When Cal woke up, he just lay there for a while. He was lucky enough to have a moment of forgetfulness where the events of yesterday weren’t remembered. There was still a cold, empty feeling in his chest that just made him want to stay in his bed. He eventually forced himself to get up and do something, anything. He sat up and looked around he saw the package that he had pushed onto the floor yesterday and picked it up.

It was just a bit of canvas wrapped around a wooden box upon unwrapping it he looked inside and saw a few items. There were several purple gems and 2 sword hilts that didn’t have blades. one was made of a dark blue icelike material and the other out of a type of black wood with red, lightly glowing veins running up and down it. Cal reached into the box and touched one of the gems suddenly a screen appeared in front of his eyes.

[would you like to learn the spell school of water]

upon thinking yes, the screen disappeared and the purple gem turned into a beam of light that flowed into Cal's chest. He opened his status and, sure enough, in his ability list, he had the level 1 skill

[spell school of water].

There was even an addition to his spell list.

[teir one splash]

Cal was about to try to activate his spell when he stopped himself. He didn’t know what the spell would do or how to activate it so he decided to wait until he went back outside.

He grabbed two more of the stones: one gave him the wind school of magic, as well as the tier one gust spell the other one gave him the school of dark magic, and the spell tier-one miniature shadow summon. Upon reaching for the fourth one, instead of receiving the ice school of magic, like he was expecting, the prompt read.

[would you like to gain the ability Brock].

Deciding there was no point in not accepting it he answered yes of the remaining stones held the ice school of magic ability either and he instead received an ability called Abelard and one called heartless. However, he got a slightly different prompt when he grabbed the last stone,

[would you like to receive the shadowblade class]

At first, cal was excited he finally had found something that would fill in a class slot but After thinking about it for a while, he ultimately decided to refuse he didn’t know enough about classes to know whether or not it would be a good decision to accept this class. He looked at the last two items he hadn’t examined yet. He reached in with both hands and grabbed the two hilt’s and just like with the necklace, a prompt appeared in front of him

[would you like to bind to the soul-bound items Iclyn and Tana {damaged}]

Remembering what had happened when he had bonded to the necklace, he accepted. Suddenly both weapons disappeared. Cal looked around in confusion, but they were gone. He felt the link in his mind, it was more similar to the link to the necklace than to his status. He knew that he had claimed them because of the connection, but upon trying to will something out of the link nothing happened. He tried a few more times, but the results were the same.

Cal opened his status and looked through the changes. He currently had quite a few abilities but he had no clue on how to use any of them. He looked at his first ability and tried to will something out of it. To his delight, a small screen appeared and it explained how the ability worked.

He quickly tried it with everything else on his status including his name and races though explanations only appeared for his skills abilities and spells. For his skills, the explanations were simple his level at each of the skills was decided by his skill at whatever it was. There was an exception to that rule though. Which was forestry, when he examined it showed that it was a combination of multiple skills that had all reached a certain level. He wasn’t sure what that meant but he guessed that if you were to learn certain skills they could combine and make combined skills like forestry.

When he went through his abilities list he started with ice magic. Its explanation was his affinity to use ice magic and it said he received it from his winter wraith race, it was the same for the other magic abilities with water and wind magic being Windwalker’s racial abilities, and shadow magic being a snow spirit racial ability. Next was his cold immunity which was also a racial ability for winter wraiths. the explanation for it was he was immune to any damage from the cold. For fire immunity, it said the same thing but with fire and was a racial ability for frost spirits.

After the immunities was the flurry skill. it was a racial ability for winter wraith’s and its explanation was, for the cost of 20 mana a minute he would create a small snow cloud above his head though if he put more mana into it the cloud would be bigger. each snowflake would give him 1 health mana and stamina and he could perfectly sense everything inside the snow cloud.

Next was featherweight. It was a racial ability for Windwalker’s and its explanation was. Every twenty mana he put into the skill would make him 20 pounds lighter for 1 minute and like the flurry ability he could put in more mana to remove more weight, cal assumed that he would be able to fly if he put in enough mana to remove all of his weight.

