《The Timebender》16. Camping
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Everyone was sat on the ground, beside the campfire, when Adrian decided to stop crawling on the ground. The party saw the scarce quantity of food, but they sensibly took only the rations that each one got.
“This jerky tastes like shit.” Dale commented while gnawing the piece of dried meat.
“I think it’s actually pretty good.” Adrian said after getting himself comfortable and grabbing his serving.
“What the hell do you eat so this can be tasty?” Dale was surprised by that statement.
“Food. Duh” Adrian joked. “I always liked dried meat. At Earth I had different kinds of inlay hanging out on the walls of the kitchen.”
“A meat lover?” Mike entered the conversation after taking a bite at the bread without yeast.
“I wouldn’t say so” Adrian responded and took a bite of the bread as well. “Argh, this bread is truly the shit food.”
“Still better than moldy bread.” Axel said as he put the whole loaf of bread in his mouth.
Adrian got up to drink from the river and remove the taste of the bread from his taste buds. “Oh, yeah.” Adrian commented, took a sip, and continued. “I got a class.”
“You got what?” Dale stood so fast that it looked like he was the one who Maxxed [Celeratio].
“A class.” Adrian reiterated as he drunk more water.
“Yeah, yeah,” Dale said. “I understood that. What I am asking and how and which?”
“Our theory was true.” Adrian told him. “You can select a class from a menu once you reach level five.”
“Are you telling me that I can have a class in just one level up?” Dale asked excitedly.
Adrian nodded and kept drinking. He was pretty thirsty after completing the quest and going back and forth from Czecheri. That wouldn’t happen if he remembered to drink constantly, but today was a strange day for all of them.
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“So, which?” Dale interrogated Adrian.
“Which?” Adrian said without thinking and later looked at Dale’s eyes. “Oh, right. The class. There were some basic options like Scout and Rogue, typical RPG stuff. I also saw a class that gifted a [Tarot] card, but it seemed useless to me.”
“I didn’t ask the options; I asked the results.” Dale told impatiently.
“I was getting there.” Adrian thought to himself ‘kids these days’, even if he wasn’t in his thirties yet. “My class is Time Weaver.”
“Wait…” Dale exclaimed. “Am I understanding right what the class does?”
“If you are thinking that I can do time magic, then you are right. I can do time magic.” Adrian dropped the bomb as if it were nothing.
“A-are you saying that you can stop time?” Dale questioned Adrian while his voice was trembling.
“I didn’t say that” Adrian denied. “I said that I can do [Time Magic], look.”
Adrian casted [Time Dilatation I] and everyone suddenly felt their bodies lighter but also the world slower. Even though it was a tiny boost, the other Maxxers were puzzled as their flow of time was altered.
“What did you do?” Mike asked, almost biting his tongue because he wasn’t accustomed to the speed.
“I gave you all a tenth of my [Celeratio]” Adrian explained. “And now my brain is hurting. Oh, fuck. To much m-mental power consumed.” Adrian felt as his mind melted. “I think I am have an stroke.”
“I don’t know if you are having a stroke,” Aby talked for the first time. “but you aren’t talking coherently.”
“Yasss.” Adrian said.
“Exactly my point.” Aby added with a huge grin. She was enjoying the moment.
Before anyone could react, Adrian submerged his head into the river.
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“What the fuck is he doing?” Exclaimed Axel and rushed to help him.
Adrian took his head out an instant later. “Ah, much better.” Adrian looked at the rest of the group. “What?”
“Why did you do that?” Aby asked, clearly not happy.
“My brain was literally melting.” Adrian explained her. “Imagine if I tested the [Skill] in the middle of a fight.”
“How much does this lasts?” Kayle asked Adrian.
“Ten minutes” He answered. “But I think I can extend the length. It says it’s level one.”
“Wait, [Skills] can level up?” Mike asked with curiosity.
“I suppose.” Adrian answered honestly. “But I do have something similar.”
“You have more?” Mike asked once again.
“Nah, I only have one [Time Magic].” Adrian told him even if that was a half-truth.
“Only one spell? Boring~” Dale said.
“I still have another [Skill].” Adrian added.
“Well, what it does?” Dale really wanted more information about Adrian’s time skills.
“Well,” Adrian talked like him. “I can’t use it.”
“Oh, yeah your nor- Wait, you can’t use it? What do you mean?” Dale was really confused right now.
“It has a [Celeratio] requirement.” Adrian explained.
“So… what does the skill?” Dale continued asking.
“It’s basically a Get Out of Jail card.” Adrian told him. “But it looks really taxing to use according to the description.”
Adrian opted to not tell them the totality of [Court of the Broken King], basically because he didn’t even understand how the [Skill] works or whatever it means.
“What about of the skill that levels?” Mike said. “You said you had something similar.”
“Yeah. It’s the same skill I talked about, in fact.” Adrian told Mike. But before he took another sip from the river, because so much talk made him thirsty. “It’s a [Growing] skill. I don’t understand how it works exactly but it says it will evolve with the user.”
“That sound really dope.” Axel commented.
“Yes, looks like it.” Adrian told him while checking the [Court of the Broken King] skill description. “But we can leave that for once I actually have fifty [Celeratio].”
“It’s okay for me.” Mike told. “But I have a doubt. Where are we sleeping?”
Adrian patted the ground. “Here.”
“Without blanks?” Now Kayle was the one who talked.
“We do have the two cloaks and the bag.” Axel added.
“Yeah, we could leave them to the children.” Aby told Axel and Adrian.
“I am not a child!” Kayle, Dale and Mike protested simultaneously.
Aby, Axel and Adrian started laughing at that sight. In the end it was decided that Kayle and Dale would have the cloaks and Mike the food sack. The rest just decided to sleep at the ground. Before going to sleep, they set a watch schedule. Aby volunteered to be the first one as she didn’t do as much as Adrian or Axel.
“So, the turns are Aby, Axel and me. Objections?” Adrian asked but no voice was heard coming from the party. “Right. If you excuse, I am going to sleep.”
That moment, Adrian fell asleep in a matter of milliseconds. When he woke up, he didn’t even remember going to sleep.
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