Audrey POV :

As Audrey tried to reign in the wild thoughts their last fight inspired her, she noticed the crow was flying towards a big white stone temple on top of a mountain. They arrived at Mount Olympus, the crow landing in front of the stairs, startling a little crowd that anxiously tried to peer inside the temple to figure what hid inside. The two girls went up the stairs as the crow soared back towards the north. Audrey noticed Sarah was hanging back, letting her take the lead. After all, they were here for her. Audrey walked bravely inside the temple, only to be met with the awe inspiring sight of numerous marble statues, each four meters high, depicting the Greek gods. There was a calm silence, and the whispers from the crowd outside were already inaudible. She searched for the Hermes statue, and finally found it.

But when she stopped in front of it, she suddenly remembered she didn’t have the slightest idea on how to proceed from now on. She tried to call out to the god. “Uh, hm… Hermes, god of medicine, I came here like you asked...” Her voice was unsteady, and she was mentally sighing at her own meekness. But it seemed to work, as a silvery wind blew around the statue, and Hermes materialized before her. He was as she remembered him, a blond haired man, barely 1,60 meters high, sporting a white and silver tunic, and some sandals with wings. He was hovering in midair, looking at her with a smile.

“So, my little associate, what can I do for my first disciple and her famous friend?”

“Uh, well first, how do I address you?”

“My lord can do, or lord Hermes.”

“Well, lord Hermes, I was wondering why you gifted me that coat. It seems to be something really valuable.”

“And so are you. You know, you remind me of Hippocrates, and his selflessness in helping the sick. That’s all I needed to make a choice. Besides, it really suits you.”

“Oh, ok. And also, don’t I need to affiliate myself to your pantheon, or something like this? Milord?” She quickly added the honorific title, thought she wasn’t sure if Hermes would mind. She had been briefly embarrassed when he complimented her, before she remembered he was probably talking about some compatibility between the coat and herself, not admiring her figure.

“Oh yeah, there’s that. Just offer some blood on the little hole at the base of the statue. You’ll have to choose your class after that, so be attentive. And you can ignore the first 3 or 4, you’ll probably have far better choices.” Having said this, Hermes flew past her to exchange some words with Sarah, but they were whispering, so Audrey couldn’t make out their conversation. She decided to ignore their talk, and just go ahead.

After dropping some blood on the statue’s feet, she saw a blue window pop out.

You affiliated yourself with Hermes, god of the Greek pantheon. You can now access divine classes of the Greek pantheon, and Hermes’ personal classes, provided you meet the requirements for it. Choose your class between the following ones : Student (1st tier)[Mortal] Researcher (2nd tier)[Mortal] Doctor (2nd tier)[Mortal] Lifesaver (2nd tier)[Mortal] Student of Hippocrates (1st tier)[Divine]

Well, it was hardly a choice. Even if Doctor and Lifesaver sounded cool, Student of Hippocrates was a Divine class, and those were supposed to be insanely strong. Plus, Hermes would probably be really pleased to see her walking on this path. He’d seemed genuinely happy when he talked about Hippocrates, after all. She wanted to pick it, but first, Audrey wanted to check some of the others. After all, she was still lacking any references on what was standard and what was strong, and Sarah seemed to be quite overpowered. She decided to look at those ‘Student’ and ‘Lifesaver’ classes, just to see how they worked.

Student

(1st tier)[Mortal]. Prerequisites: Be enrolled in a school, or accepted by a teacher.

Learning is always good, and the first step to anything.

+1 INT per level, +2 free stat per level. +5% Experience. +10% Experience when following instructions.

She supposed the free stats were pretty cool, and the Intelligence was to remember what the teacher said? But still, when she remembered the details of Sarah’s classes, if this one was a standard one, how could anyone ever qualify for an advanced one? Maybe by adding classes after classes, but it would take at least a dozen classes. If I remember well, Mimir said people of the old times usually didn’t pick any classes until they were sure to qualify for a good one, except if they didn’t have a choice. So I suppose that’s the answer.

