Chapter Seven: Hunger, Solution? And Unlock.

It took nearly five hours for the pyre to burn itself out and release everyone from the misery of the toxic smell. It was well into the night when a much more pleasant smell covered the clearing. The foraging group had returned successfully, resulting in a small feast. Two Labrador sized pigs with elongated legs, literal rock hides and razor sharp tusks had been killed. The creatures were extremely resilient, but had eventually been tipped over where they could not right themselves and could not protect their weaker bellies. Three dozen fish had been caught, quickly gutted and spitted to cook. Carrots that actually identified as carrots but were about five times sweeter than what everyone was used to. More blackberry bushes had been found and cleared and dozens of pumpkin sized blue flowers that, when roasted over a fire, resembled onion more than anything.

The group fed their starving bodies and most were soon snuggled up together under the makeshift shelter, personal space and hygiene forgotten in the attempt to claim some part of cover.

No animals attacked them during the night however just as the sun was rising Rory and the rest of the group suddenly jerked awake, there was a commotion just outside the clearing, several creatures seemed to be attacking each other, snarls, cries of pain and ripping of flesh could be heard as the creatures tried their best to rip each other to shreds, their very attacks seeming to uproot trees in their savagery. No one dared move a muscle too scared to move or even breathe and potentially notify whatever was fighting that they were here. After ten minutes of vicious fighting everything went eerily quiet, a creature let out a triumphant roar, the adults quickly covering the kids mouths before they cried out in fear, eventually the sounds of crunching bones and flesh being ripped from bodies started to be heard as the winning monster consumed the fallen. After a further hour, the creature had sated itself and could be heard stomping away from them and further into the forest.

Somehow it had fallen on Rory and a dozen other people to investigate what the noise was, they having been nominated by the wider group simply due to their higher levels.

Rory accompanied by Peter, Samwell, Abigail and several others cautiously crept in the direction of where the sound had come from, none eager to see what carnage was left or come face to face with what caused it.

Stepping out of the clearing and into the forest, Rory travelled for a couple of minutes before he came across the scene of the battle.

Blood and gore plastered the area, small trees had been broken and bushes had been uprooted. Claw marks and footprints covered every surface, dozens of half eaten wolf corpses littered the ground, their bodies savaged and ripped apart, bone fragments and fur littered everywhere. Wolves were not the only creatures to have died here as among the wolf corpses were of all thing's lion corpses, what looked like four lionesses and two big males which apart from claw marks and bite marks where they had been killed were left untouched, their unmolested bodies signalling which side had won the skirmish.

Unnerved by the powerful looking creatures, Peter readied his sharpened spear and with careful precision started to stab the lion bodies through the heart, confirming their deaths. Peter approached the remaining female lion's body, having confirmed the other five were indeed dead.

Suddenly, the lioness's eyes snapped open and with a snarl twisted and lunged at Peter, knocking him onto the ground and towering above him.

Time seemed to come to a standstill as the group reacted. Samwell charged at the lioness, a primal roar echoing out of his mouth with his cricket bat raised, while Abigail arced her arm back, lining up her shot and preparing to throw her spear. One of the others had taken out a crude slingshot they had crafted themselves and placed a stone in it and let loose, hitting the lioness straight in the forehead, however apart from a flash of pain showing across the lioness face it otherwise did not react. Rory, meanwhile, concentrated, conjuring a flaming spear of his own. He had moulded the spear to hopefully be narrow enough that it would hit the lioness but miss Peter. Releasing the spear, it flew through the air, whistling as it streaked along and hit its target. Rory cursed, as while the spear had indeed hit the lioness, it had left just a glancing wound along its back due to the fact that the lioness had lowered its head at the last second. The lioness opened its mouth, revealing yellowed teeth dripping with saliva, ready to rip Peter's face off. Peter started to scream as he faced the dark, damp abyss that was the lioness's mouth ...

Just at the last second, the lioness was flung backwards, the spear from Abigail having found its mark and puncturing through the lioness's eye, killing it. The lioness slumped to the ground dead, half its body landing on Peter and knocking the wind out of him, where he let out a pitiful whine. Samwell reached Peter, his cricket bat clattering to the ground as he reached under the still twitching body of the lioness and with a great grunt, lifted the lioness, letting Peter scuttle quickly from under it.

Thankfully, apart from his pride, Peter was unhurt. Abigail, as composed as ever, retrieved her spear, pulling it free from the lioness’ head with a wet slurping sound accompanying it. She ordered Samwell and Peter to return to the camp for more people to help gather the lion corpses and collect any of the useful bits left of the wolves.

