They went wild in the forest. Silverfang got too excited and felled more trees than the ones marked, which earned him a scolding by Cless. Seeing that huge two-meter-plus tall werewolf being scolded by a girl made the three boys giggle and they earned a double scary glare from both.

"How many trees did we cut?" Cless asked after taking a break. She even considered putting more stats in Strength but decided to not jeopardize Balthus' training program.

"I think about thirty," Collin replied.

Cless sighed, "Not how many Silverfang felled. How many trees did we de-limb."

"Four. And I'm starving. I could eat like a wolf." Lawrence complained.

"That can be arranged," Cless snickered. "But first we are going to craft clubs with this tree here," She pointed at a not so thick tree that the werewolf just cut down.

Lawrence furrowed his eyebrows, "Seriously? We are going to make wooden clubs?"

"Do you have any better idea to get weapons for everyone? Wooden clubs are very effective for how much they cost. And if you think that delver guilds are rich, they are rich because they already invested money in their gear and are able to harvest the dungeons. We are starting from zero. So, unless you want to keep punching wolves, we are making wooden clubs. This ironwood tree has very hard wood. It doesn't even float."

Cless could've bought her a sword but decided against. She would go from the bottom up just like most of the boys in her guild.

They started to cut down the trunk into sizeable pieces. They removed the bark and thinned the handle part. Cless carefully wrapped the leather scraps around the handle and in an hour they had around seven very crude wooden clubs. Very, very crude.

Cless measured the sun's position and found it to be past noon. She called the werewolf. "Time to eat. Silverfang, is there any prey around?"

"We scared all the game with the trees falling, Cless. I think I smelled a deer trail back there. Maybe I can get it but they are very fast."

"I want you to scare the deer into an ambush these three will prepare. Can you do that?"

The werewolf gave Cless a thumbs up like he saw the humans doing, "Good pack tactics, alpha."

Silverfang shifted into wolf form and departed away to circle around the deer and scare the critter into the ambush of the quartet of club-wielding teenagers. Cless was a bit further down the trail. The idea was to cut off the deer escape path and force it to halt for a while. The boys were too low level and had no proficiency to accurately hit the moving deer.

They heard the deer prancing across the trail. Once the underbrush ruffled, Cless jumped in front of it and swung her club straight down. The deer halted and skidded along the irregular floor but Cless missed the head and only grazed its snout. It did make the deer halt and stop moving for a few seconds, however. And that was the opportunity for the three boys to get out and bash the flanks of the deer with their clubs. Arnold, the strongest of the group hit its ribs while Collin and Lawrence got each a solid hit on its hindquarters.

The deer, surrounded, decided to flee by going over the smallest of the group, Cless. It leaped over and to her side but Cless was already bringing an overhead swing. The club hit the front shoulder and caused the deer to lose footing, missing its jump and stumbling to the side. Arnold recovered and swung again, hitting it around the same spot. Some ribs cracked. The deer buckled and kicked at Lawrence, sending the boy down. Collin bashed the rear flank again, and the deer cried in pain.

It tried to move again as Cless swung sideways at the knee of its front leg. The limb broke and the deer limped. Arnold hit the chest once again and the skin caved in. The deer stumbled and fell down. Cless finished it with a hit to the head.

"Good job!" Arnold smiled and gave Cless a salute.

For defeating 1 deer, you earned 71 Class Experience Points. 7 Profession Experience Points.

The boys earned 375 Experience Points each.

"Help! Lawrence is not breathing!" Collin shouted.

They rushed to see and Collin was conscious but unable to breathe in. He was wheezing and a burbly whistle came from his chest. The deer kick had broken a rib and pierced the lung, apparently.

"He has a broken rib. Arnold, take him to the town. He needs a healer to heal the bone."

"Right away, guild master!"

Cless punched the deer's corpse and cursed. "We need to step up our game. Damn it! Collin, help me dress and skin this deer. We can't let it bleed too much or the venison will get ruined. Let's open its belly and get the organs out."

They had no proficiency in dismantling but it was a common occurrence that even Cless had seen it done a couple times. They cut the deer open and removed the organs. They were skinning the animal when Silverfang returned with a dead racoon in its mouth. He deposited the racoon at Cless' feet.

"Thanks, Silverfang. Do you want the deer's entrails?" The wolf nodded. Cless pointed at the pile of organs and the head of the deer. "Dive in. You earned it."

Half an hour later they had a deer pelt, the deer carcass hung on a branch and a racoon pelt. Cless gave the whole skinned racoon to Silverfang, that devoured everything with great enthusiasm.

"We should take these to farmer Olson. Collin, help me gather the tools and the clubs. We can come back tomorrow for the rest of the wood. Silverfang, go away for a while, transform back and forth to remove all this blood and gore from your fur and come back with us."

After gathering everything, they started to return to town, leaving the trees behind. The deer's weight, going around trees, plus their sore muscles made they progress very slowly. An hour later they reached farmer Olson's place.

"Farmer Olson, we hunted a deer and a racoon. Could you tan the hides in exchange for some of this venison?" Cless asked.

"Of course. You got a doe by the size of it."

"I guess? It didn't have horns."

They left the pelts and most of the doe. Cless took the hindquarters with her, promising Arnold, Collin, and Lawrence a free dinner at the inn. After crossing the gate, they departed. Collin also left the clubs with Cless, refusing to take one home. With a sigh, Cless went back home with a bag full of tools, the hindquarters of a doe and half a dozen crude wooden clubs. She thought of leaving the clubs behind but she stubbornly took them. Besides, she was already in town and it would be littering.

Near the inn, she met Balthus.

"Cless! Let me help you. Is any of this blood yours?"