His final racial ability was corporeal shadow. It was a racial ability for the frost spirit race. Its explanation was for 20 mana he could make any shadow under his control completely solidify for 5 seconds and if he put in more mana the shadow would be more solid.

The explanations for the rest of the abilities were simple. Abelard allowed him to inspect things outside of his status but it cost mana and the amount differed depending on how powerful of a thing he would like to examine. His first reaction after learning what the skill did was to examine the shadowblade class but sadly that cost 300 mana to examine.

His next skill was brock and it seemed oddly overpowered. It allowed him to ask 3 questions and 2 of them would be answered or, he could be told 2 things he needed to know. After that was the ability heartless. Its explanation was it made his vital areas less vital. Cal wasn’t sure what that meant so he just let that skill be for now.

The final abilities that he examined were his spell schools. The explanation was that every 25 levels starting at level 1 and ending at level 100 he would receive a single spell from each of them that was of the same element.

The last thing cal was able to examine was his spells. His first spell was splash and what it did was summon half a gallon of water and splashed it where cal directed it. His next spell was gust which created a small gust of air in the direction he wanted. And his last spell was miniature shadow summon which summoned a miniature version of his shadow which would attack what he wanted it to. However, it couldn’t do much considering it was 2 dimensional. When he examined the spells he also learned a chant that he felt would activate the spell.

After cal read through his skills, abilities, and spells he wasn’t sure what to do. suddenly his stomach started growling. He looked around to see if he had been left any food, but to his dismay, he had not. He was about to try to leave to go find some food when he stopped himself. First, he had to get all the gear he would need for the expedition.

He went over to the pile that his grandpa had left. There was a bow which he slung over his shoulder and a quiver of 24 arrows which he tied to his belt. Those were the two most important if he was going to hunt, but he looked over what else was left in case he thought he might need it. There was a sword which after some hesitation he decided to leave. he didn’t think it would be useful if he was just going to go hunting, and it would be cumbersome to carry too much equipment.

Next, there was a cloak which was colored in multiple hues of gray that seemed to fade and blend together, it would help a little with camouflage, but its true value was that it was waterproof and had many pockets, and the hem had a clip that could be used to lift it away from his quiver. There were also about a dozen knives, six were weighed to throw another four were made more for hunting and fishing the last two were combat knives which were about six inches longer than the other knives and curved at the tips. He grabbed all of the knives.

The last thing in the pile was a bit of cloth that was colored the same as his cloak its use was to wrap around his mouth and nose it would not only keep his face warm, but during winter it would prevent his breath from being seen. He ended up leaving that too, it had no use in the summer and was fairly uncomfortable to wear.

Deciding he had everything he needed, he tried to will something out of his bond with the necklace. Suddenly he was back in the forest where he had been before he was still lying on the ground. The only difference being that the sun was setting and a large two-headed wolf was standing a few feet in front of him.

Cal quickly but clumsily got to his feet and, being slightly off-balance, stumbled back a few steps. This could have cost Cal his life, but the wolf was just as surprised to see Cal appear out of thin air as Cal was to see it.

The two sized each other up the wolf was massive it was nearly four feet tall at the shoulder. It had white fur, the same color as Cal's hair, and each of its four eyes shone a different color. Cal thought that he would be unable to beat it in a fight especially if it had awakened. He tried to go back into the necklace, but instead of returning to the room, a prompt appeared.

[unable to use oathbreaker’s necklace]

before cal could decide to do anything, the wolf lunged at him. Cal’s instincts kicked in and he tried to dodge, but he wasn’t used to fighting against non-humanoid enemies, so the wolf still left a small scratch on his shoulder, ripping both his clothes and cloak in the process. Before the wolf could turn and attack again, Cal pulled out one of his combat knives and one of the throwing knives.