Rory had zoned most of this out, however, as with that last kill, he had received a notification.

“erm guys?” Rory asked, but everyone was too occupied to notice him.

“Guys! I’ve just levelled up, and it’s telling me I’ve unlocked classes!” Rory excitedly announced.

Ding - you have defeated [Nomad Lioness] you have killed a being 20 levels or more above you. Additional experience received. Experience earned reduced due to being in a group. Experience earned reduced due to having an already mortally wounded opponent.

Ding – level 10 Reached – 4 stat points awarded.

Ding – congratulations, you have reached the first threshold, class one unlocked! Please choose carefully, as choices made here are usually final and will mould your future path.

Ding – You are the third human to reach level ten and unlock the class system, Title 3rd to first threshold received.

You are the third of your race to reach level ten. While this is the barest of feats, you have nonetheless completed this the third fastest. 5% to all stats.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked in Rory’s direction.

“Don’t pick anything until we get back to camp. If you only get one chance at picking a class, you need to have time to fully commit to it,” Abigail ordered Rory after he had shared the notifications he had received to them.

Dejected at having to wait but seeing the sense in it, Rory and the group started to gather wolf and lion remains to carry back to camp for dinner.

An hour later Rory found himself sat in the middle of a circle surrounded by eager faces who had asked him numerous questions about the classes he had been offered and what his thoughts on them were, bringing up his class screen Rory went through the choices again.

Classes available:

Warrior (common)– The lowest part of the martial path. This class is available to anyone that has used their body or a weapon to destroy another living thing. A weapon, whether it be a sword or a fist, are extensions of a warrior's body and their conduit to slay foes and protect allies. Receive 1 extra point every level up, 10 stat points assigned on gaining the class.

He had no love or skill with weapons, nor did he fancy getting in close reach of the things he was trying to kill. Based on his history, he would more than likely trip and that would be the death of him. Rory was already massively better with magic as well, meaning it would be foolhardy for him to take the Warrior class.

Initiate mage (uncommon)– the elements are destructive and powerful. They can also be used to heal and create. You have experienced this first hand and have been granted the opportunity to learn to harness these forces. Most mages practice a single school of magic, and their dedication makes them reach untold heights of power. Receive 2 extra points every level up, 12 stat points assigned on gaining the class.

Initiate mage really resonated with Rory as he was already somewhat familiar with magic and he was excited to see just how far his newly gifted magical powers could go.

Deaths disciple (epic)- Pain equals power and power equals more pain. You are the first to knock on death's door and survive, embrace the pain that was inflicted on you and use it to inflict it permanently on others. Receive 5 extra points every level up, 20 stat points assigned on gaining the class.

Death's disciple was a no go for Rory as while it was an epic ranked class that was obviously strong, it implied that he would be tackling monsters head on and willing taking damage to deal it back on others something Rory was not keen on. It sounded to Rory that it was either a berserker class that dealt more damage the more they were injured or some sort of class that reflected damage back on the attacker. Either way, Rory fancied neither of them.

The Plague Spreader (legendary)- Lesions and boils are your allies. What might be a sign of desirability to some is a disease of unparalleled horrors to others. Through death may the weak be purged. you have defeated Rak'Silof – The Plague Spreader, take his place and sow pestilence and death with every step. Receive 8 extra points every level up, 30 stat points assigned on gaining class.

The next choice was an instant no as even though the class was the rarest so far and it was also the one most likely to give him the most power with it being legendary, he discarded it immediately. He had seen the state Rak’Silof was in. Flesh and body parts had been falling off of it, and Rory had no desire to become a walking plague carrier.

Disciple of the elements (epic)– The power of the elements is without equal, the elemental lords have waged war against each other for eons. For some bizarre reason, you have been chosen by one of these powerful beings and received their blessing. You have been given the opportunity to harness a small portion of your patron's element. Will you take this blessing and its powers to new heights of power or wallow in mediocrity and eventual death? Receive 5 extra points every level up, 20 stat points assigned on gaining class.

There was a lot of information for Rory to take in from the classes he had been given. What surprised him most was the vagueness of them all. From the games Rory had used to play, the classes in them had been clear and straight forward, clearly explaining what they did however, these were just full of lore and only hinted at what they did and what benefits they gave.

The last of the classes seemed to be in response to his blessings and something he, and probably every boy, had dreamed of being at some point, was a mage. Rory was already well on the way to wielding magic, having received the means to supposedly use two types of magic, and had even received a title for his progress.

Rory made the selection and picked what he thought was the obvious choice.

Class selection complete, generating skills, spells and benefi...error!