"No. I didn't get hurt, master. This is all from dressing the doe."

She gave the venison to him and they walked back to the inn. Cless left the tools and weapons in her room and went for a bath. She was covered in blood, sweat and grime. She made a note to buy more sets of work clothes. Now she knew why some adventurers never wore anything under their armor. Some with defensive Skills would go as far as to skip armor entirely, trusting healing magic and a high Health stat to avoid having to pay for repairs and cleaning.

After making herself presentable, Cless returned to the common room. Balthus was playing with Silverfang.

"This wolf really grows on you," Balthus remarked absentmindedly to Cless.

"Yes, he does. About two and a half meters tall," She giggled and Balthus laughed. "Makes him quite the lumberjack also. I'm proud of him."

"That doe, was it him that hunted it?"

"Actually it was all of us. I need to level up my guild members, or at least the ones that don't bail on me, so I asked him to scare the doe in our direction. Speaking of which, I have a request to make, Balthus."

"Say it, Cless."

"I think I'm going to order some saddlebags made for Silverfang so he can help me carry some stuff. And also I want to change my class. I want to get a healing class."

"A cleric? We could go to the association. You will lose the warrior Experience you earned though."

"I don't mind. How do spellcasters learn their spells?"

"They are proficiencies. Just like the weapon proficiencies we are training. But why the sudden change?"

"Half my guild is wounded, two incapacitated. We need weapons, armor, money. But to earn money we need weapons and armor. We are in a kind of a pickle here."

"I told you, running a guild is not easy. You should get Silverfang some packmates and run solo."

Cless sighed, "I wanted this guild to work, master Balthus. I would like very much to have friends by my side. Silverfang is nice but I doubt we'd find any others like him that would be so willing to work with humans."

Balthus clapped her shoulder, "Then we should make haste. Let's go to the Association to get your class changed, then the leatherworker to get our wolf here measured and we will be good to go train."

"Lead on, master."

They went to the association and Cless changed his job to a magical healer, the Cleric. Different from a priest, the clerics use their faith to imbue their magic with healing properties and most of their spells are in the form of prayers.

Cleric (1st Tier)

Main advancement: Magic. (+13)

Secondary advancements: Health, Intellect (+7)

Proficiency bonus: 2x to Divine magic.

She confirmed her choice. She felt she was meant to lead, protect and heal, not go wild in the frontlines.

Your class changed to Cleric.

The brand new Cleric returned to the main room of the association. Cless felt the drop in Strength but she was not burdened. The feeling of becoming weaker was drowned by another. Some strange power circulating in her body and causing an itch on her mind.

"How do I use magic?" She asked Balthus and earned a hearty laugh.

"You need to learn spells. You should visit the church and ask the priest to teach you some healing spells."

"I unlocked the Magic Stat. Does it stay unlocked now? If I change class again further down the road?"

"No, unless you change into another magic-using class. The eleven points you have now are due to your Cleric class. If you switch out you'll lose them."

"What if I allocate free stat points? I think I heard something about it last time I was here, but I am not sure."

The information should be in her notebook back at her room. But Cless was really eager to learn and use magic regardless of her current class. The answer to her question came from another delver, probably a magician. She was wearing robes and a staff.

The woman kept staring at Cless, making her very uncomfortable. She was used to people staring at her deformities, but it was still rude.

"Allocating free stat points to Magic really does the trick of letting you pick a martial or production class and keep using magic. Not many people do that because you'd either end up with a lousy Magic stat or ruin your progression. Free stat points only come with levels. There is another way, but you'd need a magic Skill. Those with magic Skills have the Magic Stat unlocked forever during their rite of passage."

"Lucky bastards," Cless bit her thumb. "But thanks a lot for your time. Just one more question if you can indulge me, what would be a not-lousy Magic stat for non-magicians?"

"At least ten. Less than this and you won't even have enough power to cast a spell."

She bowed to the magician, "Thank you for your instruction, kind lady."

Cless opened her status and unceremoniously allocated all her free stat points into Magic, skyrocketing her score to a thirty. Now even if she went back to Warrior, her Magic stat would remain at least nineteen. The magician lady felt the rush of energy and looked at Cless with a raised eyebrow.

"What did you just do, girl?" She asked.

"I dumped all my free stat points in Magic. Boy, that gives a rush."

The magician lady scoffed, "It is your life, but please mind your defenses. You should have a meek Health and Agility so you might get done in by a single hit."

Cless nodded and forced the smile down. She had good enough stats.

"I'll take care. Silverfang here will defend me, won't you, boy?"

The wolf barked.

Name: Cless (no surname)

Race: Human.

Level: 21 ( 222,210 / 231,000 Exp)

Class: Cleric 1 (0 / 1,000 Exp)

Profession: Warmaster 6 (17,130 / 21,000 Exp), Weaponmaster 6 (17,130 / 21,000 Exp)

Base Stats: Strength: 12 (-2) — Agility: 14 — Health: 20 (-1) — Intellect: 20 — Magic: 30 (+30)

Available Status Points: 0 (-19)

Skills: [ Absolute Contract (S) ]

Crafting Proficiencies — Crude Weapons: 2 (+2)

General Proficiencies — Prayer: 3 — Scribe: 2 — Houseworking: 3 — Math: 2 — Reading: 4 — Forestry: 5 (+2)

Social Proficiencies — Leadership: 9 — Intimidation: 8 — Negotiation: 6 — Tactics: 5 (+2)

Combat Proficiencies — Sword: 4 — Dagger 2 — Unarmed: 7 — Bow: 4 — Spear: 3 — Maces: 6 (+3) — Staff: 4 — Ax: 2