As soon as the wolf had turned back to face him, he threw the throwing knife and it whistled through the air heading straight at the wolf’s left throat. However, the wolf was ready for something like that and was quick enough to jerk its head to the side and make the knife plunge into the spot between its necks instead of in one of its throats it let out a growl of pain but was relatively uninjured.

Cal pulled out his other combat knife as the wolf charged. How the fight went from there was different than Cal had expected it to be. It was surprisingly easy to keep the wolf at bay. every time it would charge in to bite or claw at Cal he would move one of his knives in the way and the wolf would try to weaken its blow so it wouldn’t cut itself on the blades. On the other hand, the wolf was faster than cal, so trying to counterattack was also difficult.

Something has to change if this fight is going to end, Cal thought as he watched the wolf wearily. They were standing a few meters apart from each other, both assessing the situation. Cal didn’t think the wolf had a human level of intelligence, though it was much smarter than any other wolf or dog he had seen. This made the fight much easier in some ways but harder in others.

Cal suddenly remembered the spells he had learned recently. After thinking through his spell list, which only consisted of 3 spells, He decided to cast miniature shadow summon. After casting the spell a small shadow detached from Cal's. It was about six inches tall and was nearly an exact silhouette of cal.

it ran at the wolf, which hadn’t noticed it yet, and stabbed at its foot. The wolf lifted its paw in annoyance more than pain, and upon noticing the shadow tried to stomp down on it. After lifting its paw again to check if the shadow was dead, it was surprised to see that the shadow was still there.

The wolf forgot Cal as it continually tried to claw and scratch at the little shadow. Cal decided to capitalize on his temporary opportunity, pulled out his bow, and drew an arrow. He aimed and fired then quickly put another arrow on the string, but didn’t draw. The arrow pierced the wolf through its chest. Cal must have hit something vital as blood started dribbling from its mouth.

The wolf turned back to Cal remembering its original opponent too late. It started stumbling back over to where Cal stood, but before it could make it, it fell dead. Cal walked over to check its body when suddenly a message appeared in front of his eyes.

[you have slain an unawakened mutated wolf your reward is 127 xp] [congratulations you are now level one you have received three free stat points. if they are not used in 30 days they will randomly be assigned]

Cal smiled this was one of the few things he had known about being an awakened leveling up meant he was gaining strength and that meant he was one step closer to getting revenge. That thought caused cal to pause for a second. Recently cal had been motivated by revenge but who was he trying to get revenge on. Cal suddenly remembered the man with a rattish face and the tattoo of a bird. He let out a smile that had no joy in it. That man is the person who will pay for the death of my grandfather Cal silently promised himself.

After Cal walked over to the wolf, He started skinning it. after all, its pelt would be useful when it got colder. He also cut off the parts of the wolf that were safe to eat. He then built a fire and started to cook the meat. While he was waiting for the meat to cook, he tried to go back into the necklace, and Suddenly he was back in the room.

He sat there for a second, confused. The obvious guesses were that he couldn’t use the necklace while in battle or that it had a cooldown. He needed to figure out which one it was because this room could be an extremely useful tool to get out of a dangerous fight. The question reminded Cal of his new ability, Brock. He could ask it whatever he needed to.

As soon as he made the decision to use the skill, a person appeared in the room with him. He was about a foot and a half taller than Cal and had light brown hair. His eyes were hazel and seemed to hold a large amount of both knowledge and mischief. He was wearing dark blue pants that seemed to be made of sturdy material. He also had on a red coat with the sleeves rolled up and the hood hanging on his back.

He waved at cal, who noticed a wooden bracelet on his wrist. Before Cal could do anything, the boy, who didn’t look much older than he did, smiled and spoke in a voice filled with both joy and mischief. “Hi, I’m Brock.” Cal watched brock suspiciously. The brock waved his hand in a go-ahead motion and said. “Now hurry up Cal, ask me your questions we don’t want you to burn the wolf meat.”