Lifesaver

(2nd tier)[Mortal]. Prerequisites: Must have the ‘Lifesaver’ perk. Must have 4 stats over 40.

One who truly saved a life, whatever the way.

+1 END, +1 CHA, +2 free stats points per level. +20% Experience when helping people. +2% Life affinity per level.

This is a little better. Those were some good stats, and she could see some people going to great heights with that. But weren’t the prerequisites too high? If she believed Mimir, humans started with about 20 points in each stats. Having 4 of them above 40 would require a heavy focus on it for at least twenty levels, and those people would be really weak outside of their fields. Well, let’s compare it to Divine classes.

Student of Hippocrates

(1st tier)[Divine class]. Prerequisites : Affiliation to Hermes, ‘Doctor’ title, ‘Lifesaver’ title, ‘Hippocratic vow’ perk, at least 5 Medical skills, ‘Medicine’ skill at level 5.

The path of medicine is long and arduous. The best way of progressing might be to follow the lead of the first Greek doctor, and Hermes best friend.

+0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN per level. +1 free stat point per level. +100% Experience toward any Medical skill. +100% Experience when practicing medicine. +100% Experience when learning a new skill or a new recipe. Grants you the ‘Alchemy’ skill. Grants you the ‘Identify sickness’ skill.

Do you accept ‘Student of Hippocrates’ as your class?

After seeing the description, she couldn’t help but smile, as she agreed to the blue window. This class seemed so strong!

Congratulations! You’re now a level 1 ‘Student of Hippocrates’.

+0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN. +1 free stat point.

You gained the ‘Mens sana in corpore sano’ skill.

Mens sana in corpore sano

As a student of Hippocrates, you get to enjoy some of the wisdom of the old Greek philosophers!

+1 STR for every 10 INT

+1 END for every 10 MEN

+1 AGI for every 10 WIS

+1 intellectual free stat point per level

+1 physical free stat point per level

+1 free stat point per level

May evolve upon attaining level 10.

Congratulations! You’re now a level 2 ‘Student of Hippocrates’.

+0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN. +1 free stat point.

Congratulations! You’re now a level 3 ‘Student of Hippocrates’.

+0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN. +1 free stat point.

Congratulations! You’re now a level 4 ‘Student of Hippocrates’.

+0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN. +1 free stat point.

Congratulations! You’re now a level 5 ‘Student of Hippocrates’.

+0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN. +1 free stat point.

Choose a skill :

Matter of life or death Prerequisites : Life affinity 10%, Death affinity 10%. Hands of the savior Prerequisites : Surgery level 3, ‘Lifesaver’ perk obtained without any instrument. Dark side of medicine Prerequisites : Death affinity any percentage, having killed another being on purpose.

Quickly reading through the avalanche of windows that went down in front of her, Audrey was surprised for a second, before remembering her talk with Mimir. Apparently, on level 5 and 15, you had to choose between three skills, and the ones unlocked would depend on your achievements. Also, the Will of the World would always display the ‘best’ ones, as far as the gods understood it. Well, I won’t choose anything without looking at it first. And certainly not that ‘Dark side’ thing. Won’t even look at it.

Matter of life or death

When stakes are high, one millimeter, one second, can be as different as the day is from night.

You can accelerate yourself by a 1:1,1 ratio, at the cost of 100 MP per second. Ratio and cost will improve with levels.

+1 DEX, +1 PER, +1 MEN per level.

This one probably has already won. Who in their right mind would refuse the ability to alter time? Even if it cost a lot of mana.

Hands of the savior

A wise man once said “Show me your hands, I’ll tell you who you are.” One who value the lives of others more than his own will have this change his very body.

Passively increase all healing done at touch range. You can heal others at the cost of 2 MP per HP. Ratio and cost will improve with levels.

+1,5 WIS, +1,5 MEN per level.

As much, as the second one seemed useful, it couldn’t beat the first. The choice was done.

