<>(Zack)<>

"Nik!" I call out. "Are you around?"

No response.

"Niiiiiiiik!"

Still no response.

"Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!"

"Could you be any more annoying?"

"Very," I turn and look at the Dark Knight. He looks exactly the same as he did when I saw him yesterday. "Hi."

"What did you want?" He asks.

"Do you have training dummies or something I can use?" I ask.

"What?" He looks confused.

"To train," I tell him. "Or, you know, we could spar with you teaching me some moves."

"I told you to try the Warriors' Barracks."

"Yeah, I know."

He stares at me, so I stare back, and he sighs, rolling his eyes.

"What?" I ask.

"Do you really think your best option," he asks. "Is to annoy the Dark Knight, a warrior who uses blood and anger to inflict damage, whose Skills focus on damage, intimidation, fear, and such, without a regard to the well-being of himself or others?"

"Isn't that what I am?"

He laughs, approaching me and clapping me on the back.

"You'll make a fine Dark Knight," he states. "Draw your knife and show me what you're doing when you're trying."

"What makes you think I was trying?"

He stares at me, and I grin at him, then draw my knife and slash through the air several times. He frowns again.

"Put it away," he puts up a couple of fists. "Try hitting me with your fists and feet."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

I nod, putting the knife away, then swing a fist at him. He blocks it, and by instinct, I move into another strike.

New Skill! Martial Arts Passive The ability to fight with just your body. Martial Arts has been Adjusted for Prior Skill Level Martial Arts is Level 7

As soon as that appears, a sudden flood of martial arts knowledge fills me, and I launch into a series of attacks. Nik blocks each one with ease, but his stats probably make him way faster than me. I'd love to see how I compare to him with similar stats in Agility, Strength, and Perception.

He stops a kick from me, and we both stop moving for a moment, then I pull my foot back, set it on the ground, take a step back, and give him a small bow.

"How did you know?"

"Know what?" He asks.

"That I would receive the Skill for Martial Arts?"

"The way you were moving your knife," he answers. "Though it was clear you didn't have any form of real skill with one, it was clear you knew how to fight. Judging by the way you were moving during that, you're a real fighter. Your body's pretty scrawny for one, though. What was its Level?"

"Seven."

"And you're that scrawny?" He frowns. "Interesting. To have that high of a Martial Arts Skill is tough, and speaks of years of devotion, especially for one as young as you. Odd that you'd not show the muscle in your body. You must not have practiced in awhile, nor kept your body active."

"Maybe," I shrug, then draw my knife. "Have at thee!"

He laughs as I attack, then blocks with his own knife, returning with his own strike. We spar for awhile, past when I acquire Knife Mastery 1 and Swords Mastery 1. He never hits me hard enough to do damage, but he does hit me hard enough to hurt. My Strength and Endurance both go up by a point before we finish, and while I'm soaked in sweat… though he's not.

"Thanks, Nik," I put my weapons away. "That was… fun. Same time tomorrow?"

He laughs.

"So how do Vitality and Wisdom get increased?" I ask. "I assumed Willpower was by getting hit with magic, and Intellect by using it. Wisdom by using Mana, and Vitality by losing Health?"

"Correct," he nods.

"So if I stabbed myself," I draw my knife. "It'd probably work."

"Why would you-"

I slice my arm, and he sighs. I stare at the blood on my arm. No message, just a small amount of pain. I cut deeper. A lot deeper.

+1 Health!

"There we go."

"Are you sure you're twelve?"

"I'm really a demigod who can ignore petty things like morals and has no issue putting himself in harm's way to get stronger, defeat an enemy, or protect allies. What about you?"

He laughs, shaking his head, and I continue to watch the bleeding cut. It slowly heals as time passes, until a full minute has passed, and there's no trace of the cut left, save the blood on my arm.

"That was cool," I look at him. "Healing isn't normally that fast. Can I stab you?"

"You wouldn't manage to break my skin."

"What if I stabbed you in the eye?"

"Please don't try."

So that would work. Got it.

I draw my sword and spin in a slash, trying to cut him. He blocks it with his hand and pushes me back. I take a few steps, then sheathe my sword.

"You do know you are, quite literally, the weakest Adventurer within several Cities by at least a two Tier 3 Classes, right?"

"Tiers?"

He sighs.

"There are five Tiers to each Class," he explains. "Each Tier has 10 Levels, and each time you gain a Level in that Class, you gain a set amount of Stat Points. Every fifth Total Level, the one displayed on your Status, you gain Stat points as well.

"Those points," he says. "Are either none, a quarter, half, three-quarters, or all of your Base Stat Points, plus up to eight more Stat Points. You can start with between eight and twenty-five Stat Points. Most people sit around sixteen for starting."

I started at eight. At the absolute base. That confirms I'm utterly weak.

