Chapter 22: Questions

[Status]

Name: Mark

Health: 101

Mana: 150

Inquisitor [29]

Materialize [7] +50% mp cost, +6%dmg/eff

Heal [10] 25mp, +20hp, 10cd(-9)s

Mana Drain [4] -5hp/s, target -5mp/s, +53% mp/abs

Levitate [3] -1mp/s

Immolate [1] 125% health consumed. -1mp/m

My health is still laughable, but at least my mana is growing much faster. I need to check how the others are doing once they log in. We have been progressing quite quickly; I expect this will change as we advance in the game.

Without anything better to do until everybody comes, I decide to check on Isha. I have a few questions for her, after all. These past days have been quite intense, we have discovered some things about the game, but many enigmas still remain.

Oh, fuck! I suddenly remember the tusks. We should look for a buyer. As I enter Isha’s house, I send a message to Dorian. He will see it once he’s in.

“Isha, are you free? I have a few questions I’d like to ask.”

“Yes, meet me at the library. I believe your training is also due.”

I go there, and barely after crossing the door, I already hear her speaking. “What is it that you are wondering?” Reading my mind, she somehow notices I’m reflecting on something.

“Mmh… lately, we have been leveling up quite fast, something I wasn’t really expecting. But, more than anything, how do we get our spells? I mean, Mike, for example, is an Elemental Wizard; why is he getting only fire-based spells?”

“It is good that you ask these questions for yourself. First, let me say that growth, and particularly leveling, is not linear. Thi-”

“Not linear? What do you mean?”

“-... Please,” her face looks tired, “let me finish.” She takes a deep and calm breath. “As I was saying, it is not linear. This means that your progress will come to a halt at some point. When that happens, only by demonstrating true knowledge of your class will you be able to continue.” Halted? As in completely stopping? I refrain from asking it out loud, seeing she has not yet finished.

“Now, each class is different, but surely you have noticed that your health and mana barely change. It is when they start growing more prominently that you will have to prove yourself.”

“And, if I get past that barrier, what happens?”

“Easy enough, you continue leveling. Although you will see that the speed at which you do so is by no means the same as before.”

“Not all of us get to that point at the same time?”

“I am afraid not. Each of you follows a different growth pattern.”

“I understand. But how is that related to the spells we learn?”

“It is, in a certain way. For instance, you should have noticed by now that spells are learned at certain checkpoints.”

“Yes! We all got one near level 15!”

“Indeed. Aside from self-learned skills, the majority of people are predestined to have a concrete set of spells.”

“What do you mean predestined? And… the majority?”

“Predestined means that Jonas has already set in stone what you will and will not learn. He leaves some leeway, but it is a quite closed system. And, but of course, this only applies to people who draw their powers from him.”

“Then… mines?”

“Yours come from your experiences, your subconscious, and your efforts. You will not be able to get what you want if that is what you are thinking,” she raises an eyebrow while saying this phrase. “But, your actions do affect what you will get.”

“So, Mike won’t get anything aside from fire spells?”

“That I do not know. Though nothing may change until his class evolves after the halt.”

“Hey! You didn’t say anything about evolving!”

“Evolving, developing, transforming. There is not a unique name, but I am fond of the first one.”

So, when she said development halts, and you must prove yourself, it actually means that your class must progress to another whole level. But, wouldn’t that mean that my friends, that are tied to Jonas, can’t really ge-

“What is it, Mark? You are thinking about something.” She interrupts my thoughts.

“I was wondering… is there any way to free them, my friends, from Jonas?”

“There is. But it requires powers you do not yet have. And would have consequences you can not face yet. We will talk of this again once you have your class evolved.”

“Okay. At least knowing there is a way puts my mind to rest.” To be honest, I’m disappointed we have to wait. But Isha is our best bet, and if she says we must wait, then there’s no other way around it.

“We will look into it, that I promise. So, you have been leveling up?”

“Yes! Level 27 already! We have been killing some ogres up nort-”

“Ogres?”

“Uh, yeah.Tall, heavy, ugly, and brain-dead monsters with clubs and tusks.”

Her laughter, one that erupts just after hearing my description, is almost contagious. If it weren’t that I’m puzzled about what made her laugh so much, I’d undoubtedly have joined her. “Oh my, no wonder you all have leveled fast. Those creatures are close to level 35. I have to admit, though, they are a perfect match for your team composition. Please, do tell me your strategies.”

I tell her about our first fight and how we switched to abusing its limited intelligence and rough movements. How my spirits can tank perfectly fine, mainly because they are stupid, and about my new Immolate spell.

