation] had always drained his mana very quickly, though, and he learned to hate mana exhaustion.

But now, Dario Wall wanted him to experiment with it. The excitement overpowered his discomfort and he began toying with the mana around him. He found that compressing as much mana as he could into a point and releasing it would create a small blue flash. He was trying to recreate the effect when he heard the nearby door open again.

“Alright kids. Looks like everyone’s here.” Dario Wall stepped out of the door near Janus, followed by two others.

The first person stood taller than Janus by a good six inches. His hair was red like Dario’s, but he wore it long and it dropped to his shoulders. An ugly scar stretched from the redhead’s forehead to his lips. To Janus’ surprise, there was a sword strapped to his back.

The second person was a young girl. She had slightly curled blonde hair reaching down to her lower back in a ponytail. She was wearing a formal dress without frills that was more suited for some kind of event than a sparring session. On her chest was a patch displaying an eagle’s face.

Looks like a rich girl from Eagle station. This scarface guy is looking pretty dangerous too.

“When do we start?” said the redhead with the sword.

“Calm down. Don’t be in too much of a hurry, we’ve got plenty of time. Take a seat on that bench there.” Dario said, while pointing at the bench Janus was already sitting on, “You too, girly.”

The blonde girl gave Dario a dirty look and moved towards the bench.

It was a tight fit with all three students on the same bench, but Dario didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he unceremoniously dropped on the ground in front of them, sitting with his legs crossed.

“You’re all here because there is something exceptional about you.” Dario said, “I’ve been playing this game for a long, long time. That means I’ve seen a lot of shit, so when I tell you that you’ve got something special, I mean it.”

The girl sitting next to Janus straightened her back, a small smile beginning to form on her face.

“But I’m not here to stroke your ego. I’m telling you this because it’s the truth. And, I want you to use your abilities to help people out.” Dario said. “The System has a way of fucking with people’s heads. I’ve seen it happen too many times. I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen with you guys.”

The scarred swordsman was hyper focused on Dario while the girl slumped back on the bench looking less proud than before.

“I’ll be introducing you to one another so we can speed things along.” Dario said, pointing at scarface. “This is Devon, he’s a bit more advanced than you two. But, he still has a lot to learn.” Dario continued, shifting his finger to Janus. “This is Janus, an up and coming enhancer maybe? He still hasn’t gotten his class.” Finally, Dario looked towards the girl. “This is Pella. She has potentially the most powerful class I’ve seen. And I’ve seen a lot of ‘em.”

Janus was suddenly a lot more interested in the two students sitting next to him. This girl had the most powerful class Dario had ever seen?

Is my [Mana Manipulation] really that special?

Devon spoke up once again. “Sir, when do we begin?”

“Hold your horses, and stop it it with that ‘sir’ thing,” Dario said. “I’ve gotta get you three up to speed on a couple of things.”

Dario placed his hand beneath his chin. There was a pensive expression on his face.

“I was there.” Dario said. “When the System started.” Dario looked up at the three students meeting each of their eyes in turn. “It’s amazing that we managed bounce back this well.” He waved his arm around him, indicating towards their surroundings. “But it was hell at the start.”

“How did it happen?” Pella asked, her voice a clear note to Janus’ left.

Dario pointed up. “On the surface there used to be great nations. Above us is what’s left of the United States. It’s hard to believe nearly 100 years have passed since the System started,” Dario lowered his hand and continued, “If one good thing came out of the System it would be that most of us live a lot longer now. I’m sure some of you know people that used to live on the surface.”

Janus saw an opportunity to speak, “My father used to live on the surface, he talks about America all the time.”

“Yeah, well America was a pretty great place when you compare it to what we have now,” Dario said. “I was backpacking in the hills of Oklahoma, visiting some of my buddies in the tribes. That was when everything changed. Some grade-A douche bag got his hands on what I can only assume is the very backbone of reality. Made sure to tell us, too.” Dario ran his fingers through his short, red hair before continuing, “It was the first notification I ever saw. The first one anybody saw, I imagine. Some speech about how the rules had changed. It was followed by my status. Level one.”

Dario looked almost haggard as he recounted his tale. Janus noted that Devon was laser focused, the scarred swordsman’s earlier impatience had completely vanished.

“It didn’t reach me right away, just what all of this meant” Dario continued, “The buddies I was with, they all saw the notification too. We were confused. I’m sure the three of you have heard of video games… It was like life turned into one big game,” Dario stood up, dusting off his pants. He made his way towards another one of the benches and pulled it in front of the three students. Taking a seat, he continued.

“Much better. This is gonna take me a bit longer than I thought. Old memories, hard to dredge this stuff up,” Dario said “I went back with my buddies to their tribes. T.V. still worked at this point and the news was grim. Some people took to the System a lot faster than others. Not very many of them used their new found powers for good. America was being torn apart day by day. It didn’t help that dungeons started appearing and monsters began roaming around in less populated places.”

“Electricity used to power all of humanities technology. It was like the runes we have now, but a lot more versatile. At some point it all just stopped working; the electrical grid, fuel, and finally even the batteries died out. The Native Americans in Oklahoma were some of the luckiest people and I was lucky to be with them. We avoided the worst of it and coped with the System however we could.”

“I’m sure you guys have heard about this in class by now. The history of the stations. Eventually we developed skills that allowed us to move underground. We weren’t able to bring very many, though. I estimate that the stations probably don’t hold more than 200,000 people, even today.”

Dario stretched his arms outward, gripping the back of the bench. He was staring at the top of the underground cavern above the Delvers Guild.

After a few moments Dario began speaking again, “I got most of my levels in those early days. We had finally been discovered by some of the worst people out there. I helped defend the tribes and everyone else as we moved underground.” Dario closed his eyes and continued, “I tell you this because each of you have the potential to be something great. And, I want that greatness to defend the people in the stations, not hurt them.”

Pella looked insulted. “I would never! I haven’t worked this hard just so I can throw it all away!”

Dario sat up and turned to Pella. “I’ve seen people that I thought would never hurt a fly become terrible to behold. The System can do things to your personality if you’re not careful.”

Pella didn’t speak up in response. She had an introspective look on her face as she turned away from Dario.

The speech did more to frustrate Janus than anything else. He knew that Pella must have some incredible class and Devon already looked battle hardened. What did he have to compare with them?

“Why am I here, with these two?” Janus asked. “Is my [Mana Manipulation] so important that I have to hear this speech?”

Dario looked at Janus and said, “You can use mana in a way that isn’t constrained by a skill. Your potential is nearly limitless. If you got a class or skill evolution in the future that made you more effective at [Mana Manipulation], you could be the greatest risk the stations have ever seen.”

Janus was taken aback. He didn’t really consider what his [Mana Manipulation] skill was actually doing. It was true that he could create unique effects with it, like the small flash of blue light earlier.

Dario inched closer to Janus and looked him in the eye. “You are the closest person to actually using magic that I’ve ever seen.” Dario said, “Sure some people can have a ‘mage’ class, but they are just playing at it. They just use what the System gives them. You could use mana to recreate almost any magical effect if your skill does what I think it does.”

The enormity of what Dario just said was still sinking in, as Janus felt a strange sensation to his right. He turned to see Devon’s piercing eyes meeting his own. Suddenly, Devon stood from the bench.

“I want to spar.” Devon said, pointing at Janus. “With him.”