"How does Experience work?"

"No one's entirely sure," he answers. "It's done as a percentage, and that's about all we know. The higher the Level of something, the harder it is to raise it. The higher its Tier, the harder it is as well. Going from Level 1 to Level 2 of Dark Warrior is harder than going from Level 9 to Level 10 of Dark Squire."

"Okay," I say. "So what do you think I'll be? Fast or slow?"

"Honestly?" He asks. "It depends on you, and how well you learn and adapt. Judging by how you were adapting to my fighting style, I'd say that you might manage Dark Warrior in six months, which is pretty fast."

"So I'll have it done in a month," I nod. "Got it."

He laughs, then groans when I drive my knife into my wrist.

You Have Suffered Vital Damage! -5 Health! -1 Bleed Damage every three seconds Health Regeneration is Suspended

"Huh," I pull the knife out and inspect the hole going clean through my arm. "That's interesting."

"You're going to die in a few seconds," he says, and I grab my arm and squeeze it tightly. "That's not going to help, Zack. Especially not with only 10 Health total."

"Maybe if I squeezed harder?" I tighten my grip.

"You're only squeezing one side of it."

Bleed Effect Ended Health Regeneration Restored to Normal

"It worked."

"How the hell?"

"I dunno. Ask Big Flame."

"Who?"

"Well, most certainly not Big C."

"What?"

"Big Flame," I gesture to the seal. "This is clearly a place for his worshipers and warriors."

"You mean Lord Dark of Fire?"

I like Big Flame. I'll go by that, now.

Nik scoffs at the boy-like voice.

"Seriously, milord?"

Yes. I like it. It sounds awesome. I'll go by it now. Attention all Dark Knights: I found a new name for you to call me. Call me the Big Flame.

"He sounds, like, ten."

"We all agree on that," Nik stares at me. "How did you do that?"

"I'm just that sexy."

"You're twelve."

"Gotta start young to compete in the looks department," I tell him. "I just gained a point of Vitality, but my Health didn't go up, just its maximum. That sucks."

"You're going to stab yourself once you're healed all the way, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

Nik groans.

"What?" I ask. "It's not like you don't injure yourself to use Skills."

"Most of them just drain my Health," he says. "Not actually inflicting damage onto me. Only the more powerful ones require actually harming myself."

"Okay," I say. "But my Vitality base is at one, just like all of my Stats, so I gotta get them up."

"What am I going to do with you?"

"Teach me all the tricks and skills needed to be a Dark Knight, of course."

"Step One," he says. "Don't stab yourself."

"Can I stab you instead?"

"No," he says. "Stab Monsters."

"I'll find out if that's fun tomorrow," I tell him. "Thanks for the training, Nik. Imma go harass the pervert for food, then return to my home and get rested."

He laughs, and I take off to the Trading Post.

"Zacky!" Ugh. "What happened to your arm? Did you go up against some Goblins?"

"I stabbed myself," I tell him. "I need more food."

"You-what?" He shrieks, covering his mouth. "Why did you stab yourself?"

"You gonna give me food?" I ask. "Or let me pass out from hunger from my workout and losing all but one of my Health and a fair bit of blood?" I hold up my arm. "You can even still see some of the blood here."

"Why would you do that?" He asks.

"I'm training my Wisdom," I draw my knife, spin it around, then stab it right into my other wrist. Jesse gasps, and I sheathe the knife, then tightly grip the wrist, putting enough pressure on the wound that within twenty seconds, I get the notification that Bleed ended. "See? So wise. You gonna give me food, or let me pass out from blood loss?"

Jesse continues to stare at me as I let go of my hand, then he stares at my hand.

"You have blood on both hands."

"Well, I did grip two wounds, one with each hand," I say. "What did you expect?"

He pulls out a cloth and wets it, holding it out to me.

"Where were you storing this?"

"In the System Shop!" He answers. "It's a fresh, clean cloth, just for you to wipe your hands off with!"

"Thanks," I wipe my hands with it then my arms, before sending it into my inventory. "Food, Pervert."

"You have to pay for that."

"Food, Pervert."

"You have to pay for that."

"Food, Pervert."

"The cloth isn't free, Zacky!"

"I'll go see if someone else can give me food," I say. "I'm sure they'd be sooo willing to help out the youngest, weakest person here, a mere child thrown here by Big C without any form of mercy or way to sustain himself."

"Alright, alright," Jesse relents, putting some bread, apples, and jerky on the counter.

"I'll need some for dinner and breakfast, too, pervert."

"You're so mean!"

"I'm a Dark Knight, it's in our nature to be uncaring."

"Even to sweet, old Jesse?"

"What are you, thirty?"

"One hundred, seventeen!"

"Shame you don't look it."

"That's mean!"

"I get cranky when I'm hungry."