Congratulations! You’re now a level 6 ‘Student of Hippocrates’.

+0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN. +1 free stat point.

Choose your class between the following ones : Brute (1st tier)[Mortal] Fighter (1st tier)[Mortal] Martial artist (2nd tier)[Mortal] Champion (2nd tier)[Mortal] Fist of Life and Death (3rd tier)[Mortal]

Audrey was surprised to see she also deserved a second class. For a moment here, she totally forgot the other side of her life. And apparently it unlocked a 3rd tier class. Of course she would eventually go for that one, but she wanted to check some of the others for comparison points.

Fighter

(1st tier)[Mortal]. Prerequisites: One Martial skill, every physical stats over 20.

One who fight for a living, using his body and his skill to slain his foes.

+1 STR, +1 END, +0,5 AGI, +0,5 DEX per level. +10% Experience when practicing martial skills. +10% Experience when fighting.

Audrey was taken aback. That is so weak! She assumed the previous low tier classes were like this because of their “intellectual” orientation, but this was a class meant to be fighting on the frontlines! How could anyone survive with so few stats? Unless the high tier classes were really rare? She checked a “better” class.

Martial artist

(2nd tier)[Mortal]. Prerequisites: One Martial art skill over 5, three physical stats over 30.

Studying one martial art bolstered your fighting potential. As always, specializing is efficient, isn’t it?

+1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +1 DEX per level. +1% damage with martial arts per level. +20% Experience when practicing martial art skills. +15% Experience when fighting.

Well, this was slightly better, but still a little weak. The stats weren’t really lacking, when comparing to those of ‘Student of Hippocrates’, but the side benefits and experience bonus were really low. Truly, divine classes make all the difference in the world. Or maybe just strong classes? Let’s check.

Fist of Life and Death

(3rd tier)[Mortal]. Prerequisites : One Martial art skill over level 5, one Medical skill over level 5, at least 40 in two physical stats, at least 60 in two intellectual stats. Must have at least 10% affinity with Death and Life. Must have obtained the ‘Lifesaver’ perk without any instrument. Must have killed at least one creature without any instrument. Must be able to cite at least 10 ways to kill another humanoid without any instruments.

Life is something incredibly fragile. By learning the proper way to interact with it, you’re able to bolster or weaken it without external assistance.

+1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +2 DEX, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS per level. +5% Death affinity per level. +5% Life affinity per level. Every time you reach level 10 in a Medical or Martial skill, you gain 1 free stat point. +50% Experience when practicing medicine. +50% Experience when practicing martial arts.

Do you accept ‘Fist of Life and Death’ as your class?

This seemed almost too good to be true. It would allow her to fight while still progressing in medicine! And the stats were really high. So clearly, 3rd tier classes were above all else, and even 1st tier divine classes were a little pitiful in comparison. Of course, Audrey selected it, bracing herself for the incoming windows.

Congratulations! You’re now a level 1 ‘Fist of Life and Death’.

+1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +2 DEX, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS.

+5% Death affinity. +5% Life affinity.

You gained the ‘Death fist’ skill.

Death fist

You’re able to call on the power of death and channel it into your strikes.

By consuming 20 MP, you add 1 Death damage to your next unarmed attack. Efficiency improve with level and Death affinity.

+1 STR, +1 DEX, +1 MEN per level.

Congratulations! You’re now a level 2 ‘Fist of Life and Death’.

+1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +2 DEX, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS.

+5% Death affinity. +5% Life affinity.

Congratulations! You’re now a level 3 ‘Fist of Life and Death’.

+1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +2 DEX, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS.

+5% Death affinity. +5% Life affinity.

Congratulations! You’re now a level 4 ‘Fist of Life and Death’.

+1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +2 DEX, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS.

+5% Death affinity. +5% Life affinity.

Finally, the windows stopped appearing, which allowed her to consult her status.