“Yes, that’s what I was thinking. I understand you are doing this for the war, but remember that these kinds of battles will not help your skill levels. Take some time against enemies of your level and let them catch up.”

“Yes, we will! Thank you!” I quickly mentally check if there is anything more to say, and upon confirming that was all, I bid her farewell.

“Ah!” Fuck! I almost forgot to ask. “Actually! One last thing, is there any way to tell the level of our enemies?”

“That you can learn right now, only one. And I do not think it is what you are looking for.”

“What is it?”

“You are in a library. There are books about monsters here. The rest, I am sure you can figure out.”

“Ha, haha.” I let out a nervous chuckle. “I… I’ll take your offer after the war. I have other priorities right now.” And I truly intend to take it; knowledge is a must for a good team leader.

“I am looking forward to it. Do not let me down!”

“I won’t; it’s a promise! Bye, Isha, and once again, thank you!”

I make my way to the stall. They must have already entered. Oh wow, it’s been almost an hour? Then they’ve been here for quite some time already. Let’s see if they have sold some of the tusks!

“Hello there! How’s it going with the tusks?” I say as I open the party status page.

[Party]

Mark (Leader)

Class: Inquisitor (29)

Health: 101

Mana: 150

Rand

Class: Body Enhancer (29)

Health: 205/205

Mana: 88/88

Mike

Class: Elemental Wizard (25)

Health: 73/73

Mana: 198/198

Dorian

Class: Scout (30)

Health: 135/135

Mana: 134/134

Lillia

Class: Duelist (29)

Health: 215/215

Mana: 201/201

So Isha was right, after all. Well, of course she is; we are not growing much in terms of health and mana, which means we have yet to reach an evolution point. Wa-wait?

“Mike? Why are you level 25? That’s four less than us. Have you died?”

“No, it’s been like this since the last 4 or 5 ogres we fought.”

“You moron! Why didn’t you say anything?” I shake my head. “You are lucky I just went to see Isha. You have just reached a critical point.” I proceed to explain the whole theory Isha dumped on me earlier.

“Okay, I have a general idea. But, when you say ‘true knowledge of my class’, what the hell does that even mean?” Mike asks, dumbfounded by the turn of the events.

“Ah… I didn’t really ask her about that?” I nervously smile, showing all my teeth and tensing my eyebrows. I’ve messed up, and I know it.

“And I’m the moron, for fuck’s sake!”

“I believe,” Dorian luckily interjects to save me, “it might have to do with our skills’ levels. We probably need to reach a certain point to trigger the evolution. I mean, they level up much slower and require much more effort, plus they somehow symbolize our expertise in the class.”

“Yeah, I think Dorian is on point here.” And he has saved my ass. “I mean, I didn’t ask Isha, but I don’t think there is much more besides this. Focus on leveling them up, and let’s see if anything happens.”

“I guess. Well, we’ll see.” He shortly replies in a sharp tone, clearly upset by the lacking information.

“So… the tusks?” I attempt to switch the topic to something else. There are none in the stall; have they really sold them all?

“Oh, we actually sold all of them. We are rich now!”

“Fuck yeah! Told you, Dorian! How rich are we?”

“Oh, so you don’t know? We can buy the shop already!”

“Shut up! Let’s go then!”

“Buahaha!” Dorian breaks into a burst of manic laughter that stabs right in my heart. “You truly bought it?” And he doesn’t stop at all.

“Yeah… I did…” How naive can I be? “Okay, okay. Yeah, it’s fun” I hide my head between my hands in embarrassment, hiding my impeding redness. “Ha, ha, ha. So, did we sell them?”

“Aah… man, that was fun.”

“Dorian!”

“Yeah yeah, I went to the Merchants Association to get some quotes. After all, we have no clue how much they go by. It would seem there is a niche market for them, something about medicinal uses. They go at 400 the piece, so we made 16.800.”

“Are you serious now or still pulling my leg?”

“Nah, completely serious here.”

“Dude! That’s amazing! Let’s go and kill a few more again! At this pace, we will soon have the money!”

“While I agree we should kill more of them,” Lillia takes the word, “we should avoid flooding the market with tusks. They would depreciate soon due to low demand. These ones, we should keep in reserve, maybe even figure out if we can process them.”

“Sure! I’m out of my waters here; I leave our money and mercantile ventures to you!”

“Good thing that you said that! I took the liberty to hire someone to take care of the stall while we are outside.”