Jesse sighs, giving me more food, and I send them all into my inventory.

"Thanks, Pervert!" I wave and leave, then jog back to my property, only remembering after I get there that I meant to ask Jesse about the seasons.

Back at my property, I eat, then strip to my pants and begin doing exercises and stabbings. Once the sun begins to set, I go to the pump and wash off, then wash all of my clothes and hang them to dry in the storage room on the lower level of the house. That done, I go upstairs and relax.

I gained three Strength, two Agility, two Endurance, and six Vitality from my training after lunch.

That was fun.

The only other one that would probably be easy to increase would be my Perception, so, lying down on my bed, I close my eyes and focus on what I can hear.

There's wind rustling the leaves of the trees. Not much else to listen to, so I begin to count, doing my best to count how many leaves I can hear rustling. I manage to pick out four before being unable to count more, so I restart. Five. Six. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven.

+1 Perception!

At last. I can pick out up to thirteen as soon as I receive that notice. Interesting. I push it to twenty-four before receiving another point, then a Willpower. Once that happens, I allow myself to fall asleep, my mind exhausted from the day's events and trying to count the rustlings.

The mage stares out across a field. He's dressed in the black pants and black leather boots he was last time, and is flying above a City, though stationary in the air, his wings flapping every now and then, somewhat lazily, as if only then remembering that wings need to flap in order to fly.

From his vantage point, he can see several Cities, all of which are lively and full of people. Yet his gaze is not one of content or happiness, but of wariness.

A flapping of wings catches his attention, and he turns ever-so-slightly to his right, to find a bird flying toward him. The bird flaps its way right into the mage's chest, falls, catches itself, shakes its body, then flaps until it's looking at the mage.

The bird caws, and the mage snorts.

"Alright," he says. "I'll be there in a few."

The mage's wings vanish, and he leans forward, allowing himself to fall. When he's around a hundred yards above the city, his wings reappear, and he flaps them once, turning his fall into a glide with just a tilt of his wings, soaring above the City, then away, to a neighboring one, where he lands, approaching an old man, the bird resting on the man's shoulder.

The wings vanish, and a crimson tunic appears in the mage's hand. He pulls it on, and a moment later, a sword and knife appears, and he straps the former across his back and the latter on his hip, much in the same way I wear mine.

I wake, the sun shining through the window, and let out a sigh.

What is with these dreams?

I head downstairs and grab my clothes, getting dressed, then make my way to the Dark Temple, calling out for the Dark Knight, to see if he's around. Maybe he can provide some answers.

"Yes?" He asks, and I look to the wall he's leaning against. "You're very noisy, you know."

"I know," I tell him. "Do you know if Jesse's lacing my food?"

"He'd never do that," Nik laughs. "Why do you ask?"

"I've had weird-ass dreams both nights."

The moment I say the word 'dreams', Nik's entire demeanor changes to confusion.

"What's up with that reaction?" I ask.

"Adventurers don't dream."

"Huh?"

"People," he says. "We don't dream, not in the Boundary. Only the beastborn and Monsters do. No Crystal Adventurer dreams. Ever."

"I've had two dreams," I tell him. "And both are weird as fuck, Nik, so I'd have to disagree with you. My Stats do say I'm a Crystal Adventurer, too."

"What are they like?" He asks, and I describe them both to him, and he frowns, tapping his chin as he leans back against the wall. "The wings are an interesting bit."

"How so?"

He unstraps his sword, then removes his tunic. A moment later, a pair of black leathery wings sprout out of his back. Though they're mostly black, they also have red veins lining them.

"That's a Tier 5 Class thing," he explains. "In order to obtain Champion of Darkness, my current Class, the Tier 5 Dark Knight Class, you need to gain a Demonic Something Skill. I chose Demonic Wings, as it's the only known way to gain flight.

"As you can see, however," he flaps his wings once. "They're leathery, not feathery. Demonic wings are this way. It's rumored that a Rank 3 Class gives feathery wings – Angel, but no one's figured out how to acquire Rank 3 Classes, or even if they're real. Yet those wings… I'd imagine angelic wings as white and gold, not black, red, and gold."

His wings vanish, and he pulls his tunic back on, then straps his sword across his back once more.

"Your dreams are odd," he tells me. "Two different versions of the Boundary – one where it's almost fallen, and one where it's lively and populous. I'd say you're just dreaming things, except for two things. The first being-"

"That Crystal Adventurers don't dream?"

"Yeah," he nods. "And the second being the Skills you heard. Lightning Storm, the Barrage Additive, Magic Missile, Magic Bolt, and Magic Arrow are all real Skills. So are Stone Spike, Magic Barrier, and Fireball.