Audrey Mahora Doctor

Global level

10 Student of Hippocrates 6/20 Race Human Affinities

Death 30%

Life 40%

Fist of Life and Death 4/20 HP 340/340 MP 443/443 STR 60 INT 103 Luck 10 END 56 WIS 68 AGI 55 CHA 62 DEX 64 MEN 88 PER 57 Skills: Level Acrobatics 3 Alchemy 1 Apothecary 4 Celtic language 1 Dagger mastery 3 Death fist 1 Drawing 3 Empathy 2 Germanic language 5 Identify sickness 1 Jujitsu 3 Humanoid anatomy 5 Latin language 5 Matter of life or death 2 Medicine 6 Mens sana in corpore sano 2 Speech 2 Surgery 4 Taekwondo 6 Unarmed combat mastery 5 Perks : Hippocratic vow, Killer child, Child killer, Crippler, Unconventional interests Titles : Lifesaver, Doctor (B+), Library rat, Domineering champion (C-)

She couldn’t help but compare her status to what Sarah said of hers. She was definitely under it in term of raw stats, but it seemed she was more specialized. Let’s check it out in detail!

Acrobatics

The ability to jump, turn, and move with agility.

+1 END, +1,5 AGI, +0,5 DEX per level.

Apothecary

The ancient art of mixing plants and other substances to produce medicines and poisons. Allow you to produce non-magical substances with an increased chance of success.

+0,5 DEX, +0,5 PER, +2 INT per level.

Alchemy

The ancient art of mixing magical components to produce powerful potions. Allow you to produce magical substances with increased chance of success.

+0,5 DEX, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS per level.

So, apparently, alchemy was more diverse and more powerful than apothecary. Still, one provided bonuses for the other, and stats, so it was a good thing to have.

Celtic language

You learned to speak the language of the celtic people!

+1,5 INT, +1,5 CHA per level.

Dagger mastery

Stab a kidney, slash a throat, cut an artery…

+1 AGI, +1 DEX, +1 PER per level.

It was pretty creepy that she got dagger mastery from her scalpel handling, and the skill description wasn’t helping. I never tried to hurt anyone with a knife!

Drawing

From a schematic drawing of the room to the preliminary works of the greatest artists, everything start with the self, a drawing tool and an observation.

+1,5 DEX, +1,5 PER per level.

Empathy

Though some think of it as a prerequisite to live in society, it’s actually not. However, it’s really useful. Increase the ability to perceive others mind-state. May bolster social abilities.

+1 PER, +1 WIS, +1 CHA per level.

Not a prerequisite to live in society? Oh, they mean the skill, not the ability, I hope. That, or there are a lot more sociopaths around me than I thought.

Germanic language

You learned to speak the language of the german people!

+1,5 INT, +1,5 CHA per level.

Identify sickness

By living surrounded by sickness, you became able to recognize symptoms at a glance.

Active: Cost 10 MP. Allow you to instantly understand the health state of the target (efficiency not guaranteed, results may vary depending on circumstances).

+1 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS per level.

Jujitsu

A defensive martial art, meant to fight standing or on the ground, by locking your opponent in place or breaking its joints.

+1 STR, +1END, +1 AGI per level.

Humanoid anatomy

Every humanoid share similar anatomy. Increase critical chances against humanoid.

+0,5 PER, +2 INT, +0,5 WIS per level.

It was strange that this didn’t help to healing humanoids. Or maybe it was something so obvious the Will of the World didn’t care to write it? Audrey started to wonder if this strange entity wasn’t slacking off a little. Even the ‘Identify sickness’ description felt like it didn’t want to involve itself.

Latin language

You learned to speak the language of the latin people!

+1,5 INT, +1,5 CHA per level.

Medicine

Searching for the defects in a living organism, and finding a way to treat it without the use of magic requires some great investment.

+2 INT, +1 WIS per level.

Speech

What good is being knowledgeable if you can’t express it?

+0,5 INT, +0,5 WIS, +2 CHA per level.

Surgery

The next-level of medicine: opening to see if everything works fine, and if not, cut it out! Increase chance of success of every surgical intervention.