Cal's back straightened at those words. How did he know about the wolf meat? cal decided that wasn’t important right now and he didn’t want to make the man who could answer his questions angry so Cal quickly started talking. “my first question is does the oathbreakers necklace’s ability to let me come into this space have a cool down. my second question is, is the oathbreakers necklace’s ability to let me come into this space able to be used during combat.”

Cal paused a second to see Brock’s reaction he had asked those two questions so that he would receive the answer no matter what even if Brock decided not to answer one of those two questions he would be forced to answer the actual question which was what were the limits on the necklaces ability to transport him into the room.

Brock smiled at this and clapped his hands in delight. “Haha, you are a clever one now let’s hear your third question”

Cal was slightly wary of the compliment but still asked his third question. “Should I accept the darkblade class.” this question was much less important to Cal than the first, but Cal felt that it was the right thing to ask about.

Brock’s face suddenly became slightly more serious and in an official-sounding voice, he intoned. “Having heard your questions I have decided not to answer the second one” he paused for a second then added in his original slightly mocking voice. “Or the first or the third. I decided that I feel like telling you something that you need to know”

Cal was thrown off balance by his words he thought he had been extremely clever in maneuvering around the rules but instead Brock had just used those same rules to say what he wanted. “Were you going to tell me what you think I needed to know from the beginning?” Cal asked through gritted teeth.

Brock started to nod enthusiastically, then stopped and gave Cal a teasing glare. “You aren’t allowed to ask any more questions so be quiet while I tell you what I want to.” Cal was about to demand that Brock answer his original questions when suddenly, no words were able to come out of his mouth.

Before Cal could try to communicate in another way, Brock started talking again. “The first thing ill tell you is about the first potion you drank the potion of doubling. You know it was pretty foolish to take that first if you had taken it second you would have double the stats and skills instead you got a much more interesting reward.”

Brock paused and muttered to himself for a second and then continued. “I suppose I have to provide some background information for the next part of my explanation to make sense, so here it goes. Before your status awakens there are only three parts of you that are quantified with numbers that is why you don’t have your stats doubled. One of the three things that are quantified before you awaken is your heritage. Specifically what percentage of what races you are, and the race that you are the highest percentage of becomes your race.”

brock paused for a second then held up a finger to emphasize his next point and continued. “There is one exception to the rule that I just told you. If a person happens to be perfectly evenly split between two races the races will combine creating a new race for the person. so when you drank the potion of doubling you became a hundred percent of both Windwalker and frost spirit causing those both to appear in your status, however, you were still completely split between those two races so you were given a third one which is a combination of Windwalker and frostspirit.” brock ended his slightly wandering rant and grinned at Cal “any questions”

Cal tried to talk but he still couldn’t. Brock waited for a few seconds with a patient expression on his face, then started talking again. “I guess you don’t. wow I was right you are smart to have understood all that” he let out a cheeky grin.

Suddenly his smile vanished and for the first time, that Cal had seen, Brock had an entirely serious expression. “The second thing I will tell you about is the [hidden quest: ruler of kaar]”

Cal found the last few words brock had said difficult to comprehend. It wasn’t that he didn’t recognize the words themselves, because cal had heard all of those words before. The confusing part was that brock had spoken the same way as the system did. That wasn’t a perfect explanation for what had happened, the prompts were written, and Brock had spoken but for some unexplainable reason, they felt the same to cal.

Without any of his old jokes or jovial voice, Brock started talking again. “You can complete that quest by killing [Carrick Blokfate the king of kaar]”

Brock had done it again he spoke like the system Cal having heard it once was less shocked by it but was equally confused. “You don’t need to know what the rewards are but just know that receiving them will be one of the most beneficial things you can do however don’t try doing this until you are at least level 100. Or you will die”

after those slightly ominous words, Brock’s face returned to its original mischievous look and he winked at cal. “Good luck out there and sorry that you burnt the meat though considering what it is it is probably better that it is fully cooked.”

with those parting words Brock disappeared and cal, being able to talk again, spoke into the quiet of the room. ”How the hell is that supposed to help me.”