"Then there's Cataclysmic Shift," he strokes his chin, thinking for several moments, before coming to a decision and nodding. "It's a Skill series that's only known of by a rare few. Most of us are those who know of the prophecy I told you of. They're all Rank 5 Skills, making them impossibly difficult to learn. The only one I know of for sure that exists is Bloody Darkness. A Champion of Darkness of ages past learned it. That's the Tier 5 Dark Knight, same as me."

"Would Resurrection be counted as a Cataclysmic Shift?" I ask, and he laughs. "What?"

"Didn't I already tell you that there's no such Skill?"

"Maybe?" I ask. "I still think one exists. Why else would we have the seventy-two hour window to recover our fallen comrades?"

He snorts, shaking his head.

"You're a riot, Zack," he says. "It's possible that being in the Boundary is affecting you in some unknown way, and that's causing you to have the dreams. I'll contact some old mage friends of mine, see what they say."

"How old are you?"

"Pardon?"

"I asked Jesse that," I tell him. "Yesterday, and he told me he was something like a hundred and seventeen, even though he only looks around thirty."

"Ah, that," he nods, walking up to me. "Some people in the Boundary are able to slow or halt their aging naturally. Within each of us is a Sacred Crystal, swirling of light and shadows. We each are also touched by the four elements. Certain things in life can cause those elements to bleed into the Sacred Crystal, and as a result, it can have certain effects on us. The most common one is the slowing or halting of aging. Jesse and I are both affected by this. I'm twenty-six years older than he is."

"You don't look like you're a hundred and forty-three," I tell him. "You look about a hundred or so younger than that."

He does.

"Thanks," he puts a hand on my head. "Please don't go around asking random people their ages."

"I won't," I tell him. "I'll just ask everyone their ages."

He laughs again, ruffling my hair before dropping his hand back down to his side.

"Only three people in this city have halted aging," he tells me. "And four have slowed. Most of us have something from the Elemental Merging, though."

"Is it possible," I ask. "That my dreams are of the future?"

He gives me a curious look.

"What if the mage," I explain my theory. "Only looks the same age, but isn't? What if it's been years – maybe even decades – between the two scenes? The first one could be something happening around the fall of the Boundary, and he was caught up doing something else, and had to rush from… from somewhere, in order to help stop it from happening. The second dream could have been before that happened… or decades after, once the Boundary's recovering. It's possible he was going through that Ascension thing, right? He was casting so many spells, and they were so powerful… that would be something from Ascension, maybe?"

Nik thinks on that.

"Possibly," he finally says. "It's been over a thousand years since the prophecy foretelling the changing of tides happens. It's been lost the actual method the prophecy was given, but it's entirely possible it started off with dreams, like yours, that the one who gave it was actually telling dreams he had. Would you do me a favor and not share this with anyone?"

"And be called crazy?" I laugh. "You already said that only a few people know of the prophecy, and you also said that no Adventurer dreams here. What's a beastborn?"

"What?" He looks confused.

"You said that only beastborn and Monsters dream."

"Beastborn," he explains. "Are the children of other beastborn or of Beastmen, a Rank 2 Class. They have a mostly-human appearance with a couple of animal traits, such as ears and tails, but that's about it. They also don't have access to the System. They can't talk, and tend to be more animalistic in their tendencies, despite looking mostly human. They're not much more than slaves."

"That's stupid."

"They don't have much other value," he shrugs. "So people enslave them. Seeing as they can dream, and we can't, they aren't considered people."

"What do Dark Knights think of them?"

"Why do you think we view them differently?" He earns a hard stare from me. "We Dark Knights don't put much difference between them and Monsters, considering the dreams, but we also don't go out of our way to treat them differently. It likely comes from our warped moral values, such as our tendency to repeatedly hurt ourselves to octuple our Health in a day."

I grin at him.

"What are your plans?" He asks.

"For today?" I ask, and he nods. "Now that I've got a couple of Skills and some more Health, I'm going to head out and taunt some Slimes. Is there a bonus or anything for reaching a set amount of Skill Levels before taking on a Class?"

"Not that anyone's aware of," he answers. "But we usually gain a Class within the first twenty. The most I've heard of someone reaching before was thirty-six. Why?"

"I'm at forty."

"How?" He asks. "I know you got a decent-Level Rage, judging by how it felt yesterday, but your other Skills aren't that high – only Level 2 and 3, plus your Level 7 Martial Arts. Appraisal Resistance at Level 1, and I assume Appraisal, but that's still something like twenty or so."

"Right-handed and left-handed."

"How high are those?" He asks.

"Maxed."

"It took me thirty years," he says. "To bring them from the Level 7 both were at when I arrived to Level 10. You're telling me you already have them maxed?"

"I'm not asking you to believe it."

He laughs, shaking his head.

"You're an interesting child, Zack," he says. "Have fun with your slaughter."

"Thanks!"