+1 DEX, +1 PER, +1 INT per level.

Taekwondo

A martial art heavily oriented toward kicks. May include lots of acrobatics and jumping, depending on the practitioner.

+1 STR, +1,5 AGI, +0,5 DEX per level.

Unarmed combat mastery

When you don’t have a weapon, become the weapon!

+1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI per level.

Those skills were pretty cool! And if she got everything right, she had a great build to become some kind of expert assassin medic! Whatever that may be… She also had two active skills,that consumed MP to use. It was nice, since that resource would have been unused without it. The efficiency seemed very low, but she guessed she needed to test it to judge. Audrey decided to take a look at her perks and titles before returning to Hermes.

Hippocratic vow

One who swore to treat sickness whenever he could, while respecting the sick. +5 INT, +5 WIS, +10 CHA. Increase the efficiency of every heal. +25% Experience when practicing medicine.

Killer child

You killed another being while still being considered a child. The effects on your psyche might not be all bad, but it’s still quite peculiar. +5 WIS, +15 MEN. +5% death affinity.

Child killer

Killing another being isn’t always well seen. Killing the offspring of one while it’s still unable to defend itself is almost never well seen. +30 MEN, -10 CHA. +5% death affinity.

Crippler

In a fight, there’s a winner and a loser. Sometimes the loser’s dead. And sometimes he’s not. But it takes a special kind of mind to intentionally let someone live with crippling injuries. +10 STR, +10 END, +10 MEN, -10 CHA.

Unconventional interests

Whatever the reason, it’s obvious you don’t share some of the traits considered common around you, and even go against them. +10% Experience when confronting a social norm, a tradition or a taboo. +10 MEN, +5 CHA.

An awful lot of those were related to THAT event, and at least one was quite stretching it. But they were pretty cool, and seemed to feed her otherwise lacking Mental and Charisma stats. Even the ones that went against her Charisma were still globally beneficial. But what was it with that ‘Unconventional interests’? What, because you were a small girl studying medicine, you couldn’t also be a free fight champion? Screw you, Will of the World!

Lifesaver (current number : 3)

Few actions can really be considered ‘lifesaving’. But some do, and you performed them! +1 WIS, +5 CHA per life saved. +5% efficiency to all healing actions per life saved. +5% life affinity per life saved.

Doctor (current rank : B+)

The title earned by one which devotes his life to healing people. +5% life affinity. +5 INT, +5 WIS, +10 CHA. +20% resistance against diseases.

Library rat

If someone willingly spend more time in a library than outside, there will fatally be consequences. +5 INT; +5% to all stats when inside a library.

Domineering champion (current rank : C-)

Being called the champion is something everybody can achieve. Being feared as one isn’t so easy. +5 STR, +5 END, +5 CHA. +5% damage when defending your champion title.

Well, that explained her relatively high Charisma despite the other perks. Just as Sarah had, she found that ‘Library rat’ title a bit insulting. And she wondered what those ranks meant, for her ‘Doctor’ and ‘Domineering champion’ titles. She would have to ask Hermes before adding her free stats points, since she had 8 of them, plus 4 with some restrictions. She needed to ask about those too.

Turning around, Audrey saw Sarah in deep reflexion over thin air. Probably her status window again. Hermes was floating lazily around. When he saw her looking at him, he approached in long slow curves through the air.

“I see you’ve finished your choices. Those are some beautiful classes, I hope you’ll live up to them!” He was smiling while his eyes gazed just over her head.

“Yeah, about that, the ‘Student of Hippocrates’ said something about you being friend with him. But isn’t Asclepios the medicine god? Milord?”

Hermes seemed surprised for a second, then smiled.

“I would have thought this was known. Asclepios was killed by dear old Zeus for giving out the secret of easy resurrection to mortals. Then, medicine fell in my lap because of the similarity between our symbols. Also, I was very well known for healing travelers from serpent bites.”

“Wait, gods can DIE?”