Conflicting blessings detected... querying system...

Calculating...

Processing titles and blessings...

New class selected...

Congratulations!

Class Disciple of the Arcane (unique) received!

Disciple of the Arcane – The masters of the Arcane are without equal among the mortal magic users. They are unique in that they can learn from any school of magic. You have received blessings from two rival elements and have received a unique title. Whether through merit or dumb luck, you have received two competing blessings, as with your blessings your class has the potential to evolve with you as you grow.

Magic from your patron elements are easier to learn and control. You will not receive a penalty for learning magic from other schools of magic.

Strength + 3

Dexterity + 3

Constitution + 3

Vitality + 3

Intelligence + 6

Wisdom + 6

6 additional free points per level

Class skill slots: 6

Class skills acquired:

Static bomb level 1 – Summon forth a blob of static electricity, has a high chance of stunning targets in a radius of where it explodes.

Fiery buckler level 1 – equip yourself with the latest of the hot trends! Fiery buckler has excellent magical defences but is ineffective against water and void spells.

General skill acquired:

Meditate level 1 – focus on your mind and body to regenerate your resources at triple the rate while meditating, moving with break the effect.

Power and pain rippled across Rory’s body as his muscles strained and his veins stood out as the class and its future possibilities were imprinted upon his being. After several seconds, the process ended. Rory had sweat dripping down his body and felt like he had run a marathon.

Rory gasped in relief, glad that the ordeal was over. Looking up, expectant and worried faces stared at him, waiting for Rory to fill them in on what happened.

Rory didn’t fully trust the people surrounding him, as after all, a good portion had been ready to lynch him just hours ago. Deciding on a half truth, Rory told them that he had selected the disciples of the Elements class but neglected to tell them what had happened to it and how it had changed.

After fielding a variety of questions, Rory escaped as soon as he could, finding a relatively quiet area to go over what had happened to him and see what had changed.

The first skill Rory tried was both exciting and boring at the same time, exciting due to how useful it could be, but also boring due to the fact it was so simple. Rory simply concentrated on the skills name and instantly a 45cm in diameter buckler sprung into existence, centred on the back of his palm. The buckler blazed with fiery light. Two bands of nearly pitch black flames rotated on the buckler, the first spun furiously in the centre while the other at the rim spun lazily. Orange flames raced from one ring to the other and back again. Examining the buckler, Rory swished it back and forth. There was no weight to it nor did it burn Rory when he ran his hand along it, instead Rory’s fingers met firm resistance. Summoning and dismissing the buckler a couple of times, he noticed that it cost him a fixed 5% of his Mana each time.

Moving onto the next skill Static bomb, Rory aimed his hand into the forest, not wanting to hit anyone by mistake, however as soon as he tried to activate the skill, pain lanced up his body, causing his body to spasm. Sometime later, Rory awoke to find himself laid on the floor. Drool hung to the corner of his lips, luckily no one seemed to have noticed so frustrated, Rory gave up trying to use his lightning orb for the time being.

Finally, he looked at the new general skill he had been given. While Meditate seemed a useful skill on paper but Rory’s Mana regenerated from empty to full in two hours as it was and he dreaded to think that he would ever be in a situation where he needed to have his Mana full again in less than an hour. Plus, the limitation of having to stay still while meditating really lessened how much it could be used, but he supposed it could be useful to regain all his resources after a fight.

Sitting down on the ground, Rory realised he had no idea how to meditate. He had never had the time to try meditation previously, but he had seen people do it in movies and that sort of thing. Trying to clear his mind did nothing to Rory as he couldn’t stop fidgeting, eventually he discovered that just staying still qualified enough for the skill to activate.

Quickly growing bored with meditating, Rory decided to check how the new class had affected his status. While Rory was disappointed, he had not expected any different to find out that his class's extra attribute points per level only applied to his tenth level and had not been applied retroactively to his previous levels.

Rory had ten points free after reaching level ten and receiving the extra points from his class, which he decided to split equally in intelligence and wisdom.

Status page:

Name: Rory Richardson

Class 1: level 10 - Disciple of the Arcane

Attributes:

Strength: 24

Dexterity: 19

Endurance: 24

Vitality: 26

Intelligence: 41

Wisdom: 47

Available points: 0

Health: 260/260

Stamina: 241/241

Mana: 475/475

Blessings:

Child of Flame

Child of Lightning

Titles:

Cheater of Death

First kill

Prodigy (locked)

Fledgling Mana User

3rd to First Threshold

Resistances:

Lightning Resistance - lvl 14

Flame Resistance – lvl 12